Editor's note.
Today's area studies, as an interdisciplinary and integrated research path, generally use geopolitical patterns as the basis for dividing the research scope, such as Central Asian studies and East European studies. If we go back in time, we will find that there was also a cross-regional cultural structure in history. Similar to the Chinese character circle, the Hellenistic world, the Sanskrit world, and the Persian world were all cultural regions that had existed for a long time in the history of the world. These cultural areas share common cultural characteristics or cultural elements, such as language, writing, architectural style, etc. The three articles published in this edition introduce the formation, connotation and evolution of the Hellenistic and Persian worlds from a macro perspective, and the spread of Baroque architectural styles in other parts of the world from a micro perspective, with a view to contributing to the study of cultural regional characteristics.
Although some scholars have discovered that the term "Hellenistic" used in modern scholarship was not coined by Droysen, as previously believed, the 19th-century German historian created a paradigm for defining the time and space of "Hellenism" for later generations with his influential History of Hellenism. To this day, the "Hellenistic era" is usually demarcated between Alexander's death and Augustus' conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt; The geographical category used to match it is the so-called "Hellenistic world", also known as the "Hellenistic East", specifically referring to the Near East, Central Asia, and North India under the rule of Alexander's successors and their descendants. This tradition of definition also has the logical consequence of pitting the "Romanized West" against the "Hellenistic East" or the "Roman West" against the "Greek East". Much of the study of the ancient history of the world after Alexandria has been carried out under the dichotomous nature of this dichotomous thinking.
It is undeniable that this temporal and spatial setting has its rationality and validity: the rule of the Macedonian-Greek kings did indeed constitute the most direct impetus for the Hellenization of the here and now. But from the point of view of historical reality, there was not only Hellenism before and after the "Hellenistic era", but also Hellenism outside the "East". From both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar to the southern foothills of the Himalayas, from the Scythian steppes of Eastern Europe to East Africa and the shores of the Arabian Peninsula at the southern end of the Red Sea, Hellenistic phenomena have occurred culturally, albeit to varying degrees, modalities and impulses. The Balkans, Italy, Asia Minor, Phoenicia, Carthage, and other places were Hellenistic long before Alexander, while Axum in East Africa was Hellenistic in the traditional sense of the word.
Although the voice is still very weak, some scholars are trying to break through the traditional theoretical vision and theoretical framework of "Hellenistic world = Hellenistic East". In 2013, a book entitled The Hellenistic West: Rethinking the Ancient Mediterranean was published, with a focus on Pompeii, the Adriatic coast of Central Italy, Sicily, Numidia, Iberia, Punic cultures, and the Hellenization of the entire Western Mediterranean. Edward Bisfam of the Department of Classics, Oxford, author of The 'Hellenization of Death' in Adriatic Italy, adds a footnote to the question of what makes the "West" "Hellenistic" that the same question can be asked about the "Hellenistic South" or the "Hellenistic North". For the latter concept, he suggested referring to David Blond, professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, published in 2002. Brown's article, entitled "The Savannah and the Sea: The Hellenistic North of the Black Sea Region before the First Century BC," shows the living conditions of Greek colonial city-states, non-Greek ethnic groups, and various political groups in the Black Sea region, as well as the diverse interactions between them.
The arguments of these scholars suggest that in order to get closer to historical reality, we need to adopt a global historical perspective. The author thinks that it can be summed up by the concept of the "Hellenistic Quartet" and establish the equation of "Hellenistic World = Hellenistic Quartet". Moreover, the observation of the Hellenism of the Quartet should not be confined to the Hellenistic era. To this end, it is necessary to first define the parties to the "Hellenistic Quartet".
At first glance, the definition of the Hellenistic parties seemed to be a matter of geographical division, but it was not. Directionally, Egypt was located to the south, but the traditionally defined "Hellenistic East" included Ptolemaic Egypt. It should be admitted that such a delineation has its utility for the observation of history: the impetus for the formation of the "Hellenistic East" came from Macedonia, whose rulers directly contributed to the Hellenization of Egypt, Western Asia, the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, and North India that they conquered. If Egypt belongs to the "East", then what about the "Hellenistic South" in **? Bysfam does not specify what he means when he refers to this concept, but we can almost conclude that he is referring to Meroe and Axum in southern Egypt. These southern neighbors have a tradition of borrowing Egyptian culture since ancient times. When the Ptolemaic dynasty brought Hellenism to Egypt, the Meroe royal family also borrowed several elements of Greek culture, such as architectural styles. The Kingdom of Axum, which guarded the exit to the Red Sea, also used Greek as an official language and even as a literary language. It is not difficult to see that the "Hellenistic South" is in fact a by-product of the "Hellenistic East", a product of the Hellenistic-Roman Egyptian influence.
The "Hellenistic West" discussed in The Hellenistic West: Rethinking the Ancient Mediterranean is the entire Midwestern Mediterranean world west of Greece and Egypt. This geographical definition is reasonable in the light of historical facts. It is worth noting that the formation and development of the "Hellenistic West" was not only driven by the Greeks who went to the Midwest to colonize the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians and their colonial branches, the Carthaginians, who fought for colonization in the same sea, were also one of the powerful driving forces of Hellenism in the "West". The Punic world, which Carthage and its colonies of Western Sicily, Southern Sardinia, and Southern Spain, was itself the base of Hellenism, and the Hellenization of neighboring regions (such as Numidia in North Africa) was also inseparable from the radiation of highly Hellenistic Punic culture. Similarly, the initial Hellenism of central and northern Italy, including Latinum, in addition to the direct influence of the Greeks in southern Italy, was inseparable from the cultural setter role of the Etruscans. Similar to the situation in Asia Minor and Phoenicia, many parts of the "Hellenistic West", especially the beginning of the Hellenistic Hellenism in Italy and Sicily, followed the rise of Greek civilization and almost synchronized the cultural development of Greece itself. Greece itself was in the Archaic era, and the artistic styles of the non-Greek ethnic groups in Italy and Sicily were also Greek. When Greece entered the classical era, it also saw that the whole of Italy and Sicily became followers of the Greek classical style. Later, Rome, which conquered the entire Mediterranean world, and the Roman Empire in particular, became the dominant force for "Western" Hellenism.
David Blond, who coined the concept of the "Hellenistic North", focused on the Hellenization of the northern shores of the Black Sea, but the term "Hellenistic North" actually applies to the entire Black Sea region, since the Black Sea itself constitutes an ecological and historical unit. Similar to the Midwestern Mediterranean as the "West", this Hellenization of the "North" was the result of the Greeks' colonization of the Black Sea periphery and their symbiosis and cultural interaction with the local population. The interior of the "North" is also divided into four distinct shores of the Black Sea. On the northern shore of the Black Sea, there was the Hellenization of the steppe nomads, both the Bosphorus and the Hellenistic Hellenistic societies of the Greeks and non-Greeks, as well as the Late Scythian kingdom on the Crimean peninsula that adopted the Greek language and culture exactly.
However, clear boundaries between the other three coastal areas of the Black Sea and other Hellenistic regions are not easily demarcated. The southern shore of the Black Sea is actually the northern shore of Asia Minor, and the whole of Asia Minor also constitutes an integrated cultural unit, and is often regarded as part of the "Hellenistic East". A similar situation exists on the eastern and western shores of the Black Sea. Korchis on the east bank also belonged to the Caucasus Mountains, and Iberia, Albania, and Armenia, both to the east and south of the region, were often considered part of the "Hellenistic East", although only Armenia fell under the rule of Alexander and the Seleucid kingdoms for a time.
Thrace on the western shore of the Black Sea is part of the northern Balkans, and the Thracians, Macedonians, Paionians, and Illyrians of the northern Balkans were the first to begin the Hellenistic process due to their proximity to native Greeks, and there is close interaction between them. In fact, the Balkans as a whole as a region of Hellenistic and Hellenistic culture, in its own right, can hardly be classified as a whole on either side of the "Hellenistic Quartet", but its different parts seem to belong to a different party. Just as Thrace belonged to the "Hellenistic North" at the same time, Illyria, which was also colonized by the Greeks, was more culturally oriented to the Mediterranean Sea to the west.
The blurring of the boundaries between the "Hellenistic Quartet" also illustrates the unity of the entire "Hellenistic world" from another aspect. In fact, it is not uncommon to see the spread of a cultural trend across multiple sources. For example, the basic format of the title of "king" plus the king's name, pioneered by the Macedonian-Greek king coin inscription of the "Hellenistic East", was also imitated in the other three Hellenistic parties, such as the numismatic inscription of Agatocles, the tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily, the numismatic inscription ba i e ki oypoy ("King Skiluros's") of the late Scythian king of Crimea, and the numismatic inscription of King Ndubius of the Kingdom of Axum in East Africa, King Ndubis, δ King Ndubis”）。 These numismatic inscriptions, which follow the basic format described above and have their own grammatical and orthography characteristics, also show that Hellenism is both transnational and local.
In short, the concept of the "Hellenistic Quartet", as a new theoretical tool, can be effectively used to observe, analyze and reproduce the trans-local and local nature of Hellenistic culture in the "Hellenistic world" and the various historical dynamics behind it, and can be promoted, developed and improved.
Author: Xu Xiaoxu, professor of the School of History, Renmin University of Chinese, this article is the phased achievement of the national social science ** unpopular and unpopular project "Translation and Research of the Fragments of the Ancient Greek Epic "Heroine Genealogy").