sixth century A.D. repeated earthquakes laid Antioch in ruins. The city never recovered its prosperity, though a modern town, Antakia, still marks the site of the once famous capital.

Asia Minor, during this period, contained many Hellenistic cities. One of the most important was Pergamum, the capital of a small but independent kingdom of the same name. Its rulers earned the gratitude of all the Greeks by their resistance to the terrible Gauls. About fifty

Pergamum

The statue represents a Gaul who in battle has fallen on his sword, to avoid a shameful captivity. Overcome by the faintness of death he sinks upon his shield, his head dropping heavily forward. Though realistic, the statue shows nothing violent or revolting. It is a tragedy in stone.

years after Alexander's death this barbarous people, pouring down from central Europe, had ravaged Greece and invaded Asia Minor. The kings of Pergamum celebrated their victories over the Gauls with so many works of architecture and sculpture that their city became the artistic rival of Athens.

One other great Hellenistic center existed in the island city of Rhodes. Founded during the closing years of the Peloponnesian War, Rhodes soon distanced Athens in the Rhodes race for commercial supremacy. The merchants of Rhodes framed admirable laws, especially for business affairs, and many of these were incorporated in the Roman code. Rhodes was celebrated for art. No less than three thousand statues adorned the streets and public buildings. It was also a

favorite place of education for promising orators and writers. During Roman days many eminent men, Cicero and Julius Cæsar among them, studied oratory at Rhodes.

literature

45. The Hellenistic Age

These splendid cities in the Orient were the centers of much literary activity. Their inhabitants, whether Hellenic or "barHellenistic barian," used Greek as a common language. During this period Greek literature took on a cosmopolitan character. It no longer centered in Athens. Writers found their audiences in all lands where Greeks had settled. At the same time literature became more and more an affair of the study. The authors were usually professional bookmen writing for a bookish public. They produced many works of literary criticism, prepared excellent grammars and dictionaries, but wrote very little poetry or prose of enduring value.

The Hellenistic Age was distinguished as an age of learning. Particularly was this true at Alexandria, where the Museum, The Museum founded by the first Macedonian king of Egypt, at Alexandria became a real university. It contained galleries of art, an astronomical observatory, and even zoological and botanical gardens. The Museum formed a resort for men of learning, who had the leisure necessary for scholarly research. The beautiful gardens, with their shady walks, statues, and fountains, were the haunt of thousands of students whom the fame of Alexandria attracted from all parts of the civilized world. In addition to the Museum there was a splendid library, which at one time contained over five hundred thousand manuscripts-almost everything that had been written The Alexandrian in antiquity. The chief librarian ransacked priLibrary vate collections and purchased all the books he could find. Every book that entered Egypt was brought to the Library, where slaves transcribed the manuscript and gave a copy to the owner in place of the original. Before this time the manuscripts of celebrated works were often scarce and always in danger of being lost. Henceforth it was known where to look for them.

A product of the art school of Rhodes (about 150 B.C.) The statue represents the punishment inflicted on Laocoön, a Trojan priest, together with his two sons. A pair of large serpents, sent by the offended gods, have seized the unhappy victims.

Commemorates a naval battle fought in 306 B.C. The statue, which is considerably above life-size, stood on a pedestal having the form of a ship's prow. The goddess of Victory was probably represented holding a trumpet to her lips with her right hand. The fresh ocean breeze has blown her garments back into tumultuous folds.

The Hellenistic Age was remarkable for the rapid advance of scientific knowledge. Most of the mathematical works of the Greeks date from this epoch. Euclid wrote a Scientific treatise on geometry which still holds its place in discoveries the schools. Archimedes of Syracuse, who had once studied at Alexandria, made many discoveries in engineering. A water screw of his device is still in use. He has the credit for finding out the laws of the lever. "Give me a fulcrum on which to rest," he said, "and I will move the earth." The Hellenistic scholars also made remarkable progress in medicine. The medical school of Alexandria was well equipped with charts, models, and dissecting rooms for the study of the human body. During the second century of our era all the medical knowledge of antiquity was gathered up in the writings of Galen (born about 130 A.D.). For more than a thousand years Galen of Pergamum remained the supreme authority in medicine.

In scientific work it seems as if the Greeks had done almost all that could be accomplished by sheer brain power aided only by rude instruments. They had no real telescopes

Ancient and

or microscopes, no mariner's compass or chronom- modern eter, and no very delicate balances. Without science compared such inventions the Greeks could hardly proceed much farther with their researches. Modern scientists are perhaps no better thinkers than were those of antiquity, but they have infinitely better apparatus and can make careful experiments where the Greeks had to rely on shrewd guesses.

Extension of geographical knowledge

During the Hellenistic Age men began to gain more accurate ideas regarding the shape and size of the habitable globe. Such events as the expedition of the "Ten Thousand" 1 and Alexander's conquests in central Asia and India brought new information about the countries and peoples of the Orient. During Alexander's lifetime a Greek named Pytheas, starting from Massilia,2 made an adventurous voyage along the shores of Spain and Gaul and spent some time in Britain. He was probably the first Greek to visit that island. All this new knowledge of East and West was soon gathered 2 See page 89.

1 See page 120.