1. Philip and Alexander
   Building upon his father's triumphs over the Greek citystates, Alexander's conquests in Egypt and western Asia revolutionized Western civilization.
   1. The Rise of Macedon
      The strategy and statecraft of Philip enabled the Macedonian king to defeat and dominate much of the Greek peninsula.
   2. Alexander the Conqueror
      Charismatic and ruthless, Alexander used his short reign to gain great military victories, establish a personal despotism, and move his diverse subjects towards a new cultural fusion.
2. The Hellenistic Kingdoms, 323-30 B.C.
   Alexander's successors presided over political and cultural fusion between their indigenous and Greek subjects.
   1. Colonialism, Greek Style
      As a new Greek identity rooted in Greek civilization took hold, Greek and Macedonian elites joined with natives to administer the Hellenistic kingdoms.
   2. Economic Expansion
      The creation of new cities and increased use of money caused an increase in production and trade that fueled the Hellenistic world's great prosperity.
   3. Macedon and Greece
      The Antigonid dynasty battled rival Greek federations, economic distress, and class conflict.
   4. Ptolemaic Egypt
      The Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt ruled in the manner of the pharaohs over the wealthiest and most sophisticated part of the Hellenistic world.
   5. Seleucids and Attalids
      The farflung, multiethnic Asian kingdom of the Seleucids and neighboring Attalid Pergamum followed divergent paths of cultural and political development.
   6. The GrecoIndian Interaction
      While Greek political control over Bactria and India soon failed, economic and cultural exchange linked the Hellenistic kingdoms with their eastern counterparts.
3. The Alexandrian Moment
   The chief city of the Hellenistic world, Egyptian Alexandria defined the diverse and rich culture of the era.
   1. The Anti-Epic Temperament
      Hellenistic authors such as Menander abandoned the epic, public style of the past for domestic, private themes.
   2. Advances in Science and Medicine
      Pure scientific inquiry, divorced from philosophical interests, flourished in the Hellenistic world, but did not lead to industrial applications.
   3. Men and Women in Art and Society
      Improvements in women's political and legal status reflected greater ones in economic and ideological status, a part of Hellenistic social and artistic attitudes toward women.
4. The Turn Inward: New Philosophies, New Faiths
   The pressures of cultural fusion between Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples transformed political, religious, and philosophical traditions.
   1. Cynics, Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics
      Hellenistic philosophy concentrated on ethical systems designed to provide peace of mind, such as Stoical seeking of wisdom and Epicurean materialism.
   2. The Mystery Religions
      With the traditional pantheon of gods under attack, ruler-worship, the cult of Tyche (Fortune), and the secretive mystery religions grew in devotional importance.
   3. Hellenistic Judaism
      Alternately attracted and repulsed by Greek culture, Hellenistic Jews across the Mediterranean world sought direction in competing sects and apocalyptic beliefs.