Page 122 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

Relations Between Greeks and Non-Greeks
The relationship between the Greek conquerors and the native peoples of the Near East was often a difficult one. Although a number of the local inhabitants learned Greek in order to advance economically and politically, they were often not treated as equals by the dominant Greek minority. These documents reveal two facets of the problem. In the first selection, a member of the local population complains about his treatment by the Greeks. The second one reveals the dangers Greeks could experience from local peoples.
Letter to Zenon
To Zenon, greeting. You do well if you are healthy. I too am well. You know that you left me in Syria with Krotos and I did everything that was ordered with respect to the camels and was blameless towards you. When you sent a order to give me pay, he gave nothing of what you ordered. . . . When you sent me again to Philadelphia to Jason, although I do everything that is ordered, for nine months now he gives me nothing of what you ordered me to have, neither oil nor grain. . . . And I am toiling away both summer and winter. And he orders me to accept sour wine for my ration. Well, they have treated me with scorn because I am a “barbarian.” I beg you therefore, if it seems good to you, to give them orders that I am to obtain what is owing and that in future they pay me in full, in order
that I may not perish of hunger because I do not know how to speak Greek.
Letter to Dionysios
To Dionysios from Ptolemaios. . . . Being outrageously wronged and often put in danger of my life by the below-listed cleaners from the sanctuary, I am seeking refuge with you thinking that I shall thus particularly receive justice. For in the 21st year, they came to the sanctuary, in which I have been for the aforesaid years, some of them holding stones in their hands, others sticks, and tried to force their way in, so that with this opportunity they might plunder the temple and kill me because I am a Greek, attacking me in concerted fashion. And when I made it to the door of the temple before them and shut it with a great crash, and ordered them to go away quietly, they did not depart; but they struck Diphilos, one of the servants, who showed his indignation at the way they were behaving in the sanctuary, robbing him outrageously and attacking him violently and beating him, so that their illegal violence was made obvious to everybody.
Q What do these documents reveal about the relationship between the conquerors and the conquered? What problems did each face?
Source: From Roger S. Bagnall and Peter Derow, editors, The Hellenistic Period (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), pp. 230–231, 232.
the poleis of their homeland. But it was no longer possi- ble to do so. The new cities were not autonomous enti- ties and soon found themselves dependent on the power of the Hellenistic monarchies. Although the kings did not rule the cities directly, they restricted freedom in other ways. Cities knew they could not con- duct an independent foreign policy and did not try to do so. The kings also demanded tribute, which could be a heavy burden.
The Greek cities of the Hellenistic era were the chief agents for the spread of Greek culture in the Near East, as far, in fact, as modern Afghanistan and India. These cities were also remarkably vibrant despite their subor- dination to the Hellenistic monarchies and continued to be a focal point for the loyalty of their citizens.
84 Chapter 4 The Hellenistic World
Economic Trends in the Hellenistic
World
Agriculture was still of primary importance to both the native populations and the new Greek cities of the Hel- lenistic world. The Greek cities continued their old agrarian patterns. A well-defined citizen body owned land and worked it with the assistance of slaves. But these farms were isolated units in a vast area of land ultimately owned by the king or assigned to large estate owners and worked by native peasants dwelling in vil- lages. Overall, then, neither agricultural patterns nor methods of production underwent significant changes.
Few new products or manufacturing methods were introduced during the Hellenistic era, but the centers of
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