Ancient Greek Philosophy
The ancient Greek philosophy thrived between sixth century BCE and sixth century CE. It began in pre- socratic era and continued throughout the Hellenistic and Roman period.
The Hellenistic period covers the period of ancient Greek (Hellenic) history and Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire. Some scholars and historians are of the opinion that the Hellenistic period ended either with the conquest of the Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC following the Achean War or with the defeat of the Ptolemaic Kingdom at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.
Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has influenced much of Western culture since its inception. Some claim that Greek philosophy, in turn, was influenced by the older wisdom, literature and mythological cosmogonies of the ancient Near East. Contact with oriental cosmology and theology helped to liberate the early Greek philosophers’ imagination and it gave them many suggestive ideas. But they taught themselves to reason.
Subsequent philosophic tradition was so influenced by Socrates (as presented by Plato) that it is conventional to refer to philosophy developed prior to Socrates as pre-Socratic philosophy. The period following this until Alexander is considered Classical Greek Philosophy. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric, and aesthetics.
Alexander’s conquests established Hellenistic kingdoms throughout south-west Asia (Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Pergamon), north-east Africa (Ptolemaic Kingdom) and South Asia (Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek Kingdom). This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to these new realms through Greco-Macedonian colonization. However, Greeks were influenced by the indigenous cultures and adopted local practices where beneficial, necessary, or convenient.
At this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its peak in Europe, Africa and Asia, experiencing prosperity and progress in the arts, exploration, literature, theatre, architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy, and science. It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration compared with the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era (5th and 4th century BC)
