What is the intersection of Greek culture and oriental culture?

Alexander studied under Aristotle. Aristotle believed that the barbarians around Greece were born slaves. So he taught Alexander to be the leader of the Greeks, the master of the barbarians, the Greeks as friends and relatives, the barbarians as plants, cows and horses.

Alexander didn't learn from his teacher. He is a worldwide genius. He first broke the narrow indulgence of patriotism, nationalism and racism in the Greek slave city-state in practice. He ordered the Greeks to regard the world as their hometown, treat the good people as relatives and treat the bad people as outsiders.

During the Eastern Expedition, Alexander tried his best to eliminate the differences between Greeks and Orientals. He even claimed to be the son of the Egyptian god Amon, and put on the sacred coat of oriental monarchy. In his army, he abolished the distinction between Macedonian veterans and Asian recruits. When building his great empire, he also invited the defeated to help him and treated them like comrades in arms. More interestingly, he not only married two Persian princesses himself, but also forced his Macedonian officers to marry Persian aristocratic women, and held a grand wedding in Susa, the capital of Persia. The most direct effect of this policy is to let the Greeks have the concept of human unity in their minds. The former loyalty to the polis and the loyalty to the Greek race are out of date and should be abandoned. The integration policy pursued by the leaders has opened up a broad road for the large-scale integration of Greek culture and oriental culture.

The essential part of Greek culture is urban culture. Although many Greeks are also engaged in agriculture, and many cities are also agricultural, the most important achievement of Greek culture since the Miletus School has been linked with wealthy commercial cities. For this reason, the main form of Greek cultural communication is naturally that Greek cities bloom everywhere in the East.

During the expedition, Alexander tried to build Greek cities wherever he went and named them after him. The most famous of these Greek cities are: Alexandria in Egypt, Alexandria in Mahayana (present-day Marv), Alexandria in Aria (present-day Herat), Alexandria in West Asia, Alako (present-day Kandahar), Alexandria in Socodiana (present-day Kutinde) and so on. In addition, there are many Alexandria in the Indus Valley and other places.

After Alexander's death, the empire was divided up by his three generals, and the kingdoms of Macedonia (ruling the Greek mainland), Seleucus (ruling Asia Minor, the two river basins and Syria) and Ptolemy (ruling Egypt), Seleucus and Ptolemy were established respectively, and many similar cities were established. In Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia, there are cities such as Seleucia, Abamia and Leontija. The Ptolemaic Kingdom built Ruishi, Berenick, Philadelphia, Asin Noyes and Shanika in Egypt.

In addition to the conquerors, the Greeks built many new cities, and the old cities built by the Orientals also accepted a large number of Greek immigrants, who brought the economic, political and cultural models of Greece to these cities. For example, Damascus in Syria, Ke Cheng in Phoenicia, Coptus on the Nile, etc.

During the Hellenistic period of 300 years, Greek cultural elements were spread to Alexander and his descendants with absolute superiority. Especially Greek, from Marseilles to India, from the Black Sea to the Great Falls, is everywhere. The Hellenistic influence on Babylon was particularly far-reaching. Tacitus, a famous Roman historian, told us that in the first century A.D., "Seleucia, a powerful city surrounded by city walls, although very popular, still adhered to the legacy of Seleucia, the founder of the city, and did not degenerate into a barbaric country. Three hundred members elected according to wealth or wisdom form the Senate. The people have their own privileges. "

Oriental culture not only absorbed the elements of Greek culture, but also had a great influence on Greek culture.

The conquest and occupation of the East not only expanded the scope of agricultural and animal husbandry production, but also expanded the scope of industrial activities around the Eastern Mediterranean. Since then, industry has had more raw materials. First, the old raw materials used in Greece have increased, so don't go abroad to find them; Second, many new raw materials have been added, and the methods of producing these new raw materials that Greece did not know before have been passed down, which is undoubtedly inherited by ancient oriental civilizations.

Cereals (mainly barley and wheat), grapes and olives were widely planted in Asia Minor, Syria, Babylon and Egypt, which promoted the development of various industries such as bread, wine making and oil pressing in Greece. Asia Minor, Caucasus and Lebanon supplied Greek timber in large quantities, which greatly supported shipbuilding and joinery industries. Flax from Egypt, Galilee and Korcz and cotton from Upper Egypt met the demand of Greek textile industry. Dates in Babylonia and papyrus in Egypt provided raw materials for some manufacturing industries. The fragrant trees of Jews, crocuses of Silesia and storax of Syria provided raw materials for the perfume industry of Greece. Wool from Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt, purple shellfish from Phoenicia, and fish products from Bentu, Syria and Egypt greatly enriched the nutrition, textiles or chemicals of the Greeks. In particular, the mineral raw materials needed by Greek industry are also continuously shipped from the East. In a word, the material civilization in the East provided conditions for the development of Greek material civilization.

The Greeks also drew nutrition from the eastern institutional culture. On the one hand, the Greeks spread urban life to the East on an unprecedented scale. On the other hand, the Greek countries established in the East borrowed from these ancient civilizations the government form of the monarchy. In the Nile Valley, the king invited by the Ptolemaic dynasty was, in every respect, the successor of the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt. In Syria, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the regime of Seleuc Kingdom is not much different from that of the previous Persian Empire. In all Hellenistic kingdoms, the king is a god, and the kingship is supreme without any restrictions. Theoretically, the king is the master and leader of the country, and all the wealth and power of the country are at his disposal. This omnipotent power, whether exercised by the king himself, by members of the royal family, or in the name of the king, is no different. The principle of absolute monarchy ruled the political life of the Greek kingdom.

In terms of cognitive culture, oriental culture has also had a far-reaching impact on Greek culture. Babylonian astrology, in particular, was first integrated into Greek culture. Astrology worship began very early in Babylon. Babylonians believe that the stars in the sky have a corresponding relationship with people, and the planets with fixed orbits can determine people's actions, because people are a small universe and the counterpart of the big universe, and the human soul is just a spark of the burning fire in the planet. This is the Babylonian view of fate. Stars, gods and people are all dominated by fate. In Alexander's time, a Chaldean named Beruso first taught astrology to the Greeks. Some people say that astrology has come to the Hellenistic thought, just like a new disease has come to the residents of a remote island. The tomb of Antioch I (28 BC1-26 BC1) found in Kangmagen is full of astrological symbols. The king will naturally believe that the stars are watching them. Everyone is ready to accept this germ. Even most philosophers believe in astrology, because astrology can predict the future, so it contains the belief in necessity or fate, which is consistent with the idealistic pursuit of philosophers.

In the 2nd century BC, a new wave of witchcraft spread from Asia to Europe by astrology, which made people think there was hope to control nature, gods and stars. Witchcraft usually begins with sympathy for witchcraft. In order to promote the realization of a process, people show their views, simulate it, or perform a drama to describe the process, so as to control nature. For example, frogs can make rain, and Babylonians thought they could learn from frogs. So he pretended to be a frog and learned to croak, hoping to get the rain they wanted. In this way, the sacrifice and worship of miracles were produced, and then dogmas or myths were invented to explain them. Later, people thought that the power of nature was elves, and the long-standing witchcraft ceremony was left intact or slightly changed to become a prayer ceremony. Ritual religion is based on this kind of ritual of imitating and connecting gods, and most of them want to be saved by protecting the possession of gods in people. The patron saint has many names. It came back from the dead. These religions have existed in Greece for a long time. But with the collapse of Olympia in the Hellenistic international atmosphere, these religions have spread all over the world. Since the 2nd century BC, people's religious consciousness has been deepening. Before the rise of Christianity, most of their needs were met through ritual religion.