When Alexander the Great subjugated all the lands stretching from Greece to India, he also successfully bound different territories under a new cultural norm called Hellenism. Hellenism is a mixture of Greek and its colonies’ cultures. Cultural integration was a vital part of Alexander’s cosmopolitan policies. Hellenism set root in every aspect of Alexander’s empire and even expanded beyond the imperial boundaries. Among the many memorable influences of Hellenism, two of the most significant impacts of this overarching cultural integration were on religion and art.
Hellenism hugely influenced multiple religions, and the most prominent result was the Hellenism-Christianity synthesis. I personally found Christianity and Greek religion to be in contrast from one another; the Greeks were polytheistic while the Christians were monotheistic. The approach to godhood was also very different between them. The Greeks saw their gods as humanlike and easily interactable beings, while the Christians regarded their God as a transcendent and omnipotent one. However, the Greek culture still managed to permeate into Christianity. One example of Hellenism’s influence is Plato and the stoic notion of the Logos, meaning “word” in Greek. The Logos, by Stoic philosophers, is a universal force behind every reason and truth. Later Christian scholars merged the Greek idea of the Logos into Christianity by referring the Logos to God. I believe the line in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” is an epitome of how God equates to the word, or the Logos, or the truth.
Another influence of Hellenism on Christianity is the creation of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a sect of Christian heresy that believes that only Gnosis, the Greek notion of knowledge, is the key to salvation. They believed that God didn’t create the world but instead a lower level divinity called Demiurge. I think Gnosticism originates from Plato’s teaching that knowledge is the only way to escape the imperfection of mortal bodies. Gnosticism rejected Jesus, held knowledge in the highest regard, and was considered one of the most dangerous heresies.
Hellenism blended into Christianity, creating new concepts and ideas. Hellenism also affected the art of its colonies. In the final stage of his conquest, Alexander managed to conquer the northern parts of India under his empire. Under his reign, India adopted the Greek art of statue-making into Buddhism. Early Buddhists commemorated their religion by establishing temples and shrines, but under Hellenism, they adopted Greek culture and started sculpting statues of the Buddha and other figures. This adoption of the Greek statue-making into India’s Buddhism is called Gandhara art. Gandhara art is a perfect example of the synthesis of culture. I also believe the Greek element of “archaic smile,” the art of putting a smile on a statue’s face, was spread throughout India along with Gandhara art. The statue-making of the Gandhara art and an archaic smile spread beyond the border of India and impacted neighboring Asian states that adopted Buddhism – China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. I personally found it highly incredible how a cultural influence from Greece spread all the way to the very eastern part of the continent during these ancient times, all thanks to Alexander’s conquest and Hellenism.
Alexander is remembered as the greatest conqueror of all time, but his cosmopolitan policies and effort to unite different cultures are what really gave his empire meaning and a lasting legacy. Alexander’s empire soon collapsed after his death. The vast landmass of his empire would dissolve into separate states. But Hellenism still lived on and gave cultural roots to new nations.