Hellenistic Philosophy and Art
Art and Philosophy
347 BCE à Plato dies and is succeeded by Speusippus
341 BCE à Epicurus is born in Samos
339 BCE à Speusippus is succeeded by Xenocrates
335 BCE à Aristotle opens his school in Athens
c. 330 BCE à Lysippos develops the official “Alexander image” (turn of the neck, upward glance, anastole of the hair)
322 BCE à Death of Aristotle; Theophrastus becomes head of the Lyceum
314 BCE à Xenocrates dies and Polemo becomes head of the Academy
312 BCE à Zeno of Citium arrives in Athens
307 BCE à Athenian Law passed against schools of philosophy, so Theophrastus and others leave Athens
306 BCE à Athenian Law against philosophical schools rescinded, so Theophrastus and others return; Epicurus returns to Athens and founds the Garden
305 BCE à Birth of Callimachus in Cyrene
c. 301 BCE à Eutychides sculpts the Tyche of Antioch
c. 300 BCE à Stoic School of Philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium; he “Alexander Sarcophagus” is commissioned by Abdalonymus
297 BCE à Foundation of the Museum and Library at Alexandria; Zenodotus appointed Chief Librarian
292 BCE à Menander drowns off Piraeus
287 BCE à Theophrastus dies and Strato becomes head of the Lyceum
285 BCE à Lighthouse of Alexandria built by Sostratos of Cnidos
280 BCE à Birth of Chrysippus
276 BCE à Aratus of Soli and Zeno of Citium are members of Antigonus Gonatas’ court
275 BCE à
Apollonius leaves Alexandria and goes to Rhodes to revise his Argonautica
274 BCE à Grand Procession of Ptolemy II
271 BCE à Epicurus dies
270 BCE à beginning of second period of building at Aï Khanum
268 BCE à Strato dies and Arceslaus becomes head of the Middle Academy
265 BCE à Apollonius of Rhodes is appointed Chief Librarian in Alexandria
264 BCE à Callimachus of Cyrene flourishes
262 BCE à Zeno of Citium dies and is succeeded in the Stoa by Cleanthes of Assos
261 BCE à Birth of Apollonius of Perge, a mathematician
246 BCE à Callimachus writes his Lock of Berenice
245 BCE à
Eratosthenes succeeds Apollonius of Rhodes as Chief Librarian at Alexandria
243 – 242 BCE à
Sparta undergoes substantial social reforms
241 BCE à
Greek architecture begisn to develop in Bactria
240 BCE à
Death of Callimachus
238 BCE à
Issuance of the Canopus Decree
232 BCE à
Cleanthes of Assos dies and is succeeded as head of the Stoa by Chrysippus
230 BCE à
Pergamene sculptures marking Attalus I’s victories over the Galatians are
sculpted
227 BCE à An earthquake in Rhodes shakes down the Colossus
206 BCE à Death of Chrysippus
196 BCE à Issuance of the Rosetta Stone decree; Eratosthenes dies and is succeeded by Aristophanes of Byzantium as Chief Librarian in Alexandria
190 BCE à The Winged Victory of Samothrace is constructed
180 BCE à Aristophanes dies and is succeeded by Aristarchus of Byzantium as Chief Librarian in Alexandria
179 BCE à The Great Altar of Zeus is constructed in Pergamon and the Farnese Cup is made in Alexandria
174 BCE à Work on the Temple of Zeus is Athens is resumed by Antiochus IV
99 BCE à Lucretius is born
83 BCE à Sulla removes the library from Athens (this library includes works by
Aristotle and Theophrastus)
55 BCE à Lucretius dies
45 BCE à Cicero writes the De Finibus
44 BCE à Cicero writes De Natura Deorum
Green, Peter. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age.
Berkeley, University of California Press: 1990.
Taylor, A.E. Epicurus. London, Constable & Company Ltd., 1911.
Walbank, F.W. The Hellenistic World. Cambridge, Harvard University Press: 1992.