of Pergamum would come to an end, its territory and wealth falling under the control of a much better
organized and more civilized nation of barbarians, the Romans. In 133 BC, King Attalus III died; in his
will he left his kingdom to the people of Rome. One by one, all the Macedonian kingdoms became part of
the Roman Empire, the last of them, the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, becoming a Roman province in 30
BC. This did not mean the end of Greek civilization but, rather, the beginning of a new phase that lasted,
remarkably, for nearly a millennium and a half, until the conquest by the Turks of the eastern half of the
Roman Empire in AD 1453.

Figure 81 Marble copy of an original bronze statue of a Gallic warrior and his wife; height of copy 2.11
m, original ca. 230–220 BC. Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, 8608.

Source: © The Art Archive / Alamy Stock Photo.

Zetemata: Questions for Discussion

What    aspects of  Hellenistic culture have    their   origin  in  the period  before  the death   of  Alexander   the

Great?

Why is  it  that    cities  tend    to  be  more    progressive,    while   rural   areas   tend    to  be  more    conservative?

How did financing   for public  services    differ  in  ancient Greece  from    what    we  are used    to  today?

How did the dependence  of  Homer   on  his epic    predecessors    differ  from    Callimachus’    and