The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, 336-250 BC

by Philip Matyszak

The author of 24 Hours in Ancient Athens"tells the powerful story of how Greek history survived the meteor of Alexander and his brief world empire" (Firetrench).

When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, he left an empire that stretched from the shores of the Adriatic to the mountains of Afghanistan. This empire did not survive Alexander's death, and rapidly broke into several successor states. These states, substantial kingdoms in their own right, dominated Asia Minor, Greece, the Levant and Egypt for the next three hundred years.

While Philip Matyszak's narrative covers their remarkable contribution of the Eastern Greeks in fields such as philosophy, science and culture, the main focus is on the rivalry, politics and wars, both civil and foreign, which the Hellenistic rulers constantly fought among themselves. As in other fields, the Successor Kingdoms were innovators in the military and diplomatic field. Indeed, their wars and diplomatic skirmishes closely presage those of eighteenth-century Europe and the superpower rivalries of the twentieth century. The complex interaction of these different kingdoms, each with its own character and evolving military systems, combined geopolitics and grand strategy with diplomatic duplicity, and relentless warfare. The epic story of the successor states is full of flawed heroes, palace intrigue, murder, treachery, incest, rebellion and conquest.

Genres: History, Greece, Nonfiction, Ancient History

184 pages, ebook

Published November 19, 2019

About the author

Philip Matyszak is a British nonfiction author, primarily of historical works relating to ancient Rome. Matyszak has a doctorate in Roman history from St. John's College, Oxford. In addition to being a professional author, he also teaches ancient history for Madingley Hall Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matyszak seems best when talking about this era in general, which is good for me since its my favorite historical era (before the rise of the Turkic-Mongol people anyway). I expect this one will be much more fun to read than its sequel when we have to see this world dismantled by the gentrification of that was Rome.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent work for what it sets out to do, which is a compact introduction to the Hellenistic Kingdoms, how they came to be and how they attempted to build structures to survive. Very readable, enough detail to be interesting but not so much to be overwhelming.

[Guilherme · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fine book, though I've come to expect that from Maty. The story is a mess, and I challenge anyone to keep all of the dynastic marriages/assassinations/invasions separate, but Maty does as good a job as can be done. As an aside, I really agree with Maty that the little we have of Hellenistic art leaves the Classical stuff in the dust... Nike of Samothrace, Dying Gaul, Laocöon? Beautiful.

One issue is that the publisher, Pen & Sword, needs to get its act together" There are some pretty crazy typos, including some dates being off by 100 years and at least one mix-up of Antigonus and Antiochus. Besides this, the maps are god-awful. They look like they were made by hand in MS Paint, printed off from a dot-matrix printer, and scanned back in.

[David Cuatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally well written book about this very important period in the history of Western Civilization. The author hits a nice balance between facts and readability that made this a pleasure. I will certainly look for more titles by him.