A second Hellenistic Era?

Reading Peter Green's "The Hellenistic Age", I kept thinking that life in the Hellenistic world seemed familiar (c. 323-31 B.C.). This board often compares Western society to the late Roman Empire, but is this time period a better parallel. Thoughts?

>After a great war, the western world becomes the dominant military and economic power, people no longer have external rivals which they see as an existential threat (Alexander's conquests vs. the world wars/Communism)
>Large scale urbanization and migration
>Spread of western culture across the globe
>Growing access to information and scholarship (Library of Alexandria and research centers vs. the internet)
>Rise of individualism, entrepreneurship, and self-help philosophies accompanied by loss of direct participation in democracy
>Loss of religion
>Focus on large architecture projects and experimentation in the arts, accompanied by a feeling that art was more meaningful in the past (both the 21st century and 4th century B.C. thought 5th century Athens was a 'classic' age)
>Greater openness about sexuality leading to accusations society is becoming degenerate
>Government policies promoting multiculturalism to reduce ethnic tensions and boost economic migration
>Most people no longer have military experience as citizen-soldiers replaced by paid professional soldiers

not going to read this shit

There has never been a time in history that compares to the prosperity of the modern age.

Even people in the shittiest conditions are living 100x better than the best people during Hellenistic Greece, or Rome, or any other time that is not within the last 200 years

the postmodern age is shit. Modern age was cool

Greek mercenaries were super common following the Hellenistic age

tell me again how it´s shit that you can talk to anyone you want, in a matter of seconds
tell me again how it´s shit that you don´t have to continuously worry about being raided by the barbarians living outside your town

So You Calling for:
Donald "nikator" Trump
Angela "Soter" Merkel
Wladimir "Euergetes" Putin.
To lead armys in the field and crown them self Kings/Queens?

I like trump but he is just a congress puppet

>tell me again how it´s shit that you don´t have to continuously worry about being raided by the barbarians living outside your town
>implying

>East Timor flag
Mate, that's in Asia, not Europe/Africa

>Large scale urbanization and migration
Mostly from Greece to the new areas of Greek settlement, and even then that's pretty minor
>Growing access to information and scholarship (Library of Alexandria and research centers vs. the internet)
This is true of a lot of the progression of history until Rome starts to decline
>Rise of individualism, entrepreneurship, and self-help philosophies accompanied by loss of direct participation in democracy
Don't know about the rise of individualism and entrepreneurship in Hellenistic Greece, and the decline in direct participation in democracy had more to do with the ending of the democratic states, not oligopolies
>Loss of religion
This is a pretty common claim in antiquity, and it's obviously difficult to verify
>Focus on large architecture projects and experimentation in the arts, accompanied by a feeling that art was more meaningful in the past
Did this really happen during the Hellenistic age? I can't recall anything from the time that states that they felt art was now worth less
>Greater openness about sexuality leading to accusations society is becoming degenerate
far from new in Greece
>Government policies promoting multiculturalism to reduce ethnic tensions and boost economic migration
the only "economic migration" was either mercenaries leaving Greece for armies in Hellenistic kingdoms or to work as administrators
>Most people no longer have military experience as citizen-soldiers replaced by paid professional soldiers
the hoplites were never the majority and the mercenaries then were Greeks leaving Greece, not other people working as mercenaries in Greece (and most modern armies don't use mercenaries)

>implying intensifies

That wasn’t really his point but ok

>you can talk to anyone you want, in a matter of seconds
gay
>n´t have to continuously worry about being raided by the barbarians living outside your town
muslims

>AMERICANIZATION

>not going to read this shit

OP, you are definitely approaching the truth. We are emerging from a long dark age, and now we are on the verge of a new Classical age. The Ancient Greek and Chinese worlds are being made beautiful and new, we assemble here online and the hundred schools contend!

OP here,

>Burger etc.

Now that you mention it.... could be fun to watch

I think the authors' point on individualism was 1) Greeks moving from city states like Athens to cosmopolitan centers like Alexandria creates both opportunities for social mobility but also rootlessness (e.g., your tribe and deme are less important to your social life), and 2) decline of community-based consumption of culture (e.g., Dionysia festivals) and more focus on individual-based consumption (e.g., sitting at home, reading)

As for art worth less, I was thinking about Hellenistic idolization of the three tragic poets, But maybe you're right it's more complex than that
A new Classical Age came to the Greeks only after Roman invasion and domination. Let's hope our transition is less painful.

Well to be fair, Hellenisn was the most intelectually produttive period ever during the ancient era, and This is the most intelectually productive period, period.

Why would someone even take a photo of this? I was gonna say for the photographer to jerk off, but you can barely even see the woman.

>Loss of religion

Oriental mystery cults became common as fuck and religion became more and more centered around one God (Mitra, Jahve, Sol Invictus).

Nice analysis, but let me nitpick a bit.
>people no longer have external rivals which they see as an existential threat
Yes, but that doesn't mean that large scale wars suddenly stopped being fought. The average Greek mightn't have feared Persian domination, but their Kings were still fighting over Alexander's Empire and the Greek city states felt (in the early Hellenistic Period at least) that they were being deprived of their god-given and self evident political rights.
>Rise of individualism, entrepreneurship, and self-help philosophies accompanied by loss of direct participation in democracy
I would argue this is a carry over from the Classical Age's sophists and oligarchies.
>Loss of religion
There's no evidence for this claim whatsoever.