Everyone in the class has been given a Hellenistic identity this semester (e.g., a slave in Pergamon, Demetrius Poliorcetes, a soldier from Macedonia, Hermogenes, a prostitute in Alexandria, Theocritus, etc.) and has researched that identity in order to be able to comment on how that person would be effected by events during the Hellenistic period, how he/she would react to the art, science, literature, history etc. which we are discussing in this class, and what his/her life would have been like. Everyone has written an “autobiography” for this identity which is posted below. The Hellenistic world is a very complex place—the idea is to give you, through this identity, a handle on approaching and understanding it.

The Autobiographies: