Athens in the Hellenistic period: From Antigonos Gonatas to Sulla (262/1 - 86 BCE)

Master thesis defended at Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Belgrade in 2018. The thesis deals with Athenian history from the end of the Chraemonidean War to the sack of the city by Lucius Cornelius Sulla. The thesis consists of two main parts. The first one deals with political and military history in this period and ends in 86 BCE. Since the death of Alexander the Great, the Athenians sought to free themselves from the Macedonian rule. Their final attempt by military means was in so-called Chraemonidean War (268-262/1 BCE) which ended in another Athenian defeat. Athens was under direct Macedonian control until 229 BCE when the Athenians used the change on the Macedonian throne to free themselves peacefully. After a short period of neutrality, Athens became Roman ally from the Second Macedonian War. That alliance lasted more than a century, and it came to an unexpected end in the First Mithridatic War. Athens sided with the Pontic king and for that Sulla took and looted the city in 86 BCE. A demographic decline characterizes the Athenian population in this period. In the second part of the 2nd century BCE, citizens with Roman/Italic names appear in Athens. Economically, Athens was in decline until the middle of the 2nd century BCE. After the Third Macedonian War, Rome gave the island of Delos to the Athenians. Delos was tax-free, which significantly boosted the Athenian economy. Athenian civic religion saw both continuity and change in this period. The Athenians renewed old cults and imported new ones from Egypt or Rome. Athens lost almost all of its political power and was turning into an intellectual and cultural centre in the newly emerging Roman world. Its famous philosophical schools made it an attractive place of learning both for Hellenistic kings and Roman dignitaries