Hellenistic

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • adj Hellenistic relating to or characteristic of the classical Greek civilization
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • a Hellenistic Pertaining to the Hellenists.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • Hellenistic Resembling or partaking of Hellenic character, but not truly Hellenic; combining Greek and foreign characteristics or elements, as many of the later Greeks and the Hellenized neighboring peoples, or the modified Greek language, thought, etc., current among them.
    • Hellenistic Particularly, in sculpture and painting, characteristic of the school of Greek art based on the art of Lysippus, the court sculptor of Alexander the Great, which may or may not be considered to include the work of Lysippus himself. It lasted from about 330 b. c. until the Roman supremacy in Greece, and may be extended to include all the work done for the Romans by Greek artists, or in the Greek manner and following Greek models, as late as the early empire. Hellenistic art is characterized in general by a research of effect (posing), by a decided leaning toward the colossal, and by great skill and cleverness in design and execution; but it lacks originality, and seeks to copy the types and methods of the Hellenic epoch rather than to find inspiration in original conceptions and contemporary aims.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • adjs Hellenistic pertaining to the Hellenists: pertaining to Greek with foreign, esp. Aramaic and Hebrew, idioms—a popular dialect which grew up at Alexandria and perpetuated itself in the Septuagint, and to a less marked degree in the New Testament
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Cf. F. Hellénistique,
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Gr. Hellēnios, Helēnikos—Hellēnes, a name ultimately given to all the Greeks—Hellēn, the son of Deucalion, the Greek Noah.

Usage

In literature:

To them the designation of Hellenistical Jews was given.
"History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science" by John William Draper
In reality there were Gnostic sects scattered over the Hellenistic world BEFORE Christianity as well as after.
"Pagan & Christian Creeds" by Edward Carpenter
Such was the case, for instance, in the Hellenistic kingdoms, and in the age of the Caesars.
"The Complete Essays of C. D. Warner" by Charles Dudley Warner
But if these Hellenistic queens knew how to die, they knew not how to live.
"The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 2" by Various
Hellenistic influence on Christianity, 214 n. 8.
"The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism" by Franz Cumont
With Hellenistic influences were mingled confused elements springing from the scattered civilizations which had reigned over the Near East.
"Chinese Painters" by Raphael Petrucci
In the old Hellenistic sense Pan is gone forever.
"A Book of Myths" by Jean Lang
In the Hellenistic period the clown took the role of the Olympic god, and wore the phallus.
"Folkways" by William Graham Sumner
Greek painting never reached a higher point than it had gained at the beginning of the Hellenistic age.
"A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture" by Clara Erskine Clement
These Hellenists, who almost all came from Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, or Cyrene, lived at Jerusalem in distinct quarters.
"The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 03" by Various
The beautiful little boy was to live to be the late M. Henry Houssaye, the shining hellenist and historian.
"A Small Boy and Others" by Henry James
Speculations about the Perso-Hellenistic Mithras appear to have been transferred to the Gnostic Abraxas.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3" by Various
I am no true Hellenist.
"Dreamers of the Ghetto" by I. Zangwill
The next Hellenistic source of which we must take note is a fragmentary and almost unintelligible chapter in the works of Hero of Alexandria.
"On the Origin of Clockwork, Perpetual Motion Devices, and the Compass" by Derek J. de Solla Price
The use of the term "veil" is suggestive, as the term is so often employed in Hellenistic Mysticism in connection with "Initiation.
"The Gnôsis of the Light" by F. Lamplugh
The Syrian monarchy stands out from this and even from the Macedonian as the proper type of a Hellenistic State.
"Problems in Greek history" by John Pentland Mahaffy
Richard Maule, in his day, and still by courtesy, a noted Hellenist, had come to a sure if secret conclusion concerning human life.
"Jane Oglander" by Marie Belloc Lowndes
Stephen was born an Hellenist, and until the coming of his Prophet, a good Jew.
"Saul of Tarsus" by Elizabeth Miller
I heard something about Hellenists which greatly pleased me.
"The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (of 2)" by Florence A. Thomas Marshall
For ourselves, we do not credit the myth of the Hellenists; of the very existence of a Hercules we are profoundly incredulous.
"Ancient Faiths And Modern A Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and Divinities" by Thomas Inman
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In news:

In a typical recent piece he set a ring with antique Hellenistic wooden beads, coated in 18-carat gold.
nytimes.com
The Biblical minimalism of the 1980s tried to disconnect the Biblical text from its ancient Near Eastern context by seeing it as Hellenistic literature.
bib-arch.org
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