living tomb of her husband. In spite of her
poignant grief, she did not neglect the duties of her elevated position,
but conquered the island of Rhodes, whose inhabitants she treated with
great severity. Her love of art was shown in the two statues she had set
up in the city, one representing the city of Rhodes, habited like a
slave, the other of herself branding the city with a hot iron. Though
interested in making Halicarnassus a centre of art and culture, and
extending and strengthening her dominions, she could not overcome her
desolation of heart, and is said to have died of grief two years after
the loss of her husband.

XV

THE ALEXANDRIAN WOMAN

The Forty-five Years' War came to a close in B.C. 277. It had been
entered into by those generals of Alexander the Great who succeeded to
his dominions, and its close witnessed three dynasties firmly
established and a number of minor principalities governed by various
petty rulers. The main divisions of the Hellenistic world at this time
were the kingdoms of Macedonia, under the successors of Antigonus
Gonatas; of Syria, under the Seleucidae; and of Egypt, under the
Ptolemies; while the chief second-rate powers were Pergamum and Rhodes.
These States continued to be the great centres of Hellenism until they
were one by one overthrown by the mightier power of Rome, which in its
turn continued and perpetuated the Greek spirit, so that it has become
an element in the culture and civilization of modern times.

The most striking feature of social life in the Hellenistic Age was its
cosmopolitan character, reminding one of the European culture of to-day.
We know almost nothing of the life of the peoples of the different
nationalities, but the history of the times deals largely with the
courts of the rulers, and with the wars and commercial rivalries of
contending powers. As we have frequently noticed in previous chapters,
the status of woman under the old monarchical governments was an
elevated and influential one. Kings must have their courts, and court
life always presupposes a queen, with her attendant ladies; and in the
story of the Hellenistic periods of the world's history, one of the most
striking features is the number of royal women who enter upon the stage
of action and play a prominent part for the weal or woe of mankind.

We have already considered the character of the Macedonian woman--bold,
fearless, ambitious, ready to resort to cruelty and to intrig