All the Hellenistic courts felt it a great part of prestige to be filled
with the light of Hellenic culture. A distinguished philosopher or man
of letters would find them bidding for his presence, and most of the
great names are associated with one or other of the contemporary kings.
Antigonus Gonatas, bluff soldier-spirit that he was, heard the Stoic
philosophers gladly, and, though he failed to induce Zeno to come to
Macedonia, persuaded Zeno's disciple, Persaeus of Citium, to enter his
service. Nor was it philosophers only who made his court illustrious,
but poets like Aratus. The Ptolemaïc court, with the museum attached to
it, is so prominent in the literary and scientific history of the age
that it is unnecessary to give a list of the philosophers, the men of
letters and science, who at one time or other ate at King Ptolemy's
table. One may notice that the first Ptolemy himself made a contribution
of some value to historical literature in his account of Alexander's
campaigns; the fourth Ptolemy not only instituted a cult of Homer but
himself published tragedies; and even Ptolemy Euergetes II. issued a
book of memoirs. The Pergamene court was in no degree behind the
Ptolemaïc in its literary and artistic zeal. The notable school of
sculpture connected with it is treated elsewhere (see GREEK ART); to its
literary school we probably owe in great part the preservation of the
masterpieces of Attic prose (Susemihl I., p. 4), and two of its kings
(Eumenes I. and Attalus III.) were themselves authors. The Seleucid
court did not rival either of the last named in brilliance of culture;
and yet some names of distinction were associated with it. Under
Antiochus I. Aratus carried out a recension of the _Odyssey_, and
Berossus composed a Babylonian history in Greek; under Antiochus III.
Euphorion was made keeper of the library at Antioch. Antiochus IV., of
course, the enthusiastic Hellenist, filled Antioch with Greek artists
and gave a royal welcome to Athenian philosophers. Even in the
degenerate days of the dynasty, Antiochus Grypus, who had been brought
up at Athens, aspired to shine as a poet. The values recognized in the
great Hellenistic courts and the Greek world generally imposed their
authority upon the dynasties of barbarian origin. The Cappadocian court
admitted the full stream of Hellenistic culture under Ariarathes V.
(Diod. xxxi. 19, 8). One of the kings called Nicomedes in Bithynia
offered immense sums to acquire the Aphrodite of Praxiteles from the
Cnidians (Plin. _N.H._ xxxvi. 21), and to a king Nicomedes the
geographical poem of the Pseudo-Scymnus is dedicated. Even Iranian kings
in the last century B.C. found pleasure in composing, or listening to,
Greek tragedies, and Herod the Great kept Greek men of letters beside
him and had spasmodic ambitions to make his mark as an orator or author
(Nicol. Dam. frag. 4; _F.H.G._ III. p. 350).