400-168 BC Hellenistic

Derived from the word Hellas meaning Greek, the Hellenistic period saw the extension of Greek power and culture across the middle east and Asia. King Philip II of Macedon (a kingdom in northeast Greece) had come into conflict with the Hellenic League headed by Athens and Thebes. His victory over them at Chaeronea in 338 BC signalled the end of the city-states, and the start of Macedon’s control of Greece. His son Alexander maintained this dominance and began a campaign of territorial expansion south into Egypt and east as far as Bactria (modern Afghanistan).

This loss of political autonomy encouraged a new emphasis on individualism, and intellectual and artistic inventiveness. Great new centres of learning at Pergamum, Antioch, and Alexandria were the focus for far-reaching advances in the sciences. This was accompanied by a great broadening of horizons as the Greeks became much more familiar with previously unknown cultures. When Alexander died in 323 BC his three generals Antigonus, Ptolemy and Seleucus divided his empire between them into the independent kingdoms of Macedon, Egypt and Syria/Babylonia, further Hellenising these lands.

The Hellenistic world began to decline from the 2nd century BC when Rome began setting her sights eastwards. In 168 BC Macedonia became a Roman province followed by the rest of Greece in 149 BC.