To: TigerPaw who wrote (385965 ) 5/23/2008 3:16:47 PM From: tejek Read Replies (2) | Respond to To be fair, the Romans did not call the eastern part of the empire "greece", they called it macedonia after the homeland of Alexander. "The Hellenistic period describes that period, when after the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek power and influence was at its zenith in Europe and Asia. It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decline or decadence, between the brilliance of the Greek Classical Era and the final emergence of the Roman Empire. Usually taken to begin with the death of Alexander in 323 BC, the Hellenistic period may either be seen to end with the final conquest of the Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC, or the final defeat of the Ptolemaic kingdom in 30 BC. Succeeding his father, Alexander took this task upon himself. A decade of campaigning later, Alexander had conquered the whole Persian Empire, overthrowing the Persian King Darius II. The conquered lands included Asia Minor, Assyria, the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Media, Persia, and parts of modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the steppes of central Asia. The years of constant campaigning had taken their toll however, and Alexander died in 323 BC. Nevertheless, the huge territories he had subjugated would, for the next 200 years, come under Greek rule; and as the Greek and eastern cultures mingled, see the development of the Hellenistic culture." en.wikipedia.org
