![“Laocoön,” marble sculpture attributed to Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of &elipsis; [Credit: Canali Photo Bank, Milan/SuperStock]](http://images.bookrags.com/images/eb/2059.gif)
“Laocoön,” marble sculpture attributed to Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of &elipsis; [Credit: Canali Photo Bank, Milan/SuperStock]In the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, the period between the death of
Alexander the Great (323 &BC;) and the conquest of Egypt by Rome (30 &BC;). Alexander and his successors established Greek monarchies that controlled the area from Greece to Afghanistan. The Macedonian
Antigonid kingdom, the Middle Eastern
Seleucid kingdom, and the Egyptian Ptolemaic kingdom spread Greek culture, mixed Greek and non-Greek populations, and fused Greek and Oriental elements.
They produced effective bureaucracies and a common, creative culture based at Alexandria. A great flowering of the arts, literature, and science occurred particularly in the period 280–160. The decline of the Hellenic states occurred as Rome gained strength and won wars against Macedonia and against Mithradates VI Eupator, turning the kingdoms and their allies into Roman provinces. Egypt was the last to fall, after having been drawn into the civil war between Mark Antony and Octavian (Augustus).
This is the complete article, containing 153 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
View More Summaries on Hellenistic civilization
