The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era of history is the period which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power 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 emergence of the Roman Empire.
Usually taken to begin with the death of Alexander in 323 BC, the Hellenistic period may be seen to end either with the final conquest of the Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC or with the final defeat of the last remaining successor-state to Alexander's empire after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.
The Hellenistic period was characterized by a wave of colonists who established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa.
Read more about Hellenistic Period: Hellenistic Golden Age, The Period and Its Problems, Historians and The Hellenistic Period, Background, The Macedonian Empire, The Successors, The Ptolemaic Kingdom, The Seleucid Empire, Rise of Rome
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“If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)