Classical and Hellenistic Greece

Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in
Ancient Greece, marked by much of the eastern Aegean and northern regions of Greek
culture (such as Ionia and Macedonia) gaining increased autonomy from the Persian
Empire; the peak flourishing of democratic Athens; the First and Second Peloponnesian
Wars; the Spartan and then Theban hegemonies; and the expansion of Macedonia under
Philip II. Much of the early defining politics, artistic thought (architecture, sculpture),
scientific thought, theatre, literature and philosophy of Western civilization derives from this
period of Greek history, which had a powerful influence on the later Roman Empire. The
Classical era ended after Philip II's unification of most of the Greek world against the
common enemy of the Persian Empire, which was conquered within 13 years during
the wars of Alexander the Great, Philip's son.

In the context of the art, architecture, and culture of Ancient Greece, the Classical
period corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries BC (the most common dates being
the fall of the last Athenian tyrant in 510 BC to the death of Alexander the Great in 323
BC). The Classical period in this sense follows the Greek Dark Ages and Archaic period and
is in turn succeeded by the Hellenistic period.

The Hellenistic period spans the period of Mediterranean history between the death of
Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by
the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year. The
period of Greece prior to the Hellenistic era is known as Classical Greece, while the period
afterwards is known as Roman Greece. The Ancient Greek word Hellas (Ἑλλάς, Ellás) was
originally the widely recognized name of Greece, from which the word Hellenistic was
derived. "Hellenistic" is distinguished from "Hellenic" in that the first encompasses all
territories under direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself.
Instead, the term "Hellenistic" refers to that which is influenced by Greek culture, in this
case, the East after the conquests of Alexander the Great.

During the Hellenistic period, Greek cultural influence and power reached the peak of its
geographical expansion, being dominant in the Mediterranean world and most of West and
Central Asia, even in parts of the Indian subcontinent, experiencing prosperity and progress
in the arts, astrology, exploration, literature, theatre, architecture, music, mathematics,
philosophy, and science. Despite this, it is often considered a period of transition, sometimes
even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical
era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint,
and the philosophies of Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Pyrrhonism. Greek science was
advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The
religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern
deities such as Attis and Cybele, and a syncretism between Hellinistic culture and Buddhism
in Bactria and Northwest India.

After Alexander the Great's invasion of the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BC and its
disintegration shortly after, the Hellenistic kingdoms were established throughout south-
west Asia (Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Pergamon), north-east Africa (Ptolemaic
Kingdom) and South Asia (Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek Kingdom). The
Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which
established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa. This resulted in the export of
Greek culture and language to these new realms, spanning as far as modern-day India.
These new kingdoms were also influenced by the indigenous cultures, adopting local
practices where beneficial, necessary, or convenient. Hellenistic culture thus represents a
fusion of the ancient Greek world with that of Western Asian, Northeastern African, and
Southwestern Asian. This mixture gave rise to a common Attic-based Greek dialect, known
as Koine Greek, which became the lingua franca throughout the Hellenistic world.

Scholars and historians are divided as to which event signals the end of the Hellenistic
era. The Hellenistic period may be seen to end either with the final conquest of the Greek
heartlands by Rome in 146 BC following the Achaean War, with the final defeat of the
Ptolemaic Kingdom at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, or even the move by Roman emperor
Constantine the Great the Great of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in AD
330. Angelos Chaniotis ends the Hellenistic period with the death of Hadrian in 138 AD,
who integrated the Greeks fully into the Roman Empire; and a range from c. 321 BC to 256
AD may also be given.

(Source : Wikipedia)