Hellenistic age

The Hellenistic age begins with Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian empire and its incorporation into his vast, Macedonian-controlled state. Alexander reached as far as India, and although his empire was divided after his death, cultural connections between the subcontinent and the classical world began to flourish.

During the Hellenistic period, great advance in knowledge were made, while in other areas scientific study was diverted by erroneous theories which took centuries to erase from men’s minds.

Alexander was very interested in scientific study (as might be expected from student of Aristotle and took a number do scientist along with him on his campaigns.

Drunken old woman sculpture from Hellenistic era

The Hellenistic era also was a period of considerable cultural accomplishment in many areas of literature, art and philosophy.

The Ptolemies in Egypt made Alexandria an especially important cultural center. The library became the largest in ancient times, housing more than half a million scrolls.

Hellenistic age ends in more piecemeal fashion with Roman conquest one by one, of the various regions, now separate kingdoms, into which his empire had divided after his death. The Roman takeover of much of the Hellenistic world, hardly deliberate but a long-drawn process, which started in the late third century BC but was not complete till 30 BC with the overthrow of the Ptolemic dynasty after the Battle of Actium.
Hellenistic age