In classical antiquity , the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece , between the death of Alexander the Great in BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, [ 1 ] which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roman Empire , as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the Roman conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year, which eliminated the last major Hellenistic kingdom.
These new Greek kingdoms were also influenced by regional indigenous cultures, adopting local practices where deemed beneficial, necessary, or convenient. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the ancient Greek world with that of the Western Asian, Northeastern African, and Southwestern Asian worlds.
During the Hellenistic period, Greek cultural influence reached its peak in the Mediterranean and beyond. Prosperity and progress in the arts , literature , theatre , architecture , music , mathematics , philosophy , and science characterize the era.
The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy , Alexandrian poetry , translation efforts such as the Septuagint , and the philosophies of Stoicism , Epicureanism , and Pyrrhonism. In science, the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes are exemplary. Sculpture during this period was characterized by intense emotion and dynamic movement, as seen in sculptural works like the Dying Gaul and the Venus de Milo.
A form of Hellenistic architecture arose which especially emphasized the building of grand monuments and ornate decorations, as exemplified by structures such as the Pergamon Altar. The religious sphere of Greek religion expanded through syncretic facets to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis , eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele , and a syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism in Bactria and Northwest India.
