Hellenistic Greece's definitive end was with the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, when the future emperor Augustus defeated Greek Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony The Hellenistic Period took place from 323 B.C. The end of the Hellenistic Age was marked by greater conflict, as battles raged among the Seleucids and among the Macedonians. Philip's allies in Greece deserted him and in 197 BC he was decisively defeated at the Cynoscephalae by the Roman proconsul Titus Quinctius Flamininus. By 31 B.C., with the victory at Actium and the collapse of Egypt, all of Alexander’s empire lay in Roman hands. In 133 BC, the last king of Pergamum died and left his kingdom to Rome: this brought most of the Aegean peninsula under direct Roman rule as part of the province of Asia. The most famous of these was doubtless the Library of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy I Soter in Egypt, charged with housing all of the world’s knowledge. In Athens, the mathematician Euclid began his school and became the founder of modern geometry. Athens rewarded the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 224/223 BC by naming the 13th phyle Ptolemais and establishing a religious cult called the Ptolemaia. During the reign of Philip V of Macedon (r. 221-179 BC), the Macedonians not only lost the Cretan War (205-200 BC) to an alliance led by Rhodes, but their erstwhile alliance with Hannibal of Carthage also entangled them in the First and Second Macedonian War with ancient Rome. Marble, 1’ high. The Hellenistic Period witnessed the glory and power of the Greek Empire reaching its zenith. Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period, usually taken as starting with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and ending with the invasion of the Greek world by the Romans, a cycle well under way by 146 BCE when the Greek mainland was conquered, and culminating ultimately in 30 BCE with the invasion of Ptolemaic Egypt after the Battle of Actium. While warfare between Greek cities continued, the cities responded to the threat of the post Alexandrian Hellenistic states by banding together into alliances or becoming allies of a strong Hellenistic state which could come to its defense therefore making it asylos or inviolate to attack by other cities. Archaeological Museum, … Cassander's power was challenged by Antigonus, ruler of Anatolia, who promised the Greek cities that he would restore their freedom if they supported him. In 202 BC, Rome defeated Carthage, and was free to turn her attention eastwards, urged on by her Greek allies, Rhodes and Pergamum. Finally, in 27 BC, Augustus directly annexed Greece to the new Roman Empire as the province of Achaea. He founded a new Macedonian capital at Thessaloniki and was generally a constructive ruler. Aratus preferred distant Macedon to nearby Sparta, and allied himself with Doson, who in 222 BC defeated the Spartans and annexed their city – the first time Sparta had ever been occupied by a foreign power. Philip had to surrender his fleet and become a Roman ally, but was otherwise spared. This era was marked by a great deal of progress, particularly in the field of art. Both Michael Grant and Moses Hadas discuss these artistic/biographical changes. (31 B.C. Still, Greek influence remained strong throughout many of those lands. Many people believe that the Classical era is the most impressive due to the success in literature, science, philosophy and architecture, which does not mean that the Ancient Greece is less significant. The Aetolian League was restricted to the Peloponnese, but on being allowed to gain control of Thebes in 245 BC became a Macedonian ally. Hellenistic age, in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 bce and the conquest of Egypt by Rome in 30 bce. The final downfall of Greece came in 88 BC, when King Mithridates of Pontus rebelled against Rome, and massacred up to 100,000 Romans and Roman allies across Asia Minor. Lysimachus was in turn defeated and killed in 280 BC. The Hellenistic period is a difficult one to understand: it is not so much decline and fall, but rather decline and rise, for Greece became wealthier and its influence spread much wider in the 5 th century. In literature, New Comedy evolved, as did the pastoral idyll form of poetry associated with Theocritus, and the personal biography, which accompanied a movement in sculpture to represent people as they were rather than as ideals, although there were exceptions in Greek sculpture -- most notably the hideous depictions of Socrates, although even they may have been idealized, if negatively. During the third century BCE these leagues were able to defend themselves against Macedon and the Aetolian league defeated a Celtic invasion of Greece at Delphi. Bagnall, Roger, and Peter Derow, editors and translators. That is why the period from 323 BC to 27 BC became known as the Hellenistic period. All the cities except Rhodes were enrolled in a new League which Rome ultimately controlled, and democracies were replaced by aristocratic regimes allied to Rome. It was when Octavian, who later became the emperor Augustus, defeated Marc Antony‘s fleet and, consequently, ended Ptolemaic rule. Hellenistic Culture and Society Book 54, 1 Edition, Kindle Edition, University of California Press, June 2, 2013. A history timeline of the Hellenistic period of ancient Greek history. Luckily for the Greeks, Flamininus was a moderate man and an admirer of Greek culture. Crook, J. In mainland Greece, the poleis had to deal with the Macedonian kings, ... Art continued to flourish during the Hellenistic period with talented sculptors creating dramatic pieces of art. Macedon was no match for this army, and Perseus was unable to rally the other Greek states to his aid. This ArtHearty post chronicles the features and achievements of Hellenistic art. In 215 BC, however, Philip formed an alliance with Rome's enemy Carthage, which drew Rome directly into Greek affairs for the first time. Epirus was a northwestern Greek kingdom in the western Balkans ruled by the Molossian Aeacidae dynasty. Philip V, who came to power when Doson died in 221 BC, was the last Macedonian ruler with both the talent and the opportunity to unite Greece and preserve its independence against the "cloud rising in the west": the ever-increasing power of Rome. This was the time when the Attic dialect of the Greek language, that you may know as Koine Greek , became the lingua franca in the Mediterranean and other regions that were reached and influenced by … His death saw another revolt of the city-states of the Achaean League, whose dominant figure was Aratus of Sicyon. The Hellenistic period began with the wars of the Diadochi, armed contests among the former generals of Alexander the Great to carve up his empire in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. 17, (1963), pp. The Achaeans, while nominally subject to Ptolemy, were in effect independent, and controlled most of southern Greece. Hellenistic Period. The First Macedonian War broke out in 212 BC, and ended inconclusively in 205 BC, but Macedon was now marked as an enemy of Rome. Under his auspices the Peace of Naupactus (217 BC) brought conflict between Macedon and the Greek leagues to an end, and at this time he controlled all of Greece except Athens, Rhodes and Pergamum. Praxiteles to 146 B.C. This led to successful revolts against Cassander's local rulers.