Ancient Greece

===Hellenistic Greece===
{{Main|Wars of Alexander the Great|Hellenistic period}}
[[File:Alexander the Great mosaic.jpg|thumb|left|[[Alexander Mosaic]], National Archaeological Museum, Naples.]]

The period from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 until the death of [[Cleopatra]], the last Macedonian ruler of Egypt, is known as the Hellenistic period. In the early part of this period, a new form of kingship developed based on Macedonian and Near Eastern traditions. The first Hellenistic kings were previously Alexander's generals, and took power in the period following his death, though they were not part of existing royal lineages and lacked historic claims to the territories they controlled.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=253}} The most important of these rulers in the decades after Alexander's death were [[Antigonus I]] and his son [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius]] in Macedonia and the rest of Greece, [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy]] in Egypt, and [[Seleucus I]] in Syria and the former Persian empire;{{sfn|Martin|2013|pp=254–255}} smaller Hellenistic kingdoms included the [[Attalid]]s in Anatolia and the [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom]].{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=256}}

[[File:Diadochen1.png|thumb|right|upright=1.35|The major [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] realms included the [[Diadochi|Diadochi kingdoms]]:
{{legend|#787CAD|Kingdom of [[Ptolemy I Soter]]}}
{{legend|#50A249|Kingdom of [[Cassander]]}}
{{legend|#C38833|Kingdom of [[Lysimachus]]}}
{{legend|#C3B933|Kingdom of [[Seleucus I Nicator]]}}
{{legend|#AF3662|[[Epirus]]}}
Also shown on the map:
{{legend|#85AB54|[[Greek colonies]]}}
{{legend|#A361BD|[[Carthage]] (non-Greek)}}
{{legend|#70A9BE|[[Ancient Rome|Rome]] (non-Greek)}}

The orange areas were often in dispute after 281 BC. The [[Attalid dynasty]] occupied some of this area. Not shown: [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]].
]]

In the early part of the Hellenistic period, the exact borders of the Hellenistic kingdoms were not settled. Antigonus attempted to expand his territory by attacking the other successor kingdoms until they joined against him, and he was killed at the [[Battle of Ipsus]] in 301 BC.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=255}} His son Demetrius spent many years in Seleucid captivity, and his son, [[Antigonus II]], only reclaimed the Macedonian throne around 276.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=255}} Meanwhile, the Seleucid kingdom gave up territory in the east to the Indian king [[Chandragupta Maurya]] in exchange for war elephants, and later lost large parts of Persia to the [[Parthian Empire]].{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=255}} By the mid-third century, the kingdoms of Alexander's successors was mostly stable, though there continued to be disputes over border areas.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=256}}

During the Hellenistic period, the importance of "Greece proper" (the territory of modern Greece) within the Greek-speaking world declined sharply. The great capitals of Hellenistic culture were [[Alexandria]] in the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] and [[Antioch]] in the [[Seleucid Empire]].

The conquests of Alexander had numerous consequences for the Greek city-states. It greatly widened the horizons of the Greeks and led to a steady emigration of the young and ambitious to the new Greek empires in the east.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6930285.stm Alexander's Gulf outpost uncovered]. BBC News. 7 August 2007.</ref> Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch and the many other new Hellenistic cities founded in Alexander's wake, as far away as present-day [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]], where the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] and the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] survived until the end of the first century BC.

The city-states within Greece formed themselves into two leagues; the [[Achaean League]] (including Thebes, Corinth and Argos) and the [[Aetolian League]] (including Sparta and Athens). For much of the period until the Roman conquest, these leagues were at war, often participating in the conflicts between the [[Diadochi]] (the successor states to Alexander's empire).

The Antigonid Kingdom became involved in a war with the Roman Republic in the late 3rd century. Although the [[First Macedonian War]] was inconclusive, the Romans, in typical fashion, continued to fight Macedon until it was completely absorbed into the Roman Republic (by 149 BC). In the east, the unwieldy Seleucid Empire gradually disintegrated, although a rump survived until 64 BC, whilst the Ptolemaic Kingdom continued in Egypt until 30 BC when it too was conquered by the Romans. The Aetolian league grew wary of Roman involvement in Greece, and sided with the Seleucids in the [[Roman–Seleucid War]]; when the Romans were victorious, the league was effectively absorbed into the Republic. Although the Achaean league outlasted both the Aetolian league and Macedon, it was also soon defeated and absorbed by the Romans in 146 BC, bringing Greek independence to an end.