Hellenistic period
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek, Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern history following Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, in which all these regions were under the influence of Greek leadership, culture, and language as a result of Alexander's conquests. The Hellenistic period was followed by the ascendancy of the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean, the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the Roman conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year, which eliminated the last major Hellenistic kingdom.