The Hellenistic period is the period of ancient Greek and Mediterranean history between the

death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire as signified by
the Battle of Actium in 31 BC] and the subsequent conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt in 30 BC. At this
time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its peak in Europe, Africa and Asia,
experiencing prosperity and progress in the arts, exploration, literature, theatre, architecture,
music, mathematics, philosophy, and science. It is often considered a period of transition,
sometimes even of decadence or degeneration,[3] compared to the brilliance of the Greek
Classical era.
After Alexander the Great's ventures in the Persian Empire, Hellenistic kingdoms were
established throughout south-west Asia (Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Pergamon) and north-east
Africa (Ptolemaic Kingdom). This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to these
new realms, and moreover Greek colonists themselves. Equally, however, these new kingdoms
were influenced by the indigenous cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary,
or convenient. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that
of the Near East, Middle East, and Southwest Asia, and a departure from earlier Greek attitudes
towards "barbarian" cultures.[4] The Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek
colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa.[6] Those new cities
were composed of Greek colonists who came from different parts of the Greek world, and not, as
before, from a specific "mother city
Middle Ages

In European history, the Middle Ages, or Medieval period, lasted from the 5th to the 15th
century. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the
Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three
traditional divisions of Western history: Antiquity, Medieval period, and Modern period. The
Medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, the High, and the Late Middle Ages.
Depopulation, deurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, which had begun in Late
Antiquity, continued in the Early Middle Ages. The barbarian invaders, including various
Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In
the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East, once part of the Eastern Roman Empire came
under the rule of the Caliphate, an Islamic empire, after conquest by Muhammad's successors.