A fresco depicting Alexander the Great
The Hellenistic period was a period of Mediterranean history which lasted from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. At the time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its peak in Europe, North Africa, and Asia, and it saw the rise of New Comedy, advances in science, the spread of Greek culture, language, and religion from Spain in the west to India in the east, the transition of art from idealism to realism, and the syncretism of Greek culture with Buddhism in Bactria and northern India. The era was also a transitional period, as the Greek world began to lose its political and military importance due to the rise of the Roman Republic. From 507 BC to 27 BC, the Roman Republic gradually expanded across the Mediterranean world, and, in 31 BC, the Romans defeated the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt at Actium, leading to its conquest by Rome and the end of the last of Alexander's successor kingdoms.