In the Classical Age, the Hellenistic Empires occurred in a  period of Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire   The Ancient Greek word Hellas (Ἑλλάς, Ellás) is the original word for Greece, from which the word Hellenistic was derived.

There were three Hellenistic Empires: the Antigonid in Greece and Macedonia, the Ptolemaic in Egypt and the Seleucid in Persia.

These empires were responsible for the spread of Greek culture and knowledge out of Europe to Asia and Africa.