Hellenism is a significant stage in ancient history from the second half of the 4th to the 1st century BC. Under Macedonian hegemony, Greek culture transcends the borders of Greek states and, thanks to the expansions of Alexander the Great, penetrates into vast areas of the Near East and the Mediterranean. In the new social conditions of the Hellenistic empires of the Seleucids, Ptolemies, and Antigonids, a new world of science and art is born from the intertwining of Greek and local, especially Oriental traditions, which ultimately flows into Roman culture. The Pergamon Altar, Laocoön, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Aphrodite of Melos, or the Pompeian paintings, the library in Alexandria, the famous Alexandrian school, and a number of other concepts of cultural history best characterize the Hellenistic epoch. Leading Czech historian Pavel Oliva concludes his trilogy on the history and culture of ancient Greece with this publication: The Birth of European Civilization, The Cradle of Democracy, The World of Hellenism.
