ABSTRACT
The period of Athenian military and political dominance in the Greek world effectively came to an end with the conquest of mainland Greece by Philip of Macedon in the latter half of the fourth century BC; her cultural influence lasted for some time after that, but it never regained the dynamic force of the sixth, fifth and early fourth centuries BC, during which the great works of her artists, poets and philosophers were created. With the vast but incredibly short-lived empire of Phi lip's son, Alexander the Great, Greek culture was spread over a large part of the then known world; but in the process it was diluted almost beyond recognition, except in a number of urban centres which were controlled by Alexander's leading military commanders, known in antiquity as the 'Successors'. The most important of these centres was the great city which he founded not long before his death - Alexandria.
