Going Greek: Hellenistic Art throughout the Ancient World

In the fourth century B.C.E., Alexander the Great swept across Greece, Egypt, the Near East, Mesopotamia, Persia, and into north India. This military conquest changed the appearance of art and culture in antiquity and even in later ages. While on the one hand, Greek art forms were being introduced, on the other, Classical Greek art also absorbed many previously foreign elements into its canon. This distinctive fusion of cultures and traditions produced the style of artwork we know as the Hellenistic.