In general terms, the Hellenistic Period, c. 330–30 BC, can be considered one of the best known historical periods of Antiquity. The three hundred years between the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) and the fall of the last of the great Hellenistic kingdoms, Egypt, to the Romans (30 BC) produced an overwhelming amount of historical documents and material culture. This general observa- tion is true for almost all of the Mediterranean as well as for neighbouring regions, such as Mesopotamia and Iran, parts of the Seleucid kingdom, and for Egypt, home of the Ptolemies.