As a layman, I often hear a lot of bickering among historians about the fall of the Roman Empire. But before Rome, there was Greece. What’s history of the decline of the Greek empire? Furthermore, why don’t I hear as much about the Greece’s fall as I do about Rome’s fall?

Greece on the whole was never united under one ruler until the 19th century. There were numerous leagues and alliances formed between the various Greek city-states throughout the ancient era until the formation of the Roman province of Macedonia in 146 BCE. This followed the annexation of the Kingdom of Macedonia after the end of the 4th Macedonian War, and the defeat of the last Macedonian king Andriscus.

After that Greece was eventually split into 2 provinces by Rome; Macedonia and Achaea, during the time of Augustus in 27 BCE. Then some time later under under Trajan the provinces were split again, with the western portion of Macedonia becoming the province of Epirus.

Greece remained under Roman and later Byzantine control until the 4th Crusade when various members of the House of Flanders and Courtenay and their armies sacked the Imperial capital and ruled the empire until 1261 when the Byzantine Empire reverted to native control. It remained that way until 1453 with the fall of Constantinople.