The generals of Alexander the Great split his empire into successor republics after his death in 323 BCE, while Greece remained under Macedonian rule. Despite the fact that the Greeks would continue to battle the troops of the Macedonian monarchs until the 200s BCE, they would not attain independence, and instead associations of Greek city-states would fight one another once again. Meanwhile, just to the west, Rome had been conquering regions to establish itself as a powerful force in the Mediterranean, and it soon started looking eastward to further extend its influence. When Rome conquered Macedonia in 197 BCE, Greece was freed from its oppressive rule. Grecian territory was taken by Rome in 146 BCE and split into provinces, 50 years after the conquest. However, despite the fact that the city-states have neither military nor political authority, they prospered under Roman administration. As a result of the Romans’ early borrowings from Greek thinking and culture, they were rapidly disseminating Greek ideas, art, and religion across their empire, giving birth to the Greco-Roman culture that has been passed down to contemporary western civilization.