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The later years of the Achaemenid dynasty were marked by decay and decadence. The mightiest empire in the world collapsed in only eight years when it fell under the attack of a young Macedonian king, Alexander the Great.
Persia's weakness was exposed to the Greeks in 401 BC, when the Satrap of Sardis hired ten thousand Greek mercenaries to help secure his claim to the imperial throne (see Xenophon). This exposed both the political instability and military weakness of late Achaemenid Persia.
Philip II of Macedon, ruler of most of Greece, and his son Alexander decided to take advantage of this weakness. After Philip's death, Alexander looked toward Persia. Alexander's army landed in Asia Minor in 334 BC. His armies quickly swept through Lydia, Phoenecia, and Egypt, before defeating all the troops of Darius III and capturing the capital at Susa. The last Achaemenid resistance was at the "Persian Gates" near the royal palace at Persepolis. The Persian Empire was now in Macedonian hands.Along his route of conquest, Alexander founded many colony cities, all named "Alexandria." For the next several centuries, these cities served to greatly extend Greek, or Hellenistic, culture in Persia.
Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death, but Persia remained in Greek hands. Alexander's general, Seleucus, took control of Persia, Mesopotamia, and later Syria and Asia Minor. His ruling family is known as the Seleucid Dynasty.
Greek colonization continued until around 250 BC; Greek language, philosophy, and art came with the colonists. Throughout Alexander's former empire, Greek became the common tongue of diplomacy and literature. Trade with China had begun in Achaemenid times along the so-called Silk Road; but during the Hellenistic period it began in earnest. The overland trade brought about some fascinating cultural exchanges. Buddhism came in from India, while Zoroastrianism traveled west to influence Judaism(it was happend during Cyrus the Great kingdom, 6th century BC). Incredible statues of the Buddha in classical Greek styles have been found in Persia and Afghanistan, illustrating the mix of cultures that occurred around this time (See Greco-Buddhism)(The influence of Greek art in persan statues was happend during the Achaemenid Dynasty when the Greek artists worked for persian empire and it does not related to seleucid period).
There is no evidence which show that after Alexander Persia remained as a part of the Seleucid Dynasty. With an accurate observation in Iranian archaeological evidence it looks more acceptable that after Alexander attacks, and his death, Persia is separated from the Greek empire, for instant, in Syria and Parthia the influence of Greek arts is clear but in Persia there is not any thing which shows Greek influence, even a coin! Greek fictional historical written documents cannot be trusted as acceptable evidence and it should be compared with new archaeological discovery. We cannot find any Greek point in pre-Islamic Persian philosophy, but we can find Zoroastrian and Mithraism influence on Greek philosophy, obviously. There is only a few Greek words which can be find in Persian language(like some persian word which is used by Greeks)and Persian language was one of the purest language before Islamic period.
The Seleucid kingdom began to decline rather quickly. Even during Seleucus' lifetime the capital was moved from Seleucia in Mesopotamia to the more Mediterranean-oriented Antioch in Syria. The eastern provinces of Bactria and Parthia broke off from the Seleucid Kingdom in 238 BC. King Antiochus III's military leadership kept Parthia from overrunning Persia itself, but his successes alarmed the burgeoning Roman Empire. Roman legions began to attack the kingdom. At the same time, the Seleucids had to contend with the revolt of the Maccabees in Judea and the expansion of the Kushan Empire to the east. The empire fell apart and was conquered by Parthia.
Parthia was a region north of Persia in what is today northeastern Iran. Its rulers, the Arsacid dynasty, belonged to an Iranian tribe that had settled there during the time of Alexander. They declared their independence from the Seleucids in 238 BC, but their attempts to expand into Persia were thwarted until c. 170 BC under Mithridates I.
The Parthian Empire shared a border with Rome along the upper Euphrates River. The two empires became major rivals. Parthian mounted archers proved a match for Roman legions. Wars were very frequent, with Mesopotamia serving as the battleground.
During the Parthian period, Persian customs gave way to a resurgence of Parthian Hellenistic culture. However, the empire lacked political unity. By the first century BC, Parthia was decentralized, ruled by feudal nobles. Wars with Rome to the west and the Kushan Empire to the northeast drained the country's resources.
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