i'd recommend Macedon

1. if you are annoyed by the unfinished aesthetics of the game, its a good pick. I like the eastern empires for their cultural diversity, but eventually get annoyed by the sight of a baktrian "numidian" general speaking in english about the potential conquests of rome.

2. with Macedon what you see is what you get, a greek faction with greek pics, and greek battle speeches

also with macedon they seem to command unwielding respect for some reason. Rome capitulated with 2 provinces left and a full stack. Epieros capitulated with 1 province and a full stack. I currently have a baktrian empire covering from the eastern and northern edges of the map, down to the indian ocean and west past Seleucia. Pahlav with 1 province and 0 units fails to accept the terms. Yuezhi with no army and 1 province also refused to accept, in which they were moved into the extinction list.