India, where Buddhism was moving towards supremacy. Wherever Alexander penetrated, even in
the mountains of Afghanistan, on the banks of the Jaxartes, and on the tributaries of the Indus, he
founded Greek cities, in which he tried to reproduce Greek institutions, with a measure of self-
government. Although his army was composed mainly of Macedonians, and although most
European Greeks submitted to him unwillingly, he considered himself, at first, as the apostle of
Hellenism. Gradually, however, as his conquests extended, he adopted the policy of promoting a
friendly fusion between Greek and barbarian.
For this he had various motives. On the one hand, it was obvious that his armies, which were not
very large, could not permanently hold so vast an empire by force, but must, in the long run,
depend upon conciliation of the conquered populations. On the other hand, the East was
unaccustomed to any form of government except that of a divine king, a role which Alexander felt
himself well fitted to perform. Whether he believed himself a god, or only took on the attributes of
divinity from motives of policy, is a question for the psychologist, since the historical evidence is
indecisive. In any case, he clearly enjoyed the adulation which he received in Egypt as successor
of the Pharaohs, and in Persia as the Great King. His Macedonian captains--the "Companions," as
they were called--had towards him the attitude of western nobles to their constitutional sovereign:
They refused to prostrate themselves before him, they gave advice and criticism even at the risk of
their lives, and at a crucial moment they controlled his actions, when they compelled him to turn
homewards from the Indus instead of marching on to the conquest of the Ganges. Orientals were
more accommodating, provided their religious prejudices were respected. This offered no
difficulty to Alexander; it was only necessary to identify Ammon or Bel with Zeus, and to declare
himself the son of the god. Psychologists observe that Alexander hated Philip, and was probably
privy to his murder; he would have liked to believe that his mother Olympias, like some lady of
Greek mythology, had been beloved of a god. Alexander's career was so miraculous that he may
well have thought a miraculous origin the best explanation of his prodigious success.
The Greeks had a very strong feeling of superiority to the barbarians; Aristotle no doubt expresses
the general view when he says