industrialism, will, however, survive. This analogue will help us to understand the position of
the Greeks in the eastern parts of Alexander's empire.
The effect of Alexander on the imagination of Asia was great and lasting. The first Book of the
Maccabees, written centuries after his death, opens with an account of his career:
"And it happened, after that Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land
of Chettiim, had smitten Darius king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the
first over Greece, and made many wars, and won many strong holds, and slew the kings of the
earth, and went through to the ends of the earth, and took spoils of many nations, insomuch that
the earth was quiet before him; whereupon he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up. And he
gathered a mighty strong host, and ruled over countries, and nations, and kings, who became
tributaries unto him. And after these things he fell sick, and perceived that he should die.
Wherefore he called his servants, such as were honorable, and had been brought up with him
from his youth, and parted his kingdom among them, while he was yet alive. * So Alexander
reigned twelve years, and then died."
He survived as a legendary hero in the Mohammedan religion, and to this day petty chieftains in
the Himalayas claim to be descended from him.†No other fully historical hero has ever
furnished such a perfect opportunity for the mythopoeic faculty.
At Alexander's death, there was an attempt to preserve the unity of his empire. But of his two
sons, one was an infant and the other was not yet born. Each had supporters, but in the resultant
civil war both were thrust aside. In the end, his empire was divided between the families of
three generals, of whom, roughly speaking, one obtained the European, one the African, and
one the Asiatic parts of Alexander's possessions. The European part fell ultimately to
Antigonus's descendants; Ptolemy, who obtained Egypt, made Alexandria his capital; Seleucus,
who obtained Asia after many wars, was too busy with campaigns to have a fixed capital, but in
later times Antioch was the chief city of his dynasty.
* This is not historically true.â
€Perhaps this is no longer true, as the sons of those who held this belief have been educated
at Eton.