Four of Alexander's generals divided his empire among themselves--the
kingdom of Macedonia, the kingdom of Egypt, and two Asiatic kingdoms.
Egypt fell to the share of Ptolemy, who was the first of a line of kings
which ended with the last Ptolemy, who married the famous and fated
Cleopatra (30 B.C.).

The Greeks poured into the two Asiatic kingdoms, and Greek culture and
civilization spread over the Orient (or East). But while Asia was thus
Hellenized, Hellas, the source of this splendid civilizing power, was
moving surely toward annihilation.

Another world-conquering power was coming into existence. Before the
Christian era arrived, the Roman Republic had absorbed the four kingdoms
left by Alexander, and when the Roman Empire came into being (31
B.C.) there were Greeks, but no longer any Greece, except as a
geographical name.

The Roman Empire, after centuries of splendor, also expired. And in about
the year 600 A.D. another great empire was being created by the
Mahometan Saracens, who absorbed all the Greek provinces in the East. This
empire also was to be superseded by another Asiatic race.

I have told you how the Ottoman Empire, starting from a grain of
mustard-seed in the year 1250 A.D., spread with marvellous energy
and rapidity. The Saracen dominions now became Turkish dominions, and the
unhappy Greeks had changed masters for the last time. That proud and
gifted race was doomed to spend years of servitude to the cruel Turk.

You have seen that the Turkish Empire went the way of other great empires.