Capitoline Museum, Rome]

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, KING OF MACEDON FROM 336 TO 323 B.C. Greek
ways of living were also carried eastward as well as westward. The
enlargement of the Greek world in this direction was due to Alexander
the Great, the most skilful soldier and the ablest leader of men among
all the Greeks. Alexander was king of Macedon, and like the earlier
Greeks he regarded the Persians as his enemies, and made war upon them.
After conquering the Persians he marched across western Asia until he
had reached the Indus River in India. He was a builder of cities as well
as a conqueror. He founded seventy cities, and sixteen of them were
named for him. The most important was the Alexandria which is still the
chief seaport of Egypt. Greek became the language commonly spoken
throughout the lands near the eastern Mediterranean. This is the reason
why in later times the New Testament was written in Greek.

ALEXANDRIA. Of this Greek world Athens ceased to be the center and
Alexandria took its place. At Alexandria there was a great library which
contained over five hundred thousand volumes or rolls. There also was
the museum or university, in which many learned men were at work. The
best known of these men was Euclid, who perfected the mathematics which
we call geometry, and Ptolemy, whose ideas about geography and the shape
and size of the globe Columbus carefully studied before he set out on
his great voyage. Alexandria was also a center of trade and commerce.
From Alexandria, because its ships were the first foreign ships to be
admitted to a Roman port, the Romans gained their liking for many of the
beautiful things which the Greeks made.

QUESTIONS