46 THE INFLUENCE OF THE EAST ON EUROPEAN HISTORY 
The Greeks under Alexander were the first European people to 
found kingdoms in Asia. Their conquests extended as far East as 
the Indus, were bounded on the North by the line of the Oxus 
and included Asia Minor, Persia, Bactria, Syria, and Egypt. From 
these conquests kingdoms were carved by Alexander’s generals after 
his death and Greek became a common medium of communication 
in the nearer East. Under the dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt 
learning was cultivated and the famous museum of Alexandria was 
founded. The conquests of Alexander by bringing to light new 
countries, new peoples, new animals and plants, and new religions, 
opened the eyes of the Greeks and stimulated their intelligence. 
Alexander himself sent to the famous Aristotle, his old tutor, 
specimens of plants and animals which were not to be found in 
Europe. At the museum of Alexandria the foundations were laid of 
several branches of Natural Science, for example, comparative anatomy, 
botany, hydrostatics, astronomy and amongst the great names 
associated with the museum are the names of the immortals Euclid, 
Archimedes and Ptolemy, the last named being the founder of the 
Ptolemaic system of Astronomy : on thissystem the motions of all the 
heavenly bodies are worked out on the assumption that the earth is 
fixed in space and to carry out this work a very high degree of 
geometrical skill was required. The popular name associated with 
the museum is that of Hypatia who lectured on Geometrical conics 
and whose death was brought about by the fanaticism of the morks of 
Lower Egypt. Owing to this hostility the influence of the museum 
gradually declined and the capture of Alexandria by the Saracens 
destroyed it for ever. Before the death of Hypatia the political 
influence of the Greeks had declined, and during her days Egypt was 
a Roman province and Rome itself had long since passed the zenith 
of its greatness. The Roman Empire, several years before, was 
found to be too vast to be governed by one individual, and had been 
divided into two parts, the Roman Empire of the West and the Roman 
Empire of the East with its capital Byzantium or Constantinople. 
With the Empire in this condition, Europe towards the end of the 
fourth century received a shock, the like of which it had never before 
experienced and became acquainted with a people till then practically 
unknown to her—a people of the Tartar or Mongol type. 
Look at the region about the fiftieth parallel of latitude: here 
you have a stretch of land almost level, with the exception of the 
Mongolian plateau, which extends over four thousand miles. It is 
