The gods were stingy. Only thirty-three years of life were measured for Alexander the Great. But what years those were! He was the first of those living on earth to plan to gather under his own hands the entire inhabited world - the Oikoumene, as the Greeks said. Unstoppable as a battering ram, the Macedonian phalanx overthrew the Persian power, and in the battle near the city of Issus, the formidable army of Darius melted away like fog. Egypt bowed to Alexander and recognized him as pharaoh. The Asian kingdoms crumbled to dust, and gold and beautiful princesses flocked to the foot of Alexander's throne. The turn of mysterious India was approaching. It seemed that the goal was close...