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 Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 105 frontiers of India, into the valley of the Ganges, where at last the complaints of his weary troops forced him to turn back. The return march through desert wastes cost many lives as the thirsty and ill-provisioned troops dropped by the way. Over seven years after he had left the great city of Babylon, Alexander entered it again. He had been less than twelve years in Asia, and he had carried Greek civilization into the very heart of the continent. At important points along his line of march he had founded Greek cities bearing his name and had set up kingdoms which were to be centers of Greek influence on the frontiers of India. 162. His Plans to conquer the Western Mediterranean. In the midst of all this he carefully worked out a plan of campaign for the conquest of the western Mediterranean. His program in- cluded the building of a fleet of a thousand battleships with which to subdue Italy, Sicily, and Carthage. It also included the con- struction of a vast roadway along the northern coast of Africa, to be built at enormous expense, to furnish a highway for his army from Egypt to Carthage and the Atlantic. 163. Deification of Alexander. The great rulers of the Orient had been regarded as descended from gods. Alexander now deemed it advisable to secure a similar distinction for himself. He therefore had the Egyptian priests salute him as the son of their god Amon (Ancient Times, 706). He adopted oriental usages, among which was the requirement that all who approached him on official occasions should bow^down to the earth and kiss his feet. Formal notification was sent to all the Greek cities that he was henceforth to be officially numbered among the gods of each city, and that as such he was to receive the State offerings which each city presented. In this way absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings were introduced into Europe for the first time. 164. Death of Alexander (323 B.C.). As Alexander was pre- paring for a campaign to subjugate the Arabian peninsula which would leave him free to carry out his great plans for the conquest of the western Mediterranean he fell sick, probably as the result