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 2i8 Outlines of Europe a7i History fear and respect his power, but learned at the same time to recog- nize his reverence for Greek genius. Alexander already dreamed of world-wide conquests, and the Asiatic campaign which he now planned was to vindicate his position as the champion of Hellas against Asia. He thought to lead the united Greeks against the Persian lord of Asia, as the Hellenes had once made common cause against Asiatic Troy. Leading his army of Macedonians and allied Greeks into Asia Minor, he therefore stopped at Troy and camped upon the plain (Fig. 58 and map, p. 146) where the Greek heroes of the Homeric songs had once fought. Here he worshiped in the temple of Athena, and prayed for the success of his cause against Persia. He thus contrived to throw around himself the heroic atmosphere of the Trojan War, till all Hellas beheld the dauntless figure of the Macedonian youth, as it were, against the background of that glorious age which in their belief had so long ago united Greek arms against Asia (p. 133). Battle of the The Persian satraps, with what troops they could gather, (334 B.C.) endeavored to bar his eastward progress, but at the river of AsiTMinor Granicus he had no difficulty in scattering their forces in a decisive action. Following the Macedonian custom the young king, then but twenty-two years of age, led his troops into the thick of the fray and exposed his royal person without hesi- tation. But for the timely support of Clitus, the brother of his childhood nurse, who bravely pushed in before him at a critical moment, the impetuous young king would have lost his life in the action on the Granicus. Marching southward he took the Greek cities one by one, and freed all western Asia Minor forever from the Persian yoke. Alexander's Meantime a huge Persian fleet dominated the Mediterranean. through It was at this moment that the young Macedonian, litde more than a boy in years, began to display his mastery of a military situation which demanded the completest understanding of the art of war. It was a vast stage on which he was to dictate the course of the stirring world drama for the next ten years Asia Minor