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 Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 229 On his return to Babylon, Alexander was overcome with grief Death of at the loss of his dearest friend Hephaestion, who had just died. (323 b.c.) He arranged for his dead friend one of the most magnificent funerals ever celebrated. Then, as he was preparing for a cam- paign to subjugate the Arabian peninsula and leave him free to carry out his great plans for the conquest of the western Mediterranean, Alexander himself fell sick, and after a few days died (323 B.C.). He was thirty-three years of age and had reigned thirteen years. Section 38. The Heirs of Alexander's Empire Alexander has been well termed " the Great." Few men of Conse- 1 • r !-• quences of genius if any, and certainly none in so briei a career as nis, Alexander's have left so indelible a mark upon the course of human affairs. ^^^^^ His death in the midst of his colossal designs was a fearful calam- ity, for it made impossible forever the unification of Hellas and of the world by the power of that gifted race which was now civilizing the world. Fabulous tales of Alexander's heroic career grew up on every hand, as men looked back upon the wondrous life of the world-hero. But such visions could not bring, back the man himself, and there was none to take his place. Of his Alexander's line there remained in Macedonia a demented half brother and, appears ere long, the son of Roxana, born in Asia after Alexander's death. Conflicts among the leaders at home swept away all Alexander's family, even including his mother. His generals in Babylonia found the plans of his great west- The suc- , ., 1 cessors of ern campaign lying among his papers, but no man possessed Alexander; the genius or the will to carry them out, nor could there be any J^^JJ^^f [^^ unity among leaders feeling no authority above them which they Europe, Asia, would long recognize. These able Macedonian commanders were soon involved among themselves in a long struggle, which slumbered only to break out anew. After a generation of con- flict we find Alexander's empire in three parts, corresponding. to Europe, Asia, and Africa, with a Macedonian leader at the