The influence of Greece, which afterwards became so important a feature of Hebrew history, began to be felt in Palestine after the rough he-goat of Macedon had smitten the ram with two horns--the Medes and Persians--“in the fury of his power,” and when the four “notable” horns had sprung up after Alexander died. Hitherto we have seen Israel under the power of Semitic Assyrians and Babylonians, and of Egyptians. The first Aryan race with which the Hebrews came in contact was that of the Persians, but Persian civilisation also was founded on that of Babylon, and for long ages the Greeks in the West had been the pupils of Hittites and Semitic Lydians, in Asia Minor, before they developed an art and culture of their own superior to that of Asia. It is true that the enthusiasm of classical scholars has led them to over-estimate the antiquity and importance of Hellenic influence,[174] but the first appearance of Greeks near the shores of Syria is in the time of Sargon (about 710 B. C.), when the names of Greek and of Phœnician kings in Cyprus are noticed. It is of course possible that Cypriote pottery reached Palestine in this age, and it is known that wild Aryans attacked North Syria in the fourteenth century B. C., and even invaded Egypt about 1265 B. C. These fair-haired and blue-eyed peoples are represented on an Egyptian picture about 1200 B. C., but they were defeated on each occasion by the Pharaohs, and were driven back to Asia Minor. Thus they never formed an element of population in Palestine, nor is Greek influence discernible in the monumental remains before about 300 B. C. at earliest. Alexander won the empire of Western Asia in three great battles, at Issos, at Arbela, and on the Indus; battles which are well worth study, on account of the tactical skill of his arrangements, which--at Issos especially--nullified the numerical superiority of the Persians. After he had entrapped them in the valley east of Tarsus, and after the fall of Tyre and the capture of Damascus, his march on Egypt met with resistance only at Gaza. The statesmanship of Aristotle’s pupil and the generous tolerance of his character rendered him acceptable to Semitic races which had long groaned under the tyranny of the later degenerate Persian monarchs. It is doubtful, perhaps, whether his visit to Jerusalem can be regarded as historical,[175] though there is nothing very inconsistent with Alexander’s method in the accounts; but it is clear that the Hebrews submitted to him without any struggle, and that he favoured the Jews in Egypt, who had a quarter in his new city Alexandria. [Sidenote: TYRUS]