Alexander the Great in His Conquest of Asia, c1620. A Greek or Roman army driving back a fleeing cavalry of turbaned fighters in a rocky landscape could suggest various conflicts to a 17th-century audience; however, the prominent horseman in the foreground wears the type of extravagant, fanciful helmet associated with the Macedonian ruler and general Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE), conqueror of Asia from the Aegean Sea to India and Afghanistan as well as Greece and Egypt.