Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire took a mere five years, after which he turned West again. Athens, which had expected to enjoy her vast Mediterranean possessions while Alexander became embroiled in endless Eastern wars, was suddenly faced with a battle-tested Macedonian army. For even as Alexander declined to become mired in a perpetual campaign in Afghanistan, his sorcerer-spies were unearthing ancient magicks from beyond the Hindu Kush… magicks with which he intended to crush the Athenian Empire and rule the known world. It was to be the ultimate conflict, and it began when Alexander unleashed his full might on Athens' most vulnerable province: Egypt.
—Hieronymous of Cardia, The War of Athens and Macedonia
Nine thousand was the sum of the years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the Pillars of Hercules… commanded by the lords of Atlantis, an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia… and afterwards sunk by an earthquake the likes of which had never been seen…
—Plato, The Dialogue of Critias
Above all else, it was the uncovering of the secrets of the elder races that forever changed the destiny of the younger ones.
—Aristotle, On Machinery and Magicks