the wars of alexander the great

WALDEMAR HECKEL isProfessor of Ancient Historyat the University of Calgary.His publications includenumerous articles on the historyof Alexander the Great, The LastDays and Testament of Alexander

the Great (Stuttgart 1988) andThe Marshals of Alexander's Empire

(London 1992). Together withJohn Yardley he has producedthe Penguin edition of QuintusCurtius Rufus: The History of

Alexander (1984), a commentaryon Justin's books on Alexander(OUP 1997) and most recentlyLivy: The Dawn of the RomanEmpire for Oxford World'sClassics (2000).

PROFESSOR ROBERT O'NEILL,AO D. PHIL. (Oxon), Hon D.Litt. (ANU), FASSA, Fr Hist S,is the Series Editor of theEssential Histories. His wealthof knowledge and expertiseshapes the series content andprovides up-to-the-minuteresearch and theory. Born in1936 an Australian citizen, heserved in the Australian army(1955-68) and has held a numberof eminent positions in historycircles, including the ChicheleProfessorship of the History ofWar at All Souls College,University of Oxford, 1987-2001,and the Chairmanship of theBoard of the Imperial WarMuseum and the Council of theInternational Institute forStrategic Studies, London.He is the author of many booksincluding works on the GermanArmy and the Nazi party, andthe Korean and Vietnam wars.Now based in Australia on hisretirement from Oxford he is theChairman of the Council ofthe Australian Strategic PolicyInstitute.

Essential Histories

The Wars ofAlexander the Great336-323 BC

Essential Histories

The Wars ofAlexander the Great336-323 BC

Waldemar Heckel

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02 03 04 05 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Introduction 7

Chronology 13

Background to war

The decline of the city-states and the rise of Macedon 14

Warring sides

The Persians, the Macedonians and allied troops 22

Outbreak

Alexander's rise to power 28

The fighting

Alexander conquers an empire 35

Portrait of a soldier

Two generals and a satrap 72

The world around war

Rome, Carthage and India 76

Portrait of a civilian

A historian, athletes and courtesans 81

How the war ended

The death of Alexander 84

Conclusion and consequences

The struggle for succession 86

Further reading 90

Glossary 92

Index 94

Introduction

The conquests of Alexander the Great forma watershed between the world of the Greekcity-state {polls) and the so-called Hellenisticworld, the eastern kingdoms, whereAlexander's successors applied a veneer ofGreek culture and administration to abarbarian world. These ancient Near Easternterritories had always been the battlegroundbetween eastern and western civilisations,and would continue to be so well beyondthe chronological confines of the ancientworld.

Western contact with the Near East hadbegun in the Bronze Age, in Hittite AsiaMinor, in the Orontes valley of Syria and inthe Nile delta of Egypt. The spectacularfrescoes and other artefacts of the prehistoriccivilisations of the Aegean depict contact,friendly and hostile, between foreigners and

Mycenaean-Minoan 'Greeks'. Even after thefall of Troy ended what the historianHerodotus regarded as the first great strugglebetween east and west, and after the collapseof the Bronze Age civilisations - undercircumstances that are still not clear - newwaves of Greek migrants splashed against theshores of Asia Minor. From there, they spreadto the Black Sea coast and the Levant, andeventually to the west as well.

By the sixth century BC, however, Greeksettlements in Asia Minor became subject tothe authority of the Lydians. This kingdomhad allied itself with the Medes, who ruledthe Persians from Ecbatana (modernHamadan) until they were overthrown byCyrus the Great. Croesus, whose name issynonymous with fabulous wealth, was thelast of the Lydian rulers and, in 548/7, heraised an army against the Persian upstart,misled by Greek oracles into thinking thathe would acquire a greater empire. After anindecisive battle near the Halys, the Lydiantroops disbanded, as was their practice - forit was not customary to wage war over thewinter months - but Cyrus brought hisPersians up to the walls of Sardis, seized itscitadel and put Croesus to death. (Greektradition was embarrassed by the oracle'sdeception and maintained that Apollointervened at the last minute, saving Croesusfrom the flames and transporting him to anidyllic world. )

Between 547 and 540 Cyrus's generalssubdued coastal Asia Minor, while he turnedhis attention to the Elamites and Babylonians.By the end of the century, the Achaemenidsruled an empire that extended from the Industo the Aegean and from Samarkand to thefirst cataracts of the Nile. The title 'King ofKings' was thus no empty boast.

Marble head of Alexander (Greek Ministry of Culture)

Essential Histories • The Wars of Alexander the Great

Persian domination of Greek Asia Minorthreatened the city-states of the peninsula tothe west, as well as the islands that lay inbetween. In 513 Darius I crossed theHellespont (Dardanelles), the narrow straitthat separates the Gallipoli peninsula ofEurope from what is today Asiatic Turkey.Portions of Thrace were annexed and

administered as the Persian satrapy ofSkudra, and at some point thereafter thePersians received the submission ofMacedon. Even the isolationist states to thesouth, in particular Sparta, were forced totake notice.

The Athenians and the Eretrians ofEuboea had aided a rebellion by the Ionians,

8

Introduction

a futile (as it turned out) attempt to throwoff the Persian yoke (499/498-494/493).Victorious over the rebels, Darius launched apunitive campaign against their supporters:in 490 his general, Datis, crossed the Aegeanand destroyed the city of the Eretrians, manyof whom were subsequently enslaved in theheart of the Persian Empire - their

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the PersianEmpire (d. 530 BC). Alexander had Poulamachos, aMacedonian, impaled for desecrating the tomb. (TRIP)

descendants, the Gortyae, fought Alexanderat Gaugamela. Then Datis landed onAthenian soil at Marathon; however,contrary to expectation, a predominantlyAthenian force defeated the Persian army.

The Athenian victory provided animmense boost to Greek confidence, whichwould be put to the test ten years later, whenDarius' son and successor, Xerxes, camedangerously close to defeating a coalition ofGreeks and adding the lower Balkans to thePersian Empire. Only the great naval victoryat Salamis (summer 480) prevented thePersian juggernaut from crushing allresistance in Greece. That victory hastenedthe retreat of Xerxes with the bulk of hisarmy; those who remained under Mardoniuswere dealt the decisive blow on thebattlefield of Plataea in 479.

The ill-fated expedition of Xerxes resultedin strained but stable relations between Greeceand Persia, a balance of power that in somerespects resembled the Gold War of thetwentieth century. The Greek world, however,was itself divided and polarised, with theSpartans exercising hegemony over thePeloponnesian League as a counterweight toAthens, which, under the guise of liberatingthe Hellenes from Persia, had converted theDelian League - originally, a confederacy ofautonomous allies - into an empire. By themiddle of the fifth century, Athens wasreaping the financial benefits of the incomingtribute and unashamedly extolling the virtuesof 'power politics'. The inevitable clash of

Demosthenes on Persia'I consider the Great King to be the

common enemy of all the Greeks... Nordo I see the Greeks having a commonfriendship with one another, but sometrust the King more than they do someof their own [race]. 'Demosthenes 14. 3

9

Essential Histories • The Wars of Alexander the Great10

Introduction

Greek powers took place between 431 and404 and was known as the Peloponnesian War(see The Peloponnesian War in this series).When it was over, the Athenian Empireexisted no more and the gradual decline ofthe Greek city-states through internecinewarfare set the stage for the emergence of agreat power in the north: the kingdom ofMacedon.

The struggle for hegemony amongst thecity-states of Sparta, Thebes and Athensmade it clear that Greek unity - the elusiveconcept of Panhellenism - was somethingthat could not be achieved peacefully,through negotiation or commitment to agreater purpose; rather it was something tobe imposed from outside. Earlier the Greeks

had closed ranks in order to resist thecommon enemy, Persia. But when the threatreceded, the Hellenic League dissolved andthe political horizons of the Greeksnarrowed. Certain intellectuals neverthelesspromoted the concept of Panhellenism, evenif it meant the forcible unification of thecity-states. When Philip achieved this, bymeans of his victory at Chaeronea and thecreation of the League of Corinth, heattempted to renew Panhellenic vigour byreminding the Greeks of the 'commonenemy', the Persians.

The concept of a war of vengeance was,however, a hard sell. Although someappealed directly to Philip to bring about theunification of Greece and lead it against

11


Persia, others, like Demosthenes, who poleis who favoured unity under thecriticised the interference of the Persian King hegemony of their own states. In the face ofin Greek affairs, espoused Panhellenism only Macedonian imperialism, Demosthenes wasif it could be accomplished under Athenian content - at least, according to his accusers -leadership or for Athenian benefit. And there to accept Persian money to resist Philipwere like-minded politicians in the other and Alexander.

12

Chronology

560-550 The rise of Cyrus the Great547 Cyrus defeats Croesus of

Lydia513 Darius I's invasion of Europe

results in near disaster north ofthe Danube

499-493 The Ionian Revolt490 Battle of Marathon480-479 Xerxes' invasion of Greece478-431 The Delian League becomes an

Athenian Empire449 Peace of Callias431-404 The Peloponnesian War401 Battle of Cunaxa; March of the

Ten Thousand396-394 Agesilaus in Asia Minor394-387/386 The Corinthian War371 Battle of Leuctra360/359 Perdiccas killed in battle

with Illyrians; accession ofPhilip II

359-336 Reign of Philip II of Macedon356 Birth of Alexander the Great353 Philip II's victory over the

Phocians in the 'Crocus Field'346 Peace of Philocrates; Philip

becomes master of northernGreece

338 Battle of Chaeronea; Philipbecomes undisputed militaryleader (hegemon) of Greece

337 Formation of the League ofCorinth

336 Death of Philip; accession ofAlexander the Great

335 Alexander campaigns in Illyria;destruction of Thebes

334 Beginning of the Asiaticexpedition; battle of Granicusriver; major coastal cities of AsiaMinor fall to Alexander

333 Alexander cuts the Gordianknot; defeats Darius III at Issus

332 Capture of Phoenician coastalcities; siege of Tyre and Gaza

332/331 Alexander in Egypt; founding ofAlexandria at the mouth of theNile

331 Darius III defeated for the secondtime at Gaugamela in northernMesopotamia

331/330 Capture of Babylon, Susa,Persepolis and Ecbatana

330 Death of Darius and end of theofficial 'Panhellenic' War;Alexander moves intoAfghanistan; execution ofPhilotas and Parmenion

329-327 War in Central Asia between theAmu-darya and Syr-darya (theOxus and Iaxartes rivers)

328 Death of Cleitus; Alexander'spolitical marriage to Roxane

327 Failed attempt to introduceproskynesis at the court;conspiracy of the pages;Alexander invades India

326 Battle of the Hydaspes (Jhelum)river; the Macedonian armyrefuses to cross the Hyphasis(Beas) river

325 Alexander at the mouth of theIndus

324 Alexander returns to Susa andpunishes those guilty ofmaladministration in hisabsence

323 Death of Alexander in Babylon323-281 The Age of the Successors and

formation of the Hellenistickingdoms

323-330 The Hellenistic Period

Background to war

The decline of the city-statesand the rise of Macedon

Decline of the Greek city-states

The victory of Sparta in the PeloponnesianWar (431-404 BC) and the destruction of theAthenian Empire ended the balance of powerin the Greek world. Sparta emerged as anoppressive and unimaginative master.Nevertheless, the price of victory had beengreat and domination of Greece madedemands on Sparta that she could not easilymeet. Sparta was notoriously short ofmanpower and the needs of empire -maintaining garrisons and fleets, andproviding Spartiate officials abroad - strainedher resources and undermined the simplebut effective socio-economic basis of thestate and its military power. Newlyenfranchised helots (state slaves) performedgarrison duty, and wealth infiltrated Spartansociety; personal wealth and the use of goldand silver had been banned by the legendarylawgiver Lycurgus.

But the problems were not only domestic.Hostility to Spartan power, which wasexercised in a ruthless and often corruptmanner, led to a coalition of Thebes, Corinth,Argos and a resurgent Athens against the newmasters of Greece. Although Sparta withstoodthis initial test, which is referred to as theCorinthian War (394-387/386), the bitterconfrontations of this war were theforerunners of a life-and-death struggle thatwould see the brief emergence of Thebes as thedominant hoplite power.

The famous Theban wedge began as adefensive measure in 394. Soon, however, itbecame clear that it had tremendousoffensive potential and, as a result of thesuccessful execution of Theban tactics by therenowned Sacred Band, Thebes replacedSparta as the leader of Greece, at least onland. Sparta's defeat at Theban hands in thebattle of Leuctra (371) was catastrophic and

it was followed by Theban invasions of thePeloponnese, the foundation of Megalopolisas a check on Spartan activities in the south,and the liberation of Messenia, which hadhitherto provided Sparta's helots and itseconomic underpinnings.

The Thebans' comment on the nature ofSpartan imperialism

'Now we are all aware, men of Athens,that you would like to get back theempire which you used to have. Surelythis is more likely to happen if you go tothe help of all victims of Spartaninjustice... In the war with you [thesestates], at the urgent entreaties of Sparta,took their share in all the hardships anddangers and expense; but when theSpartans had achieved their object, didthey ever get any share of the power orglory or money that was won? Far fromit. The Spartans, now that things havegone well for them, think it perfectlyproper to set up their own helots asgovernors, and meanwhile treat their freeallies as though they were slaves... Whatthey gave them was not freedom but adouble measure of servitude.

This arrogant dominion of Sparta iseasier to destroy:... the Spartans, few innumber themselves, are greedilydominating people who are many timesas numerous as they and also just aswell armed. 'Xenophon, Hellenica 3. 5. 10-15 (RexWarner trans., Penguin)

Greek encounters with Persia

These convulsions in central and southernGreece must be viewed against the

Background to war

Monument commemorating the Theban victory overSparta at Leuctra (371 BC). The victory was attributableto the Theban wedge and the courage of the SacredBand. For Sparta the defeat was staggering, and theTheban general Epamonidas exploited Spartan weaknessby invading Peloponnesus, establishing the city ofMegalopolis and freeing the Messenians. Theban powercame to an abrupt end at Chaeronea in 338 BC, andthree years later the city was destroyed by Alexander(Photo by the author)

ever-present backdrop of the Persian Empire.In the middle of the Peloponnesian War -

during an unstable period known,misleadingly, as the Peace of Nicias - theAthenians had suffered a devastating defeatin Sicily. For a state that was ringed withenemies, the collapse of the army in the westhad much the same effect as Napoleon's andHitler's disastrous Russian campaigns. For thesubject states of the empire, it was the signalfor rebellion, and defections occurred on agrand scale.

Economically battered and militarilyshaken, Athens now resumed the war against

15


Sparta, which at the same time had found apaymaster in the Persian King. AlthoughAthens had made peace with Artaxerxes I -the infamous and much disputed Peace ofCallias (449) - this agreement needed to berenewed, and there had apparently not beena formal agreement with Artaxerxes'successor, Darius II (424-403). Darius at firstallowed his satraps to distribute funds toSparta and her allies in the hope ofrecovering the Greek coastal cities.

The compact with Persia that followed,while militarily expedient, was politicallyharmful to Sparta's reputation amongst theGreeks. For, in the struggle to defeat Athens,which had once espoused the liberty of theHellenes, Sparta was agreeing to hand backGreek city-states in Asia Minor to Persia. In407, Darius sent a younger son, Cyrus, tosupply the Spartans with the resources todefeat their enemies. In the process, Cyrusdeveloped a strong bond of friendship withthe Spartan admiral Lysander. The latter hadpolitical ambitions at home, and the formerwas eager to bring about a Peloponnesianvictory in the war so that he could, in thenear future, draw upon their soldiery, whichhe regarded as the best in the ancient world.

The health of Darius II was clearly failing,and the heir to the throne was Cyrus's elderbrother, Artaxerxes (II). He appears to havebeen a rather lethargic man, alreadyapproaching middle age. A faction at court,encouraged by the efforts of the queenmother, sought to win the kingship for Cyrus.But, in order to challenge his brother, Cyruswould need a military edge. And this, hebelieved, could be supplied by a Greekmercenary army. Darius died soon after thecollapse of Athens, and in 402/401, Cyrus setin motion his scheme to overthrowArtaxerxes. A force of some 11, 000 mercenaries- they were to become known (after somedefections and casualties) as the 'TenThousand' - accompanied a vastly greaterbarbarian force from Lydia to Mesopotamia.

Not far from Babylon, at a place calledCunaxa, the armies of the feuding brothersmet. Although the Greeks won an easyvictory against the barbarians stationed

opposite them, the effort was for naught,since Cyrus himself was killed in an attackon his brother in the centre of the line.Struck under the eye with a javelin, Cyrusfell, and with him collapsed the dream forthe fulfilment of which an army hadstruggled against distance and difficultterrain, and ultimately a vastly morenumerous enemy. But it was not entirely invain, at least as a lesson to the Greeks: forthe ease with which a relatively mobile andefficient army could strike at the heart of theempire exposed the weaknesses ofAchaemenid Persia. One of the Greeks whoparticipated in the campaign, Xenophon,wrote a colourful account of the adventure,which made delightful reading for Greekschoolboys. It was almost certainly read byAlexander in his youth, and its lessons didnot elude him.

In the meantime, Athens too hadattempted to revive its maritime power,creating the Second Athenian League. Butthis fell far short of the Delian League of thefifth century, for the member states werewary of Athenian imperialistic ambitions and

Xenophon's observations on the nature ofthe Persian Empire

'Generally speaking, it was obviousthat Cyrus was pressing on all the waywith no pause except when he halted forprovisions or some other necessity. Hethought that the quicker he arrived themore unprepared would be the Kingwhen he engaged him, and the slowerhe went, the greater would be the armythat the King could get together. Indeed,an intelligent observer of the King'sempire would form the followingestimate: it is strong in respect of theextent of territory and numbers ofinhabitants; but it is weak in respect ofits lengthened communications and thedispersal of its forces, that is, if one canattack with speed. 'Xenophon, Anabasis 1. 5. 9 (Rex Warnertrans., Penguin)

16

Background to war

the Athenians themselves incapable ofasserting their domination by force. In theevent, it mattered little, since the debilitatingwars of the city-states to the south haddiverted Greek attention from the growingdanger in the north.

constantly threatened by the Illyrians to thewest and the imperialistic (or, at least,hegemonic) tendencies of the Athenians andThebans. By the queen Eurydice, Amyntashad three sons, all destined to rule.Alexander II held the throne only briefly(369-368) before he was murdered. Abrother-in-law, Ptolemy of Alorus, thenserved as regent for the under-agedPerdiccas III, until he too was assassinated in365. Perdiccas was now master of his ownhouse and throne, but the kingdomcontinued to be threatened by the Illyriansto the west, and in 360/359 these destroyedthe Macedonian army, leaving Perdiccas deadon the battlefield and only a child (Amyntas)as heir to the throne.

During the reign of his brothers, theyoungest son, Philip, had spent some time asa hostage in Thebes, at that time the mostpowerful military state in Greece. Here hehad witnessed the Theban infantry reformsand had given thought to applying thelessons to the Macedonian army. Hence,when the emergency created by the Illyriandisaster of 360/359 brought him to power, asregent for Amyntas IV, Philip knew not onlywhat to do but how to do it. Indeed, he dealtwith the crisis so effectively - combiningmilitary action with diplomacy, or evenduplicity - that the claims of Amyntas wereswept aside. It was Philip's reforms that madethe army invincible: little did he realise that,while he was struggling to ensure Macedon'ssurvival, he was training and organising anarmy of world conquerors.

Philip rapidly mastered northern Thessaly,with its chief town of Larisa, and sealed hispolitical gains by marrying Philinna, awoman of the ruling family. The Phocians

A wonderful feat of surgery'Critobulus enjoys great celebrity for

having removed the arrow from Philip'seye and ensuring that the loss of the eyedid not leave his face deformed. 'Pliny, Natural History 737 (J. C.Yardley trans. )

17


had plundered the treasures of Delphi inorder to buy mercenaries, and the inability ofthe Thessalians and the Thebans to deal withthem cast Philip in the role of the god'schampion. After his victory at the CrocusField in 353, his men wore laurel wreaths ontheir heads, symbolising their service toApollo. By 346, by the terms of the Peaceof Philocrates, Philip had made himselfmaster of northern Greece. He spoke forThessaly and he held the deciding votesof the Amphictyonic Council thatcontrolled Delphi.

For a while, Philip directed hisattention to the north-east, to theThraceward area and Byzantium. But in338, he crushed the combined armies ofAthens and Thebes at Chaeronea, and wasable to impose a settlement on Greece,through the creation of the League ofCorinth, which recognised him as its leader(hegemon). The foreign policy of the Greekswas securely in his hands, but Philip'sgreatest challenges were to come from hisown kingdom; indeed, from his ownhousehold.

Background to war

Alexander relates Philip's achievements'Philip found you a tribe of

impoverished vagabonds, most of youdressed in skins, feeding a few sheep onthe hills and fighting, feebly enough, tokeep them from your neighbours -Thracians, Triballians and Illyrians. Hegave you cloaks to wear instead of skins;he brought you down from the hills intothe plains; he taught you to fight on equalterms with the enemy on your borders,till you knew that your safety lay not, asonce, in your mountain strongholds, butin your own valour. He made youcity-dwellers; he brought you law; he

civilized you... Thessaly, so long yourbugbear and your dread, he subjected toyour rule, and by humbling the Phocianshe made the narrow and difficult pathinto Greece a broad and easy road. Themen of Athens and Thebes, who for yearshad kept watching for their moment tostrike us down, he brought so low - andby this time I myself was working at myfather's side - that they who once exactedfrom us either our money or ourobedience, now, in their turn, looked tous as the means of their salvation. 'Arrian 7. 9 (A. de Selincourttrans., Penguin)

Medallion showing the head of Philip II. The fact that the left side of his face is

shown may be significant: Philip was struck by an arrow in the right eye during

the siege of Methone in 354 BC. (Archaeological Museum ofThessaloniki)

19


Remains of theTemple of Apollo at Delphi. The Pythia,the priestess of the god, declared that Alexander wouldbe invincible. (Author's collection)

20

Background to war

The lion of Chaeronea, a monument to the Greekswho fell at Chaeronea in 338 BC fighting Philip II.(Author's collection)

21

Warring sides

The Persians, the Macedoniansand allied troops

The Persians

From the time of Darius I (521-486), thePersian Empire was divided administrativelyinto 20 provinces known as satrapies, eachgoverned by a satrap - at least, such was theGreek approximation of khshathrapavan, aword that is Median in origin and appears tohave meant 'protector of the realm'. Thesesatrapies were assessed an annual tributethat ranged from a low of 170 talents ofEuboean silver paid by the dwellers ofthe Hindu Kush region to a staggering4, 680 talents from the neighbouring Indians.(It is pointless to attempt a conversion ofancient into modern values, but it is worthnoting that in the late stages of thePeloponnesian War, i. e. about 80 years beforeAlexander's invasion, 1 talent was sufficientto maintain a trireme, with its complementof 200 men, for a month. ) Sums collected inexcess of these amounts were presumably forthe satraps' personal use.

In addition to the satraps of these20 provinces, there were rulers of smalleradministrative units known to the Greeks ashyparchs (hyparchoi), but the use ofterminology is often inconsistent in Greeksources and the titles 'satrap' and 'hyparch'are sometimes used interchangeably. Bothcan be found commanding regionallyrecruited troops.

The Persian army was composed primarilyof satrapal levies, each of the Achaemenidprovinces providing troops in accordancewith wealth and population. These troopswere then divided into units based on tens.Herodotus and Xenophon speak regularly ofmyriads and chiliarchies, units of 10, 000 and1, 000, which the Persians themselves calledbaivaraba and hazaraba. Each baivarabam hadits baivarpatish ('myriarch'); and there was ahazarapatish ('chiliarch') for every hazarabam,

which in turn was subdivided into tengroups of 100 (sataba), and these into tenunits of ten (dathaba). These were, in reality,only nominal strengths, and thus we canexplain, at least in part, the wildlyexaggerated numbers of Persians in theGreek sources, especially in Herodotus'account of the Persian Wars.

Warring sides

One unit, however, did maintain its fullstrength of 10, 000 and hence was known asthe 'Immortals'. This unit formed the elite -men selected for their physical excellenceand their valour - and appears to haveincluded a contingent of 1, 000 spear-bearers,who followed the King's chariot. In additionto these came the King's special guard ofspearmen, known from the golden applesthat constituted their spearbutts asmelophoroi or 'apple-bearers'. These alsonumbered 1, 000 and preceded the King'schariot in the royal procession. Similarly, theKing was accompanied by units of 1, 000 and10, 000 cavalry.

When Alexander crossed to Asia, Darius IIIhad only recently become king as a result ofthe convulsions at the Achaemenid court.The ruthless Artaxerxes III Ochus hadelevated to positions of great power at thecourt - he was hazarapatish or chiliarch - andin the army, a eunuch by the name ofBagoas. In 338 BC, however, Bagoasmurdered first Ochus, and then his sons.Hence, the kingship devolved upon a certain

The Persian Immortals were the elite troops. Their name

derives from the fact that their numbers were never

allowed to dip below 10, 000, Nineteenth - century

chromolithograph of the frieze at Susa. (ARPL)

23


Artashata, whom Greek writers (for reasonsthat are unclear to us) called Codomannus,and who took the dynastic name Darius (III).Unlike the sons of Ochus, Darius was amature individual, already in his early forties,and an experienced warrior - he had defeateda Cadusian champion in single combat - whowas wise to the machinations of Bagoas andforced him to drink his own poison. Whenhe turned his attention to the Macedonianinvaders, he had only just returned fromsuppressing a fresh uprising in Egypt.

The Royal Procession of the Persians'... in front, on silver altars, was

carried the fire which the Persians calledsacred and eternal. Next came the Magi,singing the traditional hymn, and theywere followed by 365 young men inscarlet cloaks, their number equallingthe days of the year. Then came thechariot consecrated to Jupiter[Ahura-Mazda], drawn by white horses,followed by a horse of extraordinarysize, which the Persians called "the Sun'shorse". Those driving the horses wereequipped with golden whips and whiterobes... and these were followed by thecavalry of 12 nations of differentcultures, variously armed. Next in linewere the soldiers whom the Persianscalled the "Immortals", 10, 000 innumber... After a short interval camethe 15, 000 men known as "the King'skinsmen"... The column next to thesecomprised the so-calledDoryphoroe,... and these preceded theroyal chariot on which rode the Kinghimself... 10, 000 spearmen carryinglances chased with silver and tippedwith gold followed the King's chariot,and to the right and left he was attendedby some 200 of his most noble relatives.At the end of the column came30, 000 foot-soldiers followed by 400 ofthe King's horses. '

Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History ofAlexander 3. 3. 9-21

The Macedonians

Macedon, by contrast, was the product of aunion of Upper and Lower Macedonia,which had been completed in the time ofPhilip II and to which were added new citiescontaining new - that is, naturalised -citizens. Several of Alexander's closest friends(hetairoi) belonged to the latter group:Nearchus and the sons of Larichus,Laomedon and Erigyius, in particular.Generally speaking, the country was nothighly urbanised and most were herdsmen;the state did not have the material for acitizen hoplite army, since most lacked theresources from which to supply themselveswith hoplite armour. But Macedonia had alarge and robust population, which, if itcould be armed cheaply and effectively,could prove too much for its neighbours.

Originally, the core of the Macedonianmilitary was the cavalry, particularly thenobility that formed the king's guard androde into battle with him as his comitatus.Here we first encounter the term hetairoi,'companions' (or 'friends'). Philip appears tohave formed an elite battalion of infantry,which he named his 'foot-companions'(pezhetairoi). Later the name came to meanthe Macedonian infantry in general - that is,the territorial levies, many of them from theUpper Macedonian cantons of Elimeia,Lyncus, Orestis and Tymphaea. The elitefoot-guard now became known as thehypaspistai or 'shield-bearers', and even thesewere separate from a group of noble guardsdescribed variously as the 'royal hypaspists'or the agema.

In the army that followed Alexander toAsia there were 9, 000 pezhetairoi, dispersedamong six brigades (taxeis) - each taxiscomprised 1, 500 men - and 3, 000hypaspists. Although some have regarded thehypaspists as more lightly armed than thepezhetairoi, the truth is that they wereidentically armed and only the basis ofrecruitment was different.

The weapon that distinguished theMacedonian infantryman or phalangite wasknown as the sarissa, a hardwood lance

24

Warring sides

Arrowhead. This one bears the name of Philip.

(Archaeological Museum ofThessaloniki)

(often cornel wood) with a metal point andbutt-spike. This ranged in length from 15 to18ft (4. 5-5. 5m), though longer ones seem tohave come into use, and weighed about 141b(6kg). Since it required two hands to wield,the shield, about 2ft (0. 6m) in diameter,was either suspended from the neck, thusrendering the breastplate virtuallysuperfluous, or else attached by means of asling to the upper arm. The helmet wasthat of the 'Phrygian' style, worn also bycavalrymen, though the latter are oftendepicted sporting the so-calledBoeotian helmet.

The Macedonian cavalry, known as theCompanion Cavalry, was subdivided intosquadrons called ilai. The strength of an ile wasprobably about 200, though the RoyalSquadron {He basilike) comprised 300 men.Eight ile of Companions were supplemented byfour ilai of scouts (prodromoi) or sarissa-bearers(sarissophoroi) and one of Paeonians. Whereasthe Companions were generally armed withthe cavalryman's spear (xyston), thesarissophoroi, as their name implies, wielded thecavalry sarissa, a shorter version of theinfantryman's lance, probably in the 12—14ft(3. 5-4. 25m) range, weighing about 41/2lb (2kg).

Allied troops

Both Macedonians and Persians madeextensive use of Greek hoplites, while theMacedonians also employed Greek cavalry.But the numbers of Greeks in the Persianarmy were substantially larger - anembarrassing statistic for Alexander, whosepropaganda had attempted to sell hiscampaign as a Panhellenic war, fought forthe good and the pride of all Greeks againsta hated enemy.

In Alexander's army, the Thessalian cavalryequalled in strength the MacedonianCompanions (1, 800-2, 000) and fought on theleft wing under the general command ofParmenion; but since Thessaly belonged to thepolitical orbit of Macedon and Alexander wasthe archon of the Thessalian League, thesetroops must be regarded as distinct from thoseof the 'allies'. Nevertheless, it is worth notingthat, once the Panhellenic phase of theconquest was declared over, the Thessalianswere allowed to return home, though theysold their horses and returned on foot.

Other allied horsemen are attested,including Peloponnesian horse, Thraciansand mercenary cavalry. An inscription fromOrchomenus records the names of localcavalrymen who served with Alexander. In334, Alexander led 7, 000 allies and

25


Surrender of the Greek mercenaries'To the envoys of the Greeks, -who

begged him to grant them terms for thewhole mercenary force, Alexanderreplied that he would make no compactwith them whatever; men who foughtwith the barbarians against Greeceagainst the decrees of the Greeks wereguilty of grave wrongs. He ordered themto come in a body and surrender,

leaving it to him to do what he wouldwith them; if not, they must take whatsteps they could for their own safety.They replied that they placedthemselves and the rest in Alexander'shands, and urged him to send an officerto lead them under safe conduct to hiscamp. 'Arrian 3. 23. 8-9 (P. A. Brunt trans., LoebClassical Library)

26

Warring sides

Bronze greaves from Tomb II at Vergina, believed by many

scholars to have belonged to Philip II, the father of

Alexander the Great. Note the mismatched pair

(Archaeological Museum ofThessaloniki)

5, 000 mercenary infantry to Asia, and therewas a steady flow of reinforcementsthroughout the campaign, but also largenumbers of Greeks deposited throughout theempire as garrison troops. At the time ofAlexander's death, some 10, 000 in the UpperSatrapies were planning to abandon theirposts and return to Greece, something theyhad previously attempted upon hearing thefalse news of the King's death in 325.

The Persians, of course, employed largenumbers of Greek mercenaries: 20, 000 areattested at the Granicus, and 30, 000 at Issus.Captured Greeks were, however, sent byAlexander to hard-labour camps, and it wasonly with difficulty that their countrymensecured their release. Even when Darius wasfleeing south of the Caspian, shortly beforehis murder at the hands of Nabarzanes andBessus, significant numbers of Greekmercenaries remained with him, commandedby Patron the Phocian and Glaucus ofAetolia. Eventually these orphaned mercenarieswere forced to place themselves atAlexander's mercy.

27

Outbreak

Alexander's rise to power

The assassination of Philip

The outbreak of the Macedonian war ofconquest was in fact a two-part process, thefirst arrested by the assassination of itsinitiator, Philip II. Once he had crushedGreek resistance at Chaeronea in latesummer 338, Philip forged an alliance ofcity-states, known, after the place where itscouncil met, as the League of Corinth. Thisconvened for the first time in spring 337,elected Philip as its military leader (hegemon)and laid the foundations for a Panhellenicexpedition against Persia.

What Philip's exact aims were, in terms ofterritorial acquisition, are not clear. Manysuppose that he would have contentedhimself, initially at least, with the liberationof Asia Minor. This would certainly havebeen in keeping with Philip's practices in thepast. From the time that he overcameinternal opposition and secured his bordersagainst barbarian incursions, Philipexpanded slowly and cautiously over aperiod of almost 20 years. Unlike Alexander,whose practice it was to conquer first andconsolidate later - and, indeed, 'later' nevercame in some cases - Philip was content toacquire territory systematically, withoutoverextending Macedonian power.

But Philip's conquests were pre-empted byassassination, and the stability of thekingdom was disrupted by an ill-advisedmarriage. Macedonian kings, at least fromthe time of Persian influence in the region(after 513), were polygamous, and Philipmarried for the seventh time in October 337.The bride was a teenager of aristocraticMacedonian background - most of Philip'sbrides had, in fact, been foreigners - butthe union was the result of a love affairrather than politics. Indeed, Philip wasexperiencing what we would call a 'mid-life

crisis', and the attractions of the youngCleopatra were a pleasant diversion fromthe affairs of state and the demands of hisshrewish queen, Olympias, the mother ofAlexander the Great. Philip's infatuationblinded him to both the politicalexpectations of his new wife's family andthe resentment of his son and heir.

At the wedding-feast, Cleopatra's uncle,Attalus, had toasted the marriage with thetactless prayer that it should produce'legitimate' heirs to the Macedonian throne.Alexander (understandably) took issue withthis remark, and hurled his drinking cup atAttalus. Philip, in turn, besotted with loveand wine, drew his sword and lunged at hisson. But he stumbled and fell amid thecouches of the banquet, impaired by drinkand an old war injury.

When the groom awoke the next morningto the sobering reality, Alexander was alreadyon his way to Epirus, the ancestral home ofhis mother, who accompanied him. Fromthere he meant to journey to the kingdom ofthe Illyrians, the traditional enemy ofMacedon, intending to reassert his birthrightwith their aid. But this right had never reallybeen challenged by Philip, at least notintentionally, and diplomacy servedeventually to bring about the son's returnand a reconciliation.

The abrasive Attalus had, in the interval,been sent with Parmenion and an army toestablish a beachhead in Asia Minor. Butthere were nevertheless in Macedonia thosewho resented Attalus and feared thefulfilment of his prayer. Many looked toPhilip's nephew, Amyntas son of Perdiccas,who had ruled briefly as a minor, but hadbeen forced to yield the kingship to hisuncle. Instead of eliminating him as apotential rival, Philip allowed him to live as aprivate citizen and married him to one of his

Outbreak

CleopatraThe name Cleopatra is commonly

associated with Egypt: virtually everyoneis familiar with Cleopatra VII, themistress of Julius Caesar and MarkAntony, who died in 30 BC. But thename occurs already in Homer's Iliadand was popular in ancient Macedonia.Archelaus I's queen, Philip's seventh wifeand Alexander the Great's sister were allCleopatras. It was actually the daughterof the Seleucid king Antiochus III whobecame the first Cleopatra to rule Egypt,when in 194/3 she married the youngking Ptolemy V Epiphanes.

daughters, Cynnane. Now in 337/336 hebecame the focus of a dissident group, anunwilling candidate for the throne, supportedby a faction from Upper Macedonia thatplanned the assassination of Philip.

This at least was the official version thatfollowed the deed; the version promulgatedby Alexander, perhaps with the aim ofdiverting attention from the true culprits - for

Medallion with the head of Alexander's motherOlympias, from a series of medallions commissioned bythe Roman Emperor Caracalla (AD 212-17). This queen,one of Philip's seven wives, had a profound influence onher son's character and also created considerablepolitical mischief in Macedonia during Alexander'sabsence in Asia. (ISI)

Philip's marriages'In the twenty years of his rule Philip

married the Illyrian Audata, by whom hehad a daughter, Cynnane, and he alsomarried Phila, sister of Derdas andMachatas. Then, since he wished toextend his realm to include theThessalian nation, he had children bytwo Thessalian women, Nicesipolis ofPherae, who bore him Thessalonice, andPhilinna of Larissa, by whom heproduced Arrhidaeus. In addition, hetook possession of the Molossiankingdom by marrying Olympias, bywhom he had Alexander and Cleopatra,and when he took Thrace the Thracianking Cothelas came to him with hisdaughter Meda and many gifts. Aftermarrying Meda, Philip also took herhome to be a second wife along withOlympias. In addition to all these wiveshe also married Cleopatra, with whomhe was in love; she was the daughter ofHippostratus and niece of Attalus. Bybringing her home as another wifealongside Olympias he made a totalshambles of his life. For straightaway,right at the wedding ceremony, Attalusmade the remark "Well, now we shallcertainly see royalty born who arelegitimate and not bastards". Hearingthis, Alexander hurled the cup he had inhis hands at Attalus, who in turn hurledhis goblet at Alexander.

After that Olympias took refuge withthe Molossians and Alexander with theIllyrians, and Cleopatra presented Philipwith a daughter who was called Europa. 'Athenaeus 13. 557 (J. C. Yardley trans. )

there were many who held Alexander himselfresponsible, or, failing that, the jilted queen,his mother. It was an act in keeping with hercharacter, and certainly she voiced no publicdisapproval, though we may doubt that shecrowned the assassin, Pausanias of Orestis,who had been killed as he tried to escape andwhose body was subsequently impaled.

29


The assassination of Philip II'In the meantime, as the auxiliary

troops from Greece were assembling,Philip celebrated the marriage of hisdaughter Cleopatra to that Alexanderwhom he had made King of Epirus. Theday was remarkable for its sumptuouspreparations, which befitted thegreatness of the two kings, the onegiving away a daughter and the othertaking a wife. There were also splendidgames. Philip was hurrying to see these,flanked by the two Alexanders, his sonand his son-in-law, without bodyguards,when Pausanias, a young Macedoniannobleman whom nobody suspected,took up a position in a narrow alleywayand cut Philip down as he went by, thuspolluting with funereal sorrow a day setaside for rejoicing... It is thought thatOlympias and her son... incitedPausanias to proceed to so heinous acrime... At all events, Olympias hadhorses ready for the assassin's getaway.Afterwards, when she heard of the King'smurder, she came quickly to the funeral,ostensibly doing her duty; and on thenight of her arrival she set a goldencrown on Pausanias' head while he stillhung on the cross, something which noone else but she could have done whilePhilip's son was still alive. A few dayslater, she had the murderer's body takendown and cremated it over the remainsof her husband; she then erected a tombfor him in the same place and, byinspiring superstition in the people, sawto it that funerary offerings were madeto him every year. After this she forcedCleopatra, for whom Philip had divorcedher, to hang herself, having firstmurdered her daughter in the mother'sarms, and it was from the sight of herrival hanging there that Olympiasgained the vengeance she hadaccelerated by murder. Finally sheconsecrated to Apollo the sword withwhich the King was stabbed, doing so

under the name Myrtale, which was thename that Olympias bore as a little girl.All this was done so openly that sheappears to have been afraid that thecrime might not be clearly demonstratedas her work. 'Justin 9. 6. 1-4, 7. 8-14 (J. C. Yardley, trans. )

Marble bust believed to be Aristotle. As a boy, Alexanderhad been educated by Leonidas and Lysimachus, tutorsselected by his mother In 343 BC, Aristotle, whose fatherNicomachus had been a physician at the court of Philip'sfather Amyntas III, was summoned to Macedonia fromAsia Minor and taught Alexander at Mieza. His attitudestowards barbarians (non-Greeks) whom he regarded asinferior and worthy of being slaves of the Greeks, did notrub off on his pupil. (Ann Ronan Picture Library)

Alexander was quick to mete outpunishment, freeing himself at the sametime of rivals for the throne. Antipater, whohad in the past served as regent of Macedon

30

Outbreak

in Philip's absence, supported Alexander'sclaims, and it was an easy matter to roundup and execute rivals on charges ofconspiracy. Attalus too was found to havebeen corresponding with the Athenians - anunlikely scenario - and executed on the newking's orders by his colleague, Parmenion. Abloody purge masqueraded as filial piety, andthose who could saved themselves byaccommodation with the new king or byflight. Both types would resurface during thecampaign, having delayed rather thanaverted the extreme penalty.

Alexander, the worthy heir

Philip's abortive expedition thus representeda false start. But Alexander acceded to morethan just the throne of Macedon; he alsoinherited his father's Persian campaign. Hewas doubtless eager to depart, for we aretold that as an adolescent he complained tohis father that he was leaving little for himto conquer.

Things did not, however, proceed asplanned. The accession of Alexander incitedrebellion amongst the subject states and thebarbarian kingdoms that bordered onMacedonia. And the new king was forced toprove himself, especially in the south, wherethe Athenian orator Demosthenes, theimplacable enemy of Philip II, was deridingAlexander as a child and a fool.

Resistance to the new king in Thessaly wascrushed by speed and daring, as steps (knownas 'Alexander's Ladder') cut into the side ofMt Ossa allowed the Macedonians to turn theThessalians' position. They responded withgestures of contrition and recognisedAlexander as archon of the Thessalian League,a position previously held by his father. Aninitial uprising by Thebans, Athenians andSpartans was stifled by Alexander's timelyarrival in Greece, where he summoned ameeting of the League of Corinth, the veryexistence of which was symbolic ofMacedonian power. The meeting elected himhegemon and Philip's successor as strategos('general') of the Panhellenic crusade.

Bust of Demosthenes. The Athenian orator was a bitteropponent of Macedon and of Philip II in particular At thetime of Alexander's accession he mocked him as 'a child'and compared him with the simpleton, Margites. ButDemosthenes soon discovered his mistake. Copy of theoriginal by Polyeuktos produced c. 280 BC, Copenhagen.(Ann Ronan Picture Library)

Sparta, however, refused to join theLeague or make public recognition ofMacedonian suzerainty, for they claimed thatthey could not follow another, since it wastheir prerogative to lead. Spartanintransigence was to flare into open rebellionin 331, when Agis III attacked Macedoniantroops in the Peloponnese, only to bedefeated and killed at Megalopolis. For thetime being, however, Alexander was contentto ignore them, as they bore their militaryimpotence with ill grace.

Nevertheless, the Greek city-states werenot yet ready to renounce all claims toindependence and leadership. Alexanderclearly thought that he had cowed them intosubmission with the mere show of force, and

31


The remains of Pella, birthplace of Alexander the Great.

(Greek Ministry of Culture)

he now turned to deal with the border tribesof the Illyrians and Triballians before turninghis attentions to Asia. Both were subdued inshort order, though in each case the trainingand discipline of the Macedonian troopsmade the task seem easier than it was. It wasan efficient fighting machine that Philip had

left to his son, and Macedonian dominion inthe east was built on the foundations ofPhilip's military reforms.

But Alexander's activities in the northgave rise to rumours - false, but deliberatelyspread - that the King had been killed inIllyria. In spring 335 the Thebans threw offthe Macedonian yoke, besieging the garrisonthat Philip had planted on their acropolis(the Cadmea) after Chaeronea and claiming

32

Outbreak

to champion the Hellenic cause. Thecornerstone of Macedonian propaganda hadbeen the claim that Philip had unified theGreeks for the purpose of attacking Persia,the 'common enemy of Greece', andavenging past wrongs. In this he was merelyborrowing the sentiments of Isocrates andother Panhellenists. But the Thebans nowproposed to use Persian funds to liberateGreece from the true oppressor, Macedon.

Alexander's response was quick andbrutal: within two weeks he was before thegates of Thebes. Athens and Demosthenesproved that they were more capable ofinciting others to mischief than ofsupporting the causes they had so noblyespoused. Through their inaction, theysaved themselves and stood by as Alexanderdealt most harshly with Thebes, whichwould now become an example to theother Greek poleis: Alexander wouldtolerate no rebellion in his absence, andhe would regard those who preferred thebarbarian cause to that of their fellowGreeks as Medisers and traitors to thecommon cause. Indeed, the city had along history of Medism, and there was a

Panhellenism and anti-Persian sentiment'I maintain that you [Philip] should

be the benefactor of Greece, and King ofMacedon, and gain to the greatestpossible extent the empire of thenon-Greek world. If you accomplish this,you will win universal gratitude: fromthe Greeks for the benefits they gain,from Macedonia if your rule is kinglyand not tyrannical, and from the rest ofthe world if it is through you that theyare liberated from Persian despotism andexchange it for Greek protection. 'Isocrates, Philip 153 (A. N. W. Saunderstrans., Penguin).

A contrary view'For, personally, I am not in agreement

with the Corinthian Demaratus whoclaimed that the Greeks missed a verypleasurable experience in not seeingAlexander seated on Darius' throne.Actually, I think they might have hadmore reason to shed tears at the realisationthat the men who left this honour toAlexander were those who sacrificed thearmies of the Greeks at Leuctra, Coronea,and Corinth and in Arcadia. 'Plutarch, Agesilaus 15. 3-4 (J. C.Yardley trans. )

33


Ivory portrait head of Alexander (Archaeological

Museum ofThessaloniki)

tradition that the allied Greeks, at the timeof Xerxes' invasion, had sworn the 'Oathof Plataea', which called for the destructionof the city.

Officially, the razing of Thebes could bepresented as the initial act of the war ofvengeance. (Gryneum in Asia Minor wouldsuffer a similar fate, with the same ..justification. ) Terror would prove moreeffective than any garrison. To avert thecharge of senseless brutality, Alexanderportrayed the decision to destroy the cityand enslave its population as the work of thePhocians and disaffected Boeotians, for evenin those days, inveterate hatred knew norespect for human life.

Persuaded by Demades, the Athenianssent an embassy to congratulate Alexanderon his victories in the north and to begforgiveness for their own recentindiscretions. The King demanded that theysurrender the worst trouble-makers, tenprominent orators and generals, includingDemosthenes, Lycurgus and Hyperides, butin the event only one, Charidemus, wasoffered up, and he promptly fled to the courtof Darius III.

34

The fighting

Alexander conquers an empire

Asia Minor

The Macedonian advance forces underParmenion and Attalus encountered stubbornresistance in Asia Minor after landing there inspring 336. Although they captured Cyzicus,and thus threatened Dascylium, the capital ofHellespontine Phrygia, their push southwardwas thwarted by Memnon the Rhodian, ason-in-law of the Persian Artabazus and brotherof the mercenary captain who had helpedArtaxerxes III recapture Egypt in the 340s.Memnon's successes were followed by thearrest and execution of Attalus, which probablydid nothing to raise the morale of the army.Parmenion did, however, take Gryneum,sacking the town and enslaving its inhabitants,for the city had a history of 'Medism'.Elsewhere, another colleague of Parmenion,Callas son of Harpalus, who had perhaps comeout as Attalus's replacement, was confined tothe coastline. All in all, the expeditionary forcehad not made a good beginning.

The advent of Alexander, with an armyof about 40, 000, altered the situationdramatically. The satraps of Asia Minor ledtheir territorial levies into HellespontinePhrygia and held a council of war at Zeleia.Here they rejected Memnon's proposal thatthey adopt a 'scorched earth' policy, optinginstead to challenge the Macedonian armyat the nearby Granicus river.

Asia Minor was no stranger to Greekinvasion. In the 390s, Tissaphernes andPharnabazus, the satraps of Sardis andDascylium, proved adequate to deal withforces dispatched by Sparta and, in fact,played each other false for the sake of minorgains. The Macedonian invasion was on adifferent scale, with much greater avowedintentions, for the Persians were notignorant of the creation of the League ofCorinth, or of its mandate to wage war

against them. Some sources, and possiblyAlexander himself (for official purposes),charged the Persian King with trying topre-empt the expedition by engineeringPhilip's assassination. If there was any truthto the charge, the act itself had little effect.Indeed, it replaced a more cautiouscommander with a daring and ambitiousone. The reality of Alexander's presence onAsian soil demanded immediate andconcerted action.

The Persians continued to hire largenumbers of Greek mercenaries, who for oncewere fighting for more than pay. Like many

The composition of Alexander's army'It was found that, of infantry, there

were 12, 000 Macedonians, 7, 000 alliesand 5, 000 mercenaries. These were allunder the command of Parmenion. TheOdrysians, Triballians and Illyriansaccompanying him numbered 7, 000,and there were a thousand archers andso-called Agrianes, so that the infantrytotalled 32, 000. Cavalry numbers wereas follows: 1, 800 Macedonians,commanded by Parmenion's sonPhilotas; 1, 800 Thessalians, commandedby Callas, the son of Harpalus; fromthe rest of Greece a total of 600,commanded by Erigyius; and900 Thracian guides and Paeonians,with Cassander as their commander.This made a total of 4, 500 cavalry.

Such was the strength of the armythat crossed to Asia with Alexander. Thenumber of soldiers left behind inEurope, who were under Antipater'scommand, totalled 12, 000 infantry and15, 000 cavalry. 'Diodorus 17. 17. 3-5 (J. C. Yardley trans. )


of their compatriots at home, they doubtlessregarded Persia as the lesser evil, andAlexander for his part treated capturedmercenaries harshly, as traitors rather thandefeated enemies. The Persian commanders,however, failed to appreciate the personalmotivations of the Greek mercenaries andtheir leaders: distrustful of the very men whohad nothing to gain by surrendering, theyviewed Memnon with suspicion and negatedthe effectiveness of the mercenary infantry.At any rate, they stationed their cavalry onthe eastern bank of the Granicus river andkept the Greek infantry in reserve. Beforethese saw action, the battle had been lost.

The Persian cavalry proved to be nomatch, in tactics or hand-to-hand combat,for the European horsemen. Two would-bechampions were felled by Alexander's sarissa,a third was in the act of striking the King

when slain. Most of the prominent Persianleaders were among the dead; Arsites escapedthe battlefield, only to die by his own hand;Arsames fled to Cilicia, to fight again at Issus.

Upon receiving the news of the Persiandisaster at the Granicus, Mithrenes, thecommandant of Sardis, chose to surrender toAlexander despite the city's strong naturaldefences. His judgement proved sound, forAlexander kept him in his entourage andtreated him with respect, eventuallyentrusting him with the governorship ofArmenia. But the Greek cities of the coastcontinued to resist, in part because historyhad taught them that the Persian yoke waslighter than that of previous 'liberators', butalso because Memnon's army and the Persianfleet limited their options.

The cities of Miletus and Halicarnassusboth offered fierce resistance. The former

Alexander at the Granicus'Alexander plunged into the river

with 13 cavalry squadrons. He was nowdriving into enemy projectiles towardsan area that was sheer and protected byarmed men and cavalry, and negotiatinga current that swept his men off theirfeet and pulled them under. Hisleadership seemed madcap and senselessrather than prudent. Even so, hepersisted with the crossing and, aftergreat effort and hardship, made it to thetargeted area, which was wet andslippery with mud. He was immediatelyforced into a disorganised battle and toengage, man against man, the enemieswho came bearing down on them,before the troops making the crossingcould get into some sort of formation.

The Persians came charging at thesewith a shout. They lined up their horsesagainst those of their enemy and foughtwith their lances and then, when thelances were shattered, with their swords.A large number closed in on the King,who stood out because of his shield andthe crest on his helmet, on each side of

which there was plume striking for itswhiteness and its size. Alexander receiveda spear in the joint of his cuirass, but wasnot wounded. Then the Persian generalsRhoesaces and Spithridates came at himtogether. Sidestepping the latter,Alexander managed to strike Rhoesaces,who was wearing a cuirass, with hisspear, but when he shattered this heresorted to his sword. While the twowere engaged hand-to-hand, Spithridatesbrought his horse to a halt beside themand, swiftly pulling himself up from theanimal, dealt the King a blow with thebarbarian battle-axe. He broke offAlexander's crest, along with one of theplumes, and the helmet only just heldout against the blow, the blade of the axeactually touching the top of the King'shair. Spithridates then began to raise theaxe for a second blow but Cleitus (theBlack) got there first, running himthrough with his spear. At the samemoment Rhosaeces also fell, struck downby a sword-blow from Alexander.Plutarch, Alexander 16. 3-11 (J. C.Yardley trans. )

36

The fighting

could count on support from the Persianfleet until the occupation of Mycale byPhilotas deprived it of a base. AtHalicarnassus, daring sallies were madeagainst Alexander's siege equipment, buteventually the city was betrayed by thecommanders of the army, Orontopates andMemnon, who abandoned it to theMacedonians. Alexander restored to thethrone Ada, the widow of the previous ruler,who had been supplanted by Orontopates,and allowed her to become his adoptivemother - in effect, reserving for himself thehereditary claim to Caria. (Philip had taughthis son that not all power was gained by thesword.) By winter 334/333, Alexander hadmade considerable headway in the conquestof Asia Minor, but he had yet to face DariusIII and the weight of the Persian army.

For Darius, the necessity of taking thefield in person was less than welcome, sincethe Great King had had only a brief respitefrom the chaos that attended his accession.In spite of the debacle at the Granicus, thePersian situation was far from critical: acounter-offensive in the Aegean wasbeginning to enjoy some success, with theanti-Macedonian forces regaining ground onLesbos and at Halicarnassus. But Memnondied suddenly from illness. To replace himDarius appointed Pharnabazus, whoassigned the naval command to Datamesand met with the Spartan King, Agis, nearSiphnos in the hope of encouraging anuprising in the Peloponnese.

At Gordium Alexander had fulfilled - or,perhaps, cheated - the prophecy that gavedominion over Asia to anyone who couldundo the Gordian knot. Frustrated by theintricacies of the knot, he cut it with hissword. Some of the Macedonians were farfrom convinced that a venture deeper intothe heart of the empire would be successful:Harpalus, his personal friend and treasurer,fled shortly before the battle of Issus. Theofficial story was that he had been up tosome mischief with a scoundrel namedTauriscus, but Harpalus may have hadserious misgivings about his king's chances.To complicate matters further, Alexander had

Harpalus, the Imperial TreasurerHarpalus, son of Machatas, belonged

to one of the royal houses of UpperMacedonia, that of Elimea. Afflicted by aphysical ailment that left him unfit formilitary service, he nevertheless servedAlexander in other ways. In the 330s heserved as one of Alexander's hetairoi, inthis case, probably one of the CrownPrince's advisers; he was exiled by Philipfor encouraging Alexander to offerhimself as a prospective husband of theCarian princess Ada, whom Philip hadplanned to marry off to his half-wittedson, Arrhidaeus. Harpalus was appointedtreasurer early in the campaign, but hebecame involved with an unscrupulousindividual named Tauriscus, whopersuaded him to flee from Alexander'scamp - no doubt he absconded with asum of the King's money. Alexander,however, forgave and recalled him,reinstating him as treasurer.

Later in the campaign, when the Kinghad gone to India and Harpalusremained in Babylon, the latter enjoyed alife of extravagance and debauchery,importing delicacies for his table andcourtesans for his bed. When newsarrived that Alexander was returningfrom the east, he fled to Athens, takingwith him vast sums of money, andattempted to induce the Athenians to goto war. Rebuffed by the Athenians - atleast, on an official level - he sailed awayto Crete, where he was murdered by oneof his followers, a certain Pausanias.

been struck down by fever - probably a boutof malaria - after bathing in the Cydnusriver, and it was not at all certain that hewould survive.

Darius, for his part, had attracted to hiscause the largest force of Greek mercenariesemployed by a Persian king in the history ofAchaemenid rule - 30,000 Greeks, accordingto the official historian, Callisthenes.Amongst these was Amyntas, son of

37


Antiochus, who had been a supporter ofAlexander's cousin and rival, Amyntas IV,and who fled Macedonia soon after Philip'sassassination. Another leader of mercenarieswas Charidemus, a longstanding enemy ofMacedon. Charidemus, as it turned out, fellvictim to court intrigue, but Amyntas gavea good account of himself before escapingfrom the battlefield with some4,000 mercenaries, only to find adventureand death in Egypt.

Darius's army, which the Alexanderhistorians (Curtius, Justin, Diodorus andArrian) estimated at between 312,000 and600,000, moved from Babylon to Sochi,where it encamped at the beginning ofautumn 333. Alexander, meanwhile, reachedthe coastal plain of Cilicia and the Pillar ofJonah - the so-called 'Syrian' or 'Assyrian'Gates - south of modern Iskenderun, whichgave access to Syria. In fact, it was in order toavoid the Belen Pass that the Persians enteredCilicia via the Amanic Gates (the Bahçe Pass)and reached Issus through Toprakkale. ToAlexander's surprise, the positions of the twoarmies were now reversed, with Dariussituated north of the Pinarus river andastride the Macedonian lines ofcommunication. By the same token, therewas nothing to prevent Alexander frommarching into Syria except the danger tohis rear.

But if the protagonists were to meet, itwas advantageous for Alexander to fight inthe restricted terrain of Cilicia, where themountains and sea reduced the mobility ofthe enemy's troops and negated hisnumerical superiority. Even Alexander, whoseized the narrows to the south on the nightbefore the engagement, had to march hissmaller army considerably forward into thewidening coastal plain before he coulddeploy his infantry in a line and leavesufficient room for the cavalry to protect theflanks. He positioned himself with theCompanion Cavalry on the right wing, hardagainst the hills that restricted movement.

Darius sent a force south of the Pinarus inorder to buy time for the deployment of hisown troops. Now that it was clear that the

Macedonians would not be overawed byPersian numbers, he took a defensiveposition, using the banks of the Pinarus as

Relief of Persian guards from Persepolis. (TRIP)

38

The fighting 39


an added impediment; where the riverbanksgave insufficient protection, he erectedpalisades. A bid to move forces behind theMacedonian position, in the hills, provedineffective, and Alexander drove them toseek refuge in higher ground by using theAgrianes and the archers; in the event, theywere not a factor in the battle of Issus.

That Alexander, in imitation of the youngerCyrus at Cunaxa, charged directly at thePersian centre, where Darius himself waspositioned, may be more than mere fiction.There was something in the mentality of theage that required leaders to seek each otherout. (One is reminded of Alexander'sapocryphal remark that he would participatein the Olympic games but only if he competedwith princes!) But, if the story is true, thismust have occurred in the second phase of thebattle, when Alexander turned to deal with theGreek infantry that were exploiting a breachin the Macedonian phalanx.

The Greek infantry occupied the centre ofthe line and were most encumbered by theterrain. While Alexander routed the Persianleft, which shattered on the initial assault,the heavy infantry in the centre surgedforward, losing its cohesiveness. (The patternwould repeat itself at Gaugamela, with moredangerous results.) Here, opposite them,Darius had stationed his 30,000 Greekinfantry, supported by 60,000 pickedinfantrymen whom the Persians called

Alexander's alleged encounter with Darius'In this action he received a sword

wound in the thigh: according to Charesthis was given him by Darius, withwhom he engaged in hand-to-handcombat. Alexander sent a letter toAntipater describing the battle, but madeno mention in it of who had given himthe wound: he said no more than thathe had been stabbed in the thigh with adagger and that the wound was not adangerous one.'Plutarch, Alexander 20 (I. Scott-Kilverttrans., Penguin)

Kardakes, half on each side. Against thesetroops the vaunted Macedonian pezhetairoifound it difficult to advance, and here theysuffered the majority of their casualties,including the taxiarch Ptolemy, son ofSeleucus.

Having put the Persian left to flight,Alexander now wheeled to his own left,slamming into the Greek mercenaries anddestroying their formation. Before he couldcome to grips with the Great King, thePersian ranks broke and Darius fled in hischariot. Hampered in his flight by the roughterrain, he abandoned his chariot andmounted a horse to make good his escape; asan added precaution he removed his royalinsignia and eluded the enemy under thecover of darkness.

Some 100,000 Persian infantry wereeither killed or captured at Issus, along with10,000 horsemen, for the armoured horse,which had fought gallantly, dispersed whenit learned of Darius's flight, only to suffermore grievously in their bid for safety.Among the captives were found the mother,

Detail from the Alexander Mosaic at Pompeii. Darius IIIprepares to flee the battlefield. (Ann RonanPicture Library)

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The fighting

wife and children of Darius himself. Bycontrast, Alexander's losses were slight. Butwe have only Macedonian propaganda to goby and figures, like the sensational stories ofAlexander struggling with Darius in person,must be treated with caution.

After the staggering defeat at Issus,Damascus fell into the hands of Parmenion.The amount of treasure and the importance

The Alexander Mosaic. Darius and the Persians under

attack by Alexander (Ann Ronan Picture Library)

of the individuals captured there reveal thatthe city was not merely a convenient placeto deposit the treasures and non-combatants,but that Darius had intended to move hisbase of operations forward. He clearly didnot expect to be routed in a single

41


Antigonus the One-EyedAn officer of Philip II's generation,

Antigonus was already approaching 60when he accompanied Alexander to Asia.In the spring of 333 he was left behind asthe governor (satrap) of Phrygia, whichhad its administrative centre at Celaenae.There he remained for the duration of thewar, attended by his wife Stratonice andhis sons, one of whom, Demetrius, was tobecome the famous Poliorcetes ('the

Besieger'). After Alexander's death,Antigonus emerged as one of the leadingSuccessors and, together with his son,made a bid for supreme power. He died,however, on the battlefield of Ipsus in 301,and Demetrius, who experienced his shareof victories and defeats, proved to possessmore showmanship than generalship. Butultimately his son, named after hispaternal grandfather, was to establish theAntigonid dynasty in Macedonia.

Detail of Alexander from the Alexander Mosaic, now at Pompeii. Alexander

is intent upon attacking Darius in person. (Ann Ronan Picture Library)

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The fighting 43

Sisygambis, mother of Darius III, mistakes Hephaestion for

Alexander the Great after the Persian defeat at Issus in

333 BC. Painting by Francisco de Mura (1696-1782).

(Ann Ronan Picture Library)

engagement and forced to seek refuge in thecentre of the empire.

For Alexander the victory - particularly inthe aftermath of Memnon's death - providedthe opportunity of pushing ahead himself withthe conquest and leaving his newly appointed

satraps to deal with the continued resistance inAsia Minor. Antigonus the One-Eyed, a certainPtolemy (perhaps even a kinsman ofAntigonus) and Balacrus dealt effectively withwhat Persian forces remained behind.

Phoenicia and Egypt

In Phoenicia, meanwhile, the news of Issus ledto defection on a large scale. Representatives of


the coastal cities brought Alexander crowns ofgold that symbolised their surrender: Aradus,Marathus and Byblus submitted in short order.And, although the cities themselves receivedgood treatment from the conqueror, therewere some rulers, like Straton (Abd-astart) ofSidon, who despite their surrender weredeposed. It appears that the Sidonians, whonow welcomed Alexander as a 'liberator' - forArtaxerxes III had put down an insurrection inthe city with the utmost brutality - were notinclined to retain in power a man with alengthy record of collaboration with thePersians. According to the tradition, Alexanderallowed his best friend, Hephaestion, to selecta new king: he found a scion of the royalhouse, Abdalonymus, reduced by poverty toworking as a gardener, and upon him hebestowed the crown.

The capture of Phoenicia added a newdimension to Alexander's campaign, onethat must not be downplayed. The area wascritical for the survival of the Persian fleet,which was, in turn, Darius's chief hope ofdefeating Alexander if he could not do so onthe battlefields of the east. Alexander hadabandoned all attempts at defeating thePersian navy at sea and had disbanded theMacedonian fleet: it was numericallyinferior, just as its ships and sailors were ofinferior quality; and, to make matters worse,the Greek naval powers, especially theAthenians, could not be fully trusted. It wasbetter to deprive the Persian navy of its basesand thereby reduce its power, withoutrunning the risk of a military disaster at seathat might turn the tide of the war butwould almost certainly tarnish Alexander'sreputation as an invincible foe.

Alexander's naval strategy worked. As theinhabitants and governments of each regionsurrendered to him, their naval contingentstoo abandoned the Persian cause. ThePhoenicians found themselves in anawkward position, since large numbers oftheir citizens, including many of their localdynasts, served with the Persian fleet. Theserulers especially found it preferable tosurrender to Alexander in the hope ofretaining their power rather than remain

Hephaestion, Alexander's alter egoHephaestion, son of Amyntor, had

been a close friend of the King sinceboyhood. He had been with Alexanderas a teenager at Mieza, when the CrownPrince was educated by Aristotle.Romanticised accounts compared thetwo with Achilles and Patroclus.Whether they were lovers, as manymodern writers like to assert, is notentirely clear. But Alexander certainlypromoted Hephaestion's career despitethe fact that he seems to have possessedpoor leadership qualities and littlemilitary skill. He was nevertheless agifted organiser and Alexander left manymatters of logistics - supply, transport ofequipment, bridge-building and thefounding of settlements - to him.

By the time the army reached India,Hephaestion's promotion had broughtabout friction with other officers,especially the fine soldier Craterus. Atone point the two came to blows infront of their respective troops andAlexander had to intervene. Although hechided Hephaestion because he failed torecognise that 'without Alexander hewould be nothing', he remained devotedto his lifelong friend. In October 324,Hephaestion died of illness, and theKing was inconsolable.

loyal to Darius. By contrast, the inlandSyrians were more inclined to stay withDarius, and we find them joining theirformer satrap, Mazaeus, in the army thatfaced Alexander again in 331 at Gaugamela.

Darius meanwhile resorted to diplomacy,for his family had fallen into the victor'shands when the Persian camp was takenafter the King's flight from Issus. Letters weresent to Alexander offering money andterritory in exchange for Darius's kinfolk.But the exchanges between the two kingsdemonstrated merely the Persian King'srefusal to recognise the gravity of the dangerto the empire. Furthermore, Darius persisted

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The fighting

Relief showing a hunting scene. Hephaestion is the figurewith the raised sword. He was Alexander's boyhoodfriend and alter ego. In 324 BC he married the youngerdaughter of Darius III, and thus became the brother-in-lawof one of Alexander's own Persian brides, the princessStateira. In October of the same year he died of an illnessat Ecbatana. (Greek Ministry of Culture)

in treating Alexander as an upstart, aninferior who could, as he thought, be boughtoff with the cession of Asia Minor and10,000 talents.

But Alexander held the trump cards andwas not prepared to fold, when diplomacyoffered less than he had obtained byconquest. Negotiations continued for almosttwo years, with an escalation of the terms -Darius was eventually to offer Asia west of

the Euphrates, 30,000 talents and the handof his daughter in marriage - but Persianconcessions failed to keep pace withMacedonian conquests. Darius no longer hadthe authority to dispose of Alexander's'spear-won land'.

Whereas the northern Phoenician citieshad capitulated on the news of Alexander'sapproach, Tyre resisted the King's request tomake sacrifices to Hercules (Melqart) withintheir city. This was, of course, a transparentploy to gain control of the place. But theTyrians could afford to be defiant, or at leastso they thought, for about half a mile(0.8km) of sea separated them from theMacedonian army, and the city fathersresponded that Alexander was welcome to

45


A modern Greek coin depicting Alexander wearing thediadem and the Horns of Amun. the Egyptian deitywhom the Greeks regarded as a ram-headed Zeus. Theinscription on top reads 'megas Alexandros' (Alexanderthe Great). On his own coinage and in his own time thisepithet was never used. (TRIP)

sacrifice to Hercules at 'Old Tyre', which wassituated on the mainland. Furthermore,there was the expectation - vain, as it turnedout - of aid from their North African colony,Carthage. Neither grand strategy norAlexander's reputation, however, could allowthe young king to bypass the city.

Alexander realised that the siege of anisland city would be no easy matter, and thata lengthy siege would buy valuable time forhis enemy. Hence, he sent heralds into thecity in the hope of persuading the Tyrians tosurrender. But the diplomatic approacheswere rebuffed, and the heralds executed andthrown into the sea. Work beganimmediately upon the building of acauseway from the mainland to the island.

In the early stages the work went well andquickly, because the water was shallowernear the mainland and out of range ofTyrian missiles. As the mole approached thecity, however, ships began to harass theworkers, and Alexander erected two towers,with hides and canvases to shield theworkers and with turrets from which toshower missiles upon the enemy. To this theTyrians responded by sending a fire-shipagainst the end of the mole, driving off the

Macedonians and burning their towers to theground. Here the ancient sources diverge onthe matter of the causeway, and it is notcertain whether Alexander began a new one,approaching the city from a different angle,or merely widened the existing one. In theevent, the mole did not prove to be thedecisive factor, since the city walls, whichrose 160ft (50m) above the point of attack,were most heavily fortified at that very pointand could not be shaken by battering rams.

Instead the critical support came from theCypriotes and Phoenicians, many of whomhad abandoned the Persian fleet ofAutophradates once they received news thattheir cities had surrendered. These ships gaveAlexander the advantage on the sea and theTyrians were content to block their harbourentrances - when they did sail out, it waswith heavy losses. Using the fleet to assailthe walls, Alexander found that the southside of the city had the weakest

The importance of Tyre'Friends and fellow soldiers, I do not

see how we can safely advance uponEgypt, so long as Persia controls the sea;and to pursue Darius with the neutralcity of Tyre in our rear and Egypt andCyprus still in enemy hands would be aserious risk, especially in view of thesituation in Greece. With our army onthe track of Darius, far inland in thedirection of Babylon, the Persians mightwell regain control of the coast, and thusbe enabled with more power behindthem to transfer the war to Greece,where Sparta is already openly hostile tous, and Athens, at the moment, is but anunwilling ally; fear, not friendliness,keeping her on our side. But with Tyredestroyed, all Phoenicia would be ours,and the Phoenician fleet, which both innumbers and quality is the predominantelement in the sea-power of Persia,would very like come over to us.'Arrian 2.18 (A. de Selincourttrans., Penguin)

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The fighting

The Libyan oasis of Siwah, where Alexander wasacknowledged by the priests as the 'Son of Amun',hence legitimate pharaoh of Egypt. (TRIP)

fortifications, and these he assaulted until abreach occurred. Once the walls had givenway, the defenders were virtually helpless,but they fought desperately. The citizens

paid for their defiance in the slaughter thatensued, though many Sidonians helped tosave their fellow Phoenicians from theenemy's rage.

Gaza, too, resisted Alexander, but the cityfell after only two months. By contrast,Egypt, which now lay open, welcomed theMacedonians as liberators. Thus ended the

47


last period of Persian occupation and thebrief reign of the Thirty-First Dynasty.Alexander's legitimacy as Egyptian pharaohwas proclaimed in Memphis and givendivine sanction at the Libyan oasis of Siwah,where the conqueror was greeted as the 'sonof Amun'.

Uprising in Greece

When Alexander returned to Tyre, after hislengthy sojourn in Egypt, he learned ofserious unrest in the Peloponnese. There theSpartan King, Agis III, who had begun hisdealings with the Persian leaders in theAegean very soon after Alexander's departurefrom Europe, openly resisted Macedonianpower. In a bold move he defeated the armyof Corrhagus, thus forcing Antipater himselfto lead an army to the south. Nor was Agis'sforce inconsequential: he had collected22,000 men from the neighbouring states ofElis, Arcadia and Achaea, and with these henow laid siege to Megalopolis. (This was thecity that the Theban general Epaminondashad founded when he invaded thePeloponnese and ended Sparta's hegemonythere.)

Antipater was, however, preoccupied withaffairs in Thrace, where the strategos (militarygovernor) of the region, Memnon, was inopen rebellion. This was clearly not done byprearrangement with Agis and theanti-Macedonian forces in the south, forMemnon quickly came to terms withAntipater and thus freed him to deal withthe Greek insurrection. Furthermore, the factthat Memnon later brought reinforcementsto Alexander in the east suggests that theKing did not regard his actions astreasonous.

The Macedonian army confronted Agis atMegalopolis in the summer of 331 -certainly the entire rebellion had beensuppressed before the battle of Gaugamelawas fought. The contest was a renewal of thebitter struggle between Macedon and theGreeks, who had still not accepted thesuzerainty of the former. Although he fell on

Alexander makes light of Antipater's victoryover Agis III at Megalopolis

'Alexander even added a joke whenhe was told of the war waged byAntipater against Agis. "Men," he said,"it appears that while we were in theprocess of vanquishing Darius, there wasa battle of mice over there in Arcadia.'Plutarch, Life of Agesilaus 15 (J. C.Yardley trans.)

the battlefield, Agis did not sell his lifecheaply; nor did the 5,300 other Greeks whoperished in the battle. Alexander, when helearned of the engagement, dismissed it asinsignificant. But the contest had left3,500 Macedonians dead, and until it hadbeen decided his activities in the east weresuspended in uncertainty.

The final clash with Darius

While Alexander directed his attentions toPhoenicia and Egypt, Darius, once hisattempts to win a negotiated settlement hadfailed, marshalled another army. If there wasanything that the empire had in abundance,it was manpower; though, as Darius wouldlearn, mere numbers of men would notsuffice against a brilliant tactician likeAlexander. Nevertheless, the barbarian armyat Gaugamela contained several contingentsthat had faced the Macedonians before.Syrians, defeated at Issus but steadfast intheir loyalty to Persia, stood shoulder toshoulder with Persians, Babylonians andMedes, who formed the nucleus of the GreatKing's strength.

Nevertheless, the composition of Darius'sarmy was radically different from that whichhad been routed at Issus, for it included thefine horsemen from the Upper Satrapies(Central Asia) - not just the Arians,Arachosians and Bactrians, but the Scythiancavalry of the Dahae, Sacae and Massagetae -which Darius had either been unable tomobilise or considered superfluous in 333.

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The fighting

Not restricted by the terrain as they hadbeen at Issus, the Persians were moreconfident of victory on the expansive plainsof northern Mesopotamia. And here too theywould bring to bear the terrifying spectacleof scythed chariots and elephants.

As he had done at Issus, Darius preparedthe battlefield, which was littered withobstacles and traps for the unsuspectingenemy, though these were revealed bydeserters and their effectiveness negated. Butprimarily the Persians relied on vastlysuperior numbers and the luxury ofdeploying them as they chose on the plainsbeyond the Tigris. Darius expected tooutflank and envelop the Macedonian army,which was pitifully small by comparison.The scythed chariots, making a frontalcharge, proved ineffectual: Alexander'sjavelin-men simply parted ranks upon theirapproach and shot down their drivers ortheir teams. The chariot had become asymbol of oriental vanity, for its effectivenesshad already been challenged by infantrymenat the end of the Bronze Age, and itremained a splendid anachronism, but nomatch for cool minds and brave hearts.

Some aspects of the battle of Gaugamelaare reminiscent of Issus - not surprisingly,since Alexander's method was to drive hard

at the Persian left while the infantry held thecentre. This time, however, his infantry didnot attack the centre head-on, as theMacedonians had tackled the Greeks andKardakes in the first engagement. Instead itadvanced obliquely, the hypaspists followingclosely the cavalry attack, and the remainderof the pezhetairoi surging to keep up with thehypaspists. And, just as had happened atIssus, a gap occurred as the phalanx rushedforward, which was again exploited by theenemy. This time, however, Alexander didnot turn immediately to aid the phalanx, butinstead rode on in pursuit of the Persian left.His thinking was surely that he did not wantDarius to escape him a second time.

Nor was the infantry challenged by troopsof similar quality to those at Issus. Rather itwas the Scythian and Indian cavalry thatbroke through the line, only to turn theirattention to plundering the Macedonianbaggage camp. More disciplined were thehorsemen stationed on the Persian right.Here Mazaeus's squadrons were exertingpressure on the Macedonian left, under thecommand of Parmenion. Although the oldgeneral eventually overcame his opponents,he had been forced to send riders to

49

Excavated ruins of Babylon. (TRIP)


summon Alexander to return. It was theproper thing to do, but it was also to harmhis reputation, for the official historyquestioned Parmenion's competence andblamed him for spoiling an otherwise totalvictory. In truth, it was the steadfastness ofParmenion and Craterus on the left,combined with the rapacity of the barbarianallied horse - who stopped to plunderinstead of coming to Mazaeus's aid - thatsecured the victory at Gaugamela.

Although Darius had again escaped fromthe battlefield, Gaugamela proved fatal forthe Persian Empire. The Great King fled inthe direction of Arbela, which he reached by

midnight. Other contingents dispersed totheir territories, as was the custom amongstthe barbarians. Those who commanded thegarrisons and guarded the treasures in theempire's capitals made formal surrender toAlexander. One man, Mazaeus, the Persianhero of Gaugamela, surrendered Babylon,together with the gazophylax ('guardian ofthe treasures'), Bagophanes. Alexanderentered in great ceremony the ancient city,which now publicly turned its resources overto the new king, as it were.

What the Alexander historians depict as aspontaneous welcome was in fact ritualsurrender, enacted so many times in the

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The fighting

past - in ceremony for the legitimate heir tothe throne, as well as in earnest for aconquering king. In return, Alexanderappointed Mazaeus satrap of Babylon,though he installed a garrison in the cityand military overseers (strategoi) to ensurethe loyalty of the new governor and thepopulation.

Despite Gaugamela's ranking as one of the'decisive' battles of world history, the fact isthat it was only decisive for the Persian side.For Darius it was, one might say, the finalnail in the coffin; Alexander, on the otherhand, could have survived defeat innorthern Mesopotamia and still held the

Babylon surrenders to the Macedonianconqueror

'A large number of the Babylonianshad taken up a position on the walls,eager to have a view of their new king,but most went out to meet him,including the man in charge of thecitadel and royal treasury, Bagophanes.Not to be outdone by Mazaeus in payinghis respects to Alexander, Bagophaneshad carpeted the whole road with flowersand garlands and set up at intervals onboth sides silver altars heaped not justwith frankincense but with all manner ofperfumes. Following him were his gifts -herds of cattle and horses, and lions, too,and leopards, carried along in cages. Nextcame the Magi chanting a song in theirnative fashion, and behind them werethe Chaldaeans, then the Babylonians,represented not only by priests but alsoby musicians equipped with theirnational instrument. (The role of thelatter was to sing the praises of thePersian kings, that of the Chaldaeans toreveal astronomical movements andregular seasonal changes.) At the rearcame the Babylonian cavalry, theirequipment and that of their horsessuggesting extravagance ratherthan majesty.

Surrounded by an armed guard, theking instructed the townspeople tofollow at the rear of his infantry; thenhe entered the city on a chariot andwent to the palace.'Curtius Rufus, The History of Alexander5.1.19-23 (J. C. Yardley trans., Penguin)

western portion of the empire. Victory,however, belonged to the Macedonians, andthe might of Persia was shattered. Babylonhad no hope of resisting, and Susa, too,avoided pillage by embracing the conqueror.

The entry of Alexander the Great into Babylon.

Painting by Johann Georg Platzer (1704-61).

(Ann Ronan Picture Library)

51


Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate of Nebuchadrezzar(AKG Berlin)

Again the defecting satrap, Aboulites, wasretained and once more a Macedoniangarrison was imposed.

The blueprint had been established:Alexander would regularly combine a showof native rule with the fetters of militaryoccupation. But, with Darius still at large,Alexander introduced military reforms tostrengthen the army and the command

structures. Reinforcements continued toarrive, even though the avenging armymoved ever closer to its ultimate goal, thatmost hated of all cities: Persepolis.

The satrap of Persis, Ariobarzanes,had mustered a sizeable force: with25,000 defenders he blocked the so-called'Persian' or 'Susidan' Gates in an attempt tostall the Macedonians until the city'streasures could be removed. If this was nothis aim, it was certainly Alexander's fear.Dividing his force in two, Alexander led the

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The fighting

more mobile contingents through themountains to the rear of the pass, leavingCraterus to fix the enemy's attention onwhat he perceived as the stalled army. In

fact, Ariobarzanes was delaying only aportion of the Macedonian force: the slowest

53

Reconstruction of Babylon showing the Ishtar Gate. (TRIP)


elements and the baggage-train werefollowing the wagon road into Persis underthe command of Parmenion. The satrap'sposition was circumvented by Alexander,whose men braved the perils of terrain andwinter snow, led by captive guides.Ariobarzanes' troops were slaughtered in thepass and it was now a relatively simplematter to bridge the Araxes, whereuponTiridates surrendered both city and treasureto the Macedonians.

Its symbolic importance - the verymeaning of the Greek form of the namePersepolis, 'City of the Persians', enhancedits actual associations with Xerxes and thegreat invasion - dictated its fate: pillage, rapeand massacre ensued. The palace too fellvictim to the victor's wrath, but only afterthe treasures had been removed and shippedto Ecbatana. Then, whether by design orthrough a spontaneous urge for revenge, itwas put to the torch. One version attributed

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The fighting

the burning to an Athenian courtesan, Thaïs,who was to become the mistress of Ptolemy,the later King of Egypt.

The destruction of Persepolis wassymbolic rather than total, for it continuedas the capital of the province during the ageof the Successors. It did, however, illuminatethe difficulties faced by the conqueror. Forone thing, it could be taken to signify thecompletion of the war of vengeance, theattainment of the stated goal of the

expedition, and the allied troops wouldnaturally assume that it warranted theirdemobilisation. Still, Alexander could remindthem that as long as Darius lived, themission had not been completed.

55

Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC, commonly but inaccuratelyreferred to as the battle of Arbela.The town of Arbelawas actually some distance from the battlefield, andDarius in his flight did not reach it until after midnightFrom the studio of Charles Le Brun (1619-90).(AKG Berlin)


Conversely, the destruction of the palaceand the maltreatment of the citizensundermined Alexander's propaganda, whichhad at an early stage sought to portray himas the legitimate successor of the Great King.

Ruins of Persepolis.The palace was put to the torch byAlexander, as an act of policy since the city symbolisedpast atrocities by Persians against Greeks, but most ofthe city remained untouched and continued to functionduring the Hellenistic period. (TRIP)

Rightly had Parmenion advised against suchaction, reminding Alexander that he shouldnot destroy what was now his own property.Nevertheless, what may have causedresentment in Persia could well have beenreceived with a degree of satisfaction inBabylon and Susa, even Ecbatana, all ofwhich had been overshadowed by theadvent of the Achaemenids and theestablishment of Persepolis.

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Columns of the ancient audience hall at Persepolis. (TRIP)

Persian helmet from Olympia in Greece. (AKG Berlin)

Advance into Central Asia

At the beginning of 330, Darius retainedonly one of the four capitals of the empire,Ecbatana (modern Hamadan). It was aconvenient location, from which he couldreceive reports of Alexander's activities inPersia and at the same time summonreinforcements from the Upper Satrapies.Furthermore, it lay astride the Silk Road, thegreat east-west corridor that ran south of theElburz mountains and the Caspian andnorth of the Great Salt Desert. Unfortunately,many of the King's paladins advised againstawaiting Alexander in that place, and theyurged Darius to withdraw in the direction ofBactria, which lay beyond the Merv oasis,just north-west of modern Afghanistan.

This plan was adopted by Darius, but onlywhen it was too late to elude Alexander, whoresumed hostilities once the mountain passeswere free of snow. The Great King's columnwas much too cumbersome: the royal

57


equipment that offered the necessarycomforts, and the covered wagons thatsheltered the concubines on the journey,made slow progress through the Sar-i-Darrehor Caspian Gates, even though they hadbeen sent in advance of the army. Only40,000 native troops and 4,000 Greeksremained with Darius, and deserters - manyof them prominent men - drifted backtowards the Macedonian force that was,every day, shortening the distance betweenthe two armies.

In the remote village of Thara, thechiliarch, Nabarzanes, and Bessus, one ofthe King's kinsmen, challenged Darius'sleadership. Aided by other prominent

figures, they arrested the King, only tomurder him soon afterwards. His body wasleft by the side of the road in the hope thatwhen Alexander encountered it he mightbreak off the pursuit. Nabarzanes himselfattempted to rally support in Hyrcaniaand Parthia; Bessus continued towardsBactria and Sogdiana, accompanied by600 horsemen. With Darius dead, he himselfassumed the upright tiara, the sign ofkingship, and styled himself Artaxerxes,the fifth of that name.

For Alexander, the time had come to calla halt. He had covered some 450 miles(720km) in three weeks: with a larger forcehe had pushed east from Ecbatana to Rhagae(that is, from Hamadan to Rey, on the edgeof modern Teheran), a march of roughly

58

Alexander comes upon the dead Persian King. (ISI)

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250 miles (400km), in 11 days; after afive-day rest, he had taken a much smaller,mounted force another 200 miles (320km),coming upon Darius's body late on the sixthday of pursuit. Bessus himself had, for thepresent, eluded him, but the Macedonianarmy had scattered in the chase and thedaily arrival of high-ranking Persian desertersmade it necessary to take stock beforeturning to deal with the usurper.

Some Persians were installed as satraps -Phrataphernes in Parthia, Autophradatesamongst the Tapurians - while othersremained in the King's entourage, awaitingsuitable employment and reward. Twodangerous men were pardoned, Nabarzanesand Satibarzanes. The former ought to haveconsidered himself lucky to escape execution,but instead contrived to regain control ofParthia and Hyrcania; ultimately, however, hewas arrested and killed. The latter wasreinstated in his old satrapy of Aria (in theHerat region of Afghanistan), though adetachment of 40 javelin-men underAnaxippus was sent with him to his capital ofArtacoana. Satibarzanes promptly murderedhis escort and openly rebelled, encouragedperhaps by reports of Bessus's usurpation.

Only two days after learning ofSatibarzanes' treachery, Alexander was inArtacoana, from which the rebellious satraphad fled. But when Alexander replaced himwith another native ruler, Arsaces, andmoved on to subdue Afghanistan,Satibarzanes returned with the aim ofreimposing his rule. In this he failed, and hewas killed in single combat by theMacedonian cavalry officer Erigyius.

Alexander, meanwhile, moved south andcame upon the Ariaspians, who lived nearLake Seistan. These supplied his army, just as200 years earlier they had aided Cyrus theGreat of Persia and earned the title Euergetai('Benefactors'). From there the Macedoniansfollowed the Helmand river valley, thecourse of which took them in the directionof Arachosia. A new settlement wasestablished at Alexandria-in-Arachosia (nearmodern Kandahar), one of many suchfoundations in the area.

The death of Satibarzanes'The deserter Satibarzanes

commanded the barbarians. When hesaw the battle flagging, with both sidesequally matched in strength, he rode upto the front ranks, removed hishelmet ... and challenged anyonewilling to fight him in single combat,adding that he would remainbare-headed in the fight. Erigyius foundthe barbarian general's display ofbravado intolerable. Though welladvanced in age, Erigyius was not to beranked second to any of the youngermen in courage and agility. He took offhis helmet and revealed his whitehair ... One might have thought that anorder to cease fighting had been givenon both sides. At all events theyimmediately fell back, leaving an openspace, eager to see how matters wouldturn out ...

The barbarian threw his spear first.Moving his head slightly to the side,Erigyius avoided it. Then, spurring onhis horse, he brought up his lance andran it straight through the barbarian'sgullet, so that it projected through theback of his neck. The barbarian wasthrown from his mount, but still foughton. Erigyius drew the spear from thewound and drove it again into his face.Satibarzanes grabbed it with his hand,aiding his enemy's stroke to hasten hisown death.Quintus Curtius Rufus, History ofAlexander 7.4.33-37

In 329, Alexander again turned to dealwith Bessus in Bactria, crossing the HinduKush via the Khawak Pass and reachingQunduz. On his approach, the barbarianssent word that they were prepared to handover to him the usurper Bessus; strippednaked, in chains and wearing a dog-collar,Bessus was left by the roadway to be pickedup by Alexander's agent, Ptolemy. But thosewho had betrayed him fled, wary of

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submitting to Alexander and determined tomaintain their independence in one of themost remote regions of the empire.

Bessus was sent to Ecbatana to be torturedand executed, the traditional punishment fortraitors. He had done more than simplymurder Darius; he had challengedAlexander's claims to the kingship. Claims tolegitimacy have little force, however, unlessbacked by military action, as Darius'sillustrious forefather and namesake haddiscovered in the years from 522 to 519.That king's imperial propaganda, inscribed inthree languages on the rock face of Bisutun,proclaims how he became king through thewill of Ahura-Mazda; but it took the might ofhis armies and the public execution of hisopponents to confirm the god's will.

And so too Alexander was forced to fighton. Seven towns along the Iaxartes(Syr-Darya) offered stubborn resistance butfell to the conquerors, and at Cyropolis,

Modern Khojend. The city began as a settlement

(Alexandria-Eschate) to protect the crossing of the

Iaxartes river (Syr-Darya). In this vicinity Cyrus the Great

had also established a frontier outpost. (TRIP)

founded by Cyrus the Great at the northernlimit of his empire, the King was wounded inthe neck. A new frontier settlement nearby -this one called Alexandria-Eschate('Alexandria the Farthest', modern Khojend)- served to restrict the flow of the Scythianhorsemen who were aiding the Bactrianrebels, but it threatened the patterns of lifein Sogdiana and only incited furtherinsurrections. A guerrilla war ensued, withthe rebels entrusting their families andproperty to the numerous strongholds inthe region.

One of the local barons, Sisimithres(known officially as Chorienes), took refugeon Koh-i-nor, which the ancients calledsimply the Rock of Chorienes. Although hismother pressed him to resist the invader,Sisimithres was persuaded to surrender.Alexander had sent to him anotherprominent Sogdianian named Oxyartes, whomay well have reported how the rebelArimazes had been captured with relativeease, despite the natural defences of hisfortress, and punished with crucifixion.

Over the winter of 328/327 Sisimithressupplied Alexander's army with pack

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Alexander and Roxane'Writers give the height of the rock of

Sisimithres as 15 stades, with 80 stades asits circumference. On top, it is reportedlyflat and contains good soil, which cansupport 500 men, and on it Alexander issaid to have been sumptuouslyentertained and to have married Roxane,the daughter of Oxyartes.'Strabo, Geography 11.11.4

animals, sheep and cattle, as well as2,000 camels. Alexander returned the favourwhen spring approached, plundering theterritory of the Sacae and returning toSisimithres with 30,000 head of cattle. Thisgesture, too, was matched by the barbarian,who entertained him on the Rock. Here itwas that Alexander met Oxyartes' daughter,Roxane, whom he subsequently married. It isdepicted as a love-match, which may be true,but the political implications did not escapeAlexander either. By means of a weddingceremony, the Macedonian King terminated

Tension between Alexander and hisMacedonians

Ever since the death of Darius,Alexander had become increasinglyorientalised. He had begun to adoptcertain elements of Persian dress; hisbelief in his divine parentage was alsoregarded as an eastern pretension.Furthermore, he had become moreautocratic. In summer 328 Alexanderkilled Cleitus the Black, the man whohad saved his life at the Granicus, in adrunken quarrel in Samarkand. In thefollowing spring, several pages alongwith Hermolaus conspired to murder theKing, but their plot was revealed and theconspirators were executed. Callisthenes,the tutor of the pages, was suspected ofcomplicity and put to death as well.And, in these years, the King had begunto drink more heavily than before.

the lengthy guerrilla war that he had beenunable to bring to an end militarily. Philip IIhad used political marriage to greatadvantage in his time; after seven years ofcampaigning, Alexander too had come toappreciate its usefulness.

It is difficult to determine how much themarriage to Roxane influenced Alexander'sthinking about the benefits of intermarriagewith the barbarians. Some ancient writersmention other marriages betweenMacedonians and barbarian women at thistime, but these may anticipate the greatmass-marriage ceremony at Susa in 324. It iscertain, however, that soon after marryingRoxane Alexander attempted to introducethe Persian custom of obeisance (proskynesis)at his court. This met with fierce resistanceon the part of his Macedonian generals andcourtiers, and the King reluctantlyabandoned the scheme.

Invasion of India

The political marriage of Alexander andRoxane had brought the guerrilla war inBactria and Sogdiana to an end, but thefighting was to continue. The Macedonianarmy now turned its attention to the lastcorner of the Achaemenid Empire. Herethree provinces remained: Parapamisadae,which lay beyond the passes of the HinduKush as one marched east from the city ofBactra (Balkh, near Masar-e-sharif); Gandhara(now part of northern Pakistan); andHindush (Sindh), the valley of the Indus.Once through the Hindu Kush, Alexanderadvanced into the Bajaur and Swat regions,moving relentlessly towards the Indus, wherean advance force under Hephaestion andPerdiccas had constructed a boat-bridgeacross the river, leading into the territory ofthe Taxiles.

On the march, Alexander hadencountered fierce resistance from theAspasians and Assacenians. The chief city ofthe latter was Massaga, located in the KatgalaPass and defended by a woman, Cleophis,the mother (or possibly widow) of the local

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Perdiccas, son of OrontesPerdiccas was another of the young

and talented officers of Alexander, one ofseveral who would struggle for powerafter the death of the King. In 336, hewas a member of Philip II's hypaspistbodyguard: it was unfortunate that theKing's assassination occurred 'on hisshift', to use modern parlance. Alexanderpromoted him to the rank of taxiarchand as such he led one of the brigades ofthe pezhetairoi. Probably in 330, hebecame a member of the seven-manBodyguard (Somatophylakes) and soonafterwards he commanded a hipparchyof the Companion Cavalry. He appears tohave worked well with Alexander'sclosest friend, Hephaestion, but othersfound him difficult to deal with.

After Hephaestion's death, he wasundoubtedly the most influential of theKing's officers, and after Alexander's owndeath Perdiccas was the logical person toassume control of affairs in Babylon.Nevertheless, he had made too manyenemies and his ambition made him theobject of suspicion and hatred. In320 BC his invasion of Egypt failed andhe was murdered by his own officers.

The wedding of Alexander and Roxane. Painting byIl Sodoma, based on an ancient account of the paintingby Aetion. (AKG Berlin)

dynast, Assacenus. He had died only shortlybefore Alexander's arrival at the city,probably in an earlier attempt to stop theMacedonians en route. It was Assacenus'sbrother, Amminais, who conducted theactual defence, with the help of 9,000mercenaries, but legend chooses instead tofocus on the Queen, who negotiated thesurrender of the city and retained her throne

Queen Cleophis of Massaga'From there he headed for... the realm

of Queen Cleophis. She surrendered toAlexander but subsequently regained herthrone, which she ransomed by sleepingwith him, attaining by sexual favourswhat she could not by force of arms. Thechild fathered by the king she namedAlexander, and he later rose tosovereignty over the Indians. Because shehad thus degraded herself QueenCleophis was from that time called the"royal whore" by the Indians.'Justin 12.7.9-11 (J. C. Yardley trans.,Clarendon Ancient History series)

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Samarkand today. The old city of Maracanda occupied themound behind the city. It was here that Alexander killedhis friend and general Cleitus in a drunken brawl. (TRIP)

by dazzling Alexander with her beauty. Herstory must be read with caution, since hername and conduct are reminiscent of thefamous Egyptian queen, Cleopatra VII. Thefirst historian to mention her may, indeed,have written in the Augustan age, whenCleopatra herself had gained notoriety.

Some of the Assacenians fled to aseemingly impregnable mountain known tothe ancients as Aornus (probably Pir-sar,though some have suggested Mt Ilam). Here,just as he had done in his siege of Arimazes,Alexander overcame the rugged terrain, thistime herding many of the terrified natives totheir deaths as they attempted to descendthe steep embankment overhanging theIndus. By capturing the place, the Kingcould claim to have outdone his mythicalancestor, Hercules, who had been driven offby an earthquake.

The King now crossed into the territory ofAmbhi (officially 'Taxiles'), who ruled theregion between the Indus and Hydaspes(Jhelum) rivers and gave Alexander a lavishreception in his capital at Taxila (near modernIslamabad). He was at the time hard pressedby his enemies - Abisares to the north (in theKashmir) and Porus, Rajah of the Paurava, tothe west. In exchange for support, heaccepted a Macedonian garrison and anoverseer, Philip, son of Machatas. But Ambhiremained nominal head of the territory.

Porus meanwhile had urged Abisares tolend aid against Taxiles and the Macedonianinvader. Instead, he made (token?)submission to Alexander, content to awaitthe outcome of events. And when Poruswent down to defeat, Abisares sent moneyand elephants, but argued that he could notcome in person on account of illness. It is anold trick of rulers who are confronted bythose more powerful, and it was attemptedlater by Montezuma when Cortesapproached Tenochtitlan.

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Porus himself determined to face theinvader and his arch-enemy, Taxiles, at theHydaspes river, guarding the crossing nearmodern Haranpur. There would be no repeatof the charge at the Granicus. The Hydaspeswas a much greater river, the banks steeper,

and the effect of the elephants stationed uponthem decisive. It was necessary to make thecrossing elsewhere, and to do so unopposed.

At first, Alexander resorted to a series offeints - or, more precisely, to a repetition ofthe same feint, as he marched a detachment

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of the army to a position upstream andreturned again to the main camp, whilePorus's forces on the opposite bank mirroredhis actions. Soon he positioned a contingentunder Meleager several miles to the north;but Porus too had taken precautions against

The battle between Alexander and Porus. In the battle at

the Hydaspes river, Alexander and Porus did not actually

meet each other in combat, although the Macedonian

King met the Indian rajah after he had suffered numerous

wounds. (Ann Ronan Picture Library)

A digression on boat-bridgesThe historian Arrian can find no

evidence for how Alexander bridged theIndus, but he comments: 'The quickestway of bridging I know is the Roman useof boats ... Their boats are at a signalallowed to float downstream, yet notbows on, but as if backing. The streamnaturally carries them down, but arowing skiff holds them up till itmanoeuvres them into the appointedplace and at that point wicker crates ofpyramid shape full of unhewn stones arelet down from the bows of each ship tohold it against the stream. No soonerhas one ship thus been made fast thananother, just at the right interval tocarry the superstructure safely, isanchored upstream and from both boatstimbers are accurately and smartly laidand planks crosswise to bind themtogether. The work goes on in this wayfor all the boats needed ... On either sideof the bridge gangways are laid andfastened down, so that the passage maybe safer for horses and baggage animals,and also to bind the bridge together.'Arrian 5.7.3-5 (P. A. Brunt trans., LoebClassical Library)

encirclement by instructing his brother,Spitaces, to keep watch upstream.

Craterus, with the heavy infantry, was leftto face the main Indian army at the originalcrossing-point, and Alexander eventually,under the cover of night, heavy rain andthunder, marched some 171/2 miles (28km)upriver (near modern Jalalpur) and made acrossing just where the heavily wooded islandof Admana sits in a bend of the river. Here hereached the opposite side before Spitaces wasable to challenge him. Indeed, the island had

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proved to be such an effective screen thatAlexander himself landed his men there,mistaking it for the opposite bank of theHydaspes. Consequently, Porus had toabandon his original position and turn to meetthe encircling force, while Craterus began tolead the rest of the army across the river.

The engagement that followed was decidedprimarily by the cavalry, even though theheavy rains had reduced the battlefield tomud and swamp. The elephants, interspersedbetween units of infantry, proved once againto be a greater liability than advantage toPorus's army. In the end, the Macedonianswere victorious. Porus had fought gallantlyand received many wounds.

The valiant enemy earned Alexander'srespect, and was allowed to retain his kingdom.It had not always been so: Alexander had oftenbeen less than generous in his treatment ofstubborn adversaries. (Witness the case of Batisof Gaza, whom Alexander dragged behind hischariot in imitation of Achilles' treatment ofHector.) The greater challenge lay, however, inthe attempt to bring about lasting peacebetween the Indian rivals. Curtius claims thatan alliance between Taxiles and Poros wassealed by marriage, the common currency insuch transactions. But the arrangement wasnever entirely satisfactory. Though Taxiles wasperhaps more to be trusted than Poros,Alexander needed the latter for his upcomingcampaigns in the Punjab.

Porus and AlexanderAlexander was the first to speak.

'What,' he said, 'do you wish that Ishould do with you?'

'Treat me as a king ought,' Porus issaid to have replied.

'For my part,' said Alexander, pleasedby the answer, 'your request shall begranted. But is there not something youwould wish for yourself? Ask it.'

'Everything,' said Porus, 'is contained inthis one request.'Arrian 5.19 (A. de Sélincourttrans., Penguin)

The limits of conquest

Victorious over the army of Porus, theMacedonians had moved eastward across thePunjab, coming inevitably to the Hyphasis(Beas) river. Beyond this lay the populous andlittle-known subcontinent of India proper. (Itshould be noted that Alexander never crossedthe boundaries of what is modern India.) Hereit was that the war-weary Macedonians,battered by the elements, their uniformsliterally rotting off their bodies, called a halt.Alexander yearned for further adventure andconquest, this time in the valley of theGanges. The soldiers, however, conducted astrike (secessio) and even the bravest and mostloyal of Alexander's officers spoke on theirbehalf. The King sulked in his tent, but themen remained obdurate. There was nothing todo but turn back.

This is the traditionally accepted view ofthe end of Alexander's eastward march. Butdid it really happen in this way? Why, oneasks, would an experienced and shrewdmilitary leader like Alexander allow reportsof extraordinary dangers, or numerousenemies and exotic places, to come to theattention of soldiers who, as he knewperfectly well, were demoralised and tired?The skilful leader tells his troops what hewants them to know, which is virtuallyalways less than the whole truth. If thefantastic report of India beyond the Hyphasiswas 'leaked' to the Macedonian soldiery, itwas because he wanted them to hear it. If itwas merely a case of rumour taking hold,then Alexander handled the matter badly. Inhis speech to the men, in which he claims tobe debunking the rumours, he neverthelessreports them in vivid detail; then he changeshis tack and argues that, even if the storiesare true, there is no need to be concerned.

This was not the time for the truth, muchless for exaggeration. It was a face-savinggesture by a king who was just as tired as hismen, for whom it would have been unheroicto decline further challenges. Instead theresponsibility for ending this glorious marchinto the unknown was placed squarely onthe shoulders of the common soldier. His

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stubbornness alone robbed Alexander offurther glory. This was the propaganda line,and this is how it has come down to us.Further evidence of Alexander's duplicity canbe found in the fact that he ordered the mento build a camp of abnormal size, containingartefacts that were larger than life, in orderto cheat posterity into thinking that theexpeditionary force had been superhuman.

Return to the west

The army was returning to the west - butnot directly. It was not necessary to cross the

Hyphasis in the quest for ocean. Alexanderknew full well that the Indus river systemwould lead him there, and he hadtransported boats in sections for the verypurpose of following the river to its mouth.On the way, he subdued warlike tribes,troublesome neighbours for his new vassal,Porus. Among these were the Mallians, inwhose town Alexander would have a closebrush with death.

Disregarding his own safety and forgettingthat the Macedonians' enthusiasm for warwas no longer what it had been, Alexanderwas the first to scale the city walls and jumpinside. Only a few bodyguards accompanied

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Deception at the limits of Alexander's march'Two days were devoted to his anger

and on the third Alexander emergedfrom his tent to issue instructions fortwelve altars of square-cut stone to beerected to commemorate his expedition.He further ordered the campfortifications to be extended, andcouches on a larger scale than their sizerequired to be left behind, his intentionbeing to make everything appear greaterthan it was, for he was preparing toleave to posterity a fraudulent wonder.'Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History ofAlexander 9.3.19 (J. C. Yardleytrans., Penguin)

him. When the troops saw that their Kingwas trapped, they scrambled up the ladders,overloading and breaking them. Inside thewalls, the King was showered with arrows:one protector at least perished in hisdefence, while others were as gravelywounded as Alexander himself. Once thetroops poured over the battlements, theslaughter began, but their King had an arrowlodged deep in his chest, just below the ribs.

Miraculously, Alexander survived, thoughfor a good portion of the journey downriverhe was all but incapacitated. By the time hereached the Indus delta, he had recovered,and from here he sailed out into the IndianOcean and conducted sacrifices at the limitsof his empire, just as he had done at theHellespont in 334.

Nevertheless, the return of the Macedonianarmy can hardly be depicted as triumphant.One portion sailed along the coast, eventuallypassing through the Straits of Hormuz andentering the Persian Gulf: it was a journeyfraught with hardship, deprivation anddanger. Another, led by Alexander himself,struggled through the Gedrosian desert,suffering staggering losses on account of theelements and the malfeasance of theneighbouring satraps. Although Alexander

stood up to the hardships as well as any man,and indeed it was on this march that hedisplayed some of his most noble qualities,the march was an unmitigated disaster. Thosemodern writers who delight in blackening hisreputation have gone so far as to suggest thatAlexander exposed his men to the perils ofthe Gedrosian wasteland in order to pay themback for their refusal to proceed beyondthe Hyphasis.

When Alexander returned to the west, hecelebrated mixed marriages on a grand scaleat Susa (324 BC). Alexander himself marriedStateira, daughter of Darius III, and Parysatis,whose father, Artaxerxes III, had ruledshortly before. Another of Darius's daughters,Drypetis, married Hephaestion, and nearly ahundred other noble Persian women weregiven as brides to Macedonian officers. Evenlarger numbers of common soldiers tookbarbarian wives, but this was probably just away of legitimising common-law unions thathad existed for some time. The marriagesappear to have been unpopular with thearistocracy, and after Alexander's deathmost appear to have repudiated theirPersian wives.

On the other hand, it was the integrationof large numbers of barbarian troops into theMacedonian army that gave offence to thesoldiery. Not long afterwards, at Opis on theTigris, the army mutinied, complaining that

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Alexander wearing the elephant headdress. (AKG Berlin)

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Craterus, Alexander's most trustedcommander

Craterus began the expedition as ataxiarch, a commander of pezhetairoi. Heserved as the second-in-command on theleft wing, under the direct authority ofParmenion, whom he was being groomedto replace. Craterus was an officer ofunswerving loyalty to the King. Thesaying went that Hephaestion was 'fondof Alexander' (philalexandros) but Crateruswas 'fond of the king' (philobasileus). Notsurprisingly, these two youngcommanders would become rivals andtheir disagreements would lead to anopen confrontation that threatened toinvolve their respective units. ButCraterus's promotion was based onability whereas in Hephaestion's casethere was at least a suspicion of nepotism- even if no one said so publicly.

As the campaign progressed,Craterus exercised more frequentindependent commands. WhenAlexander returned through theGedrosian desert, Craterus led theslower troops and the invalids throughthe Bolan Pass towards modernKandahar. En route he apprehendedrebels, whom he brought to the Kingfor execution. In 324 he was sent toreplace Antipater as viceroy ofMacedon. This order would bepre-empted by Alexander's death andthe outbreak of the Lamian War. In321/320 Craterus returned to Asia anddid battle with Eumenes near theHellespont. He was, however, thrownfrom his horse and trampled beneathits hoofs. It was an ignominious endfor one of Alexander's greatestgenerals.

they were being supplanted by foreigners.These complaints Alexander countered withsoothing words, but the ringleaders of themutiny were seized, chained and throwninto the Tigris. Ten thousand veterans, manyof them injured, were sent back to

Macedonia under the command of Craterus,who was himself in poor health. Some ofthem would indeed reach their homeland,but only to fight some more. Others wouldnot advance beyond Cilicia before becomingembroiled in the wars of the Successors.

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Essential Histories • The Wars of Alexander the Great70

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Two generals and a satrap

Parmenion and Philotas

When Alexander ascended the Macedonianthrone, two powerful generals of Philip IIexercised considerable influence at the courtand in the army. Only one, Antipater, was inMacedonia at the time. The other,Parmenion, had been sent by Philip tocommand the advance force in Asia Minor.He was an experienced and well-loved leaderof men. In the year of Alexander's birth,356 BC, Parmenion had defeated the Illyrianruler Grabus, while Philip himself wasbesieging Potidaea. Twenty years later, hewas the senior officer in the army and hissons, Philotas and Nicanor, commanded theCompanion Cavalry and the hypaspistsrespectively. These were amongst the finesttroops in the Macedonian army.

Parmenion's contributions were, however,a source of embarrassment to the young king,who believed that the success of othersdetracted somehow from his own glory. Andhe was particularly annoyed when he learnedthat in Egypt Parmenion's son, Philotas, wasboasting that all the King's successes weredue to his father's generalship.

The information had come to Alexander inan unusual way. Amongst the spoils taken atDamascus was a woman named Antigone. Thiswoman was of Macedonian origin, from thetown of Pydna, but had been captured by thePersian admiral Autophradates while travellingby sea to celebrate the mysteries of Samothrace.(It was at this festival, many years earlier, thatPhilip had met the young Olympias, the futuremother of Alexander.) Antigone had thusbecome the mistress or concubine of a Persiannotable and had been deposited at Damascusbefore the battle of Issus.

When Parmenion captured the city andthe spoils were divided, Antigone becamePhilotas's mistress. What he told her, by way

of bragging about his own family'sachievements or disparaging those of theKing, she repeated to others, until the talkwas reported to Craterus, a faithful friendand officer of Alexander. Craterus dislikedPhilotas personally - and in this he was notalone, for Philotas had many enemies whowere at the same time close friends of theKing. Craterus therefore gatheredincriminating evidence from Antigone andbrought this to Alexander's attention. But, atthat time, with the outcome of the waragainst Darius still undecided, the Kingchose to overlook the indiscretion.

Things changed, however, whenAlexander found himself master of thePersian capitals. Parmenion had suddenlybecome expendable, and he was left atEcbatana when Alexander pushed on inpursuit of Darius and Bessus. At first, it wasto be a temporary measure, but Darius'smurder altered the complexion of thecampaign. The Thessalian cavalry, which hadserved on Parmenion's wing, was nowdismissed and sent back to Europe. AndCraterus, who had been groomed asParmenion's replacement - at both Issus andGaugamela he was the old general'ssecond-in-command - had proved himselfmore than capable; furthermore, he wasyounger, more energetic and, what was mostimportant, unswervingly loyal to the King.These circumstances, and the fact thatParmenion's elimination requiredjustification, gave rise to stories thatParmenion's advice was timid or unsoundand that his performance at Gaugamelawas substandard.

Separated from his influential father,Philotas became more vulnerable to theintrigues of his enemies. And thisvulnerability was increased when, during themarch through Aria, Philotas's brother


The 'official' historian criticises Parmenion'There is general criticism of a

lacklustre and apathetic performance onParmenion's part in that battle, eitherbecause age was by now to some extentsapping his courage or because, asCallisthenes has it, he was embitteredand envious of the officious andself-important way in which Alexanderwas wielding his authority. In any case,Alexander was annoyed by Parmenion'scall for help, but did not tell his men thetruth about it. Instead, he gave thesignal to fall back on the ground that hewas calling a halt to the slaughter andthat night was coming on.'Plutarch, Alexander 38.11 (J. C.Yardley trans.)

Nicanor died of illness. Indeed, not only wasthe family itself weakened, but also manywho had served with Parmenion were nolonger with the army. Hence, when Philotaswas implicated in a conspiracy at Phrada(modern Farah) in Afghanistan in late 330,there were few to defend or protect him.

The crime itself was one of negligence ratherthan overt treason. A young Macedonian - heis described as one of the hetairoi, and hencenot insignificant - by the name of Dimnus haddivulged the details of a conspiracy to whichhe was a party (though he was clearly not itsinstigator), to his lover, Nicomachus. The latter,fearing for his life if the conspiracy should failand he be implicated, told everything he knewto his brother, Cebalinus, who promptly wentto report the matter to Alexander.

Unable to gain access to the King,Cebalinus informed Philotas and urged himto deal with the matter. But on the followingday, when he approached Philotas again,Cebalinus discovered that the latter had notspoken to the King concerning theconspiracy because, as he claimed, it had notseemed to him a matter of great importance.Cebalinus therefore devised other means ofrevealing the plot, mentioning also Philotas'ssuspicious behaviour.

Alexander thus called a meeting of hisadvisers - excluding Philotas, who mightotherwise have been summoned - and askedfor their candid opinions. These were freelygiven and unanimous: Philotas would nothave suppressed the information unless hewere either party to the plot or at leastfavoured it. Such negligence could not beexcused when it involved the life and safetyof the King. And so Atarrhias with adetachment of hypaspists - in effect, thesewere the Macedonian military police - wassent to arrest Philotas.

Confronted with the facts, Philotasconfessed that he had indeed learned of theconspiracy, but that he had not taken itseriously. If this was the truth - we shallnever know what went through Philotas'smind - he may have reflected on an earlierepisode, when his father had sent an urgentletter to Alexander, alleging that Philip ofAcarnania, the King's personal physician, hadbeen bribed to poison him in Cilicia. In theevent, the report proved false andParmenion's reputation was tarnished.

On the other hand, in the shadowy worldof the Macedonian court, where kings hadoften been murdered for merely slighting aman's honour, anything was possible andeverything potentially dangerous. Philotas'strustworthiness was called into question: hadhe not been guilty of disloyal talk in the past?As a young man, he had been raised at thecourt of Philip as a companion of Amyntas,son of Perdiccas, whom Alexander hadexecuted on suspicion of aspiring to regainhis throne. Furthermore, his sister had beenmarried briefly to the King's bitter enemyAttalus.

When questioned under torture, Philotasadmitted also that another adherent ofAttalus, a certain squadron commander(ilarches) named Hegelochus had suggestedto Parmenion and his sons that they murderthe King; but the plan was rejected as toodangerous in the circumstances of 331. At anyrate, it seems that the topic of Alexander'sremoval from power had certainly come up.

The younger commanders urged the Kingnot to forgive Philotas a second time, for he

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would continue to be a danger to him. Theirprofessed concern for Alexander's safetymasked, only slightly, their hatred forPhilotas and their desire for militaryadvancement; this could best be achieved byeliminating him and members of his faction.For Alexander, although he concurred withtheir opinion, it was nevertheless a difficultdecision. How would Parmenion react to hisson's execution? He remained in Ecbatana,astride the lines of communication and atthe head of a substantial army. If Philotaswere to be executed for treason, then thecharge must be extended to include hisfather. The army, which tried Philotas andfound him guilty, accepted also the guilt ofhis father. The Macedonians were realists andrecognised that expediency must triumphover legal niceties.

Philotas was publicly executed; his fatherin Ecbatana was presented with a letteroutlining the charges against him and struckdown as he read them.

Mazaeus, servant of three kings

Mazaeus is known from both historicalsources and coin legends to have been satrapof Cilicia, and later of Syria andMesopotamia (Abarnahara, 'the land beyondthe river') in the time of King Artaxerxes III.Under Darius III he had doubtless fought atIssus, although there is no mention of him.In 331, he had been ordered to preventAlexander's crossing of the Euphrates atThapsacus, but had insufficient numbers todo more than harass the bridge-builders.Upon Alexander's arrival, Mazaeus withdrewand rejoined Darius, who was now followingthe course of the Tigris northward.

At Gaugamela Mazaeus commanded thePersian cavalry on the right wing and led acharge of dense squadrons together with thescythe-chariots, inflicting heavy casualties.He then sent a squadron of Scythianhorsemen to capture the Macedonian camp,while he himself exerted pressure onParmenion and the Thessalian cavalry on theMacedonian left. Parmenion, in turn, wasforced to send riders to recall Alexander, who

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Alexander, as portrayed on the Alexander Sarcophagus,

which shows his victory at Issus. (AKG Berlin)


A missed opportunity'The [Macedonian] army could have

been annihilated if anyone had had thecourage to seize victory at this juncture,but the King's unceasing good fortunekept the enemy at bay ... If Mazaeus hadattacked the Macedonians as theycrossed [the Tigris], he would no doubthave defeated them while they were indisorder, but he began to ride towardsthem only when they were on the bankand already under arms. He had sentonly 1,000 cavalry ahead, and soAlexander, discovering and thenscorning their small numbers, orderedAriston, the commander of the Paeoniancavalry, to charge them at full gallop.'Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History ofAlexander 4.9.22-24

had gone off in pursuit of Darius. EventuallyMazaeus was overcome by the tenacity of theThessalians and the demoralising news ofDarius's flight.

It is highly likely that the greatbattle-scene on the so-called AlexanderSarcophagus from Sidon - now in theIstanbul Museum - depicts Mazaeus's valour.If this is so, then, contrary to the accepted

modern scholarly view, the sarcophagus itselfwould have been commissioned for theformer satrap of Syria (and resident of Sidon)rather than the undistinguishedAbdalonymus, whom Hephaestion hadelevated to the kingship in 332.

Mazaeus fled from the battlefield toBabylon, which he promptly surrendered tothe Macedonians. In return he was installedas its satrap, the first Persian to be sohonoured by Alexander. (Mithrenes had beenin Alexander's entourage since 334, but hisappointment as satrap of Armenia did notoccur until 330.) The Alexander Sarcophagusalso depicts a notable Persian engaged in alion hunt together with Alexander and otherMacedonians - one of the Macedonian ridersmay be Hephaestion. If this depicts ahistorical event, then it could not haveoccurred before late 331, and the most likelyPersian with whom Alexander hunted isonce again Mazaeus.

When Alexander pursued Darius in hisfinal days, Mazaeus's son, Brochubelus orAntibelus, defected to him. Mazaeus himselfremained in office and served his new masterloyally until his death in late 328,whereupon he was replaced by anotherbarbarian: Arrian calls the successor'Stamenes' and Quintus Curtius Rufus writes,'Ditamenes', but neither form is convincing.

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Rome, Carthage and India

Emergence of Rome

The fourth century BC, which is treated byGreek historians as a period of decline afterthe so-called 'Golden Age of Athens', was forthe Roman world a time of rebirth. The citywhich, according to its historical traditions,was founded in 753 BC - that is, 244 yearsbefore the establishment of the Republic in509 - had experienced a period of growth inthe fifth century that was arrested, indeedshattered, by the irruption of Gauls in 390 or386. Despite face-saving propaganda that sawCamillus snatch victory from the grasp ofthe Gauls after they had defeated theRomans at the river Allia, the truth is thatthe Romans paid the marauders in order tobe rid of them. The conquest of the Italianpeninsula had to be started anew, if indeedmuch of it had been subject to Rome beforethe Gallic sack.

At about the same time as Alexandercrossed into Asia, his uncle andbrother-in-law, Alexander I of Epirus, crossedthe Adriatic in order to champion the causeof the Greeks in southern Italy, who werebeing hard pressed by the Lucanians andBruttians. Roman historians latercommented on the Epirote King's failure,noting that 'whereas Alexander the Greathad been fighting women in Asia, the otherAlexander had encountered men'. Thisunflattering remark was typical of Romanattitudes towards Alexander the Great, for itwas a popular topic of debate whetherAlexander would have been able to conquerthe Romans.

Later Hellenistic kings, like Philip V,Antiochus III and Perseus, proved to beunworthy of Alexander's reputation, and theRomans themselves, or at least those whowere honest with themselves, knew thatthese were pale reflections of a bygone era.

Indeed, Pyrrhus, a second cousin of theconqueror, was destined to give the Romansa fright some 43 years after Alexander'sdeath. And his was but a small army, withlimited goals.

Alexander of Epirus, however, suffered thefate of all champions summoned by theItalian Greeks: rather than joining him inthe struggle against their enemies, they werecontent to sit back and let him do thefighting for them. Ultimately, he was killed -the victim of a prophesied fate that he hadgone to Italy to avoid. The oracle of Dodonahad foretold that he would die by theAcheron river. Since there was a river of thisname in Epirus, Alexander decided to moveon to Italy, only to discover as he was struckdown in an Italian stream that it too wasknown as the Acheron.

Such at least is the legend and the bitterlesson that those who seek to avert fortunemust learn. But the important fact is that, asAlexander the Great was subduing the east,his namesake was engaged in a strugglebetween the inhabitants of the westernpeninsula who had not yet fallen under thepower of Rome. But this was soon to come. Inthe years that followed, the Romans defeatedthe Samnites in three bitter wars, and by 265,seven years after the death of Pyrrhus, theywere confronting the Carthaginians across thestraits of Messina. When Alexander the Greatdied in Babylon, the First Punic War was onlytwo generations in the future (see The PunicWars in this series).

Carthage

Carthage, the North African city near modernTunis, was founded according to tradition in814/813 by settlers from Tyre: the nameKart-Hadasht is Phoenician for 'New Town'.


Although archaeological evidence has yet toconfirm the traditional date, it certainlyexisted by the late eighth century and soondeveloped as the most important Phoeniciansettlement in the western Mediterranean. Itsproximity to Sicily, where numerousPhoenician trading posts (emporia) had beenestablished, made it a natural protector of thePunic peoples against the Greeks of the island.

By Alexander's time, Carthaginian powerhad been restricted to western Sicily, but itwas to become a serious threat to the city ofSyracuse by the last decade of the fourthcentury. Not much later Carthage becameembroiled in a struggle with Rome, as aresult of an appeal to both parties by a groupof lawless mercenaries, the Mamartines (or'Sons of Mars'), who had taken overMessana, across from the toe of Italy.

That incident led to the First Punic War(264-241), which forced the Romans todevelop a real navy for the first time in theirhistory - along with the effective butephemeral device known as the corvus or

The fate of Alexander of Epirus'Alexander, king of Epirus, had been

invited into Italy when the people ofTarentum petitioned his aid against theBruttii. He had embarked on theexpedition enthusiastically, as though apartition of the world had been made,the East being allotted to Alexander, sonof his sister Olympias, and the West tohimself, and believing he would have noless scope to prove himself in Italy,Africa and Sicily than Alexander wasgoing to have in Asia and Persia. Therewas a further consideration. Just as theDelphic Oracle had forewarnedAlexander the Great of a plot againsthim in Macedonia, so an oracularresponse from Jupiter at Dodona hadwarned this Alexander against the city ofPandosia and the Acherusian River; andsince both were in Epirus - and he wasunaware that identically-named placesexisted in Italy - he had been all themore eager to opt for a campaignabroad, in order to avoid the perils ofdestiny ... He commenced hostilities withboth the Bruttii and the Lucanians,capturing many of their cities, and heconcluded treaties and alliances with theMetapontines, the Poediculi and theRomans. The Bruttii and the Lucanians,however, gathered auxiliary forces fromtheir neighbours and resumed their warwith increased fervour. During thiscampaign the king was killed in thevicinity of Pandosia and the RiverAcheron. He did not discover the name ofthe fateful region until he fell, and onlywhen he was dying did he realize that thedeath which had led him to flee hisnative land had not threatened him thereafter all. The people of Thurii ransomedand buried his body at public expense.'Justin 12.2.1-5, 12-15 (J.C. Yardleytrans., Clarendon Ancient History series)

Bronze head of Alexander from the third century BC,

(Madrid, Prado)

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Persian illustration of Alexander talking to wise men. (Ann

Ronan Picture Library)

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Dionysus on a leopard. Mosaic from Pella, 4th century BC.

When Alexander reached India he began to emulate

Dionysus as well as Heracles, the paternal ancestor he had

venerated since the beginning of his reign. (Archaeological

Museum ofThessaloniki)

korax, a beaked grappling device attached toa boarding platform. It also led them toacquire their first provinces outside Italy. Butit was the first of a series of life-and-deathstruggles between the two dominant states of

Alexander learns of the Nanda rulersTorus ... added that their ruler was

not merely a commoner but a man fromthe lowest class. His father had been abarber whose regular employment barelykept starvation at bay, but by his goodlooks he had won the heart of thequeen. By her he had been brought intoa comparatively close friendship withthe king of the time, whom he then

treacherously murdered, seizing thethrone ostensibly as protector of theking's children. He then killed thechildren and sired this present ruler,who had earned the hatred andcontempt of the people by behaviourmore in keeping with his father's stationin life than his own.'Curtius 9.2.6-7 (J. C. Yardleytrans., Penguin)

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the west. This would see the emergence of ageneral who was, in many ways, the equal ofAlexander: Hannibal, the avowed 'enemy ofRome'. But when Alexander was conqueringthe east, the bitter Punic Wars and thebrilliance of Hannibal and Scipio were still inthe unforeseen future.

India and the Mauryan dynasty

In the east, meanwhile, in the valley of theGanges, the Nanda dynasty was nearing itsend. Rumour held that the ruling king,whom the Greeks called Xandrames, was theson of a lowly barber who had murdered hissovereign and married the Queen. Plutarch,in his Life of Alexander, comments that whenthe Macedonians reached the Punjab theywere seen by a young man namedSandracottus, who was destined to be thefounder of the Mauryan dynasty and wasknown to the Indians as Chandragupta. Hewould later force Alexander's successor in theeast, Seleucus Nicator, to cede the satrapies

adjacent to the Indus in return for500 elephants. But in the mid-320s, muchof India was ripe for the picking.

The Galatians

Far to the north and the west of Greece,another group, the Celts or Gauls, werebeginning a steady migration eastward thatwould lead them down the Balkan rivervalleys towards Macedonia. In the years thatfollowed 280, they would throw Macedoniaand northern Greece into turmoil. Onecolumn would advance as far as Delphi, onlyto be driven off (seemingly with the aid ofApollo) by the Aetolians, who were hailed assaviours of Greece. According to their owntradition, they were beaten by their owndrunkenness and lack of discipline.Eventually, they were transported across theBosporus and came to settle in north-centralAnatolia in the region that bears their name,Galatia. For the next century they would bethe scourge of Asia Minor.

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Portrait of a civilian

A historian, athletes andcourtesans

Callisthenes the historian

Callisthenes of Olynthus was, according tosome accounts, the nephew of the philosopherAristotle, and although he is often depicted asa philosopher himself, he was little more thanan amateur. He joined Alexander's expeditionas the official historian and, if - as appears tobe the case - he sent his history back toEuropean Greece in instalments, he was atthe same time historian, propagandist andwar correspondent.

His travels with Alexander took him toexotic places and he was able to speculate onnatural phenomena as well as describe thecourse of the war, for he appears to havetheorised about the source of the Nile. It washis literary training that led him to depictAlexander as a latter-day Achilles, and it wouldnot be wrong to class him with the numerousflatterers who swelled the King's ego andentourage. But, although he likened thereceding sea near Mt Climax in Pamphylia to acourtier doing obeisance (proskynesis) to theGreat King, he nevertheless resisted Alexander'sattempt to introduce the Persian court protocolin 328/327. For this reason, he fell out with theKing and when, some time later, a conspiracywas uncovered involving the royal pages,Callisthenes was easily implicated.

It was one of his functions at the court totutor the young men of the Macedonianaristocracy - just as in the 340s Aristotle hadtutored Alexander and several of his coevalfriends (syntrophoi) at Mieza. Abrupt andaustere in manner, Callisthenes had madefew friends, though some like Lysimachusthe Bodyguard may have enjoyedexchanging philosophical ideas with him.These two 'serious types' may have 'bonded',as modern jargon would have it, forLysimachus's personality can hardly betermed effervescent.

Convicted of complicity in the conspiracyof the pages, Callisthenes was apparentlyincarcerated and died some months later ofobesity and a disease of lice. The Peripateticphilosophers, the followers of Aristotle,never forgave Alexander.

Callisthenes defies AlexanderAlexander sent around a loving cup of

gold, first to those with whom he hadmade an agreement about obeisance(pwskynesis); the first who drank from itrose, did obeisance, and received a kissfrom Alexander, and this went round allin turn. But when the pledge came toCallisthenes, he rose, drank from thecup, went up to Alexander and made tokiss him without having done obeisance.At that moment Alexander was talkingto Hephaestion and therefore was notattending to see whether the ceremonyof obeisance was carried out ... But asCallisthenes approached to kissAlexander, Demetrius, son of Pythonax,one of the Companions, remarked thathe was coming without having doneobeisance. Alexander did not permitCallisthenes to kiss him; andCallisthenes remarked: 'I shall go awayshort one kiss.'

Arrian 4.12.4-5 (P. A. Brunt trans., LoebClassical Library, slightly modified)

Flatterers and professionalathletes

The entourage of the Macedonian Kingincluded a wide variety of non-combatants.Actors and musicians, poets and dancers,jugglers and ball-players can all be found inAlexander's camp, though many of them


made only brief stops with the army as theytoured the Greek cities of the Near East.Actors were particularly useful: because theytravelled and because they spoke soeloquently, they were often used as envoysto the court of some king or dynast;sometimes they merely brought news ofevents in another part of the empire. ThusAlexander received news of the defection ofhis treasurer Harpalus from Cissus andEphialtes, two comic actors who are attestedas winners in dramatic competitions inAthens.

Some actors were clearly present at theHydaspes river, for it was there that thetroops were entertained with a production ofthe comic play Agen, written by a certainPython - possibly of Sicilian origin. Anotheractor, Thersippus, carried Alexander's letterto Darius, rejecting the King's offer toransom the members of his family, whomAlexander had captured at Issus. And, at thedrinking party in Maracanda (Samarkand)there were bards who sang of a Macedonianbattle in the region. We are not told what itwas they sang about, except that it was aMacedonian defeat. One scholar hasplausibly suggested that they had produced amock heroic epic that recounted the valourof one of their own, the harpist Aristonicus,who fought valiantly and died whenbarbarian horsemen attacked a smallcontingent of Macedonians, including pagesand non-combatants.

Athletes are also attested in the camp. Ayoung man named Serapion appears to haveserved no useful purpose other than to playball with the King. But most famous of theathletes was an Athenian boxer, Dioxippus,who is named also as one of the King'sflatterers. The confrontation in India betweena Macedonian soldier, Corrhagus, and theGreek athlete reveals not only the ethnictension that existed in the army betweenGreeks and Macedonians, but also the typicaldisdain of the veteran soldier for theprofessional athlete. Both men had imbibedexcessively and, after they had exchangedinsults, the Macedonian challenged theAthenian to a duel. This was fought on the

A Greek boxer in Alexander's entourage: awarrior's opinion of a professional athlete

'One person present at the banquetwas the Athenian Dioxippus, a formerboxer whose superlative strength hadrendered him well known and well likedby Alexander. Jealous and spiteful menwould make cutting remarks about him,partly in jest, partly in earnest, sayingthat they had along with them a useless,bloated animal and that, while theywent into battle, he was dripping withoil and preparing his belly for a banquet.Now at this feast the MacedonianHorratas, who was already drunk, beganto make the same type of insultingcomment to Dioxippus and to challengehim, if he were a man, to fight a duelwith him with swords the next day.Only then, said Horratas, wouldAlexander be able to decide whether hewas reckless or Dioxippus a coward.'Q. Curtius Rufus, The History of Alexander9.7.16-17 (I. C Yardley trans., Penguin)

following day, with the athlete getting thebetter of the soldier. But Dioxippus's successdid not endear him to the King, and soonafterwards he was framed by certain courtiers,who planted a drinking cup in his quartersand claimed that he had stolen it from one ofthe King's parties. Dishonoured by this trick,Dioxippus committed suicide, the victim oftwo forms of prejudice.

Courtesans: Thaïs, Pythioniceand Glycera

The presence of prostitutes has been afeature of armies since the earliest time. Eventhe Crusader armies, motivated by the mostrighteous intentions, had no shortage ofthem. Alexander himself certainly had theoccasional liaison with such women:Pancaste had been the mistress of Alexanderbefore he gave her to the painter Apelles,who had fallen in love with her.

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P o r t r a i t of a civilian

Whether the Athenian courtesan Thaïswas originally Alexander's mistress before shetook up with Ptolemy is unclear. The popularaccount of Alexander (the so-called Vulgate)portrays her as the one who, when revellingwith the King in Persepolis, induced him toput the torch to the royal palace. But she isnot some fictitious character, invented todiscredit the King. At some point she becamethe mistress of Ptolemy and bore him threechildren - Lagus, Leontiscus and Eirene - thefirst named after Ptolemy's father, the lastdestined to become the bride of Eunostus,the King of Soli on Cyprus.

Most notorious, however, were theAthenian courtesans Pythionice and Glycera.They were in succession the mistresses of thetreasurer Harpalus, who grieved excessivelyat the death of the former, and whoallegedly built monuments for her, inBabylon and Athens, which surpassed thoseof great politicians and generals. The latter,Glycera, was treated by Harpalus as if shewere a queen. He erected statues of himself

and Glycera in Syria, and according to ahostile tradition made the people performproskynesis in front of her.

Theopompus denounces Harpalusto Alexander

'Theopompus says, in his treatise Onthe Chian Letter, that after the death ofPythionice Harpalus summoned Glycerafrom Athens; on her arrival she took upher residence in the palace at Tarsus andhad obeisance done to her by thepopulace, being hailed as queen; further,all persons were forbidden to honourHarpalus with a crown unless they alsogave a crown to Glycera. In Rhossus theyeven went so far as to set up an image ofher in bronze beside his own. The like isrecorded by Cleitarchus in his Historyof Alexander.'

Athenaeus 13.586c (C. B. Gulick trans.,Loeb Classical Library)

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How the war ended

The death of Alexander

The war against the barbarians of the easthad, in fact, several different endings. ThePanhellenic crusade, which was the pretextfor going to war in the first place and thejustification for the recruitment of alliedGreek troops, came to an end in 330 BC,with the symbolic destruction of Persepolisand, later in Hyrcania, with the death ofDarius. Those allied soldiers who wished toreturn home were dismissed fromHecatompylus. But the war itself was not yetfinished. First, there was the matter ofBessus, who had usurped the throne: hewore the tiara upright, in the style of theGreat King, and called himself Artaxerxes V.Secondly, there was the matter of annexingthe remainder of the Persian Empire, whichrequired Alexander to campaign as far northas the Syr-Darya (the Iaxartes river) and asfar east as the Indus. And, when all this hadbeen done, there was the task ofconsolidating his conquests.

But one thing had the effect of bringingAlexander's wars to an abrupt andpermanent end: his premature death inBabylon. Those stories about seers warninghim to avoid Babylon and omens of othersoccupying his throne are all inventions afterthe fact. Even the cause of his death wasdebated in ancient times and continues to betoday. Was it typhoid, cholera or malaria? Agood case has recently been made for the lastone. Did he die of poison, the victim of aconspiracy by a number of his generals? Thistoo gains support from the occasionalmodern historian, though the story of hismurder was clearly a fabrication of thepropaganda wars of his successors. Or was hethe victim of depression and alcoholism?This is the most difficult to prove, since wecannot psychoanalyse him or determine towhat extent his drinking affected his health.The Macedonians were notoriously heavy

drinkers, by ancient standards at least, andthere are tales of drinking contests in whichthe winner does not live long enough toenjoy the prize. In fact, the stories ofalcoholism are suspect as well: they wereinvented, or at least embellished, by writerslike Ephippus of Olynthus with the aim ofdiscrediting the King.

This is what we do know. After sailing onthe marshes of the Euphrates waterway nearBabylon, a region where malaria wasendemic, the King returned to the city. Oneevening he was invited to a drinking party atthe home of Medius of Larisa. Whiledrinking, he suddenly experienced a pain inhis chest, 'as if he had been pierced by anarrow or a spear'. He soon returned to hisown quarters and his health deterioratedsteadily. Nevertheless, he slept, bathed andcontinued drinking, at least for a while. Hedeveloped a fever, which became moresevere, and not long afterwards he began tolose the ability to speak. By the time themen had learned of his predicament, he wasnot longer able to address them, but couldonly make physical gestures of recognition.On 10 or 11 June 323, he was dead. He hadnot yet reached his thirty-third birthday.

The loss of a dearly loved king was badenough, but the uncertainty of the future wasincreased by the fact that no provisions hadbeen made for the succession and numerouscontroversial policies had been set in motion -the proclamation of the Exiles' Decree, whichhad a disruptive effect on the politics of theGreek world, and the orders that Craterusshould relieve Antipater of his command inEurope. Grandiose and expensive plans hadalso been laid, both for the erection ofmonuments (e.g. the massive funeral pyre forHephaestion) and for military expeditions. Itsoon became clear that, although theconquests had come to an end, the war was

How the war ended

about to be prolonged; for the strugglesbetween Alexander's marshals were destined to

be more bitter and more destructive thanthose against the Persian enemy.

The Persian Queen Mother learns ofAlexander's death

'The news quickly reached Darius'mother too. She ripped off the clothesshe wore and assumed the dress ofmourning; she tore her hair and flungherself to the ground. Next to her satone of her granddaughters who was inmourning after the recent loss of herhusband, Hephaestion, and the generalanguish reminded her of her personalgrief. But Sisygambis alone felt the woesthat engulfed her entire family: she weptfor her own plight and that of hergranddaughters. The fresh pain had alsoreminded her of the past. One mighthave thought that Darius was recentlylost and that at the same time the poorwoman had to bury two sons. She wept

simultaneously for the living and thedead. Who would look after her girls,she wondered? Who would be anotherAlexander? This meant a secondcaptivity, a second loss of royal status.On the death of Darius they had found aprotector, but after Alexander theywould certainly not find someone toguard their interests.

... Finally, she surrendered to hersorrow. She covered her head, turnedaway from her granddaughter andgrandson, who fell at her knees to pleadwith her, and withdrew simultaneouslyfrom nourishment and daylight. Five daysafter deciding on death, she expired.'Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History ofAlexander 10.5.19-22, 24 (J. C. Yardleytrans., Penguin)

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The struggle for succession

The wars of Alexander had resulted in theconquest of an empire and the imposition ofa Greco-Macedonian ruling class upon adiverse population that had hitherto beenunited under Persian control. Greek was nowto replace Aramaic as the official writtenlanguage of the east, although local tongueswould endure - just as regional culture andreligion would not be wiped out by the merechange of rulers. But the success of theexpedition must be measured by theeffectiveness of the process of consolidationrather than the speed of conquest.

In fact, the Macedonian conquest was farfrom complete, as some areas were onlypartially subdued and others were bypassedintentionally in a bid to come to grips withthe Persian King and to strike at thenerve-centres of the Achaemenid Empire.Pockets of independent or recalcitrant statesremained throughout the east: Pisidia,Cappadocia, Armenia are notable examplesfrom the north-western region; the Uxians,who had collected payment from the Persianswho crossed their territories, and who hadbeen chased from the invasion route byAlexander, were again asserting theirindependence in the age of the Successors.

When Alexander the Great died in 323,his Notebooks {Hypomnemata) includedgrandiose plans for the conquest of NorthAfrica and the circumnavigation of theArabian peninsula, though in truth there wasmuch left to be done in areas that hadformerly been subject to, or else a thorn inthe side of, the Persian kings. The presenceof would-be overlords who were even morealien than the Achaemenids served only tostrengthen their determination to resist.Some regions rebelled in Alexander'slifetime, incited by the very Persianofficials whom he had appointed assatraps and hyparchs.

The border provinces in the east weredisrupted by both the presence of hostileelements on the fringes and a reluctance onthe part of their Greek garrison troops toremain there. Upon the premature news ofAlexander's death - after the attack on theMallian town in the Punjab - the Greeks ofBactria and Sogdiana, some 10,000 innumber, had entertained hopes ofabandoning their outposts and marchingback to the west, an undertaking that wouldhave exceeded by far the accomplishment ofthe more famous Ten Thousandthree-quarters of a century earlier. The firstattempt in 324 was thwarted at the outset;the second, immediately after Alexander'sdeath, resulted in the slaughter of themajority of these troops through thetreachery of Peithon, to whom thesuppression of the revolt had been entrusted.

Such was the confused state of the newempire when Alexander returned to Babylonto meet his fated end. Between 323 and 321(or 320), preparations were made to conveythe King's body from Babylon to the oasis ofSiwah, where he would rest in the lonelyembrace of his divine father Amun.Meanwhile, the centrifugal tendencies wereencouraged or repressed by the variousfactions within the officer corps, as eachpursued either a course of separatism or thefruitless attempt to preserve the integrity ofthe empire.

Here again Alexander had been largely toblame: he had never made adequateprovision for the succession, nor did hename an heir or even an 'executor' of hiswill. Perhaps he had designated Perdiccas asregent, by handing his signet ring toHephaestion's successor on his deathbed. But

The Lion of Amphipolis. Probably a monument to theMacedonians killed in combat. (Author's collection)

Conclusion and consequences 87


some modern scholars have questionedwhether this gesture was ever made,assuming that it was part of the propagandadevised by Perdiccas or his military heir,Eumenes of Cardia.

Certainly, Alexander had been wrong inkeeping his officers on a fairly equal footing.This had, perhaps, increased his own security,for, once he had freed himself from theclutches of older generals and their factions,he was not eager to create powerful newrivals. Instead, he balanced one appointmentwith another, encouraging a certain amountof rivalry and even open confrontation. As aresult, the army too was divided, each sectionfavouring its own commander orcombination of commanders. An even greaterdivide existed between the cavalry andinfantry. In short, a peaceful and effectivetransfer of power was all but impossible.

Thus history moves from the age of thebrilliant conqueror to that of his Successors(Diadochoi). Amongst the first to contest theprize were the young and able officers whowere coeval with the King, and who hadbeen raised at the Macedonian court andeducated along with the Crown Prince atMieza. They were also the first to die. Someadmittedly endured and establisheddynasties that would rule the so-calledHellenistic kingdoms - Seleucus, Lysimachusand Ptolemy - but others, like Antipater andAntigonus the One-Eyed, were grisledveterans in 323. The former did not longsurvive the King. Antigonus, however, liveduntil 301, when he perished on thebattlefield of Ipsus. Many indeed were thecompanions of Alexander who crossed thethreshold of old age, and even then few diedin their beds. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, betterknown as Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt, proved arare exception.

In the early stages, the struggle was toexercise authority on behalf of inept orillegitimate candidates for the throne, or elseto defy such authority in a bid to carve out aportion of the empire for oneself. In thelatter group, we find Ptolemy, who from thefirst chafed at the thought of serving under afellow officer, and Peithon, a former

Ptolemy, son of Lagus, ruler of EgyptPtolemy is perhaps one of the best

known of Alexander's commanders tothe modern reader. Nevertheless, in323 BC he was far from being the mostnoble, influential or most accomplishedof the King's marshals. Born in the 360s,he was older than many of the otheryoung generals and he may not haveheld his first command until late 331 (atthe Persian Gates); if so, he was what wewould call a 'late bloomer'. During thecampaigns in what are now Afghanistanand Pakistan, he came into his own as amilitary commander; he had also been amember of the Bodyguard since 330.When Alexander died, he received thesatrapy of Egypt, which he fortified andput on a sound administrative andeconomic footing. Thereafter it wasimpossible to dislodge him, and he ruledthere until 283, sharing the throne withhis son, Philadelphus, in the period285-283. At some point, he wrote aHistory of Alexander, which is now lost.

Bodyguard. The supporters of the kingshipwere men like Perdiccas, Aristonous,Eumenes and probably Craterus, but thekings themselves were hardly imposingfigures: one was a mentally defectivehalf-brother of Alexander, named Arrhidaeusbut known officially as Philip III; the otherwas the infant son of Alexander and Roxane,hampered as much by his semi-barbarianblood as by his age. And, in the wings, therewas Heracles, the illegitimate son ofAlexander and his mistress, Barsine, thedaughter of the Persian Artabazus and aRhodian woman.

Matters were made worse by the army'shostility to Alexander's plans to integratePersians into the military and the commandstructure. Some accommodation would haveto be made with the barbarian if themulticultural empire was to become acohesive whole. This included also a shiftingof the government to a more central

88


location - probably to Babylon, though somehave disputed this claim - since it would beimpossible to rule the east from Pella.

Hence the Diadochoi, starting from aposition of disadvantage and weakness,could scarcely be expected to succeed.Posterity remembers them as lesser men whojeopardised the whole for the sake ofindividual gain, whose pettiness andpersonal rivalries squandered all thatAlexander had won and sacrificed countlesslives in the process. This verdict is unfair.Premature death had saved Alexander'sreputation, ensured his greatness. Hisgenerals were left to clean up the mess, toattempt to consolidate the conqueredempire, without enjoying any of theauthority of the man who had created it.

The wars of the Successors lasted until thelate 280s, when Lysimachus was killed in thebattle of Corupedium and his conquerorSeleucus was assassinated by anopportunistic and ungrateful son of PtolemySoter known to posterity simply as Ceraunus('The Thunderbolt'). Then it was that theSuccessor kingdoms came to be ruled by theoffspring of the conquerors: the Hellenistickingdoms had been formed.

The Antigonids (descendants of Antigonusthe One-Eyed and Demetrius the Besieger)ruled Macedon and dominated the affairs ofthe south by garrisoning the so-called Fettersof Greece - Demetrias (near modern Volos),Chalcis and Acrocorinth. In 197, atCynoscephalae, Philip V was defeated by theRomans in what is called the SecondMacedonian War; a Third Macedonian War,in which Philip's son Perseus succumbed tothe army of L. Aemilius Paullus, effectivelybrought Antigonid rule to an end.

In Egypt the Ptolemaic dynasty enjoyed aperiod of prosperity in the third century BC,especially under its 'Sun-King', Ptolemy IIPhiladelphus, but by the late second centuryit was in decline and threatening to destroyitself from within. An unpopular and weakruler, dubbed Auletes ('the Flute-Player') bythe Alexandrians, survived only with Roman

aid, as did his daughter, Cleopatra VII, wholinked her fortunes first to Julius Caesar,then to Mark Antony, and thus attained ameasure of greatness. Ultimately, however,these associations brought her infamy andthe destruction of her kingdom.

The most extensive and diverse territory -that is, the bulk of Alexander's empire - wasruled by the descendants of Seleucus Nicator.Already in his reign, the eastern satrapieswere ceded to Chandragupta. In the time ofhis successor, Antiochus I, the Galatiansentered Asia Minor and settled aroundGordium and modern Ankara, posing athreat to the Hellenes of Asia Minor, whogradually turned towards the dynasts ofPergamum. The third man of this line,Attalus I, gave his name to the dynasty,which sought the friendship of Rome as ameans of protecting itself from theAntigonids in the west and the Seleucids inthe east. There were indeed short-termadvantages but, in the long run, Romanprotection entailed loss of freedom inmatters of foreign policy. In 133, whenAttalus III died, he left his kingdom to theRomans, who converted it into the provinceof Asia.

The Seleucids themselves had beencrippled by the War of the Brothers in thesecond half of the third century. A briefreassertion of Seleucid power underAntiochus III proved ephemeral, for in 189that king met with decisive defeat at thehands of the Romans. The subsequent Peaceof Apamea deprived the Seleucids of theirlands west of the Taurus Mountains andimposed a huge indemnity upon them. Fromthis point onwards, it was a story of steadydecline. Pressured by the Parthians in theeast and threatened by a revived Ptolemaickingdom to the south, the Seleucidsembarked upon a series of civil wars betweenrival claimants to the throne. By the middleof the first century, they had ceased to exist,having been crushed by the competingforces of Roman imperialism, Parthianexpansion and Jewish nationalism.

89

Further reading

Ancient sources

Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander,translated by A. de Sélincourt, with notesby J. R. Hamilton, Penguin Classics,Harmondsworth, 1971.

Diodorus of Sicily, translated and edited byC. Bradford Welles, Loeb Classical Library,vol. VIII, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1963.

Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History ofPompeius Trogus, Books 11-12: Alexander theGreat, translated by J. C. Yardley,with commentary by Waldemar Heckel,Clarendon Ancient History Series,Oxford, 1997.

Plutarch, The Age of Alexander, translated byIan Scott-Kilvert, Penguin Classics,Harmondsworth, 1973.

Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History ofAlexander, translated by J. C. Yardley, withintroduction and notes by WaldemarHeckel, Penguin Classics,Harmondsworth, 1984.

Modern works

Berve, H., Das Alexanderreich aufprosopographischer Grundlage, 2 vols,Munich, 1926.

Borza, E. N., In the Shadow of Macedon: TheEmergence of Macedon, Princeton, NewJersey, 1990.

Bosworth, A. B., Conquest and Empire:The Reign of Alexander the Great,Cambridge, 1988.

Bosworth, A. B., Alexander and the East: TheTragedy of Triumph, Oxford, 1996.

Bosworth, A. B. and Baynham, E. J. (eds),Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction,Oxford, 2000.

Briant, P., L'Empire Perse de Cyre a Alexandre,Paris, 1996.

Carney, E. D., Women and Monarchy in AncientMacedonia, Norman, Oklahoma, 2000.

Cook, J. M., The Persian Empire, NewYork, 1983.

Engels, D.W., Alexander the Great and theLogistics of the Macedonian Army, Berkeley,California, 1978.

Errington, R. M., A History of Macedonia,translated by Catherine Errington,Berkeley, California, 1990.

Fuller, J. F. C, The Generalship of Alexander theGreat, New York, 1960.

Green, P., Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 BC:A Historical Biography, London, 1970; repr.Berkeley, California, 1991.

Hammond, N. G. L., The Genius of Alexander theGreat, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1997.

Heckel, W., The Last Days and Testament ofAlexander the Great: A Prosopographic Study,Historia Einzelschriften, Heft 56,Stuttgart, 1988.

Heckel, W., The Marshals of Alexander'sEmpire, London, 1992.

Holt, F. L., Alexander the Great and Bactria,Leiden, 1988.

Lane Fox, R., Alexander the Great,London, 1973.

Marsden, E. W., The Campaign of Gaugamela,Liverpool, 1964.

Olmstead, A. T., History of the Persian Empire,Chicago, 1948.

Pearson, L., The Lost Histories of Alexander theGreat, New York, 1960.

Roisman, J. (ed.), Alexander the Great: Ancientand Modern Perspectives, Lexington,Massachusetts, 1995.

Sekunda, N. and Chew, S., The Persian Army560-330 BC, Osprey Elite Series, no. 42,Oxford, 1992.

Stein, A., On Alexander's Track to the Indus,London, 1929.

Stewart, A., Faces of Power: Alexander's Image andHellenistic Politics, Berkeley, California, 1993.

Further reading

Stoneman, R., Alexander the Great, Lancaster Wilcken, U., Alexander the Great, with notesPamphlets, London, 1997. and bibliography by E. N. Borza, New

Warry, J., Alexander 334-323 BC: Conquest of York, 1967.the Persian Empire, Osprey Campaign Wood, M., In the Footsteps of Alexander theSeries, no. 7, Oxford, 1991. Great, Berkeley, California, 1997.

91

Glossary

agema: the elite guard of the cavalry orthe hypaspists.

archon: a senior magistrate (literally, 'onewho is first', 'one who leads'). Philip IIand Alexander were archons of theThessalian League.

baivarpatish: (Persian) commander of10,000, i.e. a myriarch.

chiliarch: commander of a thousand. Alsothe Persian hazarapatish, who could beeither commander of a thousand or themost powerful court official.

Delian League: A confederacy of Greekstates, mainly maritime, organised by theAthenians in 478/7 (after the Persianinvasion of Xerxes was repelled). TheLeague had its headquarters on the islandof Delos (hence the name) and itsmembers paid an annual tribute calledphoros, which was collected by officialsknown as hellenotamiai ('stewards ofthe Greeks'). Within a generation theLeague had been converted into anAthenian Empire.

Doryphoroe: (literally, 'spear-bearers') thebodyguard associated with kingsand tyrants.

gazophylax: a Persian treasurer or ratherguardian of the treasures.

hazarapatish: commander of a thousand.Equivalent of the Greek chiliarch.

hipparch: a cavalry commander, i.e. acommander of a hipparchy.

hoplite: heavily armed Greek infantryman.The hoplite carried a circular shield, worea cuirass (breast-plate), a helmet whichgave additional protection to nose andcheeks, and (normally, but not always)greaves. To be effective the hoplite had tofight in formation, since the overlap ofthe shields protected the exposed rightside of the warrior. The spear became athrusting weapon rather than a javelin.

hypaspists: (literally, 'shield-bearers') theinfantry guard of the Macedonian king.Often they formed a link between thepezhetairoi and cavalry in theMacedonian line.

ilarches: commander of a squadron (ile)of cavalry.

ile: see ilarches.ile basilike: the Royal Squadron. This fought

in the immediate vicinity of the king as amounted bodyguard. Cleitus the Blackwas its commander.

Medism: the Greek term for collaborationwith the Persians. Medising wassymbolised in the late sixth and early fifthcenturies by the giving of 'earth andwater' to the Persian King, but any formof friendly intercourse with Persia couldgive rise to the charge of Medism.

melophoroi: (literally, 'apple-bearers') Persianguards, distinguished by apple-shapedspearbutts.

myriarch: commander of 10,000 = Persianbaivarpatish.

Oath of Plataea: according to the historianHerodotus, the Greek allies swore an oathbefore the battle of Plataea in 479 topunish Medisers, especially the Thebes,with destruction, enslavement andconfiscation of property, with a tithe fromthe proceeds to be paid to the god Apollo.

Peloponnese: the southern part of EuropeanGreece, south of the Gulf and the Isthmusof Corinth.

Peloponnesian League: A league of states,mainly but not exclusively (it includedthe Boeotians) from the Peloponnesus,which was controlled by its militaryleader (hegemon) Sparta. Unlike the DelianLeague, it had no compulsory, fixedpayments.

pezhetairoi: the 'foot-companions', theMacedonian heavy infantry.

Glossary

proskynesis: the Persian practice of doingobeisance to their king. It involvesbowing and blowing a kiss. The extent ofthe debasement depends on the status ofthe individual.

Pythia: the priestess of the god Apolloat Delphi.

Sacred Band: A Theban unit constituted inthe fourth century under the leadership ofGorgidas, it comprised 150 pairs of lovers,in the belief that these would fight morevaliantly for each other. It was instrumentalin Thebes' major victory at Leuctra (371).The unit was destroyed at Chaeronea (338).

sarissa: (sometimes spelled 'sarisa') theMacedonian lance, normally about15-18ft (4.5-5.5m) for infantrymen andperhaps 14ft (4.25m) for cavalry. In thepost-Alexander period it seems to havebecome longer.

sarissophoroi: (literally 'sarissa-bearers')cavalrymen who were armed withthe sarissa.

satrap: governor of a Persian province orsatrapy. The Median name khshathrapavanmeans 'Protector of the Realm'.

satrapy: see satrap.Somatophylakes: the seven Bodyguards of

the Macedonian king.taxiarch: a brigade (though some writers call

the taxis a battalion) commander.taxis: see taxiarch.Thessalian League: a political union of the

cities of Thessaly which was normallyunder the leadership of one of its chiefcities, either Pherae or Larisa. Its chiefmagistrate was originally known as atagus, but later the name was changedto archon.

Trireme: A warship with three banks of oars(with one man per oar). The type seems tohave originated in Phoenicia but wasadopted and perfected by the Greeks. Thenormal complement of the trireme was200 men.

xyston: the cavalryman's spear.

93


Index

Figures in bold refer to illustrations

Abdalonymus 44, 75Abisares 63Aboulites 52actors, in Alexander's entourage 82Agesilaus 33Agis III 31, 37, 48Alexander I of Epirus 76, 77, 79Alexander II of Macedon 17Alexander the Great 7, 34, 42, 46, 58, 64-65, 68, 74, 77

character and reputation 26, 56, 61, 66-68, 73, 79, 88conspiracies against 61, 73, 81death and burial 84-85, 86entourage 81-83marriages 61, 62, 68quotations 19, 48rise to power 28-34succession 86-89tactics 36, 49, 54, 64-65unfulfilled plans 86wounded 60, 68

Alexander Philhellene 17Alexandria, foundation 13Alexandria-Eschate 60Ambhi (Taxiles) 63, 64, 66Amminais 62Amphipolis, Lion of 87Amyntas III 17Amyntas IV 17, 28-29, 73Amyntas, son of Antiochus 37-38Anaxippus 59Antigone, Macedonian concubine 72Antigonids 89Antigonus the One-Eyed 42, 43, 88, 89Antiochus III 89Antipater 30-1, 35, 48, 69, 72, 84, 88Apamea, Peace of (189) 89Arbela, battle of see Gaugamela, battle ofArchelaus 17, 29Ariobarzanes 52-54Ariston 75Aristonicus 82Aristotle 30armies

allies 25-27Macedonian 24-25, 32, 35, 52, 69Persian 22-23, 24, 39, 41, 48-49, 57

armour, Macedonian army 25, 26Arrian, quotations from 19, 27, 46, 65, 66, 75, 81Arsaces 59Arsames 36Arsites 36Artaxerxes I 16Artaxerxes II 16Artaxerxes III Ochus 23, 35, 44, 68Asia Minor

Alexander's campaign 35-43and Persians 7-8

Assacenus, King of Massaga 62Atarrhias 73Athenaeus, quotations from 29, 83Athens

Athenian Empire 11Corinthian War (394-387/386) 14and Macedon 31, 33, 34, 37Peloponnesian War (431-404) 15-16, 16-17Persian Wars 9

athletes, in Alexander's entourage 82Attalus 28,29, 31,35, 73Attalus I 89Attalus III 89

Autophradates 59, 72

Babylon 49, 50-51, 52, 53, 62Bactria, guerrilla war in 60-61Bagoas 23, 24Bagophanes 50, 51Balacrus 43Bessus 58, 59-60, 84boat-bridges 65

Callas 35Callias, Peace of (449) 16Callisthenes 37, 61, 81Camillus 76Carthage 76-78Cebalinus 73Ceraunus 89Chaeronea, battle of (338) 12, 21Chandragupta 80, 89Charidemus 34, 38chariots 49Cissus 82Cleitarchus 83Cleitus the Black 36, 61, 63Cleopatra, wife of Philip II 28, 29, 30Cleopatra VII of Egypt 63, 89Cleophis, Queen of Massaga 61-63Corinthian War (394-387/6) 14Corrhagus 82courtesans, in Alexander's entourage 82-83Craterus

career 69, 71, 72, 84in the field 50, 53, 65, 66and Hephaestion 44

Critobulus 17Crocus Field (353) 20Croesus 7Cunaxa, battle of (401) 16Curtius Rufus, Quintus, quotations from 24, 51, 59, 66, 68,

75, 79, 82, 85Cyrus the Great 7, 9, 59, 60Cyrus the Younger 16

Damascus 41Darius I 9, 60Darius II 16Darius III 23-24, 27, 40, 41, 58

in Asia Minor 37-43daughters 69family captured by Alexander 40-41, 44, 82at Gaugamela 48-50negotiates with Alexander 44-45retreat and death 57-59

Datames 37Datis 9, 11Delian League 9Delphi 20, 20, 80Demetrius, son of Pythonax 81Demetrius Poliorcetes 42, 89Demosthenes 9, 12, 31, 31, 33, 34Dimnus 73Diodorus, quotation from 35Dionysus 79Dioxippus 82Drypetis 69, 85

Ecbatana 57Egypt

Alexander in 47-48under Ptolemaic dynasty 88, 89

Epamonidas 15Ephialtes 82

94

Index

Erigyius 24, 35, 59Eumenes of Cardia 88Euboea, Persian attack on (490) 8-9

Galatians 80, 89Gaugamela, battle of (331) 44, 48-51, 54-55, 72, 74-75Gauls 76, 80Gaza, siege of (332) 47Gedrosia, march through 68-69, 71Glaucus of Aetolia 27Glycera 83Gordian knot 37Granicus river, battle of (334) 27, 36Greeks, in Italy 76, 77, 78Gryneum 34, 35

Halicarnassus 37Harpalus 35, 37, 82, 83Hegelochus 73helmets 25, 57Hephaestion 43, 45

and Alexander 68, 75death 84, 85in the field 61marriage 68overview 44and Perdiccas 62

Hermolaus 61Herodotus 7, 22Hydaspes river, battle of the (326) 64-66, 64-65, 70, 82Hyphasis (Beas) river, halt at 66-68

'The Immortals' 23, 23, 24India

Alexander in 61-69, 67dynasties 80

Ionian Revolt (499/498-494/493) 8-9Isocrates 33Issus, battle of (333) 27, 38-43, 38, 72, 74Italy 76-80, 78

Justin, quotations from 30, 62, 77

Khojend 60, 60

lances 25League of Corinth 12, 21, 28, 31Leuctra, battle of (371) 14, 15Lydia 7Lysander 16Lysimachus the Bodyguard 81, 88, 89Macedon 26

after Alexander 80, 89Macedonian army 24-25, 32, 35, 52, 69Persian capture of 8rise of 11, 12, 17-21

Mamartines 77Maracanda (Samarkand) 61, 63, 82Marathon, battle of (490) 9Massaga 61-62Mauryan dynasty 80Mazaeus 44, 49, 50, 51, 74-75Megalopolis 14, 15, 31, 48Memnon, governor of Thrace 48Memnon the Rhodian 35, 36, 37Miletus 36-37Mithrenes 36, 75

Nabarzanes 58, 59Nanda dynasty 79, 80navies

Persian 44Roman 77-79

Nearchus 24, 71Nicanor 72, 73Nicias, Peace of 15Nicomachus 73

obeisance 61, 81, 83Olympias 28, 29, 29, 30, 72Orontopates 37Oxyartes 60, 61

Panhellenism 11, 12, 33Parmenion 31, 35, 49-50, 56, 69, 72-74Patron the Phocian 27Pausanias of Orestis 29, 30Pella 32-33Peloponnesian War (431-404) 15-16, 17Perdiccas II 17Perdiccas III 17Perdiccas, son of Orontes 61, 62, 86-88Persepolis 52-56, 56, 57Perseus 89Persian Wars 7-12, 17Persians

Alexander's campaigns 35-Persian army 22-23, 24, 39, 41, 48-49, 57Persian Empire 10, 16, 22relations with Greeks 7-12, 14-16

Pharnabazus 35, 37Philip II 12, 17-21, 19, 27, 28-30, 37, 72Philip V 89Philip of Acarnania 73Philocrates, Peace of (346) 20Philotas 35, 72-74Phoenicia, Alexander in 43-47Phrataphernes 59Plataea, battle of (479) 9Pliny, quotation from 17Plutarch, quotations from 33, 36, 40, 48, 73, 80Porus, Rajah of the Paurava 63-66, 64-65Poulamachos 9prostitutes, in Alexander's entourage 82-83Ptolemy I Soter 59, 83, 88, 89Ptolemy II Philadelphus 89Ptolemy of Alorus 17Punic War, First (264-241) 77-80Pythionice 83

Rhoesaces 36Rome 76, 77-78, 89Roxane 61, 62

Salamis, battle of (480) 9Samarkand (Maracanda) 61, 63, 82Sandracottus 80Satibarzanes 59Seleucids 89Seleucus Nicator 80, 88, 89Serapion 82Sisimithres 60-61Sisygambis 43, 85Siwah oasis 47, 48, 86Sogdiana, guerrilla war in 60-61Sparta

Corinthian War (394-387/386) 14and Macedon 31, 48Peloponnesian War (431-404) 8, 16

Spitaces 65Spithridates 36Straton 44Susa, fall of 51-52Syracuse 77

Taxiles see AmbhiThais 55, 83Theban wedge 14, 15Thebes 17, 31, 32-34Theopompus 83Thersippus 82Thessaly 17,20, 25, 31Tiridates 54Tissaphernes 35Tyre, siege of (332) 45-47

weaponsMacedonian army 24-25, 25Persian army 57Roman navy 77-79

Xandrames 80Xenophon 14, 16, 22Xerxes 9, 18

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