336—323 BCE
THE EXTRAORDINARY CAMPAIGN OF CONQUEST THAT SPREAD HELLENIC CULTURE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA
The wars of Alexander the Great came a century and a half after the Greek city-states warded off the Persian Empire and achieved independence. Athens and allied city-states subsequently fought Sparta and its allies for dominance over Greece in the Peloponnesian War (431—404 BCE), a bloody and devastating conflict that was eventually won by Sparta. These wars so impoverished Greece that Macedonia, the wild and mountainous state to the north led by the gifted general and savage warrior Philip II, was able to conquer most of Greece, with the exception of Sparta, by 338 BCE. Philip then began eyeing up Persian territory in Asia Minor; but in 336 he was assassinated and succeeded by his twenty-year-old son, Alexander.
Alexander III, as he was crowned, then set forth on a career of conquest that has rarely been matched. In part, he was simply following in his father’s footsteps and making the most of the superb Macedonian fighting force. But his insatiable desire for conquest perhaps sprung also from his strong feeling that he was heir to the mantle of the ancient Greeks, as well as the fact, as the historian Norman Cantor has put it, that “he was a man dedicated to war.” After consolidating his northern borders and savagely putting down a rebellion of Thebans, Alexander crossed the Dardanelles into Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) in 334. With him initially was an army of thirty-two thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry, composed of Macedonians and allies from other Greek city-states. He defeated Darius III, the Persian Emperor, at the battle of the Granicus that same year and continued down the Ionian coast, capturing numerous Persian-held coastal cities. He entered what is now northern Syria in 333, and within the year defeated Darius for a second time, at the battle of Issus. Though Darius escaped the battle, he was forced to leave his mother, wife, and children in Alexander’s hands.
In 332, to protect his western flanks, Alexander turned along the Mediterranean coast and conquered Phoenician ports, including Tyre, thus removing the threat of attack from the Persian fleet. He continued south to liberate Egypt from Persian rule, and there was crowned pharaoh and declared a son of Amon, the Egyptian king of the gods, after a visit to the oracle of Amon at Siwah. He also founded the city of Alexandria, on the mouth of the Nile.
Alexander then returned to Mesopotamia to deal with the Persians. He defeated Darius at the battle of Gaugamela, then seized the Persian strongholds of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, sealing the defeat of the Persian Empire. In mid-330, Darius was murdered by his cousin and former advisor, Bessus; Alexander found Darius’s body and ensured he received a royal burial.
Beginning in 330, accompanied by about fifty thousand men, Alexander pushed east then north, conquering much of Central Asia. In Bactria (now part of Afghanistan), Bessus tried to raise a mass rebellion. Alexander not only outmaneuvered and defeated him, but also had him captured and executed in 329. He then pushed northward to Maracanda (now Samarkand), where he famously killed his general Cleitus in a drunken quarrel. This angered many of his soldiers, who already resented his absolutism and adoption of Persian customs.
Alexander’s army then returned south again, quelling further rebellions along the way. After defeating a chief called Oxyartes, Alexander married his daughter, Roxana, in an attempt to win over local leaders. That didn’t detain him long, however, and soon he was leading a huge army back across the Hindu Kush toward India. To the ancient Greeks, India was the end of the world—they had no notion of the existence of China or any lands farther east.
Alexander won major battles against Indian forces at Aornos in 327 and in the following year at the Hydaspes River. But his troops were weary, and in September 326, at the Hyphasis River, they refused to go any farther. Veering southwest along the Indus valley, Alexander was wounded in a battle near the Hydraotes River. He then divided his forces, leading some on an epic trek across the forbidding Makran desert back to his capital city of Susa, while another group returned by ship via the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
In 324, Alexander went to Babylon to plan the conquest of the last remnants of the Persian Empire, in Arabia. But there he contracted a fever and died at the age of thirty-two, in 323 BCE. After his death, his empire rapidly disintegrated.
For weeks, since early summer 331 BCE, the Macedonian army had been marching through Syria in heat that reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43°C), men and horses withering under the onslaught of the punishing sun. They were on their way to Mesopotamia, heartland of the Persian enemy and home of the legendary Darius III, the “Great King.” Crossing the Euphrates River, they moved northeast and reached the Tigris River on September 18. They waded across the waterway in ranked columns. At one point, a flash flood swept men and horses away. But as the waters subsided, the relentless march resumed. At the head of the immense column was the army’s young and charismatic leader, Alexander III. Commanding and single-minded, he drove his men on, never losing sight of his immediate goal: the destruction of the two-hundred-year-old empire of Persia.
Early on the morning of September 29, the Macedonian leader rode ahead of his men with a scouting party of elite horsemen. Climbing slowly, they at last arrived at the crest of the low ridges overlooking the great plain of Gaugamela—and reeled back in shock. Even Alexander seemed astonished as he gazed into the distance. Although he had heard about the size of the Persian force, it was different seeing it here before him: two hundred fifty thousand men arrayed as far as the eye could see, in a haze of heat and dust. Not only that, but Darius had at least forty thousand heavily armored cavalry, and Alexander could also see chariots and fifteen or so war elephants.
AT THE BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA, ALEXANDER’S FORCES SUCCESSFULLY DROVE A WEDGE THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE PERSIAN LINES.
The Triumph of Alexander, or the Entrance of Alexander into Babylon, c.1673 (oil on canvas), Le Brun, Charles (1619—90) / Louvre, Paris, France / Peter Willi / The Bridgeman Art Library International
Alexander had with him forty thousand infantry and about seven thousand cavalry. All were Macedonian veterans hardened by four years of battle. But they were so outnumbered that it seemed certain they would be crushed.
At the battle of Issus, two years earlier, Alexander had defeated Darius in part because the Persian King had foolishly chosen to do battle on a narrow coastal strip—a front only 3 miles (5 km) wide—where he could not bring to bear the strength of his far superior numbers. This time, knowing that his army outnumbered the Macedonians five to one, Darius had deliberately maneuvered his forces to bring Alexander to this great plain. In addition, during the week since he had arrived, he had prepared the battlefield , planting hidden traps (pits full of sharpened stakes) and carefully tamping down wide, smooth areas on which he planned to use a most formidable weapon: chariots with scythes attached to their wheels, which would mow down the Macedonian infantry like bloody wheat.
Yet, despite holding the upper hand, Darius had attempted to parley with Alexander. His peace offering, greater than any previous one, was this: aside from paying thirty thousand silver talents in ransom for his mother and children, he also offered Alexander all the territories west of the Euphrates. When the Great King’s emissaries brought Alexander this offer, however, a famous exchange occurred with his chief general, Parmenio: “If I were Alexander,” Parmenio said, “I would accept this offer.” “So would I,” Alexander replied, “if I were Parmenio.”
Alexander, being Alexander, refused Darius’s overtures.
THE ROUTES OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN PINK IN THIS 1920S MAP OF THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE, 336 TO 323 BCE. AFTER ALEXANDER’S DEATH, HIS FAR-REACHING EMPIRE QUICKLY DISINTEGRATED.
Alexander spent the day after his arrival at Gaugamela riding around the edges of the battlefield, formulating his plans. Through Persian deserters he pinpointed the locations of the hidden pits, and also discovered why Darius had cleared large areas of the plains. It was apparent to the Macedonians that they were in an extremely tight position, bound to be outflanked and possibly encircled no matter where they placed their forces.
Parmenio suggested to Alexander that the Macedonians try a night attack, to surprise and panic the Persian forces, but Alexander rejected this idea. Not only did he consider night attacks dishonorable—“Alexander must defeat his enemies openly and without subterfuge,” he told Parmenio—but also he knew that such operations were highly unpredictable and chaotic.
Still, the rumor of a night attack would not be a bad one to spread, thought Alexander, and he instructed his spies to let it be known that he was considering it. As a result, Darius kept a good portion of his army up all night waiting for an assault that never came.
Alexander, meanwhile, sat down in his tent, by himself, and planned.
The next morning, September 30, the sun rose and the Macedonian army woke up, had breakfast, and donned arms. About two miles (3.2 km) away, the Persian army, many of its soldiers yawning from their all-night vigil, did the same. Extraordinarily, Alexander slept on, until, finally, Parmenio woke him up. Amazed at his leader’s sangfroid on the morning of the most important battle of his life, especially with the odds so heavily stacked against him, Parmenio expressed his surprise. Alexander merely replied that Darius had done just what he wanted him to do: put himself in the position of having to fight a pitched battle against the Macedonians.
ALEXANDER, AS DEPICTED IN A MOSAIC IN THE HOUSE OF THE FAUN IN POMPEII, ITALY.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library International
Assembling and directing his forces, he then revealed a plan that was at once simple and brilliant and showed his unparalleled grasp of military tactics. Knowing that he would be outflanked (in the event, Persian lines overlapped his by about 1 mile [1.6 km]), Alexander ordered his forces to line up off center, well off the Persian left flank. He next stationed cavalry on both of his wings, a veteran reserve force in the rear, and the mass of Macedonian infantry at the center. The soldiers then advanced—or rather, shuffled sideways at an angle—torward the Persian force, their great pikes, or sarissas, gleaming.
Alexander kept his troops moving at an oblique angle, to his right, offering his left flank as an inviting target to the massed Persian forces, but keeping the center of his army slightly withdrawn. As Alexander’s army advanced to its right, the Persian army—like a dancing partner—advanced to its right, attempting to outflank Alexander. The farther Alexander moved to his right, the farther away he got from Darius’s cleared chariot runs, which was one of his intentions.
Realizing what was happening, Darius ordered the cavalry on his right wing to attack the Macedonian left. In a thundering charge, the well-trained Persian riders sped across the open ground, screaming battle cries and waving their banners. But they had a long way to go to hit the Macedonian lines, and Alexander’s own flanking cavalry, although greatly outnumbered, counter charged into the weary Persians, slowing down their onslaught and sending them reeling back in disarray.
At the same time, hoping to disrupt Alexander’s center, Darius ordered that his scythed chariots be unleashed against the main Macedonian phalanx of infantry. But the Macedonians were prepared for them. Alexander had placed a screen of light infantry at his front, which parted to let the chariots through, but then hurled javelins at them as they sped past, toppling both horses and drivers. When the remaining chariots reached the main Macedonian phalanx, the infantry, too, formed lanes, and the chariots sped harmlessly by, to be dealt with at the rear.
The flanks and the centers of both armies now engaged in a frenzied battle. Despite Alexander’s clever distribution of his forces, Darius’s numerical superiority began to show, and Alexander’s center soon seemed in danger of being overwhelmed. But then Alexander, in the thick of the fighting, surrounded by his bodyguards, the Companions, detected a gap in the left center of Darius’s line. He formed his reserve forces into a gigantic wedge, with himself at its point, and charged. Smashing through the weak spot, the Macedonians made straight for Darius’s personal guard, routing them. In the space of a few minutes, the fortunes of the battle had changed. Alexander’s men wheeled and attacked the Persian rear, relieving the pressure on their main force.
What happened next is the subject of numerous legends. Some ancient sources have Darius charging Alexander, only to have Alexander kill Darius’s charioteer with a spear, and a false rumor then spreading that Darius was dead, which caused the Persian forces to begin to retreat in disarray. Others say that Darius, seeing he was in danger of being cut off and encircled, fled before he could be captured. However it happened, the result was the same: the Great King of the Persians raced for his life across the vast plain that was supposed to be the scene of his victory, and most of his army broke off and followed him.
Seeing Darius flee, the Macedonians, particularly the forces of Parmenio, who had fought fiercely all day, began to give chase. The slaughter was great; some historians state tens of thousands of Persians were killed during this pursuit alone, which lasted at least until midnight.
By day’s end, Alexander had defeated a massive army that had far outnumbered his, inflicting up to fifty thousand casualties, while losing only between five hundred and fifteen hundred men himself. The Persian Empire was at an end, and Alexander was now the undisputed Lord of Asia.
As an adult, Alexander liked to claim that he had been sired by the god Zeus. His mother, Olympias, backed him up, asserting that the night before her wedding to King Philip II of Macedonia she had been sexually penetrated by a thunderbolt and that fire had flamed from her womb. This was typical of the beautiful but decidedly odd Olympias—a member of a Dionysian sect of snake-worshippers, she liked to take large reptiles to bed with her—and her influence loomed large over the young Alexander.
Yet it was Philip who provided Alexander’s most powerful weapon, the crack Macedonian army, and his extraordinary education. For a tutor, Alexander had no less a figure than the great philosopher Aristotle. He fueled the young man’s dreams, giving him a copy of the Iliad, which Alexander took wherever he went, dreaming of the large and fabulous world beyond the mountains that ringed Macedonia.
By the time Alexander was twenty, in 336, he was immensely learned and had seen combat in his father’s wars against Greece. He was handsome, although a bit on the short side, with curly reddish hair and a ruddy complexion; he was also, like his mother, intuitive, volatile, and superstitious. The death of his father in that year, granted Alexander the opportunity to greatly expand his horizons. During his subsequent conquests, he led by example, fighting hand-to-hand with the enemy. His ego was so large that everything became personal—in his battles against Darius III, he sought to close with his foe in single combat—and he took enormous risks; this may have been because he continued to think that he was a god. Two oracles—one at Delphi in Greece, the other the oracle of Amon at Siwah in Egypt—had told him this. Moreover, he strongly believed that it was his destiny to conquer Asia.
Yet after he defeated Darius and created his empire, Alexander went into a steep decline, in part because there were now no worlds left to conquer and because his victories had exacerbated a growing tendency toward megalomania. He gave himself over to drinking and, to his army’s dismay, became “orientalized,” wearing Persian robes and insisting on the adoption of Persian practices such as hand-kissing to show obeisance. Later, he would even order mass marriages of his officers to Persian women, hoping to promulgate better relations between the Macedonians and Persians. (Most of the marriages dissolved soon after Alexander’s death.)
After the rebellion of his troops and the death of his devoted friend Hephaestion, Alexander drank even more excessively and became increasingly paranoid. He took ill and died on June 13, 323. Ever intuitive, his last words were, “I foresee a great funeral contest over me.”
Whether Alexander was a tyrant and butcher or a glorious megalomaniac on a journey of personal conquest, his achievements have never been equaled.
In 332 BCE, after Alexander captured Darius’s mother, wife, and children at the battle of Issus, the Persian king tried to make a deal to get them back. He sent an emissary to the Macedonian leader, who was then heading for Egypt, with a message stating that if Alexander would return his family, the Great King would pay a suitable ransom. Not only that, but if Alexander signed a peace treaty with Darius, he would cede him “the territories and cities of Asia west of the Halys River [in Asia Minor].”
In what may have been a grand bluff, and certainly smacks of his characteristic arrogance, Alexander wrote Darius back, beginning, cheekily, “King Alexander to Darius.” He told him he would be willing to give Darius his family back if the Persian monarch came to him humbly enough. But as for a peace treaty:
In the future, let any communication you wish to make with me be addressed to the King of all Asia. Do not write to me as an equal. Everything you possess is now mine; so, if you should want anything, let me know in the proper terms or I shall take steps to deal with you as a criminal. If, on the other hand, you wish to dispute the throne, stand and fight for it and do not run away. Wherever you may hide yourself, be sure I shall seek you out.
Having read this, Darius understood that there would be no making peace with the young Macedonian.
An ancient settlement on the coast of present-day Lebanon, the city of Tyre is divided into two parts: one on the mainland and one an island about a half-mile (0.8 km) out in the Mediterranean. When Alexander besieged it in 332 BCE, the fortress of Tyre was on the island, protected by walls up to 150 feet (46 m) high, and Alexander had no navy with which to assault it. How could he conquer this stronghold?
First he tried diplomacy, sending two envoys to suggest an alliance. The Tyrians killed the men and threw their bodies into the ocean. Incensed, Alexander came up with a daring plan. He decided to build a causeway between the mainland and the island, an extraordinary undertaking when you realize that the waters in between were 20 feet (6 m) deep and often lashed by winds. Yet build it he did, demolishing the mainland part of the city to obtain materials and creating a roadway 200 feet (61 m) wide, so that he could march his phalanxes over it in breadth as well as depth.
The Tyrians sent out vessels filled with archers and light catapults and rained destruction down upon Alexander’s workmen; but still the causeway advanced. The defenders then launched an unmanned ship full of flaming pitch and tar into the causeway, setting it on fire. Yet still the work continued.
After seven months, the causeway was completed and Alexander launched his attack. The Tyrians put up a desperate and ferocious defense, but finally the city fell and Alexander ordered his men to murder its inhabitants. Seven thousand Tyrians died.
Today, although it is part of a later, wider causeway, you can still make out the stones of Alexander’s amazing road across the ocean.