 Chapter 17 Parts 4 and 5 of A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Volume 2. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry. Chapter 17 Parts 4 and 5 Preparations for Alexander's Persian Expedition, Condition of Persia Having spent the winter in making his military preparations and setting in order the affairs of his kingdom for a long absence, Alexander set forth in spring for the conquest of Asia. Of his plans and arrangements we know almost nothing, but we may say with confidence that his scheme of conquest was well considered and that he did not go forth as an adventurer to take whatever came in his way. His original scheme of conquest was afterwards merged in a second and larger scheme, of which he had no conception when he went forth from Macedonia, for he had not the requisite geographical knowledge of Central Asia. But in the first instance his purpose was to conquer the Persian kingdom, to dethrone the great king and take his place, and to do under Persia what Persia under Xerxes had essayed to do under Macedonia and the rest of Hellas. To carry out this design, the first thing needful was to secure Thrace in the rear, and that had already been done. In the conquest itself there were three stages. The first step was the conquest of Asia Minor, the second was the conquest of Syria and Egypt, and these two conquests, preliminary to the advance on Babylon and Sousa, would mean not merely acquisitions of territory, but strategic bases for further conquest. The weak point in Alexander's enterprise was the lack of a fleet capable of coping with the Persian navy, which was 400 strong. Here the Confederacy of Corinth should have come to his help. Athens alone could have furnished over 200 galleys, and Alexander doubtless counted on obtaining the support of Athens and other Greek cities ultimately. But he desired aid rendered with good will, and he made no effort to extort ships or men. The loosely organized League of Corinth had undertaken to supply fixed contingents, but the fulfillment of these promises were not strictly exacted. To secure Macedonia against her neighbors and subjects during his absence, Alexander was obliged to leave a large portion, perhaps as much as one half of the national army behind him. The government was entrusted to his father's minister, Antipater. It is said that the king made dispositions before his departure as one who expected never to return. He divided all his royal domains and forests and revenues among his friends, and when Perdiccas asked what was left for himself, he replied, Hope. Then Perdiccas rejecting his own portion exclaimed, We who go forth to fight with you need share only in your hope. The anecdote at least illustrates the enthusiasm with which Alexander infected his friends and officers on the threshold of a venture of which the conception was almost as wonderful as its success. The Persian Empire was weak and loosely knit, and it was governed now by a feeble monarch. Two generations had passed since Greece beheld its weakness memorably demonstrated by the adventures of Xenophon's Ten Thousand, and since then we have seen it on the western side rent and riven by revolts. Artaxerxes' Ocus displayed more strength than his predecessors. He re-established his power in Asia Minor, he quelled rebellions in Phoenicia and Cyprus, and even conquered Egypt, which had long said it not the Persian efforts to regain it. The king Nectanibos was driven back from Pelusium to Memphis, and from Memphis he fled to Ethiopia. The Persian king had no thought of holding the land of the Nile by kindness. As soon as he had Memphis in his power he displayed the intolerance of the fire worshiper. He drowned the holy bull, Epis, and inaugurated the ass as the sacred animal of Egypt. This stupid outrage made the Persian rule more detested than ever. Ocus was assassinated, the victim of palace conspiracy, and after two or three years of confusion the throne passed to a distant member of the Achaemenid House, Darius Codomanos, destined to be the last successor to his great namesake. He was a mild and virtuous prince, beloved by his followers, but too weak both in brains and will for the task to which fate had doomed him. It cannot be gainsaid that if Darius had been able and experienced in war incapable of leading men he had some enormous advantages. In the first place he had the advantage in the sheer weight of human bodies. Had the myriads which he could muster been divided into troops of thirty men and a soldier of Alexander's army allotted as a cup-bearer to each troop, many a company would have gone unserved. In the second place, while the coffers of Pella are said to have been emptied before Alexander set foot in Asia, the great king commanded untold wealth. The treasury of Susa was full and in the palace of Persepolis were hoarded inexhaustible stores of gold. In the third place he had a navy which controlled the seaboard of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt and ought, if it had been handled ably, to have placed insuperable obstacles in the way of an invader who had no adequate sea power. And fourthly, although there was no cohesion in the vast empire or unity of centralization, there was, for that very reason, little or no national discontent in the provinces. Egypt was an exceptional case. The revolts which occurred from time to time were not national movements but the disaffections of ambitious satrips. If the Persian monarch was not loved, at least he was not hated, and the warlike barbarians of the East, from far Hercania, or the banks of the Oksus, were always ready to follow him and glad to fight in his cause. It was quite feasible, so far as the state of feeling in the provinces was concerned, to organize an effective defense of the empire, but all these advantages were as not for lack of a mastermind and a controlling will. Multitudes were useless without a leader and money could not create brains. Moreover, Persia was behind the age in the art of warfare. She had not kept pace with the military developments in Greece during the last 50 years, and though she could pay Greek mercenaries, and though these formed in fact a valuable part of her army, they could have no effect on the general character of the tactics of an oriental host. The Persian commanders had no notion of studying the tactics of their enemy and seeking new methods of encountering them. They had no idea of shaping strategic plans of their own. They simply waited on the movements of the enemy. They trusted, as they had always trusted, with perfect simplicity in numbers, individual bravery and sith-armed chariots. The only lesson which the day of Kunakse had taught them was to hire mercenary Greeks. The strength of the army which Alexander led forth against Persia is said to have been 30,000 foot and 5,000 horse, thus preserving the large proportion of cavalry to infantry, which was one of the chief novelties of Philip's military establishment. We have seen how Philip organized the National Army of Macedonia in the chief divisions of the phalanx, the light infantry, or hapastus, and the heavy cavalry. Alexander led to Asia six regiments of the phalanx, and in the great engagements which decided the fate of Persia, these formed the center of his army. They were supported by Greek hoplites, both mercenary and confederate. The mercenaries were commanded by Menander, the confederate by Antigonus. The hapastus, led by Nikonar, son of Parmenio, had their station on the right wing, and the first regimen of these was the royal guard called the Aegema. Phylotus, another son of Parmenio, was commander of the heavy cavalry and eight squadrons, one of which, the royal squadron, under Clytus, corresponded to the Aegema of the light-armed foot. This Macedonian cavalry was always placed on the right, while, on the left, rode the splendid Thessalian cavalry under Calus, with a corps of other Greek horse attached. Both the right and left wings were strengthened by light troops, horse and foot, accrued according to their national habits from Thrace, Pionia, and other countries of the Illyrian peninsula. Conquest of Asia Minor The forces which had been operating in Asia under Parmenio, while Alexander was detained in Europe, had been endeavoring to establish the footing in Iolius, in Mycia, and secure a base on the propontus for further advance. The great king had empowered Memnon of Rhodes, enable mercenary captain, who in recent years had come to the front, to oppose the van of the Macedonian invasion. The most pressing need of the Persians was to recapture Cisacus, which was in the hands of Parmenio. In this Memnon failed, but he occupied Lamsacus, he forced the Macedonians to raise the siege of Pitani, and beat them back to the coasts of the Hellespot. But he could not, or did not, press his advantage, in the shores where Alexander's host would land were safe in the Macedonian possession. The fleet transported the army from Cestus to Abidus, while Alexander himself proceeded to Elius, where he offered a sacrifice on the tomb of Protestileus, the first of the mythical Greeks who landed on the shore of Asia in the Trojan War, and the first who fell. Praying that he might be luckier than Protestileus, Alexander sailed across to the harbor of the Achaeans, and, in the mid-straight, made libations to Poseidon and the Nerids from a golden dish. The first to leap upon the Mysean strand, he crossed the plain of Troy and went up to the hill of Elion, where he performed a sacrifice in the temple of Athena, in the poor town which stood on the ruins of six prehistoric cities. It is said that he dedicated his own panoply in the shrine and took down from the walls some ancient armor preserved there as relics of the War of Priam and Agamennan. He sacrificed to Priam to avert his anger from one of the race of Neotalamus. He crowned the tomb of Achilles' ancestor, and his bosom friend, Hephaestion, cast a garland upon the grave of Petrocholus, the beloved of Achilles. He commanded that Elion should raise again from its ruins as a favored city enjoying the rights of self-government and immunity from taxation. These solemnities on the hill of Troy are significant in revealing the spirit which the young king carried into his enterprise. They show how he was imbued with Greek scriptures and Greek traditions. How his descent from Achilles was part of his life, part of his inspiration. How he regarded himself as chosen to be the hero of another episode in the drama. Whereof the first act had been illustrated by the deeds of that glorious ancestor. Meanwhile, the satrips of the great king had formed an army of about 40,000 men to defend Asia Minor. If he had entrusted the command to the Rhodian memnon, it is possible that some effective defense might have been made. But he committed the characteristic blunder of a Persian monarch and consigned the army to the joint command of a number of generals, including memnon and several of the western satrips. The Persian commanders were jealous of the Greek and, against his advice, they decided to risk a battle at once. Accordingly, they advanced from Zellia where they had mustered to the plain of Addrastia through which the river Granicus flows into the propontus and posted themselves on the steep left bank of the stream so as to hinder the enemy from crossing. Alexander and his army advanced eastward from Apidus and received the submission of Lampsicus and there of Priapus, a town near the mouth of the Granicus. It was impossible for him to avoid the combat, which the Persians desired. He could not march southwards, leaving them in his rear, but he courted the combat even more than they. For the worst thing that could have befallen him, as memnon knew well, was that the hostile army should persistently retire before him, eating up the provisions of the country as it retreated. With his heavy infantry in two columns and his horse on the wings, Alexander marched across the Addrastium plain. The Persians had made the curious disposition of placing their cavalry along the river bank and the Greek hoplites on the slopes behind. As cavalry in attack has a great advantage over cavalry in defense, Alexander saw that the victory could best be won by throwing his own squadrons against the hostile line. Parmenio advised him to wait till the following morning and cross the river at daybreak before the foe were drawn up in a ray. I should be ashamed, said the king, having crossed the Hellespont to be detained by a miserable stream like the Granicus. An answer such as Alexander loved to give, veiling under the appearance of negligent daring a self-confidence which was perfectly justified by his strategic insight. Drawing up his army in the usual way, which has been described above, with the six regiments of the phalanx in the center entrusting the left wing to Parmenio and commanding the right himself, Alexander first sent across the river his light cavalry to keep the extreme left of the enemy engaged, then led his heavy Macedonian cavalry against the Persian center. Alexander himself was in the thickest of the fight, dealing wounds and receiving blows. After a sharp melee on the steep banks, the Persian cavalry was broken and put to flight. The phalanx then advanced across the river against the Greek hoplites in the background, while the victorious cavalry cut them up on the flanks. This victory, in winning which Alexander drank to the full mad excitement of battle, cost few lives to the Macedonians and cleared out of their way the only army which was to oppose their progress in Asia Minor. But it was very far from laying Asia Minor at the conqueror's feet. There were strong places which must be taken one by one, strong places on the coast which could be supported by the powerful Persian fleet. Of all things, the help of the Athenian navy would have best bested Alexander now, and he did not yet despair. After the skirmish of the Granicus, when he divided the spoil, he sent 300 Persian Panaples to Athens as an offering to Athena on the Acropolis with this dedication. Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks except the Lassimodonians from the Barbarians of Asia. But Athens had no zeal for the cause of the Greeks and Alexander against the Barbarians. The victor entrusted the satripy of Helispontine Phrygia to Keles, making no change in the method of the Persian administration, and marched southwards to occupy the satripy of Lydia and the rock of Sardis, girt with its three-fold wall. It was a little more than 200 years since Cyrus had overthrown the Lydian kingdom and Sardis had become the chief berg of Persian power in the west. The citadel was strong and capable of a stout defense, but it was now passed with its treasures unresistingly into the hands of the Greek conqueror. For this prompt submission the Lydians received their freedom and the ancestral constitution which had been suspended during the long period of Persian domination. Alexander resolved to build a temple to the Olympian zoos on the citadel. It was said that a thundershower falling on the site of the royal palace showed him the feeding place for the sanctuary, the spot where a more famous thundershower had quenched the pyre of the last Lydian king. Parmenio's brother, Asander, was appointed satripy of Lydia and Alexander turned to deal with the Ionian cities. Here, as was to be expected, everything depended on the strength of the political parties. The Democrats welcomed the Greek deliverer, but the oligarchs supported the Persian cause and wherever they were in power admitted Persian garrisons. In Ephesus the oligarchy had got the upper hand, but on the approach of Alexander's army the garrison left the city and the people began to massacre the oligarchs. Alexander pacified these troubles and established a democratic constitution. He abode some time in the city and during this sojourn the painter Apelles executed a famous picture of the king wielding lightning in his hand which was set up in the temple of Artemis. The next stage in the advance of Alexander was Miletus and here for the first time he encountered resistance. The Persian garrison was commanded by a Greek who had first meditated surrender but learning that the Persian fleet was at hand in full force decided to brave a siege. In an earlier episode of the struggle between Europe and Asia we witnessed memorable operations in the Latmian Gulf and the Malaysian harbors which the retreat of the sea has blotted from the map. The isle of Lade then associated with the triumph of Asia was now to play a part in the triumph of Europe. The Macedonian fleet of 160 galleys sailed into the bay and occupied the harbor of Lade before the great fleet of the enemy had arrived. When the Persian vessels came and saw they had been forestalled they anchored off the promontory of Maikale. The city of Miletus consisted of two parts an outer city which Alexander easily occupied as soon as he came up and an inner city strongly fortified with wall and foes. Alexander threw up a rampart round the inner city and placed troops in the island of Lade. Miletus was easily stormed by the Macedonian siege engines and the fleet blocking the harbor hindered the Persian squadron from bringing help. Promenio had urged the king to risk a battle on the water though the enemy's ships were nearly three to one but Alexander rejected the advice. He had judged the whole situation and he had made up his mind that the Persian sea power would have to be conquered on land. If Athens had sent him naval reinforcements it might have been otherwise but he now despaired of active help from Greece and he decided that it was a useless strain on his treasury to maintain 160 galleys. Too few to cope with the 400 of the enemy. Accordingly he disbanded the fleet after the fall of Miletus and proceeded to blockade the sea by seizing all the strong places on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. The execution of this design occupied him for the next two years but it brought with it the conquest of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt. The manifest objection to the dissolution of the naval force was that in case of a decisive defeat at the hands of the great king should compel him to retreat he would have no fleet to transport his army from Asia to Europe and the fleet of the enemy by occupying the straits at either end of the propontus could entirely cut him off but Alexander trusted his own strategy he knew that he would not be compelled to retreat. As for Asia Minor the next and the hardest task was the reduction of Karya of Halicarnassus. The remnant of the host which fled from the Granicus and the Rhodian Memnon himself had rallied here and rested their last hopes in the strong city of Mausolus with its three mighty citadels. The great king had now entrusted to Memnon the general command of the fleet and the coasts and Memnon had dug a deep-foss round Halicarnassus furnished the place with food for a long siege of the Scaracens in the smaller neighboring towns. Halicarnassus was to be the center of a supreme resistance. There had once been a chance that Alexander himself might have been by a personal right lord of Halicarnassus. The prince Pixodaris, one of the brothers of Mausolus had wished to form an alliance of marriage with the house of Macedon and Alexander had thought of offering himself as a bridegroom for his daughter but Philip would not hear of such a match and Pixodaris had given the maiden to a Persian noble who had succeeded to the dynasty after his father-in-law's death. There was indeed another claimant to the dynasty, Ada, wife and sister of Idriaeus. She had succeeded her husband as ruler and had been driven out by her brother, Pixodaris. She now sought the protection of Alexander and when he captured Halicarnassus he assigned to her the satrapy of Karya. It was destined that women should represent Karya in the two great collusions of Greece with Persia. In the days of Alexander as in the days of Xerxes the submission of Ada atoned for the bravery of Artemisia. Having made a feudal attack on Mindus, Alexander filled up the moat with which Memnon had encompassed Halicarnassus and brought his towers and engines across the walls. A breach was made on the northeast side near to the gate of the road to Malaysia but Alexander who hoped to induce the town to surrender forbore to order an attack. His hands were almost forced by two soldiers in the phalanx who, one day, drinking together in their tent and bragging of their prowess, flushed with wine and the zeal of rivalry, put on their armor and marched up to the wall, challenged the enemy to come out. The men on the wall seeing them alone rushed out in numbers and the twain were hard-pressed till their comrades came to the rescue and there was a sharp fight under the walls. But even now Alexander would not order an attack on the breach and the besieged built a new crescent wall connecting the two points between which the wall had been broken down and maintained themselves behind it for a time. At length they made a great excursion against the camp of the besiegers at two different places. On both sides they were driven back in confusion and in their haste to shut the gates they left many of their fellows to perish. At this moment an assault would doubtless have carried the Macedonians within the walls but Alexander gave the signal to retire till still intent on saving the city. Memnon saw that the prospect of holding out longer was hopeless and he determined to withdraw the garrison to the citadel of Salmacus and the royal fortress on the island in the harbor. He fired the city at night before he withdrew and the place was in flames when the Macedonians entered. Alexander destroyed with the fire spared and left a body of mercenary soldiers under Ptolemy to blockade Salmacus and to support the princess of Karya. The cold season was approaching and Alexander divided his army into two bodies one of which he sent under Parmenio to winter in Lydia while he advanced with the other into Lycia. He gave leave to a few young officers who had been recently wedded to return to their Macedonian homes charging them with the duty of bringing reinforcements to the army in spring and appointing Gordian in Phrygia as the mustering place of the whole host. Alexander met with no resistance from the cities of the Lycian League and he left the constitution of the Confederacy intact. From the rich frontier town of Faisilis he advanced along the coast of Pamphylia receiving the submission of Pergae and Espendis and other maritime cities and then he turned inland from Pergae and fought his way over the Pesitian hills taking with some trouble Segalisus the chief fastness of the Pesitian mountaineers. He descended to Salinae the strong and lofty citadel of the Phrygian satrapy and leaving a garrison there he marched on to Gordian on the Sangreus the capital of the ancient kingdom of Phrygia. While he was winning the Lycian and Phrygian satrapies he lost for the moment some points on the Aegean. Memnon appointed commander of the Persian fleet had taken Kyos, reduced the greater part of Lesbos and laid siege to Metellini. He died during the siege but Metellini soon surrendered and then Tenedos was compelled to recognize the peace which the king sent down. The great danger for Alexander was that these successes might encourage the Greeks to revolt and ten Persian ships sailed as far west as Sphinos for the purpose of exciting a movement in Hellas but eight of these vessels were captured by some Macedonian triremes which ran over from Chalcis and the project of a Greek rising was not carried out. At Gordian the appointed mustering place Alexander's army reunited and the new troops arrived from Macedonia to replace those who had been left to garrison the subjugated countries and cities. All the citadel of Gordian stood the remains of the royal palaces of Gordius and Midus and Alexander went up the hill to see the chariot of Gordius and the famous knot which fastened the yoke. Cord of the bark of the Cornel tree was tied in a knot which artfully concealed the ends and there was an oracle that he who should loose it would rule over Asia. Alexander vainly attempted to untie it and then drawing his sword cut the knot and so fulfilled the oracle. From Gordian Alexander marched by Ankara in to Cappadocia. Having received the submission of Paphlegonia and asserted rather than confirmed his authority over the Cappadocia and Satrapy he marched southward to Tiana and the Cilician gates. It was well that Alexander should show himself for a moment in the center of Asia Minor but the reduction of these wild regions and the southern coast of Pontus was a task which might safely be postponed. The Cilician gates might have been easily defended by the garrison which the Satrap arsemies had posted in the past. Alexander with the hypacis and other light troops leaving the rest of his army and camp marched up at night to surprise the station. As soon as the guards heard the footfalls of the approaches they fled and then Alexander at the head of his cavalry moved so rapidly on Tarsus that arsemies, amazed at his sudden appearance fled without striking a blow. Here a misadventure happened which well-nigh changed the course of history. After a long ride under a burning sun the king bathed in the cool waters of the Sidnes which flows through Tarsus. He caught a chill which resulted in violent fever and sleepless nights and his physicians despaired of his life. But Philip of Arcania who was eminent for his medical skill recommended a certain purgative. As he was preparing the draught in the king's tent a letter was placed in Alexander's hands. It was from Parmenio and it was warning against Philip alleging that Darius had bribed him to poison his master. Alexander taking the cup gave Philip the letter to read and while Philip read Alexander swallowed the medicine. His generous confidence was justified and under the care of Philip he soon recovered from his sickness. End of Chapter 17 Parts 4 and 5 Chapter 17 Part 6 of A History of Grease to the Death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A History of Grease to the Death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 17 Part 6 Section 6 Battle of Issus The Great King had already crossed the Euphrates at the head of a vast host. He had let the invader subjugate Asia Minor but he now came in person to bar his further progress. Alexander did not hurry to the encounter and his delay as we shall see turned to his prophet in an unexpected manner. Sending forward Parmenio with part of the army to secure the passes from Cilicia into Syria, Alexander himself turned to subdue western Cilicia. He first visited Anciales noted for the statue of the Assyrian king Sardinopolis and the famous inscription Sardinopolis founded Anciales and Tarsus on the same day but thou, O stranger, eat, drink and sport, all else is worthless. Having seen this comment on his own ambitious dreams Alexander went on to solely the city of Cilicisms an ultimate Greek outpost where men had almost forgotten Greek institutions and Greek speech. From here he made an excursion against the Cilician hill folks and reduced the whole district in seven days. Then he returned eastward in advance to Issus under Mount Amonus. Darius was on the other side of the mountains in the plain of Socoi on ground which was highly favorable for deploying his host. There were two roads from Issus into Syria one led directly over difficult mountain passes while the other wound along the coast to Myriandros and then crossed Mount Amonus. The second road along which we formerly accompanied Cyrus and Xenophon was now chosen by Alexander. Leaving his sick at Issus he marched forward to Myriandros but was detained there by a violent storm of rain for it was already the beginning of winter. The great king informed by Arsimes of the rapid approach of Alexander expected every day to see him descending from the mountains and when he came not owing to the delays in Cilicia it was thought that he held back through fear and did not venture to desert the coast. Accordingly Darius and his nobles decided to seek Alexander. The Persian army crossed the northern passes of Amonus and reached Issus where they tortured and put to death the sick who had been left behind. Alexander cannot be blamed for this disaster for he could not foresee that his enemies would commit such an incredible military error as to abandon the open plain in which their numerical superiority would tell for a confined place where the movements of a multitude would be cramped. To Alexander the tidings that Darius was at Issus was too good to be true and he set to boat to Reconoiter. When he was assured that the enemy had thus played into his hands he marched back from Maryandros through the sea gates into the little plain of Issus. The plain of Issus is cut in two by the stream of the Pinaris which was to play the same part in the coming battle as the Granicus had played in the battle of Adrastia. Here as in that first skirmish it fell to Alexander to attack the Persians who had themselves no plan of attack. Here as there the Persians were defended by the natural entrenchment of a steep banked river. The Macedonian columns defiled into the plain at dawn and when Darius learned that they were approaching he threw across the river 50,000 cavalry and light troops to cover the rest of the army while it arrayed itself for battle. As his host was numbered by tens of thousands and the plain was only three miles broad it is clear that most of his troops were forced to remain behind as reserves. The whole front was composed of hoplites 30,000 Greek mercenaries and the regiments of Orientals called Cardaques. The left wing touched the lowest slopes of the mountains and curved round following the line of the hill so as to face the flank of the enemy's right wing. When the array was formed the cavalry was recalled to the north of the river and posted on the right wing near the sea where the ground was best adapted for cavalry movements. Alexander advanced his army drawn up on the usual plan the phalanx at the center, the hypastas on the right. At first he placed the Thessalian as well as the Macedonian cavalry on the right wing in order to strengthen his own cavalry attack. But when he saw that all the Persian cavalry was concentrated on the seaside he was obliged to transfer the Thessalians to their usual position on his own left. In order to meet the danger which threatened the flank in rear of his right wing from the Persian forces on the slope of the mountain he placed a column of light troops on the extreme from a second front. As in the engagements on the Granicus the attack was to be made by the heavy cavalry on the left center of the enemy's line but it was a far more serious and formidable venture. Those who have read the story of the battle of Kunaksa might despise an Asiatic multitude but Darius had 30,000 Greek mercenaries who knew how to stand and to fight and if Alexander was defeated his retreat was cut off. The Persian left did not sustain Alexander's onset at the head of his cavalry. The phalanx followed more slowly and in crossing the stream and climbing the steep bank the line became dislocated, especially at one spot and the Greek hoplites pressed them hard on the riverbank. If the phalanx had been driven back Alexander's victorious right wing would have been exposed on the flank and the battle lost. But the phalangites stood their ground obstinately until the hypastas were free to come to their help by taking their armies in the flank. Meanwhile, Alexander's attack had been directed upon the spot where the great king himself stood in his war chariot surrounded by a guard of Persian nobles. There was a furious melee in which Alexander was wounded in his leg. Then Darius turned his chariot and fled and this was the signal for a universal flight on the left. On the seaside the Persian cavalry crossed the river and carried all before them but in the midst of their success the cry that the king was fleeing gave them waiver and they were soon riding wildly back pursued by the Thessalians. The whole Persian host was now rushing northward to the passes of Amonus and thousands fell beneath the swords of their pursuers. Darius did not tarry. He forgot even his mother and his wife who were in the camp at Isis and when he reached the mountain he left his chariot, his shield and his royal cloak behind him and mounting a swift mare to the great king till nightfall and found his relics by the wayside Alexander returned to the Persian camp. He supped in the tent of Darius and there fell upon his ears a noise and the wailing of women from a tent hard by. He asked who the women were and why they were lodged so near and learned that it was the wife and mother in the children of the fugitive king. They had been told that Alexander had returned with the shield and cloak of Darius and had been taken to Lamentation. Alexander sent one of his companions to comfort them with the insurance that Darius lived and that they would receive while they were in Alexander's power all the respect and consideration due to royal ladies. For Alexander had no personal enmity against Darius. No act of Alexander perhaps astonished his contemporaries more than this generous treatment of the family of his royal rival. His ideal hero Achilles would not resisted the charm of the captive queen Statera, the most beautiful of women but the charms of love had no temptation for Alexander and his behavior to the captives was prompted not only by his natively humane and generous feelings but by the instinct and policy of a royal invader to display respect for royalty as such. Thus was the Persian host which had come to trample down Alexander and his little army annihilated on the plain of Issus a city which still retains the name of Alexander was built in commemoration of the battle at the northern end of the Seagates. The road was now open into Syria this was the immediate military result of the battle of Issus. Just as the small fight on the Granicus had cleared the way for the acquisition of Age of Minor so the fight on the Pinaris cleared the way for the conquest of Syria and Egypt. The rest of the work would consist in tedious sieges but the victory of Issus had, beyond its immediate result immense importance through the prestige which it conferred on the victor. He had defeated an army ten times as great as his own led by the great king in person whom he had driven back over the mountains in ignominious flight. He had captured the mother of the great king and his wife and his children Darius himself unbent his haughty Persian pride when he had reached safety beyond the refrates so far as to make the first overtures to the conqueror. He wrote a letter in which he complained that Alexander was an unprovoked aggressor begged that he would send back the royal captives and professed willingness to conclude a treaty of friendship and alliance. It was much for a Persian king to bring himself to write this but such a condescending appeal required a stern reply. We are fortunate enough to possess the text of Alexander's answer which seems to have been published as a sort of manifesto to Europe it was to this effect your ancestors invaded Macedonia and the rest of Greece and without provocation inflicted wrongs upon us I was appointed leader of the Greeks and crossed over into Asia for the purpose of avenging those wrongs for ye were the first aggressors in the next place ye assisted the people of Parenthus who were offenders against my father and Ocus sent a force into Thrace that was part of our empire further the conspirators who slew my father were suborned by you as ye yourselves boasted in your letters thou with the help of Begois did us murder Oracis son of Ocus and seized the throne unjustly and contrary to the law of the Persians and then thou didst write improper letters regarding me to the Greeks to incite them to war against me and did us send to the Lassimodonians and others of the Greeks for the same purpose sums of money where I have none of the other cities partook but only the Lassimodonians and thine emissaries corrupted my friends and tried to dissolve the peace which I had brought about in Greece wherefore I marched against thee who were thus the aggressor in the quarrel I have overcome in battle first thy generals and satraps and now thyself and thine host and possess thy land through the grace of the gods on thy side and were not slain but took refuge with me or under my protection and are glad to be with me and will fight with me henceforward I am Lord of all Asia and therefore do thou come to me if thou art afraid of being evilly entreated send some of thy friends to receive sufficient guarantees thou hast only to come to me to ask and receive thy mother and wife and children and whatever else thou mayest desire and for the future whenever thou sendest send to me as the great king of Asia and do not write to me as an equal but tell me whatever they might need as to one who is Lord of all that is thine otherwise I will deal with thee as an offender but if thou disputest the kingdom then wait and fight for it again and do not flee for I will march against thee wherever thou mayest be the treasures which Darius had brought with him into Syria had been sent for safety to Damascus when he crossed the passes of Amonus accordingly Alexander sent Parmenio to take possession of them Parmenio founded Damascus some Greek envoys who had arrived at the camp of Darius a short time before the battle one Spartan one Athenian and two Thebans Alexander detained the Spartan as a prisoner kept the Athenian as a friend and let the Thebans go free his clemency to the Thebans was due to a certain compunction which he always felt for the hard measures dealt out to their city while a personal motive dictated his favor to the Athenian Ephicretes son of the great general of the same name whose memory was highly esteemed in Macedonia the incident showed that Greece which had openly chosen Alexander for her leader was secretly intriguing with Persia when it was known that Darius was crossing the Euphrates men were hoping and praying at Athens that the Macedonians would be trodden under the Persian host a hundred fast sailing Persian ships appeared at Siphanos and Agus the Spartan king visited the commanders asking for money and galleys to carry out a project of rebellion against Macedonia at Athens, Hiperiodes agitated for open war but Demosthenes prudently counseled his fellow citizens to wait until the expected catastrophe of Alexander had become an accomplished fact then the news came that the leader of the Greeks had found a brilliant victory and Greece had to cloak her disappointment the Persian squadron hurried back to save what could be saved on the Asiatic coast and only 30 talents and 10 vessels could be spared to Agus who used them to secure the island of Crete and of chapter 17 part 6 chapter 17 part 7 of a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry chapter 17 part 7 the conquest of Syria it might seem that the course plainly marked out for the victor of Isis was to pursue an overwhelm Darius before he should have time to collect another army and this was the course of the army and this was the course of the army and this was the course to collect another army and this is what Darius himself would have done if he had been Alexander but it would have been a strategical heir to plunge into the heart of the Persian Empire leaving Syria and Egypt unsubdued behind him and a Persian fleet controlling the coast the victory of Isis did not seduce Alexander into swerving from his inevitable course the strategic value of that victory was simply that it opened the gates to Egypt as the subjugation of Asia Minor was the strategic condition of subjugating Syria and Egypt so the conquest of Syria and Egypt was the strategic condition of conquering Mesopotamia and Iran it was the more imperative to follow this logical course of conquest since Phoenicia supplied the main part of the hostile navy and nothing but the reduction of the Phoenician towns would effectually break down Persia no one could swoop more swiftly than Alexander when it was the hour to swoop but never did he display his superior command of the art of war more signally than when he let the royal prey escape him and quietly carried out the plan of conquest which he had predestined the Persian kings had allowed the Phoenician traders to go on their own way and meddled little with their prosperous cities so long as the Phoenician navy was at their disposal of Persia if these strong and wealthy semi-insular cities of the coast cut off as they were from the inner country by the high range of Lebanon had formed a solid federal union they might have easily succeeded in winning complete independence in the days of Persian decadence but though Tyre, Sidon and Aridus were bound together by a federal bond their commercial interests clash and their jealousies prevented a hardy national effort this had been illustrated by a recent experience when Sidon had revolted from Persia in the reign of Artexerxes Ocus her two sister cities promised at a federal meeting to stand by her but both Tyre and Aridus selfishly calculated that if Sidon were crushed and punished her trade would come to themselves and they left her to maintain the struggle alone she succumbed to the power of Ocus her town was burnt down and she lost her rights as a city the divisions which prevented the Phoenicians from becoming a nation were profitable to Alexander if their united fleet which was now acting ineffectually in Aegean waters had acted energetically in defense of their own coast against the Macedonian their cities would have been impregnable even to Alexander but those cities could not trust each other Biblis which in some measure had taken the place of Sidon and Aridus sent their submission to the conqueror of Isis while dismantled Sidon which still contributed some ships to the fleet hoped to be reinstated in her old position by the favor of Persia's foe her hope was not disappointed Alexander restored Sidon to her constitution and her territory it could not have been long after this that a kingling of Sidon was laid in a resting place worthy of the great conqueror himself his sculptures sarcophagus which was recently dug up in a burying ground in the Sidonian kings is one of the most beautiful achievements of Greek art but we may well associate this monument with Alexander rather than the obscure Phoenician for whose ashes it was made four in two of the vivid scenes which are represented in colored relief upon its sides Alexander appears on horseback one of these is a passage from the battle of Isis there is a mele in the center the king charges on this side the general perhaps Parminio on that the other scene is a lion hunt and here if Alexander were not marked out by the royal fillet we might almost recognize him by his eager straining face Alexander advance southwards towards Tyre ambassadors from this city met him on the road professing the readiness of the Tyrians to do his will Alexander expressed his intention of visiting the city in order to sacrifice in the famous temple of Heracles but a Macedonian visit was far from the wish of the men of Tyre Persia was not yet subdued and their policy was to await the event and avoid compromising themselves by a premature adhesion to Macedonia they felt secure on their island rock which was protected by 80 ships apart from the squadron which was absent in the Aegean accordingly they invited Alexander to sacrifice in Old Tyre on the mainland but refused to receive either Persian or Macedonian into the city to subdue Tyre was the an absolute necessity as Alexander explained to a council of his generals and captains which he called together it was not safe to advance to Egypt or to pursue Darius while the Persians were lords of the sea and the only way of resting their sea power from them was to capture Tyre the most important naval station on the coast once Tyre fell to Egypt which was the most numerous and strongest part of the Persian navy would come over to Macedon for the rowers would not row or the men fight when they had no habitations to row or fight for the reduction of Cyprus and Egypt would then follow without trouble Alexander grasped and never let go the fact that Tyre was the key to the whole situation it was easy to say that Tyre must be captured but it was not easy to say how without a powerful navy capture could be achieved this was perhaps the hardest military task that Alexander's genius ever encountered the city girt by walls of great height and magnificently strong masonry stood on an island severed from the continent by a sound of more than half a mile in width on the face which face the mainland were the two harbors the northern or Sidonian harbor with a narrow mouth and the southern or Egyptian it might seem utterly hopeless for an enemy vastly inferior at sea to attempt a siege of the island rock and in truth there was only one way for a land power to set about the task those thousand yards of water must be bridged over and the isle annexed to the mainland without hesitation Alexander began the building of the causeway the first part of the work was easy for the water was shallow but when the mole approached the island the strait deepened and the workmen came out of the walls and the difficulties of the task began triremes issued from the havens on either side to shoot missiles at the men who were at work to protect them Alexander erected two towers on the causeway and mounted engines on the towers to reply to the missiles from the galleys he attached to those wooden towers curtains of leather to screen both towers and workmen from the projectiles which were hurled from the city walls they constructed a fire ship filled with dry wood and inflammables and choosing a day on which a favorable wind blow they towed it close to the dam and set it on fire the device succeeded the burning vessel soon wrapped the towers and all the engines in flames and the triremes which had towed it up discharged showers of darts at the Macedonians who attempted to extinguish the fire the Tyrians too rode across from their island in boats and tore up the stakes at the unfinished part of the mall undismayed by this disaster which seemed to show the hopelessness of the enterprise Alexander only went to work more vigorously it was necessary to take tire and he was determined that tire should be taken he widened the causeway throughout its whole length so that it could accommodate more towers and engines before he attempted to complete it he saw that it would be needful by operations from the causeway by operations from shipboard and he went to Sedan to bring up a few galleys which were stationed there but at this moment the aspect of affairs was suddenly changed by the accession to Alexander of naval forces which enabled him to cope with tire and an advantage on her own element the squadrons of Aridus and Biblis which were acting in the Aegean learning that their cities had submitted to Alexander left the fleet and sailed to Sedan the Macedonians had chosen as their naval station these Phoenician ships were about 80 and at the same time there came 9 galleys from Rhodes and 10 from Lycia and Cilicia the adhesion of the kings of Cyprus presently followed and reinforced the fleet at Sedan by 120 ships with the fleet of about 250 triremes at his command Alexander was now far stronger at sea than the merchants of tire and though the siege of the mighty stronghold was still a formidable task it was no longer superhuman while the fleet was being made ready in the roads of Sedan and the engineers were fabricating new siege engines to batter down the walls of tire Alexander made an expedition at the head of his light troops to punish the native brigands who infested the hills of Anta Lebanon and made the traffic between the coast and the hinterland unsafe perhaps it was now that he received an embassy from the great king offering an immense ransom for the captives of the royal house and the surrender of all the lands west of the Euerphrates proposing that Alexander should marry the daughter of Darius and become his ally the message was discussed in a council and Parmenio said that if he were Alexander he would accept the terms and I, said the king would accept them if I were Parmenio Alexander was resolved to carry out his plan of conquest to the end he would agree to no compromise he bade the ambassadors say that he would receive neither money nor provinces in lieu of the whole empire of Darius for that all the land and possessions of Darius were his he would marry the daughter of Darius if he chose whether Darius willed it or not and if Darius wished for any boon he must come himself and ask for it from Sedan Alexander bore down upon tire with his own fleet hoping to entice the Tyrians into an engagement he commanded the right wing while the left was committed to the charge of Cretorus and Pintagoras the king of Cypria Salamis when this fleet Hove in sight the men of Tyre were astonished and dismayed before they would have gladly given battle but they saw that they had no chance against so many and they drew up their tririums in close array to block the mouths of their harbors Alexander set the Cyprian vessels on the north side of the mole to blockade the Sidonian harbor and the Phoenician on the south side to blockade the Egyptian harbor it was opposite this harbor on the mainland that his own pavilion was placed the mole had now been carried up to the island and engineers the best that Phoenicia and Cyprus could furnish had prepared the engines of war all was ready for a grand attack on the eastern wall some of the engines were placed on the mole others on transport ships they had superannuated galleys but little impression was made on the wall which on this side was 150 feet high and enormously thick and the besieged were applied to the attack with volleys of fiery missiles from powerful engines which were mounted on their lofty battlements moreover the machine bearing vessels could not come close enough to the walls for effective action huge stones lying under the water hindered their approach Alexander decided that these must at all cost be removed and galleys with windlasses were anchored at the spot in order to drag the boulders away it was a slow task and was thwarted by the Tyrians covered vessels shot out of the havens and cut the anchor ropes of the galleys so that they drifted away Alexander tried to meet this by placing boats similarly decked close to the anchors but even this failed since Tyrian divers swam under water and cut the cables to the anchors with chains instead of ropes and by this mean the stones were hauled away and the ships could approach the wall the Tyrians now resorted to a last device they spread the sails of all the ships which were riding at the entrance of the northern harbor and behind this curtain of canvas which screened them from the observation of the enemy they manned seven triremes three five-oared and three four-oared boats with the coolest and bravest of their seamen and waiting for the hour of noon when the sailors of the besieging vessels used generally to disembark and Alexander himself used to retire to his tent they rode noiselessly toward thecipian squadron which was taken completely by surprise sank some of the vessels at once and drove the rest on the strand it happened that on this day Alexander remained for a shorter time than usual in his pavilion and when he returned to his station with the Phoenician ships on the south side of the wall when he was repairing what had happened he stationed the main part of those ships close to the Egyptian harbor to prevent the enemy from making any movement on his side and taking with him some five-oared boats and five Swiss sailing galleys sailed around the island the men in the city saw Alexander and all that he did and signaled to their own vessels who were engaged in battering the strandedcipian vessels but the signals were not seen or heard when they saw him coming they desisted from their work and made all speed for the haven but the greater number of their boats were disabled by Alexander's vessels before they reached the harbor mouth hence forward the ships of Tyre lay useless in the harbors unable to do anything for the defense of the island it was now a struggle between the engineers of Tyre and the engineers of Alexander the wall opposite to the mall defied all machines of battery and methods of assault in the northern part of the same eastern wall though the big stones have been cleared away from the water below it proved equally impractical accordingly the efforts of the besiegers were united upon the south wall near the Egyptian harbor here at length a bit of the wall was torn down and there was fighting in the breach but the Tyrians easily repelled the attack it was an encouragement for Alexander it showed him the weak spot and two days later he prepared a grand and supreme assault the vessels with the siege engines were set to work at the southern wall while two triremes waited hard by one filled with hypastas under Edmetus the other with a phalanx regiment ready as soon as the wall yielded to hurl their crews into the breach ships were stationed in front of the two havens to force their way in at a favorable moment and the rest of the fleet manned with light troops and furnished with engines a wide breach was made two triremes were rode up to the spot the bridges were lowered and the hypastas, Edmetus at their head first mounted the wall Edmetus was pierced with the lands but Alexander took his place and drove back the Tyrians from the breach tower after tower was captured soon all the southern wall was in the hands of the Macedonians and Alexander took his place and drove back the Tyrians from the breach tower after tower was captured by the Macedonians and Alexander was able to make his way along the battlements to the royal palace which was the best base for attacking the city but the city had already been entered from other points the chains of both the Sedonian and the Egyptian harbors had been burst by the Cyprian and Phoenician squadrons the Tyrian ships had been disabled and the troops had pressed into the town the inhabitants made their last stand in a place called the Aegonorean 8000 are said to have been slayed by the rest of the people about 30,000 were sold into slavery with the exception of the king as a Milko and a few other men of high position who were set at liberty the siege had been long and wearisome but the time and the labor were not too dear a price the fall of Tyre gave Alexander Syria and Egypt and the naval superiority in the eastern half the Mediterranean he performed the sacrifice of Heracles he used him access and celebrated the solemnity with the torch procession and games the communities of Syria and Palestine that had not submitted like Damascus after the victory of Isis submitted now after the capture of Tyre and he encountered no resistance in his southern march to Egypt until he came to the great frontier stronghold Gaza the city of the Philistines Gert with a stout wall Gaza stood on a high rising ground and more than two miles of sand lie between the city and the seashore so that a fleet was no hope to a besieger the place had been committed by Darius to the care of Batis a trusty eunuch who had been well furnished with provisions for a long siege Batis refused to surrender trusting in the strength of the fortifications and at the first sight the engineers of Alexander declared that the wall could never be stormed on account of the height of the hill on which it stood Alexander was now accustomed to overcome the insuperable and the conqueror who had sacked Tyre was not ready to turn away from the walls of Gaza he could not leave such an important post on the line from Damascus to Egypt in the hands of the enemy he ordered ramparts to be thrown up around the city in order that the siege engines mounted on this elevation might be on a level with the wall the best chance seemed to be on the south side and here the work was pushing on rapidly when the engines were placed in position Alexander offered a sacrifice and a bird of prey flying over the altar dropped a stone on the king's garland head the soothsayer interpreted the meaning of this signed oh king, you will take the city but you must take good heed for your own safety on this day Alexander was cautious for a while but when the besieged sallied forth from the gates and attacked the Macedonians who were working the engines on the ramparts and pressed them hard he rushed to their aid and was wounded in the shoulder by a dart from a catapult thus part of the sign had come true the other part wasn't time fulfilled the engines which had been used in the siege of Tyre arrived by sea the rampart was widened and razed to a greater height and undermined mines were dug beneath the walls the walls yielded in many places to the mines and the engines but it was not till the fourth attack that the Macedonians succeeded in scaling the breaches and entering the city the slaughter was greater than in Tyre the women and children were sold into bondage and the place became a Macedonian fortress End of Chapter 17, Part 7 Chapter 17, Parts 8 and 9 of a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 17, Parts 8 and 9 Section 8 Conquest of Egypt Egypt was now absolutely cut off from Persia the gate to that sequestered land was open and Alexander had only to march in the Egyptians had not the vigor to offer any national resistance to the Greek invader and Mazzakes the Persian satrap seeing Phoenicia and Syria and Alexander's power the Macedonian navy in the roadstead of Pelusium and no help at hand thought only of making his submission and winning the conqueror's grace sending his fleet up the Pelusic branch of the Nile to meet him at Memphis in the way of Heliopolis in the capital of the pharaohs where he was probably proclaimed king he sacrificed to Apis and the other native gods and thereby won the goodwill of the people who contrasted his piety with the bigotry of the Persian monarch Ocus who had killed the sacred bull but while the new king showed that he would treat the native religion and customs with respect he also made it clear that Greek civilization was now to pour into the exclusive regions of the Nile he held athletic games and a poetical contest at Memphis and the most famous artists from Greece came to take part in it from Memphis he sailed down the river to Canopus and took a step which if he had never performed any other exploit in his life would have made his name memorable forever he chose the ground east of Ryocos between Lake Mariotis and the sea as the site of a new city over against the island of pharaohs famous in Homeric song and soon to become more famous still as the place of the first lighthouse one of the seven wonders of the world the king is said to have himself traced out the ground plan of Alexandria the marketplace and the circuit of the walls the sanctuary of Isis and the temples of the Hellenic gods he joined the mainland with the island by a causeway of seven status nearly a mile in length and thus formed two harbors the subsequent history of Alexandria which has held its position as a port for more than 2,000 years proves that its founder had a true eye in choosing the place of the most famous of his new cities the greatness of the place as a mart of the world far surpassed any purposes or hopes that Alexander could have formed but his object in founding it Alexandria was not intended to supersede Memphis as the capital of Egypt it was intended to take the place of Tyre as the commercial center of western Asia and the eastern Mediterranean and there was a good reason for diverting the lines of traffic from the Phoenician to the Egyptian coast for it was naturally the policy of Alexander to transfer the trade of the world so far as might be into the hands of Greeks but any new emporium rising on the ruins of Tyre would have soon become predominantly Phoenician owing to the Phoenician genius for trade whereas on the Egyptian coast Greek traders would encounter no such rivalry it was thus with a view to the commercial interests of his own race that Alexander founded the port of Egypt in the official style of the Egyptian monarchy the pharaohs were the sons of Amman and as the successor of the pharaohs Alexander assumed the same title it was therefore necessary to articulate his position that an official assurance should be given by Amman himself that Alexander was his son to obtain such a declaration and satisfy fully the formalities required by the priests Alexander undertook a journey to the irracular sanctuary of Amman in the oasis of Siwa and this motive is alone sufficient to explain the expedition but it may well be that in Alexander's mind there was a vague notion something divine about his own origin something mystical in his mother's conception and that like Achilles he was somewhat more than an ordinary man receding along the coast to Paritonian he was there met by envoys who conveyed the submission of Cyrene by this acquisition the western frontier of the Macedonian empire extended to the border of the Carthaginians fear of influence Alexander then struck across the desert to visit that Egyptian temple which was most famous in the Greek world the temple as it was always called of Zeus Amman there were no tracks to guide the travelers for the south wind had plowed up the sand and obliterated the road marks and stories were told in the camp of miraculous guidance vouchsafed to the favorite of the god Ptolemy son of Lagus who was destined hereafter to rule over Egypt and Libya recorded in his memoirs the two snakes moved in front of the troops and showed the way while Aristobulus another companion of the king spoke of the guidance of two crows a certain mystery enveloped this expedition it is said that Alexander told no man what he asked the god or what the god replied save only that the answer pleased him but it is certain that the priests had made some dispositions that Amman spoke and recognized him as his son the very root by which Alexander returned to Memphis is uncertain for the same two companions differ Ptolemy stating that he fared direct across the desert and Aristobulus that he returned by paratonian at Memphis he organized the government of Egypt entrusting it to two native nomarchs and appointing separate Greek governors for the adjoining districts of Arabia and for Libya but the control of the finances was placed in the hands of a special minister Cleomenes of Naucratus several military commanders were also appointed and it would seem that Alexander instituted this divided command as a safeguard against the danger of a rebellion for geographically situated as Egypt was an ambitious commander might have a fair prospect of holding the country against his lord and its recent history as a Persian province had illustrated the difficulty of dealing with it if this be so Alexander inaugurated a policy which was followed in later days and in another form by his Roman successors section 9 battle of Gaugamela and the conquest of Babylonia the new lord of Egypt and Syria returned with the spring to Tyre the whole coast land was now in his possession and he controlled the sea the time had come to advance into the heart of the Persian empire having spent some months in the Persian city busyed with various matters of policy and administration as well as with the plans for his next campaign he set forth at the head a 40,000 infantry and 7,000 horse and reached Thapsicus on the Euphrates at the beginning of August the building of two bridges had already begun but the Persian Mzaius who was stationed with troops on the further shore had hindered their completion when Alexander arrived he withdrew the bridges were finished and the army passed over the objective of Alexander was Babylon at that time of year it would have been mad to follow the direct route down the Euphrates which was traversed by Cyrus and the 10,000 Alexander chose the other road across the north of Mesopotamia and down the Tigris on its eastern bank throughout the Asiatic campaigns of Alexander we are struck by the perfect organization of his transports and supplies by the certainty of his movements through strange lands as if he had a map of the country before him his intelligence department must have been excellent and though our records give us no intimations on the subject it has been supposed with much plausibility that here the invader received help from the Jews who ever since the captivity were scattered across media and Babylonia it is certain that Alexander had shown special favor to the race of Israel and the foundation of Egyptian Alexandria he had invited a Jewish colony to settle there enjoying the rights of citizens and yet living in a separate quarter and keeping their own national customs from some Persian scouts who were captured it was a certain that Darius with a yet larger multitude than that which had succumbed at Issus was on the other side of the river determined to contest the passage Alexander crossed the Tigris not at Nineveh the usual place of crossing but higher up at Bezabde on the same night the moon went into eclipse and men anxiously sought in the phenomena a portent of the issue of the coming struggle for the lordship of Asia marching southward for some days Alexander learned that Darius was encamped in a plane near Gagamela on the river Bumotus the numbers of the army were reported at one million foot and 40,000 horse having given his men for days rest Alexander moved on by night and halted on a hill looking down on the plane where the enemy lay prepared for battle a council of war was held and the question was discussed whether the attack should be made immediately but Parmenio counseled a dazed delay for the purpose of reconnoitering fully the enemy's position and discovering whether perchance covered pits had been dug or stakes laid in the ground Parmenio's council was followed by the Persians to check if they were able to lift their camp in the order in which they were to fight Alexander rode over the plane and found that the Persians had cleared it of all bushes and obstacles which might impede the movements of their cavalry or the effect of their sithed chariots the following night was spent by the Persians under arms for their camp was unfortified and they feared a night attack and a night attack was recommended by Parmenio but Alexander preferred to trust the issue of the superior discipline of his troops and not to bray the hazards of a struggle in the dark he said to Parmenio I do not steal victory and under the gallantry of this reply he concealed in his usual manner the prudence and policy of his resolve a victory over the Persian host won in the open field in the light of day would have a far greater effect in establishing his prestige in Asia than an advantage stolen by night the great king according to his want was in the center of the Persian array surrounded by his kinfolk and his Persian bodyguard on either side of them were Greek mercenaries Indian auxiliaries with a few elephants and Kaurians whose ancestors had been settled in Upper Asia the center was strengthened and deepened by a second line composed of the Babylonian troops and the men from the shores of the Persian Gulf and the Uxians on the left wing the Caudousians from the shore of the Caspian and the men of Sousa were nearest the center next came a mixed host of Persian horse and foot and at the extreme left were the troops from the far east from Aracosia and Bactria this wing was covered by 1000 Bactrian cavalry 100 Scyth armed chariots and the Scythian cavalry from the desert districts of Lake Aral on the right were the contingents of the Caucasian folks the Harkhanians and Tapurians from the southeastern shores of the Caspian the Parthians who were destined in the future to found a new oriental monarchy the Sakai from the slopes of the Hindu Kush and the Medes and the Dwellers in Mesopotamia and northern Syria against this host of which the cavalry alone is said to have been as numerous as the infantry of the enemy Alexander descended the hill in the morning on his left wing commanded as usual by Parmenio were the cavalry of the Thessalian and Confederate Greeks in the center the six regiments of the Phalanx and on the right the Hepastus and the eight squadrons of the companions the royal squadron of Cletus being at the extreme right covering the right wing were some light troops, spear throwers and archers the line was far outflanked on both sides by the enemy and the danger which Alexander had most to fear as at the Battle of Issus was it being attacked in rear or flank here both wings were in peril he sought to meet these contingencies by forming behind each wing a second line which by facing round a quarter or half circle can meet an attack on flank or rear behind the left wing were the most Thessian horse and foot some Greek Confederate cavalry and Greek mercenary cavalry behind the right the old Greek mercenaries under Cleander the Macedonian archers and some of the agrianian spear throwers the mounted pikemen and the light Pionian cavalry and at the extreme right to bear the brunt of a flank assault the new Greek mercenaries under Minidus as he advanced Alexander and his right wing were opposite to the center of the enemy's line and he was outflanked by the whole length of the enemy's left he therefore bore obliquely to the right and even when the Thessian horsemen riding forward came into contact with his own light troops he continued to move his squadrons of heavy cavalry in the same direction Darius saw with anxiety that this movement would soon bring the Macedonian right outside the ground which he had carefully leveled the connections of his sith chariots and as he had no small part of his hopes in the deadly effect of these chariots he commanded the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry to ride round and deliver a flank charge in order to hinder any further advance towards the right the charge was met by the new mercenaries of Minidus but they were too few they were driven back until the Pionians and the old mercenaries were bitten to come to their support then the barbarians gave way but only in a short while reinforced by more troops they returned to the charge the battle raged and it was well if the Macedonians far outnumbered could hold their ground meanwhile Darius had loosed his sithed cars to whirl destruction into the ranks of the companions and the hypothesis but the archers and the Ugrian spear throwers received them with showers of spears and arrows some of these active hillmen seized the reins and pulled the drivers from their seats while the hypothesis swift and undismayed opened their ranks and the terrible chariots rattled harmless down the intervals the whole Persian line was now advancing to attack and Alexander was waiting for the moment to deliver his cavalry charge he had to send his mounted pikemen to the help of the light cavalry who were being hard pressed on the right by the Scythians and Bactrians and as a counter check to this reinforcement the squadrons of Persian cavalry were dispatched to the assistance of their fellows by the withdrawal of these squadrons a gap was caused in the left wing and into this gap Alexander plunged at the head of his cavalry column and split the line in two thus the left side of the enemy center was exposed and turning obliquely Alexander charged into its ranks meanwhile the bristling failings was moving forward and was soon engaged in close combat in another part of the Persian center the storm of battle burst with wildest fury round the spot where the Persian king was trembling and what befell at Issus befell again at Galgamela the great king turned his chariot and fled his Persians fled with him and swept along in their flight the troops who had been posted in the rear thus the Persian center and the neighboring part of the left wing were cut down or routed by the failings of the Persians and the Persians and in the meantime the severe struggle of the light cavalry on the uttermost left had also ended in victory for the Macedonians the regiments of the failings in their rapid advance had failed to keep abreast and it would seem that when the regiment of Craterus on the extreme left was already far forward in the thick of the fight the physician Simeus saw that the Thessalian cavalry on the left wing were pressed hard by their adversaries and he halted his regiment in order apparently to make a movement to assist them but the Indian and Persian cavalry of the Hastal center rushed through the gap in the failings and rode straight onward to the Macedonian camp unhindered by the rear line of the left wing who did not expect an enemy on that side the captives in the camp burst out and helped their friends to murder the captives who had been sent to guard it the Greek mercenaries anthracians of the rear line soon perceived what had happened they turned round and attacked the plunderers in the rear and overcame them meanwhile Parmenio was hard bested the Mesopotamians and the Syrians on the extreme Persian right had attacked his cavalry in the flank or rear Parmenio sped a messenger to Alexander in treating aid and Alexander desisted from the pursuit to restore the battle on his left wing riding back with his companions he encountered a large body of cavalry Persians, Parthians and Indians in full retreat but in orderly array a desperate conflict ensued perhaps the most fearful in the whole battle the Persians fighting not for victory but for life 60 of the companions fell but Alexander was again victorious and rode on to the help of Parmenio but Parmenio no longer needed his help not the least achievement of this day of great deeds was the brilliant fighting of the Thessalian cavalry who not only sustained the battle against the odds which had rung from Parmenio the cry for aid but in the end routed their foemen before Alexander could reach the spot the battle was won and the fate of the Persian empire was decided Alexander did not tarry on the field he lost not a moment in resuming the chase he was abandoned and riding eastward throughout the night on the tracks of the Persian king he reached Arbella on the morrow it befell now as it had befallen after Isis he did not take the king but found at Arbella his chariot his shield and his bow Darius fled into the highlands of Medea and Ariel Baizanes with a host of the routed army hastened southward to Persia Alexander did not follow the Sattrap but pursued his way to Babylon it might have been expected and Alexander seems to have expected that the men of Babylon entrusting in their mighty walls would have offered to the victor of Gaugamela the same defiance which the men of Tyre offered to the victor of Isis he was disappointed when he approached the city with his army arrayed for action the gates opened and the Babylonians streamed out and the men the Sattrap, Missaios who had fought briefly in the recent battle surrendered the city and citadel in Babylonia Alexander followed the same policy which he had already followed in Egypt he appeared as the protector of the national religions which had been depressed and slided by the fire worshipers he rebuilt the Babylonian temples which had been destroyed and above all he commanded on its eight towers on which the rage of Xerxes had vented itself when he had returned from the route of Salamis the Persian Missaios who was retained in his post as Sattrap of Babylonia end of chapter 17 sections 8 and 9 chapter 17 section 10, 11 and 12 of a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great volume 2 this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry chapter 17 parts 10, 11 and 12 section 10 conquest of Susiana having rested his army in the luxurious and wonderful city of the Euphrates the conqueror advanced south eastward to Susa, the summer residence of the Persian court Susa had been already secured for him by Philozenus whom he had dispatched hither from Arbella with some light troops in the citadel he found enormous treasures of gold and silver and purple among other precious things that Susa was the sculpted group of the tyrant slayers Harmonius and Aristogitan which Xerxes had carried off from Athens and Alexander had the pleasure of sending back to its home this strange historical monument now more precious than ever through its own strange history though it was midwinter Alexander soon left Susa to accomplish one of the most arduous adventures that he ever undertook he had won the treasures of Susa but there were immense treasures still in the palaces of Cyrus and Darius in the heart of the Persian highlands and these were guarded not only by the difficulties of the mountainous approaches but by the army which Ariobizanes had rescued from the overthrow of Gaugamela perhaps the reason for Alexander's haste and pressing on to purses was the fear that Darius might descend with a new force from media if time were given him before Ariobizanes was crushed but whatever were his reasons for him of the greatest moment to secure purses immediately his road lay southeastward and when he had crossed the river Pasitagris the first obstacle that he encountered was the independent tribe of the Uxian Hillsmen of whom the Persian kings themselves were accustomed to bestow gifts for their good will the barbarians held the passes through which the road lay but a night march by a difficult mountain path enabled Alexander to surprise them the Uxians hence forward were forced to pay yearly gifts to the Lord of Asia 100 horses 500 drought oxen and 30,000 sheep the Macedonian army was now in the midst of a region which was unknown to Greek charts Alexander's advance is a march not only of conquest but of discovery and opens a new epoch in the history of geographical sciences by revealing Central Asia to the knowledge of Europe leaving half of his army with Parmenio to proceed more slowly along the main road Alexander led the other half including the Macedonians both horse and foot by a shorter path through the hills to the narrow defile which formed the entrance to Persis and was called the Persian Gates Ariobizanes was posted there with 40,000 foot and 700 horse guarding the rocky pass which he had fortified by a wall an attack easily repelled showed Alexander that the pass was unprignable yet it must be carried for this was the only road to the royal cities of Persia for a moment Alexander was baffled never perhaps, not even before Tyre was he encountered by a problem more desperate to all seeming but he learned from a prisoner of some extremely perilous paths leading round through the forest which covered the mountains to the back of the pass this season the snow made these paths more dangerous than ever and they might well seem hopeless to men weighed down with heavy armor but they were the only hope and Alexander did not hesitate he left Craterus with part of the troops in front of the pass with orders to attack as soon as he heard the Macedonian trumpets sounding from above on the other side with the rest of his force including most of the cavalry three regiments of the phalanx they set forth at night and marched quickly eleven miles along the precipitous snowy track intersected frequently by deep gullies when the point was reached at which he was to turn in order to descend on the Persian camp he again divided his forces and sent one division forward to bridge the river Oroxes and cut off the Persian retreat taking the Hypestus the royal squadron of the companions one regiment of the phalanx of the troops he raced down upon the camp and destroyed or routed three successive sets of outposts before the day had dawned instead of raising the alarm the sentinels scattered on the mountain and when the Macedonian trumpets peeled on the brink of his entrenchments Aureo Bizani's was taken completely by surprise attacked on both sides in front by Craterus who stormed up the wall of rock or fell over precipices in their flight Aureo Bizani's with a small band escaped into the mountains the royal palaces of Persia to which Alexander now hurried with the utmost speed stood in the valley of Murvedasht fertile then but desolate at the present day and close to the city of Istakar which the Persians deemed the oldest city in the world in Istakar itself but the great palaces stood some miles away close beneath the mountain upon a lofty platform against a background of black rock the platform was mounted by magnificent staircases and it bore besides massive propylia four chief buildings the small palace of Darius the larger palace of Xerxes and two great pillowed halls the impressive ruins tell a trained eye how to reconstruct the general plan and there can be no question that Achaemenian architecture had wrought here its greatest achievements greater than the palace of Susa which Alexander had seen greater than that of Ektbaktana which he was soon to see this cradle of the Persian kingdom to which city and palace together the Greeks give the name of Persepolis was the richest of all the cities under the sun it is said that 120,000 talents were found in the treasury an army of mules and camels were required to remove the spoils this store of gold so long withdrawn from use was now suddenly to be restored to circulation and perturbed the markets of the world not far off two days journey northward up the winding valley of the Murgab was Pasargadai the city of Cyrus the maker of Persia built it close to the field where he had shattered the host of the Median king and the place is still marked by his tomb and the stones of other buildings on some of which the traveler may read the words I am Cyrus the king the Akamedian in Pasargadai too Alexander found a store of treasure for four months he had made the Persian palaces his headquarters during which time he received the submission of Karmania or Kermin and made some excursions to punish the robbers who infested the neighboring mountains but the most famous incident connected with the sojourn at Persepolis is the conflagration of the palace of Xerxes the story is that one night when Alexander and his companions were drunk deep at a royal festival Theos in Eddick courtesan who was of the company mindful of her country and all the wrongs which Xerxes had wrought flung out among the tipsy carousers the idea of burning down the house of the malignant foe who had burned the temples of Greece the mad words of the woman inspired a wild frenzy and whirled the revelers forth armed with torches to accomplish the barbarous deed Alexander hurled the first brand and the cedar woodwork of the palace was soon in flames but before the fire had done its work the king's head was cool and he commanded the fire to be quenched it is folly to attempt to read into this act a deliberate policy it was the wild freak of a moment repented the next section 11 death of Darius in the meantime King Darius remained in Ekbaktana surrounded by the adherents who were faithful to him chiefly the satreps of those lands which were still unconquered media itself in Herkania Aurea and Bactria Aracosia and Drangiana it is probable that after the Gaugamela battle Alexander hoped to receive some proposal from his defeated foe more submissive and acceptable than that which had been sent after Isis he would have been ready perhaps to leave to Darius the eastern part of his dominions with the royal title though as a dependent vassal and to content himself for a while with the empire which he had won including Susa and Persepolis it may have been with the hope of receiving overtures that he would leave Persepolis but Darius gave no sign media was defensible he had a large army from the northern satreps and he had Bactria as a retreat if retreat he must the spring was advanced when Alexander left Persepolis for Ekbaktana the direct row did not lie by Susa but much further east through the land of Paratakini he made all speed when the news reached him by the way that Darius was at Ekbaktana the army prepared to fight but when after a succession of force marches he drew nigh to the city he found that Darius had flown eastward following the women and heavy baggage which had been sent on to the Caspian gates and taking the treasures with him it is said that the reason of this retreat was the default of some Caudusian and Scythian troops which had failed to arrive in time when he reached the median capital Alexander was detained for the need of arranging certain matters before he pursued his rival into the northern wilds he paid off the Thessalian troops and the other Greek Confederates giving them a handsome donative and a conduct to the Aegean but any who chose to enroll themselves anew in his service and share in his further course of conquest might stay and not a few stayed Parmenial was entrusted with the care of seeing that the treasures of Persepolis were transported and safely deposited to the strong keep of Ekbaktana where they were to remain in charge for the treasurer, Harpalis and a large body of Macedonian troops Parmenial was then to proceed northward to Caduzia and along the shores of the Caspian sea where he was to meet the king with the main part of the army Alexander hurried on merciless to men and steeds bent on the capture of Darius his way lay by Regae and when he reached that place a little to the south of the modern capital of Persia he found that the fugitive was already well beyond the Caspian gates which lie a long day's journey to the east despairing of overtaking him Alexander rested some days at Regae before he advanced towards Parthia through the Caspian pass but meanwhile Doom was stealing upon Darius by another way his followers were beginning to suspect that ill luck dogged him he chose to stay and risk another battle instead of continuing his retreat to Bactria none were willing except the remnant of Greek mercenaries who were still faithful to the man who had hired them and perhaps dreaded punishment as recusance to the Greek cause Bessus, the satrep of Bactria was a kinsman of the king and it was felt by many that he might be able to raise up again the Achaemenian house which Darius had been unable to sustain a plot was formed Darius was seized and bound in the middle of the night set in a litter and hurried on as a prisoner along the road to Bactria this event disbanded his army the Greek mercenaries went off northwards into the Caspian mountains and many of the Persians turned back to find pardon and grace with Alexander they found him at camp on the Parthian side of the Caspian gates and told him the new turn of events when he had learned that his old rival was a prisoner and that Bessus was now his antagonist Alexander resolved on a swift and hot pursuit leaving the main body of the army to come slowly after he set forth at once with his cavalry in some light foot and sped the whole night through not resting till the next day at noon and then another evening at night at the same breathless speed sunrise saw him at Thara it was the place where the great king had been put in chains and from his interpreter who had remained behind ill that Bessus and his followers intended to surrender Darius if the pursuit were pressed there was the greater need for haste the pursuers rode on throughout another night men and horses were dropping with fatigue at noon they came to a village where the pursuit had halted the day before and Alexander learned that they intended to march in the night he asked the people if there was no short way and was told that there was a short way but it was waterless Alexander instantly dismounted 500 of his horsemen and gave their steeds to the officers and the strongest men of the infantry who were with them with these he started in the morning and having ridden some 45 miles came up with the enemy at break of day the barbarians were straggling many of them unarmed a few who made a stand were swept away but most of them fled when they saw that it was Alexander Darius and his fellow conspirators bade their prisoner no longer seemingly in chains mount a horse and when Darius refused they stabbed him and rode their ways wounding the litter mules too and killing the drivers the beasts soared in thirsty strayed about half a mile from the road down a side valley where they were found at a spring by a Macedonian who came to slake his thirst the great king was near his last gasp if he could have spoken Greek or if the stranger had understood Persian he might have found words to send a message of thanks to his conqueror for the generous treatment of his wife and mother who were then assuredly in his thoughts afterwards men had no scruple in placing appropriate words in the mouth of the dying monarch it is enough to believe that he had solace of a cup of water in his supreme moments and thanked the Macedonian soldier by a sign Alexander viewed the body and was said to have thrown his own cloak over it in pity it was part of his fair luck that he had found Darius dead for if he had taken him alive he would not have put him to death and such a captive would have been a perpetual embarrassment he sent the corpse with all honor to the queen mother the last of the Achaemenian kings buried with his forefathers at Persepolis section 12 spirit of Alexander's policy as lord of Asia before we follow Alexander on his marches of conquest and discovery into the regions which were then in European eyes the Far East we may pause to observe his attitudes as ruler and king for the months which passed between the battle of Gaugamela and the death of Darius were a critical period which witnessed a remarkable change in his conception of his duty and in his political aims at the very beginning he had shown to the conquered peoples a tolerance which was not only promoted by generosity but upon political wisdom he had not attempted to apply an artificial scheme to all countries but had permitted each country to retain its national institutions one general principle indeed he did adopt the division of power and this was a notable improvement on the Persian method under the Persian kingdom Alexander was usually sole governor controlling not only the civil administration but the treasury and the troops Alexander in most cases committed the internal administration to the governor and appointed with him and independent of his authority a financial officer and military commander this division of authority was a security against rebellion we have already seen in Egypt and Babylonia that in manners of religion broad minded and tolerant but the Macedonian king the commander in chief of the Greek Confederates had set forth as a champion of Greeks against mere barbarians as a leader of Europeans against effeminate Asiatics as representative of a higher folk against beings lower in the human chain all the Macedonians and Greeks who followed him regarded the east as a world to be plundered and rifled by their higher intelligence and courage and considered the orientals inferior set by nature to be their own slaves slaves by nature they showed to the political wisdom by Aristotle himself Alexander's teacher and the victories of Isis and Gaugamela were calculated to confirm the Europeans in their sense of unmeasured superiority but as Alexander advanced his view expanded and he rose to a loftier conception of his own position and his relation to Asia he began to transcend the familiar distinction of Greek and barbarian and to see that for all the truth it contained it was not the last word that could be said he formed the notion of an empire both European and Asiatic in which the Asiatics should not be dominated by the European invaders but Europeans and Asiatics alike should be ruled on an equality by a monarch indifferent to the distinction of Greek and barbarian and looked upon as their own king by Persians as well as by Macedonians the idea begins to show itself after the battle of Gaugamela the Persian lords and satraps who submit are received with favor and confidence Alexander learns to know and appreciate the fine qualities of the Iranian nobleman some of the eastern provinces are entrusted to Persian satraps for example Babylonian to Mzaius and the court of Alexander ceases to be purely European with oriental courtiers the forms of an oriental court are also gradually introduced the Asiatics prostrate themselves before the lord of Asia and presently Alexander adopts the dress of a Persian king at court ceremonies in order to appear less a foreigner in the eyes of his eastern subjects the idea which prompted this policy was new and bold and it harmonized with the great work of Alexander the breaking down of barriers between east and west but it was accompanied by a certain imperious self-exaltation which we do not find in the earlier part of Alexander's career and it evolved him in troubles with his own folk the Macedonians strongly disapproved of their king's new path they disliked the rival influence of the Asiatic nobles and their prejudices were shocked at seeing Alexander occasionally assume oriental robes the Macedonian royalty was indeed inadequate for Alexander's imperial position but it is unfortunate that he had no other model than the royalty of Persia hedged round by forms which were so distasteful to the free spirit of Greece the life of Alexander was spent in solving difficult problems political and military and none was harder than this to create a kingship to conciliate the prejudices of the east without offending the prejudices of the west end of chapter 17 section 10 11 and 12