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ALEXANDER BECOMES KING
Alexander gets his army ready to invade Asia. The excuse
to invade Asia was to liberate the Greek cities taken by
the "barbaric" Persians some years before. He
crossed the Ellispont in 334 BC and is supposed to have
symbolically thrown a spear into Asian soil as he led the
way ashore in full armour and said "the whole of Asia
will be conquered by the sword".
Then he stopped off at Troy and prayed at (what was believed
to be) Achilles' tomb.
THE BATTLE AT GRANIKOS
POTAMOS
He met Darius' army at Granikos
Potamos (River Granikos) and won his first battle in Asia.
Alexander's army lost only 110 men in this battle.
When Alexander arrived in
the city Gordion, he found an interesting problem - the
Gordian knot. The Gordian knot was tied by the legendary
King Midas. The huge and complicated knot held a chariot
together and had no ends exposed. Alexander hacked it with
his sword. It was said that the person who freed the knot
would rule all of Asia.
THE BATTLE AT ISSOS
Eventually he came head to
head with King Darius at Issos on the north-east Mediterranean
coast, it was November of 333 BC. Although, Alexander was
advancing south he was surprised to find Darius approaching
from his North! The two armies had in fact been playing
a rather advanced game of hide and seek. Alexander was not
phased by the unexpected appearance and simply turned around
his well drilled army. Alexander did get one shock, which
didn't exactly endear Darius to him. He had left hundreds
of wounded behind near Issos in a hospital. Darius' army
slaughtered them to a man. No-one really knows where the
battle took place. However - it is almost certain that Alexander
was outnumbered anywhere from 8:1 upwards. Even so, he held
back a reserve force, apparently the first time this was
ever done. He then routed the Persians and Darius fled.
After the battle came two
of Alexander's more famous quotes. The first was when he
came upon Darius's tent in all its finery, with golden throne,
bath, carpets etc. Alexander was known for living in spartan
conditions by comparison and is said to have commented:
"So this is what it means to be a King."
Alexander not only captured
Darius's throne tent, he also found himself with Darius's
complete entourage. He was somewhat confident in achieving
victory and had brought with him:
- 3000 talents of gold (one
talent was 27kg of metal (60 lbs) - the amount of weight
that a man could carry all day, so all together the 3000
talents were weight 80 tons).
- Darius's mother, Sisygambis.
- Darius's wife, Stateira.
- Several other princesses
and noblewomen.
Alexander hung on to all the women, and by all accounts
treated them with great deference and honour "due to
their station". The famous event is that when Alexander
and Hephaestion went to meet Sisygambis, she prostrated
herself at the feet of the most kingly figure she saw. Unfortunately,
she chose the taller Hephaestion! Alexander is said to have
responded with:"Don't worry mother, he is Alexander
too." An interesting sideline to this is that later
when Sisygambis had a chance to be returned to Persian hands,
she refused to go. It is thought she and Alexander became
very close.
Then Alexander sent 300 persian
shields to Athens as a gift, to place them in Parthenon.
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ORIGIN OF
THE MACEDONIANS
THESSALONIKI
HISTORY OFTHESSALONIKI
ALEXANDER THE THIRD
("THE GREAT")
Copyright©
hellenic cyprus
2002
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