Alexander the Great (9 page)

Otherwise he permitted all the other mechanisms of government to run as they always had. He allowed the customs of the country to remain in place and made no attempt to impose Greek ways on anyone. Alexandrian freedom meant no more than a guarantee against enslavement.
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In Ephesus he commissioned a portrait of himself from a local painter, his plan being to be astride Bucephalus in the picture. When Alexander saw the finished product, he did not like it. The artist then had him bring the horse to the studio, and another picture was produced, this time with Alexander astride the horse with a thunderbolt in his hand, reminiscent of Zeus. This one he liked. It was one of the first times in history that art was used as propaganda. It suited Alexander at this point to hint at his godlike stature, and self-deification was obviously an idea that he was toying with.

Ambassadors from Greek communities in Asia Minor continued to come to him, offering submission and allegiance in exchange for his permitting their “democracies” to continue. Alexander was very generous with these cities, remitting their Persian taxes but insisting they join the Hellenic League, so that it then became their duty to give cash contributions to the war effort. Though a tax by any other name is still a tax, Alexander did not seem to have any problem dealing with this concept.

While Alexander was consolidating his support with the towns in Asia Minor, the Persian fleet was anchored off the coast trying to provoke an engagement. The naval abilities of the Persians were far superior to those of Alexander, and he had no desire to engage in any naval battle at this point in his journey. Eventually the fleet sailed away to establish a new defense at Halicarnassus.

Memnon had petitioned Darius for command of the army of lower Asia and command of the fleet, sending his wife and children to Susa as a guarantee of his loyalty. Since he was the only competent general the Persian army had, Darius gave the command to Memnon as Alexander marched south toward Halicarnassus.

The rightful queen of this city, Ada, had been driven from her throne by a usurping relative who had since died, and the city was being governed by an administrator appointed by Darius. Instead of marching straight to Halicarnassus, Alexander sidetracked to the town of Alinda, where Ada was living in exile. The inhabitants of Alinda were thrilled at the opportunity to have their rightful queen restored. Here Alexander was able to achieve true liberation. Ada voluntarily surrendered her forces to Alexander, and in return he gave her back her throne. She and Alexander developed an emotional bond, and she showered Alexander with gifts. He called her “mother,” finding her much more amenable than his actual (maniacal) mother, Olympias.

“Ada pampered Alexander, sending him many cooked delicacies and cakes every day and finally sending men thought to be the most talented cooks and pastry-makers available.”
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She must have learned that Alexander had a sweet tooth. When Ada died, she made Alexander her heir to inherit her city.}

Alexander had said that his father, Philip of Macedon, was only his “so-called” father. As stated previously he preferred to regard the supreme deity Ammon Zeus as his true father. Now he had divested his mother, Olympias, of her biological status in preference of the more amiable and loving Ada of Halicarnassus. Thus Alexander had liberated himself from both his biological parents.

All through Asia Minor, Alexander followed the same pattern: He found cities under Persian rule, many of which were disaffected, and restored their “freedom.” He replaced the Persian satraps with Macedonians, collected a “contribution” instead of a tax, and left their customs and institutions alone; and they gave him homage instead of giving it to Darius. This had been a rather peaceful conquest so far. But the fun was about to end; Alexander had restored Ada to her throne, but now he had to take the town of Halicarnassus.

Memnon had fortified the city with substantial troops, and his fleet controlled access by water. Alexander met with dissidents inside the city who made promises to open the gates one night and allow Alexander’s troops to enter. However, the night Alexander appeared, the gates were barred and a fierce though small-scale battle ensued. He finally managed to break down one section of wall, and his men were able to enter the city through the rubble. Memnon had had catapults installed on the city walls, however, and the Macedonian forces were showered with rocks, forcing them to retreat.

Memnon threw in his infantry reserves, and for all practical purposes Alexander had lost the battle. Miraculously, however, the seasoned veterans of Philip’s wars saved the day. They advanced into the city in closed phalanx formation and took the Persian forces completely off guard. The local Persian commander was killed, and Memnon thought it best to leave the city to Alexander. Before he left, though, he set a massive fire, and because of the prevailing winds, much of the city was destroyed. Under cover of the fire, Memnon withdrew his forces, supplies, and equipment, so that when Alexander entered the city the next day, there was very little left.

At this point Memnon and Darius decided to take the war back to Greece. Their idea was to get Alexander’s army in a pincer movement, with their forces behind him and in front of him. After the destruction of Thebes, Alexander had hardly endeared himself to the Greek city-states. Sparta had always refused to join him, and unrest in Athens was a continuing problem. Greece was on the brink of revolt. Memnon was spreading Darius’s gold liberally through the peninsula, and it appeared as if Alexander would lose what tenuous support he had back home.

He was in a dilemma: If he continued to advance through Asia Minor, he would undoubtedly lose Greece, perhaps even Macedonia. He was near bankruptcy. It was at this time that he came to Gordium, untied the knot, and got a fresh slant on his problems. Maybe Greece seemed an insignificant part of his plan now that the possibility of dominion over Asia was within his grasp.

Alexander received word that Darius was amassing a new army in Susa, so he started to march toward the capital. He initiated a new practice, which was to appoint local barons to govern, rather than leaving a Macedonian administration behind him. This began to cause some problems as small revolts erupted after he had moved his army out of the region, and at least three major battles were needed to keep his lines of communication open.

Welcome news came while Alexander was in Ancyra (now Ankara, Turkey) that Memnon, his fierce Greek challenger, was dead. Since Memnon had been the only good commander Darius had in Asia Minor, Alexander had renewed enthusiasm for his conquest of Persia.

Some of Darius’s advisers thought the king of kings should personally lead the army, for psychological advantage if nothing else. Memnon’s replacement, an Athenian named Charidemus, opposed the plan, saying it would be the height of folly for Darius to stake his throne on such a gamble. He felt that Darius should stay in Susa out of harm’s way. Charidemus implied, in a meeting, that he was the best choice for command, since, as a Greek, he was a better general than any of the Persians.

Naturally the Persians took offense, a shouting match developed, and Charidemus made some very uncomplimentary remarks about Persians in general. Darius, who could speak Greek, ordered Charidemus seized and summarily executed. Almost immediately he regretted his actions, because he had just ordered the death of the only competent general he had left, but it was too late. Another Persian took command, and Darius started his march from Babylon.

Meanwhile, in the heat of summer, Alexander was moving his army by forced march through Cappadocia, where for a stretch of seventy-five miles there was no water or other provisions. In front of them were the Taurus Mountains, with only one way to pass—through a gorge called the Gates. It was an extremely narrow defile that could be easily defended by a small force on the cliff, hurling down rocks. The local governor, named Arsames, had a glorified opinion of himself. He had been at Granicus, and he believed that the scorched-earth strategy Memnon had wanted to use there would work here. But Arsames was in a totally different terrain. If he had brought up his troops to defend the Gates, Alexander would have been forced back. Instead the foolish man left only a small force to hold the pass, and he and the rest of his army moved back and destroyed the entire Cilician Plain as they passed through. Believing they had been abandoned by their general, the contingent left to guard the Gates fled, and Alexander was able to pass through with no problems. He said afterward that he never had a more amazing piece of luck in his entire career.
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Arsames evacuated Tarsus, and Alexander entered the city in September 333. He was exhausted and hot. A river flowed through the center of the city, ice-cold from mountain snows. Alexander jumped into the water, immediately suffered a cramp, and had a convulsion. He was pulled from the water half dead. The king had been fighting a slight bronchial infection, and he quickly developed pneumonia along with a high fever.

Most of his physicians refused to treat him because they feared that if he died, they would be held personally responsible. The Great King was offering a reward of 1,000 talents to anyone who killed Alexander, so perhaps the doctors had a legitimate fear.

Finally, one man, Philip of Acarnania, who had been Alexander’s physician since he had been a child, agreed to treat him with a drug that carried some risk because it was a purgative, and he was obviously already weak. Alexander knew enough about pharmacology to permit the risk. He got much worse before he got better. His voice failed, he had great difficulty in breathing and he fell into a coma. Alexander’s constitution was strong, however, and eventually he recovered. His troops had waited anxiously to hear news of his recovery or death, and it was with much relief that he had himself carried out on the third day for them to see that he was still alive.
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Darius III finally made his stand at the Battle of Issus in eastern Turkey. This province in Cilicia was one of the richest agricultural regions of the known world. Many a Roman governor later did very well ruling Cilicia. So there at the eastern extremity of Asia Minor, the king of kings took the field himself and rallied a large army. Its size remains undetermined: Some figures are as high as 500,000, others are as low as 75,000. Either way, it was substantially larger than Alexander’s.

But once again the Persians had chosen a cramped riverbank where they could not advantageously deploy their larger army. This is the battle that a Greek artist famously commemorated, showing Darius and Alexander personally confronting each other—Alexander on his horse Bucephalus, Darius in a scythed chariot.

Fierce fighting ensued. Darius was conspicuous in his high chariot, and Alexander obviously wanted the triumph of killing the king of kings. The carnage was immense. Most of Darius’s best generals had been killed, while the number of Macedonian dead was very small. Darius’s horses were injured and began to toss at the yoke, making Darius’s perch very precarious. To save himself, he jumped down and mounted a horse, threw off his royal insignia, and fled the scene. His men consequently broke ranks and either surrendered or fled behind their hapless king.
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The Persian army was devastated, with perhaps 70,000 dead and 40,000 taken prisoner. Alexander’s army lost a mere 280 men. Among the prisoners were the mother of Darius, his wife, and two of his daughters, along with large quantities of treasure.
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Alexander treated the women of Darius’s family with great honor and kindness. His motives may not have been completely altruistic, however, because he undoubtedly knew from his studies with Aristotle of Persian customs and religion that inheritance in Persian royalty descended through the maternal side. An obvious solution to legitimizing his claim to Darius’s throne would be a marriage between him and one of Darius’s daughters. It is logical that Alexander would have considered this. He was still unmarried and would eventually have to marry anyway. Why not consolidate his claim to the Achaemenid throne that way?

For the first time the Macedonians got a glimpse of the vast wealth of Darius they had been promised. His wagons and tents were full of plunder they could only have dreamed about, and their greed made persuading them to continue the advance much easier. They also added a large number of Persian concubines and prostitutes to their entourage.

Darius, fearing for the first time for his actual throne, sent a proposal to Alexander whereby he offered to pay a substantial ransom for the return of his womenfolk, agreed to sign a treaty of friendship and alliance, and agreed cede Alexander half of his empire. He was soon to be disappointed.

Alexander sent a reply that began, “King Alexander to Darius.” The letter went on to say that Darius had been responsible for Philip’s death, that he was a vulgar usurper who was attempting to take Macedonia away. He agreed to return the royal family without ransom, but he wanted Darius to know that they were not equals and that Alexander was to be addressed as king of all Asia. In addition, he challenged Darius to stand and fight if he wanted to dispute claims to the throne, but if he ran, he would be found wherever he might hide.
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In this way Alexander revealed his entire plan—he wanted complete and sole power. He had no intention of sharing anything with Darius.}

Alexander spent the next few months consolidating his position along the coast and throughout Asia Minor. He knew that this would give Darius time to regroup his army also, but Alexander wanted to entice Darius into another battle, this one with his entire army, which Alexander intended to annihilate.

Alexander realized that before he could completely dominate Asia Minor, he had to thwart any efforts Darius might make from the sea. Darius kept most of his navy anchored in the ancient ports of Sidon and Tyre, in what is now Lebanon. The two cities had been enemies for centuries. There was no difficulty with Sidon; apparently the inhabitants were tired of Darius’s rule and were perfectly content to yield to Alexander.