Greece 2iii Alexander's Empire

ANCIENT GREECE
vii-b-The Second Military Revolution (cont.)
Alexander’s Empire

ANCIENT GREECE
vii-b-The Second Military Revolution (cont.)
Alexander’s Empire

Detail of the Alexander Mosaic, representing Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus at the
battle of Issus--at the House of the Faun, Pompeii, 1st century AD

PRINCIPAL TOPICS

I. Alexander “Frees the Greeks”

II. Gaugamela--Decision

III. India, “A Bridge Too Far”

IV. The Successors

Alexander the Great
Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας
Μεγαλέξανδρος

Alexander the Great
Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας
Μεγαλέξανδρος
“It began with an urgent need for booty and ended in megalomania.”

Peter Green

Philip II, Alexander’s father, may well have been assassinated by a cabal,
perhaps involving Olympias and Alexander himself, the discarded wife
and half-Macedonian son, who were nonentities among the dozens of
wives (seven at the king’s death), concubines, legitimate and illegitimate
sons that would result during the unexpectedly long reign of Philip.
Upon succession, Alexander had murdered the two brothers...along with
a few other...elites….Then almost every prominent Macedonian who was
not immediately aligned with Alexander was murdered--Amyntas, son of
Perdiccas, the general Attalus and his relatives, Philip’s last wife
Cleopatra and her infant, Alexander’s half-sister.

Hanson, The Wars of the Ancient Greeks, p. 187

winter 336-335--when word of Philip’s death reached the Greeks, several
states took this as occasion to rebel against the “chains” imposed after
Chaeronea

disregarding the advice of his generals to use diplomacy, Alexander rode
south at the head of 3,000 cavalry

after defeating the Thessalians, he was recognized by the cowed rebels as
head of the Sacred League of Delphi

Next he went to Corinth to organize an expedition against the Persians to
“free the Greeks” of Asia Minor

here occurred his famous meeting with Diogenes the Cynic

ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου µετάστηθι
Apò toû hēlíou metástēthi
"Stand a little out of my sun"

spring 335--After being acclaimed hegemon of the League of Corinth,
Alexander next headed north to subdue the barbarian hill tribes. Among
them were the Agrinanians who became his “Gurkhas.”

when word reached him that Thebes had rebelled against its Macedonian
garrison he made a forced march south

December-after diplomacy failed Alexander made a successful siege and
then burned the city to the ground. 6,000 Thebans perished in the battle.
30,000 were sold into slavery

no other Greek city was to rebel against Macedon during Alexander’s twelve-
year absence despite Persian efforts to subvert them

spring 335--After being acclaimed hegemon of the League of Corinth,
Alexander next headed north to subdue the barbarian hill tribes. Among
them were the Agrinanians who became his “Gurkhas.”

when word reached him that Thebes had rebelled against its Macedonian
garrison he made a forced march south

December-after diplomacy failed Alexander made a successful siege and
then burned the city to the ground. 6,000 Thebans perished in the battle.
30,000 were sold into slavery

no other Greek city was to rebel against Macedon during Alexander’s twelve-
year absence despite Persian efforts to subvert them

remains of the Cadmea, the citadel of Thebes

The leader of men in warfare can show himself to his followers only
through a mask, a mask that he must make for himself, but a mask made
in such form as will mark him to men of his time and place as the leader
they want and need. What follows is an attempt, across time and place,
to penetrate the mask of command.

John Keegan , The Mask of Command, p. 11

[By this time] the obvious superiority of Greek soldiery and generalship
over those of the mainland powers of Asia [had become clear]. The
lesson was there to be learned as early as the Greco-Persian wars at the
beginning of the fifth century, but it took the tumults of the succeeding
hundred years, when Greek mercenaries served as the major lever of
power around the eastern Mediterranean, to underscore the inescapable
conclusion.

F.E. Peters , Harvest of Hellenism, p. 29

After the assassination of Philip (336 B.C.), and Alexander’s
subsequent subjugation of the Greek states...the twenty-
year-old king inaugurated his deceased father’s planned
Persian invasion with a victory at the Granicus River near
the Hellespont (334).

here, Alexander established his pattern:

brilliant adaptation to often unfavorable terrain
(all his battles were on plains chosen by his
adversaries)

generalship by frightful example of personal---
and always near fatal---courage at the head of the
Companion Cavalry

stunning cavalry blows focused on a spot in the
Granicus enemy line, horsemen turning the dazed enemy
334 BC onto the spears of the advancing phalanx

subsequent pursuit of enemy forces...reflecting
Alexander’s impulse to eliminate, not merely to
defeat, hostile armies

find the enemy, charge him, and
annihilate him in open battle
Hanson, Wars

(1) pierce the enemy’s left flank by a daring attack of the Macedonian cavalry

(2) turn the cavalry to the left and roll up the enemy line

(3) simultaneously bring the phalanx, covered by cavalry on the left, forward
in echelon to engage the enemy

Griess, ed., West Point Military History Series, pp. 30-31

At the Granicus river in May 334 Alexander destroyed the Persian army outright,
surrounded the trapped Greek mercenaries, and massacred all except 2,000
whom he sent back in chains to Macedon. Our sources disagree over the precise
casualty figures, but Alexander may have exterminated between 15,000 and
18,000 Greeks after the battle was essentially won--killing more Hellenes in a
single day than the entire number that had fallen to the Mede at Marathon,
Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea combined. In his first battle to liberate the
Greeks, it turned out that Alexander had killed more of them than all the Persian
kings combined in over a century and a half of trans-Aegean campaigning.
Perhaps as many as 20,000 Persians fell as well at Granicus.

Hanson, Wars of the Ancient Greeks, p. 176

AN INITIAL DÉBACLE?
Peter Green suggests that there may have been, not one, but two battles at
the Granicus. In an appendix he writes a model analysis of the ancient
accounts and their discrepancies. It is known that Alexander took official
historians along to glorify his accomplishments. Green believes Alexander
led an impetuous attack against a strong Persian position against the advice
of his second-in-command, 65-year-old Parmenio. It was defeated. That
night he went upstream, crossed unopposed and won a decisive victory. The
record was doctored to begin the story of an ἀνίκητος (invincible)
Alexander. This explains his savage treatment of the captured Greek
mercenaries.

Green, Alexander, “Propaganda at the Granicus,” pp. 489-512

Alexander’s decisive victory at the Granicus changed the character of the war.
Defeat deprived the Persians of a principal advantage: no longer could they
mount an effective defense in Anatolia while exploiting their naval superiority
and financial resources to harass Alexander’s communications with Macedon
and foment rebellion in Greece. With most of the Persian commanders dead and
much of their best cavalry and Greek mercenaries lost, the Persian position in
Anatolia disintegrated.

Pomeroy et al. Ancient Greece, p. 437

he conducts his first of many successful sieges at Halicarnassus

he marches to the interior to the city of Gordium

“...the true situation was … accurately reflected in the symbolism of Alexander’s
dramatically severing the “Gordian knot.” According to a famous legend, rule
over Asia was promised to whoever loosened the complex knot connecting the
drawpole to the wagon the first Midas had ridden when he became the king of
Phrygia. While he was at Gordium, Alexander fulfilled the prophecy by slashing
through the knot with his sword, allowing no doubt that a new king had arisen in
Asia.


he conducts his first of many successful sieges at Halicarnassus

he marches to the interior to the city of Gordium

then defeats the main Persian force at Issus

The Battle of
Alexander at Issus
(German:
Alexanderschlacht)
is a 1529 oil painting
by the German artist
Albrecht Altdorfer
(c. 1480–1538), a
pioneer of landscape
art. The painting is
widely regarded as
Altdorfer's
masterpiece, and
exemplifies his
affinity for scenes of
monumental
grandeur.

The painting's subject
is explained in the
tablet suspended from
the heavens. The
wording, probably
supplied by William's
court historian
Johannes Aventinus,
was originally in
German but was later
replaced by a Latin
inscription. It
translates:
Alexander the Great
defeating the last
Darius, after 100,000
infantry and more than
10,000 cavalrymen
had been killed
amongst the ranks of
the Persians. Whilst
King Darius was able
to flee with no more
than 1,000 horsemen,
his mother, wife, and
children were taken
prisoner.

The painting was one
of 72 taken to Paris in
1800 by the invading
armies of Napoleon I
(1769–1821), who was
a noted admirer of
Alexander the Great.
The Louvre held it
until 1804, when
Napoleon declared
himself Emperor of
France and took it for
his own use. When the
Prussians captured the
Château de Saint-
Cloud in 1814 as part
of the War of the Sixth
Coalition, they
supposedly found the
painting hanging in
Napoleon's bathroom.

The climactic moments of the battle of Issus (333) are captured in this famous Roman floor mosaic
from Pompeii, from which the earlier portrait of Alexander was taken. Darius III amidst his
bodyguard catches the deadly gaze of the charging Alexander who is intent on his destruction.

Hanson, op. cit., pp. 180-181

The mosaic is composed of app. 1.5 million pieces, 0.12 inches square

The Alexander Sarcophagus is a late 4th century BC Hellenistic stone sarcophagus
adorned with bas-relief carvings of Alexander the Great. The work is remarkably well
preserved and has been celebrated for its high aesthetic achievement. It is considered the
outstanding holding of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.--Wikipedia

first came two tough sieges

“29 July 332-Tyre fell after [9] months of heroic defense. On that city’s final day
of existence nearly 8,000 residents were butchered. 2,000 males were
crucified, 20-30,000 women and children were enslaved

Hanson, op. cit. pp. 178-180

The contradiction of siege engineering, as Vauban knew and Arrian
succinctly puts it, is that the front-line men must be ‘clad rather for work
than for warfare’. Siege warfare is navvying [Br. term for grunt work]
under fire; armour must be laid aside; half-naked and sweating bodies are
exposed to the enemy at close range, pick and shovel wielded in the
closest proximity to men handling missiles and edged weapons. In
circumstances like these, the example of leadership is not enough; men
must be bribed and rewarded to run the risks. Alexander, running risks
with the boldest, bribed and rewarded as the best of siegemasters were to
do for centuries afterward.

Keegan, pp. 74-75

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN--TYRE
SIEGE OF TYRE Nov 333-Aug 332 B.C.
Griess, ed., West Point Military History Series, after p. 42 0 250 500

SCALE OF YARDS

Burden of the Lord’s doom, where falls it now? … This Tyre, how strong a
fortress has she built, what gold and silver she has amassed, till they were
as common as clay, as mire in the streets! Ay, but the Lord means to
dispossess her; cast into the sea all that wealth of hers, and herself burnt
to the ground! [Zachariah ix, 1-8]

quoted in Green, p. 263

first came two tough sieges

“29 July 332-Tyre fell after months of heroic defense. On that city’s final day of
existence nearly 8,000 residents were butchered. 2,000 males were crucified,
20-30,000 women and children were enslaved

“Gaza was next. After a two-month siege Alexander let his troops murder at
will. He bound Batis, the governor, pierced his ankles with thongs, and then
dragged him around the city, Achilles-style, until the tortured victim expired.”
Hanson, op. cit. pp. 178-180

after the sieges, he conquers Persia’s rich vassal Egypt. Here he founds the first
and most famous of the cities which bore his name


thence he made a mysterious pilgrimage to the Egyptian oracle of Ammon-
Zeus at Siwa. Did he really believe in his divinity proclaimed there?


thence he made a mysterious pilgrimage to the Egyptian oracle of Ammon-
Zeus at Siwa. Did he really believe in his divinity proclaimed there?

strengthened by prophesy, he went east to finish off Darius

...mountain skirmishing [before the Asian invasion] and siege warfare
[333-332] cannot substitute tutorially for the test of leadership in pitched
battle. It is on the open field, when armies clash face to face in the grip of
those terrible unities of time, place and action, that a man’s real powers of
anticipation, flexibility, quick-thinking, patience, spatial perception, thrift
and prodigality with resources, physical courage and moral strength are
tried to the extreme. The trial is potentially destructive for any leader;
perhaps no fate on earth is worse than that of the defeated general who
must live out his days with the burden of wasted life on his conscience.
For the heroic leader it is destructive in the most direct sense. To know
when and how to risk his person entails a narrowness of choice between
death and triumph.

Keegan, pp. 77-78

Gaugamela--Decision

Darius flees the battle, 18th century ivory

“the battle plan adopted by
Darius was influenced by his
superior cavalry” and inferior
infantry

he hoped to envelop both
flanks of his enemy, an
operation facilitated by the
greater length of his battle
front

Alexander could see an
opportunity for success. As
the Persian cavalry rode
forward the infantry would
probably not be able to
maintain contact, and gaps
would develop

Griess, ed., West Point Military History Series, after p. 42

Alexander & Companions Cretan spearmen & archer
GAUGAMELA PHASE I

In late September 331, Alexander met Darius III in the
northern Tigris valley at Gaugamela, a small village, to
force the decisive battle for the Persian empire. Alexander
had collected his largest force ever, but it was still under
50,000 men.

GAUGAMELA PHASE I

50,000 men.

Darius deploys his
army in two massive
lines, cavalry on the
flanks, chariots and
elephants to the front

cavalry

infantry chariots
ts
an
ph
ele
cavalry ar
w
15

chariots

cavalry

GAUGAMELA PHASE I

50,000 men.

Darius deploys his
army in two massive Alexander, out-
lines, cavalry on the numbered, deploys
flanks, chariots and flank guards to his
elephants to the front central Macedonian
phalanx

cavalry

infantry chariots
ts

x
an nx

an
h la

al
ep ph
a
el

ph
cavalry ar n

n
ia

ia
w on
15

on
ed

ed
ac

ac
M

M
chariots

cavalry

Persian army moves
forward. The left
and right flanks
attempt to encircle
Alexander’s army

GAUGAMELA PHASE II

Persian army moves
Chariots prove
forward. The left
ineffective, after
and right flanks
several charges are
attempt to encircle
stopped by archers
Alexander’s army
and spearmen

GAUGAMELA PHASE II

Persian army moves Alexander and his
Chariots prove
forward. The left Companion cavalry
ineffective, after
and right flanks advance through a screen
several charges are
attempt to encircle of light infantry and
stopped by archers
Alexander’s army attack the Persian center
and spearmen

GAUGAMELA PHASE II

Persian army moves Alexander and his Alexander’s flank guards move to
Chariots prove
forward. The left Companion cavalry engage advancing Persian cavalry
ineffective, after
and right flanks advance through a screen
several charges are
attempt to encircle of light infantry and
stopped by archers
Alexander’s army attack the Persian center
and spearmen

Parmenio
commands
the left flank

GAUGAMELA PHASE II

Alexander on the battlefield, once in the heat of action, can have seen or heard little
that might be dissected afterwards, by himself or anyone else. His experience must
have been a boiling of bodies, sword-arms and horse flesh, a clamour of voices,
urgent or terrified, animal screams, a clang of metal on metal. Physical pressure
stronger or weaker would have told him how combat went immediately around
him; a thinning of the dust cloud which fighting threw up would have signified that
the enemy’s line was breaking or broken through.

Keegan, p.155

[At Gaugamela] Parmenio...was terrified about the very survival of his entire wing,
and with it the fate of a Macedonian army thousands of miles from the Aegean. That
same specter struck Napoleon centuries later [at Borodino], when he remarked that
Gaugamela was a great victory but too risky, since defeat “would have stranded
Alexander “nine hundred leagues from Macedonia.”

Hanson, Carnage and Culture, p. 66

Persian left wing
crumbles under
pressure and begins to
flee the field.
GAUGAMELA PHASE III



Parmenio’s
left flank

Persian cavalry
Persian left wing
advances and almost
crumbles under
envelops Alexander’s
left flank.
flee the field.
GAUGAMELA PHASE III



Parmenio’s
left flank

Persian cavalry Alexander, seeing the danger to his left
Persian left wing
advances and almost flank, attacks with his Companion cavalry
crumbles under
envelops Alexander’s and restores the situation. Meanwhile Darius
left flank. flees with a few faithful followers, leaving his
flee the field.
army leaderless.
GAUGAMELA PHASE III



Parmenio’s
left flank

Darius flees to the Persian left wing
north and the road crumbles under
to Ekbatana pressure and begins to
flee the field.
army leaderless.
GAUGAMELA PHASE III



Parmenio’s
left flank

Darius flees to the Persian left wing
north and the road crumbles under
to Ekbatana pressure and begins to
flee the field.
army leaderless.
GAUGAMELA PHASE III



Parmenio’s
left flank
Hanson, The Wars of the Ancient
Greeks, pp. 172-177

the gap did indeed develop,
allowing Alexander to make a
“penetration of opportunity”

as the Persians disintegrated on
their left and center, Alexander
made a timely rescue of his own
left

in spite of many casualties and the
intensity of the battle, Alexander
ordered a relentless pursuit in the
futile hope of capturing Darius
and destroying as much of his
forces as possible

Five hundred Persians had fallen at Gaugamela (camel’s house) for every
Macedonian---such were the disparities when a polyglot, multicultural force of
panicked men fled on level ground before heavily armed veteran killers with pikes
and seasoned cavalry, whose one worry was not to turn fainthearted in front of
lifelong companions-in-arms. The myriad corpses of his enemies were left to
decompose in the autumn sun. Alexander, worried only about the rot and smell,
quickly moved his army away from the stink and headed south to Babylon and the
kingship of the Achaemenids. “The battle,” Plutarch remarks, “resulted in the utter
termination of the Persian Empire.” (Alexander 34.1).

Hanson, Carnage and Culture, pp.73-74

“3-TAKE CARE OF YOUR MEN”--
DOUGLAS SOUTHALL FREEMAN (1886-1953)

Concern for subordinates’ welfare comes less naturally when the leader is distracted
by impending danger…. Alexander was notably thoughtful even at such times.
Before Issus he made sure his men had eaten--better than Wellington could
manage before Waterloo, when much of his army fought on stomachs empty for
two days--and before Gaugamela ‘he bade his army take their meal and rest’. He
had already rested for four days and so arranged his base that his men could
advance to battle ‘burdened with nothing but their arms’. After Issus, ‘despite a
sword wound in his thigh’, he ‘went round to see the wounded...He promised all
who, by his own personal witness or by the agreed report of others [an exact
anticipation of the modern practice in citation for medals], he knew had done
valorous deeds in the battle--these one and all he honored by a donation suitable to
their desert.’

Keegan, The Mask of Command, p. 46

“3-TAKE CARE OF YOUR MEN”--
CONTINUED

It was a repetition of his behaviour [sic] after the Granicus when ‘he
showed much concern about the wounded, visiting each, examining their
wounds, asking how they were received, and encouraging each to recount
and even to boast of his exploits’ (excellent psychotherapy, however
wearisome for the listener).

Ibid.

CEREMONY AND THEATER

...theatricality was at the very heart of Alexander’s style of leadership, as it perhaps
must be of any leadership style. Throughout the Alexander story, acts of theater
recur at regular intervals. Daily, of course, he had to make sacrifice to the gods; in
Macedonian culture, only the king could perform that central religious act. Bizarre
though it seems to us, therefore, his day began with his plunging of a blade into the
living body of an animal and his uttering of a prayer as the blood flowed. Before
Gaugamela, uniquely in his whole kingship, he performed sacrifice in honor of Fear
[Φοβος Phobos].

op. cit, p. 46

Pursuing and
Gaugamela
consolidating

Ekbatana

Susa

Babylon

Persepolis

“The cheerful, luxury-loving citizens of Babylon, reflecting (with good
reason0 that it was better to collaborate than to suffer the fate of Tyre, went
out of their way to give the Macedonian troops a month’s leave they would
never forget. Officers and men alike were billeted in luxurious private houses,
where they never lacked for food,wine, or women. Babylon’s professional
courtesans were reinforced by countless enthusiastic amateurs, including the
daughters and wives of many leading citizens. (After dinner striptease seems
to have been very popular.) Their guests were shown the usual tourist sites,
including the fabulous Hanging Gardens--a stone-terraced forest of trees and
shrubs, built by an Assyrian king whose wife pined for the forests and
uplands of her native Iran.”

Green, p. 303

Gold double stater
Alexander the Great, 323.
Alexander could have
minted over 90 million of
such coins from the bullion
looted from Persepolis alone.
Hanson, Wars of the Ancient
Greeks, p. 199

...he had to build up an authority similar to that wielded by the Great King
himself. The imposition of a new coinage was an obvious step in this process.
Old issues were called in, melted down, and restruck with Alexander’s name and
type: what began at Tarsus was very soon copied by mints on Cyprus and all
down the Phoenician coast….Alexander achieved his main object---to get himself
‘recognized as the master in all parts of his new territory’. He also had a
convenient centre from which to pay the army.

Green, p. 222

Ἀλεξάνδρεια Ἐσχάτη

Sogdiana

Bactria

In Bactria, Alexander began to execute in earnest when faced with local revolts and
secession. An expatriate community of Greeks...were wiped out to a man. Then it
was the turn of the Sacai of Sogdiana, whose forces were extinguished and whose
territory ravaged. Convinced that the rich villages of the Zervashan valley to the
south had aided the rebellions in Sogdiana, Alexander stormed their fortresses and
executed all the defenders he found (329 BC)--8,000 alone were killed in the
capture of Cyrupolis. The revolts in Bactria and Sogdiana (329-328) were little
more than two years of uninterrupted fighting, looting and executing.

Yet with Alexander’s approach into India (327-326) the real barbarity begins.

Hanson, op. cit, p. 182

India--”A Bridge Too Far”

Alexander and Porus by Charles Le Brun, painted 1673.

India--”A Bridge Too Far”

The four century evolution of Greek warfare had now come down to the mastery
of murder on a grand scale.

On many occasions, Alexander’s sheer recklessness and megalomania had
disastrous consequences, when the expertise and advice of his generals and
logisticians were ignored and the absence of postwar investigation assured….

Hanson, op. cit., p. 183

Alexander attacks
the center in the
battle of the
Hydaspes River,
326 BC

"Victory coin" of Alexander the Great,
minted in Babylon c.322 BCE,
following his campaigns in India.
Obverse: Alexander being crowned by
Nike.

Reverse: Alexander attacking King
Porus on his elephant.
Silver. British Museum

The Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought by Alexander the Great in 326 BC
against King Porus of the Hindu Paurava kingdom on the banks of the Hydaspes
River in the Punjab...in what is now modern-day Pakistan. The battle resulted in a
complete Macedonian victory and the annexation of the Punjab, which lay beyond
the confines of the defeated Persian empire, into the Alexandrian Empire.
Alexander's tactics to cross the monsoon-swollen river despite close Indian
surveillance to catch Porus' army in the flank has been referred as one of his
"masterpieces". Although victorious, it was also the most costly battle fought by
the Macedonians. The resistance put up by King Porus and his men won the
respect of Alexander who asked him to become a Macedonian satrap.
The battle is historically significant for opening up India for Greek political
(Seleucid Empire, Indo-Greeks) and cultural influence (Greco-Buddhist art) which
was to continue for many centuries.
Wikipedia

Classic
Move
1. Craterus pins
2. Alexander
flanks

Napoleon will
copy it dozens
of times


x

Although Alexander didn’t realize it at the time, the confrontation at the
Hydaspes was to be his last pitched battle. As the army marched further
eastward through the Punjab, morale dropped steadily. The crisis came
when Alexander reached [another] river….Exhausted by the stress of
fighting and marching during the endless rains of the summer monsoon,
terrified by rumors of yet another great river valley occupied by a great
kingdom possessing thousands of war elephants, and doubtful that they
would ever return home, the army mutinied. This time not even Alexander’s
formidable powers of verbal and moral persuasion could convince his
soldiers to go on. Ultimately, Alexander yielded, defeated by his own army,
and agreed to return to the Indus, where he had already ordered the
construction of a great fleet.

“...when Alexander learnt in India that his army yearned for Greece more
strongly than for new worlds to conquer, he managed an appearance of
good grace and turned his steps homeward.”

Keegan, John. The Mask of Command, p. 2

The long retreat
through the
Gedrosian desert

ALEXANDER’S FORMULA
FOR VICTORY
...his extraordinary battlefield performances….Reconnaissance and a staff discussion
preceded the advance to contact. Then he addressed his men, sometimes the whole
army, sometimes only their officers. Finally, when the light troops and cavalry had
made touch with the enemy’s line, Alexander, clothed in his unmistakably
conspicuous battle garb, charged into the brown [Br. for the thick of the fight]. At this
moment his power to command the battle passed from him. He lost sight of the line,
lost all means to send orders, could think only of saving his own life and taking that of
as many of the enemy as put themselves within reach of his sword-arm. But the
knowledge that he was risking his skin with theirs was enough to ensure that the
whole army, from that moment onwards, fought with an energy equal to his. Total
exposure to risk was his secret of total victory.

Keegan, pp. 89-90

ALEXANDER & “THE
BROTHERHOOD OF MAN”
Those who would idealize Alexander point to his many attempts to merge his
Macedonian and Persian subjects. The most grandiose of these was the mass wedding
of his soldiers with Persian brides at Susa in 324. Alexander’s own Persian bride,
Roxana, was already pregnant with their son (the future Alexander iv), born after his
father’s death.

Alexander had also taken on many aspects of the Persian culture such as his oriental
garments. The one which caused the most friction was requiring those coming before
him to prostrate themselves, proskinesis, which Greeks traditionally reserved as a
mark of respect to the gods.

Many of the Macedonian “Old Fighters,” (Hitler’s Alte Kämpfer) were becoming
rebellious, especially when he started blending Persian officers and soldiers into their
units.--jbp

Too many scholars like to compare Alexander to Hannibal or Napoleon. A far
better match would be Hitler, who engineered a militarily brilliant but similarly
brutal killing march into Russia during the summer and autumn of 1941. Both
Alexander and Hitler were crack-pot mystics, intent solely on loot and plunder
under the guise of bringing ‘culture’ to the East and ‘freeing’ oppressed peoples
from a corrupt empire. Both were kind to animals, showed deference to women,
talked constantly of their own destiny and divinity, and could be especially
courteous to subordinates even as they planned the destruction of hundreds of
thousands, and murdered their closest associates.

Hanson, op.cit., pp. 189-190

Alexander the Great’s legacy was to leave the Hellenistic world with
generations of would-be Alexanders, who practiced their master’s savage
brand of political autocracy and butchery of all under suspicion. The
army in the West was now not to be a militia or even a professional force
subject to civilian oversight, but, like the later Nazi military, an
autocratic tool that would murder at will far from the battlefield, friend
and foe, soldier and civilian alike. Alexander the Great was no
philosopher-king, not even a serious colonizer or administrator, and
surely not a well-meaning emissary of Hellenism. Instead he was an
energetic, savvy adolescent, who inherited from his father a frighteningly
murderous army and the loyal cadre of very shrewd and experienced
battle administrators who knew how to take such a lethal show on the
road.

Hanson, op. cit. p. 188

κρατιστῳ
(kratistō, to the strongest)

...once Alexander was gone, there was no unified structure to ensure a
smooth succession. Nor is there any indication that this was a problem
that bothered Alexander himself overmuch. His pursuit of Homeric glory
was essentially solipsistic [self-centered]: it did not concern itself with
the future. Dying, he was asked to whom he left his kingdom. “To the
strongest,” he reportedly said.

Peter Green, The Hellenistic Age, p. 16

“It is those who endure toil and who dare dangers that achieve glorious
deeds, Arrian has him say at Opis [site of another of his soldiers’
mutinies]. “It is a lovely thing to live with courage and to die leaving
behind an everlasting renown”

Keegan, p. 91

Διάδοχοι
(Diadochoi, Successors)

THE SUCCESSORS

κοσµοπολις
(Cosmopolis, World State)

The Diadochi were as much competitors in heroism with Alexander as mediators,
and the posthumous fragmentation of his empire was the result of their desire to
equal his achievement rather than to propagate it. His essentially unstable
system was held in equilibrium only by his day-to-day efforts; when his death
disturbed the balance, both army and empire fell apart.

Keegan, p. 318

SUCCESSION STRIFE

the problem with µοναρχεια (monarcheia, monarchy, any sort of one-man rule)
is determining the strongman’s successor. America’s democratic constitutional
process, which seems so “messy” to us, is a historically rare, peaceful exception

traditional solutions fall in two broad categories:

dynastic--an adult male heir, preferably seen as competent, with political support

a new strongman--usually from the military, who can collect political support

323-276 BC-lacking the first, Alexander’s new empire would be racked with the
second alternative, until, with the death of the last Successor, the Hellenistic era
would take shape as a series of rival dynastic states

DIADOCHOI--PART I

“The First Rank” “The Second Rank”

Perdiccas Somatophylakes (Bodyguards)

Craterus Ptolemy I Soter, Lysimachus,
Peucestas, Peithon & Leonnatus
Antipater
Macedonian satraps

Antigonus I Monopthalmus,
Neoptolemus, Seleucus I
names in bold are men which we will Nicator, Polyperchon
examine at length

DIADOCHOI--PART II

Other Successors

Royal Family

Philip iii of Macedon, Alexander iv of Macedon, Olympias, Euridice ii & Cleopatra of Macedon

Non-Macedonian Satraps and Generals

Eumenes of Cardia & Pyrrhus of Epirus

Sons of the Diadochoi

Cassander, Demetrius Poliorcetes & Ptolemy Keraunos

THE PARTITION OF
BABYLON-- 323 BC
is the distribution of the territories of Alexander the Great between his generals
after his death.
The partition was a result of a compromise, essentially brokered by Eumenes,
following a conflict of opinion between the party of Meleager, who wished to
give full power to Philip III of Macedon [Alexander’s half-witted brother], and
the party of Perdiccas, who wished to wait for the birth of the heir of Alexander
(the future Alexander IV of Macedon) to give him the throne under the control
of a regent. Under the agreement, Philip III became king, but Perdiccas, as a
regent, ruled. Perdiccas, as regent, managed the repartition of the territories
between the former generals and satraps of Alexander. Meleager and about 300
of his partisans were eliminated by Perdiccas soon after.
Wikipedia

commanded a battalion of the Macedonian phalanx. Distinguished
in the Indian campaign

324-when Hephaestion [Alexander’s “Patroclus”] died suddenly,
Perdiccas was appointed his successor as commander of the
No Companions
image
available 323-at Alexander’s death, he was appointed regent for the two
potential heirs to the empire, the unborn son & the half-wit

322-he broke off his engagement to Antipater’s daughter because
Olympias offered him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra,
Alexander’s half-sister. Antipater allied with Ptolemy & Antigonus

war broke out, he moved against Egypt. “A botched attempt to
Perdiccas cross the Nile at the wrong place cost 2,000 men to drowning
Περδίκκας, Perdikkas
and crocodiles. This was no successor to Alexander.”--Green
died 321/320 BC

he was assassinated by his own officers, including Seleucus (about
whom much later)

323-was left in control of Greece by Perdiccas

321-after Perdiccas’ death, became regent, guardian of
Alexander's brother Philip III and now-born son

Having quelled a mutiny of his troops, he commissioned
Antigonus to continue the war against Eumenes and the
other partisans of Perdiccas

320-Antipater returned to Macedonia. Soon after, he was
seized by an illness which terminated his active career

319-died, leaving the regency to the aged Polyperchon,
passing over his own son, Cassander, a measure which
Antipater
gave rise to much later strife
Ἀντίπατρος Antipatros
c. 397 BC – 319 BC

was he the assassin of Alexander? All the ancient sources
mention this rumor, most, only to deny it

340s-son of Antipater, taught by the philosopher Aristotle at
the Lyceum in Macedonia. He was educated alongside the
Crown Prince Alexander in a group that included
Hephaestion and Ptolemy

319-Cassander rejected his father’s decision to give the
regency to Polyperchon, and immediately went to seek the
support of Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus as allies

317-after waging war on Polyperchon, and destroying his
fleet, Cassander put Athens under the control of Demetrius
of Phaleron, and declared himself Regent

Cassander Κάσσανδρος Ἀντίπατρος,
Kassandros Antipatros Alexander IV, Roxana, and Alexander’s supposed illegitimate
ca. 350 – 297
son Heracles were all executed on Cassander's orders, and a
king of Macedon (305–297). guarantee to Olympias to spare her life was not respected

coin of Cassander
British Museum
301-after the Battle of Ipsus, in which Antigonus was killed,
he was undisputed in his control of Macedonia; however, he
had little time to savor the fact, dying of dropsy in 297

founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty

323-one of the organizers of the Partition. Became
satrap of Egypt, nominally under the two kings

without authorization, he quickly annexed
Cyrenaica to the west (modern eastern Libya)

320-he then organized the war against Perdiccas

318-he secured Syria and Cyprus

315-when Antigonus One-Eye showed dangerous
ambition, he joined the coalition against him
Ptolemy I Soter
Πτολεµαῖος Σωτήρ, Ptolemaĩos Sōtḗr,
Ptolemy the Savior
c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC 311-309--a brief peace interrupted the wars
Marble bust in the Louvre
3rd century BC

founder of the Antigonid dynasty

321-with the death of Perdiccas, a new attempt at division
of the empire took place. Antigonus found himself
entrusted with the command of the war against Eumenes,
who had joined Perdiccas against the coalition of
Antipater, Antigonus, Ptolemy, Craterus, and the other
generals

319-Antigonus and the other dynasts refused to recognize
Polyperchon, since it would undermine their own
ambitions. Once again, war broke out

315-Antigonus now was in possession of the empire's Asian
territories, his authority stretching from the eastern
satrapies to Syria and Asia Minor in the west. He seized the
treasures at Susa and entered Babylon. The governor of the Antigonus I Monophthalmus
city, Seleucus fled to Ptolemy and entered into a league Ἀντίγονος ὁ Μονόφθαλµος, "Antigonus the
One-eyed"
with him, Lysimachus and Cassander against Antigonus
382 BC – 301 BC

son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus (One-eyed)

315-At the age of twenty-two he was left by his father to
defend Syria against Ptolemy. He was defeated at the Battle
of Gaza, his first (unsuccessful) siege

310-he was soundly defeated when he tried to expel
Seleucus I Nicator from Babylon; his father was defeated in
the autumn. As a result of this Babylonian War, Antigonus
lost almost two thirds of his empire: all eastern satrapies
became Seleucus'

Demetrius I ( Δηµήτριος, 337 – 283 )
Poliorcetes ( Πολιορκητής - "The
Besieger")
king of Macedon (294–288).

Marble bust, Roman, 1st century AD of a Greek
original from 3rd century BC

Lysymachus

Cassander

Antigonus

Seleucus

Ptolemy

Ἀλεξάνδρεια Ἐσχάτη
Alexandria Eschatē
Lysymachus
the farthest Alexandria
Cassander

Antigonus

Seleucus

Ptolemy

they were the actors of the
first major interaction
between an urbanized Indo- Ἀλεξάνδρεια Ἐσχάτη
European culture and the
Chinese civilization, which led Alexandria Eschatē
Lysymachus
to the opening up the Silk the farthest Alexandria
Road from the 1st century BC
Cassander
Wikipedia

Antigonus

Seleucus

Ptolemy

son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus (One-eyed)

315-At the age of twenty-two he was left by his father to
defend Syria against Ptolemy. He was defeated at the Battle
of Gaza, his first and last unsuccessful siege

310-he was soundly defeated when he tried to expel
Seleucus I Nicator from Babylon; his father was defeated in
the autumn. As a result of this Babylonian War, Antigonus
lost almost two thirds of his empire: all eastern satrapies
became Seleucus'

After several campaigns against Ptolemy on the coasts of
Cilicia and Cyprus, Demetrius sailed with a fleet of 250
ships to Athens. He freed the city from the power of
Cassander and Ptolemy, expelled the garrison which had
Demetrius I ( Δηµήτριος, 337 – 283 ) been stationed there under Demetrius of Phalerum
Poliorcetes ( Πολιορκητής - "The
Besieger")
king of Macedon (294–288). 307-besieged and took Munychia. After these victories he
was worshipped by the Athenians as a tutelary deity under
Marble bust, Roman copy, 1st century AD of a
Greek original from 3rd century BC the title of Soter (σωτήρ) ("Preserver") [or “Savior”]

Helepolis (Greek: ἑλέπολις, English: "Taker of Cities") was an ancient siege engine invented by
Polyidus of Thessaly and improved by Demetrius I Poliorcetes of Macedon and Epimachus of Athens
for the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes, based on an earlier, less massive design used against Salamis
(305–304 BC)

C l o s e - u p
showing the
capstan which
drove the
massive wheels
and the catapults
which could fire
when their
shutters were
raised

The Helepolis was essentially a large tapered tower, with each side about 130 feet
high, and 65 feet wide that was manually pushed into battle. It rested on eight
wheels, each 12 feet high and also had casters, to allow lateral movement as well
as direct. The three exposed sides were rendered fireproof with iron plates, and
stories divided the interior, connected by two broad flights of stairs, one for
ascent and one for descent. The machine weighed 160 tons, and required 3,400
men working in relays to move it, 200 turning a large capstan driving the wheels
via a belt, and the rest pushing from behind.
The Helepolis bore a fearsome complement of heavy armaments, with two 180-
pound catapults, and one 60-pounder (classified by the weight of the projectiles
they threw) on the first floor, three 60-pounders on the second, and two 30-
pounders on each of the next five floors. Apertures, shielded by mechanically
adjustable shutters, lined with skins stuffed with wool and seaweed to render
them fireproof, pierced the forward wall of the tower for firing the missile
weapons. On each of the top two floors, soldiers could use two light dart throwers
to easily clear the walls of defenders.
Wikipedia

Antigonus clearly meant to secure firm control of the eastern Mediterranean sea
routes, since he at once sent Demetrius to reduce that...great naval bastion,
Rhodes….For over a year (305/4), Demetrius assaulted the island’s capital with a
fearsome array of siege engines, fire arrows, rams and torsion catapults.
Ptolemy’s ships ran the blockade to supply the defenders, and in the end
Demetrius was forced to leave the Rhodians independent. His title of “the
Besieger” thus had a decidedly ironic flavor about it. The Rhodians celebrated by
erecting a colossal statue of Helios at the harbor entrance, paid for by the sale of
Demetrius’ abandoned siege-gear. They also bestowed on Ptolemy the title of
“Savior.”
Green, The Hellenistic Age, pp. 36-37

The Colossus of Rhodes
was a statue of the Greek
Titan Helios, erected between
292 and 280 BC. It is
considered one of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient
World. Before its destruction
in 226 BC - due to an
earthquake - the Colossus of
Rhodes stood over 30 meters
(107 ft) high, making it one of
the tallest statues of the
ancient world.

320-After Alexander’s death, Seleucus was nominated as the satrap of Babylon

Antigonus forced Seleucus to flee from Babylon, but, supported by Ptolemy, he
was able to return in 312

Seleucus' later conquests include Persia and Media. He was defeated by the
emperor of India, Chandragupta Maurya and accepted a matrimony alliance
for 500 elephants after ceding the territories considered as part of India

Seleucus defeated Antigonus in the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC and Lysimachus
in the battle of Corupedium in 281

He was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus during the same year. His successor
was his son Antiochus I
Seleucus I
(given the surname by later
generations of Nicator
established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire. His kingdom would Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ, Seleucus the
be one of the last holdouts of Alexander's former empire to Roman rule. It was Victor)
only outlived by the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt by roughly 34 years. He ca. 358 – 281
founded many cities, the most famous, Antioch Roman copy from a Greek original, from
Herculaneum. Now in the National
Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy.

somatophylax,( σωµατοφύλαξ, literally,
bodyguard) of first Philip ii, then Alexander

323-after Alexander’s death, he was appointed to
the government of Thrace as strategos

315-he joined Cassander, Ptolemy I Soter and
Seleucus I Nicator against Antigonus I
Monophthalmus

309-he founded Lysimachia in a commanding
situation on the neck connecting the Chersonese
with the mainland. He followed the example of
Antigonus I in taking the title of king

Lysimachus
Λυσίµαχος, Lysimachos
c. 360 – 281

302 BC-when the second alliance between
Cassander, Ptolemy I and Seleucus I was made,
Lysimachus, reinforced by troops from
Cassander, entered Asia Minor, where he met
with little resistance

On the approach of Antigonus I he retired into
winter quarters near Heraclea, marrying its
widowed queen Amastris, a Persian princess

301-Seleucus I joined him and at the battle of
Ipsus where Antigonus I was defeated and slain.
His dominions were divided among the victors.
Lysimachus Lysimachus' share was Lydia, Ionia, Phrygia and
Λυσίµαχος, Lysimachos the north coast of Asia Minor
c. 360 – 281

Situation c. 301 BC

after the battle of Ipsus

c. 300-Feeling that Seleucus I was becoming
dangerously great, Lysimachus now allied himself
with Ptolemy I, marrying his daughter Arsinoe II of
Egypt. When Antigonus I’s son Demetrius I
renewed hostilities (297), during his absence in
Greece, Lysimachus seized his towns in Asia Minor

294- concluded a peace whereby Demetrius I was
recognized as ruler of Macedonia.

288- Lysimachus and Pyrrhus of Epirus in turn
invaded Macedonia, and drove Demetrius I out of
the country. Lysimachus left Pyrrhus in possession
of Macedonia with the title of king for around
seven months before Lysimachus invaded. For a
short while the two ruled jointly
Lysimachus
Λυσίµαχος, Lysimachos
c. 360 – 281
285-Lysimachus expelled Pyrrhus

a second cousin of Alexander through Olympias. He was
brother-in law to Demetrius I Poliorketes

302-first expelled from the throne by Cassander. Taken as
hostage to Alexandria where he married Ptolemy’s step-
daughter Antigone

297-briefly restored to Epirus by Ptolemy, Pyrrhus had his
co-ruler Neoptolemus II of Epirus, puppet of the now-
deceased Seleucus, murdered. Next, he went to war against
his former ally and brother-in-law Demetrius

by 286- he had taken control over the kingdom of Macedon. Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos
Pyrrhus was driven out of Macedon by Lysimachus in 284 Πύρρος, Pyrros
319/318–272
king of Epirus (306-302 & 288–285)
king of Macedon (274–272)

a second cousin of Alexander through Olympias. He was

daughter Antigone


319/318–272
king of Epirus (306-302 & 288–285)
one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his king of Macedon (274–272)
battles, though successful, cost him heavy losses, from
which the term "Pyrrhic victory" was coined

Plutarch records that Hannibal ranked Pyrrhus as
the greatest commander the world had ever seen,
though Appian gives a different version of the story,
in which Hannibal placed him second after
a second cousin of Alexander through Olympias. He was Alexander the Great.--Wikipedia

daughter Antigone


319/318–272
king of Epirus (306-302 & 288–285)
one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his king of Macedon (274–272)
battles, though successful, cost him heavy losses, from
which the term "Pyrrhic victory" Pyrrhus’ Wars Against
was coined Rome & Carthage
281-275 BC

the eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter, ruler of Egypt, and his third wife
Eurydice, daughter of the regent Antipater

His younger half-brother, also called Ptolemy, became heir apparent
and, in 282, ascended to the throne as Ptolemy II

Ptolemy Keraunos had left Egypt and arrived at the court of
Lysimachus, the king of Thrace, Macedon, and part of Asia Minor.
His half-sister, Arsinoe, was wife of Lysimachus

After Lysimachus' defeat and death in the Battle of Corupedium in
281 BC, against Seleucus I Nicator, Ptolemy Keraunos murdered
Seleucus I in order to gain the power of his former protector. He then
rushed to Lysimacheia where he had himself acclaimed king by the
Macedonian army. At this time he also formally relinquished his
Ptolemy Keraunos claim to the Egyptian throne. To stabilize his throne, Ptolemy asked
Πτολεµαῖος Κεραυνός his half-sister Arsinoe, the widow of Lysimachus, to marry him
died 279
His epithet Keraunos is Greek for
"Thunder" or "Thunderbolt" 279-he was captured and killed during the wars against the Gauls,
king of Macedon (281–279) who conducted a series of mass raids against Macedon and the rest of
Greece

The Gallic threat was brief, but it had significant consequences. The Gauls soon
transferred their terror to Anatolia, but only after being defeated at Delphi and
Lysimacheia by the Aetolian League (the organization of the city-states of
northwest Greece) and Antigonus Gonatas (“Knock-knees”), the son of
Demetrius Poliorcetes. Their victories over the Gauls transformed the position of
both the Aetolians and Antigonus, legitimizing the emergence of the former as
the preeminent power in central Greece and the protector of Delphi and the
latter as king of Macedon. The final pieces of the new political system that had so
gradually and painfully emerged from the wreckage of Alexander’s empire had
fallen into place.

Pomeroy et al., Ancient Greece, p 476

So-called Ludovisi Gaul and his wife. Marble,
Roman copy after an Hellenistic original from a
monument built by Attalus I of Pergamon after
his victory over Gauls, ca. 220 BC

...Alexander’s rejection of constitutional government, of civic militarism,
and of municipal autonomy ensured that his conquests would never
result in a stable Hellenic civilization in Asia, or even liberty in Greece--
but simply the Successor’s (Διάδοχι, Diadochi) kingdoms (323-31 B.C.) of
his like-minded marshals who followed. For three centuries theocrats--
Macedonians, Epirotes, Selucids, Ptolemies, Attalids--would rule, fight,
plunder and live in splendor amid a Hellenic veneer of court elites and
professionals in Asia and Africa until at last they were subdued by the
legions of republican Rome.


...Alexander’s rejection of constitutional government, of civic militarism,
and of municipal autonomy ensured that his conquests would never
result in a stable Hellenic civilization in Asia, or even liberty in Greece--
but simply the Successor’s (Διάδοχι, Diadochi) kingdoms (323-31 B.C.) of
his like-minded marshals who followed. For three centuries theocrats--
Macedonians, Epirotes, Selucids, Ptolemies, Attalids--would rule, fight,
plunder and live in splendor amid a Hellenic veneer of court elites and
professionals in Asia and Africa until at last they were subdued by the
legions of republican Rome.


but, that’s another story, for another time (but not next week!)

Greece 2iii Alexander's Empire

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (20)

Destaque

Destaque (7)

Semelhante a Greece 2iii Alexander's Empire

Semelhante a Greece 2iii Alexander's Empire (14)

Mais de Jim Powers

Mais de Jim Powers (20)

Último

Último (20)

Greece 2iii Alexander's Empire