ALEXANDER SIEGE THE CITY OF GAZA

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES A briefer but no less brutal siege followed the fall of Tyre. A few months after the fall of Tyre, Alexander and the Macedonians made their way down to the Philistine city of Gaza. Gaza was the last real outpost of resistance to Alexander before he would reach Egypt. The ruler of Gaza was a eunuch named Batis, whose name was probably Iranian or perhaps Babylonian. Batis had hired a group of Arab mercenaries, and also had collected a bunch of stores to put inside of Gaza in preparation for a siege. Believing that the city was well enough defended to resist Alexander, Batis denied Alexander entry into the city, which was located about 20 stades inland from the sea coast. The ensuing siege lasted for about two months, from September to November of 332. The siege was notable for a number of reasons. First, the Macedonians' use of shored mines to undermine the walls of Gaza, which were built on sandy foundations. Second, Alexander was wounded twice during the siege-- once by a bolt from a catapult that went through both his shield and his breast courslet. However, most importantly, Alexander almost was assassinated at Gaza. At one point during the siege, one of the Arab mercenaries went over to the Macedonians, and feigned that he wanted to surrender. When he was brought into the presence of Alexander, he threw himself down on the ground, and then suddenly popped up with a sword, and took a swing at Alexander. Alexander ducked and lived. Batis, whose vision apparently wasn't all that good, thought that the guy had succeeded, and he started to celebrate inside of the city. Big mistake. Alexander was alive, and more ominously, extremely angry. As soon as the siege equipment was brought down from Tyre by sea, the Macedonians set it up around walls of the city, and soon had breached the city walls. The Gazans resisted three Macedonian assaults, but the fourth assault succeeded, and every defender in Gaza was killed, and once again, the women and children were sold into slavery. It was from the spoils of Gaza that Alexander sent those tons of frankincense and myrrh to his old tutor, Leonidas, so that he wouldn't deal so parsimoniously with the gods. Batis himself was apparently taken alive. According to Curtius Rufus, who uses the sources, Clitarchus and Hegesias, who were both near-contemporaries, Alexander had Batis tied by the ankles, and dragged along at the back of a chariot around the city walls of Gaza, just as Achilles had dragged Hector's dead body around the walls of Troy. A week after the fall of Gaza, the Macedonians arrived at Pelusium, in Egypt. Egypt, of course, had been the object of Alexander's march southward from the very beginning.

ALEXANDRER THE GREAT, CONQUERED CITY OF TYRE

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES GUY MACLEAN ROGERS: Alexander then headed farther south. The coastal cities of Byblos and Sidon surrendered to him without a fight. Delegates from the city of Tyre, including the son of the King Azemilk, or Azemilkus in Greek, then came to Alexander and told him that they had instructions to do whatever he wished them to do. Alexander told the delegates that he wanted to come into their city and make a sacrifice at the sanctuary of his ancestor Heracles. The Tyrians balked at that request. Honoring it would have meant that they would allow Alexander to come and make a sacrifice at the sanctuary of Melqart whom Alexander associated with Heracles. They were willing to allow him to make such a sacrifice in old Tyre, on the mainland, but not on the island sanctuary of Tyre which lay in the harbor of the city. To the island sanctuary, the Tyrians denied access both to Alexander and the Persians. In effect, therefore, it was a declaration of neutrality on the part of the Tyrians. Diodorus says, however, that the reason why the Tyrians denied Alexander access was that they were sympathetic to Darius and the Persians and they wanted to involve Alexander in a protracted siege to give Darius time to gather up his army. They got their wish. Alexander was not about to let a city that he probably knew was sympathetic to the Persians stay in a neutral position at his back as he marched farther down south to Egypt. And so he began to prepare for a siege. The stage was thus set for one of the most famous sieges in the history of the ancient world. The siege would involve chemical and biological warfare and massacres by both sides. It would last for seven months and both sides would pay dearly, but in the end, the Tyrians would pay the higher price. On the night that Alexander persuaded his officers and men that the city must be taken before they made their way to Egypt, he received what was interpreted as a sign from the gods. Alexander dreamed that when he approached the walls of the city, his kinsman, Heracles, came out from the city, greeted him, and had invited him into the city. Alexander's seer, Aristander, interpreted the dream as follows. Tyre would be taken, but not without great labor, as labor characterized all of Heracles' achievements. Aristander's prophecy was grounded in observable facts. Tyre was an island city situated about seven stades, or half a mile, from the mainland. It had strong and lofty walls, probably 150 feet high. Moreover, Tyre's navy was large and capable. Taking Tyre was truly going to be a Herculean task. In fact, just to lay siege to the city, Alexander had to begin to build a mole, or an artificial causeway, from the mainland to the city. The first version of the mole was almost 200 feet wide and was constructed from materials torn from old Tyre on the mainland. As the Macedonians worked on the part of the mole that nearly reached the island city itself, Tyrian naval raiders attacked them. To counter that threat, Alexander had constructed two towers on which he mounted artillery to protect his workers. In response, the Tyrians loaded up some kind of transport ship with pitch, sulfur, and other flammable materials. They then towed their fire ship out near the part of the mole where Alexander's workers were still constructing the last part of the causeway. They set it on fire and dragged it over to the mole itself. Soon the fire spread from the mole to the two towers. As Alexander's men were retreating, the Tyrians streamed out from their city, attacked the towers, and destroyed them completely. Undeterred, Alexander immediately started construction of another, even larger mole with more towers and more siege artillery. While his men were working on the second mole, the navies of Cyprus and some other Phoenician cities decided to throw in their lot with Alexander. This was a crucial turning point in the siege. These were some of the best navies in the eastern Mediterranean, and with them on his side, Alexander was able, effectively, to blockade the city from the sea. At the same time he was joined by a new force of mercenaries led to Tyre by a man named Cleander. With the help of the Cypriot and Phoenician navies and his new mercenaries, Alexander was able to cut Tyre off from all help from the outside world. He was also able to bring up artillery and towers mounted on ships so that he could attack the walls of the city from all sides simultaneously. Meanwhile, battering rams were also brought up to the walls and began pounding away. Although the walls of Tyre were constructed of megalithic rocks, that were somehow cemented together, eventually the rams did their work. And a breach was made through one of the south walls of the city. While warships attacked Tyre's harbor, and other ships circled around the city preventing anyone from escaping, Alexander and an officer of his named Admetus got into some ships along with the Hypaspistai and a battalion of the pezhetairoi and made their way to the point where the ram had made a breach in the southern wall. Alexander and Admetus led the assault against the wall. Admetus was killed almost immediately. After that, Diodorus tells us in Book 17, Chapter 46:2, that Alexander himself took hold of one of the gang planks on top, presumably, of a tower, and threw it down and crossed alone onto the battlement of the city. After him there followed the Hypaspistai and the pezhetairoi. They stripped the walls of defenders and drove the survivors down into the middle of the city itself. Meanwhile, the Phoenician and Cypriot navies captured the city's southern harbor and also blocked off its northern harbor. Realizing that the end was near, the men who had been defending Tyre's walls fled down to the shrine of Agenor, who was honored as the city's founder. The majority of those defenders were then slain at the shrine Agenor, while those who escaped made their way down through the rest of the city. At least 8,000 Tyrians were killed in that massacre. And later Alexander had another 2,000 crucified on the beach, presumably outside of old Tyre. Another 30,000 or so, including the women and children, were later sold into slavery. The king, Azemilk, some dignitaries, and some envoys from Carthage, the daughter city of Tyre, were spared. Later on, Alexander sent the Carthaginians back to their city with a warning and some people think even a declaration of war. After the end of the siege, Alexander finally made his sacrifice to Heracles. He also dedicated the piece of siege equipment which had been used to make the breach in the city wall. The siege of Tyre was a brutal act of war, and its outcome for the Tyrians horrific. But the Tyrians had also conducted their defense in a way that contributed to the outcome. At one point during the siege, the Tyrians had heated sand mixed up with excrement and put it on shields and dumped it on top of Macedonian soldiers that were scaling their walls. The soldiers were scalded and, of course, were suffering from the excrement as well. At another point, the Tyrians intercepted a shipload of Macedonians who were making their way from Sidon, presumably to the Macedonian camp. The Tyrians took the Macedonians up on top of the battlement walls, slit their throats, and threw them down over the battlements in full view of the Macedonian army. Such actions may not have encouraged the Macedonians to find their better angels when they finally broke into the city. To explain, of course, is not to justify. And we can and should feel pity for those Tyrians who lost their lives around the shrine of their city founder, Agenor. Diodorus put it well when he wrote that the Tyrians endured the siege bravely rather than wisely. From Alexander, the Tyrians' bravery had elicited the best example of Alexander's determination to achieve total victory. At Tyre, Alexander showed the world, and anyone else in the future who might contemplate resisting him, that once he committed himself, he just would not be denied. And in warfare having a reputation for settling for nothing short of victory was, and is, absolutely priceless.

ALEXANDER COMES WITH GRACE FAMILY REAL PERSIAN

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES After the slaughter was over, the Macedonians found in the Persian camp that Darius had left behind his mother, his wife, his two grown daughters, his infant son, and 3,000 talents. There also were very many personal possessions that the Macedonians enthusiastically plundered. On the day after the battle, Alexander visited the wounded and gave a splendid military funeral to the Macedonian and Greek dead. He also gave funeral rites to Persians who had distinguished themselves. As was his practice, Alexander also made sacrifices to the gods for the favor that they'd shown him. And then he tried to relax. Darius' bath and dining tent had been reserved solely for Alexander's use. Almost everything in Darius' bath was made out of wrought gold. Passing into Darius' dining tent, Alexander observed the magnificence of the dining couches, the tables, and the banquet that had been set out for him. Taking it all in, Alexander turned to his companions and said, "So this, it seems, is what it is to be king." This victor did not yet belong to the spoils. On the same night, hearing the laments of Darius' mother, wife, and children, who believed that Darius had been killed, Alexander sent one of his officers, a man named Leonnatus, to tell them that in fact he had got away, and he had survived. Leonnatus also informed the royal ladies that they were to retain all of their royal titles and that no one was going to lay a finger on them. There was another famous story told about the aftermath of the battle. The day after the battle, Alexander and Hephaestion decided to pay the Persian royal women a visit. So they came into the royal tent. And Sisygambis, the mother of Darius, immediately threw herself down on the ground in front of Hephaestion, who apparently was much taller than Alexander. One of her courtiers silently pointed over to Alexander. Alexander turned and said that her error was of no matter, because Hephaestion too was another Alexander. The significance of that is that the name Alexander means a protector of men. The Persian royal women who fell into Alexander's hands after the Battle at Issus were indeed treated with great deference by Alexander and the Macedonians for the rest of the campaign. Although Alexander refused to ransom them back to Darius, he called Sisygambis his mother. And when Darius' wife Stateira died, he gave her a magnificent funeral. It was extremely rare in the history of ancient warfare for captive women to be treated so well.

PRELUDE TO THE BATTLE OF ISSOS

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES Guy MacLean Rogers: While Parmenio was securing the passes between Cilicia and Syria, Alexander visited the city of Anchialus. Anchialus and Tarsus supposedly had been built in one day by the semi-legendary Assyrian king known to the Greeks as Sardanapalus. In the city of Anchialus, Alexander may very well have seen the statue of Sardanapalus, clapping his hands, and the verse inscription in cuneiform beneath the statue. The inscription read as follows, "Sardanapalus, son of Anakyndaraxes, built in one day Anchialus and Tarsus. You, stranger, eat, drink, and be merry, for everything else in the life of man is not worth this." And by this was meant the clap of hands. Arrian helpfully informs his readers that the Assyrian word for be merry was something of a euphemism. It was also probably at this time that a much-debated incident took place. Alexander's boyhood friend and treasurer Harpalus fled. Harpalus, you'll recall, had been one of Alexander's friends who had been exiled by Philip at the time of the Pixodarus affair. Now, the sources tell us, he was somehow tempted into fleeing from Alexander by an adventurer named Tauriscus. Some historians have speculated that Harpalus may have stolen money from Alexander or perhaps betrayed him in some way. Others have hypothesized that Harpalus had been sent on some kind of secret mission by Alexander. And part of the argument for that was that, bizarrely enough, Harpalus returned to Alexander, and nothing happened to him. He wasn't punished. There was no arrest, no imprisonment. So this was a kind of strange episode, but it's something that we have to keep in mind, because this is going to turn out to be the first flight of Harpalus. The second one definitely was a betrayal of Alexander. While the Macedonians presumably were wondering what was up with Harpalus, Darius was gathering together a huge force in Babylon. Arrian reports that King Darius mustered no less than 600,000 fighting men. Plutarch concurs. Diodorus and Justin placed the number at 400,000. We also have later evidence that there were at least 30,000 Greek mercenary infantrymen that formed part of the army. Now, some historians have doubted these numbers, these absolutely enormous numbers. But it seems clear, especially from the secure figure of the 30,000 Greek mercenary infantrymen in Darius' army, that he did assemble a very large land army in Babylon by the summer of 333. Some historians have also called into question Darius' strategic vision, casting doubt on the idea of whether it was a very good idea to confront Alexander. Those doubts come out of the sources themselves. Apparently there was a Macedonian deserter in the Persian camp, a man named Amyntas, who also tried to persuade Darius not to confront Alexander, and certainly not down on the sea coast, where the narrowness of the land would be to Alexander's advantage. On the other hand, from Darius' point of view, it was absolutely inconceivable to let a Macedonian king, or any other king for that matter, wander around some of the most valuable provinces of his empire, without making some kind of military response. Therefore by the summer of 333, Darius and his army left Babylon and started to move up to Syria, specifically to the Amik plain. To make his immense force more mobile, Darius took the decision of sending his baggage train when he got in the vicinity of where he wanted to fight, back to Damascus. That, of course, was a sign then he wanted to fight Alexander as soon as possible. And of course he was expecting to crush him. It was clearly in Alexander's interest to try to bring Darius down from the plain of Syria, across the mountains, and onto the coastal plain. Darius, on the other hand, wanted to meet Alexander up on the plain of Syria, where his superior numbers would be to his advantage. And in particular, he could take advantage of his superior numbers in cavalry and other mounted troops. So Darius and Alexander had different tactical interests. And as a result of that, a delay ensued, maybe for as much as two or three weeks, when the two armies just sat where they were, the Persians up on the plain, the Macedonians down on the coast. Finally it was Darius who moved first, probably because he sent his baggage train to Damascus. He needed to confront Alexander as soon as possible. Instead of coming down through the closer Belen Pass, however, what Darius and his army did was to first march up north and then turn inward and cross the Bahce Pass. And then they made their way down through the Toprakkale narrows, and finally out through the mountains onto the coastal plain just outside of Issus. In Issus, Darius found the wounded or sick Macedonians Alexander had left in the town when he had passed by on his way through the city. Darius took some of these prisoners, had their hands cut off, the stumps cauterized, and then sent them farther along to the Macedonians to inform Alexander that Darius and the Persians were now in this great position along the coastal road at his strategic rear. You can imagine what the reaction of the Macedonians was. First of all, Alexander simply couldn't believe that this massive Persian army had somehow been able to find its way around him and then down back behind him. So Alexander sent a ship, with some companions in it, to go back along the water to confirm whether these men were telling the truth about the presence of the Persian army, which they did. Also, of course within the Macedonian army, the idea that Darius was mutilating prisoners was a cause of great anger on their part. And in a sense, of course, it was a huge tactical mistake by Darius, because it only made the Macedonians want to come to grips with the Persians more quickly. Setting aside the normal human reaction to the news that some of your soldiers had been tortured, the cold reality of the situation was that by appearing at Alexander's rear, Darius had put himself into a position where he had a kind of strategic advantage. Alexander was now cut off from all of those bases that he had conquered along the Cilician coast. So Darius appearing at his back clearly was a sign that there had been some kind of intelligence failure in the Macedonian camp. On the other hand, bringing Darius down from the Syrian plain, through the mountains, and onto the coastal plain worked out to be to Alexander's tactical advantage. The coastal plain was quite narrow. Callisthenes says that it was 2.5 kilometers, or about 1.75 miles, across the plain. That may seem quite wide, but we're talking about a space where there were tens of thousands of soldiers preparing to fight one another. So this was a narrow coastal plain. And it was to Alexander's advantage to fight against the numerically superior Persians in such a space.

ALEXANDER NEL FIUME CYDNUS

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES Alexander ha raggiunto la città di Tarso dalla tarda estate del 333 . Come molti un visitatore di quella città durante l'estate , era caldo . Così ha deciso di fare un tuffo nel fiume Cydnus . Purtroppo per Alexander , le acque del Cydnus sono stati alimentati dalle cime innevate delle montagne del Tauro , e le sue acque erano gelate freddo anche durante il periodo estivo . Così, dopo aver finito la sua nuotata , ha subito fu preso da una convulsione . Dopo la convulsione , ha sviluppato una febbre e insonnia . La maggior parte dei medici di Alessandro disperò per la sua vita , ma uno di loro , un uomo di nome Philip , da Acarnania in Grecia nord-occidentale , ha deciso che poteva curare Alexander dandogli un forte purgante o droga . Prima di Alexander bevuto il purgante , ha ricevuto un messaggio da Parmenione , dicendo: " Beware of Philip . Mi è stato detto che è stato corrotto da Dario avvelenare te. " Alexander ha preso la nota Parmenio , metterla sotto il cuscino , chiamato Filippo in , lo aveva dargli la droga , ha portato fuori la lettera , abbattuto la droga , e ha dato Filippo la lettera. Philip guardò e con calma gli disse che se avesse continuato di fare ciò che è stato detto , si sarebbe ripreso . Le fonti passano attraverso jazz su Alexander tremare e quasi svenire , ma poi recupero , e la reputazione di Filippo è stato salvato . In seguito, Alexander caricato Filippo con magnifici doni , e lo ha contato tra i suoi amici più fedeli . Non c'è nessuna prova , d'altro canto , che l'intervento di Parmenione ha fatto nulla per provocare Alexander mettere in discussione la lealtà di Parmenione a lui . In realtà , Alessandro ha inviato Parmenio lungo per assicurare i passaggi tra Cilicia e la Siria .

BATTLE OF THE ISSOS

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES The Battle of the Issos - Study Guide For those of you who wish to look over a narrative account, read G. Rogers, Alexander: The Ambiguity of Greatness (2004), Chapter 7 (pp. 65-77). Everyone then should read through our ancient sources. These include: Plutarch, Life of Alexander Chapters 20-21, at: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheke or Library, Book 17, Chapters 30-36, at: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/diodorus_siculus/home.html Arrian, Anabasis or Journey Up-Country, Book 2 Chapters 5-12 at: https://archive.org/details/arrianar01arriuoft Curtius Rufus, Historiae or Histories, Book 3.4.1-3.13.17 at: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008158415;view=2up;seq=130 In many ways, the battle of the Issos was the decisive military victory of Alexander's Persian campaign. After the battle at the Issos, the road east to the heart of the Persian empire lay open to Alexander; it was a road that he did not take, at least immediately, for reasons we will discuss. Before that discussion, we will need to straighten out how the battle of Issos came about and why. For, as you will rapidly discover, the events leading up to this great battle reveal Alexander and his staff did not have accurate intelligence about the movements of their enemy. And yet, despite an enormous failure of intelligence (does that sound familiar?), Alexander still won the battle. When your intelligence fails as dramatically as Alexander’s did before a critical engagement against a numerically superior foe and you still manage to bring off a crushing defeat of your adversary, maybe you do deserve the epithet of “Great.” But that will be for you to decide. Among the questions you might consider as you do the source reading(s): How did Darius end up north of Alexander before the battle of Issus? How common are intelligence failures in warfare? In the end do such failures determine who wins and who loses? How and why did Alexander win the battle (which opened up the Levant to him)? What were the long-term effects of this victory? What do you think of Alexander’s treatment of the Persian royal women after the battle? Further relevant modern bibliography: Cohen, A. The Alexander Mosaic: Stories of Victory and Defeat (1997). Devine, A. "The strategies of Alexander the Great and Darius III in the Issus campaign," Ancient World XII (1985) pp. 25-38. Devine, A. "Grand tactics at the battle of Issus," Ancient World XII (1985) pp. 39-59.

FEMME ADA GOUVERNEUR DE LA CARIE

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES Alexandre et son armée puis marcha vers le sud le long de la côte d'Asie Mineure . Il y avait peu de résistance jusqu'à ce qu'ils arrivent à la ville d'Halicarnasse en Carie . Halicarnasse avait été la maison de l'historien grec Hérodote 5ème siècle et a aussi été le site de la célèbre mausolée de Mausole . Halicarnasse était un peu un défi tactique car il a été très bien fortifiée et pourrait être réapprovisionnée de la mer par les Perses . Néanmoins , Alexandre ne voulait pas le laisser là sans être inquiétés . Sa défense avait été organisée par nul autre que Memnon de Rhodes , dont les sages conseils avant la bataille de la rivière Granicus avait été annulée par les gouverneurs perses et les commandants . Après des combats apocalyptiques avant et en arrière , Alexander a réussi à capturer la plupart de la ville , à l'exception des forteresses imprenables pratiquement de Salmacis et Zephyrium . Ces deux forteresses restent en mains des Perses jusqu'à 332 . Mais Alexandre a décidé qu'il avait besoin d'avancer, il a laissé une force de maintien là et se mit en marche de la ville . Derrière lui , il laisse une femme nommée Ada en tant que gouverneur de la Carie . Ada était la sœur de Pixodaros . Pixodaros , vous vous en souvenez , était le satrape de Carie qui avait prévu de se marier sa fille à Philippe Arrhidée avant Alexander a réussi à saborder ses projets de mariage . Ada a adopté comme son fils Alexander et quand les deux forteresses à Halicarnasse fini par tomber , Alexandre lui a fait en le gouverneur de la région . La nomination d'une femme au poste de gouverneur de cette région était sans précédent dans l'histoire grecque ou macédonienne .

DOPO LA CAPTURA DI MILETO DA ALESSANDRO

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES Dopo la cattura di Mileto , Alessandro ha fatto il decisione di smobilitare la sua flotta ad eccezione di un piccolo squadrone di navi da trasporto . Ha preso la decisione perché non aveva abbastanza soldi per continuare a pagare gli equipaggi e sapeva anche che le sue navi da guerra non erano all'altezza per il crack navi da guerra della Marina persiano presidiati dai marinai Fenicia e Cipro . Fin da Alexander fatto che gli strateghi decisione , poltrone hanno discussa la saggezza di esso . Alexander sembra essere stato invitando i Persiani per lanciare un attacco in il Mar Egeo alle spalle e forse anche di navigare verso il greco terraferma e la causa disturbo per lui lì. La decisione di Alessandro, però, era un rischio calcolato e non è stata fatta senza un sacco di pensiero duro sulla situazione strategica . Alexander sapeva che se la flotta persiana navigato attraverso l'Egeo , alla fine si sarebbe venuto in contatto e conflitto con Antipatro , che aveva una grande forza a sua disposizione . E per quanto riguarda l'Egeo orientale è stato interessato , Alessandro perseguiva il suo politica di catturare le città lungo la costa dell'Asia Minore , in tal modo privando la flotta persiana di qualsiasi posto dove atterrare . Così la flotta persiana porrebbe alcuna minaccia strategica per la sua forza . Così smobilitazione la flotta a quel tempo era un segno che Alessandro aveva compreso la situazione strategica molto bene. Aveva intenzione di vincere la sua guerra incontrando e sconfiggendo i persiani a terra . Egli non aveva intenzione di combattere la guerra che i persiani lo volevano combattere. Come ogni buon comandante , che stava per costringerli a combattere la sua guerra .

MISSION OF ALCIMACHUS

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES

2. Guy MacLean Rogers: After the Battle of the Granicus, Alexander appointed a
man named Calas to replace Arsites as the governor of Hellespontine Phrygia.
3. Taxes for the province were kept at the same level as they'd been under
4. the Persians.
5. The Greek city of Zeleia which the Persians had occupied before the
6. Battle of the Granicus, was pardoned, but received no special privileges.
7. Parmenio, meanwhile, was sent on to the old capital of the Persian
8. province, Dascylium to occupy it.
9. Alexander then moved on to Sardis.
10. Sardis had been the center of the Lydian kingdom, which was captured by
11. the Persians in 546 BCE.
12. It had served more recently as the capital of the Persian province.
13. The Persian officer in charge of Sardis surrendered the city without a
14. fight and it was put under the governorship of a
15. Macedonian named Asander.
16. As previously, the Lydians were made to pay tribute, and a garrison was
17. installed in the city, too.
18. Alexander's next stop was Ephesos the oldest and largest Greek city-state on
19. the coast of Western Asia Minor.
20. Ephesos was the home of the great temple of Artemis, one of the seven
21. wonders of ancient world.
22. You'll probably recall that the temple supposedly had burned down on the
23. night that Alexander was born in 356.
24. As Alexander approached Ephesos its pro-Persian ruling clique was thrown
25. out of power and democratic politicians took over.
26. All dues previously paid to the Persians were transferred over to the
27. temple of Artemis.
28. Once he entered the city, Alexander let it be known that he wished to
29. dedicate the newly rebuilt temple of Artemis.
30. But the Ephesians declined, saying that it was inappropriate for a god to
31. make offerings to gods.
32. In reality, the Ephesians may not have been so confident that Alexander was
33. going to win the next round against Darius.
34. And they were a little bit worried about what would happen if Darius or
35. his army came back into the city and found Alexander's name up
36. there on the temple.
37. While Alexander was in Ephesus, envoys from two cities, Magnesia on the
38. Maeander, and Tralleis also came and invited Alexander to
39. come to their cities.
40. Alexander sent Parmenio, with infantry and cavalry to take
41. them up on that offer.
42. He also sent another officer, Alcimachus, the brother of Lysimachus,
43. to the regions of Aeolis and Ionia with a similar force.
44. Throughout these regions, Alcimachus dispossessed the ruling oligarchies
45. and set up democratic institutions in their places.
46. These cities were then allowed to enjoy their customs and their laws and
47. to discontinue the payments that they'd
48. previously made to the Persians.
49. So, at this point, in response to the initiative from the cities of Magnesia
50. and Tralleis, Alexander formulated a policy with respect to the Greek
51. cities of Asia Minor.
52. Some historians have claimed that this shows Alexander's favor toward
53. democratic institutions.
54. That's highly implausible, to say the least.
55. Alexander was a king, and the head of a Panhellenic alliance.
56. It wasn't the fact that these were democracies that he wanted to support.
57. It just so happened that these were the places that were
58. willing to take his side.
59. And so he threw in his hand with them.
60. It was pure pragmatic politics.
61. After sacrificing to Artemis and holding a parade of his troops in the
62. city, Alexander left Ephesos and made his way to Miletus.
63. Miletus, you'll recall, had been at the center of Greek resistance to
64. Persia during the time of the Ionian Revolt in 499 BCE.
65. However, by the middle of the fourth century, it was firmly
66. under Persian control.
67. It was important for Alexander, however, to deal with Miletus because
68. it was a center of Persian power and also had a very strong harbor on three
69. sides, which the Persians could use as a base of operations for campaigns in
70. the Aegean.
71. So there was no avoiding Miletus.
72. Alexander, therefore, seized the offshore island of Lade, preventing
73. the Persian fleet from sailing into the harbor and relieving the city.
74. He then brought up his siege engines, knocked down a section of the city
75. wall, and captured the city.
76. Most of the city's defenders were killed, except for the civilian
77. population and 300 Greek mercenaries.
78. In this case, he spared the mercenaries.
79. It seems that he'd learned his political lesson from the battle at
80. the Granicus.
81. A garrison and tribute were then imposed upon Miletus.