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.