After an episode where the two were drinking, Cleitus scolded the king, telling him, in essence, that he should follow Macedonian ways, not Persian customs. Cleitus lifted up his right hand and said, "this is the hand, Alexander, that saved you then at the Battle of Granicus ," according to Arrian. Alexander, infuriated, killed him with a spear or pike. Alexander took his act of murder terribly. Alexander's days in central Asia were not all unhappy.
After his troops had captured a fortress at a place called Sogdian Rock in modern-day Uzbekistan in B. Plutarch explained in " The Life of Alexander the Great " that he made an alliance with a local ruler named Taxiles, who agreed to allow Alexander to use his city, Taxila, as a base of operations.
He also agreed to give Alexander all the supplies he needed — which was very useful given Alexander's long supply lines. In exchange, Alexander agreed to fight Porus, a local ruler who set out against Alexander with an army that reportedly included elephants.
The two armies met at the Hydaspes River in B. Alexander bided his time; he scouted the area, built up a fleet of ships and lulled Porus into a false sense of security. When Porus mobilized his forces he found himself in a predicament; his cavalry was not as experienced as Alexander's. As such, he put his elephants — animals the Macedonians had never faced in large numbers — up front. Alexander responded by using his cavalry to attack the wings of Porus's forces, quickly putting Porus's cavalry to flight.
The result was that Porus's cavalry, foot soldiers and elephants eventually became jumbled together. Making matters worse for Porus, Alexander's soldiers attacked the elephants with javelins, and the wounded elephants went on a rampage, stomping on both Alexander and Porus's troops. With his army falling apart, Porus stayed until the end and was captured.
Arrian wrote that Porus was brought to the Macedonian king and said, "treat me like a king, Alexander. Haphaestion's death caused a drastic change in Alexander's personality, Abernethy said. He lost his self-control and his compassion for his men. He became reckless, self-indulgent and inconsistent, causing a loss of loyalty by his men and officers. He had always had a violent temper and been rash, impulsive and stubborn. The drinking made these traits worse.
Under such conditions, many of his men insisted that Alexander turn back home, according to Abernethy. Sailing south down the Indus River, he fought a group called the Malli and was severely wounded after he led an attack against their city wall. After reaching the Indian Ocean he split his force in three. One element, with the heavy equipment, would take a relatively safe route to Persia, the second, under his command, would traverse Gedrosia, a largely uninhabited deserted area that no large force had ever crossed before.
A third force, embarked on ships, would support Alexander's force and sail alongside them. The Gedrosia crossing was a miserable failure, and upto three-quarters of Alexander's troops died along the way. His fleet was unable to keep up with the main force due to bad winds.
Why Alexander chose to lead part of his force through Gedrosia is a mystery. It could simply be because no one had ever attempted to bring such a large force through it before and Alexander wanted to be the first.
Alexander returned to Persia, this time as the ruler of a kingdom that stretched from the Balkans to Egypt to modern-day Pakistan. Alexander got married to two other women, in addition to Roxana, whom he had married in central Asia. Roxana likely did not take kindly to her two new co-wives and, after Alexander's death, she may have had them both killed, Plutarch wrote.
In June B. The army proclaimed Alexander the feudal king and proceeded to help him murder other potential heirs to the throne. Ever a loyal mother, Olympia further ensured her son's claim to the throne by slaughtering the daughter of King Philip II and Cleopatra and driving Cleopatra herself to suicide.
Even though Alexander was the feudal king of Macedonia, he didn't obtain automatic control of the Corinthian League. In fact, the southern states of Greece were celebrating Philip II's death and expressed divided interests.
Athens had its own agenda: Under the leadership of democratic Demosthenes, the state hoped to take charge of the league. As they launched independence movements, Alexander sent his army south and coerced the region of Thessaly into acknowledging him as the leader of the Corinthian League. Then during a meeting of league members at Thermopylae, Alexander elicited their acceptance of his leadership. By the fall of , he reissued treaties with the Greek city-states that belonged to the Corinthian League — with Athens still refusing membership — and was granted full military power in the campaign against the Persian Empire.
But, before preparing for war with Persia, Alexander first conquered the Thracian Triballians in , securing Macedonia's northern borders. As Alexander was nearing the end of his northern campaign, he was delivered the news that Thebes, a Greek city-state, had forced out the Macedonian troops that were garrisoned there. Fearing a revolt among the other city-states, Alexander leapt into action, marching his massive army—consisting of 3, cavalry and 30, infantry—southward all the way to the tip of the Greek peninsula.
Meanwhile, Alexander's general, Parmenion, had already made his way to Asia Minor. Alexander and his forces arrived in Thebes so quickly that the city-state didn't have a chance to pull together allies for its defense. Three days after his arrival, Alexander led the massacre of Thebes.
It was Alexander's hope that the destruction of Thebes would serve as a warning to city-states contemplating revolt. His intimidation tactic proved effective; the other Greek city-states, including Athens, chose to pledge their alliance to the Macedonian Empire or opted to remain neutral.
In , Alexander embarked on his Asiatic expedition, arriving in Troy that spring. By fall, Alexander and his army had made it across the southern coast of Asia Minor to Gordium, where they took the winter to rest. In the summer of , the troops of Alexander and Darius once again went head to head in battle at Issus. Although Alexander's army was outnumbered, he used his flair for military strategy to create formations that defeated the Persians again and caused Darius to flee.
In November of , Alexander declared himself the king of Persia after capturing Darius and making him a fugitive. Next up on Alexander's agenda was his campaign to conquer Egypt. After besieging Gaza on his way to Egypt, Alexander easily achieved his conquest; Egypt fell without resistance. In , he created the city of Alexandria, designed as a hub for Greek culture and commerce.
Later that year, Alexander defeated the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela. Alexander's next conquest was eastern Iran, where he created Macedonian colonies and in seized the fortress in Ariamazes. Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded some 20 cities that bore his name, most of them east of the Tigris River.
The first, and greatest, was Alexandria in Egypt, which would become one of the leading Mediterranean cities. At first, the cities must have been inhospitable, and little more than defensive garrisons. The purpose of these administrative centers was to control the newly conquered subject populations. Alexander attempted to create a unified ruling class in conquered territories like Persia, often using marriage ties to intermingle the conquered with conquerors.
He also adopted elements of the Persian court culture, adopting his own version of their royal robes, and imitating some court ceremonies. Many Macedonians resented these policies, believing hybridization of Greek and foreign cultures to be irreverent.
He placed Persian soldiers, some of who had been trained in the Macedonian style, within Macedonian ranks, solving chronic manpower problems. Another, more plausible, story claims that Alexander passed his signet ring to Perdiccas, a bodyguard and leader of the companion cavalry, thereby nominating him as his official successor. However, the infantry rejected this arrangement since they had been excluded from the discussion.
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