The second half of the Persian Achaemenid Empire not only set the template for how all future empires would rule, it also set the template for how they would fall. Constant warfare, a populace that over the centuries lost its sense of itself and leaders obsessed with power would lead to its eventual downfall. A man would rise in the west, a man who idolized Cyrus the Great; Alexander was coming for the Empire.
The second half of the Persian Achaemenid Empire not only set the template for how all future empires would rule, it also set the template for how they would fall. Constant warfare, a populace that over the centuries lost its sense of itself and leaders obsessed with power would lead to its eventual downfall. A man would rise in the west, a man who idolized Cyrus the Great; Alexander was coming for the Empire.
PART II
One of the interesting things I have noticed between Iranian- American Relations is the USA’s almost dogmatic attempt at re-conquering Iran. Iran escaped from US imperialist clutches roughly 40 years ago and the USA has been aching to re-extend that power or at least punish them ever since. When you look at some people in the Trump administration their interest in Iran is almost comparable to a fetish.
Take for example John Bolton, a well known war hawk and Trumps former National Security Advisor, he said in 2017 at a paris conference for refugees from Iran -Insert speech-
Imagine if the same thing was being said about the United states by Russia, or China for that matter.
The average life span of an empire is 250 years…. After that empires always die, often slowly but overwhelmingly from overreaching in search for power.
The United states is 243 years old…
The Achamenid lasted for 228 years…. And it was destroyed by the same people we are currently in the middle of discussing, The Greeks. Alexander would enter Persepolis and burn it ferociously, earning him the name he still goes by today in Iran -Alexander the accursed. It was something comparable to how the Persians under Xerxes burned the Greek capital of Athens in the year 480 BC…
While Leonidas was defending the pass of Thermopaley, a naval battle with the remaining forces occurred in Artemesium. This battle similarly to Thermoalea has been mythoogized in the subsequent years. the Greeks did perform well and managed to down 400 Persian ships while only losing 100 of their own. Tactically both forces were at a stalemate.
The Greeks abandoned the city of Athens after hearing about what happened to the Spartans to fortifty there position in the better defendable ismus of corinth. Which led Xerxes to raise the city of Athens in 480.
The Greeks were able to defeat the numerically superior Persian fleet at the naval Battle of Salamis. They accomplished this by using the narrow straits of the region to nullify the Persians superior numbers, The Persians having so many ships were unable to organize and therefore lost the battle.
After hearing of this Xerxes feared the Greeks might burn his landbridge and leave him and his army stranded in Greece, he decided to withdraw to Persia and left Mardonius in charge of finishing the Greeks.
The next year Mardonius would meet his death at the Battle of Plataea, the Greeks with their superior infantry and homefield advantage were able to take advantage of the Persians who historians believe equaled the Greek army in size. The Persian army, which always used Cavalry as one of its advantages was unable to utilize this due to the terrain of Plataea, and Greece in general
Some modern historians view the Second Persian Invasion of Greece in a different light, the gyst of it is that we so heavily propagandize and mythologize the Greeks, who represent Democracy and western culture (essentially us) against invading foreigners of a different religion and culture from the east, at Thermopylae and Salamis that we lose sight of reality… In reality Xerxes marched on a Greek battle formation and within 7 days had won a decisive victory and executed A Greek king. Following this he marched on Athens, and enacted his revenge by destroying the city that caused the Ionian revolt 10 years before… He left a token force to mop up the Greeks (who were located on the very fringes of the Empire in land not particularly coveted, and returned to Persepolis.
. As beautiful as Herodtus’ Mythologization of the Greeks has been, this is a podcast on Persia so we will go with this interpretation.
Its interesting to think about the detail weather true or not, we can go into just because of one man, Herodotus, once we get into the times after his death the image of Persia gets much more 2 Dimensional (to varying degrees over the centuries)… For example, take the Persian Immortals the elite troops of the Achaemenid empire … we only have Herodtous’ account of them to go off of. Once we get into the later dynasties you will get a much more simplified version compared to the Greco-persian wars. We should be Truly thankful for Herodotus.
Xerxes, being an Achaemenian’s true passion came from city building, he returned to Persia and constructed many projects including The gate of all nations and the hall of 100 columns. Both were massive and prominent portions of his palace. He continued his father’s work on the royal road, increasing trade throughout the massive empire.
Xerxes was assassinated in 465 BC, of course being an Achaemedian the events surrounding his assassination are shrouded in mystery. We do know that his eldest son did not inherit the throne, possibly hinting at court intrigue.
Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes inherites the throne in 465, thanks to the reforms giving more power to the satraps done by his grandfather Darius, he did face rebellions but they were not too numerous.
Artaxerxes adopted a new strategy with the greeks.
The Athenians whose prestige skyrocketed around the Greek world formed The Delian league, an alliance of Greek city states on the coast of Greece and Ionia (modern day turkey and the Aegean). The purpose of this alliance was to defeat any future invasions of the massive Persian army.
There was another Greek alliance, This Alliance that was dominated by the Spartans and their allies, The Peloponnesian league. The Peloponnesian league consisted of the Greek city states that defeated the Invading Persians under Xerxes, mostly they consisted of the states of Peloponnes (the Sothern most peninsula in Greece).
The reasons for the split in the alliance can be summarized as, The Spartans began to worry about the rise in Athenian power and The spartans had a dubious general named Pausanias, who was accused of trying to sell out his fellow Greeks in an attempt to marry a daughter of Xerxes. Causing the two superpowers to distrust each other
The Goal of the Delian league was divided into 3 efforts, prepare for future invasion from Persia, seek revenge against Persia, and organize a means of dividing spoils of war. The leagues members were given a choice of either offering armed forces or paying a tax to a joint treasure, most states chose the tax.
Artaxerxes introduced a new Persian strategy of weakening the Greeks by funding their adversaries in Greece. This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of the Delian League from the island of Delos to the Athenian acropolis. This divided the Greeks who saw the Athenians as dictators, and rightfully so as the Athenians were stealing tax money from the league.
Artaxerxes also offered asylum to Themistocles, the Athenian hero who was his father’s greatest enemy. After his victory at Salamis Themistocles, fell out of favor with the greeks. They said “He had grown arrogant” and many Athenians were jealous of his power, The Spartans tried to connect him with the plot involving Pausanias.
Themistocles was angry and left for Persepolis. He was greeted warmly by Artaxerxes who offered him a satrapy. Themisocles in a twist of fate would go on to learn the Persian language, traditions and customs. He died in Persia.
After his victory at Salamis, The Persians never again dominated the Mediterranean this honor would go to the Greeks.
Egypt having such a vast history was not easily subdued and revolted in 460 BC, led by a descendant from the 26th Dynasty, the same Dynasty that Artaxerxes relative Cambyses dethroned. They were aided by the Athenians who now dominated the Mediterranean. It took 6 years but the Persians were able to defeat the Egyptian rebellion.
The Athenians for their brave performance signed the peace of Callias. Which officially ended the wars between Greece and Persia which had been going on for almost 3 generations now. The peace gave autonomy to the Ionian states of Asia Minor and prohibited the encroachment of the Persians on Greek soil and prohibited Persian ships from the Agean. Athens also agreed not to interfere with Persia’s possessions in Asia Minor, Cyprus, Libya, or Egypt
Artaxerxes continued the infrastructure projects of his forebearers. He rebuilt the city walls of Jerusalem and helped construct a temple there. The hall of 100 columns in Persepolis was completed during his reign
In 424 Artaxerxes passed away peacefully and naturally he had had 17 children. He proclaimed his heir to be Xerxes II however Xerxes II would be assassinated just 45 days into his rule by his illegitimate half brother Sogdiamus who then took the throne.
Darius II, Artaxerxes II & The 10,000
Karma would be a bitch for Sogdiamus, who would follow suit and be assassinated by his illegitimate brother Darius II who suffocated him with ash so as not to spill royal blood.
The Greeks gave him the moniker “Darius the bastard”
The sun was setting on the acheamenid empire after Artaxerxes, it is said that Darius the bastards’ court was mostly ruled by court eunuchs his wife and sister.
Darius II had an incestuous relationship with one of 17 siblings, a half sister named Parysitis. Contrary to popular belief incestuous relationships were not common in pre-islamic Persia.
Similar to his contemporaries, when Darius II ascended to the throne he first had to deal with rebellions over the massive empire. Including the ever-rebellius Egypt.
In the west of the empire Darius appointed his son Cyrus the younger to be commander of the forces in Asia Minor. Darius sew dissent among the Greeks which led to a war between the Rival Greek alliances, The Peleponnisian league and the Delian league. Darius drained the economy of The Persian empire by sending money to the Spartans which proved crucial in their victory over the Athenians and the Delian league.
Athens would be toppled leading to spartan hegemony
His son Artaxerxes II, who he had out of wedlock with his sister would inherit in 404 BC
Artaxerxes was unable to quash the Egyptian rebellion and a year after his succession Egypt would gain independence.
Cyrus the younger would claim the throne, I’m noticing a trend here, the Achaemenids are not known for their loyalty to family members… Cyrus would hire a group of Greek Mercenaries known as the 10,000.
Cyrus had connections with Greece, he was the messenger who gave all the money to Sparta so that they could defeat the Athenians. Hired 13,000 Greek Mercenaries led by a spartan General to overthrow his brother. The Greeks always being pragmatists joined the civil war as they thought cyrus could be a powerful ally.
These Greek Mercenaries are known as the 10,000…. Simply because 10,000 it a much sexier number than the actual number 13,000
Due to the destruction caused by the Greco-Persian wars and the peleponissian war, many Greek cities were destroyed economically, from this point on the Greeks would become famous mercenaries throughout the Persian empire.
Xenephon, who was a Greek historian, is how we know of the 10,000 best. He was a personal friend of Socrates and similar to Herodotus we should be thankful to have him historically, we learned a lot about the Persian empire from this time through his writings.
The battle of Cunaxa on the outskirts of Babylon, (today about 60 miles outside of Baghdad) secured Artaxerxes II throne, In the battle Cyrus the younger was killed. The 10,000 now had no employer and were trapped deep within enemy territory. Artaxerxes demanded the Greeks lay down their weapons and the Greek commander replied “Conquerors do not give up their arms”. Artaxerxes then offered the Greeks safe passage through their land provided they don’t pillage anywhere in Persia.
The Greeks accepted, and began their long journey back to Greece by following the Tigris river.
The Pesian army went with them to escort the Greeks back, to make sure they didn’t pillage anywhere. Brawls kept breaking out between the two armies so the Persian offered to meet the Greek commanders to discuss this situation over dinner. While at dinner the Persian officer had the Greek high ranking officers arrested and murdered their bodyguards who waited outside.
The Greek commanders were executed for the crime of treason. The Greeks at their camp learned what had happened from a mortally wounded soldier who managed to make it back to camp. The Persians sent messengers and offered safe passage out of the country if they laid down their weapons… The Greeks obviously didn’t trust the Persians after what they had done.
The Greeks now leaderless, far away in an unknown land and running out of supplies began to panic…. Until the next morning Xenephon gave a rousing speech where
He connected with the soldiers on their sense of honor, he told the soldiers if they were going to die they were going to die on their own terms. The Greeks to the man Agreed with Xenephon and they elected new leaders, Xenephon being one of them and a spartan the other.
This is a story on the Persians so I wont spend my time explaining this, but the story and experiences of these Greeks are absolutely amazing, The Greeks who saw the ruins of the ancient medians and Persians, Dealt with tribes all over the massive Persian empire, Snow covered mountains all the while being harassed by the Persian horse archers. if you like The Lord of The Rings this type of book is perfect for you… You can read about it in Xenephon’s book Anabasi
As mentioned earlier the Persian empire was now on a downturn, one of the major effects of the 10,000 was that it showed the empire’s weakness, it caused many satraps to rebel and Alexander would use inspiration from the 10,000 and some of the same routs on his invasion roughly 90 years later.
Back to the battle of Cunaxa, Cyrus the younger with his Greek mercenary 10,000 actually won the battle and after the battle he proudly marched through the enemy lines proclaiming “Clear the way villains, Clear the way!” which they did and they threw themselves at his feet. Cyrus’ crown fell off. A young Persian soldier named Mithridates came across him and mistook him for a regular soldier. He threw a dart which hit Cyrus in the temple and killed him immediately.
Artaxerxes gave Mithridates a large amount of gold to tell others that it was Artaxerxes who had killed cyrus, in an attempt to gain legitimacy. Mithridates agreed but he got drunk at a party one night and began boasting about killing Cyrus.
Furious, Artaxerxes allegedly ordered Mithridates to be murdered in a notoriously torturous way known as scaphism. His punishment as told by Plutarch was as follows:
[The king] decreed that Mithridates should be put to death in boats; which execution is after the following manner: Taking two boats framed exactly to fit and answer each other, they lay down in one of them the malefactor that suffers, upon his back; then, covering it with the other, and so setting them together that the head, hands, and feet of him are left outside, and the rest of his body lies shut up within, they offer him food, and if he refuse to eat it, they force him to do it by pricking his eyes; then, after he has eaten, they drench him with a mixture of milk and honey, pouring it not only into his mouth, but all over his face. They then keep his face continually turned towards the sun; and it becomes completely covered up and hidden by the multitude of flies that settle on it. And as within the boats he does what those that eat and drink must needs do, creeping things and vermin spring out of the corruption and rottenness of the excrement, and these entering into the bowels of him, his body is consumed. When the man is manifestly dead, the uppermost boat being taken off, they find his flesh devoured, and swarms of such noisome creatures preying upon and, as it were, growing to his inwards. In this way Mithridates, after suffering for seventeen days, at last expired.
If the language was a bit too colorful for you (ancient writing often is) essentially what happened was they made him immobile for 17 days, spread food all over his face so that it would attract flies… the flies began to plant babies on and in him until eventually he died from being eaten alive from the inside out by insects…. Wow… Maybe the Assyrians weren’t so bad.
Artaxerxes adopted his fathers policy of how to deal with the Greeks, instead of funding the now dominant Spartans however he supported the defeated Athenians. The Persians destroyed the Spartan fleet that they themselves had funded under Darius’ leadership. Artaxerxes signed a masterful peace treaty with the Greeks allowing the Spartans to dominate mainland Greece and returning the Ionian coast back to Persia without spilling Persian blood.
Artaxerxes doesn’t get enough credit historically but he was a master of manipulation and divide and conquer. After his succesess with the Greeks he turned his attention to the North where a rebellion from his satrapies was occurring… he convinced the tribal leaders that the other satraps were capitulating to Artaxerxes (which was not true) and the opposing satrapies bent the knee
In 366 the Great Satrap revolt occurred. Artaxerxes turned his attention to the independent Egypt where he lost a battle and retreated from which inspired a number of satrapies in Asia Minor to revolt against the Persians. He managed to stop the revolt but what it showed was a weakening of centralized power in Persia.
The Greeks had supported the Great Satrap revolt and so the Persians turned their attention to the Greek city states… by this time Sparta was at war with Thebes. The Persians started secretly supporting the Thebeians in another attempt at Divide and Conquer. The Greek city states all sent diplomats to meet with the Persians. The Persians misstepped and clearly revealed their favor of the Thebans. In response the Athenians sent a large mercany force to help the Egpyitans.
Artaxerxes II died of old age in 358 BC.
ARTAXERXES III
Artaxerxes III inherited in 358, in his late 60s, for 10 months he didn’t reveal the information that his father had died, in order to prevent a civil war, he had 80 of his siblings executed during this time.
Humans are unappreciative beings… The tolerance of Cyrus the great had led to years and years of civil wars and open rebellions. Perhaps machiavellis book The Prince would have suited the Shahanshah’s well. The Achaemenid empire was wrought with rebellions and the satrapies were constantly fighting amongst each other. Made worse by Darius the greats reforms.
Artaxerxes turned his attention to Egypt, he was a young man when Egypt gained independence 60 years before, but he still held a vendetta against their betrayal. He raised a massive army and marched to Egypt, there he was defeated by the Egyptians, who were supported by the Greeks.
Artaxerxes returned in 343 BC with another absolutely massive force numbering around 350,000. He would have made Xerxes proud.
He defeated the Egyptians and the Pharoah of Egypt fled to Ethiopia, never to return.
After this victory over the Egyptians, Artaxerxes had the city walls destroyed, started a reign of terror, and set about looting all the temples. Following in the footsteps of Xerxes and his destruction of Babylon… Persia gained a significant amount of wealth from this looting. Artaxerxes also raised high taxes and attempted to weaken Egypt enough that it could never again revolt against Persia. For the 10 years that Persia controlled Egypt, believers in the native religion were persecuted and sacred books were stolen.[11] With the wealth gained from his reconquering Egypt, Artaxerxes was able to amply reward his mercenaries. He then returned to his capital having successfully completed his invasion of Egypt.
Having been an old man when he inherited the throne, Artaxerxes did a pretty good job as Shahansah, he lived for another 20 years. Stabilizing the country in a time of turmoil. Had Artaxerxes been a younger man and had more time, it is possible he could have been Artaxerxes the great.
### maybe better transition into Greece, not necessary but maybe
Philip II of Macedon
Macedon is located to the north of Greece, culturally they would have considered themselves Greeks but the high Greek cultures of Athens, Sparta, and Thebes would have considered them barbarians, and Greek Wanna-bes
The Barbarian title may have been correct, as demonstrated by their king Phillip II of Macedon,
Phillip today is best known as Alexander The Great’s father but this recognition can be a bit dissatisfying to him and his accomplishments. Before Alexander Phillip was one of the greatest men of the ancient world.
He was a Barbarous looking dude, his many years of constant warfare and harsh lifestyle led him to lose his right eye and he had his leg crushed in one of his battles which caused him to walk with a limp, by the time Alexander had become a young adult.
Although the Oliver Stone movie Alexander was one of the great flops of cinematic history, I really liked the portrayal by Val Kilmer of Phillip, I think he did a good representation of Phillip.
Phillip had a difficult childhood, Greece had been ravaged by years of war and Macedon especially was In a tumultuous situation during his childhood. When he was 15 he was sent away to Thebes (which after one of the Greek civil wars 371 Thebes had become the Hegemon of Greece) where Phillip learned from the best Greek minds on how to be a general.
The other Greeks hated Phillip, they slung all kinds of slurs at him, He was an aggressive barbarian, who broke oaths, an alcoholic… etc you get the picture.
Aeschines is one of the few surviving positive accounts of Phillip, Aeschines said “he was an outstandingly good speaker” also “ I have never in all my life met a man as charming as Phillip”. Realistically his true character was probably a mix of the two, he was an intelligent man who came from a harsh world. He could be charismatic and kind as the Greeks were famous for as well as Brutish and rugged that his Macedonian childhood instilled.
Phillip II was the regent for his young nephew in the year 359 BC (the year before Artaxerxes III inherited his throne) and in 359 he usurped the title from his young nephew.
Macedon at this time was a chaotic mess, seemingly on the brink of collapse. Surrounded by hostile states that wanted to eat it alive. Phillip using masterful statecraft and pragmatism was able to subdue his political enemies and have his fellow family members and pretenders to the throne either killed or exiled securing his hegemony.
His first step was to improve and reform the Macedonian army, which he did by introducing the Phalanx, Now the Phalanx was a stereotypically Greek military procedure dating back way further than the Greeks or Phillip, but the Macedonian Phalanx was pure military genius. Alexander would later use to crush the mightiest empire in human history, the Persian empire.
The Difference between the Macedonian Phalanx and the regular Greek Phalanx was all about unit discipline and cohesion. Phillip increased the amount of training required for the infantry. The gear of the Macedonian Phalanx was actually lighter than their Greek counterpart about 10 pounds lighter on average however they would use a gigantic spear called a Sarissa, a double-pointed pike over 6 meters (20 feet) in length, weighing about 14.5 pounds. (compared to the regular one which was less than half the size and weight) the formation of the Phalanx was absolute, called the Syntagmata each unit was 16 files long with 16 men in each file, for a total of 256 men in each unit. Every unit would have a leader called a syntagmatarch, the most experienced man who would serve on the front row.
The goal of a Macedonian Phalanx was not meant to break the enemy with pure strength but was to hold the enemy in place. The Phalanx was indestructible when attacked from the front, (its weakness resided on the right and the rear). While the Macedonian Phalanx engaged its enemy units Phillip (and later Alexander) would have heavy cavalry go around the enemy and flank them, which would cause a general panic and route.
In ancient warfare victory was all about routing the enemy.
The only negative side to the Macedonian Phalanx was that the Sarissa was completely useless out of formation, it was so massive that if the phalanx broke the soldiers would be required to use their short sword to defend themselves, which was much less effective in combat.
Now that Phillip had secured Macedon, he turned his attention to his southern neighbor Thessaly. Thessaly was a famous region of Greece, settled in the very north of Greece proper it was a wealthy region known as the breadbasket of ancient Greece and it was particularly renowned for its Horses which were the finest in the Greek world (good horses which would be essential for Philips army)
What is impressive is Phillip used his masterful diplomacy instead of an outright invasion to bring Thessaly into the fold. For 10 years he went to Thessaly not as an invader but as a peace bringer, assisting clans and different city-states in their wars.
Polyaenus, a Macedonian author, said of Phillip “he Always responded positively for requests for aid. When he won, he did not exile the losers, take away their arms or knock down their walls. He supported rather than destroyed factions, took care of the weak, brought down the more powerful, was a friend to the people and cultivated the popular leaders. By these stratagems Phillip mastered Thessaly, Not by arms.”
Eventually the Thessalians elected Phillip Archon of the league of Thessaly for life. A foreign king. An unprecedented move
After securing Thessaly Phillip remained calm, feeling out the moment. In 346 2 major tribes unified against Phillip in Illyria, (modern day Albania) a place where the Greeks definitely considered the people Barbarians, where Phillips most famous wife (he had 7 of them) Olympia, came from.
Phillip using his Thessalian cavalry and Macedonian Phalanx crushed the Illyrians.
4 years later in 342 he installed Alexandros, a hand picked puppet to replace Olympia’s uncle in the kingdom of Epirus (just south of Illyria) securing Northern Greece.
Phillip formed an alliance with Thebes (located in central Greece just west of Athens), keeping the other powerful Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in check.
He then turned his attention to Thrace where he quickly made short work of the kingdom.
Phillip was aware of Artaxerxes and the Achaemenid tactic of divide and conquer that had kept the Greeks weak and fighting each other for roughly 160 years now. So he hesitated to attack the southern Greek states until the other Greek city states in a moment of weakness sent a delegation to Susa, to ask Artaxerxes for Aid. They were politely rejected by the aging monarch.
On their return Phillip would pounce, leading to the unification of Greek city states (excluding sparta which due to its mountainous terrain and fierce warriors remained isolated).
Just as Phillip was preparing for his ultimate goal, conquest of the Persian Empire, Phillip at a celebration of the newly unified Greece was stabbed in the chest by one of his bodyguards, Killing him in 336 BC.
Many people have speculated weather alexander or his mother Olympia were involved in his father’s assassination, we can never be sure. But what we can be sure of is Alexander having shared Phillips ambitions inherited a strong, experienced, state-of-the-art army and his goal was to conquer Persia
DARIUS III
Just 2 years before Phillip was assassinated, Artexerxes III was assassinated in his court. This would send the Achaemenid empire to the point of no return. With Greece building up and court intrigue leading to more and more chaos within the leadership of Persa, it seemed Persia was now mortally wounded.
The Assassin was a man named Bagoas, a court eunuch who was attempting a power grab
Court Eunuch’s might seem a rather strange thing that you regularly hear about in many different cultures and times (and Game of Thrones). Court Eunuchs have been recorded in this region as far back as ancient Sumer in the 21st century BC. The reason for castrating a man is that they would be more trustworthy by the king and nobility. Not being able to have children for instance allowed them to be in a position close to the king allowing them a lot of power and influence. Normally this condition led them to have a lower social class.
But anyways… Artaxerxes IV a son of Artaxerxes III inherited the throne and upon inheriting, Phillip of Macedon the now risen star of the west, sent a delegation to ask for compensations from past grievances done to Greece by Persia. the new Shahanshah rejected this outright and Phillip sent an expedition of 10,000 soldiers, perhaps a slap in the face and reminder of the 10,000 that escaped Persia roughly 60 years before.
While the Greek army was marching, Artaxerxes attempted to assassinate Bagoas, fearing he was trying to make a puppet of of himself, his assassination failed and Bagoas in turn sent an assassination for Artaxerxes which worked… following this much of the royal family would be assassinated.
Bagoas now installed a distant relative named Darius to the throne… Thus becoming Darius III Shahanshah. Darius was not a ruler, he was a warrior. on one of the previous kings expeditions Darius won a battle in hand to hand combat earning himself the respect of the king however He didn’t have experience with leadership or government.
Upon his ascension many nobles rebelled remember
The Greek army began pillaging and liberating many of the coastal Greek towns of Asia Minor… while this was going on Phillip was assassinated 336 BC. The 20 year old Alexander was quick to take his fathers place.
Alexander was the perfect candidate to assume his father’s throne. Unlike Darius III he led soldiers into battle and had experience ruling as regent of his father’s kingdom while his father was away fighting. He was tutored by Aristotle until he was 16
Alexander had an origin story similar to Cyrus The Great…
According to the ancient Greek biographer Plutarch, on the eve of the consummation of her marriage to Philip, Olympias dreamed that her womb was struck by a thunderbolt that caused a flame to spread "far and wide" before dying away. Sometime after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wife's womb with a seal engraved with a lion's image.[13] Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of these dreams: that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb; or that Alexander's father was Zeus.
Alexander would take a page strait from the Persian book and upon his ascension to the throne he would have a purge where most of his fellow claimaints to the throne would be assassinated, securing his position on the throne.
His fellow Greek city states such as Thebes, Thessaly and Athens would also take a page from the Persian playbook and revolt upon Alexander’s ascension. He quickly raised an army of 3,000 cavalry and quashed any rebellions… they kept occurring, Alexander would go south and the north would rise up, alexander would go north and the south would rise up… Alexander decided to make an example out of Thebes, the greatest Greek state. He crushed Thebes, destroyed the city and sold the civilians into salvery, Thebes once the greatest state in Greece was completely destroyed. After this the other Greek city states behaved.
In 334 BC Alexander marched a Macedonian army of 40,000 strong into Asia Minor. Alexander lacked the diplomatic instinct of his father Phillip, Alexander was about brute force not diplomacy. Due to the current state of Persia under Darius III, this kind of reckless behavior actually benefitted him.
While Alexander was conquering pro-Greek cities on the Ionian coast Darius III was dealing with rebellions in Egypt and Babylon. Darius Micromanaged everything… He didn’t trust anyone after his dealings with The eunuch Bagoas.
Alexanders first major battle with Persia was in Asia Minor at the battle of Granicus. Alexander was fighting a small force of 30,000 Persians, Outnumbering the Persians for the first time in Greek history. The reason it was such a small force was because the Satraps were running as independent entities. Darius who was dealing with Babylon and Egypt wasn’t even aware of Alexanders presence until he liberated the Ionian costal towns (most of them welcomed Alexander as a liberator), which his father marched out to do 2 years before.
While on his travels one of Alexanders stories that has come down to us through the web of history occurred. Today it is used as a metaphor in English, The Gordian Knot.
As the story goes, in 333 B.C. the Macedonian conqueror marched his army into the Phrygian capital of Gordium in modern day Turkey. Upon arriving in the city, he encountered an ancient wagon, its yoke tied with what one Roman historian later described as “several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened.”
Phrygian tradition held that the wagon had once belonged to Gordius, the father of the celebrated King Midas. An oracle had declared that any man who could unravel its elaborate knots was destined to become ruler of all of Asia.
According to the ancient chronicler Arrian, the impetuous Alexander was instantly “seized with an ardent desire” to untie the Gordian knot. After wrestling with it for a time and finding no success, he stepped back from the mass of gnarled ropes and proclaimed, “It makes no difference how they are loosed.” He then drew his sword and sliced the knot in half with a single stroke.
the young king was immediately hailed as having outsmarted the ancient puzzle. That same night, Gordium was rocked by a thunder and lightning storm, which Alexander and his men took as a sign that he had pleased the gods.
Today the Gordian Knot is used to describe a complex situation that can best be solved by thinking outside the box…
Darius realizing he was losing the western portion of his empire, began raising an army to meet Alexander, who was continuing his march to the south of modern day Turkey and then once he hit the sea continued east. By the spring of 333BC alexander had marched all the way past the Taurus river
he continued south into Syria, Darius having finally raised his army flanked Alexander cutting off his supply lines… the Persian morale was high and the two armies met near the town of Issus.
The Battle of Issus would be one of the major defining moments in Persian history. Estimates for the number of troops has varied quite a bit, in the past estimates were quite large at around 200,000-600,000 Persian troops. Modern historians think the logistics of fielding such a large army would have been difficult. They place the number today, at around 60,000-100,000… Still giving the Persians a large advantage.
The Shahanshah himself Darius III would lead the Persian side. The Persians had never lost a battle with their Shahanshah directly leading them.
A Greek general named Charidemus, offered a strategy to Darius… he requested to let him split the troops and have himself Charidemus lead the separated force to tire Alexanders troops. Darius rejected believing Alexander nothing more than an upstart. Upon hearing his rejection Charidemus muttered words of contempt in Greek at Darius… Darius spoke Greek well overheard this and had his general executed, before the battle… losing a key general.
At the formation of the battle Alexander spread his troops thinner than normal, in order to match the numerically superior Persian force in length.
Originally the battle was not going well for alexander, he lost a number of his high ranking cavalry officers in a failed charge across a river situated between the two armies. As alexanders right flanks’ moral was beginning to drop and the men were beginning to tire…
One of those strange instances that changes history occurred… Alexander saw Darius and with his elite troops charged at him head on. Darius seeing Alexander fled in terror for his life.
Darius might have been a ferocious warrior in 1 to 1 combat but he was not a tactician and not a leader. the story of this Barbarian warlord from the fringes of his empire clearly did a number on his psyche.
The Persian men having seen their Shahanshah flee at the sight of the enemy quickly broke rank and fled as well…
For anyone who knows how ancient battles work the point of the battle is to rout the other army. IT is said that Phobos the Greek god of fear rules the battlefield. Once an enemy troops begin to start routing it causes a mass panic and the entire force will begin panicking and routing out of fear of their lives… that is when the killing begins.
Darius fled so fast that Alexander captured his wife, his mother and his two daughters, one of whom he would marry in the future.
I kinda feel bad for Darius… Ancient history is always a difficult thing to interpret and I wonder how much of this story is true. It seems strange to me that a man who became famous for his hand to hand combat would be remembered as such a coward. Who knows… as Winston Churchill once said “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”… a lot of this time is remembered through the mortal enemy of the Persians the Greeks, and a lot of what we know about Alexander is through propaganda written by his men after the Persian wars would conclude…
Perhaps if I spoke Persian I could get a different perspective on Darius III and how he is taught in Iran today… Alas I don’t so we will go off of what the Greeks wrote.
The many peoples of Persia having heard of the cowardice of their king and the strength of Alexander began simply submitting to him when he entered their towns.
Alexander had no issues until he reached Tyre an Island coastal city about 1 mile off of modern day Lebanon. For 7 months Alexander blockaded the city not allowings ships to leave. He created a causeway of rocks leading to the city. Having wasted so long trying to take Tyre Alexander was furious and he had 8,000 civilians of the city massacred… as a message to the other satraps of the Persian empire.
The message mostly worked, and the remaining cities of the Levant surrenderd to Alexander without a fight… excluding Gaza
Gaza was another difficult city to siege, being located on high hills, The Greeks paid dearly for their siege with thousands dying… Alexander himself would get a wound in his shoulder… Again furious for having stopped him Alexander had all the civilians of Gaza executed or sold into slavery.
Alexander now entered the ancient city of Jerusalem where he was welcomed as a hero. He entered the temple of Solomon, built by Cyrus the great many years before. The Jews recognized Alexander as a prophetic savior mentioned n their holy books…
Alexander continued his way to Egypt.
In Egypt Alexander was treated as a god, he founded the city of Alexandria and continued to the heart of the Persian Empire… Babylon where he planned for a final confrontation with Darius.
Both armies met deep in the heart of the Persian empire, at the modern day city of Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan… This battle would be the battle which would decide the future of not only the Persian empire but the known world..
Alexander was outnumbered once again, his forces this time were at about 47,000 facing him was Darius whose forces, again were most likely exaggerated… The ancient sources say he led a 1 million man army… Modern historians put the number at 100,000… Still leaving Alexander at a 2:1 disadvantage.
Before the battle Darius had spent the 2 years since his defeat at Issus trying to get alexander to withdraw from Asia. In 3 separate negation attempts, Darius made offers of peace.
In the first negotiation attempt Darius had an offensive tone, he demanded the withdraw of Alexander from the Persian empire and the release of his captive soldiers (some accounts say he offered to pay a ransom some not) Alexander refused
The second attempt was much more polite, Darius offered Alexander a marriage with his daughter (who along with Darius’ wife, mother and other daughter had been in Alexanders’ captivity) He offered alexander all the land west of the Halys River (modern day Western Turkey. And a treaty of friendship. Alexander refused
Darius started to prepare for another battle after the failure of the second negotiation attempt. Even so, he made a third and final effort to negotiate after Alexander's departure from Egypt. Darius' third offer was much more generous. He praised Alexander for the treatment of his mother Sisygambis and offered him all territory west of the Euphrates, co-rulership of the Achaemenid Empire, the hand of one of his daughters and 30,000 talents of silver. In the account of Diodorus, Alexander deliberated this offer with his friends. Parmenion was the only one who spoke up, saying, "If I were Alexander, I should accept what was offered and make a treaty." Alexander reportedly replied, "So should I, if I were Parmenion." Alexander again refused the offer of Darius, insisting that there could be only one king of Asia. He called on Darius to surrender to him or to meet him in battle to decide who was to be the sole king of Asia.
The day of the battle both armies met and Alexander stretched his flanks the same as at Issus.
Darius this time had brought scythed chariots and war elephants to the battle both special weapons meant to demoralize the Greeks.
Alexander controlled the right flank and he had a fellow general control the left. First Alexander and his right flank were attacked and following this the left was attacked by Darius…
Darius thought the center would be week with both commanders and their elite troops occupied on the corners… Darius sent in the Immortals
As Darius’ immortals began taking ground Alexander realized Darius was exposed.
Alexander once again charged at Darius. Just the sight of Alexander caused many of the men to flee in terror and… Darius fled as well…
One of the interesting things is if Darius had held on a little longer his right flank was about to rout the Macedonian left flank, he could have flanked the center (remember the key to dominating the Macedonian Phalanx was flanking it)… We will never know what could have happened had Darius been a little more savvy as a commander or brave.
Darius’ remaining soldiers began a rout as soon as they realized their Shahanshah had abandoned them
The Persian empire…. Was now Alexanders ending over 200 years of Achaemenid rule.
Darius would escape to the very fringes of his empire in the steppe, a place called Bactria where he would be assassinated and have his title Usurped for his incompetence…
The Persian empire that the Shahanshah’s had carved out would stay a constant world player (with changes in leadership as we will soon see) up until the modern era. At the empires height in 480 BC it connected approximately 49.4 million people out of the worlds population of 112.4 million. The Achaemenid Empire was the only civilization in all of history to connect over 40% of the global population. The empire would set the model of how to run a centralized bureaucratic administration with multicultural policy and advanced infrastructure systems such as road systems and postal systems. The use of a unifying lingua franca across its territories in order to promote empire and easy communication. The Achemenid empire was the template for how all future great empires should run..
Including Alexander’s empire who adopted the title Basileùs Basiléōn The Greek translation of Shahanshah (king of kings). Alexander began adopting Persian customs and Persian dress… which offended many of his Hellenic generals.
He was relentless and after defeating the Bactrian pretender to his now Hellenic-persian throne Alexander continued deep into the Indian subcontinent. The only thing that could stop him was the homesickness of his men who eventually revolted in 323 BC after 10 years of fighting…
Alexander returned to Babylon… where he died unexpectedly of either Malaria, assassination or alcoholism at the young age of 32…
When asked who the empire should go to Alexander on his death bed allegedly said
"To the strongest"
Setting the scene for the Wars of the Diadochi
You might have noticed as time progressed we referred to more and more Greek sources and our picture of the Persian Shahanshah’s got a little more 2D … This is because Alexander and his soldiers would destroy many historic places in the Persian empire. For example Persepolis the capital and Jewel of the Persian empire was looted … leading to the loss of thousands of years of Texts and religious scrolls… The state religion of Persia, Zoroastrianism lost their sacred book in the chaos . The Avesta.
Alexander isn’t known as Alexander the Great in Persia; he is known as Alexander the Accursed.
In a strange way Alexander admired Cyrus the founder of the Persian Empire , he was furious when he found out his soldiers had sacked his sacred temple.