Alexander

by H A CULLEY

  It wasn’t until they reached the Vale of Tempe that they encountered opposition. The Vale was a gorge in northern Thessaly located between Mount Olympus to the north and Mount Ossa to the south. The Pineios River flowed through the Vale, which was six miles long and as narrow as 25 metres in places, lined by cliffs nearly fifteen hundred feet high. It was said to be a favourite haunt of Apollo and the Muses. As they neared the entrance to the Vale several of the Thracian scouts came back to inform Kleandros that a force of several thousand Thessalians were blocking the pass. Kleandros halted his column five miles from the Thessalians and, whilst his men made a defended camp for the night, he called his senior officers to his tent for a conference.

  ‘I’ll send a messenger back to inform the king, of course,’ he began. ‘But I want to find a solution before he gets here; trying to fight a battle in the Vale will be bloody and will hold Alexander up. In any case, he wants to win the Thessalians back to his side, not alienate them.’

  ‘Is there no way around the gorge, kyrios?’ one of the engineer officers asked.

  ‘There is another way into Thessaly, through the Sarantoporo Pass, but that would be a long detour and the king has impressed upon me that time is of the essence. He wants to be amongst them before our enemies can organise properly. In any case, that too is probably defended.’

  ‘Then we need to find a way around this Thessalian army,’ Philomedes stated. ‘If Iphitos could find a way up the mountain and around the Gates of Fire, can’t we do the same thing here?’

  ‘I gather he had the help of a local goatherd, though.’ Kleandros grinned at Philomedes, who flushed in embarrassment. He didn’t like to be reminded of his humble origins.

  ‘Well, there must be goat boys here as well.’

  The next morning Philomedes set off at dawn dressed in an exomis and armed with just a sword to try and find a suitable guide. He took with him the youngest of his tetrachoi, a young engineer officer, one of the Thracians who was said to be outstanding with a bow, and Myrto. The five of them rode along the lower slopes of Mount Ossa heading north-west, at right angles to the gorge. At first they saw no-one but then, after two hours of riding, they saw a flock of goats half a mile away further up the side of the mountain. They couldn’t see anyone looking after them, which probably meant that the goatherd was sitting in the shade in some sheltered spot.

  They dismounted and, leaving Myrto in charge of the horses, started to scramble up the rocks towards the goats. They found the goatherd by luck. He was an elderly man lying on a rock and, far from sheltering in the shade, he was asleep in the sun. He had a large dog with him. It too was asleep when Philomedes first spotted him two hundred yards away from them. The dog suddenly awoke and started to bark, but there was a deep fissure between the Macedonian group and the old man and his dog. The man woke up and stared at them before grinning.

  ‘If you’re after my goats, they can run faster that you can boys.’ He cackled with laughter but then stopped suddenly when the Thracian archer put an arrow into one of his flock.

  ‘That’ll do for our supper, old man, but it’s you we want to talk to. Stop! If you move another inch the next arrow will kill your dog.’

  The man paused in his attempted flight and sat down again resignedly.

  ‘What is it you want with me?’

  ‘Stay there and keep your dog under control; I’m coming across to talk to you.’

  Whilst the archer kept a wary eye on the goatherd and his dog, Philomedes and the engineer officer climbed down into the fissure and up the other side onto the flat rock where the goatherd stood. Philomedes saw with relief that the dog was now being restrained by a length of rope held by the man.

  ‘All we want is to know if there is a path that will take us around the first part of the Vale.’

  The man gave them a grin which exposed his few remaining blackened teeth.

  ‘You want to surprise those soldiers in the rear? Why should I help you? They are Thessalians and so am I.’

  ‘I’m not Macedonian. I used to be a Thessalian goat boy near Thermopylae. I want to stop a lot of unnecessary loss of life, which there will be if there’s a battle here.’

  The men looked sceptical about his claim to have been a goat boy so he asked him a few questions that only someone used to looking after the animals would know the answer to. When Philomedes answered them correctly, he sighed and nodded.

  ‘Yes, there is a way but, if you want to take your horses with you, you’re going to have to do some work to get from the plain up to it.’

  By the time that they returned to camp that night they knew where the narrow path was and what they had to do to use it. In essence, they would have to construct a pathway up a steep rock face. They couldn’t go straight up – it was too steep – but they could make it traverse the rock back and forth as a zig-zag. The next day work started on the path and, by the time that Alexander arrived, it was nearly complete.

  The king immediately rode forward accompanied by Antipater, Hephaestion, Kleandros and fifty Companions to meet the commander of the Thessalians.

  ‘Why are you blocking my path? Have you turned traitors? I am my father’s successor and therefore the Archon of Thessaly.’

  The Thessalian commander looked uncomfortable.

  ‘I apologise, basileus, by my orders are to keep you here until the grand council of the federation had reached a decision as to whether to acknowledge you as archon or to appoint someone else, a Thessalian.’

  ‘And what, in your opinion, is the likely outcome of their deliberations?’

  ‘I, um, well.’

  ‘Come on, spit it out.’

  ‘There are many who think that it’s time that Thessaly ruled itself again.’

  ‘And spend your time fighting each other, like before?’ Alexander replied scornfully. ‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea.’

  With that Alexander wheeled his horse around and cantered away, followed by his escort.

  -X-

  Philomedes rode in the command group with Hephaestion, who was in charge of the detachment, the epihipparchos who commanded the thousand King’s Companions and the Thracian hipparchos with whom he had travelled down through Macedon. Their task was to appear at the rear of the Thessalians and trap them between Alexander’s two thousand cavalrymen and themselves. Although there were six thousand Thessalian militia blocking the gorge, only half were hoplites and they had not been trained to fight facing both ways. Antipater had tried to persuade the king to wait until his hoplites and the rest of the army arrived, but Alexander was in a hurry.

  The path that the old goatherd had shown them was very narrow in places and at times they had to proceed in single file leading their horses. Hephaestion had prayed to Apollo and sacrificed to him before starting up the track and, when they arrived at the far end having only lost one man and his horse, he offered thanks to the gods and made a second sacrifice of a goat that Philomedes had purchased from the old goatherd.

  They camped and waited until dawn the next day before riding north up the track. Alexander had set out from his camp with his men at the same time and both groups arrived within sight of the Thessalian camp an hour later. They had caught them unprepared: some were cooking breakfast, some washing in the river and most had yet put on their armour. Their commander knew when he had been outwitted and surrendered, kneeling and offering his sword to Alexander.

  The king was all smiles at the success of his plan and he told the Thessalians that he would pardon them if they swore and oath of loyalty to him as their archon. There were a few dissenters but they were silenced by their comrades, sometimes with a knife in their ribs. When Alexander marched on later in the day his army had been more than doubled in size. Once out of the Vale of Tempe, he decided to camp and await the arrival of the rest of his army. In the meantime he sent messengers to all the major cities of Thessaly calling a meeting of their representatives to be held at Pherae in three weeks’ time. His message was couched in fr
iendly terms and included several references to the prosperity achieved under his father’s rule as archon. It concluded with a thinly veiled warning that any city states that failed to send a representative to the council meeting risked being raised to the ground.

  Less than a month later Alexander was enthroned as Archon of Thessaly and he moved on to Thermopylae. This time the Hot Gates were held by a loyal Thessalian garrison under a Macedonian commander and so he had no problems in reaching the northern border of Boeotia before anyone could stop him.

  -X-

  ‘Are you nervous?’ Hephaestion asked with a smile as he entered Alexander’s bed chamber in the governor’s palace in Corinth.

  ‘Not really. I don’t expect any opposition, especially as Sparta has decided not to send a delegate.’

  The king was being dressed by his skeuphorus ready for the meeting of the grand council of the League of Corinth. He had elected to wear a long white chiton richly embroidered in gold and a scarlet himation for the event. Although his was definitely the hand of steel he wanted it to be hidden inside a velvet glove today. Everyone was well aware that they were here for one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to elect Alexander as Hegemon of all Greece and appoint him as Polemarch of the army to invade Persia.

  After his success in Thessaly, Thebes, the main city of Boeotia, had been taken completely by surprise when its inhabitants awoke one morning to find Alexander encamped before the city with an army twenty thousand strong. The city surrendered before noon and, after taking hostages to ensure their future good behaviour, he moved on towards Athens.

  This time the city was well aware of the enemy at their gates and panic set in. After a heated discussion, the city agreed to send a delegation north to meet Alexander and profess their loyalty to him. It was a triumph, with the loss of one man who had fallen to his death bypassing the Vale of Tempe, Alexander had established himself as master of Greece. He turned aside from Athens and made for Corinth from where he had sent out messengers to all the city states of Greece.

  Now the representatives of the city elders, governors and kings who ruled Greece sat in the amphitheatre of Corinth and awaited the appearance of the new master of Greece. Most actually welcomed the stability that his rule would bring; sending a contingent to fight the ancient enemy – Persia – seemed to them a fair price to pay. However, there were others who saw Alexander’s imminent departure for Anatolia as an opportunity to betray the oath that they were about to swear and shake off the yoke of Macedonian rule. Four in particular sat together complaining and then plotting revolt. They were the delegates from Thebes and the three main Illyrian kings: Glaucias of the Taulantii, Autarieus of the Autarati and, most surprisingly of all, the man who had given him shelter when Alexander had fled from the wrath of his father, Cleitus of the Dardanians.

  When Alexander entered the amphitheatre and stood alone in the centre of the stage the crowd came to their feet and applauded, some dutifully but many enthusiastically.

  ‘Men of Greece,’ Alexander began. ‘I thank you all for coming. We are here to create a peace amongst us that will last for generations. For too long we have wasted the blood of our young men fighting in petty squabbles amongst ourselves. But when we unite, as our forefathers did against Xerxes and his Persian hordes when he defeated them at the Battle of Plataea a hundred and fifty years ago, we are invincible.’

  No-one liked to point out that it was the Spartans who led the Greek army at Plataea. By then Xerxes had been forced to return to return to Persia to deal with revolts there, taking much of his army with him.

  ‘I come before you today as a supplicant, offering my services to you as Hegemon, not to interfere with how you rule your own cities and states, but to lead our armies in the grand invasion of Persia that we have all dreamt of for so long. However, if there is one amongst you who feels that they are better suited to be your Hegemon and Polemarch let him step forward now.’

  The stillness in the amphitheatre was complete; only the sounds a few birds chirping and the distant hum of commerce in the agora broke the silence until Alexandros of Epirus got to his feet.

  ‘I propose Alexander of Macedon as Hegemon of all Greece and Polemarch of our armies for the coming invasion of Persia.’

  The roar of assent indicated general agreement but a vote was needed to confirm his election. Each delegate was given two stones, one grey and one brown. Grey represented a vote for the motion and brown against. The delegates lined up and cast their stone in the bags held by the priests of Poseidon, the patron god of Corinth. Other priests from the temples of Zeus and Apollo held the bags in which the unwanted stones were collected.

  When the stones were counted there were five brown stones; all the rest were grey, which left the men from Thebes and Illyria wondering who the other dissenter was.

  Alexander’s eyes narrowed when he was told about the five brown stones but, as everyone present had taken the oath of loyalty to him as hegemon, he forgot about them and started to plan his departure to join Parmenion. However, leaving for Persia wasn’t going to be as simple as Alexander had expected and near catastrophe lurked in the wings.

  Chapter Fourteen – Upper Thrace

  335 BC

  Parmenion approached Ephesus - the last of the Greek cities in Anatolia that he had been tasked to liberate - with some relief. The Persians had made no more efforts to attack him in force and Alexander had sent instructions that he and Iphitos were to return to Pella once Ephesus had been liberated and defended against possible Persian attack.

  Theon and Enyo were inside the city sounding out the leading Greek citizens and he had every expectation that the mere appearance of his army before the city would be enough of an impetus for the Greek majority to rebel and oust the Persians.

  ‘I’ve just heard some encouraging news,’ Iphitos told the strategos as he entered his tent on the night before reaching Ephesus.

  ‘Ephesus has fallen?’ Parmenion said more in jest than anything.

  Iphitos smiled and stood aside, allowing Enyo and Theon to enter.

  ‘Yes, it has, kyrios. The Ephesians have risen and ousted the leading Persian citizens and their garrison without bloodshed. They’ve allowed the ordinary Persian and Phoenician merchants to remain provided that they swear an oath of loyalty to the oligarchy who now rule the city,’ Enyo told him with a smug smile.

  The old strategos had been sitting on his campaign bed whilst his skeuphorus unstrapped his bronze greaves, but he waved the servant away and stood up from where he’d been sitting in order to embrace both Enyo and Theon.

  ‘That’s excellent news. Well done both of you. We’ll enter the city tomorrow and then I must make arrangements to return to Dardanellia and establish a base in the port where we can start to stockpile supplies for Alexander’s invasion.’

  ‘What happens to us now, kyrios? I assume that our mission here is over?’ Theon asked.

  He and Enyo had talked about the future several times in recent weeks. They had thought of returning to Macedon and taking up Iphitos’ offer of managing one of the three estates that Philip had given him, but they were still in their twenties and felt that they would miss the excitement of their present lives too much. Neither could see that they would be of much use as spies once Alexander’s campaign got underway; they couldn’t pass as Persians and neither spoke Farsi in any case.

  It was Iphitos who answered.

  ‘You’ll be returning to Macedon with Parmenion and myself. Alexander is planning one last campaign before crossing the Hellespont. He’s worried about Northern Thrace, which Antigonus failed to subdue when Philip conquered the rest of Thrace.’

  Theon looked surprised.

  ‘But the tribes there are disunited and too busy fighting amongst themselves to attack Macedon, or even the rest of Thrace.’

  Iphitos looked at Parmenion, who nodded, before replying.

  ‘He has two objectives. One is to secure the route to the River Danube from where he plans to emb
ark, thus avoiding the need to capture Byzantium first, and the other is to weld the invasion force from all over Greece into one army. Only half of them will be Macedonians; the rest are inexperienced in the main. He means to make them veterans before tackling Darius’ hordes.’

  A month later the four returned to Pella by sea leaving the army in Anatolia under the command of the cavalry taxiarch. They arrived a week after Alexander’s return from Corinth and had hardly had time to greet their respective families before the king sent for them.

  -X-

  Philotas was euphoric. Alexander had promoted him to taxiarch and made him the commander of the two thousand mounted King’s Companions. Nicanor had also been promoted - to chiliarch of the one thousand hoplites of the King’s Companions. Parmenion was delighted for his sons but he knew that it was really a reward for him. Had he not supported Alexander and executed Attalus, Alexander’s succession to the throne and bloodless conquest of Greece could have been even more problematic than it was.

  Iphitos’ promotion to taxiarch, made by Parmenion, was confirmed but Alexander had a new appointment for him. Kleandros was to remain in command of the engineers and Lysis was made master of the artillery. Iphitos was sorry to hand over responsibility for these increasingly important divisions of the army but he knew that both of them would do a good job; after all he had trained them.

  Instead he would remain responsible for intelligence, but he was also to be responsible for reconnaissance and cartography. He would also take command of the vanguard, a role of utmost importance which reflected the trust that Alexander placed in him. The scouts would report to him and a section of scribes trained as geographers would keep a record of the terrain that they traversed.

  He was particularly pleased when Alexander told him that the cavalry ilium known as the Pathfinders, commanded by his adopted son Philomedes, would be part of his command in addition to an epihipparchia of Thracian light cavalry; but what delighted him most of all was the news that Theon and Enyo were to join his staff as researchers for the cartographers. It would be their role to explore the country that they passed through and bring back the information so that a map of the army’s route could be made. Little was known about Upper Thrace and this was one of the reasons for Antigonus’ failure to subdue the country five years before.