The city of Thebes erected the statue of a lion, signifying bravery, to mark the burial ground of the Sacred Band, its regiment of lovers, most of whom fell at the battle of Chaeronea. Here King Philip of Macedonia and his eighteen-year-old son Alexander decisively defeated a Greek army. On that day the great city-states of Athens and Thebes lost their freedom. Alexander led the cavalry charge that clinched the victory.
Death at Dawn
The theater at Aegae was built in the mid-fourth century B.C. and was still new when King Philip II of Macedonia was assassinated there in 336. Alexander, together with his terrifying mother, Olympias, may have been implicated in the crime. He certainly benefited from it, instantly seizing the throne and taking over his father’s plan to invade the Persian empire.
MUSEUM OF ROYAL TOMBS OF AEGAE, GREECE
After his assassination Philip was buried in one of the royal tombs at Aegae, which were discovered by archaeologists in 1977. His remains were placed in a golden casket. A gold crown or wreath was also found.
MUSEUM OF ROYAL TOMBS OF AEGAE, GREECE
This facial reconstruction of Alexander’s father, Philip, is based on remains found in the royal tombs, which have been identified as belonging to the king. He was blinded by an arrow at the siege of Methone in 355/54 B.C., one of many injuries incurred during a long military career. Philip laid the foundation of his son’s later achievements.
Evil Empire
The Great King of Persia was, supposedly, the all-powerful ruler of an empire that stretched from Egypt to India. In practice, he presided over a ramshackle collection of semi-independent territories. The transition from one Great King to his successor was often a bloodbath. To secure his place on the throne, Artaxerxes III Ochus, who reigned from 358 to 338 B.C., put to death all male members of the royal family on whom he could lay his hands.
Delegates bring tribute to the Persian court at Persepolis. In return, the Great King guaranteed peace and order. He did not interfere in his subjects’ daily lives and allowed freedom of worship.
Alexander greatly admired Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian empire, who died in 530 B.C. He visited the tomb, near the ancient Persian capital of Pasargadae, more than once and was enraged when it was robbed. Today the monument still stands, but empty of its owner.
MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE, NAPLES
Victory!
Alexander leads his Companion cavalry at the battle of Issus and charges straight at the Great King, whose eyes widen in alarm. He is wearing an elaborate linen cuirass, very similar to one found in the royal tombs at Aegae. The image is a mosaic made in the first century B.C. that copied a lost painting by Philoxenus of Eretria.
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, ISTANBUL
The battle of Issus, as imagined by the sculptor of a magnificent stone sarcophagus. This reconstruction is shown painted in bright colors, as was the custom in the classical world. The original, carved from high-quality Pentelic marble in the late fourth century B.C., and with traces of the original paint, was found in the royal necropolis of Sidon. It was probably made for king Abdalonymus of Sidon.
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, ISTANBUL
Winning the Peace
In this stone relief one of Alexander’s Companions is hunting down a stag. He is heroically nude in the Greek manner. If Macedonians were not killing men in battle, they were killing wild animals at their leisure. Alexander was a keen huntsman and often risked his life in the chase.
Alexander as arsonist. He set fire to Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian empire, in revenge for the destruction of Athens when the Persian king Xerxes invaded Greece more than a century previously. For all his efforts, the ruins still impress the visitor and Alexander soon realized he had made a mistake. Without Persian cooperation he would have been unable to administer his vast empire and for the rest of his reign he did his best to conciliate his new subjects.
VILLA FARNESINA, ROME
The marriage of Alexander and Rhoxane in 327 B.C. was celebrated in a painting by the fourth century B.C. Greek artist Aetion. The work itself is lost, but a detailed description survives, the inspiration for this fresco by Sodoma.
Coins were a unique means by which an ancient ruler “spoke” to his subjects. Here on the silver tetradrachm Alexander claims heaven’s endorsement. He wears the lionskin of Heracles and on the reverse, Zeus, king of the Gods, sits enthroned.
Disaster in the Desert
The march through the Gedrosian desert (today’s the Makran) lasted two months and was the greatest disaster in Alexander’s career. Of more than 30,000 men only a quarter survived.
GLOSSARY
agema: elite infantry or cavalry guards.
Agrianians: tribesmen from Paeonia, lightly armed javelin throwers. Much used by Alexander.
archon: chief magistrate (civilian), commander (military).
bematist: measurer of distances traveled.
chiliarch: Greek for “commander of a thousand”; the Persian king’s chief executive officer or grand vizier.
choregos: producer of and investor in dramatic or musical performances.
Companion: see hetairos.
daric: a gold coin which, along with a similar silver coin, the siglos, represented the bimetallic monetary standard of the Persian empire.
drachma: silver coin worth 6 obols. Roughly the value of a skilled worker’s daily pay.
erastes: older lover in a pederastic relationship.
eromenos: younger “beloved” in a pederastic relationship.
hegemon: military leader. Commander-in-chief of a league (e.g. League of Corinth).
Hellas: the Greek word for Greece.
hetairos: companion or friend. One of a select group who advised Alexander and acted as administrators. Member of the Companion cavalry and Companion infantry.
hipparch: cavalry commander.
hypaspists: literally, shield bearers, infantry more agile than the phalanx. They linked the pezhetairoi, or Foot Companions, to the Companion Horse. There were 3,000 of them, rising to 4,000 in 331. They were later named the Argyraspids or Silver Shields.
ilarches: cavalry squadron commander.
ile: cavalry squadron.
ile basilike: royal squadron. Commanded by Cleitus.
Mede: inhabitant of Media; used by the Greeks as a synonym for Persian.
nauarchos: admiral.
pais basilikos: literally, royal boy. One of the Royal Pages, who looked after Alexander’s domestic requirements.
peltasts: lightly armed troops.
pezhetairoi: Foot Companions. The phalanx. It included six 1,500-strong taxeis or battalions, totaling 9,000 men. They were territorial levies.
Philippeum: a statue group in Olympia of the family of Philip II of Macedonia.
prodromoi: mounted scouts.
proxenos: a man from one state who represents to it the interests of a foreign state.
sarissa: the Macedonian pike.
satrap: governor of a Persian province.
somatophylax: one of seven close bodyguards. The term was also used of the Royal Pages and the hypaspists.
strategos: general or (civilian) senior elected politician.
syntrophos: coeval of a king’s son, who is brought up with him.
talent: bar of silver worth 6,000 drachmas.
taxis: an infantry unit or battalion.
tetradrachm: silver coin worth four drachmas.
triaconter: thirty-oared ship.
trierarchos: commander of a trireme or the man who financed the fitting out of a ship.
trireme: warship with three banks of oars.
xenoi: foreigners, mercenary troops.
xenos: foreigner, a foreign friend.
TIME LINE
Some dates are speculative or debated.
B.C.
382
Philip II born in Macedonia.
c. 373
Olympias born in Molossia.
357
Philip and Olympias marry.
356
Their son Alexander is born at Pella.
July 20 or 26
Philip captures Potidaea.
c. 355
Their daughter Cleopatra is born.
354
Demosthenes attacks project for a crusade against Persia.
Philip captures Methone; loses an eye.
352
Artabazus (with daughter Barsine) and Memnon seek refuge in Pella.
351
Macedonian fleet harasses Athenian shipping.
340s
Olympias’s brother Alexander becomes king of Molossia with Philip’s help.
343/42
Aristotle is appointed Alexander’s tutor.
338
Battle of Chaeronea; Alexander leads Macedonian cavalry.
Building of Philippeum at Olympia.
337
League of Corinth formed, appoints Philip as leader of an anti-Persian crusade.
Philip marries Cleopatra, ward of Attalus.
Alexander and Olympias escape from Macedonia.
Alexander recalled to Pella.
Pixodarus affair (possibly early 336).
336 spring
Parmenion and Attalus take an advance expeditionary force to Asia Minor.
June:
Accession of Darius III of Persia.
Cleopatra, Philip’s wife, gives birth to a daughter, Europa.
Alexander of Molossia marries Cleopatra, Olympias’s daughter.
Philip assassinated.
Alexander succeeds Philip as king of Macedonia.
Late summer:
League of Corinth appoints Alexander as leader of the anti-Persian crusade.
335 early spring
Alexander campaigns in Thrace and Illyria.
Memnon campaigns in Asia Minor.
Olympias puts to death Cleopatra, Philip’s wife, and her daughter.
Alexander orders the death of Attalus.
Revolt and destruction of Thebes.
334 spring
Alexander’s army crosses to Asia Minor.
Battle of the Granicus River.
Siege of Miletus.
Autumn:
Siege of Halicarnassus.
334/33 winter
Conquest of Asia Minor.
333 early spring
Naval offensive by Memnon.
Memnon dies.
Persian army musters at Babylon.
Alexander at Gordium.
Alexander marches to the Cilician Gates.
Persian army moves westward from Babylon.
September:
Alexander in Tarsus, falls ill.
Autumn:
Battle of Issus.
Darius makes peace offer, refused.
332 winter (?)
Submission of Byblos and Sidon.
Siege of Tyre.
June (?):
Darius makes second peace offer, refused.
July 29:
Fall of Tyre.
Disintegration of the Persian fleet.
Autumn:
Siege and fall of Gaza.
Alexander welcomed as pharaoh in Memphis.
331 early spring
Alexander visits oracle at Siwah.
April 7–8 (?):
Foundation of Alexandria.
Alexander returns to Tyre.
Summer:
Alexander reaches Thapsacus on the Euphrates.
Darius leaves Babylon.
September 18:
Alexander crosses the Tigris.
September 20:
Eclipse of the moon.
Darius’s final peace offer.
September 30 or October 1:
Battle of Gaugamela.
mid-October:
Alexander enters Babylon.
Revolt of Agis defeated at Megalopolis.
December:
Alexander captures Susa unopposed.
330 (?) January:
Alexander enters Persepolis.
May:
Alexander sacks Persepolis.
Early June:
Alexander sets out for Ecbatana.
Darius leaves Ecbatana for Bactria.
Greek allies dismissed.
Alexander campaigns in Tapuria, Hyrcania, Parthyaea, and Areia.
July:
Darius murdered near Hecatompylos.
Bessus in Bactria, appoints himself Great King.
Late August:
Alexander at Lake Seistan.
October:
“Conspiracy” of Philotas.
Alexander marches through Arachosia to Parapanisadae.
329 spring
Alexander crosses the Hindu Kush into Bactria; Bessus retreats across the Oxus.
June:
Alexander crosses the Oxus, dismisses veterans and Thessalian volunteers, reorganizes his cavalry
.
Bessus handed over to Alexander.
Revolt, led by Spitamenes, of Bactria and Sogdia; annihilation of a Macedonian force.
329/28
Alexander winters in Bactra.
328
Campaign against Spitamenes.
Autumn:
Murder of Cleitus.
328/27
Alexander the Great Page 46
