The Campaigns of Alexander (Classics) (44 page)

55
. Neither more nor less, as Alexander’s arrangements show, than they had previously enjoyed.

56
. Part of the Troad.

57
. Alexander had offered to dedicate the newly rebuilt temple – the old one had been burnt down on the night of his birth – but the Ephesians refused. Note that the tribute is not remitted.

58
. The establishment of democracies is not due to any preference on Alexander’s part for democratic government (why, indeed, should he prefer it?), but because the Persians had supported oligarchies.

59
. Miletus lay nearly 10 miles from the mouth of the Maeander.

60
. Alexander doubtless also distrusted the loyalty of his Greek allies. He retained the twenty Athenian ships whose crews may be considered hostages.

61
. For a somewhat different account of the siege, especially in its final stages, see Diodorus 17.23–27.

62
. Myndus lay at the western end of the peninsula on which Halicarnassus stood.

63
. According to Diodorus he was killed fighting on the Macedonian side.

64
. Hecatomnus, the ruler of Caria, left three sons, Mausolus, Hidrieus, and Pixodarus, and two daughters, Artemisia and Ada. Artemisia married Mausolus and Ada Hidrieus, and all succeeded their father.

65
. The only resistance occurred at Marmara, where the inhabitants finally set fire to the town (Diodorus 17.28).

66
. Milyas was the old name for Lycia, but was later applied to the high country extending north-eastwards to Pisidia.

67
. Both were executed.

68
. Hellespontine Phrygia. Alexander had been sent to this region with Calas (p. 77 above).

69
. Plutarch (
Alexander
17.6) remarks that many historians found in this incident an opportunity for ‘striking and bombastic’ treatment, and wrote of a ‘heaven-sent stroke of fortune’. He cites a letter in which Alexander said nothing of this miraculous occurrence, but Callisthenes certainly began the process, presumably with Alexander’s approval.

70
. Badian (
Ehrenberg Studies
, 65, n. 50) comments that 50 talents was an enormous sum for a Greek city to pay and that the demand indicates-Alexander’s need for money at this time.

71
. The town meant is Termessus, but the error may be Arrian’s.

72
. Despite his great services in keeping Alexander’s communications open – Curtius (4.1.35) mentions three victories over Persian forces after Issus – this is the only mention in the
Anabasis
of Antigonus ‘the One-Eyed’, the father of Demetrius the Besieger. Tarn (
Alexander
2.110) attributes this silence to the fact that Ptolemy was his bitter enemy in the Wars of the Successors.

73
. They were released early in 331 after Alexander’s return from Egypt (P. 156 below).

1
. The most westerly point of the island.

2
.
lit
. ‘to destroy the pillars on which the treaty with Alexander was inscribed’. Arrian writes loosely; the treaty, as in the case of Tenedos (p. 103), was doubtless concluded with ‘Alexander
and the Greeks
’, i.e. the Mityleneans became members of the League of Corinth.

3
. Called after the Spartan who was mainly responsible for negotiating the peace in 386. It is often (appropriately) called the King’s Peace, since the Persian king gained control of the Greek states of Asia Minor, while the clause stipulating that all states in Greece should be autonomous prevented the creation of any hostile empire.

4
. Thymondas took them by sea to Tripolis and thence to join Darius’ army at Sochi. They fought in the B. of Issus. Their withdrawal effectively ruined any chance of a successful naval offensive.

5
. Alexander’s decision to disband his fleet might have proved costly had not Memnon opportunely died.

6
. In Alexander’s day this meant the Persian Empire.

7
. Lesser Phrygia. Greater Phrygia (afterwards Galatia) was governed by Antigonus (p. 99).

8
. Possibly a local chieftain. Nothing more is heard of him.

9
. The modern Golek-Boghaz, the main pass over the Taurus Mts. between Cappadocia and Cilicia. See Xenophon
Anabasis
1.2.20–1.

10
. Contrast his treatment of Philotas some four years later (p. 191).

11
. The ‘Syrian Gates’ (called the ‘Assyrian’ Gates on p. 110) was the Beilan pass through the Amanus Mts., south-east of Alexandretta.

12
. i.e. cuneiform writing.

13
. For Orontobates see pp. 89–90.

14
. No doubt in gratitude for his recovery from the fever he had had at Tarsus.

15
. According to Aeschines,
Against Ctesiphon
164, a similar statement was made by Demosthenes at this time.

16
. From Cilicia the eastern countries could be reached by two routes, through the Syrian Gates near Alexandretta and the Amanian Gates (Bogtche Pass) in the north, leading to the Euphrates at Apamea. Either Alexander had not been informed of the pass or he thought it unimportant; certainly the news that Darius was astride his communications came as a shock to him. Plutarch (
Alexander
20) writes that ‘the two armies missed each other in the night’; in fact, as Darius marched northwards from Sochi, they were separated by the width of the Amanus Mts.

17
. At Cunaxa, some 45 miles from Babylon.

18
. See, apart from the Alexander-historians, Polybius 12.17–22, who criticizes Callisthenes’ account of the battle. Callisthenes gave the breadth of the plain as 14 stades, about a mile and three quarters.

19
. For these troops see Strabo 14.3.18. Fuller regards it as almost certain that they were not heavy infantry but peltasts.

20
. Plutarch gives the same number. Diodorusand Justin 400,000, and Curtius 250,000. All these numbers are fantastic, but we cannot now discover the truth.

21
. Who were these Macedonians? Perhaps the ‘advanced scouts’, if these were a Macedonian unit. Alternatively, we may suppose that ‘Macedonians’ has replaced another word, e.g. Paeonians. Both units are mentioned below on the right.

22
.
Anabasis
1.8.21, 22.

23
. These are
not
the two squadrons of Companions justmentioned, but the ‘units of mounted troops’ mentioned with the Agrianians above, two squadrons according to Curtius (3.11.2). They were doubtless mercenaries.

24
. Commander of a battalion of heavy infantry.

25
. Plutarch, Curtius, and Diodorus agree on the number of casualties but it is as untrustworthy as the numbers given for the Persian army. Macedonian casualties are given by Curtius (3.11.27) as 450 killed and 4,500 wounded.

26
. For some details see Plutarch,
Alexander
20.11–13. As Fuller remarks, Damascus lying some 200 miles to the south of Sochi was a remarkable place to select.

27
. 333
B.C.

28
. That Alexander was slightly wounded is true enough. Chares, however, asserted that the wound was inflicted by Darius himself, a statement that Plutarch (
Alexander
20.9) disbelieves, citing a letter of Alexander to disprove it.

29
. This means that they had managed to find no less than 150 talents (see p. 108), a remarkable sum when one thinks that the estimated income of Athens in 431, including the tribute from subject states, was only about 1,000 talents.

30
. Plutarch (
Alexander
22.5) quotes a letter written by Alexander to Parmenio in which he claims never to have set eyes on the wife of Darius.

31
. Many of the Persian cavalry escaped to Cappadocia, where they were joined by local troops in an attempt to recover Phrygia but were defeated by Antigonus. (Curtius 4.1.34–5, where ‘Lydia’ is a slip for ‘Phrygia’.)

32
. Greek mercenaries.

33
. Diodorus (17.48.2–5) and Curtius (4.1.27–33) give more details of events in Egypt. As they mention only Amyntas and 4,000 mercenaries, it is probable that the force split up. Possibly the other 4,000 found their way into the service of Agis, the Spartan king; he is recorded to have hired 8,000 mercenaries who escaped from Issus. See E. Badian,
JHS
1963, 25–6.

34
. Undeterred by the result of Issus, Agis continued his preparations, and in spring 331 he ‘issued an appeal to the Greeks to unite in defence of their freedom’ (Diodorus 17.62.6). After initial successes he was finally defeated by Antipater at Megalopolis in the autumn of 331. For the evidence see Diodorus 17.48.1–2; 62.6–63.4; 73.5–6; Curtius 6.1; and, for a modern account of Agis, E. Badian,
Hermes
1967, 170ff.

35
. Diodorus (17.39.2) has a curious story that Alexander suppressed Darius’ letter and substituted another ‘more in accordance with his interests’ which he put before his Companions to secure the rejection of a negotiated peace. G. T. Griffith (
Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.
1968, 33ff.) suggests that the letter in Arrian is this forged letter. He points out that, e.g., Darius offers no financial or territorial inducements (as he does in the letters of Diodorus 17.39 and Curtius 4.1.7), and that to raise the question of war-guilt would be bad policy for one in Darius’ position. For Griffith’s other arguments see the next two notes.

36
. No such alliance is known to us in what is a relatively well-documented period. Demosthenes, for example, does not mention it.

37
. Artaxerxes III (Ochus) ruled from 359–338, his son Arses from 338 to 336. Darius refers to the Macedonian invasion of Asia Minor in spring 336. This was not unprovoked, since Persia had aided Perinthus against Philip in 340; Philip, however, had been the aggressor in 342 by making an alliance with Hermeias of Atarneus and one might expect a mention of this.

38
. There is no other evidence for this.

39
. Alexander (or Arrian) is mistaken. Bagoas poisoned Arses and his children and secured the throne for Darius. Later, when he attempted to poison Darius, the king turned the tables on him. See Diodorus 17.5.3–6.

40
. Aeschines (
Against Ctesiphon
239) claims that Darius sent 300 talents to the Athenians who refused them, but that Demosthenes got his hands on 70 talents.

41
. Was Alexander influenced by the fact that his grandfather, Amyntas III, had adopted the elder Iphicrates? Aeschines,
On the Legation
28. The occasion when Iphicrates rendered him military assistance is not certainly known.

42
. At Sidon he deposed Strato, who favoured Persia, and appointed Abdalonymus king in his place (Curtius 4.3.4.).

43
. In fact, this ‘Heracles’ was the Tyrian god Melcarth (the Syrian Baal).

44
. Diodorus (17.40.3) stresses their loyalty to Darius. They are said to have suggested that Alexander might sacrifice in a temple outside the city. Alexander’s reasons for forcing the issue are given in the following speech.

45
. The island lay about half a mile offshore. According to Diodorus (17.40) the mole was about 200 feet wide. Stones were obtained from old Tyre and timber from Mt Libanus.

46
. This was the turning-point in the siege.

47
. Mt Antilibanus was the more easterly of the two mountain-ranges enclosing the valley of Coele-Syria proper; Arabia is used loosely. The natives had killed some thirty of the Macedonians who were gathering timber for rafts and towers (Curtius 4.2.18; 4.3.1).

48
. King of Salamis, one of the nine principal cities of Cyprus.

49
. Both cities on the south coast of Cyprus.

50
. Agenor, the father of Cadmus, was reputed to be the founder of Tyre and Sidon.

51
. The siege lasted seven months, from January to August 332.

52
. According to Diodorus (20.14) the Carthaginians sent a tenth part of their revenues to Melcarth, and envoys attended an annual festival in Tyre. They are said to have promised the Tyrians help at the start of the siege, but to have been unable to fulfil their promise because of war with Syracuse (Curtius 4.2.10; 4.3.19).