The Campaigns of Alexander (Classics) (8 page)

The Persians had about 20,000 cavalry and nearly the same number of foreign mercenaries fighting on foot. Back from the river the ground rose steeply, and they had taken up a position with their mounted troops along the bank on a very broad front and with the infantry in the
rear.
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At one point on the river-bank they had massed their squadrons in strength – for here it was that, threatening their left, they could see Alexander himself, an unmistakable figure in magnificent armour, attended by his suite with an almost ecstatic reverence.

There was a profound hush as both armies stood for a while motionless on the brink of the river, as if in awe of what was to come. Then Alexander, while the Persians still waited for the crossing to begin, that they might fall upon his men as they were struggling up the further bank, leapt upon his horse and called upon his bodyguard to follow and to play the man. His orders were that Amyntas, son of Arrabaeus, should lead off into the water with the advanced scouts, the Paeonians, and one infantry company, preceded by Ptolemy, son of Philip, with Socrates’ squadron, which was the leading cavalry squadron for that day; then he himself, at the head of the right wing of the army, with trumpets blaring and the shout going up to the God of Battle, moved forward into the river. He kept his line oblique to the pull of the current as the troops went over, to prevent a flank attack as they emerged from the water, and to enable him to engage the enemy with a front as solid as he could make it.

The leading files under Amyntas and Socrates were met as they gained the river bank by volleys of missiles from the Persians, who kept up a continuous fire into the river both from their commanding position on the high ground above, and also from the comparatively flat strip right down by the water’s edge. A hand-to-hand struggle developed, the Macedonian mounted troops trying to force their way out of the water, the Persians doing their utmost
to prevent them. Persian lances flew thick and fast, the long Macedonian spears thrust and stabbed. In this first onslaught Alexander’s men, heavily outnumbered, suffered severely; their foothold was insecure, and down there in the water they had to contend with an enemy in a strong position on the bank above them – not to mention the fact that they met there the fine flower of the Persian horse, with Memnon and his sons braving the fortune of battle in its midst.

The first to engage the Persians were cut down and died a soldier’s death, though some of the leading troops fell back upon Alexander, who was now on his way across: indeed, he was almost over, at the head of the army’s right wing. A moment later he was in the thick of it, charging at the head of his men straight for the spot where the Persian commanders stood and the serried ranks of enemy horse were thickest. Round him a violent struggle developed, while all the time, company by company, the Macedonians were making their way over the river, more easily now than before. It was a cavalry battle with, as it were, infantry tactics: horse against horse, man against man, locked together, the Macedonians did their utmost to thrust the enemy once for all back from the river-bank and force him into open ground, while the Persians fought to prevent the landings or hurl their opponents back into the water.

Things soon turned in favour of Alexander’s men; their experience and the weight of their attack began to tell, added to the advantage of the long cornel-wood spear over the light lances of the Persians.

During the fight Alexander’s spear was broken. He called on Aretis, one of his grooms, for another, but Aretis was himself in difficulties for the same reason, though still fighting gallantly enough with the remaining half of his
weapon. Showing it to Alexander, he called out to him to ask someone else, and Demaratus the Corinthian, one of Alexander’s personal bodyguard, gave him his spear. The fresh weapon in his hand, he caught sight of Mithridates, Darius’ son-in-law, riding with a squadron of horse in wedge formation far ahead of the main body; instantly he galloped out in front of his men, struck Mithridates in the face with his spear, and hurled him to the ground. Rhoesaces then rode at Alexander with his scimitar and, aiming a blow at his head, sliced off part of his helmet, which nevertheless dulled the full force of the impact. A moment later Alexander was on him, and he fell with a spear-thrust through his cuirass into his breast. Now Spithridates had his scimitar raised, ready for a blow at Alexander from behind; but Cleitus, son of Dropidas, was too quick for him, and severed his shoulder scimitar and all. Meanwhile Alexander’s party was being steadily reinforced by the mounted troops as one after another they succeeded in getting up out of the river and joining him.

The Persians were now in a bad way: there was no escape for horse or rider from the thrust of the Macedonian spears; they were being forced back from their position and, in addition to the weight of the main attack, they were suffering considerable damage from the lightly armed troops who had forced their way in among the cavalry. They began to break just at the point where Alexander in person was bearing the brunt of things.

Once the centre had failed to hold, both wings of the Persian cavalry broke, too, and the rout was complete. About 1,000 were killed – not more, because Alexander soon checked the pursuit of them in order to turn his attention to the foreign mercenaries, who had remained in their original position, shoulder to shoulder – not, indeed, from any deliberate intention of proving their
courage, but simply because the suddenness of the disaster had deprived them of their wits. Ordering a combined assault by infantry and cavalry, Alexander quickly had them surrounded and butchered to a man, though one or two may have escaped notice among the heaps of dead.
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About 2,000 were taken prisoner. Among the killed were the Persian commanders Niphates, Petines, and Spithridates, satrap of Lydia; Mithrobuzanes, governor of Cappadocia; Mithridates, son-in-law of Darius; Arbupales, son of Darius and grandson of Artaxerxes; Pharnaces, brother of Darius’ wife, and Omares, commander of the foreign contingent. Arsites escaped to Phrygia, where he is said to have died by his own hand, because the Persians held him responsible for the defeat.

The Macedonian losses were small: about twenty-five of the Companion cavalry were killed during the first assault. Their statues in bronze now stand at Dium, executed, on Alexander’s instructions, by Lysippus, who had been chosen from a number of competitors to make statues of Alexander.
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Rather more than sixty of the other mounted troops were killed, and about thirty infantrymen.
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By order of Alexander all the dead were buried with their arms and equipment on the day after the battle, and their parents and children were granted immunity from local taxes and all forms either of personal service or dues payable on property. For the wounded he
showed deep concern; he visited them all and examined their wounds, asking each man how and in what circumstances his wound was received, and allowing him to tell his story and exaggerate as much as he pleased. He also gave rites of burial to the Persian commanders and the Greek mercenaries who fell fighting in the enemies’ ranks; the Greek prisoners he sent in chains to hard labour in Macedonia, as a punishment for contravening the resolution of the League of Corinth by fighting in a foreign army against their own countrymen. As an offering to the goddess Athena, he sent to Athens 300 full suits of Persian armour, with the following inscription:
Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks (except the Lacedaemonians) dedicate these spoils, taken from the Persians who dwell in Asia
.
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Alexander appointed Calas to the satrapy previously held by Arsites, with orders to maintain the taxes at the same level as before; all natives who came out of hiding in the hills and surrendered he allowed to return to their homes; to the people of Zeleia he gave a free pardon, because he knew that they had fought with the Persians only under pressure. He sent Parmenio to take over Dascylium; and this was done without trouble, as the guards had abandoned the town.
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His next objective was Sardis. He was still some eight or nine miles away when he was met by Mithrines, the officer in command of the inner fortress; with him were
the leading men of the town, who had come to surrender it to Alexander, while Mithrines did the same for the fortress and the treasure. Alexander halted on the Hermus, a river about two and a half miles from Sardis, and sent on Amyntas, son of Andromenes, to take over the fortress; Mithrines he kept with his own suite, treating him in a way suitable to his rank, while the people of Sardis and the other Lydians he permitted to observe the old customs of their country and gave them their freedom.
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While he was in Sardis he went up into the acropolis, where the Persian garrison was stationed, and saw at a glance that this fortress, built as it was on a lofty and precipitous hill and defended by a triple wall, was an extremely strong position.

It occurred to him to build here a temple and altar in honour of Olympian Zeus, and while he was considering the best site a summer storm, breaking suddenly with violent thunder and a fall of rain over the palace of the Lydian kings, persuaded him that Zeus himself had indicated the spot where his temple should be raised; so he gave his orders accordingly.

He left Pausanias, one of his Companions, in charge of the fortress, and made Nicias responsible for the organization and payment of the tribute; the governorship of Lydia and the other territory formerly controlled by Spithridates was given to Asander, son of Philotas, with an adequate force of light infantry and mounted troops. Calas and Alexander, son of Aeropus, were sent to Memnon’s part of the country
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with the Peloponnesians and most of the other allied troops, with the exception of the Argives, who were left in Sardis to garrison the fortress.

Meanwhile, news of the cavalry engagement had reached Ephesus. The mercenaries who formed the garrison of the town seized two warships and made their escape, accompanied by Amyntas, son of Antiochus, who had left Macedonia in order to avoid Alexander. He had not, to be sure, anything to complain of in Alexander’s treatment; he merely disliked him and was disinclined to be made uncomfortable by his presence.

Alexander took three days to reach Ephesus; on his arrival he recalled everyone who had been expelled for supporting him, stripped the small governing clique of its power, and restored democratic institutions. All dues previously paid to Persia he transferred to the temple of Artemis.
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The people of the town, freed from the fear of their political masters, were eager to put to death the men who had been responsible for calling in Memnon, and everybody else who had either ransacked the Temple, or helped to smash up the statue of Philip which stood there, or break open in the public square the tomb of Heropythus, the liberator. They dragged from the temple and stoned to death Syrphax and his son Pelagon and all his nephews. Alexander, however, who was well aware that the Ephesian populace, given the chance of continuing the hunt for guilty men and indulging its lust for revenge, would, out of personal hatred or greed, kill many who were innocent as well, firmly called a halt, with the result that his popularity never stood higher than it did on this occasion by his handling of the situation at Ephesus.

During the same period representatives came from the towns of Magnesia and Tralles to offer their submission; he accordingly dispatched Parmenio with a force consisting
of 2,500 allied foot, 2,500 Macedonians, and about 200 Companion cavalry, giving instructions for a similar force under Alcimachus, son of Agathocles, to proceed to the Aeolian towns and all the Ionian ones still subject to Persia. Throughout the country he dispossessed the ruling cliques and established popular government in their place, allowing every community to enjoy its own laws and customs and discontinue payment of the taxes it had previously paid to the Persians.
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Meanwhile he remained in Ephesus, offered sacrifice to Artemis, and held a ceremonial parade of his troops, fully equipped and in battle order.

On the following day he marched for Miletus with a force made up of all the infantry not otherwise engaged, the archers, the Agrianes, the Thracian cavalry, the Royal Squadron of the Companion cavalry, and three other squadrons. What is known as the Outer City fell into his hands without a blow, as the garrison had withdrawn, whereupon he called a halt and proposed to establish a blockade of the inner defences, where Hegisistratus, who had been entrusted by Darius with the defence of the town, was still hoping to hold out. This officer had, some time before, written to Alexander to offer submission, but the proximity of the Persian fleet had subsequently encouraged him to make an effort to save the city for his masters. Nicanor, however, was too quick for him; he brought the Greek fleet to Miletus three days ahead of the Persians, and anchored, with 160 ships, at Lade, the island just off the town. The Persians had missed their opportunity; and the commanders, as soon as they found that
Nicanor’s fleet had put in at Lade before their arrival, brought their own ships to anchor under Mount Mycale. Alexander, had, indeed, already made sure of Lade not only by anchoring his fleet there: he had also put ashore on the island his Thracian contingent, and some 4,000 other mercenary troops.

The Persians had about 400 ships, but Parmenio, in spite of their numerical superiority, urged Alexander to engage. He did, undoubtedly, believe that a sea-fight would go in favour of the Greeks, but the real reason for his confidence was a sign from heaven – an eagle which had been seen on the beach just astern of Alexander’s ships. He pointed out that a victory in present circumstances would be of great strategic advantage, while a defeat would not be very serious, as Persia in any case had command of the sea. He was fully prepared, he said, to go aboard himself and share the perils of the day. Alexander replied that Parmenio was mistaken, and that he had wrongly interpreted the omen. In the first place, it was absurd to rush blindly into a naval engagement against greatly superior forces, and with an untrained fleet against the highly trained Cyprian and Phoenician crews; the sea, moreover, was a tricky thing – one could not trust it, and he was not going to risk making a present to the Persians of all the skill and courage of his men; as to defeat, it would be very serious indeed and would affect profoundly the general attitude to the war in its early stages, above all by encouraging the Greeks to revolt the moment they got news of a Persian success at sea. Secondly, having given his reasons for not risking an engagement, he went on to say that his interpretation of the omen was different from Parmenio’s: the appearance of the eagle was, without doubt, a favourable sign; but the fact that it had been seen on shore surely indicated that it was his army, not his
navy, which would render the Persian fleet powerless – he would, as it were, win his sea battle from the land.