Lecture 17: In May 330 B.C., Alexander strategically surprised Darius III before the Great King could marshal a new army of Greek mercenaries and levies from the eastern satrapies. With a strike force seized Ecbatana, capital of Media, and so sent D…
Lecture 17: In May 330 B.C., Alexander strategically surprised Darius III before the Great King could marshal a new army of Greek mercenaries and levies from the eastern satrapies. With a strike force seized Ecbatana, capital of Media, and so sent Darius fleeing east yet again. At Ectabana, Alexander dismissed his Greek allies to mark the end of Panhellenic war. Henceforth, Alexander campaigned as Lord of Asia. Parmenio, who was honorably retired in favor of Craterus, took charge of the treasury at Ecbatana and defense of the lines of communication to Macedon.
Meanwhile, Darius was deposed by his own nobles who acclaimed Bessus, satrap of Bactria, Great King. In a spectacular pursuit across northern Iran, Alexander scattered Bessus’s army. Alexander failed to capture Bessus, but he found the body of the murdered Darius near Hecatompylos. Thereafter, Alexander posed as Darius’s avenger, and successor, in an adroit policy to win over the Iranian nobility.
Alexander rewarded loyal Persian nobles with high positions. He adopted elements of Persian protocol, and even modified his personal dress. In an unexpected march in 329 B.C., Alexander crossed the Hindu Kush from the southeast, and invaded Bactria and Sogdiana. Bessus, taken by surprise, retreated north of the Jaxertes to seek allies among the Scythian nomads, but the discredited satrap was surrendered by his supporters, and crucified. In the summer 329 B.C., Alexander believed that final victory was in sight, instead, Alexander was soon to face his toughest opponents, because Bactrians and Sogdians made common cause with Scythian nomads to oppose the Macedonian invaders.
Suggested Reading:
Bosworth, Conquest and Empire.
Cribb and Herrmann, After Alexander.
Engels, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army.
Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the Great.
Holt, Alexander the Great and Bactria.
Parke, Greek Mercenary Soldiers from Earliest Times to the Battle of Ipsus.
Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India.
Wood, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great.
Lecture 18: https://www.bitchute.com/video/35lCQxr4oCT7/
