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... he met serious resistance at Tyre, where he was refused entry into the island city. The Tyrians walled themselves inside their island fortress. Alexander could not leave them to attack his rear and he could not attack by sea so he decided to build a land bridge, which still exists. He succeeded finally only after seven months, not on land but in a very brutal naval battle.
During the siege of Tyre, Darius opened negotiations to his surrender. He even offered a division of his empire. He wanted to pay ransom of 10, 000 talents for his family and give up all his land west of the Euphrates. Alexander refused the bargain. Alexander's general, Parmenio advised him to accept. "I would accept, were I Alexander. " Parmenio said; "I too, were I Parmenio!" was Alexander's famous response.
In November 332 he reached Egypt, and the Egyptians welcomed him as their liberator. He founded the city of Alexandria near the western arm of the Nile. From Alexandria, he marched along the coast to Paraetonium and from there inland, to visit the renowned oracle of Amon at Siwah. The oracle proclaimed Alexander the son of Amon (Zeus). It changed his life forever. Alexander, with his fastest troops, chased Darius for 12 days and nights and passed over 497 miles.
Meanwhile Darius troops were reduced to 6000 men on foot and 3000 men on horses. Finally, Alexanders cousin, Bessus, captured Darius and killed him in prison. Bessus preferred Darius dead than imprisoned. If Darius had surrendered, Alexander would have left him alive. Alexander organized an imperial funeral with all honors for the last Persian emperor.
In the spring of 328, Alexander crossed westward. He sent his general, Ptolemy, in pursuit of Bessus. In July, Bessus was captured, flogged, and sent to Bactria, where he was later mutilated in the Persian manner, losing his nose and ears. Several months later, he was publicly executed at Ecbatana. At the site of modern Khojent on the Jaxartes, he founded a city, Alexandria Estate; the last Alexandria.
It took Alexander until the autumn of 328 to crush the most rigid opponent he encountered in his campaigns. At Maracanda in the autumn of 328 BC, during the dyonisiastic feasts, Alexander murdered Cleitus, one of his most trusted commanders. That event widened the detachment between Alexander and many Macedonians. On his march towards India through Afganistan, he attacked Oxyartes. One of his splendid moves was the capture of the Sogdian Rock. At the top of the rock was Oxyartes, who felt protected because of the vertical cliffs on each side.
He provoked Alexander to send up men with wings to take the fortress. Alexander sent up 300 experienced climbers during the night with the assurance of spectacular wealth if they succeed. The next morning, Oxyartes was shocked to see these men with wings waving down at him. He surrendered with no resistance.
Alexander and Oxyartes became good friends. Alexander married Oxyartes sister, Roxanne. In spring 326, crossing the Code river, Alexander entered Taxila. King Taxilas equipped Alexander with elephants and troops in return for aid against his rival Porus.
In June 326 BC, Alexander fought the fourth and last of his pitched battles in Asia against Porus, one of the most powerful Indian kings. Porus held the opposite bank with a potent army, including 200 elephants. Alexander's army crossed the heavily defended river in dramatic manner during a night of torrential rain. The Indians were defeated in a brutal battle, although they fought with elephants. Porus fell deeply wounded into his hands.
Alexander captured Porus and, like the other kings he had defeated, allowed him to continue reign of his country. Alexander even conquest an autonomous province and granted it to Porus as a gift. He founded two cities there, Alexandria Nicaea (to celebrate his victory) and Bucephala (named after his horse Bucephalus, who died there), and Porus became his friend and ally. When he continued his progress eastwards across the Acesines, Porus was an active ally. Alexander and his army reached the mouth of the Indus in July 325 B. C.
Alexander left the conquered portion of India east of the Indus to be governed under Porus, Omphis, and Abisares; the country west of the Indus under Macedonian governors, and set out to explore the great river to its mouth. It was at the Mail village that a memorable incident occurred, that characterized the personality of Alexander. Alexander was wounded several times in this attack, most seriously when an arrow pierced his breastplate and his ribcage. He jumped off the wall with only three companions into the hostile environment, and before the army behind him could achieve an entrance, lay wounded almost to death. The Macedonian officers rescued him in a narrow escape from the village. He recovered and beat down the resistance of the tribes.
In spring 324 he was back in Susa, capital of Elam. At Susa, Alexander held a banquet to celebrate the conquest of the Persian Empire. In promotion of his policy of fusing Macedonians and Persians into one master race, he and 80 of his officers took Persian wives; he married Darius' daughter, Basin (also called Stateira), and Hephaestion married her sister Drypetis, and 10, 000 of Macedonian soldiers which married with native wives were given generous gifts. In summer 324, Alexander attempted to solve another problem. A decree brought by Nicanor to Europe and proclaimed at Olympia (September 324) required the Greek cities of the Greek League to receive back all exiles and their families.
In autumn 324 Hephaestion died in Ecbatana, and Alexander indulged in extravagant mourning for his best friend; he was given a royal funeral in Babylon with a pyre costing 10, 000 talents. Suddenly, in Babylon, while busy with plans to improve the irrigation of the Euphrates and to settle the Arabic coast of the Persian Gulf; Alexander was taken sick after a splendid entertainment in honor of Nearchus departure for Arabia (it was also commemoration of the death of Heracles). There he drank much unmixed wine, and finally, filling a huge beaker, downed it at a gulp. The pain increased and no one was able to do anything helpful and Alexander continued in acute suffering. His Friends asked, "To whom do you leave the kingdom?" , he replied "To the best (the strongest). " These were his last words. On the sundown of 10 th of June, after the ten day fever, in the Palace of Nabukodonossor, Alexander died.
Historians disagree about the date of Alexander's death. According to contemporary Babylonian Astronomic Diary, which is most credible and accurate source, Alexander died on 29 th Air (June 10 th). Alexander III of Macedon died at the age of 33 and had reigned for 12 years and eight months. Alexander had the iron will and capacity to lead his men; he knew when to withdraw and to modify and adapt his policy. Alexander had imaginative fantasy of genius, which was driven with the strong romantic figures like Achilles, Heracles, and Dionysus. The only clear characteristics that emerge are his outstanding military genius and his successful politics.
His achievements mark a decisive moment in World history. The Roman Empire, the spread of Christianity as a world religion, and the thousand years of Byzantium were all in part the consequences of Alexander's conquests. Bibliography M. M. Austin (ed. ) The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest. A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation (NY: Cambridge 1981) E.
BADIAN, Studies in Greek and Roman History (1964) Alexander the Great, Home Page, [ web (1996 by Jed Untereker, James Kossuth, Bill Kelsey) Alexander the Great On The Web, [ web (2000 - 2003 Tim Spalding. ) Alexander the Great. From History to Eternity. [ web (24 May 1997) Further Reading web
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Research essay sample on Autumn Of 328 10 000 Talents Alexander
