Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/376

ALEXANDER. and Susa. But the Great King had assembled a vast host to check the invader. Battle was joined in the little plain of Issus, where the enormous numbers of the Orientals could not be employed to advantage. The day was decided by Alexander's attack on that part of the line where Darius was in his war-chariot. The Great King turned and lied, while the Greeks drove all before them. The mother, wife, and children of Darius fell into Alexander's hands, but were treated by him with the respect due royalty. While this victory at Issus opened the way to Syria and Egypt, it was far more valuable to Alexander in the pres- tige it gave him. Darius humbled himself to write, begging for the return of the royal cap- tives and proposing to make a treaty of alliance. Alexander's reply was a stern command to come to him and offer submission.

Alexander was not lured aside to pursue and crush Darius, but moved against Syria. Sidon had been reduced l)y Persia a few years before, so that she welcomed Persia's new foe, who accepted her submission and restored her former territory and riglits. The Macedonian army reached Tyre at the end of 333; when this city declined to re- ceive Alexander, it was at once invested. The siege lasted from January to the end of July, 332; again and again the attackers were beaten back, but at last the city fell to a concerted on- slaught. Alexander now could advance on Egypt, since Syria was secure. Gaza alone ofl'ered stub- born resistance, but succumbed after a siege of some weeks.

About November, 332, Egypt was reached, and the Persian satrap promptly yielded. At Mem- ]diis, Alexander was crowned king; he then sailed down the Nile to Canopus and founded a new city bearing his name. This he intended to become the new capital of Egypt and to supplant Tyre as the emporium of trade. History has shown how wisely the site was chosen and the city ])lanned, but the most significant immediate re- sult was the transfer of commerce from the Phoenicians to the Greeks. Presently Gyrene sent Alexander her submission, so that his inlluenee extended to Carthaginian territory. Early in 33 1 he visited the shrine of Ammon-Re in the Libyan desert, where tradition says the god acknowledged him as his son, thereby giving him divine title to succeed the Pharaohs.

The following sjiring Alexander returned to Tyre, where he was occupied with questions of organization. Then he started for Babylon with 40,0(10 foot and 7000 horse. Early in August he reached the Eu])lirates, then advanced across Northern Mesopotamia, and marched down the banks of the Tigris. At last he heard that Darius was encamped in a plain near Gangamela with an enormous host, which tradition reports num- bered 1.000.000 infantry and 40,000 horse, Octo- ber 1. 331. the armies engaged. At certain points the Greeks were hard pressed, but at a critical moment Alexander broke the Persian centre, whereujinn Darius tle<l as he had done at Issus; finally the ilacedonians won at every point. Da- rius was pursued to Arhela, where his chariot and weapons were found, but the king escaped (m horse to the Median highlands. Babylon opened its gates to the victor, and there the army rested. Susa, with its enormous treasures, soon fell into Alexander's hands.

It was of great importance that Persis and its capital be secured at once, so that although the season was mid-winter Alexander pressed on over the U.xian Pass. He stormed the almost impreg- nable 'Persian Gates,' and soon was at Persepolis and the royal palaces, whose ruins still give some idea of their magniticence. No less than 120,000 talents were found in the treasuries, together with other spoil. At Pasargada^ also much treas- ure was taken. About four months, apparently from January to April, 330, were spent at the ancient palace of the Aehiemenian kings. During this time the district of Caramania yielded. Then Alexander started in pursuit of Darius, who he had heard was at Ecbatana with an army; but on reaching the city be found that Darius had fled eastward. Alexander soon pressed on, but after great efforts secured only the dead body of his enemy, wdio had been treacherously slain by his followers. One of the mvirderers had rted to Hyrcania on the south shore of the Caspian, and Alexander felt it necessary to secure this district before following the other chief assassin into re- moter Bactria. The Persians who had retreated into Hyrcania yielded when Alexander appeared, and left him free to advance into northern Areia, where the Persian satrap promptly surrendered. It is not possible here to give in detail the suc- cessive steps of Alexander's new advance; by mid- summer, 328, he was master of Drangiana, Seis- tan, Gedrosia, and Aracliosi.a, satrapies corre- sponding roughly to modern Afghanistan and Baluchistan; he had annexed Bactria and Sogdi- ana at the north, and had fixed the limits of his conquests in this direction bj' founding Alexan- dria Eschate (Khodjend) near the pass over the Tian-shan Mountains. The following year was spent in putting down uprisings and in firmly establishing his power.

Alexander then turned to the conquest of India. He came back to Afghanistan and at Nicsea (Kabul?) prepared for the new campaign. The advance must have been made by the Khyber Pass. The winter of 327-26 was spent in subdu- ing the hill-men and the inhabitants of the river- valle.vs along the western base of the Himalayas. In the spring he marched to the Hydaspes, receiv- ing the submission of the native princes on the way. At the river he was opposed by King Porus, but by stratagem and skill the Indian monarch was defeated. Alexander gave him back his king- dom much increased, thereby securing a buffer State on his own borders, for apparently he in- tended the Indus to be the eastern boundary of his empire. He then continued to the southeast m- til he reached the river Hyphasis. Here the Macedonians refused to go farther, and unwill- ingly Alexander was obliged to turn back when, as he thought, he was near the end of the world. He returned to the Hydaspes; then advanced southward, subduing the tribes of the lower Pun- jab, and finally reached the Indian Ocean in the early summer of 32.5. Part of his force had al- ready been dispatched to reduce a revolt in Ara- chosia. Alexander himself started in early au- tumn to return to Babylon across the desert of Mekran, while his fleet was to find a seaway between the East and West. For two months he and his army sti'uggled across the desert, suffer- ing from heat, hunger, and thirst. The losses were very great, so that only a portion of those who started reached the capital of Gedrosia. Af- ter a rest, Alexander pressed on to Kirman. where he met his admiral, who in spite of great hard- ships had made the voyage from India. He was