    the battle of issus occurred in southern anatolia, in november 333 bc between the hellenic league led by alexander the great and the achaemenid persia, led by darius iii, in the second great battle of alexander's conquest of asia. the invading macedonian troops defeated persia. after the hellenic league soundly defeated the persian satraps of asia minor (led by the greek mercenary, memnon of rhodes) at the battle of the granicus, darius took personal command of his army. he gathered reinforcements and led his men in a surprise march behind the hellenic advance to cut their line of supply. this forced alexander to countermarch, setting the stage for the battle near the mouth of the pinarus river and the town of issus.  ==location== the battle took place south of the ancient town issus, which is close to present-day turkish town of iskenderun (the turkish equivalent of "alexandria", founded by alexander to commemorate his victory), on either side of a small river called pinarus. at that location the distance from the gulf of issus to the surrounding mountains is only , a place where darius could not take advantage of his superiority in numbers. spe
330s_BC_conflicts 333_BC Ancient_Greece Battles_involving_the_Achaemenid_Empire Battles_of_Alexander_the_Great History_of_Hatay_Province History_of_Turkey