The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-02-11


mass ed his troops and marched against
the Thebans who refused to surrender.
The conflict that followed resulted in
5000 or more of the inhabitants he ng
slain, and 10000 sold into slavery. The
city was razed to the ground, and the
only inkabitant that was spared and
permitted to retain his property was
Pindar. The severity with which Alex
ander treated the Thebans struck ter
rOr to the hearts of the GI ecians; altho
the Athen ans who were led into revolt
by the orators Demosthenes and Chari- +,
demus were offered better treatment
provided they banished Cbaridemus.
Owing to this trouble in the king
dom, which delayed him from carrying
out his fathers plans of invading the
Persian empne, it was not until two
years after he ascenaed the throne, that
he was able to start on his Asiatic ex-
pedition with an army of about 5000
men. Starting at Pella, the capital of
Macedonia he crossed the Hellespont
which was the ga.eway to Northern
Asia, and met on the banks of the
Granicus river, the Satraps, over whom
he gained a complete victory. 1t was
not long after this befole all the cities
of Asia Minor opened their gates to
him. Alexander fingered here long
enough to restore democracy in a the
Greek cities; and at Gordium he showed
the world the shortest way out of y
difficulty; being unable to unite the
Gordian knot he drew his sword and
cut it. Hence the phrase, "cutting the
Gordian knot"
i After leaving here Alexa lder pro-
ceeded on his march through Pisidia,
Phrygia, Cappadocia and Cilicia. 1t
was OH the plains of Issus, of the last
named provence, that he met Darius
I'LL. with an army OF nearly 100000 men
half of which were Greeks. Disorder
amongst the Persians soon confused
them so that they fled in terror, but the
Greeks who were tar more warlike
gave fierce battle to his Macedonians
altho in the end they, too, had to yield
: to the terrific onslaughter. A large
amount of treasures Was taken and
Darius ILLS family Was captured the
he escaped and proceeded to Susa the
capital to raise another army.
Darius ILL.,, who in the mt antime be
came alarmed at the constant success
. of Alexander, made several overture'
l. toward peace. But these were haughti
: Iy rejected by Alexander who declared
. that Darius must acknowledge hin
! master of all Asia and lord of all hi
people. Alexander now marche ! south
> ward in order to cut off Darius escal
,, by st and also to secure to himself tn
chief cities along the eastern coast o
the Mediterranean. Tyre the islam
i city and capital of Phoenicia, c, ntiden
~ of it's strong position, did not folio,
" the example of the other cities and SUI
- render.
= After seven months of incredible IL
10 Dor the city Was finally taken by mean
u of moe built from the mainland t
y the island-which by the way still r,
y mains. This has been pronounce
: Alexander's gre atest military achiev'
10 ment. From here Alexander entere
.. Egypt, which welcomed him with Op4
~ arms. Alexander restored all the Ol
40 Egyptian customs and religious inst
tutions, and founded Alexandria 331
~, C. at one of the mouths of the Nil
u Alexandria became the gre atest city I
no the HeIlenistic empire.
~ In the spring of the same year Ale
o. ander retraced his steps to Syria ar
io' crossing the Euphrates he met
Gaugame a another Persian arm
"a which Darius LII. had asse embled. Th
W army, historians tel US, numbered nee
III ly million men. Darius was aga
II defeated and only escaped from t
'.n field to be treacherously killed by o.
hc of his attendants. From now on +,
"a find that Alexander met but little G
position in his further conquest of t
sry Persians. The conqueror now march
To- to Babylon, Snsa aud PersepOlis:
Din each of these cities he secured an {
ler ormous amount of treasures. At I
vas instigation of revengefui Atheni
mt, and in fit of drunkenness he set