Age of Alexander

The **Age of Alexander** lasted from about 371 BC until 280 BC. It began with the closing of the Peloponnesian War, whose real winner was perhaps Macedonia. It then ended with the death of Alexander the Great, and the disintegration of his empire into a series of successor states, we call the Hellenistic world.

The Peloponnesian War had left devastation in its wake. One ruler tempted by the possibilities was Philip II of Macedonia, a not very highly regarded northern kingdom. This was a rough, tough place; its rulers still somewhat like warlords; their power resting more on personal ascendancy over a warrior aristocracy than political institutions. Philip began a steady acquisition of territory at the expense of Greek city-states. His ultimate argument was an army which became by the end of his reign the best-trained and organized in Greece. When the Greeks finally made a stand against Philip, they were convincingly defeated at Chaeronea. Philip followed his victory with a bout of diplomacy, establishing a federated Greece, known as the League of Corinth, under Macedonian leadership for a planned war against Achaemenid Persia. There was one more kick of Greek independence after Philip’s assassination, but Alexander wasted no time in crushing it, making an example of Thebes by razing the city to the ground. Alexander’s reign had thus begun with difficulties, but once they were surmounted, his record of success was staggering. Legend says that, after crossing to Anatolia, he made a pilgrimage to the site of Troy. He then defeated the Persians at Issus, and swept south, conquering Syria, Palestine and Egypt; where he was proclaimed Pharaoh and founded the city of Alexandria. The next year, he went back into the Near East to inflict at Gaugamela a second and decisive defeat on the Persia king Darius III, who was later murdered while still on the run. This was the end of the Achaemenid Empire, long the great power of the Near East. On went Alexander into Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and northern India, before his weary soldiers made him turn back. The following year, at the age of thirty-three, Alexander the Great suddenly fell ill and died. This short life had a significance going far beyond simple conquest, spreading Greek influence where it had never been felt before. The Macedonian conqueror lived too short a time to prove to posterity that even he could have held his "empire" together for long. His generals swooped like vultures, and, when the dust settled, his former realm had been carved up into kingdoms. But nothing could dim the memory of Alexander himself. Over two millennia after his death, British Grenadiers would march into battle singing, “*Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules*”. The tourist to Troy in 333 BC would have been pleased with the choice of his companion; and with the order of listing.

What mattered more was that for well-over a century the Greek world was preoccupied with events in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East, paying little attention to events further west. This provided a peaceful setting for the rise of Rome. Slowly at first, then with gathering pace, Roman armies conquered their neighbours in central Italy. Occasionally these skirmishes erupted into full-blown wars. Starting in 343 BC, Rome became locked in a long war with the Samnites, a confederation of tribes who populated the hills and mountains of central Italy. Waged over the next fifty years, the Samnite Wars eventually sucked most of Italy into an anti-Roman coalition. When the dust settle, Rome was undisputed masters of the whole of central and northern Italy. Of course, the Greek colonies of the western Mediterranean knew more about these developments, but they long remained preoccupied with the first formidable competitor they had faced, Carthage. There were now three major actors in the arena of the west. Viewed from the Hellenistic east, a "*cloud in the west*" was one description of the ensuing struggle between Carthage and Rome. Whatever its outcome, it was bound to have great repercussions for the whole Mediterranean.

## History

### Rise of Macedonia

The history of Greece rapidly becomes less interesting after the middle of the fourth century. It is also less important. What remains important is the history of Greek civilization, and the shape of this, paradoxically, was determined by a northern Greek state which some said was not Greek at all: Macedonia (808–148 BC). Macedonia stood between the city-states of Greece proper and the Greek colonies of Thrace, and differed from both. It was a single kings, ruled by a single king; the first state in Europe to achieve this level of organization. But this was a pretty rough and tumble kingdom. Macedonian kings were still somewhat like the warlords of Homeric times, their power resting on personal ascendancy over a warrior aristocracy, rather than political institutions. And, though the centre of Macedonia was firmly under their control, the northern and western parts were much shakier. To the west, along the eastern Adriatic coast, lay a loose alliance of tribes called the Illyrians; to the north, several Celtic tribes known collectively as the Paeonians. As a monarchy, Macedonia had similarities with Sparta; in each, the king personally led his troops in battle. But a Macedonian king, if a capable general, was more free than his Spartan counterpart to conquer and follow up his successes. Sparta was a characteristic Greek city-state in that there were constitutional checks on royal power. Macedonia, by contrast, was like a feudal state; the king and his nobles did as they please. Whether this place was a part of the Greek world was disputed. Some Greek thought the Macedonians "barbarians". On the other hand, their kings claimed descent going back to Trojan hero Heracles, and their claim was generally recognized.

   Macedonia had relatively little involvement with its Greek neighbours to the south, until **Philip II** (359–336 BC) came to the throne. He was the thirteenth king since Amyntas I had surrendered to the Persians in 512 BC. Thirteen kings in a little over a century works out to an average of eight-years apiece; to be king of Macedonia was not a safe job. Philip was the youngest of three brothers, who each assumed the throne in turn; the eldest bother was assassinated, while the second was killed in battle against the Illyrians. In 360 BC, Philip became regent for his young nephew, but it was not long before he assumed the throne himself, without anyone's objection for his leadership was much needed. The Illyrians were not the only threat on the horizon; the Athenians were supporting a pretender to the Macedonian throne. Philip's first priorities were to buy-off the Athenians (surrendering the border city of Pydna to them), and to reorganize the Macedonian army. In his youth, Philip had been sent as a hostage to Thebes, where he witnessed first-hand the Greek *Phalanx* in the hand of famed Theban commander Epaminondas. The Macedonian military tradition had emphasized heavy cavalry; members of the aristocracy known as the *Hetairoi* ("Companions"). Though this continued to be a major arm, Philip added a new approach to the traditional Greek heavy infantry, known as the *Macedonian* *Phalanx*. The principal weapon was changed to a *Sarissa*, pikes almost twice as long as a Hoplite spear; it had the advantage that shafts from the first five ranks all projected beyond the front men, presenting a much denser array of spear points to the enemy. The discipline and professionalism of the army increased as well; soldiers were provided with the possibility of promotion through the ranks; and infantrymen were allowed to call themselves *Pezhetairoi* ("Foot Companions"), bolstering their prestige. Tactically, Philip, and later his son Alexander, rarely used infantry as his arm of choice, but rather, used it to hold the enemy in place, allowing his heavy cavalry to break them; an early form of "combined-arms" tactics. Another advantage of the Macedonians was a grasp of siege-warfare not shown by other Greek armies; they had catapults which forced the besieged city's defenders to take cover, while battering rams, siege towers, and earthen ramps were brought into play. Such things had only been seen in the armies of Neo-Assyria and their Near Eastern successors, so it must be assumed that the Macedonians learned siege-craft while under Persian rule. As the same time, Philip increased the Hellenization of his kingdom, insisting on a proper Greek education for the sons of his esteemed subjects, and inviting philosophers, poets, and writers to move north. Most famously, in 343 BC, Aristotle himself was asked to be tutor young Alexander; a well-paid post which Aristotle accepted.

Philip II was one of those rare conquerors in history who combine military genius with a blend of skilful diplomacy and shameless duplicity as needed. He was also adept at consolidating power through marriage alliances; Macedonian kings were polygamous, and Philip had seven wives, the most famous being Olympias of Epirus, mother of Alexander. After securing his western border against the Illyrians, Philip reached an agreement with Athens to conquer the Thracian city of Amphipolis, which commanded the gold mines of Mount Pangaion, and then lease the city to them. in exchange for Pydna (surrender at the start of his reign), However, after capturing Amphipolis, he kept both cities for himself. These mines yielded much of the gold he used for his future campaigns, though he spent so much that he left huge debts. Now Philip began to involved himself in the affairs of his southern neighbours. When the tyrant of the city of Pherae was assassinated, he went down on the pretext of restoring order, and then kept control of the city. In 354 BC, the Phocians seized Delphi, home of the famed oracle, to use the accumulated treasures to fund large mercenary armies, and the *Thessalian League* (dominated at the moment by Thebes) asked Philip to help. When the dust settled, he had won not only Thessaly, but established himself in central Greece, as far south as the pass of Thermopylae. But Philip did not escape these battles without some personal scars; his right eye was lost to an arrow wound. There was, to all this, no organized Greek response; Sparta was too far south to be troubled, and Athens, without her navel supremacy, was suffering from frequent famines. And so Philip went right on absorbing bits of Greece; Rhodes, Cos, Chios and Byzantium placed themselves under Macedonian patronage. Throughout his rise to power, Demosthenes (d. 322 BC), the last great Athenian orator, urged his fellow citizens to make a stand against the Macedonian "barbarian"; his fiery speeches on this theme became known to history as "*Philippics*". But when Athens and Thebes finally did declare war on Philip, their combined army was soundly defeated at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC). Philip followed up this victory with a bout of diplomacy. The following year, he made a speech at Corinth, advocating a Pan-Hellenic crusade to exploit Persian weakness, and once more liberate the Ionian Greek cities. This notion was attractive enough to bear fruit in a reluctant *League of Corinth,* formed by the major Greek cities (except for Sparta) in 337 BC, with Philip as its head and supreme commander. It was somewhat reminiscent of the *Delian League*, in that the apparent independence of its members was a sham; they were Macedonian satellites. But Philip would never achieve his goal of going to war with Persia. Right after his Corinthian speech, he married for the seventh time; a beautiful native Macedonian girl, the niece of a nobleman named Attalus. Unlike his political marriages, this one was apparently impelled by lust. If so, he fatally misjudged the trouble it would cause. All of the Macedonians got staggering drunk at the wedding feast, and Attalus proposed a toast; imploring the gods to give Macedonia a legitimate heir. Alexander was, of course, technically legitimate, but, since his mother was Greek, he was only half Macedonian. Alexander, who was drunk, voiced his outrage both at Attalus and at his father, and had to flee Macedonia. But, it was not politic to put the succession in jeopardy, so Philip soon reconciled with Alexander. Worse was about to come. With preparations far advanced for the crossing into Asia, a grand feast was held at Aegae to celebrate the wedding of Philip’s daughter. There Philip was assassinated by Pausanias, a member of his bodyguards with a bitter grievance against Attalus, and against Philip for denying him justice. This was the official explanation, and Pausanias himself had nothing to add; he was killed on the spot. Suspicion fell on Alexander, who had most to gain from Philip’s death; he certainly never forgot Attalus' insult, and promptly had him assassinated. But Alexander was popular with the army, which acclaimed him as king the very next day. Alexander the Great would not only fulfil his father's dream of invading Persia, but conquered most of the known world of his day.

### Late Achaemenid Persia

The story of Alexander the Great has as its backdrop the decline of Achaemenid Persian power. The reign of Xerxes I (486-465 BC) had marked a change in the empire, following a pattern familiar to many later empires; the hard men who build them tend to be followed by descendants growing up in isolated splendour, pampered by courtiers, and surrounded by intrigue and corruption. Xerxes’ imperious refusal to take responsibility for the defeat at Salamis was a symptom of a personality that would brook no restraint. Accounts from several sources suggest a man sinking deeper and deeper into decadence. The Biblical *Book of Esther* tells of week-long orgies hosted by Xerxes, to which the provinces were order to send their most beautiful girls. Herodotus also mention Xerxes’ appetite for women. Such stories were not written by friends, but Xerxes was clearly not popular with his court by the end; he was assassinated with the help of a bodyguard trustworthy enough to guard the king's bedchamber. Throughout the fifth century BC, the empire’s internal troubles continued, with province after province slipping out of imperial control; among them Egypt, which won its independence, and held it for sixty years. By the time Artaxerxes II (404–359 BC) inherited the throne, a fight over the succession was *de rigueur* in Persia. His younger brother, Cyrus, serving as governor in Sardis, gathered an army of 10,000 Greek mercenaries, among them Xenophon, and marched towards the Persian heartland. Cyrus' army was stopped near Babylon by loyal Persian forces at the Battle of Cunaxa (September 410 BC), and Cyrus was slain. The defeated Greeks were more than a thousand miles from home, and Xenophon tells the story of their five-month trek to safety. The main effect of this escape was on the Greeks, rather than the Persians. The gossip in the streets of Greece, often based on direct personal experience, was now that the supposedly great empire of the east had a soft-centre. The reclaiming of the Ionian Greek cities was the high point of Artaxerxes' long and otherwise undistinguished reign. His successor, Artaxerxes III (358–338 B.C), put the stability of the royal house in jeopardy, by murdering most of his relatives to secure his place on the throne. The greatest achievement of his reign was finally bringing Egypt back into the Persian fold. The general, Bagoas, who had most distinguished himself in the Egyptian campaign, was advanced to a leading role in the internal administration of the Empire. Unfortunately Bagoas grew pleased with his power. In 338 BC, he poisoned Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes' three sons also suffered mysterious deaths; Bagoas had been busy with his cups. He then installed a reputedly mild-mannered distant cousin as a puppet-king; Darius III (336–330 BC). He had underestimated his man, though. After the coronation, Darius invited Bagoas into his throne room for a cup of wine; an hour later Bagoas was dead. Just two years later, Alexander the Great began his invasion of the Persian Empire.

### Alexander the Great

**Alexander the Great** (336–323 BC) was born in Pella, capital of Macedonia, a few years after Philip II became king. His father's expansion over most of Classical Greece, an unfolding saga of glory and excitement, was Alexander's boyhood. He remained Philip's only legitimate son; one of Philip’s mistresses did give birth to a son, Philip Arrhidaeus (d. 317 BC), but the unfortunate child was feeble-minded. At an early age Alexander proved himself well equipped to share in these military adventures. When Alexander was ten, Philip bought a stallion named Bucephalas from a Thessalian trader. The horse, however, refused to be mounted, and he ordered it sent back. When Alexander protested, Philip challenged the boy to ride the horse himself. Alexander, detecting the horse's fear of its own shadow, took hold of the reins and turned him to face the sun, allowing him to mount the horse. Even so early, Alexander was a strategist. According to Plutarch, Philip was overjoyed, and declared, "*My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you*". The prince's education was the best that Greece can provide. For three years, Aristotle himself tutored him. No doubt they studied Homer together, and Alexander developed a passion the *Iliad* in particular, Aristotle gave him an annotated copy, which he later carried on his campaigns, as he achieved feats to put Achilles and Hercules to shame. Alexander's childhood friends, such as Ptolemy (d. 282 BC) and Hephaistion (d. 324 BC), would become his lifelong companions and generals in his army. At eighteen, Alexander was given his first opportunity to prove his military worth at the decisive Battle of Chaeronea; Philip commanded the right wing, and Alexander the left, accompanied of course by some of Philip's most trusted generals. The most complete account of the battle by Diodorus Siculus, credits Alexander with turning the tide of battle; "*Alexander, anxious to give his father proof of his valour - and followed by a courageous band - was the first to break through the main body of the enemy*". When Philip II was assassinated and Alexander assumed the throne in 336 BC, there was one more kick of Greek independence, led by Thebes and Athens. Though advised to use diplomacy, Alexander marched straight for Thebes, reconquering Greeks as he went. When the Thebans refused to surrender, he stormed, sacked, and razed the city; putting 6,000 to the sword, publicly selling 30,000 into slavers, and dividing Theban territory among its neighbours. He then made the same offer to Athens, which surrendered as quickly as possible. After this, the rest of the *League of Corinth* fell into line within two months. This show of democracy, backed by force, was characteristic of Alexander’s dealings. Almost everything he did, he did by force-of-arms; yet somewhere in him there was a longing to be acclaimed by the free will of the conquered.

    Alexander’s reign had thus begun with difficulties, but once they were surmounted, he could turn his attention to Achaemenid Persia. In the spring of 334 BC he **crossed into Asia** at the head of 32,000 infantry and 5,100 cavalry, of which a half was drawn from Greece. He was just twenty-two years old, and before him lay a short career of conquest so brilliant that it would leave his name a myth down the ages. But first Alexander engaged in some romantic tourism, making a pilgrimage to the old site of Troy. In a traditional Greek ceremony, he took part in a naked race with his *Companions*, and garlanded the supposed tomb of Achilles. Persian king Darius III was not alarmed yet, and left the defence of Anatolia to his *Satraps* there. A council was held by the Persians at Zeleia to discuss their strategy. One commander, Memnon, suggested avoiding battle altogether; to use "scorched earth" tactics so that Alexander would be unable to continue his campaign due to lack of supplies. This was a good plan; inspired no doubt by the Scythian strategy which had defeated the first Darius. But Memnon was shouted down. Instead, the Persian army moved to the banks of the Granicus River, a short distance to the east of Troy, and made its stand. Before the **Battle of the Granicus** (May 334 BC), Alexander's second-in-command, Parmenion (d. 330 BC), suggested crossing the river upstream, and attacking the next day. Instead, Alexander drew up his forces, and immediately charged across the river. The ferocious Macedonian cavalry opened a hole in the Persian line as the Macedonian infantry advanced, forcing the enemy back and eventually breaking their centre. Plutarch chalks this up to the experience of the Macedonians. But Alexander’s personal presence undoubtedly had something to do with it as well. In every battle he was his own best soldier; right in the middle of the first charge, and fighting on the front line until the end. And he was wounded several times in the mêlée. After his victory, Alexander declared the Ionian cities "liberated" (as he phrased his conquest), and then marched on towards Sardis. He was still eight miles away when the provincial governor came out to surrender; Anatolia was his. On his triumphant march east, Alexander stopped at Gordium, and undid the hitherto unsolvable *Gordian Knot*, a feat said to await the future king of Asia. According to the story, Alexander wrestled unsuccessfully with the tangled knots, and then, proclaiming "*It makes no difference how they’re untied*", simply hacked it apart with his sword. Darius III, meanwhile, had grown worried enough to move north to Babylon, which would serve as his centre of operations against the invader. There, he assembled a massive army; 100,000 strong, according to modern estimates. With this earth-shaking army, he marched up to the open country of the old Assyrian heartland, where the superior Persian numbers could crush the Macedonians. But Alexander did not appear; he had grown ill with a fever, delaying his march for weeks. Eventually, Darius's impatience got the better of him, and he decided to march towards Anatolia. As a result, the two armies met at the Issus river in Syria, a place where the Persian numbers gave no advantage; the surrounding mountains made the battlefield too narrow. At the **Battle of Issus** (333 BC), things did not go well for the Macedonians in the beginning. Their centre *Phalanx* suffered severely against the outnumbering Persian mass. Alexander's right wing became the crux of the battle. There, his cavalry held long enough against superior Persian heavy horse for Alexander to break through the Persian line, and make a calculated cavalry strike against Darius' position. Darius and his bodyguards, seeing the danger, took to their heels, causing his army to collapse. The would-be usurper Bagoas had not been entirely mistaken in Darius’ mildness; he was frightened enough to leave his wife, mother, and his two daughters behind. When Darius tried to ransom them, Alexander refused unless Darius came to him in person, which pretty much guaranteeing that negotiations were at an end. Alexander, who was generally kind to captives (except after sieges), apparently treated the royal women with every courtesy; he would later marry Darius' daughter, Stateira.

After Issus, Darius remained east of the Euphrates, while Alexander proceeded to take possession of Syria and the Levant. Most of the old Phoenician ports open their gates to him. The exception was the greatest of them all, Tyre, which he besieged for seven months. With support from a fleet, supplied mainly from other Phoenician cities, Tyre was finally stormed in July 332 BC. Alexander was so enraged by the delay that he allowed his men to massacre some 8,000 Tyrian defenders; 30,000 residents, mainly women and children, were sold into slavery. After that, he advanced south without resistance, until he reached Gaza on its high mound; it held out for two months, and then suffered the same fate as Tyre. By November 332 BC, Alexander was in **Egypt**, which surrendered without a struggle; completing his control of the whole eastern Mediterranean coast. Alexander's actions there were the first indication of how he would set about maintaining control of distant conquests. One method was to establish outposts of Greek culture. During his stay, he founded the greatest of the cities to bear his name, Alexandria. Over the course of his life, he would founded, re-establish, or rename more than seventy cities. At first, these "new cities" were little more than defensive garrisons, but, a century or so after his death, many were thriving, while Alexandria began a glittering career as one of the leading Mediterranean cities. Another method, equally important, was portraying himself in the guise of a local ruler. To this end, Alexander carried out sacrifices at the Temple of Apis in Memphis, where the priests crown him *Pharaoh*. And he made a long pilgrimage to the famous oracle of Amen-Re at Siwa Oasis. The priest duly recognized him as the son of the god.

In the spring of 331 BC, Alexander was ready to move north-east into Mesopotamia to deal with Darius III. The Persian king made another attempt to avoid war; he promised Alexander all the lands west of the Euphrates without opposition, not to mention a Persian princess as a wife. Alexander’s most trusted commander, Parmenio, thought this was a perfectly good idea; “*I would accept, if I were you*”, he said, to which Alexander retorted, “*And if I were you, so would I*”. The two armies met once again at the **Battle of Gaugamela** (October 331 BC), all the way up north on the Tigris. Again Alexander was heavily outnumbered; again he emerged victorious; again Darius fled the field. Alexander’s men then marched in triumph first on Babylon and then on Susa, the Persian administrative capital; both surrendered unconditionally. He then moved towards the ceremonial capital of Persepolis, where he met heroic resistance at the Persian Gates from Achaemenid prince Ariobarzanes and his sister Youtab. After a month, Alexander found a path to the rear of the Persians, and took Persepolis. There, Alexander discovered a whole contingent of Greek prisoners-of-war, some of whom had been captured decades before in older wars; many had had limbs amputated to prevent their escape. Once again moved to fury, he allowed his men to sack the city for several days, killing all its men and enslaving its women. Before he left, the city was razed to the ground; either by accident or as a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of Athens during the second Persian invasion of Greece. Alexander then pursued Darius III with a small fast force, but before he could overtake him, the escaping Persian king was assassinated by his own *Satrap* and kinsman, Bessus (d. 329 BC); the last of the Achaemenids was fatally stabbed, and left to die in the hot summer sun.

    Alexander was now King of Persia, and his men hoped that their tour-of-duty was over. But Alexander was incapable of leaving land unconquered, and the eastern provinces were not yet in his hands; Bessus had also declared himself Darius' successor. Over the next three, Alexander campaigned farther and further into the rough terrain of Central Asia. and his hold over his men’s loyalties began to slip. First, one of his officers, Philotas, was convicted of plotting against Alexander’s life, and stoned to death; a brutal but not uncommon practice in Macedonia. The death of the son necessitated the death of the father, Alexander's most trusted general Parmenio; he was back at Ecbatana, and Alexander sent orders for his assassination. Next, Alexander arranged to marry for the first time; the beautiful Bactrian princess Roxane (d. 310 BC), a woman the Macedonians regarded as a barbarian. And combined Alexander’s tendency to take on Persian dress and customs, as far as they were concerned, he was becoming less and less Macedonian as he took more and more territory. The resentment finally boiled over at a drunken dinner in Maracanda in 328 BC. Specifically, Cleitus. a man who had saved Alexander’s life at Granicus, spoke his mind. When Alexander arrogantly boasted of all his accomplishments, Cleitus furiously accused him of taking credit for victories won by the blood of loyal Macedonians. Alexander leaped up, calling for his guard, but they did not want to intervene in a quarrel between friends. Cleitus’ friends restrained Alexander, and dragged Cleitus out of the room, but he returned to taunt the king. At this point Alexander had gotten hold of a javelin, and threw it through Cleitus' heart. When he sobered up, he was horrified, but he did not give up his plans to campaign further east; he intended to conquer **India**. Alexander invited all the chieftains of old Persian province of Gandhara (northern Pakistan), to come to him and submit to his authority. One of them, Ambhi of Taxila (d. 316 BC), whose kingdom extended to the Indus River, complied with enthusiasm, meeting him with valuable gifts, and placing all his forces at his disposal. Ambhi hoped to make an alliance with Alexander against the next kingdom over, Hydaspes, which lay on the Jhelum River; it was ruled by a seven-foot tall king named Porus (d. 321 BC). The resulting **Battle of the Hydaspes River** (May 326 BC) was Alexander's last great battle. Porus’ army was inexperienced against heavy infantry, but had a secret weapon; two-hundred war-elephants. Both the Macedonians and their horses were a little alarmed by these monstrous beasts, but, even so, after a fierce battle in a raging thunderstorm, Porus was defeated; Alexander, impressed by his courage, spared his life. Although victorious, it was the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians. When Alexander’s army learned that he now intended to lead them towards the Ganges Valley, to face the further five-thousand elephants reported to be waiting there, they refused to go on. This time, neither Alexander’s fury nor his charm could persuade them. According to Plutarch, he shut himself in his tent sulking for two days, before agreeing to turn back. But, rather than marching back through the Hindu Kush, Alexander decided to lead his army down the Indus River, and then west along the coast. This turned into a wretched seven-month journey. Alexander received a severe wound in a skirmish with hostile locals, which left him so weakened he could barely sit a horse; the wound never completely healed. With the march west taking them through the Gedrosian salt desert, his men began to died from starvation, thirst, and disease; barely half of them limped home. It was a dreadful end to a brilliant campaign.

Back in Susa, Alexander concentrated on his duties as king rather than conqueror. In 324 BC, he hosted a great feast to symbolize peace, at which he and 9,000 of his soldiers married Persian women. His own bride on this occasion was Stateira (d. 323 BC), the eldest daughter of Darius III. To Hephaestion, his lifelong friend and probably his boyhood lover, he awarded the privilege of marrying another one of Darius’ daughters. This mass wedding was an attempt to deal with the ongoing hostility between the Persians, who found Macedonians uncouth, and Macedonians, who found Persians effeminate. Alexander also tried to merge Macedonian and Persian units in his army. But both experiments backfired. Most of the marriages fell apart with speed, and his old Macedonian comrades mutinied. Only Alexander's emotional appeal prevented them following through on their threat of going back to Macedonia. When he had managed to convince both Macedonians and Persians to coexist a little longer, he travelled to Ecbatana, to retrieve the bulk of the Persian treasury. There, at a festival, Hephaestion fell ill with a fever. After seven days, he seemed to recover sufficiently to eat a meal. His meal, however, caused a relapse that led to his rapid death. The explanation that most fits the facts is typhoid, with solid food perforating the ulcerated intestine, and causing internal bleeding. Alexander indulged in extravagant mourning for his closest friend; he was given an expensive royal funeral; a decree for public mourning; his office as vizier was left unfilled; and Arrian claims that Hephaestion's doctor was executed for failing to cure him. While still processing his grief, Alexander returned to Babylon with plans for expanding his empire, beginning with an invasion of Arabia. But he would not have a chance to realize them. There, he too grew ill with a fever, which grew progressively worse. Ten days later, Alexander the Great was dead. The year was 323 BC; he was thirty-two years old.

### Hellenistic World after Alexander

Alexander the Great lived too short a time to prove to posterity that even he could have held his empire together for long. His conquests, made in a white heat of energy, had produced an enormous empire with no administration to speak of, no organized tax system, no common cultural identity, and no capital city. It was subjected to intolerable strain when **Alexander died** without an obvious heir. The disintegration began with Alexander's wives. Five months pregnant, Roxane was familiar enough with Persian customs to feel entirely unsafe. She had probably also heard that Alexander's Persian wife Stateira was pregnant as well. She invited Stateira to dinner, and offered her a cup of poisoned wine. Roxane’s unborn child was now Alexander’s only heir, apart from a feeble-minded half-brother named Philip Arrhidaeus. According to Diodorus, Alexander's companions had asked him on his deathbed to whom he bequeathed his kingdom; his laconic reply was *Tôi Kratistôi* ("*to the strongest*"). His body lay in his bedchamber for days, while his generals argued over who should become supreme head of his empire. In the end, these men accepted a compromise; Philip Arrhidaeus would become king, and, if Roxane's child was male, then the infant would be co-ruler. Both would need a regent, and the man who took the job was Perdiccas (d. 321 BC); he had served as second-in-command, after Hephaestion’s death. The other generals would take positions as *Satraps*, in imitation of the Persian provincial system; Ptolemy, who was rumoured to be an illegitimate son of old Philip himself, would govern Egypt; Lysimachus, who had distinguished himself on the Indian campaign, got Thrace; Antigonus, one of Alexander’s trusted generals, got Anatolia; Antipater, who had served as regent of Macedonia during Alexander's absence, retained Macedonia and Greece; and a dozen other men were granted other provinces. This division of Alexander’s domain was a direct path to war. Perdiccas’ position as regent seemed to be cemented when Roxane’s baby, safely born, proved to be a boy, Alexander IV (d. 309 BC). But Egypt had the potential to be the greatest military power of all the provinces. Ptolemy had taken charge with only two thousand men, but, when word spread that he was offering generous pay, Greek mercenaries flocked to him. When he felt strong enough, Ptolemy made his intentions clear; while Alexander's funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy "kidnapped" his body, and burying it in Alexandria as though Alexander had been his own ancestor. Perdiccas reponded forcefully, assembling his army, and marching on Egypt. The campaign was a disaster. Following an embarrassing retreat, a mutiny broke out amongst Perdiccas' own troops; he was assassinated by his officers, led by Seleucus (281 BC). Thus began fourty-odd years of civil war.

    When the dust settled, the provinces of Alexander's empire had become three big successor states, each of them a hereditary monarchy. **Ptolemaic Egypt** (305-30 BC) was the richest and the longest-lived, with Ptolemy's descendants ruling for nearly three-hundred years, until the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. To legitimize their rule, the Ptolemies adopted the style and dress of the *Pharaohs*, and participated in Egyptian religious life; otherwise, the monarchy rigorously maintained its Hellenistic character. The kingdom had a complex centralized bureaucracy that exploited the country's vast economic resources to the benefit of a Greek ruling class, which dominated military, political, and economic affairs. Alexandria, its capital, became a leading center of Greek culture, learning, and trade for the next several centuries. Next, the **Seleucid Empire** (312 BC–63 BC), established by Seleucus, won control of a vast area; Anatolia, Syria, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, and the eastern part of the empire, It was arguably the most successful in accomplishing what Alexander had set out to do: the creation of a multi-national empire which merged eastern and western cultures harmoniously. Though an urban Greek elite formed the dominant political class, the wide variety of religious and cultural traditions had been generally tolerated. This unwieldy empire proved impossible for Seleucus' descendants to hold, even with steady immigration from Greece. As early as 305 BC, conflict with the Maurya ruler Chandragupta saw Alexander's Indian conquests passed out of Greek hands altogether. Within the next half century most of Anatolia had asserted its independence; of the many small states, Pergamon (282 BC–129 BC) was the most significant. This was soon followed by Bactria (256 BC–100 BC) and Parthia (247 BC–224 AD) to the northeast. But the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia were secure at first. And finally, **Macedonia** itself, Alexander's homeland, was racked by a succession of violent coups and counter-coups. In one of them, Alexander's mother, Olympias, killed his half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus; she lost her own life in the next. Throughout all this, Roxane and young Alexander IV remained under house arrest, theoretically for their own safety; we do not know exactly when they were killed, sometime before 309 BC. Stability was at last re-established under the Antigonid Dynasty (277-168 BC), though only after Athens made another bid for independence and failed in 265 BC.

    These events are complicated, but not very important for our purpose. What mattered more was that after 280 BC or so, the Hellenistic world lived in a relatively stable balance of powers. This provided a peaceful setting for the greatest **diffusion of Greek culture**, and this constitutes their claim on our attention, not the obscure politics and unrewarding struggles of these states. Greek became an official language of the whole Near East; even more important, it was the language of the cities, the foci of this new world. Both the Seleucids and Ptolemies urgently sought Greek immigrants, and founded new cities wherever they could, as a means of providing some solidity for their states and of Hellenizing the local population. Alexandria, Antioch, and the Seleucid capital city at Seleucia (near Babylon) quickly achieved populations of two hundred thousand. This reflected economic growth as well as conscious policy. The wars of Alexander and his successors had released enormous wealth, much of it in bullion, accumulated by the Achaemenids. It stimulated economic life all over the Near East and western Mediterranean; if it also brought the evils of inflation, the overall trend was towards greater wealth. This sustained governments of some magnificence, spending large revenues in spectacular and sometimes commendable ways. The ruins of the Hellenistic cities show the appurtenances of Greek urban life; theatres and gymnasia abound, games and festivals were held in all of them. This probably did not much affect the native populations of the countryside who paid the taxes and went on living much as they had done under the Persians. Nonetheless, it was a solid achievement. Yet, the Hellenic world was in spirit unlike that of the Classical Greece, as some Greeks noted sourly. The Macedonians had never known the life of the city-state; bureaucracy became highly developed, but the cultural nerve had gone. Royal patronage at Alexandria and Pergamon provided for two greatest libraries of the ancient world. But much of their academic activity was narrow, in the sense that its essence was commentary on past achievement. Even so, it was a tradition solid enough that the worlds of medieval Europe and Islam would receive the teaching of Plato and Aristotle through what had been passed on by Hellenistic scholars. Only in Greece itself did the philosophy of the age still have vigour. Even there, its Hellenistic development suggests that men were falling back upon personal concerns, retreating out of societies and political forms they could not influence. One example was Epicurus (d. 270 BC), who sought contentment in private pleasures. Contrary to later misinterpretations, he meant by this something far from over-indulgence in fine food and wine. For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to help people attain a happy, tranquil life, free from anxiety, and surrounded by friends. Another example was Zeno of Citium (d 262 BC), who moved to Athens and taught at a public square called *Stoa Poikile.* The place gave its name to the doctrine he taught, *Stoicism*. His disciples were to be among the most influential philosophers, because their teachings were easily applicable to daily life. Essentially, the Stoics taught that man could not control what happened to him, but he could (stoically) accept what was sent by fate. Accordingly, virtuous acts should not be performed for their likely consequences (which might well be thwarted), but for their own sake. This ethic of disciplined common sense was soon to have great success in Rome. Meanwhile, the supposed triumph of Greek culture can be deceptive.

The new monarchs buttressed themselves more and more with oriental cults, whose origins went back into the Mesopotamian and Egyptian past. The Seleucids allowed themselves to be worshipped, while the Ptolemies outdid them; they took over the divine status of the *Pharaohs*. Conversely, the Greek gods and goddesses began to lose the respect once paid to them, as men sought reassurance in new creeds and faiths. The popularity of astrology, mysteries, and crazes of all kinds, was one symptom. The decline of the *Oracle of Delphi*, remarked in the third century BC, was not arrested.

The political framework of the Hellenic world was bound in the end to change, because sources of change grew up beyond its frontiers. One early omen was the rise of a new threat in the east, Parthia. Less remote, and therefore with less excuse, the Greeks were also almost oblivious to another new star of the political firmament, Rome.

### Roman Conquest of Italy

In the forty-odd years since the Gauls sacked Rome, the Romans had rebuilt their walls, fought off opportunistic attacks from their neighbours, and suffered through yet another *Patrician-Plebian* stand-off. This one ended in 367 BC with another *Patrician* concession: the *Consulship* was formally opened to *Plebs*, and the first *Plebian Consul* was elected that same year. There was now enough peace within Rome's walls for the city to turn anew to empire-building. In the next fifty years, Roman aggression would lead her into four wars, a revolt, and a brewing fifth war off-shore. By 343 BC, southward expansion had reached the Liri River, beyond which lay a confederation of four tribes known collectively as the Samnites. They lived in a sprawl of farming villages on the southern stretches of the Apennine Mountains. and east of the coastal area of Campania. Farming aside, they were known as alarmingly hard fighters; "*a people powerful in arms and in resources*" as Livy puts it. Despite an earlier agreement that the Liri would serve as a boundary between them, Rome went to war against the Samnites; the **First Samnite War** (343-341 BC). Livy puts the best possible sin on the outbreak; the Romans were merely responding to a desperate appeal for aid from the important Campanian city-state of Capua. "*We have reached the point*", the Capuan envoy pleaded, "*when we will have to be absorbed by her friends or by her enemies*”. No matter how pressing Capua's need, it is unlikely that any neighbour of Rome was “begging” to be absorbed. This war was simply the next move in Rome’s imperial game. The gambit was not particularly successful. By 341 BC, the war was a stalemate, and the two sides agreed to peace. The second war, the **Latin War** (340-338 BC), broke out right on the heels of the first. The cities of the *Latin League*, seeing Rome ineffectually engaged in the south, made a final bid to shake-off Roman dominion. This was a particularly difficult war, since the Latins were the same as them in language, custom, and, above all, military skill. The two sides met near the mouth of the Liri, in the savage Battle of Trifanum (340 BC). On one side of the battlefield, the Romans broke the enemy "*with* *much slaughter*", while on the other the Romans were themselves "*cut to pieces*". Even after that bloodshed, the two side regrouped and clashed again; this time the Romans were victorious. Victory on the battlefield was reinforced by new political arrangements. Gone was the *Latin League* of nominal equals, replaced by separate bilateral treaties according to loyalty. Some Latin cities were annex outright. Some were obliged to ceded a part of their territory to provide land for Roman colonies, which could act as "watchdogs". And others, who had fought on Rome’s side, were granted partial Roman citizenship (all the rights of a citizen, except the vote), and a stake in Roman success, in return for supplying troops to Rome's growing war machine. This peace settlement was to become the template for how Rome dealt with defeated enemies.

    In 326 BC, war once again broke-out between the Romans and Samnites. Once again the aggression was on the Roman side; crossing over the Liri River, and establishing a colony in Samnite land. The **Second** **Samnite War** (326-304 BC) dragged on for over twenty years, in a series of dreary repetitive clashes. Rome was initially dominant, and, in the fifth year, the Samnites sued for peace. This was rejected by the *Senate*; arrogance they would soon regret. In 321 BC. a Roman army led by both *Consuls* was encamped about eight miles from Capua. The Samnite commander, Gaius Pontius, placed his own army at Caudine Forks, and then sent soldiers, disguised a shepherds, towards the Roman camp, on a mission to spread misinformation; the city of Capua was under imminent attack. The *Consuls* immediately marched to the aid its stricken ally, taking the quickest route through Caudine Forks. Before they knew what was happening, the whole army was ambushed in the enclosed valley, with nothing remaining but to negotiate an unfavourable surrender. According to Livy, Pontius now had to decide what to do with the trapped Romans. His father proposed two solutions: to set the Romans free without harm, thus gaining Rome's friendship; or to kill them all, thus neutralising the Roman threat for a generation. Unfortunately for Pontius, he opted for a middle course: to agree a five-year truce, and set the Romans free, but not before "*passing under the yoke*", a ritual humiliation of physically walking under a harness to acknowledge submission. To the honest crazed Romans, this was far worse than death on the battlefield. Livy claims the *Senate* at once repudiated the truce, but modern historians put little credence in this; whatever the case, hostilities effectively ceased until 316 BC. The Romans used the time effectively, instituting a complete overhaul of their army. In earliest times, the Romans formed-up for battle in a Greek *Phalanx*, but the rough, hilly Samnite lands made it difficult to maintain a steady line. So it was abandoned for a new formation, known as *Maniples*. The *Manipular* legion consisted of 120 soldiers arrayed in 3 ranks of 40 men; ranks were divided by experience, with the younger enthusiastic soldiers at the front, and older veterans at the back; the formation was looser, so that the front rank could withdraw back without disrupting the formation, allowing more experienced men into the fight. This was a more flexible arrangement than the rigid once-for-all clash of two solid *Phalanxes*. In keeping with this more open formation, the weapons of the Roman legion began to change; the long heavy spear of the Greek *Hoplite* was replaced by a javelin; this was flung before the enemy was in close contact; then the soldier got to work with his short thrusting sword. Rome reinforced these military reforms with a sound system of communication. In 312 BC, the first of the great Roman roads, the Appian Way, was built by Appius Claudius Caecus to link Rome with its important new ally, Capua. When hostilities began anew, despite an early setback, the Romans gradually gained the upper hand. By 312 BC, the battered Samnites tribes were desperately seeking some way out of their troubles, but Rome offered progressively unfavourable terms for peace. During the final phase of the war, there was an intervention by the remaining Etrurian cities, which forced the legions to fight on two fronts, but the Battle of Lake Vadimo (310 BC) broke the back of the northern foe. In 304 BC, the Samnites pleaded for peace, and the Romans granted it, having almost tripled their territory over the course of the war. Though the Samnites had earned a brief respite, other neighbour were not so lucky. The double doors of Janus remained open, and annual campaigns were fought into Umbria, a federation of tribes beyond the Apennines to the east of Etruria, extending Rome's reach to the Adriatic.

By this time, Roman empire-building in the Italian peninsula alarmed many of the remaining independent people. In 298 BC, a rumour began to spread through Rome; the Samnites and Etruscans were assembling a huge anti-Roman coalition, including not only the remaining Umbrians, also a contingent of Gauls down from the Po valley. That these disparate peoples were willing to band together is a clear reflection of the growing sense of crisis. The Roman campaign against this federation, the **Third Samnite War** (298-290 BC), began with three years of hard fighting that finally culminated at the huge Battle of Sentinum (295 BC), just across the Apennines in Umbria itself; the largest army, in all likelihood, that the Roman army had ever faced. Everything went wrong for the allies. Their plans were for the Samnites and Gauls to engage the Romans, and for the Etruscans and Umbrians to take the Roman camp during the battle. This plan was upset by a few deserters. The *Consuls* ordered two detachments to go ravage Etruscan and Umbrian lands. The diversionary strategy succeeded in drawing them away from Sentinum to defend their families and farms. So when battle was jojned, the Romans, who had been heavily outnumbered, were more or less equally matched. On the Roman left, the cavalry scattered in terror when the Gauls charge down in chariot, and one of the *Consuls* was killed, but his death galvanised the faltering line who were joined by the reserve contingents. On the Roman right, the surviving *Consul* fought defensively to make the battle a test of endurance. At last, with thousands dead on both sides, the exhausted Samnite line was breached, their camp invaded, and the Gauls' retreat blocked. This was the end of the battle; the allies were broken, losing 20,000 men according to Livy. The worst of the fighting ended at Sentinum, but raids, battles, and revolts continued for another five years. In 290 BC, the Samnites were forced to accept an alliance on terms imposed by Rome. But even afterwards, Roman soldiers marched out every year; the Roman fist, closing over the entire peninsula, was armoured. The abolition of Italy was still incomplete, when powers farther afield became involved. The city of Tarentum, a Greek colony on the heel of Italy, realized they needed allies to have any hopes of fending-off Rome. Messengers were sent to mainland Greece, which was fresh-off conquering much of the known world under Alexander; the call was answered by Pyrrhus of Epirus. The upstart Romans were being drawn into a wider Mediterranean world.