Siege of Miletus
Map of the Alexander train
| date | 334 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | Miletus ( Asia Minor ) |
| output | Macedonian victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Greeks / Macedonians |
Persian |
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 160 ships, Macedonian army |
400 ships, Greek mercenary army |
Granicus - Miletus - Halicarnassus - Issus - Tire - Gaugamela - Persian Gates - Jaxartes - Sogdian Rock - Chorienes Rock - Gabai - Hydaspes
The siege of Miletus by the Greco-Macedonian army of Alexander the Great took place in the summer of 334 BC. In the course of the conquest of Asia Minor . It was the first major siege during the war against the Persian Empire and a Macedonian success.
prehistory
The victory in the Battle of Granikos in May 334 BC BC opened the way for Alexander to conquer Asia Minor. The defeated Persian troops were in retreat and were initially unable to offer any organized resistance. Alexander took advantage of this by entering Daskyleion , Sardis and Ephesus without a fight . However, the largest city in the region, Miletus, refused to surrender. Hegisistratos , the commander of the garrison consisting of Greek mercenaries , had probably already been in friendly correspondence with Alexander. But when he received the news that a Persian fleet should come to his aid, he decided to defend the city against the Macedonians. Miletus was of great economic importance and had received many privileges from the Persians. The city therefore had a fairly autonomous government.
course
Alexander hastened to enclose the city, which was surrounded on three sides by the water, with his army . The Macedonian fleet blocked the access to the city from the sea and occupied the small island of Lade in front of the port with about 4,000 Thracians . Only three days after the Macedonians arrived the Persian fleet, which consisted of Phoenician and Cypriot contingents and, according to Greek sources, consisted of about 400 ships. Alexander was only able to counter this with 160 ships of his own. The Persian fleet could not enter the blocked city and therefore soon suffered from supply shortages. She therefore anchored about 15 kilometers away at Mykale to take up water and supplies. The situation had turned into a stalemate. The Milesian oligarch Glaucippus tried to declare the city neutral, but Alexander refused as too unsafe.
While Alexander's general Parmenion was in favor of attacking the Persian fleet, Alexander did not want to take this risk. A defeat would have damaged him politically in Greece and possibly led to the Greek cities falling away from him. He therefore wanted to seek the decision solely on land. The Macedonians had already been able to occupy the suburbs on the day of their arrival, as the occupation had fled. A first assault failed, but then the Macedonians brought their siege engines to use. With Ballistas breaches were shot in the walls and stormed the city. Meanwhile, the Macedonian ships under their commander Nikanor lay down in a defensive formation in front of the port entrance and thus prevented not only the intervention of the Persian fleet, but also the flight of the Milesians. A brief episode ended the siege. About 300 Milesian mercenaries save themselves on a small harbor island and defend themselves there despite being asked to surrender. Impressed by her courage, Alexander is said to have finally accepted her into his army, while only a few weeks earlier he had executed thousands of captured Greek mercenaries at Granikos.
Only the Persian fleet was still a threat. However, Alexander sent his cavalry and some of his foot troops to Mykale to occupy the urgently needed anchorages for the Persians. The logistical emergency then forced the Persians to go to Samos to stock up there. However, they soon returned to the port of Miletus in order to entice the Macedonian fleet into a sea battle and thus turn the tide. Apart from a small battle in which a Persian ship was captured, there was no fighting, so the Persians soon withdrew.
consequences
Miletus was devastated after the Macedonian victory as punishment for its resistance, from which it never fully recovered. Politically it was at least nominally free, but it became a tribute to Alexander (syntaxeis) . The capture of Miletus proved to be a far-reaching success. The siege techniques had worked, but the Macedonian naval power could not do so. The fleet was too small to face the Persians and in the end it was the army that, through its presence on the coast, had forced the Persians to retreat. On the other hand, the small fleet with its 32,000 crew already cost 160 talents , a very large sum. Alexander therefore decided to disband the fleet. This decision was already hotly debated in antiquity, because it gave the Persians the opportunity to carry out landing operations far behind the Macedonians, as was done in 333 BC. Was also tried by the Persian general Memnon . First, however, Alexander moved south, where he began with the siege of Halicarnassus . This city was much better fortified than Miletus and was to be fought over for months.
Individual evidence
- ^ Theodore Ayrault Dodge: Alexander - A History of the Origin and Growth of the Art of War. Volume 1, London 1993, p. 256.
- ↑ Robin Lane Fox : Alexander the Great - Conqueror of the World. Munich 1981, p. 170.
- ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 1.19.1.
- ↑ a b A.B. Bosworth: Conquest and Empire - The Reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge 1993, p. 46.
- ↑ Robin Lane Fox: Alexander the Great - Conqueror of the World. Munich 1981, p. 170f.
- ↑ Diodorus 17:22, 3; Arrian, Anabasis 1.19.2.
- ^ Theodore Ayrault Dodge: Alexander - A History of the Origin and Growth of the Art of War. Volume 1, London 1993, pp. 259f.
- ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 1.19.7-8.
- ↑ Robin Lane Fox: Alexander the Great - Conqueror of the World. Munich 1981, p. 172.
- ^ AB Bosworth: Conquest and Empire - The Reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge 1993, p. 47; Robert Lane Fox: Alexander the Great - Conqueror of the World. Munich 1981, pp. 172-174.
swell
- Flavius Arrianus : Alexandri Anabasis. Edited by Gerhard Wirth , AG Roos, Saur Verlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 978-3-598-71239-5 (= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana 1239).
- Diodorus : Greek world history. , Book 17, Hiersemann-Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-7772-0914-2 (= Library of Greek Literature , 63/2).
literature
- AB Bosworth: Conquest and Empire - The Reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 0-521-40679-X .
- Theodore Ayrault Dodge: Alexander - A History of the Origin and Growth of the Art of War. Volume 1, Greenhill Books, London 1993, ISBN 1-85367-148-7 .
- Robert Lane Fox: Alexander the Great - Conqueror of the World. 3. Edition. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-453-55041-2 .