Army of Alexander the Great

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Alexander the Great led his army from Macedonia to the Nile in Egypt, the Jaxartes in Central Asia and the Indus in what is now Pakistan. Detail from the " Alexander Mosaic ", Pompeii , Casa del Fauno .

The army of Alexander the Great with his various troops listed below penetrated far into Asia on his conquest (334–323 BC) and continued to exist after Alexander's death.

Basics

Beginnings

Alexander the Great erupted in 334 BC. BC as king of the Macedonians ( basileus Makedonōn ) with unlimited authority over the mostly Macedonian army led by Macedonian officers to conquer the Persian Achaemenid Empire . Alexander's predecessor, above all his father Philip II , to whom the plans for this war also went back, formed this army with a view to the targeted interaction of the infantry component ( phalanx ) with a flexibly deployable cavalry . After the defeat of his internal Greek enemies Thebes and Athens in the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. BC Philip brought the Greeks (with the exception of Sparta ) together in the Hellenic League of Corinth as a hegemon and a federal general ( strategōs autokratōr ). In addition to the restoration of a general peace among the Greeks ( koiné eiréne ), the decision to take revenge because of the desecration of the Hellenic sanctuaries by the great king Xerxes I in 480 BC was also made. Against Persia. In the year of the federal decision, Philipp dispatched more than 10,000 warriors, including the bulk of the Greek federal troops, under his generals Parmenion and Attalos , across the Hellespont to Asia Minor. These troops advanced there as far as Magnesia , but were then thrown back to the Hellespont on the coast of Troas by Memnon , who was in Persian service . Before Philip could leave with the main force, Alexander stepped in 336 BC. The inheritance of the father murdered by a bodyguard. Before the campaign to Asia, he turned against the barbaric tribes of the Triballer , Thracians , Geten and Illyrians in the north and west of Macedonia in order to test his Macedonian warriors and officers in action and to prove his ability as a military leader to them. He finally asserted the position he had taken over from his father as the Hegemon of the Hellenes with the destruction of the apostate Thebes. After consolidating the succession on the Macedonian throne and his position as the head of the allied Greeks, Alexander entered in May 334 BC. BC with his main Macedonian army near Troy Asian soil, rammed his spear into the earth and began the campaign against Persia.

The Greco-Macedonian Army

The future success of Alexander against a numerically superior opponent in the battles of Granicus in 334 BC was largely based on the combat strength of the essentially Macedonian army . BC , at Issus 333 BC Chr. And v Gaugamela 331st Chr . The affiliated troops of the Greek allies, on the other hand, should not have any major military relevance, but they did not only serve the representation of a Macedonian-Hellenic campaign; Cretan archers and specially recruited Greek mercenaries were apparently planned militarily for the early campaign. After the palace of Persepolis was burned down and the end of the vengeance campaign in Ekbatana was announced shortly afterwards , the federal troops were dismissed from service. For Athens, which had previously supported the Thebans with Persian gold, the so often propagated revenge for the desecration of the temple of Xerxes was only worth the position of 20 ships and 700 hoplites , just a tenth of the Allied contingent. According to Diodorus, the Hellenic League raised a total of 7,600 warriors. The allegiance of the much more important Thessalian cavalry was secured by the association of Thessaly with Macedonia founded by Philip II , in which the Macedonian kings also assumed the position of tagos , which is roughly comparable to an early medieval duke , i.e. as the supreme general of the Thessalian Federal. Under Philip II, Thessaly had formally also belonged to the Corinthian League, but the Thessalians in particular are always separated from the Allies during the Asian campaign, which is why they were no longer regular members of the Confederation at that time, but based their allegiance to Alexander solely on his general office. As a young prince, Alexander had once led the Thessalians in the battle of Chaironeia. Nevertheless, they too were joined by the Greek allies in 330 BC. Dismissed from service. Furthermore, the army alongside Greek mercenaries were also contingents of previously subjugated Balkan tribes of the Thracians , agria fan , Paionians , Triballi and Illyrians , which gave the army a barbaric paint. Representatives of their royal houses had to move with them, who serve as troop leaders and at the same time guarantee the loyalty of the tribes to Macedonia.

The Asian Army

In the course of the campaign there was a change in the structure of the army and the self-image of the leader. After the victory over the great king Darius III. Alexander declared the campaign of revenge in 330 BC BC in Ekbatana officially ended, released all Greek federal troops from their obligations and, as the successor of Darius, established his claim to rule over Asia, which he underpinned by a connection with ancient Persian rituals and administrative organizations. This was also reflected in the composition of his army, which was gradually joined by oriental troops from Asia Minor , Egypt , Syria , Iran , Bactria , Sogdia , Arachosia , Scythia and finally India . From the army of the Persians he had taken over the guard corps of the " apple bearers " and after the dismissal of the Macedonian veterans in 324 BC. He had replaced them with 10,000 Persian warriors, presumably "immortals" . The army was no longer to serve as a means of revenge, but to enforce its leader's claim to power, it was to become the armed forces of the world empire of Alexander . At the end of his life in 323 BC The Macedonians were only a minority of one to three compared to the Asian warriors, but they continued to occupy all officer posts in the hierarchy of command.

Army strength

The route of the army of Alexander the Great

Of the inconsistent figures handed down from antiquity regarding the size of the army at the beginning of the campaign, Peter Brunt and Robin Lane Fox consider the figures given by Anaximenes to be realistic, while Alexander Demandt prefers the sizes given by Diodorus. Ultimately, however, all the information available remains speculative, as Lane Fox also admits in his comments. It should also be noted that Alexander did not have all of the armed forces available to him. He left around 12,000 infantrymen and 1,500 cavalrymen in Macedonia under the orders of the administrator Antipater to maintain military pressure on potential opponents of the Macedonian hegemony. They then also formed the core of the troops deployed in the “ mouse war ”.

Traditional information about the invading army:

author infantry cavalry Summa
Ptolemy (F4) 30,000 5,000 35,000
Callisthenes (F33) 40,000 4,500 44,500
Anaximenes (F15) 43,000 5,500 48,500
Aristobulus (F1) 30,000 4,000 34,000
Diodorus (17, 17, 3–4) 32,000 5,100 37,100
Justin (11, 6, 2) 32,000 4,500 36,500
Frontin (4, 2, 4) ? ? 40,000

During the entire campaign, the fighting strength of the Alexander Army was dependent on a continuous supply of reinforcement troops from Macedonia and Greece, with which losses and troop deployments could be compensated. In the first year of the campaign, Alexander recruited 300 Greek mercenaries for the first time before Miletus . While he was in front of Halicarnassus, he ordered an officer to recruit new warriors to Macedonia, who finally rejoined him in Gordion with 2,000 Macedonian infantry and 300 mounted soldiers , 200 Thessalian riders and 150 Eliens . Another reinforcement of unknown size from Macedonia arrived in Ankyra . While the army was traveling through Pamphylia, an officer was commissioned to recruit mercenaries in the Peloponnese. Arrived again in the Phoenician city of Sidon with 4,000 mercenaries. For the battle of Gaugamela, Alexander was finally able to muster 40,000 infantrymen and 7,000 cavalrymen.

Shortly before the train to Central Asia began in autumn 331 BC 6,000 Macedonian infantry and 500 mounted, 3,500 Thracian infantry and 600 mounted, 4,000 Greek infantry and 380 mounted and 50 pages in Sittakene near Susa . In the spring of 330 BC In the media, 5,000 mounted mercenaries and 1,000 on foot and in the autumn of the same year in Areia 5,600 infantrymen and 930 mounted soldiers arrived. Nevertheless, as the army marched on to the east, the strength of the army began to decline continuously, which was mainly due to the deployment of troops to secure the provinces and their strategically important supply routes, the old Persian royal roads. In the provinces of Bactria and Sogdia , which are difficult to bring under control , military settlements had to be established and new cities had to be provided with appropriate protection troops. The total number of troops left between Egypt and Central Asia was about 27,000 infantry and 4,100 mounted. In contrast, the dismissal of the Greek federal troops and the casualties in fights that, including the Battle of the Hydaspes, are unlikely to have reached 10,000, are hardly worth mentioning.

Reported loss figures:

battle author infantry cavalry
at the Granikos Arrian (1, 16, 4) 30th 85
Aristobulus 9 25th
Justin (11, 6, 12) 9 120
before Halicarnassus Arrian (1, 20, 10; 22, 7) at least 56
at Issus Diodorus (17, 36, 6) 300 150
Curtius Rufus (3, 11, 27) 32 150
Justin (11, 9, 10) 130 150
before Tire Arrian (2, 24, 4) 400 ?
before Gaza not specified
at Gaugamela Diodorus (17, 61, 3) about 500
Curtius Rufus (4, 16, 26) less than 300
at Polytimetos Arrian (4, 3, 7) and
Curtius Rufus (7, 7, 3) 		2000
at Gabai Arrian (4, 17, 6) 12 25th
on the Hydaspes not specified
before Multan not specified

The forces assigned to the security measures had to ensure the steady inflow of new forces into the difficult-to-access Central Asian landscapes and to India. After the size of the army increased by the end of 329 BC. In the vastness of Sogdia and Bactria, when he had reduced to only about 25,000 men, about half the manpower at the beginning of the campaign, Alexander issued the order to his governors to recruit 30,000 young locals, to train them in Macedonian warfare and with Macedonian ones Equip armor and weapons. In the spring of 328 BC Finally, two army groups with a total of 16,400 infantrymen and 2,600 cavalrymen arrived in Zariaspa (Balkh) as reinforcement from the west, making the army strong enough for Alexander for his planned India venture.

At the Hyphasis (Beas) , one of the outermost of the Pundjab rivers , the army under his spokesman Koinos refused to march on for the first time and once to the "Eastern Ocean" sought by Alexander, into which the Ganges would flow. Alexander had to give in to the will of his army and reverse what he saw as his greatest personal defeat. Shortly after the revolt in the autumn of 326 BC BC, before the start of the Indus journey, a large army from Europe consisting of 30,000 infantrymen and 6,000 cavalrymen reached the Hydaspes, which increased the fighting power of the main army beyond its original size in 334 BC. BC should have increased. Crossing the “Alexander Reich” in its entire west-east extension, from Macedonia to the Indus, it had taken these troops almost a year for their march. They could march on safe land routes and use the food stations secured by Macedonian-Greek troops and the founding of new cities for breaks. It had taken eight years of the campaign to accomplish such travel conditions. In India, Alexander had tapped another promising reservoir for troop recruitment. As Nearchus reported, the total strength of the army at the beginning of the Indus journey was now 120,000. A huge size by ancient standards, as it could only be achieved by the great Persian kings before.

However, Alexander only marched back west to Susa with his Macedonian-Greek army detachments, the Indian warriors, the Thracians, Greek mercenaries and Central Asians were either released from army service or assigned to the provincial security. While the 10,000 strong veteran troop marched from the Indus under Krateros through Central Asia, Alexander from the Indus delta led the main armed forces of 30,000 men and 10,000 train members through the Drosian desert ( Makran ), where after sixty days of march, due to a failed provisioning organization, only about 15,000 Warriors survived. The combined losses of all battles and sieges previously contested were not nearly as high as in this desert march. Upon arrival in Susa in 324 BC Therefore the army including the re-attached veterans with 25,000 men had again reached the lowest manpower of its existence. However, shortly afterwards the 30,000 freshly trained Persian warriors arrived, who were to form the new backbone of the army as the successor ( epigonoi ) of the old Macedonian warriors. Their 10,000 veterans ( apomachoi ), found unfit for combat, were to be dismissed from military service according to Alexander's will and returned home to retire. This, however, provoked resistance from the Macedonian warriors in the Opis revolt , who felt neglected by the Persians they had fought for the past decade and saw the veterans cheated of the wages and spoils of future campaigns. Unlike at the Beas, Alexander prevailed against the army this time and had the ringleaders of the revolt executed. A few days later he was reconciled with his Macedonians, whose 10,000 veterans left for their homeland under Krateros after all; they were replaced by the troop of 10,000 Persian lancers of the immortals .

In Babylon, a small Greek-Macedonian reinforcement was added to the army, but at the same time 20,000 Persian archers and javelin throwers arrived from the Persis, so that the entire army now had a distinctly oriental character, with a ratio of a little more than three to one in favor of the Orientals against the Macedonians. At the end of his life, the king of Macedonia only had around 15,000 of his compatriots left in his "imperial army", which he now ruled more than a great oriental king.

The management staff

Parmenion

The senior officer and companion of King Philip II together with Antipatros led in 336 BC The first advance detachments to Asia Minor. By murdering his old friend Attalus in the same year, he proved his devotion to the new king Alexander. With the beginning of the Asian campaign in 334 BC Parmenion was the supreme strategos of the army, comparable to the position of a generalissimo. His high rank and influence was also reflected in the position of his sons Philotas and Nikanor as commander of the horsemen and shield bearers. In the battles Parmenion was in charge of the left defensive wing of the army, with which he was supposed to bind the offensive forces of the Persians to himself and thus guarantee Alexander the necessary freedoms on the right wing for the decisive cavalry attacks. This strategy was used with success in all three major battles of the campaign. Apart from that, Parmenion undertook independent commands such as the capture of Damascus and the securing of the Syrian hinterland while Alexander besieged Tire .

The personal relationship between Alexander and his strategos was always strained, however, because Parmenion, as the older and most experienced military leader, enjoyed great popularity and authority in the army and, above all, he appeared as an open critic of Alexander's plans. From Egypt he also expressed his displeasure with the incipient orientalization of the army and Alexander rumored divine filiation of Zeus / Ammon, which was alien to the traditional Macedonian being. In Egypt, Parmenion's youngest son, Hector, drowned in the Nile .

Parmenion was born in Ekbatana in 330 BC. BC with the Persian state treasure and almost half of the entire army left behind to secure the connection routes between the west and the Central Asian provinces. He was not removed from his post and yet this decision is interpreted as Alexander's intention to recall the old military leader into early retirement. Before that happened, his eldest son Philotas, the second eldest Nikanor had died shortly before, was accused of conspiracy against Alexander in Fara and executed after a trial. Allegedly Philotas had also confessed to his father's complicity in this and other conspiracies under the torture. Whether or not these allegations were true, Alexander made up his mind to have Parmenion killed. Parmenion was in a better geostrategic position in Ekbatana, was able to cut off Alexander from all supply routes, held his hand over the financial reserves and, with the army under him, was the greatest military threat that Alexander should have faced since the victory over the Persians. In order to avoid this confrontation, Alexander sent a courier to Ekbatana, who conveyed a murder order to the officers of the Parmenion, who without long hesitation killed the strategos while walking.

Crateros

In the first year of the campaign, the commander of the first taxis of the pezhetairoi , Krateros , advanced to become the first officer of the Parmenion in the hierarchy of command. At Issus he already commanded the entire infantry of the left wing of the army, at Tire he led the maritime combat, in order to command the infantry of the left again at Gaugamela, but always under the command of Parmenion. After Gaugamela, Krateros was entrusted with the first independent commands over larger units in the fight against the Persian rebels in the Central Asian provinces.

After the fall and murder of Parmenion in 330 BC Krateros became supreme commander of the army at Alexander's side. In the trial against Philotas, Krateros had shown himself to be a particularly zealous accuser, probably also relying on the elimination of Parmenion. In contrast to this, Krateros proved to be philobasileus ("friend of the king") absolutely loyal to Alexander, although he too probably belonged to the conservative faction of the ancient Macedonians. Similar to its predecessor, Krateros won the respect and admiration of Macedonian warriors. In Opis 324 BC. The veterans were entrusted to their homeland for repatriation, and he should also take over the post of administrator of Antipater in Macedonia . Krateros was not standing at Alexander's deathbed in Babylon and could therefore not have any influence on the question of succession and reign in which the leader of the hetairoi , Perdickas , prevailed. Perdiccas had also taken over the supreme command of the Alexander army, which had also remained in Babylon.

Nevertheless, Krateros led the veterans back to Macedonia and supported Antipater, whom he recognized as a steward, in the fight against the Greeks in the Lamian war . He then faced Perdiccas with Antipater in the first Diadoch War (321-320 BC), but fell in the first battle against the former secretary Eumenes .

The bodyguards

The corps of bodyguards ( somatophylakes ) traditionally comprised seven people who were particularly loyal to the king and who were personally close to him. During the Dimnos conspiracy, a bodyguard, Demetrios , was charged with co-conspiracy and executed, although his complicity remains controversial. Another bodyguard, Ptolemy , was instrumental in exposing the Page Conspiracy .

With the exception of Hephaestion and Perdiccas , the bodyguards did not take over permanent commands within the army during their service, but were only intended for the personal protection of the king at all times of the day and night. Nevertheless, especially during the march through Central Asia and India, they were repeatedly given command of several units to carry out special military missions in which they could achieve fame in arms. For example in the pursuit of the killer Bessos or in the sieges of Sogdian and Indian rock castles. After the siege of Multan, the corps strength was briefly increased to eight by the lifesaver Peukestas . Hephaistion was not replaced after his death, which reduced the strength of the corps to seven.

1. Bodyguard:

2. Bodyguard:

3. Bodyguard:

4. Bodyguard:

5. Bodyguards:

6. Bodyguards:

7. Bodyguard:

8. Bodyguard:

The council of war

Every battle or any significant decision of a military nature was preceded by a consultation between Alexander and his "friends" ( philoi ), who were probably not always people of confidential friendship , but ultimately the people who were relevant to the military issues at hand the higher officer corps. From the point of view of the common man, all high officers and members of the court with whom Alexander was in daily contact were also “friends of the king”. In the first few years these were mainly Parmenion and his sons, who commanded all the important troops, later men like Krateros, Perdickas and Hephaistion and, since India, Nearchus as naval commander. The bodyguards, in their capacity as leaders of special military units, will also have had a voice in the council of war.

The officer corps

Just as Alexander put his trust entirely in the fighting strength of his Macedonian warriors, he relied solely on the military-tactical training and leadership skills of his Macedonian officers in their leadership . Without exception, all command posts at battalion and group level were occupied by Macedonians or Greeks born outside of Germany who had received Macedonian citizenship. The non-Macedonian troops, such as the Greek federal troops, the Greek mercenaries or the barbaric auxiliaries, were always entrusted to a Macedonian. This one-sided preference was based on simple practical reasons. Alexander's officers had already acquired a great deal of combat experience during the years under Philip II, they had the same level of training and were optimally coordinated with one another in the field. By placing the non-Macedonian contingents under Macedonian leadership, Alexander ensured their adaptation to the Macedonian style of fighting and their appropriate integration into the closed Macedonian army. This brought an indispensable advantage on the battlefield over the Persians, whose popular groups often acted independently and uncoordinated among themselves. Last but not least, as subjects of Alexander, the Macedonians, unlike the Greeks allied in the Hellenic League, were directly obliged to follow him.

Throughout all ranks, Macedonian officers, following the principle of leading by example, had to lead their units in the front row in battle, starting with the king himself, who fought at the head of the cavalry. Relatively few officers fell, according to the unusually low figures for total losses (see above). Most of the officers who perished in the course of the campaign died of disease, but most of them survived Alexander. Rises in the command hierarchy could be earned through personal distinction and bravery, as well as proven leadership quality in combat. In addition to ranks within one's own unit, promotions from simple infantry leaders to the “aristocratic riding” of the hetaires were possible, as illustrated by the examples of Hephaistion , Perdiccas , Koinos or Seleukos . Many a steep career was possible, such as that of Kleitos “the white” , who began as a simple companion on foot, was then promoted to the taxiarchos of his own battalion and finally rose to become the leader of a hipparchy of the Hetairenreidererei. Or Peukestas , starting out as a simple warrior , who was raised to bodyguard through his rescue act in Multan, India and later entrusted with the important province of Persis as governor. But what was probably the steepest career was Seleukos , who fought for the longest part of the campaign as a simple shield-bearer. It was only in India that he occupied a leading position as the head of the royal agemas and after Alexander's death was finally appointed head of the horsemen's riding and court marshal. From the Diadoch Wars he emerged as King of Asia and founder of the Seleucid Empire .

The Macedonian leadership remained the only constant in an army that was subject to constant change in its composition. Only once did Alexander entrust a unit of slightly more than 2,000 men to an Oriental named Pharnuches , who was actually an interpreter. This was immediately 329 BC. BC on Polytimetus (Serafshan) by Spitamenes and was responsible for the only defeat of a troop of Alexander during the entire campaign. After that Alexander renounced the remainder of the campaign on oriental military art and relied entirely on his Macedonians again. Only his Persian epigonoi , which 324 BC To replace the old Macedonian warriors, they should also report to Persian officers who, of course, had been instructed in the Macedonian war school in the previous years. The early death of Alexander the following year, however, prevented the establishment of an oriental warrior caste. In the Diadoch Wars it was only the Macedonian generals to fight for the successor ( diadochē ) of Alexander.

The army assembly

In the Macedonian state, in which there was no control body of any kind, such as a council comparable to Sparta, besides the kingship, the king was supreme warlord and judge at the same time, his will was law. Nevertheless, the tradition of the Macedonians required that their king seek consensus with his warriors on disputes and that they should be heard. After all, the power of a king was based on their consent and, conversely, a king could lose everything, including his life, through a loss of authority and reputation towards his warriors. The whole of Macedonian history was shaped by this system of rule and was also characteristic of the later Diadochian empires. With the Macedonians, the assembled army ultimately formed the corrective accompanying the king, in both a political and a military sense.

The army expressed its displeasure against decisions of the king by a general indignation and refusal of orders. To this end, the warriors usually appointed one or more highly respected officers as their spokesmen. During the Asian campaign, Alexander faced two such outrages; 326 BC On Hyphasis (Beas) and 324 BC. In Opis , where the warriors fought against Alexander's plan to dismiss their veterans, who were to be replaced by Persian warriors. The king had the ringleaders executed and for several days demonstratively disregarded his Macedonians as word-breaking companions, unlike the Orientals. With this seized on their honor, they began a penance to him, which ended in a general reconciliation, and the veterans accepted their retirement.

The army assembly was also a judicial body, especially in the case of high treason. 330 BC. BC Philotas , Alexandros Lynkestis and the conspirators of Dimnos , as well as 327 BC To answer for those involved in the page conspiracy ( Kallisthenes ) before the army. The accused had to defend themselves against the warriors, who announced their verdict loudly or with the din of weapons. Convictions resulted in the death penalty, which was carried out either by javelin , hanging or stoning by the warriors present. If a defendant was able to defend himself convincingly, the army absolved him of all guilt in the same way, as happened, for example, in the case of the taxiarchos Amyntas .

cavalry

The Hetairenreiterei

Alexander the Great always led his companions on horseback personally into battle. Relief representation of Alexander, helmeted with a lion's head, in a scene from the battle of Issus on the " Alexander sarcophagus ", Istanbul Archaeological Museum .

By far the most important mounted unit of the Alexander army was represented by the companions ( hetairoi ) on horseback, who formed the heavy cavalry that Alexander himself used to lead into battle, positioned on the right wing. As the main offensive weapon, the Hetairen riders, armed with a relatively short lance ( xyston ), always had decisive weight in tactical planning in combat. The hetaires were recruited from the sons of the Macedonian nobility, which is why this unit is often referred to in the historical literature as "noble group" or "Macedonian knighthood". Their total strength at the beginning of the campaign was 1,815 men. The climax of their engagement was undoubtedly the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. When the hetaires with the king at their head pushed into the gap of the Persian army and the decisive attack against the great king Dareios III. who then turned to flee and gave up the battle. At the Battle of the Hydaspes in India, too, the hetaires made a decisive difference when the division led by Koinos , after a clever evasive movement, pushed into the rear of the enemy line.

Commander:

The entirety of a riding troop was the hipparchia, headed by a hipparchos . This was the case with the hetaires Philotas , the eldest son of Parmenion, who was already 335 BC. Had held this position during the Balkan campaign. After Philotas 330 BC After he had been executed for his participation in a conspiracy, Alexander thought it appropriate to share command of the hetaires in order not to leave this most important part of the troops in the hands of one man. The closest friend of King Hephaistion and the lifesaver of Granikos Kleitos "the black" were appointed as leaders of the two hipparchiai that came into being . The former had from 330 BC BC also held the position of the chiliarchos taken from the Persian court organization , with which he was now chief court marshal of the royal state and the unofficial supreme commander of the hetaires. After Cleitus was told by Alexander in 328 BC The command structure of the hetaires continued to participate in the dispute, when Alexander advanced to India, four hipparchoi were now at their head, Hephaistion, Perdiccas , Koinos and Demetrios , and after the battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC. With Kleitos "the white" a fifth hipparchos is called then. Apparently the manpower of the hetaires had increased so much during this time that they enabled the establishment of a fifth hipparchy.

Koinos and probably Demetrios also died in India and during the loss-making march through the Gedrosian desert, the Hetairen riding was obviously also decimated, because in Susa 324 BC. There were now four hipparchies again. But after the arrival of his Persian epigonoi , Alexander intended to set up a new fifth hipparchy, which would now be composed of sons of Persian nobles and with the Bactrian Hystaspes as its leader. After the revolt in Opis, Kleitos was recalled to Macedonia with the veterans, so that the Macedonian hetaires were again led by two hipparchoi . On the death of Hephaestion this was replaced by Eumenes , but the position of chiliarchos was taken over by Perdiccas. This was 323 BC. BC, due to the absence of the crater , the most senior officer on Alexander's deathbed in Babylon. From this he was given the royal signet ring, which Perdiccas saw as transferring the reign over the Alexander Empire to himself.

Squadrons:

Hetaire riding was until 331 BC. Divided into a total of eight squadrons, called ilai (singular: ile ), of which seven were 215 men strong. The eighth Ile formed the royal agema ( ile basilike ) with 300 men , which was responsible for the personal protection of Alexander during the battle. The riders of at least five of the seven other squadrons were recruited from regions and cities of the Chalkidiki peninsula , which Philip II had previously conquered and populated with Macedonians. These were Bottaia , Anthemous , Mygdonia , Apollonia and Amphipolis . Another ile was probably recruited from the Pydna area . Each ile was headed by an ilarchos , of which only those from the battle of Gaugamela are fully known.

Ilarchen am Granikos:

Ilarchen near Issus:

Ilarchen near Gaugamela:

The ile basilike was led both at Granikos, as well as at Issus and Gaugamela by Kleitos "the black" , who had saved the life of Alexander in the first battle.

Horsemen:

According to Gaugamela, no more ilarchoi of the Hetairen riding are mentioned because this unit of size in the late year 331 BC. Was abolished in Sittakene. Because in order to provide the mounted companions with a higher level of operational flexibility, the 8 Ilen were now divided into 16 hundreds ( hekatostuai ). After 330 BC 8 BC were subordinate to one of the two and in India four to one of the four hipparchies. Apparently four more hundreds were formed for the fifth hipparchy of the white Kleitos, so that their total number should have been 20 by the time they marched through Gedrosien.

The royal Ile was also founded in 331 BC. Dissolved, their protection order for the king was from 330 BC. Perceived by the hipparchy of Hephaestion.

The Thessalian cavalry

Relief representation of a Thessalian rider on the "Alexander sarcophagus", Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

In addition to the hetaires, the Thessalian cavalry represented the second significant unit of troops on horseback. This heavily armored cavalry was always positioned on the left flank of the left wing and had primarily defensive tasks there, as protection of the vulnerable flank of the phalanx against the Persian cavalry. In antiquity, the Thessalian cavalry distinguished themselves through their disciplined work in close formation, while they were hardly trained in offensive individual combat, which made them ideal for defensive tasks. This troop was led by a hipparchos and existed in 334 BC. From eight iles each 225 men, which made a total of 1,800 men. But already in Gordium it was reinforced to 2000 men.

One of the Iles, the so-called “Pharsalians”, set up an agema for the personal protection of Generalissimo Parmenion during the battle.

Commander:

With the declaration of the end of the campaign of revenge in 330 BC The Thessalians were dismissed from military service and were able to move home. 130 of them remained in the army as soldiers and were attached to the mounted mercenaries.

The Lancers

The horsemen ( sarissophoroi ) armed with a long sarissa represented a light cavalry unit that usually formed the army's vanguard on the march, which is why they were also called prodromoi . In the battle they were responsible for the flank protection of the Hetairen cavalry together with the Paionians on the right wing. The troop was 600 men strong, divided into four iles of 150 men each.

Commander:

In the vast Central Asian provinces, the lancers were of particularly high military value to Alexander. In order to be able to lead the guerrilla war against the local Persian governors there, he had to fall back on his light and therefore fast and agile cavalry.

The allied Greek cavalry

The Greek city-states belonging to the Corinthian League had provided 600 mounted fighters for the campaign of revenge. This lightly armed cavalry troop had hardly any military weight and was used as a reserve at Gaugamela. She was led by a hipparchos . After the official end of the campaign of revenge in 330 BC The troops were dismissed from service in the army, except for those who wanted to continue serving as mercenaries.

Commander:

The mounted Greek mercenaries

The number of mounted mercenaries was 334 BC. BC probably no more than 200 horsemen. At Gaugamela the troops were in the extreme position of the right wing and thus at the right end of the battle formation. Here, the Scythian horsemen on the opposite side got into serious trouble, but ultimately prevailed and took part in the decisive cavalry attack on the Persian center. After the federal troops and the Thessalian cavalry in 330 BC After they were discharged from the service in the 3rd century BC, the number of mounted mercenaries increased, as did their military importance in the battle in Central Asia. Greek mercenaries who had previously fought in Persian service were also recruited. No later than 330 BC. They also no longer had a uniform command structure, since from then on various officers were entrusted with the management of mercenary units.

Commander:

The paionic cavalry

The Paionier people have been dependent on Macedonia since the time of Philip II. On the Asian campaign it put a light mounted ile probably no more than 200 men. The troops were usually positioned on the right wing and were led by Ariston , a member of the Paionic Princely House. In the battle of Gaugamela they excelled in particular by supporting the mercenary cavalry, which was in dire straits.

After Gaugamela, the Paionier were no longer mentioned, apparently because they were now integrated into the unit of the lancers.

The Thracian cavalry

Similar to the Peonians, the Thracians , often also called Odrysen in the lore , provided a light cavalry unit of around 700 men. At the Granikos and at Gaugamela they were led by Agathon . In 330 BC BC this unit remained in Ekbatana as a security force. Agathon became one of Parmenion's murderers there.

Asiatic cavalry

From 331 B.C. In BC Alexander began to take large contingents, mainly mounted troops, from the indigenous population of defeated Persia into his army. First he recruited lightly armed spearmen on horseback ( hippakontistai ) from the Persis , from Bactria , Sogdia , Paropamisaden and Arachosia . In India he still had mounted Scythian archers ( hippotoxotai ) at his disposal, whom he had recruited after his victory over this cavalry people on the Jaxartes (Syrdarja) .

infantry

The companions on foot

The combat companions on foot ( pezherairoi ) represented the infantry equivalent of the mounted companions and, as the heavy Macedonian infantry, formed the backbone of the phalanx . The main weapon of a pezhetairos was a 5–7 m long two-handed lance ( sarissa ). He wore a small shield attached to his shoulder with a leather strap (a smaller version of the Hoplon ). In the battle formation, the Macedonian phalanx made up the core of the left wing, which was to bind the enemy troops to itself and to give the cavalry of the right wing the freedom to make decisive attacks. The Pezhetaires had 334 BC. A total of 9,216 men, divided into six taxei of 1,536 men each, headed by a taxiarchos as commander.

Commander 1st Taxis:

Commander 2nd Taxis:

Commander 3rd Taxis (Tymphaia):

Commander 4th Taxis:

Commander 5th Taxis (Elimiotis):

Commander 6. Taxis (Orestis and Lynkestis):

In the further course of the campaign, probably after the arrival of a large reinforcement in Sittakene in 331 BC. A seventh taxis was formed.

Commander 7. Taxis:

The basic formation of a taxi was the 16 rows wide and 16 rows deep syntagma (256 men). During the fight, the first five members of a syntagma had inserted their lances to fight the enemy, while the eleven following members kept the phalanx in a constant forward movement through physical pressure and thus generated the violence notorious for the Macedonian phalanx. Two syntagma were grouped together in a lochos (512 men), led by a lochagos , of which three again formed a taxis.

The companions on foot were recruited mainly from the simple rural population of Macedonia and were therefore not of noble origin themselves. Three taxei were formed from warriors from the Lower Macedonian heartland, while the warriors of the other three were recruited from the Upper Macedonian regions ( Orestis , Lynkestis , Elimiotis and Tymphaia ). They were also often called asthetairoi , which means "urban / urban allegiance", since they were urbanized residents of these landscapes who were settled in cities founded by Philip II after he subjected these landscapes to his rule would have. The command over them was usually entrusted to a member of their tribe ( kata ethne ).

The shield bearers

Relief representation of a Macedonian shield-bearer on the "Alexander sarcophagus", Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

Because the companions had to carry the sarissa with both hands on foot and were unable to protect themselves adequately, the unit of lightly armed shield bearers ( hypaspistes ) was created, whose main task was to protect the vulnerable right flank of the phalanx with their larger shields ( hoplon ). The exact manpower of the shield bearers for the year 334 BC. Chr. Is not explicitly mentioned by any Alexander historian, but it is inferred from a description of the battle of Issus, where their unit is named with the size of "two taxeis of the phalanx", i.e. 3,000 men.

Similar to the lancers, the shield bearers were of great value in the battles in Central Asia because of their speed and agility. In addition to their protective tasks for the pezhetairoi , they also acquired the fight in the classical phalanx formation with increasing duration. After Alexander's death, the oldest and most experienced shield bearers formed the core of the veteran troop of the “silver shields” ( argyraspidai ), which became known in the early Diadoch Wars.

Commander:

In all three battles against the Persians, the shield-bearers were led by the archihypaspistos Nikanor, son of Parmenion . After his death in 330 BC Until the year 323 BC. No further officer mentioned in this position, probably because afterwards this rank and thus a supreme command over the shield bearers was completely renounced, similar to the model of the Hetairenreiterei. Occasionally Seleucus, son of Antiochus , is mentioned in India at the battle of the Hydaspes as commander of the shield-bearers, although he probably only held the leadership of the royal agemas.

Only after Alexander's death in 323 BC Chr. With Neoptolemos an archihypaspistos is called again. Whether this post already 330 BC. Can not be determined.

Battalions, Thousands and Five Hundreds:

In fact, a presentation of the organizational structure of the shield bearers turns out to be complicated, as this is only insufficiently described in the traditions. According to Tarn and Berve, the troop was already at the beginning of 334 BC. Chr. In three thousandships ( chiliarchiai ) and these in turn subdivided into several battalions ( taxai ), but this thesis is based on only vague descriptions by Arrian , which are also not directly related to the shield bearers.

So in the battle of Granikos in 334 BC BC the officer Ptolemy as commander of an unspecified infantry battalion ( taxis ), who carried out a decisive attack against the enemy together with Socrates' squadron of hetaires . In the battle setup described above, the Ile des Socrates was set up directly next to the shield bearers, which is why the officer Ptolemy is recognized as a leader of a shield bearer unit. At the siege of Halicarnassus in the same year, the taxiarchoi Adeios and Timandros appear, who led their also unspecified battalions under the command of the royal bodyguard Ptolemy against the city walls; all three were killed. The named bodyguard Ptolemy is regarded as the holder of the authority over the agema of the shield bearers and the two taxi arches subordinate to him as subordinates of this very agema. Both examples and their interpretations are assessed differently in historical research. Against the thesis of seeing inserts of shield-bearers in these descriptions, speaks that the size unit of the taxis alone must have been too large for sub-groups of the shield-bearers, since a taxis alone accounted for around 1,500 men among the Pezhetaires. Instead, the aforementioned taxai and their leaders could have belonged to other infantry units, such as the mercenaries.

Overall, the shield bearers occur until the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Chr. Always as a closed body of troops under the unit command of the Nikanor.

In the autumn of 331 BC According to Gaugamela, Alexander organized several competitions in Sittakene for the recovery of the army, in which the eight best placed were awarded military commands. Following recent historical research (Anson, Milns and Heckel), these winners were appointed commanders of the shield-bearers, especially since one of them, Antigenes , later achieved high prominence as the leader of the veterans of this branch of service. As part of a major army reform, which also affected Hetairenreiterei, the competition winners were now appointed commanders of five hundred troops ( pentakosiarchiai or lochoi ), into which the shield-bearers were divided to optimize their operational flexibility . Because there were eight winners, this implies an increase in the number of shield carriers to 4000 men, which could have been achieved at the same time after a large reinforcement had arrived in Sittakene. But because the shield-bearers are always named in thirds or in halves of 1500 men on later occasions, an increase in the number of men is excluded. Instead, it is believed more likely that the top two competitors (Atarrhias and Antigenes) were actually placed as chiliarchoi at the head of two of the newly formed thousands, while the third thousand remained under the direct authority of archihypaspistos Nikanor. The six other competition winners would then have become the leaders of the six five hundred groups into which the three thousand groups were divided.

Except for the names of the other competition winners (Philotas "Augaios", Amyntas, Antigonos, Amyntas Lynkestes, Theodotos and Hellanikos), possible further pentakosiarchoi are unknown by name. As a chiliarchos occurs in India 327 BC. BC shortly before crossing the Indus another Antiochus, perhaps the successor of Nikanor in his thousands.

Royal Guard:

Like the Hetairenreiterei, the shield-bearers provided a guard (agēma) for the personal protection of the king as soon as he fought on foot. The strength of these "royal shield-bearers" is unknown. Their integration into the command structure of the shield bearers is also not precisely defined. Because they are often mentioned in the traditions next to the regular shield bearers, it is therefore sometimes assumed that they formed an independent unit with its own command. In modern historical research, however, it is assumed that the royal shield-bearers were fully integrated into the regular units and that this troop was only formed from experienced, deserving and noble warriors as soon as Alexander actually fought on foot, which is relatively rare happened. Only after Alexander 324 BC After returning to Susa from India in the 3rd century BC, the agema of the shield bearers came into constant use as palace guards, with 500 of their veterans forming the innermost circle around Alexander, who was closest to the throne. They were supplemented by the Persian guard of the " apple bearers ", which Alexander already 329 BC. Had taken over.

Well-known leaders of the Agemas were:

The archers

The Macedonians and Cretans placed 1,000 archers ( toxotai ) under their leaders, toxarches or strategos . It is not clear whether they formed one or two separate entities.

Commander:

  • Klearchus (Granikos, Halicarnassus, fallen)
  • Kleandros (fallen in Pisidia)
  • Antiochus (Issus, died in Egypt)
  • Ombrion / Brison (Gaugamela)
  • Tauron, son of Machatas (Hydaspes)

The light infantry

The strength of this spear-throwing light infantry force ( psiloi ) was about 1000 warriors, who were led by an officer named Balakros on the right wing at Gaugamela and used particularly effectively against the Persian chariots. They were later found in Central Asia and for the last time in the Swat Valley in 327 BC. Mentioned in action.

The allied Greek infantry

The Greeks ( symmachoi ) represented in the Hellenic League of Corinth had mobilized 7,000 men for the campaign of revenge. The importance of these troops under a Macedonian officer ( strategos ) was minor, they were mainly used as reserves. They are not even mentioned in the descriptions of the Battle of Granikos, although their presence on the battlefield is likely. These troops were of primary importance for Alexander as guarantors of the benevolence of the Greeks united in the Corinthian League, who often only belonged to it under duress.

Commander:

The Greek mercenaries

The Greek mercenary troops ( xenoi ) were grouped together in a taxis and at the beginning of the campaign had a strength of 5000 men. In the further course of the campaign, the number of men varied depending on the influx of reinforcements, and mercenaries were recruited who had previously fought in Persian service. In the Central Asian provinces, the mercenaries were mainly used in guerrilla warfare against local Persian satraps and for provincial security. There they regularly rebelled violently as soon as Alexander had moved on with the main army. Also, some governors soon began to recruit mercenaries on a private basis, who consequently were not under Alexander's direct control and therefore represented a danger to his ruling authority. In 324 BC Therefore Alexander dismissed all soldiers with the mercenary decree and forbade his governors to recruit mercenaries. Most of the now unemployed mercenaries were recruited during Alexander's lifetime by the Athenian strategist Leosthenes and used in the Lamish war against Macedonia.

Commander:

The Thracian Infantry

The Thracian infantry were also joined by the Triballians and Illyrians , which is why they are also known as the “barbaric auxiliaries”, and had a strength of about 7,000 men, which later probably varied depending on the influx of reinforcements. The Thracians were posted in Central Asia and India for provincial security.

Commander:

  • 334-328 BC Chr .: Ptolemy
  • 328-326 BC Chr .: Eudemos

The Thracians' spear throwers ( akontistai ) were led by Sitalkes , probably a member of the Odrysian ruling house. Sitalkes remained in 330 BC. He returned to the staff of Parmenion in Ekbatana and became one of his murderers.

The Agrians

This light, 1,000-strong infantry from the Agrian people , led by an officer named Attalus, was deployed on the right wing of Issus and Gaugamela and took part in the persecution of Bessos. After that it is no longer mentioned.

The train and the war machines

The army was followed at a constant distance by a convoy, the size of which cannot be determined. It included surveyors ( bematists ), mining specialists, priests, historians, doctors, tax officials, poets, philosophers, actors, interpreters, artists, musicians, jesters and hetaerae. Later the Asian concubines of the warriors and their children, Indian ascetics and, last but not least, the king's personal court moved with them. There was even a field library with works by important Greek poets, historians and scholars, of which that of Homer was Alexander's favorite reading. He was the first general to take books with him to war.

An unknown number of engineers, shipbuilders, architects and pioneers were also part of the entourage for warfare. The vast majority of them came from the Greek cities, from Crete, Cyprus and the Aegean Islands, whose societies had a much greater knowledge of technical matters than the Macedonians. Philip II had already made her knowledge his own. During the Asian campaign, they carried siege machines that could be dismantled for faster transport, such as mobile towers, scaling ladders, battering rams and catapults. Alexander was the first known to have field artillery on his Balkan campaign in 335 BC. In the fight against the Illyrians in the fight, namely ballista , which could fire arrows for direct target fire over several hundred meters.

Elephants

In India, after his victory on the Hydaspes, Alexander had requisitioned 200 war elephants , which he did not use in combat, but only had luggage transported. Only Perdiccas used them again to enforce his claim to power in Babylon and in the first Diadoch war. After that, elephants came to Europe for the first time under the leadership of Antipater, where they were killed during the siege of Megalopolis in 317 BC during the Second Diadoch War . Were used. Their descendants were eventually led by Pyrrhos in his battles against Rome .

Naval forces

The Aegean Fleet

Macedonia was not one of the great seafaring states in the Greek world and, at the beginning of the Asian campaign in 334 BC, it had its command. Consequently also no larger fleet. The transport of the army across the Hellespont was accomplished by means of 160 triremes , which the Greeks of the Corinthian League had undertaken to dispose of. This fleet, headed by an officer named Nikanor , probably a Macedonian, subsequently supported Alexander in the siege of Miletus , but as soon as the city was taken, the federal fleet was disbanded, except for 20 Athenian ships that Alexander wanted to keep as "hostages". These were numerically far inferior to the approximately 200 ships of the Persian fleet, which had always been a dominant power in the Aegean Sea. But the further Alexander advanced into Asia Minor, he threatened to be cut off from Macedonia by the Persian fleet under the command of Memnon , and the Persians actually conquered by 333 BC. Some Aegean islands. From Macedonia Antipater sent fifteen ships under Proteas , who acted successfully against the Persians. The victory on Granikos and the capture of the Persian state treasure in Sardis allowed Alexander to resume the federal regulations with the Greeks, who then sent ships to the Hellespont and the fleet of 160 ships regained its original strength. Still inferior in numbers, but under the leadership of the officers Hegelochus and Amphoteros appointed in Gordion , it was nevertheless able to post some successes. But it was only the victory “on dry land” near Issus that led to a decision at sea in favor of Alexander, because the Phoenician ship contingents of the Persian fleet, of which they formed the backbone, now switched to his side. The generation-long position of Persia as a sea power in the eastern Mediterranean ended.

The Aegean fleet collided in the winter of 332 BC. In the Egyptian Pelusium at Alexander, where Hegelochus again joined the ranks of the hetairoi . Proteas had already joined the force in Sidon, but with only one Pentecontere . In Egypt, 30 triremes were left behind to secure the Nile Delta under the command of a polemon. However, Amphoteros retained command of the fleet and was ordered to fight pirates on Crete from Tire, reinforced by 100 Phoinikische ships. From there he sailed to the Peloponnese on his own responsibility to assist Antipater in the war against Sparta. Further naval operations of Alexander in the Mediterranean are after 331 BC. BC not known, which is why the further whereabouts of the Aegean fleet remains unclear. Since it was composed mainly of capacities of the Allied Greeks, it is likely to have been dissolved after the end of the Persian threat. The 110 ships that Alexander used in 323 BC. BC wanted to transport his treasure to Macedonia, probably came from Phoinikien, which he could freely dispose of.

The Indus Fleet

The world map of Hecataeus of Miletus (5th century BC) shows the Oikumene surrounded by the Ocean, the world known at that time. Alexander intended to reach the eastern edge of the world at the mouth of the Ganges, which, however, thwarted the revolt of his army.

Already on the Indus shortly before the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander had ordered the construction of a fleet with which he intended to transport his army down the Indus, after he had come from the mouth of the Ganges , where he met the extreme east of the Oikumene and the local bank of the Ocean wanted to be considerate, had returned. The mutiny of his warriors on the Beas had ruined this plan, but the fleet, under the guidance of Cypriot, Phoenician and Egyptian shipbuilders, was operational faster than expected. It consisted of 800 ships, including 32 triremes each commanded by a trierarchos , the remaining ships were transporters. The fleet was under the command of the native Cretan Nearchus .

The Trierarchs were:

from Pella :

from Amphipolis :

from Orestis :

from Eordaia :

from the Macedonian cities:

from the Greek cities:

from Cyprus:

the Persian:

Other officials were:

The journey did not start on the Indus, but on the Hydaspes (Jhelam) after the fleet was transported overland. It first flowed into the Akesines (Chanab) and from there into the Panjnad , which in turn flows into the Indus after a short distance . Not the entire army was transported by ship, 10,000 veterans under Krateros marched down the right western bank and the elephants and other troops under Hephaistion down the left eastern bank of the Hydaspes to the confluence with the Indus. There Krateros separated from Alexander after he had also taken over the elephants and disabled fighters, whom he led with the veterans by direct land through the regions of Drangiana and Areia to Carmania . The main force continued the Indus journey to the delta, which was reached after a total of ten months on the river. Because of the crocodiles occurring on the Indus and the annual flood of the Nile , Alexander believed to have discovered the upper reaches of the Nile in the Indus, on which he could drive directly downstream to Egypt. It was only from local guides that he learned that the Indus actually flowed into a sea in which Alexander assumed the southern Ocean and in the Indus delta consequently the southern end of the Oikumene. The Persians had already known about it through the expedition of the Skylax , but obviously Alexander was not aware of the traditions of Herodotus. On the way on the Indus, battles with local tribes were fought (Siege of Multan ) and new cities were founded. At the delta, the forces were divided again, while the army under Alexander was to march on land through the Drosian desert, Nearchus was commissioned with a reconnaissance trip along the coast parallel to the army, which covered the old sea route between Mesopotamia and India, which the Persians had already unified Generations had traveled, should rediscover. At the same time, the fleet was supposed to provide the army with provisions, but this failed with serious consequences because the departure of the fleet was delayed due to adverse weather conditions and it therefore lost contact with the army. Alexander himself believed that his ships had sunk in the sea. Within ten weeks, however, Nearchus was able to navigate the fleet from the Indus Delta to Hormuz , where he was able to contact Alexander again. He then led the fleet through the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Euphrates and then upstream to the final destination of Susa.

In the last year of Alexander's life, four more sea expeditions were carried out under the direction of Nearchus with the ships of the Indus fleet along the coast of the Arabian Peninsula as far as the Gulf of Aden. They served on the one hand to prepare a campaign against the Arab tribes and on the other hand to rediscover the sea route between the Indian Ocean and the canal of Pharaoh Necho II , who was already known to the Persians. The canal was not reached, however, because the commander of the fourth expedition on the foothills of Aden, at the entrance to the Red Sea , lost his courage and turned around again. Only the Ptolemies completed this last stage a few years later, with which the journeys of the Nearchus ultimately contributed to the resurgence of sea trade between the Near East and India. Until the opening of the Silk Road , the Sea Road remained the most important trade route to the Far East for Greeks and Romans.

Shortly before his death, Alexander commissioned a certain Herakleides, son of Argaius, to build a fleet in Hyrcania to explore the coastline of the Caspian Sea , which at that time was still believed to be a bay of the ocean. However, this expedition was no longer carried out.

Provisions

During its march, the army nourished itself on the food supply of the respective landscapes it passed through; there was no organized supply of provisions from Greece. In the first years of the campaign, the army benefited from the extensive agriculture practiced in the Persian Empire, be it in Asia Minor, the Levant coast, the Nile country or the Mesopotamia. Furthermore, a system of granaries built by the Persian kings could be used, which was set up along the Königsstrasse and other important connecting routes. On the Persian side, the general Memnon recognized the dependency of the attackers on the food supply through the country and therefore favored a strategy of scorched earths against them , in which the fertile land forks and the grain reservoirs of western Asia Minor were gradually destroyed around the enemy starve out. The powerful satraps of these provinces had, however, rejected this, since they hoped to keep their small kingdoms as harmless as possible against this attack; the result was the defeat on Granikos.

Overall, the warriors of Alexander did not have to go through hunger on their march into the landscapes of central Persia (today Iran ), the conquered land fell to them unscathed. Only with the further penetration into the agriculturally hardly developed desert and mountainous landscapes of Central Asia (today Afghanistan) from the year 330 BC. Supply became an issue, especially since the local resistance fighters Bessos and Spitamenes took up the plan drawn up by Memnon and destroyed the food depots. With a few exceptions, such as the oasis of Merw , the army now traversed sparsely populated, inhospitable landscapes and was exposed to longer periods of hunger during the several weeks of conquering the high passes of the Central Asian mountain range. It was the same with the thirst when crossing the deserts. These days of deprivation could be mastered by the thorough plundering of the local tribes or by consuming one's own horses and if this was no longer possible only through the strictest rationing. In the summer of 329 BC Finally, Sogdia was reached, on whose water-rich rivers Oxus (Amudarja) and Jaxartes (Syrdarja) the army was able to recover.

On the train through India to the Indus delta, the food issue did not arise at first until the march through the Gedrosian desert ( Makran ) was due. The supply of the army was to be guaranteed by the Indus fleet, for which large grain transporters were built, which were supposed to sail along the coast parallel to the army. Because the departure of the fleet was delayed by several days due to adverse wind conditions, their contact with the army broke off, whose desert march without sufficient provisions led to a catastrophe in which Alexander lost more warriors than in all previous battles combined. A failed provisions organization had inflicted his greatest military defeat, which also remained the only one under his personal leadership. The army could only after sixtieth day's march in achieving the province Carmania recover.

financing

Philip II had already laid the financial basis for the campaign against Persia by having the gold mines of Thrace exhausted on a large scale, which guaranteed him the constant maintenance of the Macedonian army. The dimension of 334 BC However, companies that were started in BC also overstretched the financial resources of Macedonia, in which the remuneration of the mercenary contingents and the maintenance of the Aegean fleet played a central role; Alexander had started the campaign with debts of 1,300 talents and carried just 60 talents in cash. Every month 200 talents (1 talent = 26.2 kg silver) had to be used for army pay, a simple warrior received one drachma a day. Not least because of the costs, more than 100 talents a month, Alexander had released the federal fleet from duty after the siege of Miletus, which favored the Persian opposing side in the Aegean. The war tax ( syntaxis ) which the liberated Greek cities of Ionia were prepared to pay for the fight against Persia was too low to cover the most oppressive burdens. In the meantime, this was only possible with the Persian treasury for Asia Minor, which was hoarded in Sardis and fell into the hands of Alexander there, which enabled the reactivation of the federal fleet with 600 talents. By maintaining the Persian administrative system, Alexander sought to put the financing of the campaign, like his state as a whole, on a broader footing, because he stuck to the tribute payments to be paid by the provinces, the levels of which had once been set by the great kings. Nevertheless, the army coffers declined until the autumn of 333 BC. Chr. To a new low and pay payments had to be suspended for several weeks. The victory at Issus and even more the ensuing capture of the Persian army in Damascus brought in 2,600 talents in coins, the annual income of Macedonia, and 500 pounds of unminted silver. This not only made it possible to settle the outstanding wages, but also to finance the campaign for at least another year. Alexander now also started his own coinage, having previously only used his father's coins ( philippeioi ). In the following year, the looting of Tire and Gaza relieved the payroll and the entry into Egypt in the spring of 331 BC. BC brought in another 800 talents in gold. Looting was already an effective means of paying for military service in antiquity, but as a conqueror of the empire Alexander had to be careful to be able to take over his conquest as undamaged as possible. Therefore, he only allowed those cities to be plundered that refused to submit to voluntary submission and therefore had to be defeated militarily, these were Tire , Gaza , Sangala (Sialkot) and Multan .

A silver tetradrachm (4 drachms) with Heracles helmeted a lion's head on the obverse, minted in Babylon at the time of Alexander the Great. Cabinet des Médailles , Paris .

The victory at Gaugamela and the entry into the royal cities of Babylon , Susa and Persepolis finally freed Alexander from all financial worries. As the new "King of Asia" ( basileus tēs Asias ) he was now the undisputed master of all the mints of his Persian predecessors and also the new owner of their accumulated state treasure, of which 30,000 talents in silver were found in Susa and 120,000 talents in Persepolis alone. As the richest man in the known world at that time and as the ruler of the empire with the highest tax revenue, he was now able to tackle further campaign planning from the financial point of view. Without having to worry about money, other large projects besides the campaign, such as the construction of cities and temples ( Alexandria ) , could now be realized. As Alexander Demandt noted, the Persian great kings had always preferred to hoard their enormous tax revenues instead of using them purposefully for the expansion of their empire and their army, which is why the conqueror from Europe opened up the wealth of Persia in the treasuries of his cities with every further advance he could use it against its actual owner, the great king. Because in contrast to Dareios III. Alexander came from a culture in which precious metals turned into coins were used to consolidate power, such as for political or military purposes. The total amount of booty accumulated over ten years of the campaign is estimated at around 180,000 talents, which corresponds to a coin value of 1.4 billion drachmas.

The Persian state treasure, which from 331 BC Alexander's state treasure was initially moved from Persepolis to Susa, to more than 1000 pack animals, in order to then be housed in treasuries in Ekbatana and Babylon . Harpalus, a childhood friend, was entrusted with the treasury . This, and not the satraps, was entrusted with the supervision of all financial inspectors who supervised the collection of taxes and their use. While Alexander was fighting in Central Asia and India, Harpalus finally had the treasure moved to Babylon, from where he regularly supplied the army with money and mercenaries. However, in his treasury he also operated a nasty mismanagement and afforded himself an elaborate and downright scandalous courtship in Babylon, where he had two of his prostitutes erected temples and statues and raised them to the divine status. When Alexander returned from India and held criminal courts over incompetent or even criminal officials, Harpalus was drawn in the spring of 324 BC. Before fleeing from Babylon to Athens. The loss of 5,000 talents in silver, which the treasurer stole in the process, had hardly any impact on the total volume of the treasure, since the annual tax revenue of the entire “Alexander Reich” alone amounted to 15,000 talents.

After Alexander's death, his state treasure disintegrated in the eventful battles of the Diadochi, who were able to draw the funds for their mercenaries from this treasure. Alexander wanted to transfer a large part of the treasure on 110 triremes from Babylon to Macedonia before he died, but this part remained in Cilicia after the news of his death while the fleet sailed on to Europe in support of the Antipater. After the first diadoch war, Antipater left the treasure in Cilicia, in the mountain fortress Kyinda , under the guard of the "silver shields". Only 600 talents in silver were to be brought to Macedonia on four ships. These were based on news of his death in 319 BC. Confiscated by Antigonos Monophthalmos while they were anchored in Ephesus . 318 BC Eumenes took 500 talents from Kyinda, which he also wanted to send by sea to his ally Polyperchon in Macedonia, but some of his ships and with them some of the silver had defected to Antigonus. Most of the "Alexander treasure" (10,000 talents) remained in Kyinda, over which from 316 BC. BC Antigonus held his hand, who had also taken the treasury of Susa (15,000 talents). The conquerors of Antigonus had probably divided his treasure, as well as his empire, among themselves, whereby the remnants of the "Alexander treasure" may have gone up in the state coffers of the new Diadochian kingdoms.

The army after Alexander

The early death of Alexander in 323 BC In Babylon, the 15,000 or so Macedonians who remained in the army played a decisive role in the question of succession and rule. However, a real civil war threatened to break out between the members of the mounted hetairoi and the infantry pezhetairoi . The latter felt that the case was ignored by the leaders of the aristocratic equestrianism, which is why they, under their spokesmen Meleager and Attalus, the weak-minded half-brother of Alexander, Philip III. Arrhidaios , proclaimed king. Before there was a fight between the troops, the situation was defused by a compromise solution by Eumenes , with the leaders of the pezhetairoi and the hetairoi sharing the future reign and the still unborn child of Alexander, Alexander IV Aigos , who was favored by the hetairoi as second King should be recognized. During the reconciliation ritual that followed, the leader of the hetairoi and signet ring bearer Perdickas committed a veritable coup d'état by killing the leaders of the pezhetairoi , especially Meleager, and then taking over sole reign in the imperial order of Babylon with recognition of the rest of the officer corps. He was also recognized as supreme command of the army, which the Krateros, who was not present, had formally held until then.

During these events, Krateros camped in Cilicia, but refrained from turning back and carried out the last order from Alexander to return the veterans to Macedonia. Of these, however, 3,000 veterans, mainly shield-bearers, remained under the command of the Antigen in Cilicia, who later became famous as "silver shields" ( argyraspides ). When he arrived in Europe, he supported Antipater, whom he recognized as a corrupt, in the fight against the Greeks in the Lamic War . Then Krateros faced Perdiccas in the first Diadoch War (321-320 BC) with Antipater and Ptolemy, but fell in the first battle ( on the Hellespont, 321 BC ) against the former secretary Eumenes.

After the first insubordination against the regent Perdiccas, which soon occurred, he had in the spring of 322 BC. BC led the army to western Asia Minor to conquer Cappadocia there and subdue the revolting Pisidians in Cilicia . At the beginning of the First Diadoch War, he led the army to Egypt to fight one of his worst enemies, Ptolemy . However, after Perdiccas failed to cross the Nile there, some of his officers gave him 320 BC. Murdered BC. Ptolemy, popular in the army, temporarily took command and led it to the Syrian Triparadeisos to meet with his ally Antipater . He had brought 32,500 Macedonians with him from Europe, which were now integrated into the "Imperial Army" and thus assumed a Macedonian character again. And because Antipater, due to his age, had the higher authority over the warriors, he was recognized as the new ruler at the Triparadeisus conference . To do this, he made the decision to split the "Reichsheer" in two halves. He intended to take one, including the royal family, with him to Macedonia in Europe. The other half was the the strategos appointed Antigonus Monophthalmos entrusted, which should in Asia fight Eumenes and other surviving supporters of Perdiccas, giving him at the battles of Orkynia and Kretopolis succeeded (both 319 v. Chr.).

The army of Alexander the Great was then in disintegration. The half of the army carried by Antipater, in which elephants were brought to Europe for the first time, was destroyed in 319 BC. Briefly taken over by Polyperchon , but their warriors soon went over to the side of Kassander , the son of Antipater, in the Second Diadoch War . All in all, it formed the basis for the army of the Macedonian kingdom, until it was conquered by Rome. The second half of the army became the foundation of the military power of Antigonus Monophthalmos in Asia, with which he fought the great battles against Eumenes and the other Diadochi. Antigonus let himself be from these warriors in 306 BC. To rise to the new king of the undivided Alexander empire, only to this in the battle of Ipsos 301 BC. To lose his life along with his life. His troops then joined the armies of Seleucus and Lysimachus and laid the foundations above all for the armies of the future Seleucid Empire .

The 3,000-strong veteran troop, which 323 BC Stayed behind in Cilicia, joined forces with the outbreak of the first Diadoch war in 321 BC. Back to the imperial army under Perdiccas, but their leader Antigenes was one of the regent's murderers on the Nile. After the Triparadeisus Conference, this force was entrusted by Antipater to guard the state treasure in Kyinda, Cilicia . From then on, this troop of veteran warriors was best known as "silver shields" ( argyraspides ), which were created at the beginning of the Second Diadoch War in 319 BC. Were recruited by Eumenes. For this they fought in the battles against Antigonus ( Paraitakene and Gabiene , 316 BC), thereby proving their reputation as the unbeatable Macedonian warrior elite and affirming their still existing military value, which Alexander had denied them at Opis had been. In the end, however, the “silver shields” also betrayed Eumenes and the victorious Antigonus ordered them to go to the vast expanses of Central Asia, where they would perish in grueling battles against mountain and horsemen.

Aftermath

The warriors of Alexander the Great left an important chapter in history not only because of their unprecedented triumphant advance. As the bearers of Greek cultural life, they stood at the beginning of a new age of civilization, Hellenism , which shaped the entire eastern Mediterranean region for almost 2000 years. The many thousands of veterans, war invalids, mercenaries and protection troops who were left behind in around 70 city foundations and military settlements during the campaign between the Nile and the Indus, brought culture, religion and civilizing achievements of their Greek-Macedonian homeland to the most remote landscapes of the known world where they complemented and enriched already existing cultures. Above all Plutarch, but also other ancient authors, attributed to Alexander a policy of mixing and understanding between peoples, in which under his rule the formerly hostile worlds of Europe and Asia grew together into a new civilization. In the spirit of Herodotus and, above all, following the views of Isocrates , Greek culture, as the victorious one, should take on the leading function in that the oriental-barbaric man is made a Hellenic through Greek education and language , into a civilized person. Alexander adhered to this thought, among other things by rejecting the teachings of his mentor Aristotle , and demanded from his new Asiatic subjects not only the acceptance of the Macedonian warfare, but also the learning of the Greek language, which for centuries became the common and scholarly language of all Mediterranean area as far as India. In return, Alexander gave his Greeks and Macedonians access to the oriental culture through personal ties, starting with 10,000 warriors and officers who died in the mass wedding of Susa in 324 BC. Were married to Persian women. Although the higher officers quickly broke away from these marriages shortly after Alexander's death, those of the simple warriors and later those of the new settlers, whose descendants were already known as mixhellēn for Polybius , for example . And at least the ancestral mother of the Seleucids , the successors in Asia, was a Persian, the daughter of the most dangerous enemy of Alexander Spitamenes .

Second representation: The Macedonians of the dead Alexander leave the shores of Babylon on ships. Third representation: They reach the state of Holstein, kill the native Thuringians and take their wives. Illustration from the so-called “ Heidelberger Sachsenspiegel ”, 14th century. Heidelberg University Library , Codex Palatinus Germanicus 164, sheet 19v.

Alexander's "amalgamation policy" was not pursued by his diadochi, among them the Hellenes clearly delimited themselves as the ruling class from Persians and other indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, they continued the cultural export from Greece to Asia, which came to fruition among the numerous descendants of the warriors as well as newly settled settlers and ultimately also influenced the long-established cultures. Just as the Romans latinized the West a little later, Alexander's companions had initiated the Hellenization of the East and thus combined it into a cosmopolitan culture, in that the native Orientals, by adopting the Greek way of life as a "Hellenist" ( hellēnistai ), joined this now predominant culture could win. In the Roman Empire , the Hellenic East stood on an equal footing with the Latin West, and even influenced and surpassed it on a cultural level, or, as Cicero put it, Latin is spoken only by Romans, but all other peoples speak Greek. Most of the Alexander historians who wrote in Roman times were native Greeks and they wrote their reports about Alexander and his companions in the common Greek language, the koiné , with which the Ashoka edicts for Buddhism in India and the New Testament for Christianity in Palestine advertise. In late antiquity, the Greek East in Constantinople even advanced to become the new center of the Roman Empire, which lived there after the collapse of the West following the migration of the peoples in the Byzantine Empire . It was not until the turn of the early Middle Ages that Hellenistic culture was supplanted by Islam in the course of Arab expansion .

Legends

According to the legend of origin of the Germanic tribe of the Saxons handed down by Widukind von Corvey , they descended from Macedonian warriors of Alexander the great who, after his death, landed on the coast of Hadeln traveling across the sea . From there, they and their descendants, the Saxons, would have displaced the Thuringians who settled in what is now Lower Saxony and took their land into possession. This legend also found its way into the Annolied and the Sachsenspiegel by Eike von Repgow . According to the latter, after the death of their king, the Macedonians set sail from Babylon on 300 ships, 18 of which went to Prussia , 12 to Rügen and 24 to Holstein .

Likewise, the members of the Kalasha ethnic group, who now live in the valleys of the Pakistani district of Chitral , trace their descent to a Macedonian warband of Alexander. For example, the troops led by an officer named "Shalakash" separated from the army when they passed through this region, settled in the valleys of the eastern Hindukush and taken local women from whom the Kalashas claim to be descended. The ethnic group of the Hunza, who live in the valley of the river of the same name ( Gilgit-Baltistan / Kashmir region ), traces their origins back to the companions of Alexander.

Quotes

“Apart from the deeds in Philip's time, however, those who performed them under Alexander after his death have earned general recognition of their ability. A large part of it is to be put on the account of Alexander, who directed the whole thing, despite his young age. Not less, however, is the merit of his comrades-in-arms and friends, who defeated their opponents in many wonderful battles, endured many toil, battles and hardships with peril of their lives and, after they came into possession of the greatest abundance and surrounded by the richest abundance of pleasures were, which made the satisfaction of every desire possible for them, but neither slacked physically, nor indulged in moral vices or debauchery, but altogether displayed a royal being through high disposition, moderation and bold courage after they had in the Dealing with Philipp and after him with Alexander. It should hardly be necessary to provide specific evidence for this. But after the death of Alexander, when they fought among themselves for most of the inhabited earth, they also acquired a fame that is brought to posterity in many writings. "

- Polybios : Historíai 8, 10, 7-11.

“The young Alexander conquered India. He alone? "

- Bertolt Brecht : Questions from a reading worker .

Stations of the Alexander train

Alexander and his companions in the battle against the Persians. "Alexander mosaic", Pompeii, Casa del Fauno.
  • May 334 BC Chr .: Alexander enters Asian soil; Victory in the Battle of Granikos
  • Summer 334 BC Chr .: successful siege of Miletus
    • Reinforcement 334 BC At Miletus: 300 mercenaries
  • Summer – autumn 334 BC Chr .: successful siege of Halicarnassus
    • Reinforcement in the spring of 333 BC In Gordion: 2,000 Macedonian infantry and 300 mounted, 200 Thessalian horsemen and 150 Elieners
  • November 333 BC Chr .: Victory in the battle of Issus
  • Spring – Summer 332 BC Chr .: successful siege of Tire
    • Reinforcement in the summer of 332 BC In Sidon: 4,000 mercenaries
  • October 332 BC Chr .: successful siege of Gaza
  • Late year 332 – spring 331 BC Chr .: Alexander in Egypt, coronation as Pharaoh
    • Reinforcement spring 331 BC In Memphis: 400 mounted Greek mercenaries and 500 mounted Thracians
  • Spring – Summer 331 BC Chr .: months of rest in Tire
  • October 1, 331 BC Chr .: Victory in the battle of Gaugamela and then entry into Babylon
    • Reinforcement in autumn 331 BC In Sittakene: 6000 Macedonian infantry and 500 mounted, 3500 Thracian infantry and 600 mounted, 4000 Greek mercenaries on foot and 380 on horseback, 50 pages
  • Autumn 331 BC Chr .: Entry into Susa
  • January 330 BC Chr .: successful capture of the "Persian gates" , then entry into Persepolis and fire of the royal palace
  • Summer 330 BC Chr .: Entry into Ekbatana and successful capture of the "Caspian Gates"
    • Reinforcement 330 BC In media: 5000 Greek mercenaries on foot and 1000 on horseback
  • July 330 BC Chr .: Dareios III. is murdered.
    • Reinforcement in the summer of 330 BC BC in Zadrakarta (Sari) : 1,500 Greek mercenaries formerly in Persian service
  • October 330 BC Chr .: Dimnos conspiracy , trial against Philotas and assassination of Parmenion
    • Reinforcement autumn 330 BC In Areia: 5,600 infantrymen and 930 mounted men
  • Late year 330 BC Chr .: Crossing the Hindu Kush to Bactria and victory over Satibarzanes
  • Summer 329 BC Chr .: seizure of the Bessos
  • 329 BC Chr .: Defeat of an army detachment on Polytimetus (Serafshan) against Spitamenes
  • Autumn 329 BC Chr .: Victory over the Scythians in the battle of Jaxartes
  • Spring 328 BC Chr .: successful siege of the Sogdian rock ( Ariamazes )
    • Reinforcement 328 BC In Zariaspa : 16,400 infantrymen and 2,600 cavalrymen
  • Summer 328 BC Chr .: murder of Kleitos
  • Autumn 328 BC Chr .: successful siege of the rock of Chorienes ( Sisimithres )
  • December 328 BC BC: Victory over Spitamenes in the battle of Gabai
  • Spring 327 BC Chr .: Page conspiracy
  • Summer 327 BC Chr .: Crossing the Hindu Kush to India
  • Winter 327–326 BC BC: successful siege of the rock of Aornos (Pir-Sar) in the Swat valley and entry into Taxila
  • May 326 BC Chr .: Victory in the battle of the Hydaspes
  • September 326 BC Chr .: the army refuses to march on at the Hyphasis (Beas)
    • Reinforcement in autumn 326 BC On the Hydaspes: 30,000 infantry and 6,000 mounted men
  • November 326 – September 325 BC Chr .: trip on the Indus
  • September – December 325 BC Chr .: lossy march through the Drosian desert ( Makran ), arrival in Carmania
  • February 324 BC Chr .: Entry into Susa and mass wedding
    • Reinforcement in the spring of 324 BC In Susa: 30,000 Persian infantrymen and cavalrymen
  • Spring 324 BC Chr .: the revolt of the army in Opis is put down, the veterans are released back home
  • Autumn 324 BC Chr .: entry into Ekbatana ; Hephaistion dies
  • Winter 324–323 BC Chr .: campaign against the Kossaier
  • Spring 323 BC Chr .: Entry into Babylon
    • Reinforcement 323 BC BC in Babylon: mounted mercenaries of unknown number and 20,000 Persian archers and spear throwers
  • June 10, 323 BC Chr .: Alexander dies

swell

Campaign participants:

Historian:

  • Arrian , Anabasis , Indike and Tà metà Aléxandron (FGrHist 156).
  • Diodor , Bibliothéke historiké (books 17–18).
  • Plutarch , Alexander , Eumenes , Demetrius and Moralia = De Alexandri Magni fortuna aut virtute (de fort. Alex.) .
  • Curtius Rufus , Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis .
  • Justin , Historiarum Philippicarum .
  • Polyainos , Strategika (Book 4).
  • Polybios , Historíai .
  • Frontin , Strategemata (Books 2 and 4).
  • Strabon , Geographica .

literature

Overview works:

  • Helmut Berve : The Alexander Reich on a prosopographical basis , 2 vols., 1926.
  • Alexander Demandt : Alexander the Great - Life and Legend . Munich 2009.
  • Robin Lane Fox : Alexander the Great - Conqueror of the World . Hamburg 2010.
  • Waldemar Heckel : The Marshals of Alexander's Empire . London / New York 1992.
  • Waldemar Heckel : Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great. Prosopography of Alexander's Empire . Oxford et al. a. 2006.
  • Nick Secunda / Angus McBride: The Army of Alexander the Great. 2009.

Special literature:

  • EM Anson: Alexander's Hypaspists and the Argyraspists. In: Historia , Vol. 30 (1981), pp. 117-120.
  • EM Anson: The Hypaspists: Macedonia's Professional Citizen-soldiers. In: Historia , Vol. 34 (1985), pp. 246-248.
  • E. Badian : Orientals in Alexander's Army. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Vol. 85 (1965), pp. 160-161.
  • AB Bosworth: ΑΣΘΕΤΑΙΡΟΙ. In: The Classical Quarterly , New Series, Vol. 23 (1973), pp. 245-253.
  • AB Bosworth: The Mission of Amphoterus and the Outbreak of Agis' War. In: Phoenix , Vol. 29 (1975), pp. 27-43.
  • PA Brunt : Alexander's Macedonian Cavalry. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Vol. 83 (1963), pp. 27-46.
  • AR Burn: The Generalship of Alexander. In: Greece & Rome , Vol. 12 (1965), pp. 140-154.
  • AW Collins: The Office of Chiliarch under Alexander and the Successors. In: Phoenix , Vol. 55 (2001), pp. 259-283.
  • NGL Hammond: A Cavalry Unit in the Army of Antigonus Monophthalmus: Asthippoi. In: The Classical Quarterly , New Series, Vol. 28 (1978), pp. 128-135.
  • NGL Hammond: Cavalry Recruited in Macedonia down to 332 BC In: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte , Vol. 47 (1998), pp. 404-425.
  • U. Kahrstedt: The Athenian contingent for the Alexander train. In: Hermes , Vol. 71 (1936), pp. 120-124.
  • RA Lock: The Origins of the Argyraspids. In: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte , Vol. 26 (1977), pp. 373–378.
  • RD Milns: Alexander's Seventh Phalanx Battalion. In: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies , Vol. 7 (1966), pp. 159-166.
  • RD Milns: The Hypaspists of Alexander III: Some Problems. In: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte , Vol. 20 (1971), pp. 186-195.
  • RD Milns: Arrian's Accuracy in Troop Details: A Note. In: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte , Vol. 27 (1978), pp. 374–378.

References and comments

  1. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3:19 , 5.
  2. ↑ See Kahrstedt.
  3. ↑ Diodorus 17, 17, 4.
  4. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3, 19, 5; Plutarch, Alexander 42.
  5. ^ Frontin, Strategemata 2, 11, 3.
  6. ↑ Brunt, pp. 34-36; Lane Fox, pp. 140-141; Demandt, pp. 106-107.
  7. ↑ Diodorus 17, 17, 5.
  8. ↑ a b c Ptolemaios F4, Anaximenes F15 and Aristobulos F1 = Plutarch, Moralia 327d – e ( de fort. Alex. 1, 3).
  9. ↑ Kallisthenes F33 = Polybios 12, 19, 1-3.
  10. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 1, 29, 4; Curtius Rufus 3, 1, 24.
  11. ^ Curtius Rufus 3, 1, 24.
  12. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 2, 20, 5.
  13. ↑ Ptolemy = Arrian, Anabasis 3, 12, 5.
  14. ^ Curtius Rufus 5, 1, 42; Diodorus 3, 9, 7.
  15. ↑ For reinforcement in the spring of 330 BC See Curtius Rufus 5, 7, 12 and for those from the autumn of the same year (3,000 Illyrian infantrymen, 2,600 Greek infantrymen from Lydia, 500 mounted mercenaries, 130 Thessalian riders and 300 Greek riders from Lydia) ibid 6, 6, 35.
  16. ↑ 4,000 men in Egypt, 3,000 men in Babylon, 3,000 men in Susa, 3,000 men in Persepolis, 4,000 men and 500 horsemen in Arachosia, 10,000 men and 3,500 horsemen in Bactria. See Arrian, Anabasis 3, 5, 5; 4, 22, 3 and Curtius Rufus 5, 1, 43; 2, 16; 6, 11 and 7, 3, 5.
  17. ↑ Plutarch, Alexander 16:15.
  18. ↑ 3,000 mercenaries on foot and 1,000 on horseback, 3,000 infantrymen and 500 mounted men from Lycia, 3,000 infantrymen and 500 mounted men from Syria, as well as 7,400 infantrymen and 600 mounted men from Greece / Macedonia. Arrian, Anabasis 4, 7, 2; Curtius Rufus 7, 10, 11-12.
  19. ↑ Diodor 17, 95, 4. This reinforcement included among other things 5000 Thracian mounted men and 7000 mercenaries on foot, who were hired by the treasurer Harpalus; see Curtius Rufus 9, 3, 21.
  20. ↑ Arrian, Indike 19, 5; Curtius Rufus 8, 5, 4. Plutarch ( Alexander 66, 5) counts 120,000 men as infantry alone and adds an additional 15,000 cavalrymen.
  21. ^ Lane Fox, p. 604.
  22. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 4, 5, 3–9 (Ptolemy F34) and 4, 6, 1–2 (Aristobulus F27).
  23. ↑ Arrian ( Anabasis 3, 16, 11) initially called the newly created sub-units of Hetairen riding lochoi , apparently in confusion with the infantry term. Later ( anabasis 6, 27, 6 and 7, 24, 4) he uses the correct hekatostuas term.
  24. ↑ Polybios 4, 8, 10.
  25. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3:11 , 10.
  26. ↑ See secondary literature: Milns 1966.
  27. ↑ Polybios 18, 30.
  28. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3, 16, 10-11.
  29. ↑ Plutarch, Eumenes 1, 6.
  30. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 1, 14, 6; 15, 1 and 16, 1.
  31. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 1, 22, 4 and 7.
  32. ^ Curtius Rufus 5, 2, 5.
  33. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 1, 11, 6. Diodor (17, 17, 2) names 60 ships while Justin (11, 6) gives a fleet of 180 ships.
  34. ↑ For the 800 ships of the Indus fleet, see Nearchus at Arrian, Indike 19, 7. Ptolemaios (Arrian, Anabasis 6, 2, 5) calculated the fleet at almost 2,000 and Diodor (17, 95, 5) at 1,000 ships.
  35. ^ Arrian, Indike 18.
  36. ↑ The naming of the Krateros as a trierarch on the Indus contradicts the fact that he had led the veterans along the bank.
  37. ↑ The fact that the Ganges also flows into the southern ocean ( Indian Ocean ) was only recognized centuries later.
  38. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 7, 16, 1-3.
  39. ↑ Seleukos I later resumed this expedition, which came to the inaccurate conclusion that the Caspian Sea was actually a bay of the ocean. Pliny , Historia Naturalis 2, 58 and 6, 167-168.
  40. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 7, 9, 6. Of these, 500 debt talents were a legacy of his father. According to another report, Alexander had no more than 70 talents available for 30 days, plus 200 talents in debt left by his father; Plutarch (referring to Aristobulus, Duris and Onesikritos), Alexander 15, 1 and Moralia 327d ( de fort. Alex. 1, 3).
  41. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 7, 23, 3.
  42. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 1, 20, 1.
  43. ^ Curtius Rufus 3, 13, 16.
  44. ^ Curtius Rufus 4, 7, 4.
  45. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3, 16, 70; Curtius Rufus 5, 6, 9; Diodorus 17, 66, 1 and 71, 1. From the treasure of Susa Alexander had in the late year 331 BC BC immediately sent 3,000 talents to Macedonia after he had heard of the conflict between Antipater and Sparta ("Mouse War"), see Arrian, Anabasis 3, 16, 10.
  46. ↑ See Demandt, pp. 46 and 60–61.
  47. ↑ Strabo 15, 3, 9. See Demandt, p. 365.
  48. ↑ Diodor 17, 108, 6. See Demandt, p. 364.
  49. ↑ Diodorus 18, 12, 2.
  50. ↑ Strabo 14, 5, 10; Diodorus 18, 52, 7.
  51. ↑ Diodorus 18, 58, 1 and 73, 1; Plutarch, Eumenes 13; Polyainos 4, 6, 9.
  52. ↑ Diodorus 19, 48, 7 and 56, 5.
  53. ↑ Plutarch, Moralia 329b – d ( de fort. Alex. 1, 6).
  54. ↑ Polybios 1, 67, 7.
  55. ↑ New Testament, Acts 9:29. In the New Testament, the Greek-speaking Jew is differentiated from the Orthodox Hebrew as hellēnistai . The term "Hellenist" appears here for the first time for a member of the Hellenistic cultural area and was the inspiration for the epoch designation of "Hellenism" introduced in the historiography of the 19th century (see Droysen).
  56. ^ Cicero, Pro Archia 23.
  57. ^ Widukind von Corvey , Res gestae Saxonicae, Lib. I, c. 2-4; ed. in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH), SS rer. Germ. , Vol. 60 (1935), pp. 4-5 (online).
  58. ↑ Max Rödiger (ed.), Das Annolied, verse 321 ff., In: MGH, Dt. Chron., Vol. 1,2 (1895), p. 122 (online). Eike von Repgow , Sachsenspiegel, Lib. III 44, §2–3, in: MGH, Fontes iuris NS, Vol. 1,1 (1955), p. 230 (online). Demandt, p. 426 f.
  59. ↑ Michael Wood, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: A Journey from Greece to Asia. University of California Press, 2001, pp. 8-9.
  60. ↑ Demandt, p. 436.
  61. ↑ Polybios: The Rise of Rome. Histories , ed. by Lenelotte Möller , Marixverlag GmbH, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 417-418. The Greek text can be viewed at Perseus Project ( [1] ) from Polybii Historiae , ed. by Theodor Büttner-Wobst after Ludwig Dindorf , Leipzig, 1882–1904.
  62. ↑ Bertolt Brecht - Calendar Stories , ed. by Keith A. Dickson, London 1971, p. 75.