|
Early Life
Alexander the Great was the son of King Philip II of Macedon and of
his fourth wife, Epirote princess Olympias. According to Plutarch
(Alexander 3.1,3), Olympias was impregnated not by Philip, who was
afraid of her, and her affinity for sleeping in the company of
snakes, but by Zeus Ammon. Plutarch (Alexander 2.2-3) relates that
both Philip and Olympias dreamt of their son's future birth.
Olympias dreamed of a loud burst of thunder and of lightning
striking her womb. In Philip's dream, he sealed her womb with the
seal of the lion. Alarmed by this, he consulted the seer Aristander
of Telmessus, who determined that his wife was pregnant and that the
child would have the character of a lion.
Aristotle was Alexander's tutor; he gave Alexander a thorough
training in rhetoric and literature and stimulated his interest in
science, medicine, and philosophy. After his visit to the Oracle of
Ammon at Siwa, according to five historians of antiquity (Arrian,
Curtius, Diodorus, Justin, and Plutarch), rumors spread that the
Oracle had revealed Alexander's father to be Zeus, rather than
Philip. According to Plutarch (Alexander 2.1), his father descended
from Heracles through Caranus and his mother descended from Aeacus
through Neoptolemus and Achilles. Aristotle gave him a copy of the
Iliad and a knife that he always hid under his pillow at night.
Invasion of India
Coin commemorating Alexander's campaigns in India, struck in Babylon
around 323 BC.
Obv: Alexander standing, being crowned by Nike, fully armed and
holding Zeus' thunderbolt.
Rev: Greek rider, possibly Alexander, attacking an Indian
battle-elephant, possibly during the battle against Porus.With the
death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Roshanak in
Bactrian) to cement his relations with his new Central Asian
satrapies, in 326 BC Alexander was finally free to turn his
attention to India. Alexander invited all the chieftains of the
former satrapy of Gandhara to come to him and submit to his
authority. Ambhi, ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the
Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum), complied. But the chieftains of some
hilly clans including the Aspasios and Assakenois sections of the
Kambojas (classical names), known in Indian texts as Ashvayanas and
Ashvakayanas (names referring to their equestrian nature) refused to
submit.
Alexander personally took command of the shield-bearing guards,
foot-companions, archers, Agrianians and horse-javelin-men and led
them against the Kamboja clans -- the Aspasios of Kunar/Alishang
valleys, the Guraeans of the Guraeus (Panjkora) valley, and the
Assakenois of the Swat and Buner valleys. "They were brave people
and it was hard work for Alexander to take their strongholds, of
which Massaga and Aornus need special mention" (Alexander the Great,
2003, p 123, I. Worthington). A fierce contest ensued with the
Aspasios in which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a
dart but eventually the Aspasios lost the fight; 40,000 of them were
enslaved. The Assakenois faced Alexander with an army of 30,000
cavalry, 38,000 infantry and 30 elephants (Curtius). They had fought
bravely and offered stubborn resistence to the invader in many of
their strongholds like cities of Ora, Bazira and Massaga. The fort
of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody
fighting in which Alexander himself was wounded seriously in the
ankle. When the Chieftain of Massaga fell in the battle, the supreme
command of the army went to his old mother Cleophis (q.v.) who also
stood determined to defend her motherland to the last extremity. The
example of Cleophis assuming the supreme command of the military
also brought the entire women of the locality into the fighting
(Ancient India, 1971, p 99, Dr R. C. Majumdar; History and Culture
of Indian People, The Age of Imperial Unity, Foreign Invasion, p 46,
Dr R. K Mukerjee). Alexander could only reduce Massaga by resorting
to political strategem and actions of betrayal. According to Curtius:
"Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga,
but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles". This statement
clearly shows that Alexander had suffered severe losses at the hands
of the Assakenois so that he must have lost his poise and given vent
to his wrath on the buildings of Massaga.
The Assakenois were a brave people and fierce fighters but lost the
battle because of their over-confidence and lack of cunning &
political-sagacity (S Kirpal Singh).
A similar man-slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of
the Assakenois.
In the aftermath of general slaughter and arson committed by
Alexander at Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenian people fled to a
high fortress called Aornos. Alexander followed them close behind
their heels and captured the strategic hill-fort but only after
fourth day of bloody fight. The story of Massaga was repeated at
Aornos and a similar carnage on the tribal-people followed here too.
Writing on Alexander's campaign against the Assakenois, Victor
Hanson comments: "After promising the surrounded Assacenis their
lives upon capitulation, he executed all their soldiers who had
surrendered. Their strongholds at Ora and Aornus were also similarly
stormed. Garrisons were probably all slaughtered” (See: Carnage and
Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power, 2002, p 86,
Victor Hanson).
Sisikottos who had helped Alexander in this compaign was made the
governor of Aornos.
After reducing Aornos, Alexander crossed the Indus and fought and
won an epic battle against Porus, a ruler of a region in the Punjab
in the Battle of Hydaspes in (326 BC). After the victory, Alexander
was greatly impressed by Porus for his bravery in battle, therefore
he made an alliance with Porus and appointed him as satrap of his
own kingdom and even added some land he did not own before.
Alexander then named one of the two new cities that he founded,
Bucephala, in honor of his noble mount who had brought him to India.
Alexander continued on to conquer all the headwaters of the Indus
River.
East of Porus' kingdom, near the Ganges River, was the powerful
empire of Magadha ruled by the Nanda dynasty. Fearing the prospects
of facing another powerful Indian army and exhausted by years of
campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas),
refusing to march further east. Alexander, after the meeting with
his officer, Coenus, was convinced that it was better to return.
Alexander was forced to turn south, conquering his way down the
Indus to the Indian Ocean. He sent much of his army to Carmania
(modern southern Iran) with his general Craterus, and commissioned a
fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus,
while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern
route through the Gedrosia (present day Makran in southern
Pakistan).
After India
Alexander and Porus by Charles Le Brun, 1673.Discovering that many
of his satraps and military governors had misbehaved in his absence,
Alexander executed a number of them as examples on his way to Susa.
As a gesture of thanks, he paid off the debts of his soldiers, and
announced that he would send those over-aged and disabled veterans
back to Macedonia under Craterus, but his troops misunderstood his
intention and mutinied at the town of Opis, refusing to be sent away
and bitterly criticizing his adoption of Persian customs and dress
and the introduction of Persian officers and soldiers into
Macedonian units. Alexander executed the ringleaders of the mutiny,
but forgave the rank and file. In an attempt to craft a lasting
harmony between his Macedonian and Persian subjects, he held a mass
marriage of his senior officers to Persian and other noblewomen at
Susa, but few of those marriages seem to have lasted much beyond a
year.
His attempts to merge Persian culture with his Greek soldiers also
included training a regiment of Persian boys in the ways of
Macedonians. It is not certain that Alexander adopted the Persian
royal title of shahanshah ("great king" or "king of kings").
However, most historians believe that he did.
Alexander let it be known that he intended to launch a campaign
against the tribes of Arabia. After they were subjugated, it was
assumed that Alexander would turn westwards and attack Carthage and
Italy.
After traveling to Ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the Persian
treasure, his closest friend (and possible lover) Hephaestion died
of an illness. Alexander was distraught and on his return to
Babylon, he fell ill and died.
|
