After winning the Granicus River Battle in May 334 BCE, Macedonian King Alexander III marched south to liberate the Greek coastal towns of Asia Minor. Only at Miletus, after a short siege, did he face genuine resistance.
Alexander then disbanded his fleet of 160 triremes. He maintained just the Athenian detachment as transports and captives, and a Hellespont squadron. Alexander could not win a maritime battle against the Persian fleet of over 400 triremes controlling the eastern Mediterranean. His advisors offered this choice. The Persians might now cut off the army in Asia Minor, preventing supplies and return to Macedonia and Greece. Attacking Greece and stirring up rebellion against Alexander. Alexander felt his soldiers would fight harder if they knew they could not withdraw.
He also seems to have deeply mistrusted his Greek friends, willing to sacrifice his whole campaign rather than commit it to a Greek navy. To take the Persian and Phoenician naval strongholds along the eastern Mediterranean coast, Alexander urged his generals. He captured most of Asia Minor’s coast in 334–333 BCE. He had a reputation for kindness, fairness, and tolerance. His tenure provided better administration, cheaper taxes, and public works projects. At Halicarnassus, the Greek mercenary Memnon headed the defenders. After a siege, Alexander captured it. In order to cut off Alexander’s communications, Persian monarch Darius III let free Memnon, his sole first-class commander. However, Memnon became ill and died. Darius gathered.
When he discovered that Alexander had marched south towards Syria, Darius pursued Alexander before he was ready for battle. He positioned his soldiers behind Alexander, cutting off his communications. With hostile Phoenician towns to the south, Alexander had no option but to attack. In early November 333 BCE, the two armies met at Issus. Disputed figures Darius possibly had 100,000 soldiers; however, Macedonian reports of 600,000 are complete propaganda. A small army of 30,000 troops Darius deployed his troops along the three-mile-long coastal plain north of the Pinarus River. Therefore, only portion of his troops could engage at once. Darius put archers in front of the Persian left and right to buttress them. The 2,000 Royal Bodyguards, the army’s elite corps, manned the Persian line. Darius rode in a magnificent chariot. At the Gulf of Issus, 30,000 Greek mercenaries flanked the Royal Bodyguards. Alexander’s days would be numbered if the Persians held. Alexander came late afternoon. The Persian cavalry screen that had remained south of the Pinarus now retreated across the river. Therefore, Alexander stopped to reorganize.
Alexander placed his Thessalonian cavalry behind the phalanx, seeing Darius massing his cavalry on his right flank along the beach against Parmenio’s Macedonian left wing. He ordered a mixed army of light-armed warriors into the hills behind his right flank to deal with a Persian detachment. However, the Persians on his far right made no effort to attack and they were eventually routed. Only 300 cavalry were left to guard Alexander’s extreme right flank. Alexander continued his advance after his dispositions. His soldiers were three miles apart. He waited, expecting the Persians would strike. Darius, in a defensive stance, declined. Alexander then marched his own warriors.
Alexander placed his Macedonian heavy cavalry on the right of his line, knowing that the Persian infantry on the left was vulnerable. The Persian archers fired a salvo of arrows so dense they clashed in the air. In an attack on the Persian left, Alexander led the Companions in an assault on the light infantry. It nearly broke. The Macedonian onslaught in the center failed. The warriors struggled to cross the river and ran against a steep bank with Persian stake palisades. Fighting broke out between Macedonian infantrymen and Greek mercenaries. While Alexander rolled up the Persian left, his cavalry then charged the Greek mercenaries and Royal Bodyguards, hoping to kill or capture Darius. During the battle, Darius reportedly wounded Alexander in the thigh. The wounded horses on Darius III’s chariot fled. Darius managed to control them but left the field in a lesser chariot. However, things were not going well for Alexander. The Persian strong cavalry pushed the Macedonian center and the Thessalonians on the left. Alexander had to give up on Darius. In the Persian army’s Greek mercenaries, Alexander swung his right
Primary Sources:
- Green, Peter. Alexander of Macedon, 356–323 B.C.: A Historical Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
- Hammond, Nicholas G. L. Alexander the Great: King, Commander, and Statesman. 3rd ed. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1996.
- Sekunda, Nick, and John Warry. Alexander the Great: His Armies and Campaigns, 332– 323 B.C. London: Osprey, 1988.