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Hello, everyone! Welcome

1:30

to the History of Persia. I'm

1:33

Trevor Culley, and this is episode 108,

1:35

Dr. Alexander's Levant of Horrors. Last

1:42

time, we left the Persian army reeling

1:44

and fractured following the Battle of Issus.

1:48

Darius III, King of Kings, was

1:50

sent fleeing through northern Syria, abandoning

1:53

his war chest and his own family in

1:56

Sokhoi as Alexander the Great

1:58

and his Macedonian- invaders

2:01

prepared to continue the campaign of 333

2:03

south through Syria and the Levant, making

2:07

their way toward Egypt. By

2:10

now, every pillar of Persian

2:13

dominance in Western Anatolia has crumbled,

2:15

and the Macedonians are

2:17

on track to completely occupy

2:20

the Western Empire. The

2:22

first order of business for Alexander,

2:25

after the Battle of Issus, was

2:27

going to Sokoy, which

2:30

had simply been relinquished along

2:32

with the upper echelon of Persian royalty.

2:36

Immediately following the battle, Parmenion

2:38

and a detachment of Hitti-roi cavalry

2:41

raced to the Syrian city to secure

2:43

their prize. Wealth the

2:45

likes of which they had scarcely seen before,

2:48

and the nominal owners of that wealth, the

2:51

entire family of Darius III.

2:54

If it seems weird to take the royal

2:56

family on campaign, you're right,

2:59

but think about Darius's domestic position

3:01

for a moment. Persian

3:03

internal politics hadn't come

3:05

to a halt just because there was a war.

3:09

Darius was still semi-legitimate

3:12

at best, holding the throne

3:14

because it was a bad time for

3:16

anybody to risk challenging him. He

3:19

had no adult sons, no viable

3:22

plans for succession, and two

3:24

young unmarried daughters. If

3:27

something happened to him on this campaign,

3:30

there would have been a power struggle, and

3:33

his family would have been caught in the middle.

3:36

The girls would have been trophies

3:39

to be won as a way to legitimize

3:41

power for whoever came out on top, and

3:44

the little prince Okus, along with his mother

3:46

and grandmother, were obstacles

3:49

that would need to be cleared right away. They

3:52

were significantly safer far from

3:55

the palace capitals, or so

3:57

Darius thought. Now

4:00

they, along with several Persian noble

4:02

ladies in waiting, were prisoners

4:04

of the Macedonian general Parmenion.

4:08

Along with the Persian war treasury, the Macedonians

4:10

found Queen Mother Sisigambus, her

4:13

daughter-in-law Statera the Elder, the

4:15

maybe five-year-old Prince Okus,

4:18

and Darius III's two daughters,

4:21

Statera the Younger and Drupetis. Of

4:24

the three royal children, Statera

4:28

was the only one even close to adulthood.

4:31

Though still unmarried, she was

4:34

of marriageable age, at least to the

4:36

Macedonians. Figure

4:38

late teens or early twenties, roughly

4:41

appear to Alexander. Drupetis,

4:43

on the other hand, was maybe a preteen,

4:46

possibly thirteen or fourteen at most.

4:49

While Parmenion seized the Persian

4:52

camp, Alexander and most

4:54

of the Macedonian cavalry rode across

4:56

the Syrian countryside hunting for

4:58

Darius III, and killing

5:01

or capturing any Persian stragglers

5:03

they came across. Eventually,

5:06

though, even the intrepid king of Macedon

5:08

was utterly exhausted and brought his

5:11

forces to Sokoy as well. Alexander

5:14

had suffered a minor wound in the recent

5:16

fighting, a long, shallow cut on

5:18

his thigh. It wasn't

5:20

particularly concerning, but was

5:23

enough to require some rest, which

5:25

would be taken in spectacular

5:28

fashion, as the Macedonian

5:30

officers claimed the tense and belongings

5:33

of their Persian counterparts, meaning

5:36

that Alexander took all of Darius

5:39

III's traveling finery for himself.

5:42

That still left the question of what to do

5:45

with the royal hostages, who

5:47

had been kept almost entirely in the

5:49

dark about what happened at Issus.

5:53

Between Darius's tent and a

5:55

few items that had fallen from the royal

5:58

chariot as Darius fled the through

6:00

the chaos of the battlefield, Alexander

6:03

had claimed and taken to

6:05

wearing Darius's royal

6:08

tiara, the purple felt cap

6:10

that marked a Persian monarch as King

6:12

of Kings on the battlefield, as

6:15

well as carrying the Great King's own

6:17

bow and shield around camp.

6:21

While still occupying Sokoi, Alexander

6:24

heard the haunting wails and sobs

6:26

of the captive duke sheesh, keening

6:28

in the tent where they had been imprisoned. The

6:32

Macedonian king questioned his guards

6:34

about this, and they explained that the women

6:36

had heard nothing of the outcome of the battle,

6:39

but they had seen Alexander prancing

6:41

around in Darius's finery. They assumed

6:45

that King Darius III, their son

6:47

and husband and father, was dead, and

6:50

his empire with him. Even

6:53

just reading Arian's account of

6:55

this exchange, you can almost feel

6:58

Alexander's eyes go wide with shock.

7:01

These were women, royal women at that,

7:04

and for all the brutalities of ancient

7:06

warfare, noble hostages

7:08

were typically treated with respect. And

7:12

for all the brutality that Alexander

7:14

personally inflicted in battle, he

7:17

was not a total psychopath. At

7:20

the very least he had some empathy

7:23

for people he considered his peers.

7:26

The Macedonian king quickly made

7:29

arrangements for one of his bilingual officers

7:31

to sit down with the Persian royal family

7:34

and explain that Darius was not

7:36

dead, or even captured. Alexander

7:40

just had a few flashy trophies.

7:43

Soon after this, Alexander

7:45

held an audience with the duke sheesh in

7:48

person to clarify

7:50

his plans for them. These

7:53

women had every reason to be

7:55

afraid, even after they

7:57

had been reassured that Darius was

7:59

still alive.

7:59

All that meant was

8:02

that the war would go on,

8:04

and though their status as royalty

8:06

had spared them from the worst possible

8:09

treatment, the initial

8:11

Macedonian sack of their camp

8:13

when Permeneon first arrived did

8:15

not leave them with high hopes. Curdius

8:19

describes the incident in the histories

8:21

of Alexander the Great. In

8:24

all likelihood, the passage

8:26

in question was invented by

8:28

the author. It is not

8:30

reflected in any of our sources for

8:33

Alexander's invasion, and Curdius

8:35

is generally regarded as the most

8:38

extravagant and likely to embellish.

8:41

However, his description does

8:44

appear to be an accurate portrayal of the

8:46

general torment that women,

8:49

especially noble women, underwent

8:52

when their camp or city was captured

8:54

by an invading army. And

8:57

if the consequences of what might

8:59

happen to women in war aren't

9:02

something you want to hear about, skip 30

9:05

seconds or so. It's just this one paragraph.

9:08

Stripped of their possessions, jewelry,

9:10

and clothing, sexually assaulted

9:13

and taken into forced marriages or sexual

9:15

slavery by their conquerors, Curdius

9:19

paints a bleak picture. That

9:22

said, by all accounts, Alexander

9:26

actually handled this whole affair with the

9:28

royal family extremely well. Rather

9:32

than parading his hostages through

9:34

the camp as disgraced prisoners, he

9:37

went to their tent with a single companion,

9:41

his best and most trusted friend

9:43

Hephaestion, and

9:45

like

9:46

very best.

9:48

When they entered, Queen

9:51

Mother Sisigambus attempted to

9:53

put her best foot forward and

9:55

observe all the honors due

9:58

to a conquering king. dropping

10:00

to her knees and prostrating herself

10:03

before the king's... taller,

10:06

better-looking best friend as

10:09

her attendants looked on in horror, desperately

10:12

gesturing and mouthing words to the Queen

10:14

Mother that she had just bowed down

10:16

to some random Macedonian

10:19

officer. Some royals,

10:22

Cyrus the Younger for instance, would

10:24

have taken immense and violent

10:27

offense at this embarrassment. Alexander

10:30

laughed it off, and when Sisigambus

10:32

realized her mistake and profusely

10:35

apologized, he called the

10:37

elder woman Mother, as

10:40

both a sign of respect and an assertion

10:42

that regardless of anything else, he

10:45

was taking her son's place as

10:47

the greatest ruler in Asia. The

10:50

king played off the etymology of his

10:52

own name, Alexandros,

10:56

a portmanteau of Alexso,

10:59

meaning I defend, and Andros,

11:02

the Greek word for man. Hephaistion

11:05

too was an Alexander, or

11:07

more accurately an Alexandron,

11:10

a defender of men, as

11:13

he was one of Alexander's personal

11:15

guards. From there,

11:17

Alexander himself set down to

11:20

explain that he regretted

11:22

how in the dark and poorly treated

11:24

the royal family had been, given their

11:26

station. They were still

11:29

hostages and thus could not be allowed to

11:31

wander freely, even within the camp.

11:34

Alexander knew that they would not be safe,

11:37

either as enemies of the army or as

11:39

beautiful noblewomen in a camp

11:41

full of roughened aggressive soldiers. They

11:44

would remain under guard, but with access

11:46

to whatever finery, food, and drink

11:48

they requested. Many

11:51

ambitious conquerors would have seized

11:53

on this opportunity to marry

11:55

at least one of the women. Steterra

11:58

the Younger would have been the obvious

12:01

candidate, but Drepedis

12:03

could have been legally bound to Alexander

12:06

despite her age, and

12:09

he had every ability to nullify

12:11

Statera the Elder's marriage to Darius

12:13

by right of conquest. Instead,

12:16

he reassured them that they would remain

12:19

untouched and free of his household.

12:22

Plutarch in particular extols

12:25

Alexander's virtue in not having

12:27

sex with Statera the Younger out of wedlock

12:29

either, an extremely high bar,

12:32

clearly, claiming that Alexander

12:35

had never been with a woman up to this

12:37

point and was not about to sully his

12:39

virtue without all the proper formalities.

12:44

That probably makes it a good time to

12:47

talk about Feistyion and Alexander.

12:50

First, just a brief note about their

12:52

appearances. Feistyion

12:54

is almost universally treated as the

12:57

better looking of the pair. Most

13:00

artistic depictions of Alexander after

13:02

his death depict him as an exceptionally

13:05

handsome man, a platonic

13:08

ideal of Greek kingship. However,

13:11

written

13:11

descriptions and one bust

13:14

thought to be a copy of a contemporary

13:16

statue

13:17

presents the Macedonian conqueror as

13:20

a burly stout warrior with

13:22

a short wide face and a square

13:25

bordering on blocky jawline. He

13:28

was by no means ugly, but

13:30

he's not the borderline angelic

13:33

princeling seen in a lot of later

13:35

artwork. More importantly,

13:39

if Alexander wanted to avoid

13:41

having sex with women before marriage,

13:44

it was probably good for him

13:46

that Feistyion was a man.

13:50

Interpretations range from

13:53

homosexual lovers to mutually

13:55

closeted lovers to just

13:57

really good friends. But

14:00

remember, this is ancient Greece. There

14:03

was no taboo on homosexual relationships,

14:06

especially for young men.

14:09

The ancient authors only rarely describe

14:12

such relationships in explicitly

14:15

romantic terms as they would for

14:17

heterosexual unions,

14:19

but the descriptions of Alexander

14:22

and Hephaestion

14:23

are very consistent with more explicitly

14:26

homosexual relationships in

14:28

Greek literature. Was

14:31

Alexander gay? Maybe.

14:34

Who the hell knows? It

14:36

seems highly likely that he was attracted

14:38

to men, and it took a long time

14:40

before he did much to signal that

14:43

he had interest in a woman outside

14:45

of his royal responsibility to produce

14:47

an heir. But making

14:49

clear judgments on modern definitions

14:52

of sexual orientation is impossible.

14:55

The final stipulation added by

14:58

Alexander in his meeting with

15:00

the royal women must have been

15:02

something about Prince Okus. The

15:05

little Prince of Persia is only mentioned

15:08

by Curdius, and

15:11

does not appear after this

15:13

meeting. Given everything

15:15

else, it seems highly unlikely

15:17

that anything negative was made explicit

15:20

at the time. More

15:22

plausibly, Alexander said that

15:24

Okus would be taken into his own care

15:26

and sent to Macedon as a ward

15:29

of the Argyad royal family. But

15:32

this is the last time we hear about

15:34

him in any of our sources. The

15:38

only likely conclusion is that

15:40

Alexander eventually had this

15:42

kid killed. But

15:44

if you prefer, you can imagine

15:47

that Okus was discreetly adopted,

15:49

that he grew up to be a normal, happy,

15:51

laughing child that grew further

15:54

to become a normal, fairly contented

15:56

adult, tending old horses

15:58

perhaps or breeding tropical animals.

16:02

By the time Alexander met with

16:04

the royal women, winter was coming fast. But

16:08

as the next campaign would take the army

16:10

south through Syria and the Levantine

16:12

coast, Alexander chose

16:15

to move on despite harsher weather. It

16:18

certainly wouldn't get as cold or snowy

16:21

as it did in Macedon or the

16:23

Anatolian Highlands. That

16:26

meant it was time to split the army

16:28

again. Alexander would

16:31

move through Syria, taking towns and

16:33

small cities by force or accepting

16:35

their surrender along the coast, while

16:37

Parmenion and a picked detachment

16:40

of Hittiroy would race to secure

16:42

specific targets, starting

16:45

with Damascus. The

16:48

current satrap of Assyria was

16:50

probably at Issus as well, along

16:53

with many of his troops. We

16:55

can easily make this assumption, because

16:58

Darius' last major stop before

17:01

encamping at Sokoi was

17:03

the Syrian city and provincial capital,

17:07

where he left his war chest and non-combatant

17:09

non-royal camp followers, including

17:12

various noblewomen from his officers'

17:14

families. Curdius

17:16

also records that a satrap

17:18

of Darius, described as High

17:21

Park of Damascus, raced

17:23

to the city ahead of Parmenion

17:26

with a small contingent of soldiers.

17:29

This was presumably the

17:31

satrap of Assyria. Though

17:34

not named in any of our sources,

17:37

he may have been Caulfin, son

17:39

of satrap Artabasis II. The

17:43

Pharnachid satrap, who had once rebelled

17:45

against Artaxerxes III, but

17:48

had since returned to a position as

17:50

an advisor in Darius' court. This

17:53

Caulfin is at least described

17:55

by Arian as the man charged

17:58

with guarding the Persian treasury.

18:00

in Damascus. So if you combine

18:03

the two sources, Saptrap

18:05

Coffin of Assyria. Several

18:10

sources make a vague reference

18:12

to Parmenion also being charged

18:15

with capturing the remainder of the

18:17

Persian navy first, but

18:19

precise details of that mission are not

18:21

explained. Arian at

18:24

least provides some information about

18:26

the final dissolution of the Achaemenids

18:29

Aegean fleet. After

18:31

the Macedonian navy spent most

18:33

of 333 hunting them down

18:36

in small detachments, Barnabasus

18:38

III, theoretically Saptrap

18:41

of Hellespontine Phrygia, was

18:43

holding out with his remaining ships on

18:46

the island of Chios, entertaining

18:49

the Spartan king Agis III

18:51

who had come in secret to try

18:53

and regain Barnabasus' support

18:56

for a Greek uprising against

18:58

Macedon. With Alexander

19:01

preoccupied in Cilicia, they had

19:04

dispatched some of their forces under

19:06

the Persian Admiral Atofredates to

19:08

blockade Halicarnassus and

19:10

disrupt Alexander's supply lines,

19:12

but they could not realistically

19:15

hope to retake the city. When

19:17

news of the Persian defeat at Issus spread,

19:20

the navy began to disintegrate.

19:24

The petty kings of Cyprus and the northern

19:26

Phoenician cities were preparing to

19:29

surrender, as were many of

19:31

the Greek islands still under Persian

19:33

control, and the ships they

19:35

sent to support Barnabasus began

19:38

peeling away. Barnabasus

19:40

himself attempted to flee Chios

19:43

and join Atofredates at sea

19:45

outside of Halicarnassus, but

19:48

he was intercepted by the Macedonian

19:50

fleet, defeated and captured

19:52

along with his household. The Persian

19:55

navy was effectively dissolved,

19:58

but Barnabasus himself

19:59

himself did manage to escape from

20:02

the Macedonians once they reached the

20:04

mainland,

20:05

and smuggled himself to the island of Kos,

20:08

where he spent most of the next decade

20:10

in hiding. The rest

20:12

of his family, however, were

20:15

taken to join the other hostages

20:17

in the Macedonian baggage train. So

20:20

Parmenion went to Damascus, while

20:23

en route he captured a messenger sent

20:26

out by coffin to call for reinforcements.

20:30

Parmenion wanted to use this messenger as a guide

20:33

as they passed through unfamiliar territory,

20:36

but he slipped away from his guards and fled

20:39

back to Damascus to warn the governor

20:41

of the impending Macedonian attack. Without

20:45

a guide, and with the knowledge that

20:47

the Persians would be prepared for his arrival,

20:51

Parmenion had to proceed cautiously.

20:55

When he came near Damascus, the

20:57

Macedonian scouts must have been

21:00

utterly baffled by

21:02

the scene outside the city. In

21:04

a half-baked plan to lure the

21:06

Macedonians into a false sense of confidence,

21:10

Coffin had attempted a feigned

21:13

retreat for the entire

21:15

city. The royal treasury

21:18

was emptied, and its contents

21:20

laid out in front of the open gates

21:23

of Damascus. While

21:25

the satrap and his soldiers fled,

21:29

intending to turn around

21:31

and charge the Macedonians as they

21:33

approached, distracted by the mounds

21:35

of treasure. But the Persian

21:38

governor had miscalculated.

21:41

His apparent abandonment sparked

21:43

chaos in and around Damascus.

21:47

The people of the city, seeing small

21:49

mountains of mud side the gates and a

21:51

foreign invader bearing down on them,

21:54

with their supposed protectors fleeing away,

21:58

did a combination of two things. Thousands

22:01

of nobles and their children fled after

22:04

Coffin, thinking they had

22:06

to escape before the city was captured.

22:09

Tens of thousands of ordinary people

22:12

ran out of the gates and into

22:14

the palace to loot the abandoned

22:17

treasure. Now with a mounting

22:19

tale of non-combatants behind

22:22

them and even more people flooding

22:24

into the plain that was supposed to

22:26

be his battlefield, Coffin's

22:28

forces were functionally immobilized

22:31

and their feigned retreat became an actual

22:34

retreat. Some of

22:36

Permanians' Hittairoi were sent out

22:38

to capture as many of the fleeing Persian

22:40

nobles as they could, while

22:43

the rest rode in to try and seize

22:45

as much of the remaining treasury as possible

22:48

and restore some semblance of organization.

22:52

They probably had to argue with a

22:54

lot of people who claimed finders' keepers

22:56

on big bags of gold, but

22:59

there was no fighting. The

23:01

captured notables who never made it

23:03

to Coffin reads like a who's

23:05

who of almost random

23:07

nobility from recent Persian history.

23:11

They found Atasa, the

23:13

sister wife of Artaxerxes III,

23:16

who had been somewhere between

23:18

honorary royal wife and political

23:20

hostage since her husband's

23:22

assassination, alongside

23:25

three of her unmarried daughters. They

23:28

found the wives and sons of Darius

23:30

III's brother, Axasthries. They

23:34

also found the wives of Artabazus

23:36

the Pharnakid and his son Pharnabazus,

23:39

who was still at large with the

23:41

navy. They found three

23:44

daughters of the recently deceased mentor

23:46

of Rhodes, as well as his brother's

23:48

widow and her youngest son. Most

23:52

importantly, they found mentor's

23:55

widow, also his niece, Varsine,

23:59

and a whole host of men. of Greek ambassadors

24:01

sent to try and secure Persian

24:04

funds for revolt against Macedon.

24:07

They were all taken as hostages and

24:10

the Greek ambassadors as traitors. But

24:13

Barcine in particular was

24:15

sent to Alexander. Once

24:19

upon a time when she had been living

24:21

in exile at the Macedonian court

24:23

and before she married her uncle Mentor,

24:27

Philip II had attempted to

24:29

arrange a marriage between Alexander

24:32

and Barcine, but the

24:34

Perso-Rhodian family was allowed

24:36

to return to Persian territory before

24:38

anything came of it. According

24:41

to Curdius, Alexander

24:43

ordered Barcine's guards away one

24:46

night after she was captured and

24:48

had sex with her. Whether

24:51

this was supposed to be an assault or

24:53

rekindling an old flame is

24:55

not made clear by the author, but

24:58

historians are skeptical of it either

25:00

way. It just doesn't

25:03

make sense with Alexander's treatment

25:06

of other noble hostages or general

25:08

disposition towards sex and marriage

25:11

on every other occasion. The

25:14

only evidence in support of this,

25:17

once again known only from Curdius,

25:20

is that Barcine later claimed that

25:22

her son, Heracles, named

25:25

for the Greek hero god, was

25:28

Alexander's bastard son. Some

25:31

historians even doubt that Heracles

25:33

existed in the first place, but

25:37

if he did the whole sordid

25:39

tale seems more like Barcine

25:41

made a bid for power through

25:43

a son conveniently born out

25:45

of wedlock around the right time.

25:49

With Damascus and a whole host

25:51

of noble hostages now secured,

25:54

Parmenion received new orders

25:56

from Alexander's to secure the rest

25:58

of what the Romans later called called Koe'el,

26:01

Syria, basically

26:03

the southern half of the modern country.

26:06

Meanwhile, Alexander

26:08

was sweeping along the coast of modern

26:10

Syria and northern Lebanon, accepting

26:13

surrender after surrender, and

26:15

every few cities he would find not

26:17

just local princes and nobles offering

26:20

obeisance, but also envoys

26:23

from island territories like Cyprus.

26:27

One by one, they pledged their

26:29

new allegiances to King Alexander.

26:32

Eventually, the conqueror reached

26:34

the Phoenician city of Marat,

26:37

modern Amrit in Syria.

26:40

Like their northern neighbors, the Maratheans

26:43

surrendered without a fight, but

26:45

while he was in the city, Alexander

26:47

received a letter from Darius III. Arian

26:51

and Kurtius disagree on the exact

26:53

content of the letter. Kurtius

26:56

claims that Darius referred to himself

26:59

as King, but not Alexander, while

27:01

Arian supposedly transcribed the

27:03

letter with the phrase, Darius the

27:05

King asks of Alexander the King.

27:09

It is possible that both are

27:11

correct, but the exact detail

27:13

of the original letter was lost in translation

27:16

over time. It would

27:18

be standard procedure for Darius

27:20

to describe himself with one of the traditional

27:23

Persian titles, like Great King

27:25

or King of Kings, but call

27:27

Alexander just King. More

27:30

importantly though, the rest

27:32

of the letter made Alexander chafe.

27:36

Quote from Arian, Philip

27:38

and Artaxerxes III were

27:41

on terms of friendship and alliance,

27:43

but upon the accession of Artaxerxes'

27:46

son Arceus, that's

27:48

Artaxerxes IV, Philip

27:51

was guilty of unprovoked aggression

27:54

against him, which is subjectively

27:56

true. Now since

27:58

Darius' reign began, Alexander

28:01

has sent no representative to his

28:03

court to confirm the former friendship

28:06

and alliance between the two kingdoms. On

28:09

the contrary, he has crossed

28:11

into Asia with his armed forces

28:14

and done much damage to the Persians.

28:17

For this reason, Darius took

28:19

the field in defense of his country

28:22

and of his ancestral throne. The

28:25

issue of the battle was, as

28:27

some God willed, and

28:30

now Darius the King asks

28:32

of Alexander the King to restore

28:35

from captivity his wife, his mother,

28:38

and his children, and he

28:40

is willing to make friends with him and be

28:42

his ally. For

28:44

this reason, he urges

28:47

Alexander to send to him,

28:49

in company with Meniscus

28:52

and Arsemas, who have brought

28:54

this request, representatives

28:57

of his own, in order that

28:59

proper guarantees may be exchanged.

29:02

Alexander wrote a long, ranty

29:06

reply, but he made his

29:08

intentions quite clear. Most

29:11

of the letter is levying either

29:13

blatantly false or laughably

29:16

exaggerated accusations about the

29:18

Persians interfering in Greek

29:20

affairs, like describing

29:22

the city of Parenthas daring

29:24

to be independent as an act of rebellion

29:27

against Macedon, or

29:29

claiming that Darius had provoked the

29:31

massive invasion of his own territory.

29:34

However, it's really

29:36

the last couple of paragraphs that

29:39

drive the message home. Quote,

30:00

own free will under my command.

30:03

Come to me, therefore, as

30:05

you would come to the Lord of the Continent

30:08

of Asia. Should you

30:10

fear to suffer any indignity

30:12

at my hands, then send some

30:14

of your friends, and I will

30:17

give them proper guarantees. Come

30:20

then, and ask me for your

30:22

mother, your wife, and your children, and

30:24

anything else you please, for

30:26

you shall have them, and whatever

30:29

besides you can persuade me to

30:31

give you. And in

30:33

the future, let any

30:35

communication you wish to make

30:38

with me be addressed to the King

30:40

of all Asia. Do

30:42

not write to me as an equal. Everything

30:46

you possess is now mine. So

30:49

if you should want anything, let

30:51

me know in the proper terms, or

30:54

I shall take steps to deal with you

30:56

as a criminal.

30:58

If on the other hand you

31:00

wish to dispute your throne, stand

31:04

and fight for it,

31:05

and do not run away, wherever

31:08

you may hide yourself, be

31:10

sure I shall seek you out.

31:14

Alexander was making it very

31:16

clear that he no longer saw

31:19

the Persian Empire as an indefatigable

31:22

titan in the East, but

31:24

as a lesser power that had

31:27

already been beaten and hadn't realized

31:29

it yet. Understandably,

31:33

Darius did not immediately issue

31:35

a counter response. Instead,

31:38

settled in at Babylon for the foreseeable

31:41

future, he sent out the

31:43

call once again to raise a royal

31:45

army, this time

31:48

summoning all available forces

31:50

and prominent generals even if

31:52

it meant weakening their other frontiers.

31:56

Nothing could possibly be as much

31:58

of an emergency as necessary. not only

32:01

a wildly successful invasion, but

32:04

the leader of that invasion claiming

32:06

dominion over the whole empire. This

32:10

letter also yields the most grandiose

32:12

title claimed by Alexander III,

32:16

King of all Asia. And

32:18

I sort of wonder if Darius

32:21

even understood what his rival

32:23

was saying when the

32:25

letter was first read to him. It

32:29

is an exceptionally Greek view of

32:31

Alexander's claim. Asia

32:34

was Greek terminology. In

32:37

fact, the whole idea of continents

32:40

was mostly a Greek innovation.

32:43

To the Persians, and most other

32:46

inhabitants of so-called Asia,

32:49

there was just the known world,

32:52

and its various subdivisions. The

32:55

Greeks were the ones who divided that

32:57

up into Europe, aka

32:59

everything north and west of Greece,

33:02

Libya, aka Africa,

33:05

and Asia. The

33:08

word Asia probably derives

33:10

from a Bronze Age city-state

33:12

or tribal confederation in northwestern

33:15

Anatolia, and was gradually

33:18

more and more broadened by

33:20

the Greeks as the Asua people

33:22

themselves faded into history. By

33:26

the flourishing of Greek literature in

33:28

the 5th century BCE, Asia

33:31

meant everything east of the Mediterranean

33:33

Sea. Ancient and

33:35

mythical kings are often described

33:38

in that literature as the rulers

33:40

of all Asia, up to

33:42

some specific western boundary.

33:46

They occasionally described the Achaemenids

33:48

as rulers of all Asia, but

33:51

it was never a Persian title. Alexander

33:55

was describing himself the way

33:57

a Greek would describe an Achaemenid.

34:00

and in doing so accentuated his

34:03

own foreignness. From

34:06

Marat, Alexander continued

34:08

further south, entering the Phoenician

34:11

core of power, the triplets

34:14

of Biblos, Sidon, and

34:16

Tyr. Biblos

34:18

surrendered without incident, as did

34:20

Sidon, and the triple

34:23

alliance's neutral headquarters known

34:25

as Tripoli. From

34:28

there, Alexander continued

34:30

onward towards Tyr. But

34:33

before we get to that particularly

34:35

famous confrontation, I'm going

34:37

to take a break and then talk

34:40

about the rest of the Persian Empire. And

34:43

the former Persian Empire, as it

34:45

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So, altogether, too

36:44

many histories of this period just

36:47

follow the Macedonian king around

36:50

as he marched from place to place

36:52

and expanded his territory. It

36:55

gives the impression that

36:57

the conquered regions just rolled

37:00

over and gave up. Not

37:03

so. Admittedly,

37:05

many of the details for resistance

37:08

to the Macedonian conquest in this

37:10

period come from Curtius, who

37:13

automatically gets additional scrutiny. But

37:16

his is also the least biographical

37:19

of the major narratives. He

37:22

is often our major source for

37:24

what was happening with Alexander's generals

37:26

in other theaters, while Arrian,

37:29

Diodorus, Plutarch, and the rest focus

37:31

specifically on Alexander himself.

37:35

Particularly, Curtius describes

37:37

the resistance to Macedonian rule

37:39

in Anatolia while Alexander

37:41

was busy in the Levant.

37:44

A collection of Persian nobles

37:46

and generals, formerly based

37:49

in the Anatolian satrapies, that

37:51

had survived the defeat of Issus,

37:54

had rallied together, possibly

37:57

still in unconquered Bithynia, to

38:00

try and retake their lost territory.

38:04

Alexander had left Antigonus Monophthalmos

38:07

in command of the occupation forces.

38:11

And although he had already sent

38:13

most of the troops initially left behind

38:15

to reinforce Alexander after

38:17

the Battle of Issus,

38:20

Antigonus still had sufficient

38:22

garrisons in Anatolia to

38:24

repel the would-be conquerors. Kurtius

38:28

says that Antigonus fought and

38:30

won three battles, but

38:32

he does not provide any additional

38:35

description. Meanwhile,

38:37

the Spartan king Agis III

38:39

finally put his plans into motion.

38:43

He had secured as much money

38:45

as he could, along with ten triremes

38:47

to transport mercenaries from Crete

38:50

to the Greek mainland before the

38:52

Persian navy was destroyed. In

38:55

early 332, he returned

38:57

to the Peloponnese with his newly hired

38:59

forces in tow, and launched

39:02

an attack against Macedon.

39:05

This was, in a sense, a pre-emptive

39:08

assault.

39:10

Technically, Sparta had been

39:12

badly beaten by Philip II

39:14

before his death, and had been

39:16

left alone by Alexander this whole

39:18

time despite being one of the leading

39:21

voices in the anti-Macedonian

39:23

movement. At best,

39:26

it was an act of desperation, and

39:29

at worst, a misguided venture

39:31

by someone hyped up on his own

39:33

national mythology. Sparta

39:36

was a fractured shell of what it

39:38

once was, and even then,

39:41

it had never truly been the military

39:43

titan that the Spartans tried to present

39:45

themselves as to the rest of the world.

39:48

This Macedonian-Spartan war

39:51

would actually run for several years

39:54

as Agis III tried to oust

39:56

the Macedonian regent Antipater.

41:14

succumb

42:00

to Macedonian aggression easily.

42:03

The Macedonian navy was, for the

42:05

most part, still stationed in the northern

42:08

Aegean to defend the homeland. A

42:11

small contingent of ships had accompanied

42:13

the army along the coast

42:16

to maintain supply lines, but

42:18

if they sailed too close to the island they

42:20

would be destroyed. Realistically,

42:24

Tyr could only be taken with a

42:26

combination of massive naval superiority

42:29

and agents on the inside. It's

42:32

a shame it was an island. If

42:35

it wasn't, then you could, hypothetically,

42:38

roll all the normal siege engines right

42:40

up to the walls and besiege as you

42:43

would any other city.

42:45

Now,

42:46

Tyr is still an

42:48

important city in Lebanon today,

42:51

and if you look up the modern city you

42:53

might notice that there is no island.

42:57

But it does sit on a strangely

43:00

smooth-sided sandy peninsula.

43:03

That would be Alexander's fault. The

43:06

Macedonian army began work

43:09

on a narrow causeway to

43:11

bridge the distance between the mainland

43:14

and the island Citadel. The

43:18

initial stages were still working

43:20

in the shallows that

43:22

were barely deep enough for the Macedonian

43:24

ships, and those were easy enough for

43:27

laying stone on either side to

43:29

fill in with dirt and miscellaneous debris,

43:32

but as they got further out to sea,

43:35

the water deepened precipitously. An

43:39

almost unfathomable amount had

43:41

accompanied the army along

43:43

the coast to maintain supply lines, but

43:46

if they sailed too close to the island they

43:49

would be destroyed. Realistically,

43:52

Tyr could only be taken

43:54

with a combination of massive naval

43:56

superiority and agents on the inside. It's

44:01

a shame it was an island. If

44:03

it wasn't, then you could, hypothetically,

44:06

roll all the normal siege engines right

44:09

up to the walls and besiege as

44:11

you would any other city.

44:13

Now,

44:14

Tyre is still an

44:17

important city in Lebanon today,

44:19

and if you look up the modern

44:21

city, you might notice that there is no

44:24

island. But it does

44:26

sit on a strangely smooth-sided

44:29

sandy peninsula. That

44:32

would be Alexander's fault. The

44:35

Macedonian army began work

44:37

on a narrow causeway to

44:39

bridge the distance between the mainland

44:42

and the island citadel. The

44:46

initial stages were still working

44:48

in the shallows that

44:50

were barely deep enough for the Macedonian

44:53

ships, and those were easy enough for

44:56

laying stone on either side to fill

44:58

in with dirt and miscellaneous debris.

45:01

But as they got further out to sea,

45:03

the water deepened precipitously.

45:07

An almost unfathomable amount

45:10

of material would be needed to fill the

45:12

space between the mainland and the

45:14

island. And with just

45:16

the Macedonian army to work on

45:18

it, the project could plausibly

45:21

have taken years. But

45:24

much earlier in history than Alexander,

45:26

when Tyre was first founded around 2750

45:29

BCE, it

45:33

had only been a city on

45:35

the mainland. The

45:37

occupation and construction of a defensive

45:40

city on the nearby island

45:42

came later, and old

45:44

Tyre, the site of the original

45:47

mainland settlement, was still there, as

45:49

an extension of the Tyrian economic,

45:52

cultural, and political center now

45:55

on the island. The Tyrian

45:57

soldiers had abandoned the old

45:59

city immediately. immediately when Alexander

46:01

arrived, meaning the Macedonians just

46:04

sort of walked in and claimed it. As

46:07

the causeway deepened, Alexander

46:11

ordered his men to ravage

46:13

the old city. The populace

46:16

was enslaved and forced

46:19

to demolish their old homes, all

46:21

but completely destroying the mainland

46:23

city, to use the wreckage

46:26

as filler for Alexander's

46:28

causeway. The inhabitants

46:30

of old Tear were put to work hauling

46:33

stones and timber out to sea, Oryl

46:36

hiking up into the mountains of

46:38

Lebanon under Macedonian

46:40

guards to fell cypress trees

46:43

and bring them back to use

46:45

as support beams and siege engines.

46:48

As the Macedonians crept closer to

46:51

the island of Tear, they came

46:53

within range of the Tyrian defenses. Arrows,

46:57

catapult stones, ballistae bolts, and

46:59

all manner of missile fire from strange

47:01

and improvised defensive weapons came

47:04

crashing down, desperately

47:06

trying to dissuade the Macedonian

47:09

advance, but no doubt killing

47:11

many of the defenders and slaved countrymen

47:13

in the process. Alexander

47:16

ordered much of the local livestock slaughtered

47:19

and had their skins stretched out in massive

47:22

screens to cover his slaves and soldiers

47:25

alike from incoming arrows, and the

47:28

causeway extended ever further

47:30

out to sea. Still

47:34

the siege stretched on. Under

47:36

normal circumstances, a project

47:38

like this would have been impossible.

47:42

The defenders navy would have just swept

47:45

in and destroyed

47:47

any construction projects, slaughtering

47:49

anybody working out on the finished causeway.

47:52

But Tear, along with the rest

47:55

of Phoenicia, had long been the primary

47:57

suppliers of ships to the Persian

47:59

navy.

48:02

Now, Macedon's relentless hunting

48:04

of the Persians in the Aegean paid off

48:07

in full. There

48:09

simply were not enough ships left to

48:11

attack the Causeway, and when

48:14

they tried, using grappling

48:16

arms and hooks normally meant for boarding

48:18

enemy ships to pull apart the

48:21

Macedonian constructions, they

48:23

were chased off by siege engines that

48:25

Alexander had stationed along the already

48:28

completed bridge. As

48:30

they came closer, towers

48:33

and parapets were constructed on the Causeway

48:35

as well, allowing Macedonian

48:37

archers with Oksibele's crossbows

48:40

and ballistae to fire back at the

48:42

Tyrion defenders or any ships

48:44

that came within range. In

48:48

a futile effort to stop the oncoming

48:50

storm, the Tyrion sent some of their

48:52

fighting men down the coast, with

48:55

the remaining ships to put in and

48:57

come up behind the Macedonian line.

49:01

They were nominally successful, raiding

49:03

the Macedonian work teams and attacking

49:06

the soldiers moving debris from old Tyr,

49:09

but this raid in force was hardly

49:11

an army on par with the tens

49:14

of thousands of invaders. They

49:16

were easily routed in force back to their

49:19

island, having only briefly delayed

49:21

construction. A more

49:23

significant distraction came in the form

49:25

of an Arab raid, with

49:28

Nabataean Arabs in Persian service

49:30

coming from the south to attack the

49:32

Macedonian lumber teams in the Lebanon

49:35

Mountains. However,

49:37

rather than disrupting the siege of Tyr,

49:40

they seemed to have provided Alexander

49:42

with a welcome distraction. The

49:45

Macedonian king personally led a

49:47

detachment of his army away from

49:49

the city to hunt down these raiders, initially

49:52

pursuing on horseback before tracking

49:54

them through the mountains on foot. The

49:58

counter raid was a success

49:59

supposedly involved Alexander

50:02

personally sneaking up

50:04

and killing two Arab scouts

50:06

to steal their firewood, according

50:09

to one of his own courtiers, called

50:11

Qareis. The siege

50:14

of Tare continued and fighting on

50:16

the causeway intensified as

50:18

it approached the shores of the island. By

50:21

then, as many of the city's inhabitants

50:23

as possible had fled. They

50:26

were already running low on ships, but

50:28

many women and children were loaded onto

50:30

the boats of some Carthaginian dignitaries

50:33

that had come to celebrate the festival

50:36

of Melkart before Alexander

50:38

arrived.

50:40

The northwest African city had

50:42

begun as a Tyrian colony,

50:44

and many of the newfound refugees fled

50:47

there as the Macedonians approached.

50:51

Initially, the defenders were able

50:53

to halt the advance not

50:55

far from their shores by throwing burning

50:58

timbers and pitch down

51:00

onto the Macedonian siege towers

51:02

and the causeway, sending

51:06

it up in flames. They

51:09

simply couldn't bridge that final

51:11

gap between the causeway and

51:13

the island, and every time they tried,

51:15

the Tyrians would light it

51:18

on fire. So Alexander

51:20

recalled all but the soldiers stationed

51:23

on the causeway defenses, and

51:25

had the enslaved citizens of the

51:27

old city start expanding the causeway

51:30

from the mainland all the

51:32

way back out to the island, making

51:34

the entire thing wider and capable

51:37

of supporting more defensive towers.

51:41

When the expansion project reached as

51:43

far as the original, there were

51:45

now enough Macedonian defenses to

51:47

effectively suppress any Tyrian

51:49

attempts to throw flaming debris over

51:52

the walls. So finally,

51:55

in July of 332, a full

51:58

seven months after the siege began,

52:00

the Causeway was complete and

52:03

Alexander made preparations to

52:05

assault Tyr in earnest. Siege

52:09

engines were ready to roll

52:11

down the Causeway and crack through the walls. The

52:14

Macedonian soldiers behind them,

52:17

with Alexander himself leading

52:19

the way, prepared to charge through the

52:21

first available breach. And,

52:26

just to spit in the Tyrion face,

52:29

the former shipyards of the Persian Empire

52:32

were turned against the last Phoenician

52:34

holdouts. Ships from

52:37

Cyprus and other northern Phoenician cities

52:39

like Sidon arrived, not

52:41

to assist their former allies but to

52:43

join Macedon. They

52:46

had to wait three days for favorable conditions

52:49

at sea for the newly

52:51

arrived ships to be effective, but when

52:53

fair weather came, Tyr fell.

52:57

The once invincible walls were

52:59

cracked open and the invaders

53:01

charged in. The city

53:04

was pillaged and raised

53:06

to the ground. When

53:08

the King of Tyr came out to formally

53:11

surrender, he asked only that those

53:13

who had found shelter in the Temple of Melkart

53:16

be spared. Which

53:18

they were, even as the city

53:20

walls were torn down around them and

53:22

the rest of the populace were bound

53:24

and sold into slavery. Tyr,

53:28

of course, would be rebuilt,

53:31

but Alexander's Causeway would forever

53:33

link it to the mainland and generations

53:36

would pass before they were allowed any

53:38

sort of defensive fortifications again.

53:41

One of the most well defended cities

53:44

of antiquity had fallen forever.

53:48

Today, Alexander's Causeway

53:50

still stands as a lasting

53:53

monument or scar to

53:55

his victory, depending on

53:57

which view you want to take. Stretching

54:00

all the way to the sea floor, the

54:02

last 1300 years of blocking

54:05

the Mediterranean's natural current

54:07

have caused sand and sediment to

54:09

build up

54:10

around the original construction, making

54:13

the connection between the old island and

54:16

the mainland much wider.

54:18

You can see a map depicting this

54:21

on HistoryofPersiaPodcast.com.

54:25

Alexander literally dammed up the Mediterranean

54:27

itself

54:28

and unmade an island to conquer

54:31

Tear.

54:32

And he still wasn't there.

54:36

Next time, the Macedonian army

54:38

continues marching south toward Egypt,

54:42

and we might even catch up with Darius

54:44

III. King

54:47

of somewhat fewer kings than

54:49

he used to be. Until

54:51

then, if you want more information about this

54:54

podcast, go to HistoryofPersiaPodcast.com.

54:58

That's where you'll find things like my

55:00

bio, the bibliography, podcast

55:03

merchandise, and the acamated family

55:06

tree. You'll also find

55:08

the support page where you can help

55:10

out this project financially.

55:13

That includes one-time donations,

55:15

affiliate links, and most importantly,

55:18

Patreon. Also found

55:20

at Patreon.com slash HistoryofPersia.

55:25

Patreon offers a monthly subscription

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Until the next time, thank you all so

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much for listening to History

56:19

of Persia.

56:40

This podcast is brought to you by

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or more accurately, all of my supporters

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you might be thinking, yes, Trevor, I know,

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you talk about Patreon at the end of every

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I say, bless your soul

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