Alexander The Great Essay Research Paper One — страница 2

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about to strike Alexander from behind. After this first victory all the states of Asia Minor submitted to him. When passing through Phrygia he is said to have cut with his sword the Gordian Knot. Gordius tied this knot, and it was tied so well that nobody could undo it. It was told that the person who can untie this knot would become the ruler of all Asia. When Alexander couldn t untie it, he just cut it through. He met the maid force of King Darius III at Issus. Darius III was the King of all Persia. Darius was reported to have an army of 600,000 men. Alexander won this famous battle by using his Calvary for attack and his infantry for defense. This was one of his many brilliant strategies. Darius fled leaving behind his money and his family. After peaceably taking Damascus and

Sidon Alexander laid siege to Tyre. This ancient city resisted for so long that when at last he captured it, Alexander lost hi head and allowed his men to massacre eight thousand Tyrians, and to sell thrity thousand as slaves. Jerusalem surrendered quietly, and was well treated. Gaza fought until every man in the city was dead and every woman raped. Next his mission of conquest took him to Egypt. When Alexander showed respect for the county s gods, Alexander was welcomed as a divinely send liberator from Persian rule. He did the same in Siwa and was crowned Pharaoh. Alexander decided to make a new capital at one of the Nile s many mouths. He built it to be a more convenient depot for the enlarged Greek trade that might now be expected between Egypt and Greece. In this city called

Alexandria, there were temples for both Greek and Egyptian gods. Marching back into Asia, he met the vast army of Darius at Gaugamela. Alexander s army was made up of only 47 thousand men and Darius army was said to have about a million men. Those numbers dismayed even Alexander. The disorderly hosts of Darius could make no deadway against the phalanxes, and knew not how to defend themselves against the swift and incalculable dashes of the Macedonian cavalry (Wepman 97). Alexander won and Darius ran away again. His generals for being a coward murdered him. After this battle Alexander received a submission from Babylon. The great city of Susa quickly surrendered as well. He rapidly marched over mountains in the winter to seize Persepolis. Here again his good judgement left him

(Krensky 158), and he burned the magnificent city to the ground his soldiers looted the houses, ravaged the women and killed the men. His campaign in Sogdiana, Ariana, and Bactriana was bloody and bootless. Near Bokhara his men captured Bessus, who had killed Darius. Alexander became the avenger of the great king tortured the general horribly before killing him by having the bending force of two trees rip his body in half. At every new remove from Greece Alexander was becoming less and less a Greek, more and more a barbarian king (Krensky 182). Alexander then journeyed to India. He wanted to continue to the Ganges but his soldiers refused to go further. Alexander renewed his march along the Indus where his army suffered tremendously. Heat killed thousands and thirst killed more.

A little water was found and was brought to Alexander, but he deliberately poured it out upon the ground. When the remains of his force reached Susa, about ten thousand men died and Alexander was half-insane. The more time he spent in Asia the more good he saw in the Persians. Finally he decided to unite the Greek and the Persian kingdoms. He encouraged his men to marry Persian women and he himself took two Persian wives. One of which was the oldest daughter of Darius III. Alexander, influenced by Persian ways began to change. His soldiers saw in this change the conquest of Alexander by the Orient. For mostly diplomatic reasons Alexander proclaimed himself as the son of Zeus-Ammon, and therefore a god. He did this to help him unify to hostile worlds. Perhaps, indeed, he thought

to overcome the disruptive diversity of faiths in his empire by providing, in his own person, the beginning of a sacred myth and a common unifying faith (Durant 191). After attempts on the new gods life, Alexander became ever more suspicious, severe, and lonely. His new lifestyle caused him to start a lot of drinking. On one night, when he was very drunk, he was insulted by an also drunk Cleitus, the man who saved his life. Alexander killed Cleitus and couldn t forgive himself for it. In the end the discontent in the army caused an open mutiny. His troops wished to go home. Alexander killed the leaders of the sedition and gave his men a speech in which he reminded them what they did for each other. His men were persuaded and wished to stay again. Deceived by this show of