According to an ancient myth,
from time to time, the mythical gorgon emerged from the sea and
asked the captain of a ship: "Meghas Alexandros continues to live
or not?" If the captain answered yes, then he was free to go,
but if the captain answered no, then the mermaid made the sea rough
and the ship was sunk.
First we have to examine the origin of ancient
Macedonians. Unfortunately American and European politicians use
sick and filthy methods in order to serve their interests, they
distort history, so we have to defend the historical truth, before
we continue with the life of Alexander. Balkans is an unstable area,
and always the Great Powers have tried to maintain this status, so
that they can interfere in this area.
USA destroyed the only independent European
state, Yugoslavia, and created among others this slavic
state as protectorate, giving her the same name that communist Tito
had chosen to give, with the intention to claim lands by the Aegean
sea. This communist policy which was supported even by Greek
communists (1944-1949) had then been condemned by USA. Now Americans
support Slavic fantasies who distort history claiming the Macedonian
identity.
Slavs invaded Macedonia in 6th century, 1000
years after Alexander's birth. They were a barbaric pagan tribe that
was converted to Christianity by
Patriarch Photius. It was Byzantium
that enlightened Slavs with the lights of civilization. Slavs
settled in Macedonia, as well as in other Greek regions, but they
did not alter the ethnic physiognomy of the region. The "Tactics" of
Leon VI the Wise, in the beginning
of the 10th c., report characteristically: "My late father and
emperor Basil had persuaded the Slavic tribes to change their
ancient customs, and hellenised them, and subjected them following
the Roman (Byzantine) system, liberated them from their leaders,
honoured them by the baptism and trained them to fight against
people at war with the Romans (Byzantines)". As Paul Lemerle
writes: "Byzantium christianized, civilized and assimilated these
Slavs, making them Greeks. And this is one of the most impressive
victories of the Greek genius". During the first siege of
Thessaloniki by the Turks (1383-1387),
Emperor Manuel Palaeologus, in his
speech "Admonition to the people of Thessaloniki", urges the
inhabitants to fight to death, fot this is what their historical
tradition decrees: "because we are Romans (= Byzantines, Greeks)
and our country is the one of Philip and Alexander". This means
that he, as well as the inhabitants, were conscious of the
historical continuity of Hellenism and of their Greek origin which
had its roots in ancient times.
All the inscriptions on monuments, coins and other artifacts in
Macedonia and also in Pakistan, India and Iran have the Greek
language on them. There are no ancient monuments with a different
language. An example is the inscribed base of a statue of
Thessaloniki, of the 2nd c. B.C.
Thessaloniki was Alexander's sister and the second in power city of
Byzantium. The funny thing is that Slavs from Sqopia call our city
with the barbaric name Solun. They don't call her with the name of
Alexander's sister, they don't call her with the Macedonian name
Thessaloniki, because simply they are not Macedonians. They have to
seach in Asia to discover their roots.
Macedonia
The Macedonian kingdom, was founded by Hellenic
emigrants from Argos. The Macedonians were a Dorian tribe, according
to the testimony of Herodotus.
Their country was cut off from the rest of
Greece, to the south by a long chain of mountain ranges -Olympus
(the Holy mountain of ancient Greeks) and to the west by the Pindos
range, and lived until the 6th century by the teachings
of the Homeric epic. Aegae (Edessa) became the first capital. The
Macedonias worshiped the 12 Olympian gods as the rest of the Greeks.
The name Macednos is homeric word and means tall. All the
kings of Macedonia had Greek names. Alexander's name is Greek. The
word "Alexandros" is produced from the prefix alex(=protector) and
the word andros(=man) meaning "he who protects from men". The prefix
"alex" can be found in many Greek words today (alexiptoto=parachute,
alexisfairo=bulletproof - all these words have the meaning of
protection). Philip's name (Philippos) is also Greek. It is produced
from the prefix Philo(=friendly to something) and the word
ippos(=horse) meaning the man who is friendly to horses. The prefix
"philo" and the word "ippos" are also found in many words of Greek
origin today (philosophy,philology, hippodrome,hippocampus).
Herodotus and Thucydides,
both of whom were aware of the
genealogy of the Macedonian Argead or Temenids
dynasty, made Perdiccas I the head of the family, and
moreover attributed to him the foundation of the state (7th century
BC).
The Macedonians, in 492 B.C., became Persian subjects, retaining,
however, their own kings, who accepted the position of tributaries.
Amyntas I, who appears to have died about 498 B.C., was
succeeded by his son, Alexander I., king at the time of the great
invasion of Xerxes. According to Herodotus,
Alexander I, the Philhellene, contributed to the defeat
of the Persian forces of Xerxes and Mardonios, giving information to
the Athenians and telling them that "I am Greek and I dont want
to see the Greeks enslaved". Under Alexander I, the independent
Macedonian principalities of west and north Macedonia were united
around the central authority, recognizing the primacy of the
Temenids king. The entry of the state into the history of southern
Greece was sealed by the acceptance of Alexander I
by the hellanodikai as a competitor in the Olympic games
(probably those of 496 BC), in which, as we know, only Greeks were
allowed to participate.
Perdiccas II, the first-born son of
Alexander I, who ruled for forty years (454-412/13 BC), proved
himself a skillful diplomat and a wily leader, astute in his
decisions and flexible in his alliances, and set as the aim of his
diplomacy the preservation of the territorial integrity of his
kingdom. The completion of the internal tasks that Perdiccas II was
prevented from accomplishing by the external situation fell to his
successor, Archelaos I, he is credited
by the ancient sources and modern scholarship alike with great
sagacity and with sweeping changes in state administration, the army
and commerce. During his reign, the defense of the country was
organized, cultural and artistic contacts with southern Greece were
extended, and the foundations were laid of a road network. A man of
culture himself, the king entertained in his new palace at
Pella, to where he had transferred the
capital from Aigai, poets and tragedians, and even the great
Euripides, who wrote his tragedies
Archelaos and The Bacchae there; he invited brilliant
painters - the name of Zeuxis is mentioned - and at Dion in Pieria,
the Olympia of Macedonia, he founded the "Olympia", a
religious festival with musical and athletic competitions in honor
of Olympian Zeus and the Muses. By 399 BC, the year in which he was
murdered, Archelaos I had succeeded in converting Macedonia into one
of the strongest Greek powers of his period.
Amyntas III, took
the throne in 392. Although his reign was filled with anarchy and
intrigue, he successfully brought unity to Macedonia. His death in
369 left three lawful sons, of whom the first two, Alexander II and
Perdiccas III, ruled only briefly. In 359 Amyntas' third son,
Philip II, assumed control in the name of
Perdiccas' infant heir; having restored order he made himself king
(reigned 359-336) and raised Macedonia to a predominant position
throughout the whole of Greece.
Philippos II (382 BC - 336 BC)
Philip himself at the age of fifteen he was sent at Thebes, the
leading city (with Athens) of this decade (370-360 BC), where the
great Pelopidas and Epaminondas, the
most inventive tacticians of all Greek generals until then, were in
charge of the best army in Greece. These were probably the most
formative years of Philip's education. When he returned to Macedonia
his brother Perdiccas soon found him ready for a command. Philip
came to the throne suddenly and unexpectedly in 359, when Perdiccas
was killed meeting an Illyrian invasion. The Illyrians prepared to
close in; the Paeonians were raiding from the north, and two
claimants to the throne were supported by foreign powers. In this
crisis Philip showed a good sense of priorities by buying off his
dangerous neighbours and, with a treaty, ceding Amphipolis to
Athens. He used the time gained in military preparations. The army
that later conquered Persia and the decisive innovations in arms,
the sarissa, a 6 meter pike, tactics, phalanx (trained infantry
men), engineers, Hetairoi (homeric word meaning noblemen bodyguards)
and training were developed all through his reign. In 358 he invaded
Paeonia, and then he defeated the Illyrians decisively, in a battle
that already suggests a master of war. The next year his marriage
with
Olympias, the Molossian princess of Epirus
(the mother of Alexander the Great), helped to stabilize
his western frontier. Theves and Athens were engaged in the "Sacred
War" Hieros Polemos, against Phocians who had occupied lands
from Delphi. So Philip recaptured Amphipolis, the strategic key
securing the eastern frontier; and in 356 he took the west Thracian
Crenides (renamed by him Philippi), a place newly founded to exploit
new finds of silver and gold in Mount Pangaeum.
He then conquered Thessaly (352) and Olynthos (348). Accepted as
head of the league against the impious Phocians, Philip in a few
weeks brought the "Sacred War" to an and, obtaining as his reward
the seat in the Amphictyonic Council of
which the Phocians were deprived, a seat which of course was
rewarded only to Greeks. Philip failed to conquer Perinthus (later
called Heraclea) and Byzantium, and the Byzantines devoted their
victory to goddess Ecate, who had as symbol the crescent (which
later was used by Ottoman in their flag).
Philippos' dream was to unite all Hellenes and
liberate all Hellenic cities of the Minor Asia coasts, from Persian
yoke.
Isocrates encouraged him to realize
this Greek dream, while Demosthenes saw Philip now as a bar to
Athenian greatness and a threat to its freedom and existence.
But Philip was more Greek than Demosthenes who
remained just Athenian. The decisive battle would take
place in Chaeronea, in 339. Demosthenes convinced Thebans to fight
against Macedonians. Philip crushed his enemies and the seventeen
years old prince Alexander excelled in the battle. All members of
the Hieros Lohos (Sacred Band) of Thebans fell. By winning
this battle he had won the war. Thebes had to admit a Macedonian
garrison, and its democratic constitution was replaced by a
pro-Macedonian government. Athens suffered neither invasion of its
territory nor interference with its democracy. Philip wanted to be
seen not as tyrant but as leader. Greek cities had never succeded to
be united, Greeks had never created a strong state and all times
they suffered of civil wars.
According to Diodorus of Sicily, Philip was
the first to envisage a great Greek state and that is why
he managed to gather representatives from all Hellenic polis (except
Sparta) in Corinth (League of Corinth - 337) and they swore first to
recognize Philip as leader of Greeks (Hegemon of
Hellenes) for this purpose, and second to preserve and
perpetuate a general peace. Whould the proud Greek cities accept a
barbarian as their leader?
In 336 Philip had an army of 15000 men sent into
Minor Asia under Parmenion and Attalos,
to begin with the liberation of Greek coastal cities. But his last
marriage to the Macedonian Cleopatra,
niece of Attalos, led to a final break with Olympias, his queen, who
left the country accompanied by the crown prince Alexander. All
started when Attalos during the ceremony wished to the king: "I
wish you a strong legitimate heir of the throne". Then Alexander
with his sword at hand demanded an apology to the insult. Philip who
was very drunk attempted to attack to his son but he fell down.
Alexander and his mother ran away and found refuge to her brother,
Alexander king of Epirus. Later Philip
and his son were reconciled, but with the preparations far advanced
for the crossing into Asia, at the grand celebration of his daughter
Cleopatra's marriage to Alexander of Epirus, Philip was assassinated
by Pausanias, a young Macedonian noble. Philip had many enemies and
suspicions fell to everybody. Persians, Athenians, Thebans, could
have organized this plot and also Olympias had reasons to murder her
husband. So ended, unworthily, the first who had envisaged an
Hellenic empire. He had prepared the ground for
his son giving him a powerful kingdom and an excellent greek
education, to conquer the world.
Youth
"My parents learned me to
live, but my teachers learned me to live right."
Alexander was born
July 356 BC (on the same day on which the famous Temple of Artemis
at Ephesus was destroyed by fire), at Pella in
Macedonia. His father was Philip II, king of Macedonia
and his mother Olympias (daughter of King Neoptolemus of Epirus).
Always he alleged that he descended from Heracles (Hercules) and
Achilleas (Achilles). Plutarch writes: " As for the lineage of
Alexander, on his father's side he was a descendant of Heracles
through Caranus, and on his mother's side a descendant of Aeacus
through Neoptolemus; this is accepted without any question."
Since he was a boy he was inspired by the
Homeric heros and he slept with
Iliad under his pillow. Iliad and Odyssea are the
main books that educate Hellenes continuously for thousands years.
In 11th century,
Anna Comnena recited by heart whole
parts from the homeric epics.
Alexander also read books written from, Herodotus
of Halicarnassus (480-425) and Xenophon (430-355), both
writers of books about wars against the Persians. He was fearless,
bold and exposed himself to any danger. He participated in his
father's huntings and one day he was almost killed by a lion. When
he was thirteen, his father brought to him as present a magnificent
black horse, which he had bought from Thessaly for the enormous sum
of 13 talents. Nobody could ride him, but Alexandros noticed that
the animal was afraid from his own shadow. So he turned the horse to
face the sun and stroking him whenever he became eager and fiery
managed to ride him. Then Philippus told to his son: "My son, seek out a kingdom worthy of yourself,
for Macedonia is too little for you". He named the
horse Voucephalas (vous=ox, cephalas=head, of course another greek
name) and this horse whould carry him all the way to India.
Alexander is said to have impressed envoys form Persia when he was
six years old, when he kept asking questions about the Persian
empire.
According to Plutarchus, when the young prince
was informed for his father's victories he said: "Oh, my father
is going to conquer the whole world and he will leave nothing for me
to conquer." He didn't like wealth (ploutos) or pleasure (idoni)
or comforts but virtue (arete) action (agon) and glory (doxa).
His first teacher was the austere and ascetic
Leonidas of Epirus, and later he was replaced by Lysimachus
the Acarnanian. His classmates were also his best friends:
Hephaestion, Perdiccas, Krateros, Ptolemeos, Selephcos, Philotas,
Leonatus. (Greek names end to -os, -on, -as, -es, while sqopian
names end to -ov, -ev, -of). His first love was a slave whom he had
set free, and he named her Leptini (=thin, of course another greek
name), who was faithfull to him like a dog. Philip did excellent
when he appointed the best of philosophers, the supreme
intellectual, the Macedonian Aristotle,
son of Nicomachus as Alexander's tutor. (Really do sqopians claim
Aristoteles as theirs?)
Alexander when he was thirteen, together with his friends, continued
his education at Mieza; it was the great Greek philosopher
himself who introduced him to the world of arts and sciences.
Phillip had spent a fortune to provide the school with all the
necessaries. Mathematics, Geometry, Geography, Biology, Astronomy,
Medicine, Physics, Philosophy were some of the lessons that
Alexandros was taught at Mieza. Some other brilliant figures had
also come at Mieza to meet the young prince.
Lysippus the sculptor, Apelles the painter, Callisthenes the writer.
Phillipus had once said that Alexandros was lucky to live the same
time that Aristoteles. He was right, Aristotle
conquered the world with the meditation, and his student Alexander
conquered the world with the sword.
The new king of Macedonia
In 336 B.C., Philip was assassinated and
Alexander became the new king of Macedonia. Alexander was
immediately presented to the army, who already knew the bravery and
the competence of the young man. They had seen him how he fough in
Thrace, how he conquered the city Maedi and renamed her
Alexandroupolis. They had seen him at the
battle of Chaeronea, at the age of
seventeen, where he had charged fearless against the enemy and had
broken the Theban Sacred Band. The two old generals and friends of
his father, Parmenion and Antipatros
supported him. He was only 20 years old.
The barbarian tribes to the north (Illyrians,
Paeonians and Triballians) revolted and attacked to the Macedonian
garrisons. Alexander didn't waste his time and marched against them.
He defeated his enemies and crossed even Danube where he fought
Getae and Celtic tribes. But also the demagogue Demosthenes didn't
waste his time and spread the rumour that Alexander had been killed.
The first to act were the Thebans who attacked to the Macedonian
garrison at Cadmea (Thebes' Acropolis). Enraged Alexander, in only
two weeks, marched 500 kilometers from Illyria to Thebes and
appeared before the walls of the city, demanding that the two
leaders of the rebellion (Phinix and Prothetos) should be sent to
him. There he received insults from some Thebans who shouted that
Persians were coming to liberate their city from the tyrant. The
neighboring cities, Plateae, Phocis and Orhomenos, who had suffered
from the cruelty of Thebe, asked for revenge and demanded from
Alexander to show no mercy, telling him also (according to Diodorus)
that Thebans had fought on the side of Persian Xerxes, against the
other Greek cities, when he had invaded Greece. Macedonians,
Thespeans, Phoceans, Orhomenians attacked and the town was razed to
the ground, except for its temples and the house of the
poet Pindaros (Pindar), who had once
written an ode to the Macedonian king Alexander I. Six thousand
inhabitants were executed and thirty thousand were sold as slaves.
No other city was harmed and again
all Hellenic representatives (except Spartans)
were gathered in Corinth and the Corinthian league declared
Alexander as Autocrator (emperor) of all Hellenes.
Plutarch writes about this declaration. Would the Greeks apppoint as
their hegemon (leader) a barbarian? Diogenes from
Sinope of
Pontus was a cynical philiosopher
who lived in a pot.
He taught that people should live as simple as the dogs (cynas=dog)
He didn't possess anything but a cup to drink water. When some day
he saw a boy drinking water using his hands, he threw the cup away.
Alexandros, who one day would possess the whole world, met Diogenes
at Corinth: "Hello, I am Alexander the king.
"I am Diogenes."
"I would do everything for you. Just ask for it.
"Anything?"
"Yes anything."
"Step aside because you hide the sun." Later the young hegemon ton Hellinon visited the Delphi's
oracle. But Pythia wasn't ready yet to give her prophecies.
Alexander forced her to go to her place and she said "Ah, young
man, nobody can resist to you." Alexander heard what he wanted
to hear, and left. This oracle would be true till the end
Liberation of Mikra Asia (334)
Ancient Greeks suffered from the rapaciousness of
Persians, like the
medieval Greeks (Byzantines) suffered
from the Ottoman rapaciousness. The unbounded persian
empire had conquered the greek cities of Pontus and Minor Asia, and
had failed to conquer also the european greek cities. Greeks always
wished to liberate the Greek cities and take revenge from the
barbarian invaders. Philippus didn't make it, but Alexandros as
Autokrator of Hellenes, made the
preparations to achieve this goal. So in the spring of 334 he
crossed the Dardanelles, leaving Antipatros to Pella, who had
already faithfully served his father.
He started the expedition with 30000 men (15000
were Macedonians), and was going to face an enemy with hundreds of
thousands of troops. He had with him fighters from all over Greece
except Sparta. Alexander's second in command was
Parmenion, the veteran general, who had secured a
foothold in Asia Minor during Philip's lifetime. The army was
accompanied by engineers, architects, scientists, court officials,
and historians. (Callisthenis of Olynthos, Anaxarhos of Abdyra,
Pyrron, Heracledes of Argos, Denocrates of Rhodos, Cleon of
Syracusses, Xenocrates of Chalcidon are some of the intellectuals
who took part to the campaign). The core of the infantry was the
Macedonian phalanx, armed with the long sarissa; the pick of the
cavalry were the Companions (Hetairoi), led by Alexander himself on
the right wing. Parmenion commanded the Thessalian cavalry on the
left. There also were machines--stone-throwing siege engines that
could be assembled on the spot. The siege engineers enabled him to
conquer many fortified cities. Nearhos
was appointed as admiral of the fleet, a fleet which would follow
sailing by the Minor Asia's coasts. The majority of the 160 galleys
of the united greek fleet was athenian. Alexandros had only 70
talents for their pay, and no more than thirty days' provisions. As
his ship approached the Asia Minor's coast (port of Eleounta), he
threw his spear from abroad and stuck it in the ground declaring
that he was the master of Asia. He set first his foot to Asia, like
Protesilaos had done, according to Homer's Iliad. He did offers to
Dias (Zeus) and Athena and constructed shrines for the gods and for
Hercules. (Alexander like all other Greeks believed to the
Olympian gods, and admired the mythic heroes that all Greeks admired
and still admire: Heracles, Achilleas, Ector, Odysseas, Diomedes,
Aeas, Menelaos, Theseas).Like a true Hellene,
at Ilion (Troy) he visited the tombs of the heroes Achilles and Aeas
(Ajax), paying them due religious honour. The
Spartan king Agesilaus, who had attacked
to Persians in Asia sixty years before, had done the same. From the
Trojan temple of Athena, the king took a sacred shield, which would
save Alexander's life in India. According to Plutarch "At the tomb of Achilles, who was his ancestor on
his mother’s side, Alexander anointed the gravestone with oil and
then ran around it naked with his companions, according to the
ancient custom. Achilles, he said, was a lucky man to have had a
good friend while he was alive and a good poet to preserve his
memory after he was dead."
Granicus
After the victory at Granicus'
river, Alexander gave all the treasures to his soldiers and his
relatives. Pardiccas asked him: "What do you leave for yourself?".
He answered:"Hope".
The Persian satraps: Mithridatis
of Cilicia, Spithridatis of Lydia, Arsites of Phrygia, Farnakis and
others had assembled at Zelea, near Dascylium, capital of Phrygia.
Memnon of Rhodes, a Greek mercenary advised them to avoid battle, to
burn all crops, to destroy the wells so Alexander, who was short of
supplies, would be forced to return back. The Persian navy should
attack to Macedonia. This was probably a good plan but the proud
satraps wouldn't like to see their lands burnt so they rejected the
idea and proposed to face the enemy. (The
sqopians allege that Greeks fought on the persian side and so they
were enemies of the Macedonian king. During greek history we have
met many traitors who fought against their own compatriots. Efialtis
betrayed Spartans at Thaermopylae, Greeks exislamized (Jenissaries)
conquered Constantinople for Mehmet,
Barbarossa the pirate was also Greek who
conquered all Aegean islands for the sultan, during
Greek revolution
Greeks of Nenekos, fought on the side of Ibrahim pasha against the
revolutionaries etc.)
Alexandros reached the western side of Granicus River which flow
into the
Sea of Marmara or Propontis
(May 334). His important commanders were Perdiccas, Craterus,
Amyntas, Callas, Cleitus Melanas, Meleagros, Antigonus, Selephcus,
and Parmenio's son Philotas.
Persians camped to the eastern side of Granicus, near the city
Adrasteia.
Before the dawn, the Greek army
entered the water to cross the river. Hetairoi (under Ptolemeos and
Amyntas) were
the first to meet the enemy and they suffered heavy casualties.
Alexander and Parmenion followed and managed to reach the other bank
of the river. The battle was uncertain, but Alexandros knew from
Xenophon's sources that if Persians loose their leader they
loose also their courage. Fearless, he attacked to their commanders.
His spear was broken and he asked another from Aretos, but Aretos'
spear was broken too, and he was given a spear from Demaratos of
Corinth. Alexandros charged against Mithridatis killing him and was
hit on his head by Roisakis. The Greek king killed also Roisakis and
at that moment Spithridatis raised his hand with his sword. It was
Cleitus who cut Spithridatis' arm and saved Alexander's life. When
the Persians saw their leaders killed, they retreated. The
Macedonian king was merciless to the Greek mercenaries and he
massacred most of them. Two thousands of them who survived, were
sent to the mines of Pangeum to work as slaves, because
they Greeks had fought against Greeks. After
the battle he sent to Athens 300 persian armors with the epigram
"Alexander the son of Philip, and the Hellenes, except the
Lacedaemonians (Spartans), won these from the barbarians who inhabit
Asia."(Arrianos) Twenty five
Hetairoi were killed and Lysippos, the sculptor, was ordered from
the young emperor to make their statues in Macedonia.
Ephessus, Miletus,
Halicarnassus
Diodorus of Sicily, writes
that
"Alexander liberated all Greek cities (Ellinidas poleis) from
Persian yoke and made them autonomous and tax-free.
After Granicus, Alexander moved south and reached Sardeis, capital
of Lydia, the land of Kroissus. Persian Mithrinis, surrendered the
city and the garrison was replaced by Argeans soldiers under
Pausanias. There he rededicated the temple of Zeus, which the
Persians had used to sacrifice to their supreme god Ahuramazda,
spreading so the greek religion to the barbarians. Aeolian and
Ionian cities opened their gates. The tyrants were expelled and
democracies were installed. Alexander again underlined his
Panhellenic cause. Smyrna (homeland of Homer), Priene, Ephessus
were liberated and the crowds hailed on the streets: "Alexandre,
Alexandre!". In Ephessus, Alexander made offers to goddess
Artemis and gave orders to reconstruct the Temple of Artemis (one of
the seven wonders)
Miletus, homeland of Thales and
Anaximandros, decided to surrender, but when the enormous
Persian fleet (400 ships) entered the port, the garrison closed the
gates. The young Macedonian assembled his machines and started the
siege. The Greek fleet, under the command of
Nearhos, after passing the
Mycale's cape didn't venture a naval battle against the superior
enemy fleet. The ships were drawn to the shore and Alexander decided
that he would continue the war without them. According to the legend
an eagle came on a ship when it was on the beach and that was
considered a good sign. Miletus fell, Alexandros had given strict
orders nobody to be harmed. Some soldiers took refuge to the small
island of Lade, only to surrender later. Finally they enlisted to
Alexander's army. The Hellene Autocrator had a meeting with an old
lady with the name Ada. She was daughter of Mausulus and gueen of
Caria. She adopted Alexandros and she was appointed as satrap of
Caria.
Tralleis
(homeland of Anthemius, architect of Aghia Sophia) and Mylasa
opened the gates to Ptolemeos, but Halicarnassus homeland of
Herodotus (father of History) resisted strongly. The walls of
Halicarnassus were exceptionally strong and the leader of the
resistance was Memnon of Rhodes, the most dangerous enemy. He was
appointed by Darius as supreme commander of all Mikra Asia, and his
wife Varsine with his two young boys were taken as hostages to Susa,
by the Persian king.
Halicarnassus
was difficult to fall. Greeks had heavy casualties and Alexander was
forced to the extremity of having to send a herald to ask for the
bodies. The persian fleet was anchored to her harbor and provided
the defenders with provisions. One night Perdiccas, drunk tried to
assault the city but his men were almost slaughtered. Another night,
Memnon used Macedonians to infiltrate to the aggressor's lines and
they burnt the siege towers. Eventually, Halicarnassus was taken by
an assault in the northern part of the city, but Memnon and the
Persian garrison sailed away. Memnon planned to conquer Aegean
islands, invade mainland Greece and cut Alexander's contact with
home, but unexpectedly died in unexplained conditions. The Persian
navy stayed inactive and Alexandros was free to continue his
campaign.
Gordian knot
Alexander moved south to take
control of Lycia and Pamphylia, and liberated Xanthos and
Aspendos. The persian
fleet was cut from its harbours and became useless, especially after
Memnon's death. According to to historian Callisthenes of
Olynthus, there was a path at Perga, along the coastline that
was difficult to pass. But when the Greek army arrived, the sea
receded and the young king passed without difficulty. Those signs
were used to encourage the soldiers and to have confidence to their
king. Then Alexandros turned north to Phrygia, to meet the other
half of his army, which was under Parmenio's orders. They met in
April 333 at Gordium, the capital of Phrygia, which lies west
of the city of Ancyra.
There was a chariot of the
Phrygian king Midas. According to the tradition whoever loosened the
knot binding the yoke, would be the master of all Asia. The
Macedonian king tried to loosen the complicated knot but after a
while he pulled his sword and cut the Gordian knot.
From Gordium he moved south
through Cappadocia and passed the Cilician Gates (a rough passage
through Taurus mountain chain) which the persians had left
unguarded. He arrived just in time to prevent the Persian satrap
Arsames from destroying the capital of Cilicia, Tarsus
which was an Argean colony. He stayed at Tarsus and one morning he
swam in the frozen waters of Kydnos' river. He became seriously ill.
The high fever almost killed him and it was Philip the
Acarnanian, his personal doctor who saved his life. In the
meantime, the Great king had gathered hundreds of thousands fighters
(Plutarch of Chaeronea writes that his army counted 600,000 men)
from all places of his vast empire. 20000 of them were Greek
mercenaries. Darius' treasures were transported by 400 camels and he
had with him also his family. When the Athenian Haridimos was asked
by Darius about his opinion, the Greek traitor told him that the
asian crowd didn't have many chances to win Alexander's army. Darius
touched the Athenian on his belt and that meant that he was to be
executed. The spy network of the Greek emperor didn't work. So
Darius from the north, passed through Amanician Gates of Mt.Amanus
in northern Syria, and stealthily camped behind Alexandros who had
encamped at the port of Myriandrus (Alexandretta).
Issus (November 333)
Alexander was in love with a very
beautiful lady, named Pancaspe, that he gave orders that she should
be painted in the nude by Apelles. Discovering that the artist had
fallen in love with her, he offered Pancaspe to him as gift. He
wanted to show that he was self controlled and his only care was his
kingdom. A thousand years later, Mehmet the conqueror, who was as
young as Alexander, had fallen in love with a beautiful Greek slave,
and he stayed in his tent with her for days. When his janissaries,
complained that he didn't care for his state, he dragged her by her
hair and in front of his men, had her throat cut, to prove that his
only care was his empire.
Darius in command of his huge
army, eager to fight and nervous of the inaction of Alexander who
was recovering from his illness, moved south. He had captured
Issus and
had slaughtered all the injured Greeks he had found. The Persian
army was in the rear of the Greek army which could not move south to
unknown territories and its lines of supply were cut off. Darius had
trapped the young Macedonian. The Greeks numbered 60000 men and were
outnumbered 10 to 1, when they descended to Pinarus River. Darius in
his hastiness had abandoned the plains of Issus and had moved
through the narrow passage, north of mount Amanos. He camped to the
other side of Pinarus but his cavalry and his polemic chariots were
useless. His best forces were the Athanatoi, his personal
guards, and the Greek mercenaries but now Alexander had the
advantage.
The Hellene Autocrator spoke to his men to raise their
morale. Arrian of Nicomedia writes: "The Greeks (Ellines) of
Darius fight for money, while you fight for Greece (uper tis
Ellados)". Alexander riding Voucephalas, personally commanded
the Companion (Eteroi) to the right, while Parmenion and
Crateros commanded the Thessalian cavalry to the left. Tha
Macedonian phalanx was in the center. Alexander charged, the left
wing of the Persians dispersed and he attacked the Persian center.
At the same time, the phalanx crossed the river and made a frontal
attack on the Persian right wing and the Greek mercenaries. The
personal guards of Darius fought courageously but couldn't stop the
brave Macedonian who spread the death with his sword. Alexandros
came face to face with Darius who was watching the battle on his
chariot.
Suddenly Darius was not there. He was riding away, leaving the
battlefield, his men, his bow, his shield and his mantle. Alexandros
was wounded by an arrow which had pierced his right thigh.
Perdicas, Ptolemeos and Leonnatos made a circle to protect their
king while Darius had abandoned his chariot and was galloping on his
horse to escape as far as he could.
The losses of the Greek infantry
were 300 dead and of the cavalry 150 dead. The Persian casualties
were dozens of thousands. After the battle Alexander, who used to
live in spartan conditions, entered in the Darius's tent in all its
luxury, golden bath, silk carpets and he said: "So this is
what it means to be a King."
Parmenion received orders to go to Damascus to take possession of
Darius' treasure. The old general rushed to Damascus surprised the
Persian garrison and took with him tons of gold and silver, 365
mistresses, 329 female flute-players, 300 cooks, 13 pastry chefs, 70
wine waiters, 40 scent makers, and 13 confectioners.
The young Macedonian was in
Darius' tent when he heard whines of women. They were Darius' mother
Sisygambis, his wife Statira, the beauty Varsine (Memnon's wife) and
other princesses. He sent Leonnatos to bring them in front of him.
Sisygambis kneeled at the feet of Hephaestion who was very tall man.
When she realized her fault she paniced but Alexandros told her:
"Don't worry mother, he is Alexander too." Meaning the
etymology of the greek word Alex-andros, which means, he who
protects from men.
The Greek hegemon assured these women that they had nothing to fear
from him or his men.
Plutarch writes: "Alexandros guaranteed that they would continue
to be treated according to their rank and would have everything they
used to have from Darius. He was always very chaste and courteous in
his relations with the opposite sex, and he had a great respect for
the institution of marriage. He used to say that two things reminded
him that he was human, and not a god: sleeping and the act of
generation, as if to say that both weariness and lust are produced
by the same weakness and imbecility of human nature. He believed
that a king should first govern himself and then conquer his
enemies." Among the Persian women was Varsine, the widow of
Memnon of Rhodes. Alexander was attracted by this exceptional
beautiful lady and soon they became lovers. In the aftermath of the
battle, Alexander buried the deads, honored those who had excelled
in the battle and founded a new city by the sea, where the wounded
men were settled. He called it Alexandretta (Iskenderum) and
it lies in northern Syria.
Message to Darius
The victory at Issus opened the
road for Syria and Phoenicia. In January 332, Alexander marched down
the Phoenician coast where he received the surrender of Aradus,
Sidon and other major cities. It was a necessity to take the
Phoenician towns, because the Persian fleet, commanded by
Pharnabazus, was still in control of the Aegean sea and the
Hellespont and Alexander's lines of supplies were cut off. When a
messenger arrived, delivering a rude letter from king Darius, who
asked for his family to be returned and simultaneously
accused Alexander and his father for having attacked to him and that
he, who was the great king of all the world, just defended his
state. Alexander became upset. He told to
Eumenes, his personal writer,
to write the following message: "Your ancestors had invaded
Macedonia and the rest Greece (Ellada) and had done great damage.
Myself as leader of all Greeks came in Asia to punish you. You
helped the enemies of my father, Perynthos and Thrace, and you kept
sending money ot Spartans and other Greeks to provoke
insurrections....." Darius sent another message, this time
polite, giving his daughter, Stateira to the Macedonian king, and
all the lands between the cities Miletos and Ephessos, cities of
Greeks (Yiaouna), and the river Aly. The proposals were very good
and most of the soldiers of Alexander, exhausted from the battles
would accept them. "I would accept it, if I were Alexander,"
said Parmenion, the old general. "So would I, if I were
Parmenion." replied Alexander.
Tyre - Gaza (332)
All cities of Phoenicia
surrendered, except Tyre. Tyre was an island-city very well
fortified and the famous phoenician fleet, protected her from the
sea. The defenders mocked and provoked the Greeks. The envoys, sent
by Alexander, were throwed down from the walls. In January 332, the
siege began. Diades of Larisa,
the chief engineer, received orders to build very tall siege-towers,
with battering rams, which would reach the city through a pier that
was already under construction. The pier would connect the coast and
the island. Seven months lasted the siege. Phoenicians fought
bravely, but they were also very brutal. They hanged the prisoners
from the walls and their companions heard their cries during all
night. One night they managed to burn the towers of Diades. When
Alexandros came and saw the disaster, he immediately told him.
"Start building new towers."
One day, his old teacher,
Lysimachus came all the
way from Macedonia to see his student. All the classmates of
Alexander: Selefcos, Leonnatos, Crateros, Philotas, Ptolemeos,
Hephaestion gathered to meet their teacher. Plutarch tells us this
story: "One day, he fell behind the rest of his army because his
old teacher, Lysimachus (whom he used to compare to Phoenix, the
guardian of Achilles) could not keep up. Night found Alexander in a
very dangerous position: far behind his army and without any fire to
combat the cold. He noticed some enemy campfires, so he ran over to
one, killed two Arabs with his knife, then carried back a burning
torch to his men. This story was recited by Hares".
When another envoy, with
Lysimachus as the leader was sent to Tyre, to ask for surrender, the
phoenicians crucified them all, including the old man. Alexander
became mad from his anger and ordered immediate attack. The town was
attacked from all sides: the Greek ships attacked the walls with
siege machines, marines from Cyprus landed in the Sidonian port.
Admetos was the first to
climb the walls but was cut in peaces. The brave Macedonian king
took his place and the Greeks stormed into the city. Thousands were
massacred, 30000 Tyrians were sold as slaves and 2000 were
crucified.
Gaza of Palestine was the next
city which resisted. The Persian commander was named Vates. He was a
brave man and had organized very well the defense. During the siege,
Alexander, who as always was charging in front of his army, was
injured on his shoulder by an arrow. Gaza fell, the population was
massacred without mercy, and Alexander dragged Vates around the
city, behind his chariot, as the Homeric hero Achilleas had done to
Hector. After a few days Alexander's son was born by Varsine. He
gave him the name Heracles.
Egypt - Alexandria
Alexander wanted to go to Egypt
because, according to Arrianus from Nicomedia, the Greek heroes,
Perseus and Heracles
(ancestors of Alexander) had visited the famous temple oracle of
Dias (Zeus) Ammon. Alexander and all Hellenes admired Egypt for its
mystery and its exotic landscapes. In January 331, the Greek army
and navy reached Pelusion (Port Said). The Persian satrap Mazaces
surrendered. After the conquest of Phoenicia, the Persian fleet was
diminished and the Greek fleet dominated the sea. Alex-andros with
his army moved west, passed the old Greek ports Naucratis and
Mareotis, and reached the Mediterranean sea. The fleet under
Nearhos moved south to the city of Memphis and an expeditionary
mission was sent to discover the sources of the Nile. At the island
Pharos the Macedonian king decided to found a new city, on the
western mouth of the Nile, which was to be called Alexandria.
He ordered the famous Rhodian architect Deinocrates to make
the plans for his city. Alexandria, during Ptolemaic dynasty, would
be the pharos of science, commerce, learning and Hellenism for
centuries. It would be the center of the Hellenistic age, the
center of all human knowledge (the famous library of Alexandria was
founded by Ptolemeos and included hundreds of thousands
books, the Museum (Mouseion), a common workplace for scholars and
artists, and also one of the seven world wonders, the Pharus of
Alexandria). The greatest Greek mathematicians, engineers,
physicists, architects, geographers like Euclides the
geometrician, Archimedes, Plotinus the philosopher, Ptolemy and
Eratosthenes would study in Alexandria. It was at Alexandria,
that the Greek lady Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies,
would fall in love with Mark Antony, attempting the same time,
without success, to restore the Ptolemaic dynasty. Alexandria would
also house the Patriarchate during Byzantine Era, a period during
which Alexandria would have great economical development. The Greeks
continued to live and prosper in this city until 1950's when the
Egyptian government of Naser, in a brutal and barbaric way
confiscated their property and deported them all. However the
Orthdox Patriarchate of Alexandria still survives.
From Alexandria, the Greek
emperoror marched inland to visit the celebrated oracle of the god
Ammon in the middle of a vast desert
(at oasis Siwa); the journey was extremely difficult and many
travelers before had been perished either from water shortage or
from violent sandstorms. All of these dangers and difficulties did
not matter to Alexander, who could not be diverted from his plan
once he had taken his desicion. According to
Plutarch of Chaeronia, the
rain solved the water problem, and also prevented sand from blowing
and when he lost his way, two ravens came to guide him to the right
direction. The Macedonian asked the oracle if his father's murderers
had all been punished. The oracle answered that nobody could harm
his father who was Ammon Zeus. Alexander returned to Memphis. There
happened a terrible accident when his friend, the son of Parmenio,
Hector was drowned in the Nile. Parmenion lamented and when
Alexandros visited him to show his sympathy, the old general told
him: "In peace times, the sons bury their fathers, in war
times the fathers bury their sons." In spring 331 he
returned to Tyre. Already he controlled the whole eastern
Mediterranean sea. In Tyre, as a genuine Hellene organized athletic
games (agonas) and theatricals. Athenodoros and Thessalos were
honored for their stagecraft.
Gaugamela (October 331)
When Alexandros defeated Darius
in Issus he gathered his family members and told them that they
would continue to live as before. When Mehmet conquered
Constantinople he gathered all the Byzantine aristocrats and had
them beheaded. The prime minister Loucas Notaras asked him first to
kill his two young boys and after to kill him, because he was afraid
that his two sons, afraid for their lives, would change their faith.
So Notaras saw his sons while they were beheaded and then he kneeled
to face his destiny.
In July 331, Alexander sent Hephaestion and
Nearhos to ensure a passage through Euphrates River. He was waiting
reinforcements from Greece and would follow later. In Tyre he had a
meeting with the rabbin of Jerusalem who came to salute the new king
and ask him not to harm the Holy city of Jerusalem.
According to Flavius Josephus the rabbin
told Alexandros that in Daniel's writings there was a text saying
that a Greek would catalyze the Persian empire.
Alexander left Phoenicia and marched north but Statira, the
beautiful wife of Darius became ill and died. The army stopped and
the young king ordered that Statira would be buried with solemnity
and reverence as a queen. An eunuch escaped from the Greek camp and
reached his Persian master to report his wife's death. When he told
him that the Yiounan king had respected his wife and hadn't
touched her, Darius couldn't believe him. It was difficult for a
barbarian to accept that the enemy had respected the honor of his
woman. In the meantime, Hephaestion had bridges constructed in
Euphrates River, near the phoenician city Thapsacus. The persian
satrap Mazeus didn't fight but burnt all the fields and the villages
south, so that the Greek army, in order to find provisions, had only
one direction to the east to go. The direction was towards
Gavgamela.
This was the place, near Arbela, that the Persian
king had chosen to fight. Darius had collected the full force of his
vast empire, and it was estimated 1 million men (Bactrians, Indians,
Medians, Sogdians, Albanians from the Caucasus, Scythians). He also
had 200 scythed chariots and 15 war elephants. The Greeks reached
the Tigris River, and were surprised that the enemy wasn't to the
other side of the flooded river to stop their advance. Indeed, with
great difficulty, the Greek army crossed the river, and on 30
September, Alexandros camped on the plain of Gaugamela. There
happened lunar eclipse. The omen was explained by Aristandros
. The persian empire (moon) would loose, and Hellas (sun) would win.
When Xerxes had invaded and had destroyed Greece, then had been sun
eclipse and the sun was hidden by the earth. Now this eclipse was
favourable for the Greek soldiers. Plutarch writes: "The noise
and campfires of the vast barbarian camp were so frightening that
some of Alexander's generals advised a night attack because it would
be too dangerous to take on such a huge force in daylight. But
Alexander replied: "I will not steal victory." So Alexander and his
men rested until late the next morning.
On October 1st, the most important day of
Alexandros, the two armies were ready to face one another. The Greek
army had 40000 men and the cavalry 7000 men. Alexandros
commanded the right wing, and Parmenion the left wing. In the
center was the macedonian phalanx under Koinon, Perdiccas,
Meleagros, Simmias and Crateros. The commander of the
Hetairoi was Philotas. According to Plutarch:
"Alexander gave a long speech to the Greeks, who answered him with
loud shouts, whereupon he put his javelin into his left hand and
lifted up his right to the gods in a prayer for victory. Just at
that moment, an eagle soared over him and then flew toward the
enemy, and this omen put fire in each man's heart." The brave
Macedonian mounted Bucephalus and charged to the left wing of the
persian army. Menidas with his cavalry made the Scythians and the
Vactrians under satrap Vessos to retreat. Then Darius ordered his
chariots to charge
against the Greek right wing, but with a few losses the infantry
avoided the chariots, and the Greek archers killed the barbarian
charioteers. Alexander now moved to the center with his Hetairoi.
Darius didn't wait for long. He mounted a horse and again turned his
back leaving his soldiers. The things were not doing well in the
left wing, where the satrap Mazeus was winning. Parmenion sent a
messenger asking for help because the Greek camp and all of the
baggage would be lost to the Persians. Alexander replied to Parmenio
that he should remember that if they won, they would not only
recover their own baggage but also take the enemy's; and if they
lost, then they would not have to worry about possessions because
their only care would be to die like brave men. Parmenion with the
Thessalians fighters counterattacked and defeated Mazeus who was
caught prisoner. About 500 Greeks and more than 50000 Persians lost
their lives on the battlefield.
Babylon - Susa
After Gaugamela, Alexandros advanced south and
entered
Babylon, one of the
richest cities of the ancient world. No one was harmed and he was
recognized as "king of the four signs of the world". The
treasures that were found were innumerable and the new king shared
to each of his soldiers 600 drachmas. Mazaeus, who had surrendered
the city, was assigned as satrap of Babylon. (Babb - ilou meant gate
of God in the assyrian language). The Greeks stayed in this
magnificent city for thirty days, organized feasts and lived in the
luxury and in the comforts that the Persian aristocrats were used to
live before them.
After six days march Alexander's army appeared before the city of
Susa. The persian satrap Avoulites
opened the gates and came to welcome the new ruler. More gold and
silver was found in the treasure-house of Susa. One evening, the
young Macedonian sat on the throne of Darius. But he was not a tall
man and his feet could not reach the ground. Then Leonnatos brought
a little table, to put his feet on. When an old eunuch saw all this
he cried. Alexander asked him the reason of his sorrow, and the
eunuch answered that this was Darius' table and he was served there
his dinner. Aristandros said that this was a good omen and this
symbolized that persian empire was under Alexander's feet. In Susa,
the Hellene emperor found the statues of the Athenians
Armodios and Aristogeiton who had
killed the tyrant Ipparchus of Athens. Those statues had been stolen
by Xerxes in 480, when he had invaded Hellas. Alexandros sent them
back to Athens. Darius' mother, Sisygamvis, was setteld again in her
rooms inside the vast palace. Diodorus of Sicily (17.67.1)
says: "Alexander left Dareius's mother, his daughters, and his
son in Susa, providing them with persons to teach them the Greek
language, (so that they could speak to him without using
translators) and marching on with his army on the fourth day reached
the Tigris River." Meanwhile the Spartans who couldn't tolerate
Macedonians as leaders of Hellas, rose to a rebellion against them.
Antipater, marched from Pella defeated
the proud Lacaedemonians, and killed their king
Agis.
Persepolis
In December 331, the Greek army left Susa and
marched south to occupy Persepolis. When they reached Zagros
mountain, a savage tribe, Ouxioi asked for money to let them pass
through the narrow passage saying: "The Great king used to pay
us, in order to pass through this passage." Alexander angry
answered them: "I am now the Great king and I will pay you
nothing." He crushed them, burned their vilagges and continued
his route until he reached the Persian Gates (Persides Pyles).
At Persian Gates the Greeks found strong
resistance by the persian garisson which was commanded by the satrap
Ariobarzanes. They suffered heavy losses but when at night they held
a meeting, a greek slave named Rhedas appeared and offered to help.
He guided the Hellenes through a narrow passage, during the night,
behind the enemy lines. The Persians surrendered and the road to
Persepolis was now open.
Near the city, there was a camp where Greek
prisoners of wars were kept. Others had been amputated, others were
blind, others had been burnt. When the king talked with them he
became angry and sad for their sufferings. The time for revenge for
all the catastrophes that Persians had caused to Greek cities had
come. Here is how Diodorus Siculus (17.69.1
Library) describes the incident: "At this point in his
advance the king was confronted by a strange and dreadful sight, one
to provoke indignation against the perpetrators and sympathetic pity
for the unfortunate victims. [3] He was met by Greeks bearing
branches of supplication. They had been carried away from their
homes by previous kings of Persia and were about eight hundred in
number, most of them elderly. All had been mutilated, some lacking
hands, some feet, and some ears and noses. [4] They were persons who
had acquired skills or crafts and had made good progress in their
instruction; then their other extremities had been amputated and
they were left only those which were vital to their profession. All
the soldiers, seeing their venerable years and the losses which
their bodies had suffered, pitied the lot of the wretches. Alexander
most of all was affected by them and unable to restrain his tears.
[5] They all cried with one voice and besought Alexander to help
them in their misfortunes. The king called their leaders to come
forward and, greeting them with a respect in keeping with his own
greatness of spirit, promised to make it a matter of utmost concern
that they should be restored to their homes."
The time for revenge for the destruction the
Greek temples, the altars and the statues had come. The young
Macedonian gave the order to his soldiers: "The city is yours".
The soldiers poured in the city, slaughtered the poopulation, raped
women and girls and all the houses were reduced to ashes. Next day,
Alexander entered in the palace of Darius, and came upon new masses
of gold in the royal treasury. Hellenes stayed at Persepolis for
many weeks. One night Alexander burned down the palace of Xerxes, as
a symbol that the Panhellenic war of revenge was at an end.
Diodorus Siculus (Library 17.72.1)
writes:
"Alexander held games in honour of his victories. He performed
costly sacrifices to the gods and entertained his friends
bountifully. While they were feasting and the drinking was far
advanced, as they began to be drunken a madness took possession of
the minds of the intoxicated guests. [2] At this point one of the
women present, Thais by name and Attic by origin, said that for
Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if he
joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and
permitted women's hands in a minute to extinguish the famed
accomplishments of the Persians. [3] This was said to men who were
still young and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected,
someone shouted out to form the comus and to light torches, and
urged all to take vengeance for the destruction of the Greek
temples. [4] Others took up the cry and said that this was a deed
worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had caught fire at their
words, all leaped up from their couches and passed the word along to
form a victory procession in honour of Dionysus. [5] Promptly many
torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet,
so the king led them all out for the comus to the sound of voices
and flutes and pipes, Thais the courtesan leading the whole
performance. [6] She was the first, after the king, to hurl her
blazing torch into the palace. As the others all did the same,
immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the
conflagration. It was most remarkable that the impious act of
Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should
have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of
the land which had suffered it."
Another day, Leoharis, one of the myriads who had
followed Xenophon and was ninety years
old, met Alexander and told him: "I came with Xenophon to fight
in Mikra Asia. I am the only one who still survives. Now that I have
seen you on the throne of the Great king, I can go and die pleased
and proud." Of all the things that Alexander won from Darius,
the most precious was an exquisite box. He asked his friends what
treasure he should keep in it. There were various suggestions, and
good arguments why each was the most precious thing that he owned,
but Alexander finally declared that the honor would not go to any of
these but to his annotated copy of the Iliad.
Later he sent this box to his teacher Aristotle.
Another present that he sent back to Greece, a huge quantity of
frankincense and myrrh went to his tutor, Leonidas. The reason for
this gift was that one day, when Alexander was still a boy,
Leonidas had told him not to use so
much of these spices in the sacrifice he was performing, saying:
"When you have conquered the countries where these things grow, then
you may be more lavish, but for now do not waste the little that we
have." Alexander sent the following note with the gift: "We
send you plenty of frankincense and myrrh so that in the future you
will not be a niggard to the gods."
Ecbatana - Death of Darius (330)
Another time, one of the common
soldiers was driving a mule that carried some of Alexander's
treasure. The mule was too exhausted to go on, so the soldier put
the load on his own shoulders. Alexander saw the man and he asked
what was the matter. The soldier told him that the mule was too
tired to carry the load, and that he was about at the end of his
endurance too. "Don't give up now," said Alexander, "but
carry what you have there to the end of the journey, then take it to
your own tent, to keep for yourself."
Later in spring 330 Alexander marched north,
passed Pasargadae and in the country of Medians, in July 330, he
occupied the capital Ecbatana. All Greeks, except Macedonians
were free to return to their cities. Alexandros wanted his soldiers
to spread the triumph of his victories and successes to all over
Hellas. But most of the soldiers chose to stay and followed their
valiant leader. The Macedonian king continued the pursuit of the
Persian emperor. Harpalus and Parmenio were left behind to support
the communications of the army and keep all the persian treasure.
The Greeks passed the Caspiae Pylae (Caspian Gates) south of Caspian
or Yrcanian Sea. There Alexander was informed that Darius was
arrested by the satrap of Bactria, Bessus. He jumped on Voucephalas
and followed by his cavalry chased the usurper of the throne. The
Thracian scouts found Darius stabbed in his coach and Bessus
proclaimed himself "King of the Kings". This was the end of the
Great king. Alexander sent his body to Darius' mother who organized
an imperial funeral for the last Persian emperor.
At Zadracarta in Hyrcania, Alexander rested his
army. It was there that he first put on barbarian clothes and this
caused to his friends and his soldiers unease. There they felt
offended and disappointed, because Alexandros was not any more their
leader especially when he appointed Persians as governors (like
Artabazus, Varsines' father), and enlisted thousands of Persians in
the army. Later he moved eastward and in Aria he met serious
resistance from the satrap Satibarzanes. He conquered the city
Artacoana, and founded a new one with name Alexandria of the
Aryans (modern Herat). But officers and soldiers wanted to
return home, tired of their long campaign, tired of long marches
(they had covered more than 10000 kilometers). After the conquest of
the persian empire their mission was over. Why should they go on and
conquer unknown and hostile lands? It was Cevalinos, a young soldier
that heard some officers talk about the murder of the king. He
reported to the commander of the Companion Cavalry, Philotas.
Philotas, son of Parmenion didn't mention anything to his king
and when the
conspiracy was weaved, Alexander ordered the torture and execution
of all the conspirators including Philotas. He also sent message to
his generals to Ecbatana to murder Parmenio. So the old
general of Phillipus who had lost three sons and had served
faithfully Alexander and Philipus, was murdered, without evidence
for his guiltiness. Alexandros had become cruel and demoralized or
he used any method in order to protect his new empire?
Bactria - Sogdia
The Greek king of Asia with his friends
Hepheastion, Perdiccas, Ptolemeos, Selephcos, Leonnatos, Lusimachos,
Crateros and Clitus started again the pursuit of Bessus who had
found selter to the high mountains of Bactria, at the extreme limits
of the Persian Empire (modern Afghanistan). Alexandros founded
Alexandria in Arachosia (modern Kandahar) and Alexandria by
the Caucasus and settled Greek soldiers with their familes,
soldiers who didn't wish to pass through those huge and very cold
mountains. (Even today there is the tribe of Callas in Afghanistan,
who claim that they are descendants of Alexander, and their gods are
Alexandros and Zeus). After the heat of the desert, Alexander's army
had to face the snow of the mountains. Many of his soldiers were
blinded by sun's reflection to the snow. After weeks of march the
Greeks reached the capital Bactra where they rested for a while.
They continued north, crossed with difficulty Oxos River (they made
rafts from animal skins and tents which were stuffed with hay) and
Ptolemeos as commander of the vanguard, arrested Bessus, whose
soldiers had abandoned alone. He was tortured, mutilated after the
Persian manner, and after some days he was sent to Ecbatana where he
was publicly executed.
Next to the river Oxos, in 329, the city
Alexandria of Oxos was founded and more Greek veterans decided
to stay there with their wives and start a new life. They wouldn't
see again the land where they had been born. The indefatigable king
continued north, fighting against sauvage tribes and reached
Maracanda, (modern Samarkand), capital of Sogdiane. From there
Alexander conquered Cyropolis and vanquished the Scythian nomads, by
the use of catapults.
In 328, near to Iaxartes River, he founded another city,
Alexandria Eschate (greek word, meaning ultimate). Hundreds of
Greek soldiers decided to stay and start a new life. Meanwhile,
Spitamenes had raised revolt, with the Massagetai, a warlike tribe,
and massacred the Macedonian garrison of Maracanda. Craterus and
Coenus were sent to crush the rebellion which they did succesfully.
Spitamenes was killed by his own men and his head was sent to
Craterus as a sign of the submission of Sogdia to the Hellenes. In
the spring of 327 he reached the Sogdiane Petra
(Sogdian Rock). It was a fortress located on a high and very
precipitous rock. The satrap Oxyartes told Alexander that only if
his soldiers had wings, they could take his fortress. Alexander
asked for volunteers and promised 12 talents to the first, 11 to the
second, 10 to the third etc, who would climb the rock. During the
night, 300 Thracians and Macedonians tried to climb the rock using
ropes and poles. Thirty of them were killed, but the rest made it
and raised their flag, the star of Argeads to show to the
enemy that they were above him. Oxyartes surrendered and he became
friend with the invincible Macedonian. Alexander married Roxanne,
the excuisite daughter of the Sogdian leader.
The murder of Clitus and Callisthenes
A terrible incident happened at Maracanda during
a symposium. Alexander had a quarrel with Clitus Melanas
(Melanas means black in greek). Both were heavily drunk, and Melanas
accused his king for the barbarian clothes and customs that he
wanted to impose to his men. "You are going to be punished for
those words", said Alexandros. "You are nothing. We the
soldiers have done all the fighting. This hand saved the life of the
Son of God at the battle of Granicus", was Melanas' answer. The
emperor became mad, grabbed a spear from an aid-de-camp and threw it
to his soldier and friend. Clitus was killed and when Alexander
realized what he had done, he nearly commited suicide, but was saved
by his friends. He mourned for three days without eating or drinking
anything.
Shortly afterward, at Bactra, he attempted to
impose to everyone the proskynesis, (greek word, meaning
prostration). The Greeks and especially the historian
Callisthenis of Olynthos couldn't accept this custom which was
not used in their liberal and proud society. Callisthenes, who was
not a flatterer, spoke audaciously and insulted Alexander. When
later another conspiracy was revealed, the name Callisthenes was
mentioned and the nephew of Aristotle with all conspirators were
executed.
India - 327
It was spring of 327, when Alexander started his
campaign to India. The Greeks knew India from the Histories by
Herodotus of Halicarnassus and from the History of India by
Ctesias of Cnidus. The Greek army according to Plutarch's
writings had 120000 men, including 15000 cavalry and passed through
the Parapamisos mountains, where many soldiers died because of the
heavy snow and the cold. Later Alexander divided his forces, half
the army with the baggage, under Hephaestion and Perdiccas,
was sent to the east, while he himself with the rest, moved to the
north to occupy the cities Massaga, Vazira and Ora.
A few miles west of the Indus was a high mountain fortress called
Aornus (modern Pir Sar). According to the legend, not even
Alexander's ancestor Heracles had been able to take the rock.
However, Ptolemeos managed to occupy a nearby mountain and from
there Alexandros stormed and conquered the city. 250000 oxes were
found in Aornus and were sent to Macedonia to be used for the
ploughing of the fields.
Meantime Perdiccas and Hephaestion had built a
bridge over the Indus and when the two armies were joined, in spring
326, they reached Taxila. The king Taxiles welcomed the Yiounan, as the Greeks were called by the Indians, and
offered to their king elephants and troops. There Alexandros met the
Brahman philosophers who had no property no clothes and could stay
motionless for days. One of them, Calanos, joined the army and
became Alexander's adviser.
In June 326, Alexander reached the Hydaspes river
just as the rains broke, when it was already swollen. On the other
bank of the Hydaspes Porus (Paurara rajah), one of the most
powerful Indian kings, had camped. Porus was a huge man and had
among his brave and tall soldiers also 200 elephants and military
chariots. During the night Alexander crossed the river and in a
first skirmish with the enemy he killed Porus' son. The indian ruler
attacked immediately but his chariots were unable to move through
the mud. The Indians although they fought bravely were defeated.
Porus wounded was captured by the Greeks. "How would you like to be treated?" asked him the Macedonian
king. "Like a king" was the answer of the Indian.
So Porus was allowed to continue to reign his country. Alexandros
founded two cities: Alexandria Nicaea (Nicaea means victory
in greek) and Bucephalia (named after his horse Bucephalas,
who was wounded and died. The horse was 17 years old and Alexander
grieved like he would, if he had lost a good friend).
The Hellene emperor reached the Hyphasis river,
near the Imalaia mountain range, after having marched 30000
kilometers, since he had left Pella of Macedonia, 8 years ago.
Alexander was anxious to cross Ganges and move farther to see the
Great Ocean.
But the tropical rain kept falling in the jungle and the men had
reached their limits. They refused to proceed and Coenus, a
brave Macedonian general acted as their spokesman. Alexandros became
angry and stayed 3 days and nights in his tent. When he came out he
had taken his decision to return home. He announced his decision to
his army and on the Hyphasis river he erected 12 huge altars to the
12 Olympian gods. Athletic games and theatricals were organized and
also a copper plate saying: "Alexandros entautha esti"
(Alexander came here) was erected. Not too long afterwards Coenus
died and the army buried him with the highest honors.
Returning home
When the Greek army was crossing
the Gedrosia desert, some soldiers found, in a ravine, some water
and brought it inside a helmet, to their king. Alexandros asked:
"Is it enough for all the soldiers?" The soldiers answered:
"No my king, it is not enough". Then the Hellene king emptied
the water to the ground.
On the Hydaspes the Greek emperor
built a fleet of 1000 ships. Porus was assigned governor of all
lands in India. Craterus
with a third of the army was sent to Persia, through Arahosia and
Carmania. Alexander proceeded down the river and into the Indus,
with half his forces on shipboard and half marching along the bank.
The fleet was commanded by the Cretan Nearchus, and
Alexander's own captain was Onesicritus. The Macedonian king
of Asia enjoyed very much the voyage on the Indus seeing strange
birds, crocodiles and giant trees, but he enjoyed more the debates
on philosophical issues with the Indian philosophers. "Which are more numerous the living or the dead?", Alexander
asked. "The living," said the Brahman, "because the dead no
longer count." -"Which produces more creatures, the sea or the land?" -"The land because the sea is only a part of it." -"What should a man do to make himself loved?" -"Be powerful without being frightening." -"What does a man have to do to become a god?" -"Do what is impossible for a man." -"Death or life is stronger?" -"Life is stronger than death, because it bears so many
miseries."
He became legendary for centuries in India for being both a wise
philosopher and a courageous conqueror.
Most of the villages received them
friendly, but it was Malloi, a warlike tribe, who attacked them
suddenly while they sailed down the Indus river. The Greeks
counterattacked and pursued the Indians who ran behind the walls of
their capital. There Alexandros demonstrated his courage and
intrepidity. He took a ladder and first of all climbed on the walls
of the enemy city. He fought alone for some minutes, surrounded by
enemies, while his startled companions tried to climb the walls to
save their king. During the history of the mankind, one can
hardly read a similar incident. The powerful ruler of a vast empire
attacking alone ahead of his soldiers.
Alexander received an arrow that penetrated his lung and the blood
filled his body. It was Avreas, Pefcestas and Leonnatos who
first reached their king and protected him with the sacred shield of
Troy saving his life. Avreas was killed and Alexandros fell, almost
dead. The doctor Cretodimos of Cos removed the arrow from his
breast and the heavily wounded Macedonian stayed in bed for weeks.
He recovered and mounted his horse only to be seen by his soldiers
who thought that he was dead. Thousands of Greek and Persian
soldiers cheered when they saw him. The king was back and healthy to
drive them home. A new town was founded in the country of the
Sogdians, Alexandria Sogdiane and Greek veterans with their
native wives decided to stay here.
Alexander continued his sailing
down the Indus river but many villages under the influence of
Brahmans resisted and fought against the unknown enemies. Kings
Musicanus, Oxycanus and Sambus surrendered and the Greek army
reached the Indus delta
in July 325. The rajah of Patala Moires came to meet the new ruler
and to offer him presents. Alexandros built a harbor and docks and
explored both arms of the delta to the ocean. Because of the little
knowledge of the tides the fleet was stuck in the mud and was almost
destroyed. Then the Macedonian king ordered Nearchus to sail along
the shores of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, while himself would
march through the dangerous Gedrosian desert.
The Gedrosian desert -
September 325
In September Alexander set out
through Gedrosia (modern Baluchistan), but because of the conditions
of the desert and the insufferable heat he lost contact with his
fleet. The queen Semiramis had followed the same route and had lost
an army of 20000 men in this terrible desert. So Alexander's march
through Gedrosia proved disastrous; The shortage of food and water
caused great suffering, and half of his soldiers perished. They
passed through the land of Ixhtyofagon (Fish-eaters) a
primitive people who ate only raw fish and drunk sea water. After
sixty days' march they entered the capital Pura where they rested
for some days and waited for all the soldiers to arrive. Alexandros
moved west to Armazeia and sent some scouts to the coast to find the
fleet. Nearchus and the fleet had also suffered losses from hunger
and thirst, had fought against hostile tribes and had been terrified
when they saw some huge animals in the water which they sprung
water. Army and fleet were rejoined and their joy doubled when they
met also Craterus at
Carmania. Alexander organized feasts to celebrate the meeting of his
friends and the survival of the soldiers.
Nemesis
The Greek army departed for
Persepolis and was arranged to meet the fleet at the Tigris delta.
At Persepolis the Brahman philosopher Calanos
became seriously ill and asked a funeral pyre to be built for him.
Then he said to Alexander "We will meet at Babylon soon", he
climbed on the pyre where he was burnt alive. That night, Alexander
held a banquet for a large number of his friends and officers, and
he offered a prize for the man who could drink the most wine.
Promachus drank twelve quarts and got the prize, but three days
later he died.
The Macedonian king was informed
about the attitude of some unscrupulous and incompetent satraps in
Persia. Years of absence and rumors of his death were enough to turn
them to corruption. They lived lavishly, had desecrated tombs of
kings, including the tomb of Cyrus,
had emptied the state treasury, kept mercenary armies and were hated
by the people and by the soldiers. Alexander replaced senior
officials and executed six governors, including the Persian satraps
of Persis, Susiana, Carmania, and Paraetacene; four Greek generals:
Cleander, the brother of Coenus (who had died a little earlier),
Sitacles, Agathon and Heracon were accused of corruption and
summoned to Persis, where they were arrested, tried, and executed.
Only one escaped the punishment and he was the worst of all.
Harpalus, the treasurer, who had been friend of Alexandros, had
stolen dozens of thousands of talents, and had recruited 6000
mercenaries. He left Persia and with 30 ships reached Athens.
Athenians sent away the vicious Macedonian who was later murdered in
Crete.
The foundation of
Ecumenical Hellenism
In spring 324, Alexander reached
Susa, where he held athletic games and feasts to celebrate the
return of his army and fleet after so many years of absence. Admiral
Nearchos, Leonnatos, Peucestas, Hephaestion, Onisecritos
were some of the soldiers who were rewarded for their valiance and
received golden diadems. Alexandros wanted to build a new empire in
which Greeks and Persians wouldn't be hostile one to another.
Hellenic thought, customs, religion, language would dominate in
his state while in the same time the customs of the people he had
conquered would be respected. The satraps of the empire and the
noble Orientals had already adapted themselves to the Greek culture,
a culture which was spread all over the Asia.
Antioch and Alexandria would succeed Athens and Sparta as the
world's cultural capitals. The famous Alexandrian library
would contain the wisdom of all antiquity. Archaeologists would
excavate a town in Afghanistan that would be in all aspects Greek.
The Asian people would remember Alexander for centuries as the
greatest civilizer in world, as hero or even as a God. Tribes in
Pakistan and in Afghanistan, even today claim proudly that they are
ancestors of the ancient Macedonians.
Alexandos married Darius' daughter
Statira and Hephaestion married the youngest daughter Drypetis. His
officers and 10000 of his soldiers were ordered to marry Persian
wives according to Persian rituals. That time a corps of 30000
Persians, Sogdians, Bactrians and Midians came in Susa. They had
received a Macedonian military training and were incorporated into
the Companion cavalry (Etairoi). In addition, Persian nobles had
been accepted into the royal cavalry bodyguard.
Mutiny
This policy had disappointed the
Macedonians and the others Greeks. They felt betrayed when they were
forced to obey their former enemies and they had no sympathy for
this new concept of the empire. The relations between the king and
the Greek soldiers deteriorated at the town of Opis (324), when
Alexander decided to send home Macedonian veterans under Craterus.
There was an open mutiny involving almost the whole of his army.
"He lives like a barbarian" (Varvarizei) complained his
soldiers. "We left home young and healthy and now he sends us
away old and wounded, just because he prefers to live with his
barbarians"."You can go home if you want to, I do not need
you any more" was the wrathful answer of their king. So when
Alexander dismissed his whole army and enrolled Persians, the
opposition broke down. The soldiers stayed for two days and nights
outside of his tent waiting for him to come out and forgive them. An
old veteran named Callines convinced Alexandros to forgive his men.
The reconciliation was followed by a vast banquet with 9000 guests.
Ten thousand veterans were now sent back to Macedonia with gifts
under Craterus who was
to replace Antipater as governor of European lands.
In autumn 324 Hephaestion
fell ill and seven days later he died in Ecbatana. Alexander
sorrowful, mourned for his best friend for three days, ordered the
execution of Hephaestion's doctor Glafcias, and a royal funeral was
given in Babylon with a pyre costing 10000 talents.
Death of Alexandros o
Meghas
In the spring of 323 Alexander
marched to Babylon. When he reached the ancient city, which he
intended to make capital of his empire, the Chaldean priests asked
him not to enter the town because he wouldn't leave her again. The
king of Asia didn't take them seriously and continued his marching.
At Babylon he received embassies from the Libyans, Romans,
Carthaginians, Celts, Iberians. The Italians had killed, the king of
Epirus Alexander of Molossoi,
who was the husband of Kassandra (Alexander's sister) and they had
also come to pay homage to the Greek Emperor. Representatives of the
cities of Greece also came in Babylon.
The indefatigable Macedonian
prepared a huge fleet of thousands ships for an expedition along the
Arabian coast. The army had almost 200000 men. They were Greeks,
Indians, Persians, Lydians, Vactrians, and others from various
nations. He also appointed Heracleides to explore the Hyrcanian
(Caspian) Sea. The Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily
confirms that Alexandros had plans for the conquest of Italy,
Carthage and the western Mediterranean. Rome was at that time a
strong state in central Italy, and if Alexandros had realized his
plans there would never be a Roman Empire. His ambitions reached as
far as the Pillars of Heracles (modern Givraltar) and even more.
Alexander's ambitions had no limits. Only one man could stop them.
He was the man who drove the souls through Acheron river to the king
of Ades, Pluton. This man was called Charon (Death).
After a splendid entertainment in
honour of Nearchus' departure for Arabia, Alexandros became sick.
For 10 days his condition had
no improvement and the fever remained
high. Then all his soldiers, with eyes filled with tears, and their
minds filled with memories, men who had been with him for so many
years, and had marched from Europe to Africa and from Africa to
Asia, came to his bed for a last greeting. Alexandros shaked hands
with each one of his soldiers who were weeping for the loss of their
"father". "To whom you leave the
power?", asked him his generals and friends. "To kratisto (To the best)",was his answer. He gave
his ring to Perdiccas and died on June 13, 323. He had lived
only 33 years the same number that Jesus had lived on earth.
Hellenistic Era
His body, was transfered to Egypt
by Ptolemy, the later king, and was eventually placed in a golden
sarcophagus in Alexandria. No heir had been appointed to the throne,
and this caused the slow disintegration of the vast empire which was
precipitated by the civil wars between Alexander's Successors
Diadochoi or Epigonoi. Six Greek states were created: a)
Egypt and Cyrene under the
leadership of Ptolemy, b) Pontus under Eumenes, c) Thrace
under Lysimachus, d) Mesopotamia under Seleucus Nicator,
e) Asia Minor (Pamphylia, Lycia, Phrygia, Cappadocia) under
Antigonus and f) European lands (Macedonia, Central Greece,
Epirus, Thessaly, Peloponness) under Cassander, son of
Antipater, who married Thessalonica, Alexander's sister.
(Thessalonica's name was given to the second in power city of the
Byzantine Empire. The Sqopians, people without history, claim part
of the unbounded Greek history and call this city Solun. They
discard the macedonian name Thessalonica, just because they are not
Macedonians). Perdiccas and Meleager were murdered and also
Alexander's sons (Heracles from Barsine and Alexander from Roxane)
had the same fate.
The largest cultural development
took place in Alexandria between 3rd and 1st centuries B.C. We
should mention the historian Polybius,
the mathematician Euclid, the astronomers Aristarchus,
Hipparchus and Seleucus, the philosophers Demetrius of
Phaleron, Straton and Ecataeo of Abdyra and the geographers
Eratosthenes and Poseidonius. It was the philosophic period of
the Epicureans and Stoics and the artistic period that left to
posterity such now-famous sculptures as the "Venus de Milo," the
"Victory of Samothrace," and the "Laocoon." Ptolemeos II, the
Philadelphus, founded the Museum at Alexandria, with its large
library, which became the meeting place of scholars and writers.
Callimachus of Cyrene, a leading Greek poet, was responsible for
the catalog of the 500 thousands books of the library. He was
succeded by Zenodotos, Apollonios, Rodhios, Aristophanes Byzantios
and others. The rise of Rome put an end to Hellenic kingdoms. The
famous Cleopatra VII, the last Macedonian descendent of
Ptolemy committed suicide in 30 BC, after which Egypt was added to
the Roman Empire.
As a general Alexander is among
the greatest the world has known. He showed unusual versatility both
in the combination of different arms and in adapting his tactics to
the challenge of enemies who commanded novel forms of warfare--the
Scyths nomads, the Indian hill tribes, or Porus with his elephants.
His strategy was skillful and imaginative, and he knew how to
exploit the chances that arise in every battle and may be decisive
for victory or defeat; he also drew the last advantage from victory
by relentless pursuit. His use of cavalry was so effective that he
rarely had to fall back upon his infantry to deliver the crushing
blow. He suffered the same wounds as his soldiers, he payed
attention to every single man in the army and he always led the
attack in person.
Alexander's short reign marks a decisive moment in the history of
Europe and Asia. His expedition and his own personal interest in
scientific investigation brought many advances in the knowledge of
geography and natural history. Alexander had set the limits of what
was considered the inhabited earth. It would last until the voyages
of the Portugese and Spanish, in the late 15th century, before
Europeans were convinced that they had finally explored further than
Alexander had done.
His career led to the moving of
the great centres of civilization eastward and initiated the new age
of the Greek territorial monarchies; it spread Hellenism in a vast
colonizing wave throughout the Middle East and created, if not
politically at least economically and culturally, a single world
stretching from Gibraltar to the Punjab, open to trade and social
intercourse and with a considerable overlay of common civilization
and the Greek koine as a lingua franca.
It is not untrue to say that the Roman Empire, the spread of
Christianity as a world religion (based on the Greek koine), and the
ten centuries of Byzantium
were all in some degree the fruits of Alexander's achievement. The
wisdom of classic Athens continued in the cities of Minor Asia,
Pergamus and Ephessus, it was preserved in the cities of Alexandria
and Antioche and finally came in the cities of Rome and
Constantinople. The Europe we have today with its unique
civilization is marked by three elements: Christianism, Ancient
Greek thought and culture and Roman law. All three have their roots
to Alexander's civilisation. He is one of the few individuals who
shaped the world as we know it.
Bibliography
Arrianus - Alexander's Anavasis
Plutarch - Alexandros
Konstantinos Paparrigopoulos - History of Hellenic Nation
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Ekdotike Athinon S.A
Valerio Massimo Manfredi - Alexandros
