It is the late afternoon, November morning, 333 BC.
Nearby the small coastal town of Issus, Persian King Darius III deployed his army to the north
of the Pinarus River.
His position cut off the communication- and supply lines for Alexander the Great’s army,
which had been marching south along the coastline.
In the distance, he saw Alexander’s army march towards him.
Word reached Alexander that his army was in danger of being enveloped in incredibly hostile
territory.
As they deployed in front of the Persians, they knew their only way out was to emerge
victorious.
The alternative was a bitter fight to the death.
The fate of two great empires hung in the balance as the two sides prepared to clash
with all the ferocity of ancient warfare.
[Sponsor]
[After Granicus]
[Text: Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian Knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter — Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 1 Scene 1.
45–47]
After Alexander’s victory at the Battle of the Granicus, the road into Persia lay
open to him.
He marched his army south, liberating many Greek cities along Asia’s west coast.
Persian-oriented oligarchs and tyrants had ruled these city-states.
In most cases, the city’s rulers fled when they learned of Alexander’s approach.
The Persian commandant of Sardis, Mithrenes, surrendered to Alexander voluntarily.
Down the line, his reward for his meek surrender would be the governorship of Armenia.
Several cities fiercely resisted Alexander, however.
Partly, because they preferred the devil they knew to the devil they didn’t.
But also because Memnon of Rhodes, who Darius had now appointed as commander of the Western
Satrapies, and the Persian fleet prevented them from opening their gates.
Miletus and Halicarnassus were the two main strongholds fiercely resisting Alexander’s
advance.
Miletus enjoyed support from the Persian fleet.
Commander of Alexander’s Companion Cavalry, Philotas moved to occupy Mycale, depriving
the ships of a base.
The city was taken soon after.
Halicarnassus was a tougher nut to crack.
Defended by Memnon of Rhodes and Orontobates, Alexander initially attempted diplomacy to
seize the city.
Unsuccessfully so, and soon after he built a series of earthworks around the city, while
bombarding it with his artillery.
After a fierce battle where the Macedonian infantry stormed the city, its commanders
set fire to it and abandoned it.
Much of the city was destroyed in the ensuing inferno, but Alexander was, again, victorious.
After liberating the Greek cities on the west coast, Alexander’s army planned to march
through the inland of Asia Minor.
Until this moment, he maintained a 160-strong fleet of Triremes.
Maintaining this fleet was expensive, and the Persian fleet outnumbered his at least
3-to-1.
The King decided he could not win a naval battle against Persia, and the finances were
better spent on marching through the inland of Asia Minor.
He disbanded his fleet, only retaining the Athenian fleet, mainly to secure his army’s
supply lines.
His generals opposed this move.
Disbanding the fleet allowed the Persian fleet to raid the Greek mainland and potentially
cut off the army on Asia Minor - a situation not entirely unthinkable.
But Alexander reasoned his soldiers fought better knowing a retreat was impossible, and
he did not trust the majority of Greek city-states supplying the fleet.
His strategy was to conquer the Persian and Phoenician naval bases along the coastline
his army passed.
It was a very ambitious and bold plan.
Several high-ranking commanders abandoned the young King, who was struck down by fever
during this time.
Meanwhile, to the east, King Darius III had been frantically augmenting his army.
He collected an army the size of which the world had never seen.
They marched from Babylon to meet Alexander on the Anatolian peninsula.
This imperial army consisted of Iranian cavalry, Mesopotamian infantry and around 30.000 Greek
mercenaries.
Alexander’s historians Curtius, Justin, Diodorus and Arrian place the number of soldiers
between 312.000 and 600.000.
Meanwhile, Alexander, recovered from his fever, continued his march eastward.
At Gordium, a new challenge awaited him.
The Gordian knot was a legendary knot that was said to have been tied by the ancient
Phrygian king Gordius.
According to legend, an oracle had predicted that the person who untied the knot would
become the ruler of Asia.
The knot was extremely complex and intricate, and many people had tried and failed to untie
it.
Legend has it that instead of untying it, Alexander used his sword to simply cut the
knot.
He was on his way to becoming Asia’s ruler.
Meanwhile, Memnon energetically tried to rouse support for a rebellion in Alexander’s rear.
Sparta was already preparing for war and an Athenian faction reportedly planned to rise
up, when Memnon died during the siege of Mytilene, the base of Persia’s fleet.
His untimely death caused any naval- and insurrection strategies to at least briefly reach a standstill.
Pharnabazus replaced him as commander of the Persian fleet.
Energetically looking for allies against Alexander, he met with Spartan King Agis to instigate
a rebellion in the Peloponnese.
Darius’ scouts learned Alexander traversed the Taurus mountain range, capturing Tarsus
soon after.
His army was not fully capable and equipped yet, but the Persian King felt time was of
the essence.
His army had encamped at Sochi.
Initially, Darius wanted to remain here because the Syrian plain allowed him to use his superior
numbers to his full advantage.
But when Parmenion captured Issus, and Alexander passed through it, leaving Issus as a base
for his sick and wounded, the Persian king decided a perfect opportunity to cut off his
foe presented itself.
He circled around Alexander’s army, cutting them off from their base at Issus.
The Macedonian King was surprised to learn the armies’ positions were now reversed.
With hostile territory to his south, Alexander could do nothing but turn around and fight.
[Battle of Issus sequence]
[Text: “Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and
luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school
of danger and war.”
- Alexander to his troops prior to the Battle of Issus
The armies met a few miles to the south of Issus.
The number of troops both armies fielded is a matter of dispute.
Darius likely outnumbered Alexander.
He fielded up to 100.000 soldiers (although Arrian and Plutarch’s accounts estimates
are as high as 600.000).
Among them were 11.000 cavalry, 10.000 immortals and 10.000 Greek Mercenaries.
Alexander only fielded between 30- and 40.000 soldiers.
Around 24.000 of them were heavy infantry, 13.000 light infantry and up to 6000 cavalry.
Darius deployed his army on a coastal plain, to the north of the Pinarus river.
His army spanned approximately three miles.
Most inexperienced troops manned the Persian left and right.
The vanguard consisted of a line of archers.
The centre consisted of 2000 royal bodyguards, Darius’ elite soldiers.
He commanded them from among their ranks, situated in a great ornemental chariot.
The Royal Bodyguards were flanked by around 30.000 Greek mercenary phalanx and 60.000
handpicked infantrymen, so called Kardakes, professional heavy infantry.
These deployed around the Greek mercenaries.
The Royal Cavalry stood near the King.
To the far right stood the heavy Persian cavalry, south of the Gulf of Issus.
Far in the hills to his left, Darius dispatched a detachment of light infantry to flank around
Alexander’s right flank.
By late afternoon Alexander’s army arrived at the scene.
Darius’ cavalry withdrew - their protective screen prevented the Macedonian King from
adequately assessing the Persian dispositions.
He noticed the Persian cavalry withdrew to the right flank, near the shore.
With the Persian cavalry facing his left, Alexander figured it was best to deploy his
Thessalonian cavalry to augment that flank, instead of their original right position.
His phalanx infantry manned the centre.
Everything to their left was commanded by Parmenion.
The cavalry initially remained behind the Phalanx, concealing their movement.
His Companion cavalry, an elite cavalry unit, augmented the right flank, restricted in their
movement by the hills.
To the far right stood Agrianians, a Thracian tribe, together with archers and lightly armed
infantry.
Realising Persian infantry flanked him from the hills, Alexander ordered the Agrianians
to stop them in their tracks.
The soldiers skirmished in the hills and would not play a role during the actual battle.
Darius’ cavalry on the right flank launched their first charge, crossing the river against
Parmenion and his cavalry.
Despite the ferocious charge, Parmenion bravely resisted.
As the cavalry fought, Alexander ordered the remainder of his army forward.
The goal was for Parmenion to hold out against the Persian cavalry long enough, for Alexander’s
right wing to beat the Persians and mop up the remainder of the enemy.
Instead, things did not go well for Alexander’s army.
As the phalanx advanced and crossed the river, they struggled up the fortified bank of the
river.
Beyond the bank, Greek mercenaries stood at the ready to fight them.
Arrian describes how near-instantly “120 Macedonians of note were slain, and the phalanx
was forced to retreat.”
As this was ongoing, the cavalry on the left was slowly pushed back by the strong and aggressive
Persian cavalry.
But Alexander and his hypaspists also launched a charge.
They faced the Cardaces.
Brutal close-quarter combat broke out.
Despite both type of soldiers being professionals, the hypaspists appeared to best the Cardaces.
Cracks emerged among the Persian line where Alexander and his hypaspists fought.
To his far right, the Agrianians made inroads against the Persian skirmishers.
During the brutal fighting going on, Alexander mounted a horse and led his Companions in
a charge against Darius, who was among the fighting.
According to Plutarch, Alexander had an encounter with Darius:
“'In this action he received a sword wound in the thigh: according to Chares this was
given him by Darius, with whom he engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
Alexander sent a letter to Antipater describing the battle, but made no mention in it of who
had given him the wound: he said no more than that he had been stabbed in the thigh with
a dagger and that the wound was not a dangerous one.”
Plutarch, Alexander 20 (I. Scott-Kilvert trans., Penguin)
The Companion charge against the Persian bodyguards was ferocious.
The lines wavered, and some of the most battle-hardened Persian bodyguard broke.
Darius too turned around and decided it would be best to leave the battlefield.
Instead of pursuing the King, Alexander understood the left and centre was in trouble.
The Greek mercenaries continued the bitter fight against the Macedonian phalanx in the
centre.
The broken Persian core freed up resources to reinforce the struggling phalanx.
Alexander created enough room for his Macedonian cavalry to move freely, despite the terrain
being very narrow.
He launched a charge against the rear of the Greek mercenaries in the centre.
Despite retaining the upper hand against the Macedonian phalanx, a charge to their flank
and rear definitely turned the tide.
Many mercenaries broke, and if they could they fled.
Any other Persian soldier still engaged in combat, realised the king had fled and most
flanks were being overrun.
The army deteriorated into a full-blown rout.
Alexander ordered his cavalry to pursue the fleeing soldiers for as long as daylight allowed
them to.
It is estimated the Persians lost around 20.000 soldiers, although generous estimates put
the number at over 100.000 lost, among whom 10.000 cavalry by Arrian, Curtius, and Plutarch.
Justin gives the same total with a breakdown of 61,000 foot, 10,000 horse and 40,000 captured.
The disparity between these figures and the reported Macedonian losses of less than 500
men is difficult to rhyme with a realistic scenario.
It is more likelyg Alexander’s army lost around 7000 soldiers.
When the Persian King fled, he left behind his ornated chariot, cloak, shield and bow.
Alexander captured his battle camp, including his mother, wife, son and two daughters.
[Aftermath]
The victory at Issus was Alexander’s second major victory in Persian territory.
But it was not decisive.
Up to 10.000 Greek mercenaries escaped, and the Persian King fled into his Empire’s
heartland to assemble yet another army.
The victory did allow Alexander to move his campaign to the south.
He set his eyes on Egypt.
Soon after, Parmenion conquered Damascus.
He seized a wealth of treasure and civilians, implying that Darius intended the city to
become his forward base to run military operations.
Now, Alexander’s goal was to solidify his grip on his newly acquired territories.
He appointed his own satraps: Antigonus the One-Eyed, a certain Ptolemy and Balacrus.
These were meant to crush any dissent behind the frontlines.
To acquire even more legitimacy, he married one of Darius’ daughters, Stateira II.
News of his victory at Issus travelled far and wide, and Alexander was far from done
with his conquest.
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