A. VENEDIKTOV: Hello. This is the “That's right” program. Live broadcast of "Echo of Moscow" Natalia Ivanovna Basovskaya, the author of the program. Hello Natalia Ivanovna.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Hello.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Today we will talk about a man who got into the history books, one of the two Persian kings, Cyrus the Great, and this one is Darius III. If it were not for Alexander the Great, he would not have got into this story, but would have been a completely ordinary and prosperous king, considering that out of the 14 kings of the Achaemenid dynasty, seven did not die by their own death, in this sense he would be a completely prosperous king. But, before we talk about it, I would like to play, as we usually do, 9 books from the ZHZL "Young Guard" series. Another conqueror of the universe is Genghis Khan. Here is the biography of Genghis Khan, published in Moscow by the "Young Guard", we will now play. If you remember our pager number is + 7-985-970-45-45. The question is very simple.
In 1973, the last Iranian Shah gave an order to resume the search for treasures hidden by Darius III during his flight from Alexander the Great. This was done by American professionals. Nothing has been found so far. Thus, the question is as follows. What was the name of the last Iranian shah, the one who in 1973 ordered the search for the treasures of Darius III. If you remember - + 7-985-970-45-45. Don't forget to subscribe. The answer is yours and your name.
Our hero today is Darius III. You know, when I was in school, in the fifth grade, we very often, and in the sixth, we played among ourselves the battles of those centuries, those and later, and the Hundred Years War. Someone was English, someone was French, respectively, the Carthaginian warriors, the Romans. And we always split in half. But when it came to Alexander the Great, no one dared to be Persians. The Persians lost everything. Nobody wanted to be Darius. Not a single game worked! Natalia Ivanovna Basovskaya.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Well, Darius, indeed, is a very peculiar figure in history. I would say that he is very little personified in real historical knowledge. I am not talking about ancient sources, because all of them, most of them were written much later than the life of Darius and Alexander, several centuries later. And they are all completely subjective. Ancient authors write about Alexander. And Darius is only a detail of this description and the image that they create, in many ways also the idealized image of Alexander.
He is rather some kind of figure-sign. So I thought about the signs. The sign of the end of the world power of the Achaemenids, the last ruler of this vibrant dynasty. A sign of weakness that suddenly appeared for contemporaries, the pampered East in front of a younger European civilization, embodied by Macedonia, which had just swallowed the Greek world, the Hellenic world. A sign that sets off the greatness of Alexander in the ancient tradition. Of course, the opposite of their natures, characters and destinies, which so emphasize all ancient works. In this case, I will say compositions, they, of course, complete something. But this opposition, on it, is shaded by the lack of the brightest qualities that Alexander had, due to their absence in Darius, who was defeated by Alexander.
A. VENEDIKTOV: We just do not know this. And in my opinion, this is the most striking or very first example that the winners write history.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Of course. In this case, yes. Because the Achaemenids left without a serious historiographic tradition that would preserve them personally. And the last sign, the sign of fate, human destiny. Still, I will look for a person in him. As usual, we will try to see something human behind all the layers of the ages. A sign of fate, marked by a logical chain of villainies, from which his historical fate begins, and they lead to an absolutely tragic ending. Such a slightly moralizing image.
A. VENEDIKTOV: We will try to reveal these victors, to look at the essence of this tsar, at his life, this tsar, and at the reason and motivation for his actions, and at the tragic death, of course.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Let's start with when he lived. The dates of his life are known - this is the 4th century BC, since he is a contemporary of Alexander. Born 381, accession - 336, only at the age of 45 did he become king. And death is 330. After that, Alexander did not live long before his also tragic death in Babylon. So who is he? Origin. A representative of the side branch of the Achaemenid dynasty, who have been ruling for a long time. The Achaemenid dynasty was founded by some ancestor, this is a semi-legendary Achaemen, this is the leader of a group of Persian tribes.
A. VENEDIKTOV: The leader of the shepherds.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. Then Cyrus II, his descendant, he had already founded the great Achaemenid empire. And this was the 6th century, the middle of the 6th century BC. And here - the second half of the 4th. Quite a long story already.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Two hundred and fifty years of a dynasty.
N. BASOVSKAYA: The Achaemenids created a powerful state formation that stretched, let's imagine a map of the world, in the east - the valley of the Indus River to the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean in the west. It consisted of Egypt, part of Libya, part of the Balkan Peninsula, the northern part of Thrace and Macedonia, the Scythians, some lands of Great Scythia, with which the Achaemenids and Arabia fought with difficulty. That is, it is indeed a giant world power.
A. VENEDIKTOV: This is the Near and Middle East, plus the South Caucasus.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. And modern Iraq is the core. Who are the Persians? Long-standing ancestors of those who would later be called the inhabitants of Iran. From Persia, the ancient Greek transmission of the ancient Persian word "Parsa". True, modern Iran adopted a different name, it comes from the abbreviation "Country of the Aryans", they then adopted a different version of their Aryan white-skinned origin. They entered the historical arena at the turn of the 2nd millennium BC, a group of Persian tribes. Gradually, they began to populate the province first of all. The modern province of Iran, Fars. And then they captured the ancient Ilam, one of the brightest states of antiquity, on the territory of which the tribes, related to Darvid, lived, i.e. indigenous people of ancient India, blacks.
Then came the arrival of the white-skinned Aryans. They will have a long, complex, confusing history. But the episode is quite long with the Achaemenids, it is very noticeable.
A. VENEDIKTOV: The Achaemenids Cyrus the Great created the Empire and lost Darius III, our hero.
N. BASOVSKAYA: And from them came a long history of the birth of other empires on its ruins. But Alexander played the main role. That is, this meeting, a significant episode in world history, is another meeting of East and West, which take place throughout world history. As if some giant pulsar lives, East and West are converging, colliding, in some way influencing each other, and again diverging.
A. VENEDIKTOV: But we can say that, with the exception of the Greco-Persian wars, this is the first meeting, the first clash. But in general, the great ancient Egyptian power was brought down to a large extent by certain peoples of the sea, and these are also the ancestors of Europeans. That is, there is no end to it. You will be lost.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Well, God bless them.
N. BASOVSKAYA: So, its origin. Side branch. He is the great-grandson of one of the Achaemenids, Darius II, who was born 25 years after the death of his great-grandfather. Father's name - Arsam, mother - Sisigambis, religion - Zoroastrianism, if we filled out the questionnaire. [Zoroastrianism (Avest. Mazda Yasna, literally "veneration of the Wise", Wahvi Daen, "Good Faith") is a religion that developed on the basis of the revelation of the prophet Spitama Zarathushtra (Greek form of the name - Zoroaster), which he received from God - Ahura Mazda
A. VENEDIKTOV: Well, a huge imperial family, when the family is perceived not only as a straight line of Achaemenids.
N. BASOVSKAYA: He is not on the straight line, which made him noticeable. Firstly, there is a certain legend that he was seen as a warrior, by the way, then we will remember, because then, as the Greeks write, he is completely incapable of fighting. The Greeks only write about his inability. He was seen as a warrior, when in a duel, in an individual battle, he defeated a certain hero from a hostile tribe. It was like a traditional fight scene before a fight.
A. VENEDIKTOV: In the presence of the king, in the presence.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Such a warrior is noticed. His name was then Kodoman. Historians are very serious specialists, they discuss in fundamental monographs on the Persian state. Is Kodoman a name or a nickname? And then he took the royal name. But from the realm of not legends, by the time he comes to power, in a completely usurpatory way, as it should be, albeit a distant relative, in a criminal traditional way.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Traditionally criminal.
N. BASOVSKAYA: He made a career. Perhaps, being seen by legend as a warrior ...
A. VENEDIKTOV: Why do you say “according to legend”? Indeed, in fact, people write about this who do not really sympathize with him. There was a fight, some hero called, everyone was afraid, just Chelubey. He went out, walking in front of the king Artaxerxes, young, by the way, very young, he was 20 years old. And he won.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Maybe he won.
A. VENEDIKTOV: And the army shouted "Hurray!"
N. BASOVSKAYA: As a rule, all such stories are later composed. When a person becomes a king, a glorious past is composed for him. That is why I speak about it with such caution. Everyone who came to power, all the more, he came badly, suspiciously, tragically, he must make up such a story for himself. But the obvious fact that he made a career is that by the time he came to power, he was a satrap of Armenia.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I need to explain.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Satrapies are the names of regions within the Achaemenid state, introduced as a result of the reforms of one of the greatest Achaemenids, Darius I, 6th century. Darius I began to rule in 522. He carried out a whole series of reforms. And it was precisely from the time of Darius I, and not even Cyrus II the Great, who was the founder of the dynasty, that the empire became a relatively integral organization. And one of the most important results is the introduction of a territorial administrative division. He divided the empire into satrapies. Already Armenia is not Armenia, but a region, a district, whatever you like.
A. VENEDIKTOV: A subject of the federation.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. And he headed one of the subjects. This is a great post. Satraps are people who are directly admitted to the king.
A. VENEDIKTOV: The satraps possessed both military power, administrative and judicial. These were full-fledged governors appointed personally by the king from people whom the king personally knew. Still, it is confirmed that he was close enough to Artaxerxes.
N. BASOVSKAYA: He made a major career. And I must say that the behavior of these satraps in the spirit of the ancient Eastern empire was such that in today's Russian language the word "satrap" has an abusive connotation. This is the one who serves the king, serves earnestly, trampling on any moral, human norms, if it pleases his ruler. And this is the word "satrap", which for antiquity is just the name of a position ...
A. VENEDIKTOV: Governor.
N. BASOVSKAYA: ... has acquired. And you never know what modern terms will acquire.
A. VENEDIKTOV: That is, he is a satrap of Armenia. Armenia at that moment was a very important element of the empire. This is the northern part of the empire, bordered by the Scythians.
N. BASOVSKAYA: How noticeable is that this area is always a very important element. The fact is that the Persian state is advancing to Europe through Armenia. And all these eastern, not Far Eastern, but central-eastern ancient states, they tend to spread to Europe, as modern Turkey seeks, having a small piece in Europe, to belong to the European community. And these trends turn out to be very stable.
So how did he come to power? Here, too, all these are oral legends, later recorded by the Greeks, Romans, broadcast to us, writes the Greek Plutarch, but already in Roman times.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Some letters have survived.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Something persisted. And the stories of the ancient East were that he came to power through a certain rather traditionally repulsive court figure, a eunuch named Bagoy. This eunuch, an Egyptian by birth, through a court physician, poisoned Darius' predecessor, Arses, who had only been in power for two years.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I must say that in this case Bagoi was the prime minister in our understanding. He was not a harem keeper.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Traditionally a disgusting political figure.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Disgustingly political. Byzantium will show it later. He was prime minister under Artaxerxes III, under which there was an exaltation, then allegedly poisoned his benefactor, planted his youngest son, now poisoned him.
N. BASOVSKAYA: It has become a habit. I must say that the eunuchs of this ancient time, I think, in real life they were least engaged in harems. This is just the traditional way of coming to be close to the person of the Sultan, the king, whatever he is called. Because intimacy through a harem is a manifestation of personal contact, and personal contact turns into political contact.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Yes, it is transforming into political contact.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Normal for the ancient world.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Note that he is an Egyptian, not a Persian.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Egyptian.
A. VENEDIKTOV: It doesn't matter where you are from, it is important that you are a subject.
N. BASOVSKAYA: And it is better to rely on an Egyptian, who here has fewer personal connections of his own. So by poisoning comes. As informers report, in two or three phrases they can say a lot that he believed, this such a hardened courtier with great experience, that with his experience he would really not be a Kodoman, but a warrior.
A. VENEDIKTOV: He is a provincial, he is a governor in some kind of Armenia, he was in prison for many years.
N. BASOVSKAYA: I will manage everything. But it can be assumed that Bagoi had some grounds, the further fate of Darius III shows that there were apparently grounds in his individual character that pushed Bagoi to this concept. In fact, he was rushing about, changing his position rather quickly, changing his mind, impatient. And now Bagoi, a hardened courtier, thought that he would cope with him. But I was wrong. For the Kodoman is yesterday, and now Darius III quickly figured out how to do the right thing, to broadcast Bagoya as a murderer. And murderers must be punished.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I want to say that let's imagine for a second. So, a 45-year-old provincial, a distant relative of the royal family, who has already chosen the entire resource, making a career, where after the satrap? Well, commander-in-chief. All.
N. BASOVSKAYA: The satraps were in command of the troops.
A. VENEDIKTOV: He becomes the head of a huge empire, consisting of many satrapies. There are already threats of invasion, because even under Bagoi, Philip II of Macedon began to send reconnaissance flights to Asia Minor, where the uprising of Greek cities. And he arrives at the court. Such a provincial, Vespasian is our beloved, such a peasant, without any connection in the aristocracy. [Titus Flavius \u200b\u200bVespasian (senior) (lat.Titus Flavius \u200b\u200bVespasianus, November 17, 9 - June 24, 79), who went down in history under the name Vespasian - the Roman emperor from December 20, 69 (proclaimed by the troops on July 1), the founder of the Flavian dynasty, one of the most active and successful princeps of the 1st century. Cognomen "Vespasian" probably got it because of his favorite pastime - breeding bees.]
N. BASOVSKAYA: But he very quickly fell in love with refined luxury. I want to emphasize that Darius III pounced on the delights of the royal life ...
A. VENEDIKTOV: How beautiful you said that.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Though I restored it bit by bit. He pounced eagerly, as happens with those of whom you have just spoken. He is from the province, from such, albeit a large career, but somewhere in the distance. Caucasus, the capital of the great Achaemenid state. These are Persepolis, Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana. These are the centers of their civilization. The Caucasus, many of them do not know where it is. Somewhere in the far west. This is how Plutarch writes about the situation in the tent of Darius during the war. After an unsuccessful battle, which will be discussed. What's important is what's in the tent. “When Alexander, who seized this tent, saw all kinds of vessels, jugs, basins, rubbers, all skillfully made of pure gold, when he heard the amazing smell of fragrant herbs and other incense, when finally he went into the tent, amazing in its size, height, decoration of boxes and tables, Tsar Alexander looked at his friends and said: "This, apparently, is what it means to reign."
So, Darius III began to reign with might and main. His wife, the beautiful Stateira, is very good according to all versions of the ancient authors. And Plutarch so simply, with the childlike naivety inherent in the ancients, writes: "The most beautiful of all queens." That's all in general in the world.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Let's remember that Alexander the Great is marrying their daughter, a beauty too.
Y. NECHIPORENKO: They have children, beautiful daughters. The eldest son will die in the battle with Alexander at Granicus, the younger son will be captured after the battle at Isa. He has a family, and this is the enjoyment of luxury. Those booty that Alexander will receive during this war, naive people in the 70s of the twentieth century were looking for wealth, this is a delusion, they did not prepare well. When you read what tons of gold, silver, jewelry were taken out, how many thousands of mules and camels it took to take all this out, how many talents are tons. This, I repeat, is tons of gold and silver. Then I think that in vain they were looking for the treasures of Darius.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I will quote Diodorus with your permission. Diodorus reports that Alexander the Great plunged all the treasures they seized in Persia into more than 3 thousand camels and 20 thousand mules, i.e. for 23 thousand pack animals. Seven hundred and fifty thousand talents of silver and gold. If we remember that one talent weighs 26 kg.
N. BASOVSKAYA: From 22 to 26 kg. This is inconceivable! They searched in vain. In vain, in vain wasted time and money in the twentieth century.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Crassus will also search, thinking that Darius hid something, and Caesar will search, Nero will search.
N. BASOVSKAYA: If Alexander the Great was so shocked by the military tent, but in general, when he burst in there, Darius is not there, he fled, he said to his friends, Alexander: “Come on, wash away the dust and sweat of battle in the tent of the fled Tsar ". He wanted to take a shower, a bath. And when he saw all this, that he was carrying tens and hundreds of gold objects on a campaign, he imagined what it meant to reign. And then these thousands of mules and camels, this is incredible enrichment. When Alexander began his great eastern campaign, there were 70 talents in his treasury. And here there are tens of thousands.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Natalia Ivanovna Basovskaya, we are talking about Tsar Darius III. We have come to the point where Darius III began to reign, and at the same time the invasion of the Macedonians begins. And for the rest of his royal life, six years, it will be a war with Alexander the Great, which will end badly for him. But more on that later.
N. BASOVSKAYA: They became tsars in one year, and two years later Alexander began the war.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I asked you what the last Iranian Shah was looking for gold, ordered to look for gold of Darius III. The correct answer is Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. And the book "Genghis Khan, Conqueror of the Universe" of the ZhZL series of the Molodaya Gvardia publishing house is received by Natasha - 155, Boris - 673, Andrey - 592, Arkady Mikhailovich - 628, Vladimir - 492, Vera - 151, Svetlana - 209, Denis - 566, Marina - 686.
Our hero with Natalia Basovskaya - Darius III, the last tsar, the great tsar from the Achaemenid dynasty, they said, addressed: "Great tsar." I will quote a line from his letter to Alexander the Great. They corresponded, and the correspondence was preserved. Darius wrote to him: "You will have time to grow old in the time that you need to just walk through my domain." Personal correspondence.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Darius III imagined the scale he inherited from his ancestors, an unprecedented, huge power. He imagined this much more real and better than, for example, in the coming Middle Ages only the Western European population will represent, for example, going from France to the East, where Jerusalem is located, and at what distance. This Ancient East had traditionally more thorough geographical knowledge. But now about the qualities, properties of our character Darius III. At the beginning of the war, as well as in the future, he made many mistakes. That's what. For all the prejudice of the ancient authors, it is still evident from the facts. And very serious researchers talk about it. Which mistakes? First of all, they all, and he, too, in the first place, were afraid of the father of Alexander Philip II. They were very afraid. And not without reason.
Philip II, the conqueror of Greece, a very energetic man, a man of strength, a ruler of strength, a rude Macedonian, a warrior who came from the north. And they not without reason thought that he was preparing a war against the East, against Persia, and he must be removed. Most likely, the Persian gold is famous, had something to do with the assassination of Philip II. But they could not imagine that they should be even more afraid of 18-year-old Alexander, his son. First, there was no certainty that this would really be his successor. There was some fighting after the assassination of Philip II. The young man is 18 years old, many objected. But he did.
And in the two years that will pass before the start of his great eastern campaign, he will already show his originality. So Darius III was mistaken in what. Considering that the murder of Philip solved the issue in many ways, he was deceived, he ceased to be so much afraid of energetic movements from the West. In addition, in 335, a year before the start of the great campaign, Alexander recalled his best general, Parmenion, from Asia Minor. He recalled him to prepare for an eastern campaign. And Parmenion will play a very important role for most of the trip. Darius considered, misunderstood, that the departure of this Macedonian commander from Asia Minor meant that there would be no campaign to the East.
A. VENEDIKTOV: And the most interesting thing is that the satraps of Asia Minor in this sense reported to the king that it was they who drove out Parmenion, they forced him to leave, everything is in order. Everything is calm in Baghdad!
N. BASOVSKAYA: They lied. Satrap - he is a satrap, so that, creating the appearance of his endless lackey devotion to the master, in fact, lie to him, thereby betraying him. His satraps will lie to Darius more than once during this war. Here's why they lied. They wanted to show everyone how wonderful they dealt with the Macedonians themselves, the Macedonians left. They were very afraid that Darius, fearing a threat from the West, would begin to strengthen the coast of Asia Minor, which means that the position of the king in their satrapies would become stronger, and they disorientated him.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Moreover, the young tsar, he rules for the first year.
N. BASOVSKAYA: As a result, Darius not only did not begin to strengthen the coast of Asia Minor, which was necessary to do, and clever Greek mercenaries from the enemies of Alexander, who fled from Greece, told him that this should be done. But he didn't. Moreover, he smugly and, being in a great delusion, sent orders to his satraps that if Alexander pushed himself here, this young Macedonian king, they would certainly take him alive. Take him alive ... You yourself will perish in this struggle. And deliver it alive to Susa. Here are the measures of his disorientation, which are rigged by the satraps.
In the spring of 334 BC. Alexander the Great began a campaign to Asia. If we compare with the Persian capabilities of the Persian king, with very modest forces, about 30 thousand infantry, 4.5 thousand cavalry, while the Persians in Asia Minor have only 40 thousand people, and Darius will need 100 Already around 100 thousand people by all means.
The Macedonians crossed the Hellespont and the first battle took place in 334, the Battle of the Granicus River. No one expected such a victory with the absolute numerical superiority of the Persians. The victory is tough, very tough. The best part of the army of Darius, as it turned out in this battle. Darius himself does not participate here.
A. VENEDIKTOV: He is still in the capital.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Its best commander is the Greek Memnon. From the very fugitives who fled for political reasons from the power of the Macedonians in Greece. In general, he advised not to accept the battle with Alexander there, not to immediately give battle to this young, hot, energetic one. Let it cool, let it get stuck in the deserted Asia Minor, weaken it with all sorts of attacks. A very clever tactic. Of course not, it was not accepted, they did not obey him. So. At Granicus, the Persians are defeated.
A. VENEDIKTOV: And you said that Darius's son died there.
N. BASOVSKAYA: The satrap of Lydia Ionia, Spitridat, died, this is Darius's son-in-law, one of Darius's sons died, Alexander could have died. Cleitus, his foster brother, twin brother, whom Alexander would later kill personally with his own hand with a spear, Cleitus cut off the hand of this Spitridates when he almost killed Alexander, because he will once again save his life. Cleet will save twice. After all, in order to be then pierced with a spear, you need to do a lot of good for this person. So this is the first meeting. I, as I suppose, collecting bit by bit all the ideas about Daria, he nevertheless considered it a misunderstanding, a mistake, in no way the beginning of a great tragedy, a raid, but dangerous.
And he decided to act, to bet on his own Eastern method - to send the killer to Alexander. He found a man, an enemy of Alexander from an internal enemy. Alexander of Linksetian, as his nickname, he commanded the Thracian cavalry at Alexander. The chief of the cavalry, a very important figure! The assassin's reward was promised - 1,000 gold talents, plus the throne of Macedonia. He was ready to commit this crime. But a certain Persian spy was captured, thereby Parmenius, the commander of the older generation. And, probably, under torture, he betrayed Darius's plan.
Then the commander of this Thracian cavalry was captured and taken into custody. Alexander did not want wide publicity of this event, and therefore he was simply taken into custody, and information about him sunk into oblivion. Alexander did not want to show that he had such a dangerous situation inside, in the army.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I didn't want to.
N. BASOVSKAYA: But Darius probably decided that this was again an accident. He, however, does not have a military leader. After the death of Mnemnon, he does not have such a person who would stand out for his merits. Another Greek came forward, Haridem, expelled from Athens by order of Alexander. How politics and war are intertwined here is quite natural. He is ready to lead the one hundred thousandth army of Darius. A denunciation comes. He's a former Athenian strategist, this Haridem. A denunciation comes to Darius - he will betray.
A. VENEDIKTOV: From their satraps.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Again satraps. Will betray, be sure to betray! There is no evidence. But Darius, in this sense, the eastern ruler, orders, just in case, to execute Haridem. Going to execution, the doomed Haridem says, all the authors convey the words in which he predicts the obligatory loss of the kingdom. "You will pay for what you did to me by the early loss of your kingdom." Most likely a later invented legend. But that there were such people from the enemies of Alexander, and a stake was made on them, quite in the spirit of the ancient Eastern empire and monarchy. It is not necessary to win in a head-on formation. Remove the uncomfortable and dangerous Alexander.
As for the clashes, battles, the limitations of Darius, such an internal, deep, it is not for nothing that our modern ones, in the twentieth century, were compared with some similar wavering military politicians, up to Nicholas II in Russia, who made a decision, canceled the decision who could not, like Alexander, quickly rebuild. Darius was convinced that this absolute number, the absolute global size of his state would allow him to recruit such an army that, sooner or later, it would defeat any Macedonian phalanx.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I would return to that and remind our listeners that Darius is a young tsar, although he is already 47 years old. Yes, he was supported by the aristocracy, the army, but he didn't even know who to rely on. This provincial who has sat on the throne, whom to rely on? Who is lying, who is not? How to read reports?
N. BASOVSKAYA: But everyone lies. And so he decides to lead the army himself. He probably shouldn't have done it.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Well, if you remember that he is a satrap of Armenia ...
N. BASOVSKAYA: He absolutely could not imagine that again, apparently, the army was more than 100 thousand. One, in itself, the number will decide everything. And Alexander is already here, in this meeting, this is 333, such a convenient round date, the Battle of Isa. This is already deep in Asia. Alexander proved that he would win not by numbers, but by military talent and courage and maneuverability. Alexander's army moved south towards Phenicia to capture Phenicia. Learning that the countless army of Darius III can chase after him, having come from the East, he turns his army around and goes to meet danger. Not from danger, as Darius will do twice, but towards her.
The Macedonian phalanx is moving towards Darius, and what prompted Darius to take such a decisive step - to stand at the head himself? He had a dream, in a dream a Macedonian phalanx, and these are six rows of warriors with spears of different lengths, the latter, rear, have a five-meter spear. Designed by Alexander's predecessor, Philip II. And in a dream, the Macedonian phalanx is engulfed in flames, Alexander serves Darius, enters the temple at the same time and disappears. Well, the courtiers, obsequious to him, have explained it! All! Victory is guaranteed. And so he himself stood at the head of the army. He himself made an unwise decision regarding the maneuver, driving his huge army into a cramped space. Only a huge field would fit him.
He voluntarily led him into a cramped space, and already there the massacre began. And here are the Macedonians, who are fewer, but who fight more violently, because Darius has no one knows who, these are forcibly driven people, these are representatives of various tribes, his power is cracking, it is torn like a patchwork quilt. What is Darius to them! What are they going to fight for? And so far Alexander has organized in his army - we are the great Hellenes, we are enlightened Greeks, we are going to avenge past grievances, for the Greco-Persian wars, we carry culture and God knows what!
At least Alexander's troops have an idea. Darius's army has no idea. He himself is on a war chariot, but there is such a crush and massacre around the chariot! Corpses are falling, he has nowhere to take a step to the side, Alexander personally rushes to his chariot, while wounded in the thigh, this slowed him down, but did not destroy him. And in the end, Darius shows cowardice, gets off this chariot, she cannot go, there are only corpses under her feet, jumps on a horse, and is carried away from the battlefield at Isa. First, but not the last time. The second will be the last. It will be under the Gaugamela. What is awesome! At the same time, he left his family. In full force: mother, wife, little son and two adult daughters-beauties.
This magnificent five went to Alexander. They are captives, they are hostages. It's incredible. But the cowardice shown here is fantastic. And some time passes, a little less than a year, and he writes a letter to Alexander, they bring a letter.
A. VENEDIKTOV: By the way, I would like to say that after the battle of Isa there were three messages from Darius with proposals for peace. He acts as a peacemaker. He is ready to declare him king, he is ready to share the empire with him.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Surrender on certain conditions, not completely, but dividing power. But Alexander answered him, according to one of the Roman authors Arian, just amazing! He writes to Darius, Alexander: “You, with the help of Bagoi, killed Arses and seized power unjustly, contrary to Persian laws. You are unfair to the Persians. " Alexander, of course, is a politician. So he is concerned about the interests of the Persians. “You sent inappropriate letters to the Hellenes (Greeks), calling them to war with me. You sent money to the Hellenes and your ambassadors bribed my supporters and tried to destroy the peace that I established in Hellas. I won the battle, first your military commanders-strategists, and now you and your army. And I own this land because the gods gave it to me. I am now the ruler of all Asia. And when in the future you write to me - write as the king of Asia, and do not address as an equal. "
That is, there is a grandiose military-political battle between the Western European world represented by the Macedonian army and this amazing leader, Alexander the Great, and the last Archaemenides, who does not yet know that he is the last, but very soon he will understand this. Darius offered Alexander to return his family for 10 thousand talents, this is again an enormous amount of precious metals.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Two hundred and sixty thousand tons of gold and silver.
N. BASOVSKAYA: As well as all the lands beyond the Euphrates. This means Syria, part of Iran, Asia Minor, most of it, Egypt and Arabia. And a daughter as a wife as a sign of friendship and union. Well, he can marry his daughter without his talking.
A. VENEDIKTOV: That's what he wrote.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes, that doesn't matter to me.
A. VENEDIKTOV: I will marry without your consent.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Then his wife, Dariya, will die in captivity, and will die of childbirth. And Darius will be very much killed, but who, whose child was it? He will be assured that Alexander treated her absolutely chastely. The official version that he kept them chaste did not even reduce the number of servants in excellent conditions. But still, Darius will be killed. This is a big moral blow. When these conditions came, Parmenion, this famous, very experienced commander, said the famous phrase: "If I were Alexander, I would accept these conditions." And the equally famous answer of Alexander: “By Zeus, I would have done the same if I were Parmenion. But I am Alexander. "
That is, in essence, in this competition of two worlds, with the outward impossibility of victory for the 40-thousandth, 50-thousandth army of Alexander, 2.5-4 thousand of his cavalry over this darkness that Darius collects. Before the last decisive battle, before the Battle of Gaugamela, he again gathered something innumerable. And ancient authors write about 1 million warriors. But modern historians do not accept this.
A. VENEDIKTOV: It is impossible to put on this field.
N. BASOVSKAYA: And there it is very often necessary to take away zeros from ancient authors. In the Middle Ages in Western Europe, in the chronicles, I know that you need to cross out one zero, it will be close to the truth. In reality, they say that about 100 thousand could have been. Against 40 thousand from Alexander. What did Darius's army look like? Indians, Bactrians, Sagdians, inhabitants of Bactria and Sagdiana, Central Asia. There are 200 chariots in the army, that's a lot, 15 elephants. And these Indians, Bactrians, Sagdians, for the first time, perhaps under the Gaugamels, are already in the heart of modern Iran on the Tigris River, inside modern Iran, not far from the ruins of the capital of Ancient Assyria, Nineveh. In this battle they have some reason, maybe they are motivated for the first time. Knowing about the previous defeats of Darius III and about the unthinkable victories of Alexander ...
A. VENEDIKTOV: ... they think that he will go further.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. And they are right. He himself, perhaps, has not decided everything. Again, here the special scientific literature looks very interesting, because there are disputes - he decided by this time, Alexander, that he would go further east or not. He will have disputes with his army, it will be a difficult question. But, in any case, in this battle, the army of Darius fought, perhaps more energetically than before. And it is no coincidence that this battle is reflected in one of the frescoes that are now present here in our studio. Pompeii is the 1st century AD, but the memory of this battle lived on. And this mosaic, not a fresco, I said incorrectly, on one of the Pompeian walls, now in the National Museum in Naples, amazingly depicts this piece of the battle, when Darius is back on the chariot.
Again, the property of such natures is to repeat their mistakes. After all, he understood then that the inability of the chariot to move against the background of numerous fallen soldiers and animals, it ruins him. But he's on the chariot again! This is the stability of the East. The king fights like this. Again with his combat bow, which he does not need at all. At this time, Alexander needs brains, not a bow or a sword. He always decides where to throw, whether to help Parmenion, he will save him from complete defeat, his flank. He thinks all the time.
And this king should be with a huge bow, with his regalia. After the battle at Isa, he had already abandoned them, and here, near Gaugamela, he will abandon them again. Darius runs again. He is running, in a hurry. Alexander pursues him, he took refuge in the capital of Media, Ecbatana, guessing that Alexander would not follow him there, but he had to move somewhere to the east in order to gather some new forces. And Alexander understands this too. But in general, as in some modern blockbuster, in a detective story, a long, film version can be imagined.
A. VENEDIKTOV: The pursuit.
N. BASOVSKAYA: A long hard chase. They stop for the night, see how long ago Darius passed here. Darius runs, surrounded by several satraps, in many ways the heroes of our today's program. Among them there is the most disgusting, and it is not for nothing that his name is somehow surprising, accidentally sounds disgusting in Russian - his name is Bess.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Bessos, as the Greeks write.
N. BASOVSKAYA: In Russian transcription, he survived as Bess. There are several satraps. A part of the Greek mercenaries who always retreated last and betrayed the one to whom they were hired last. That is, he has a chance to get farther to the east.
A. VENEDIKTOV: He has no chance.
N. BASOVSKAYA: And there are letters that show that he thinks so. That the very size of his empire, which he so boasted to Alexander, will save him.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Our satraps ...
N. BASOVSKAYA: ... there are satraps! He's deposed! Deposed first. Bess, who was distantly related to the Achaemenid clan, i.e. Darius III number two, he also had some distant kinship, explains to his entourage, to the people who surround the fugitive, that this man, who fled twice in the heat of battle, is not suitable for saving the Persian kingdom, and I am. Darius deposed ...
A. VENEDIKTOV: Thrown into a peasant cart, shackled.
N. BASOVSKAYA: No respect, he is already a pitiful prisoner. And when it turns out that Alexander is catching up with this whole company ...
A. VENEDIKTOV: Twenty thousand steps.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. He was stabbed to death, Darius III, apparently Bess personally, apparently. Well, it doesn't matter anymore, you can't prove it. And here the clever Alexander, who in this sense was also, of course, a great politician, ordered to punish the murderers, which will soon be done, and to show royal honors to Darius III, they say, we, the kings, must be treated well. And then a wonderful legend was composed that when dying, Darius asked for water, and asked to convey to Alexander his gratitude for how he treated his family, and shook hands with the Greek who was next to him so that he would give a handshake to Alexander.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Alexander will become his son-in-law, still marry his daughter. And she will wait for the child when Alexander, the heir of Darius and Alexander, died. But there were several wives. She will be strangled immediately after Alexander's death. Darius' daughter and wife of Alexander the Great.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Well, the fate of Darius III is the fate of a great empire. And she is amazing, like a drop of water, his personal life reflects the fate of such a grandiose, bright, but very short-term state formation. Well, the empire of Alexander the Great will live even shorter. And in the place of the heart of the possession of Darius, in the place of the future Iran, there will be a Seleucid state, headed by one of the successors of Alexander Seleucus, and it will form the core of future successive empires. Everything is perishable in this world.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Natalia Ivanovna Basovskaya.
Daryavakhush's own name was, it seems, Artashat. He belonged to a side branch of the Achaemenids and was such a distant relative of the ruling dynasty that he did not inspire serious fears among its members. , who killed many of his closest relatives in order to avoid unrest, left Dariavakhush alive and even made him a satrap of Armenia. In 336 BC, after another coup, the almighty eunuch Bagoi proclaimed Daryavakhush king. Fearing the machinations of Bagoi, the newly made Darius III poisoned him.
Meanwhile, a war with Macedonia was brewing. The Macedonian king was preparing a campaign to Asia. Darius III was forced to take the necessary measures to repel the Macedonian aggression. Upon learning of death, Darius III breathed a sigh of relief. However, he did not enjoy the peace for long. In 334, the son invaded Persia with an army of 35,000. Although Dariavakhush had an incomparably more numerous army than his opponent, in terms of its fighting qualities it was much inferior to the Macedonian. The most persistent part of the Persian army were 30 thousand Greek mercenaries under the command of the Rhodian Memnon (apparently, he was a very talented commander, and if Daryavakhush followed all his advice, he could possibly have waged a more successful war against the Macedonians).
At the beginning of 334 BC he crossed over to Asia and in May at the river Granik on the banks of the Hellespont inflicted the first defeat on the Persians. After that, all Lydia and Phrygia, without resistance, went over to the side of the winner. Only in Miletus and Halicarnassus, defended by the mercenaries of Memnon, the Macedonians were shown worthy resistance. Possessing a strong fleet and dominating the sea, Memnon intended to land in Greece (many Greek states that suffered under the rule of the Macedonians were ready to rebel immediately). But in 333 BC Memnon died suddenly. The Persian army lost its only worthy commander and was doomed from now on to suffer only defeats.
Death of Darius III Kodoman
Already in the summer of 333 BC, all of Asia Minor was in the hands of Alexander. Meanwhile, Daryavakhush gathered a large army in Babylonia and marched with him to Cilicia. In November 333 BC there was a great battle at Issa. Daryavakhush, who personally led the Persian army, assigned the decisive role to the cavalry, which was supposed to crush the enemy's left wing. To strengthen his left flank, Alexander concentrated there all the Thessalian cavalry, and he himself, with the Macedonian cavalry, dealt a crushing blow to the Persians on the other flank. The right wing of Daryavakhush's army was defeated, but at the same time in the center the mercenaries broke through the Macedonian phalanx (on rough terrain it was difficult for the Macedonians to keep their ranks close). Unfortunately for himself, Dariavakhush failed to build on this success. Meanwhile, Alexander, having put to flight the enemies facing him, turned to the mercenaries. Attacked from the flank and front, they were overturned and killed. The Macedonians began to push the Persians along the entire front. Daryavakhush almost fell into captivity and, abandoning his royal chariot, fled. The Persian camp went to the winners. The mother, wife, two daughters and the young son of Daryavakhush were seized. In the following months, the Macedonians captured Syria, Phenicia (here only Tire resisted them), Judea and Egypt.
In 331 BC, he began a new campaign into the interior of the Persian state. By this time, Daryavakhush managed to assemble a large army (according to the testimony of ancient authors, its number exceeded 1 million people). In September, the decisive battle of Gaugamela took place. As well as at Issus, the Persians had an advantage on the right flank, where the cavalry detachments of the Medes, Parthians, Sakas and other Iranians were concentrated. The attack of this mass of the cavalry army put the Macedonians who opposed them in a difficult position. But while a stubborn battle was going on here, Alexander with the Macedonian cavalry penetrated into the center of the Persian army and began to hit the king's bodyguards. The outcome of the battle was still far from clear when Daryavakhush, abandoning his army, fled to Media. Panic seized the Persian warriors, and the tsarist army was defeated. Soon, Daryavakhush, hiding in the Median mountains, learned about the new successes of the conqueror: Alexander captured the richest cities of the Persians: Babylon, Susa, Persepolis and Pasargadae. The colossal treasures of the Achaemenids passed into his hands. But he still did not know the rest - in the spring of 330 BC the Macedonians invaded Media and took Ecbatana. Dariavakhush, who no longer had any authority by this time, was deprived of power by the Bactrian satrap. When one day the Macedonians, stubbornly pursuing the remnants of the retreating army, overtook the Bactrians, they killed Daryavakhush and fled. The king's corpse was delivered, and he ordered to bury it in compliance with all royal honors.
The Battle of Gaugamela took place on October 1, 331 BC. e. - the decisive battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and the Persian king Darius III, after which the Achaemenid empire ceased to exist.
336 BC e. - the son of Philip II, 20-year-old Alexander, became the king of the Macedonian state. No less talented and even more ambitious than his father, he continued to prepare for the great war with Persia. Having suppressed timid attempts to resist the Macedonian power, 2 years after his accession, Alexander began an unprecedented campaign in ancient history, which forever immortalized his name.
334 BC e., spring - invaded Asia through the Hellespont Strait. In his army, according to Diodorus, there were 32,000 infantry and about 5,000 cavalry. The first battle with the army of the Persian satraps took place on the Granik River, not far from Troy. In the battle of Granicus, the troops of the satraps, mostly cavalry (up to 20,000), were scattered, the Persian infantry fled, and the Greek hoplite mercenaries were surrounded and destroyed.
Soon after that, Alexander captured all of Asia Minor, and then, a year later, in the battle of Issus, he inflicted a crushing defeat on the army led by the Persian king Darius III himself. Darius fled deep into his vast empire, and while he was gathering a new army from the peoples subject to him, Alexander captured Phenicia, Syria and Egypt. Especially difficult was the siege of Tire, which dragged on for 7 months. Finally, Tire was taken, the population was partly killed, partly sold into slavery.
By the beginning of 331 BC. e. the entire Mediterranean part of the Persian empire recognized the power of Alexander the Great. The Persian king himself twice offered him peace, under the terms of which he recognized all the Macedonian conquests. Darius promised a huge amount of gold and silver as compensation, but Alexander categorically refused peace negotiations. “All or nothing” - this motto suited the young Tsar Alexander as well as possible.
331 BC e., spring - the Macedonian king began a campaign with the aim of completely destroying the Persian state. Alexander's army marched from Memphis to the Euphrates and crossed it. After she headed in a northeastern direction to the Tigris, she safely crossed it, despite the rapid current, never meeting the enemy. From here Alexander headed south and on September 24 stumbled upon the forward cavalry of the Persians. By that time, the Persians had again assembled a large army and camped on the plain near the village of Gaugamela, 75 km away. from the city of Arbela (because this battle is sometimes called the battle of Arbela).
The balance of forces of opponents
For this most important battle, the Macedonian king gathered huge, by the standards of the European armies of that time, forces. By this time, Alexander's army had more than 50,000 men: two large phalanxes of heavy infantry (about 30,000), two half-phalanxes of hypaspists (about 10-12,000), cavalry (4-7,000), and several thousand lightly armed slingers and archers.
But the Persian king, in the 2 years that have passed since the battle of Issus, was able to gather a truly grandiose army. Of course, the ancient sources also here allow a strong exaggeration, numbering in it and 300 and 500,000, and even a million soldiers. But there can hardly be any doubt that the army of Darius in quantitative terms was significantly superior to the Macedonian-Greek army.
Modern historians estimate its number at 100 - 150,000, but here it must be borne in mind that most of this army was actually militia. So the quality of the Macedonian army was head and shoulders above. And yet, nevertheless ... The Battle of Gaugamela was undoubtedly the largest clash between West and East, and it was in it that Alexander the Great first found himself on the verge of defeat, and hence death.
The beginning of the Battle of Gaugamela
On the eve of the battle, the two armies were located at a distance of about 6 km. apart. The Macedonian king gave the troops a rest in a fortified camp. The Persians, fearing a surprise attack from the Macedonians, stood tensely day and night in full armor in an open field, so that by the morning battle they were morally broken by fatigue and fear of the Macedonians.
The battle began with an attack of sickle-bearing chariots, on which the Persian king had pinned special hopes. However, the Macedonians were well prepared to meet them. From the scream and noise raised by the phalangits, some of the horses went mad, the chariots turned back and crashed into their own troops. The other part of the horses and chariot drivers were interrupted by the light infantry of the Macedonians on the way to the main formation.
The few horses that were able to break into the ranks of the phalanx were struck by the soldiers with long spears in the sides, or they parted and let them into the rear, where they were later caught. Only a few chariots were able to sow death in the ranks of the Macedonians, when, according to the figurative description of Diodorus, "sickles often cut at the necks, sending their heads galloping on the ground with their eyes still open."
The commander of the right Persian flank, Mazei, was able to bypass the left flank of the Macedonians and press their cavalry. Alexander's friend Parmenion had a chance to fight almost surrounded by superior enemy forces. About 3,000 horsemen of Mazeya were able to break through to the Macedonian wagon train, where a heated battle broke out in isolation from the main battle. The Persians plundered the baggage train, the Macedonian hypaspists, with limited forces, organized sorties from their battle formation in order to repulse the baggage train.
On the right flank, the Macedonian king made a tactical maneuver that is a mystery to historians. According to Arrian, Alexander moved his right wing further to the right during the battle. According to Polienus, Alexander forced this maneuver to bypass the terrain, which the Persians had mined with iron spikes against the horses. We do not know whether he led the units in a compact manner, exposing the right flank of the infantry, or whether he was spreading the troops along the front. At least the gaiters headed by him did not enter into a clash. The Persians stubbornly tried to bypass Alexander on the right, sent the Bactrians and Scythians to squeeze the Macedonian cavalry on the thorns.
The Persian cavalry was tied in battle by cavalry from the second line of the Macedonian army. According to the Roman historian Curtius Rufus, part of the Bactrian cavalry from the wing opposing Alexander, the Persian king sent to his aid in the battle for the baggage train. As a result of the concentration of the Persian horsemen on the right flank of Alexander and the withdrawal of the Bactrians to the wagon train, a gap formed in the front line of the Persian troops, where Alexander directed the main blow of his getayrs with part of the supporting infantry. This blow was aimed directly at the Persian king.
The defeat of the troops of Darius III
In the battle, the charioteer Darius was killed with a javelin, but the Persians took his death for the death of King Darius, and panic engulfed their ranks. The left flank of the Persians began to fall apart and retreat. Seeing this, the Persian king fled, after which his troops who were nearby also fled.
Due to the cloud of dust and the large territory covered by the battle, the Persians of the right wing did not see the flight of their king and continued to pressurize Parmenion. At this time, the Macedonian king turned the Getaira and with a flanking blow to the center of the Persians tried to alleviate the position of his commander. But the news that Darius fled turned this blow into a real defeat for the Persians. Soon Mazey also began to retreat, albeit in relative order, and Tsar Alexander resumed pursuit of Darius towards Arbel.
The Macedonian king made every effort to overtake Darius. But the Persian king was no longer in Arbeli; captured only his chariot, shield, bow, treasures (4,000 talents, or about 120 tons of silver) and the baggage train. The vanguard of the Macedonian army was 75 km away. from the battlefield.
The Persian army suffered a final defeat. And the fate of the Persian king Darius was deplorable. After several months of wandering, he was killed by his own satrap Bess. And in the eyes of the millions of the Persian empire, it was Alexander the Great who was now becoming the true king of kings. Thus, after the Battle of Gaugamela, the two-hundred-year-old Persian Empire - the most powerful state of the ancient world - ceased to exist.
He was seated on the throne by the court nobility at the age of 45 and took the throne name Darius III. Soon Darius eliminated the eunuch Bagoi, who tried to poison him. At the very beginning of his reign, Darius suppressed the unrest in Egypt and re-annexed it to his power.
Alexander left a small garrison of Greek allies to cover the Dardanelles crossings, and he himself with the main army headed south. To weaken Persia, Alexander decided first to seize the bases of the Persian fleet on the Asia Minor coast. First he moved towards Sardis. Commandant Sardis Mitron surrendered the capital of Lydia to him without a fight. After that, all Lydia and Phrygia without resistance went over to the side of Alexander. The Greek cities of Asia Minor also opened gates to the conquerors. In Asia Minor, where the Persian king supported the oligarchy, Alexander, unlike his father, took the side of democracy. By this, he won over to his side the broad strata of the population of Greek cities. Only in Miletus and Halicarnassus did Alexander meet strong resistance.
Memnon, who was appointed by Darius the governor of Lower Asia and the head of the Persian fleet, was forced under the onslaught of the Macedonians to leave Miletus and retreat to Halicarnassus in order to lead the defense of this city. With the help of siege machines, the Macedonians began to destroy the city wall of Halicarnassus. The besieged made sorties and set fire to the structures for the assault. When the city became impossible to defend against the numerically superior Macedonians, the defenders set it on fire and took refuge in the fortress. Later Memnon managed to capture Chios and most of Lesbos. However, the sudden death of Memnon in the spring of 333 BC. e. during the siege of Mytilene on Lesbos, she delivered Alexander from this dangerous enemy. After that, by order of Darius, the Persian fleet was withdrawn from Greek waters, and the initiative finally passed into the hands of Alexander.
Darius III became the Persian king (Old Persian Darayavaush, which means "Good-natured"; c. 381 - 330 BC), ruled in 336 - 330 BC. e.
Representative of the lateral line of the Achaemenid clan, great-grandson of Darius II.
Before accession to the throne, he held the post of satrap of Armenia and bore the name Kodoman. He was seated on the throne by the court nobility at the age of 45 and took the throne name Darius III. Soon Darius eliminated the eunuch Bagoi, who tried to poison him.
At the very beginning of his reign, Darius suppressed the unrest in Egypt and re-annexed it to his power.
Invasion of Alexander the Great
In July 336 BC. e. instead of the murdered Philip, his son Alexander entered the Macedonian throne. In 335 BC. e. Alexander began to prepare for the eastern campaign against the Persians. To this end, he recalled Parmenion from Asia Minor, which was perceived by the Persian command as the refusal of the Macedonians from aggressive plans. The Persians did not take measures to defend the Asia Minor coast. In the spring of 334 BC. e. The Macedonian army under the command of Parmenion crossed the Dardanelles and the Persians were unable to organize a repulse. Alexander landed at Ilion (ancient Troy), and moved to join his main army. Alexander's army was not large in size. It is believed that it consisted of about 30 thousand infantry, 5 thousand cavalry, in addition to this, it consisted of another 7 thousand Greek infantrymen, 600 Thessalian horsemen and several hundred Cretan archers. The army was accompanied by 160 warships, half of which were unreliable Greek allies.
Darius's large army consisted of very heterogeneous elements, militarily unequal. Discipline in the Persian army was weak, the soldiers did not have the will to win, which was characteristic of the small but well-trained army of Alexander. Darius, not particularly relying on the conquered peoples and trying to adapt to Greek tactics, sought to create a regular infantry. However, he mostly had to rely on Greek mercenaries. The total number of the Persian army was apparently much larger than the Greco-Macedonian.
Battle of Granicus
The Asia Minor satraps of Darius, having learned about the approach of Alexander, began to make belated preparations for the battle. The head of the Greek mercenaries, brother of the Mentor of Rhodes who had died by that time, Memnon, advised the Persians to retreat, destroying everything in their path and luring the enemy deep into the country towards the main forces of Darius. However, the satraps decided to give Alexander a general battle. The first clash occurred in May 334 BC. e. at the Granika River, on the banks of the Hellespont. According to Arrian, at Granicus, the Persian army numbered 20 thousand cavalry and the same number of mercenary infantry soldiers. During the battle, the satrap of Lydia and Ionia Spitridates personally wounded Alexander with a spear. The outcome of the battle was mainly decided by the Macedonian cavalry. When about a thousand Persian horsemen were killed, the army of Darius left the battlefield. Only the staunch Greek mercenaries continued to resist, suffering heavy losses. The Macedonians surrounded the mercenaries, took 2 thousand prisoners and killed many. Of the Persian commanders, the satrap Spitridates and one of the sons of Darius were killed. The surviving Persians, along with Memnon and his mercenaries, fled to Miletus.
Alexander left a small garrison of Greek allies to cover the Dardanelles crossings, and he himself with the main army headed south. To weaken Persia, Alexander decided first to seize the bases of the Persian fleet on the Asia Minor coast. First he moved towards Sardis. Commandant Sardis Mitron surrendered the capital of Lydia to him without a fight. After that, all Lydia and Phrygia without resistance went over to the side of Alexander. The Greek cities of Asia Minor also opened gates to the conquerors. In Asia Minor, where the Persian king supported the oligarchy, Alexander, unlike his father, took the side of democracy. By this, he attracted to his side wide sections of the population of the Greek cities. Only in Miletus and Halicarnassus did Alexander meet strong resistance.
Memnon, who was appointed by Darius the governor of Lower Asia and the head of the Persian fleet, was forced under the onslaught of the Macedonians to leave Miletus and retreat to Halicarnassus in order to lead the defense of this city. With the help of siege machines, the Macedonians began to destroy the city wall of Halicarnassus. The besieged made sorties and set fire to the structures for the assault. When it became impossible to defend the city from the numerically superior Macedonians, the defenders set it on fire and took refuge in the fortress. Later Memnon managed to capture Chios and most of Lesbos. However, the sudden death of Memnon in the spring of 333 BC. e. during the siege of Mytilene on Lesbos, she saved Alexander from this dangerous enemy. After that, by order of Darius, the Persian fleet was withdrawn from Greek waters, and the initiative finally passed into the hands of Alexander.
Battle of Issus
Loss of Asia Minor
In the winter of 334-333 BC. e. Alexander waged a campaign against the mountain tribes of Asia Minor, preventing the mountaineers from retreating to inaccessible terrain and forcing them to stick to the snow-free valleys. In the spring of 333 BC. e. he reached Gordion, the ancient capital of Phrygia, where Parmenion awaited him with part of his army and a wagon train. Here Alexander gave the army a rest and replenished it with new forces arriving from Macedonia. In the summer of 333 BC. e. Alexander reached Cilicia. The satrap of Cilicia Arshama followed the tactics that Memnon had previously called for, that is, to retreat, leaving behind a scorched earth. Having secured the coastal cities and leaving the sick and wounded in the city of Issus, Alexander rushed through the southern coastal passes to Syria, to the main forces of the Persians. Meanwhile, Darius was advancing towards the northern passes. Having missed Alexander, Darius arrived at Iss, where he found only disabled people left by Alexander and interrupted them.
The Macedonian king was in a very difficult situation. The enemy went to his rear, and in a foreign hostile country. Only decisiveness and speed of action could save Alexander. He returned to Issus and gave battle to the Persians (October 333 BC). The task of the Persians was not to let Alexander pass, while the Macedonian king, in order to save the army and the fate of the entire eastern campaign, had to inflict complete defeat on the Persians.
Alexander's attack at the head of the Getair (heavy cavalry) crushed the right flank of the Persian infantry. But the Persians had success ahead. The commander Nabarzan forced the left flank of the Macedonians to retreat, and the Greek mercenaries pressed the center of the Macedonian army. Having completed the defeat of the right flank of the Persians, Alexander hurried to the aid of the center and, breaking through it, began to make his way to Darius. The latter lost his composure, got off the chariot and, throwing the signs of royal dignity so that he would not be recognized, ran on a horse, not waiting for the outcome of the battle. The success of Alexander on the right flank and center, the flight of Darius decided the outcome of the battle, the Persian army began to retreat indiscriminately. Only the Greek mercenaries kept order and were able to retreat in an organized manner. The Macedonians lost 450 people in this battle, the losses of the Persians were significant. In addition, a mother, wife, two daughters, a young son, Darius, and a large booty fell into the hands of Alexander. As a result of the Battle of Issus, Asia Minor was completely lost to the Persians.
Military action in Syria and Phenicia
However, Alexander did not immediately pursue Darius, who was retreating to the vital centers of his state, but headed south, to Syria and Phenicia, setting himself the task of destroying the bases of the Persian (that is, Phoenician) fleet that threatened Greek rule at sea. The cities of Arwad and Marad fell to him without a fight. Just as easily Parmenion captured Damascus, where the carts and the treasury of Darius - 2600 talents (about 78 tons) of silver fell into his hands. This extraction significantly improved the financial situation of the Macedonians. In March, Alexander received a letter from Darius, in which he asked to return his family and conclude an agreement of alliance and friendship. The Macedonian king refused.
Further advance of Alexander to the south was successful. The largest ports, Byblos and Sidon, submitted without a fight. However, the inhabitants of Tire, hoping for the inaccessibility of their island city, rejected the conditions proposed to them by Alexander. Hostilities began. The siege lasted 7 months, and the Tyrians showed miracles of courage, but Alexander, having poured a bridge across the strait separating Tire from the mainland, took the city (July 332 BC). Of the 13 thousand captured inhabitants of Tire, 6,000 were executed, 2,000 were nailed to poles along the coast, and 3,000 were sold into slavery. By this time, such an outcome of the case had already become rare in the Middle East.
While the siege of Tire was underway, the Persian army led by Nabarzan made an attempt to restore their domination in Asia Minor. However, Antigonus, appointed by Alexander the satrap of Phrygia and the commander of the army in Asia Minor, managed to defeat the Persians. Now Darius was ready to cede all the lands to the west of Euphrates to Alexander, to marry his daughter Stateira, who was in captivity to the Macedonians, and pay 10 thousand talents of silver in the form of a ransom for his land. Alexander again refused.
Loss of Egypt and Syria
After the fall of Tire, Alexander moved to Egypt (autumn 332 BC). He met serious resistance only in Gaza, in the south of Palestine. After a two-month siege, Gaza was taken. About 10 thousand Persians and local residents who defended the city were exterminated. The king of Gaza, Betis, was tortured by the Macedonians, for the amusement of Alexander, by tying him to the chariot with straps threaded through his heels and dragging him around the city. In November 332 BC. e. Alexander entered the Nile Valley. The satrap of Egypt Sawak fell in the battle of Issus, the new governor Mazak, who did not have a significant army at his disposal, surrendered the country without resistance.
From Egypt, Alexander set out for Syria. The inhabitants of Samaria killed the prefect of Syria, Andromache, appointed by the Macedonian king. Upon learning of the approach of the Macedonian army, the inhabitants of Samaria fled, and most of them hid in a cave in the Wadi Daliyah desert. The Macedonians hunted them down and exterminated everyone, including women, children and the elderly. In the spring of 331 BC. e. Alexander reappears in Tire. From here, sending Parmenion ahead and ordering him to seize the crossings across the Euphrates, Alexander set out to meet Darius.
Battle of Gaugamela
Albrecht Altdorfer. Battle of Alexander the Great with Darius. 1529. Old Pinakothek. Munich
The Persians understood the inevitability of this battle and feverishly prepared for it. They somewhat improved the armament of the cavalry, supplied a number of chariots with blades on the axles of the wheels in order to inflict more damage on the enemy infantry. However, the fighting efficiency of the Persian combined army remained low.
Darius III (middle) in the battle with Alexander the Great
Joining with Parmenion, Alexander crossed the Euphrates. The Persian vanguard retreated, and the Macedonian army freely crossed the Tigris, moving to the city of Arbela, where the army of Darius was concentrated. The battle took place on October 1, 331 BC. e. near the village of Gavgamela, near Arbel. Before the battle, Alexander gave his soldiers the necessary rest. Darius, unsure of himself and of his strength, kept his army on alert all night. Alexander, seeing the numerical superiority of the enemy and the presence in him of powerful new types of troops - chariots and elephants, was anxious to prevent the coverage of his flanks, since the front line of the Persians was much longer than that of the Macedonians.
Darius threw into the attack first the Saka, then the Bactrian cavalry, then the chariots, but he could not achieve any noticeable success. Then, taking advantage of the fact that the Persian line was stretched out in attempts to cover his flanks, Alexander himself launched an attack at the head of the Getaira, whom he had until then kept in reserve. Despite the fact that the satrap of Babylonia Mazei dealt serious blows to Parmenion on the left flank of the Macedonians, and the Bactrian cavalry of the satrap Bessa fully retained its combat capability, Darius fled again. In vain the Persian cavalry, having broken through the Macedonian phalanx, tried to free and arm the prisoners of war; in vain did Mazei strive to build on the success he had achieved - the troops of Darius wavered, and the hetairas, headed by Alexander, hurrying to the rescue of Parmenion, completed the rout. The retreat turned into a flight. Only the Bactrian cavalry and the Greek mercenaries retreated in order. The Macedonians pursued the enemy to Arbel, and immediately captured this city, where 4,000 talents (about 120 tons) of silver fell into their hands. Darius and some of the satraps managed to retreat with a small group of troops to the capital of Media - Ecbatana.
Fall of Babylon, Susa, Pasargadae and Persepolis
Mazaeus retreated to Babylon, and Alexander considered it more important to pursue him. The Babylonians, along with their satrap, went out to greet the new king as a liberator. Alexander left Mazei as Viceroy of Babylonia - the first appointment of a Persian to such a post. In February 330 BC. e. Alexander captured Susa, where he got 40 thousand talents (about 1200 tons) of silver and gold bullion, as well as 9000 gold gifts. From Susa, Alexander moved to Persia - the homeland of the Achaemenids and the core of their kingdom. The satrap of Persia Arioabarzanes with his army put up vigorous resistance, but the Macedonians managed to bypass him along the mountain roads. The Persians had to retreat in order not to get surrounded, in Media, where Darius was staying. Then Alexander easily captured both capitals of the Persians - Pasargadae and Persepolis. When the invaders approached, part of the population of Persepolis fled, and the rest, on the personal order of Alexander, were put to death. The entire city, except for the royal palaces, Alexander gave to his soldiers for plunder. In Persepolis, Alexander inherited the untold wealth of the royal treasures. Tradition speaks of the amount of 120 thousand talents (about 3600 tons), not counting dishes made of gold and silver and jewelry. To transport such a quantity of precious metals to Babylon, it took 10 thousand carts and 300 camels. At the end of May 330 BC. e. Alexander, being in a state of strong intoxication, went with a burning torch to the palace of Xerxes and set it on fire.
Death of Darius III
After the capture of Persis, Alexander set out for Media. Darius and his retinue left Ecbatana and fled to eastern Iran, hoping to gather enough forces there from Bactria and other Central Asian regions to try to change the course of the war in his favor. Moving with great speed, accompanied by a small detachment of elite troops, Alexander caught up with the fugitives on the road from Media to Parthia. The satraps, led by Bess, stabbed Darius so that he would not get to the enemy alive, and they themselves fled on. The king, pierced by a multitude of spears, said to Polistratus: “The fact that I cannot give thanks for the good deed shown to me is the pinnacle of my misfortune, but Alexander will reward you, and Alexander will be rewarded by the gods for the kindness he showed to my mother, my wife and children. ... Give him my handshake. " And, giving his hand to Polistratus, the king died. Alexander arrived in time to show the dead enemy royal honors. Darius died near the modern Iranian city of Natanz.
Darius ruled for 6 years.
After Darius III, Bess became the Persian king ( Artaxerxes V) (d. 329 BC). He ruled in 330 - 329 BC. e.
Before accession to the throne, he held the post of satrap of Bactria. In the battle of Gaugamela (October 1, 331 BC), he led the army of his satrapy against the Macedonian army. Having lost the battle, Darius III, accompanied by Bessus, retreated to Ecbatana, where they spent the whole winter. The next year, Darius marched east, intending to gather more forces in Bactria. On the way, Bess and other satraps conspired and captured Darius. Most likely, initially they intended to transfer it to the Macedonians, but Alexander continued their pursuit, even after learning about the overthrow of Darius. In July 330 BC. e. near Hecatompilus, the conspirators, learning about the imminent pursuit, inflicted many wounds on Darius and, in panic, abandoning the mortally wounded Darius, fled.
After the assassination of Darius III, Bess declared himself king and took the throne name - Artaxerxes V. Bess settled in Bactria, rallying around himself those who were determined to repulse the Macedonians.