Alexander then slowly filtered his troops back from the right and formed them into a giant wedge, smashing into the gap now created in the Persian middle. Yet Alexander remained confident and executed an unusual strategy: with his best troops he rode to the edge of his right flank, enticing the Persian cavalry out from the centre of Darius’ line to counter him.
Professor Paul Cartledge, the author of Thebes, the Forgotten City, answers the key question about this prime Boeotian city.
Having broken through on the right Alexander started enveloping the rest of the Persian army, causing Darius to flee and those that remained on the field to be surrounded and slaughtered by the Macedonians.įrom fighting with the Persians during the Persian War to being sacked by Alexander the Great in 335 BC Thebes experienced a remarkable history. Seeing Alexander’s men charging down on them the Persian bowmen released one dreadfully-inaccurate volley of arrows before they turned tail and fled. The Persian King successfully outmanoeuvred his foe and forced Alexander to confront his large army (600,000 according to ancient sources, although 60-100,000 is more likely) at the Pinarus River, near Issus in southern Turkey.Īfter containing a small Persian force in the foothills to his right, Alexander led his elite Macedonians across the Pinarus river against the Persian force stationed on the left side of Darius’ line. He gathered a great army and marched from Babylon to confront Alexander. Darius’ compact army is visible on the left of the river, contrasted with Alexander’s neatly extended line on the right.Īlexander’s victory at the Granicus and his subsequent capture of western Asia Minor forced Darius to act. This map hammers home the narrowness of the battlefield.
0 kommentar(er)
