Wars of Alexander the Great: A Visual History

Alexander III of Macedon inherited his father Philip's army in 336 BC, crushed Thebes (335), and crossed into Asia in 334 with about 40,000 men. He beat the Persian satraps at the Granicus, Darius III at Issus (333), took Tyre after a seven-month siege and Egypt (332), and destroyed the Persian army at Gaugamela (331), entering Babylon, Susa and Persepolis, which he burned. He pursued Darius to his death, campaigned three years in Bactria and Sogdiana, married Roxana, invaded India and beat Porus at the Hydaspes (326), then turned back when his men mutinied at the Hyphasis. He led them through the Gedrosian desert and died in Babylon in June 323, aged 32; his generals divided the empire.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Wars of Alexander the Great. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Alexander's route

Timeline of the Wars of Alexander the Great

1. 336 BC
   Alexander becomes king
2. 335 BC
   Thebes destroyed
3. 334 BC
   Granicus
4. 333 BC
   Issus
5. 332 BC
   Tyre; Egypt
6. 331 BC
   Gaugamela
7. 330 BC
   Persepolis burned; Darius killed
8. 327 BC
   Marriage to Roxana; India invaded
9. 326 BC
   Hydaspes; mutiny at the Hyphasis
10. 323 BC
    Alexander dies in Babylon

Granicus, Issus, Tyre, Egypt

After destroying rebel Thebes and enslaving its people, Alexander crossed the Hellespont, threw a spear into Asian soil, and won a cavalry battle on the Granicus. He freed the Greek cities of Ionia, cut the Gordian knot, and at Issus in November 333 routed Darius, capturing his family. He refused Darius's offer of half the empire, took Tyre by building a mole to the island (332), stormed Gaza and was welcomed in Egypt, where he founded Alexandria and was hailed as son of Ammon at Siwa.

Gaugamela and the East

At Gaugamela on 1 October 331 the Macedonians broke a Persian army several times their size; Darius fled and was murdered by his satrap Bessus in 330. Alexander burned Persepolis, hunted Bessus into Bactria, executed the general Philotas and murdered Cleitus in a drunken quarrel, and fought a hard guerrilla war in Sogdiana, taking the Sogdian Rock and marrying Roxana in 327. He adopted Persian dress and demanded prostration, alienating his officers.

India and death

Crossing the Hindu Kush in 327, Alexander took Aornos and defeated Porus and his elephants at the Hydaspes (Jhelum) in a monsoon battle in 326, then reinstated him. At the Hyphasis (Beas) the army refused to go on; he sailed down the Indus, was nearly killed storming a Malli town, and marched back through the Gedrosian desert, losing thousands. At Susa he married 80 officers to Persian noblewomen. Hephaestion died at Ecbatana; Alexander died of fever, or poison, in Nebuchadnezzar's palace on 10 or 11 June 323, having left his empire, he reportedly said, 'to the strongest'.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Macedonian Empire (359 BC to 323 BC)
• Achaemenid Empire (550 BC to 330 BC)
• Seleucid Empire (312 BC to 63 BC)
• Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 BC to 30 BC)
• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (256 BC to 125 BC)
• Magadha (600 BC to 320 BC)
• Maurya Empire (322 BC to 185 BC)
• Kingdom of Armenia (ancient) (331 BC to 428)

Wars of the same era and region

• Greco-Persian Wars (499 BC to 449 BC)

8 surprising things about the Wars of Alexander the Great

1. Alexander was tutored by Aristotle and slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow.
2. He founded some 20 Alexandrias, from Egypt to Alexandria Eschate ('the furthest') in Tajikistan.
3. The Gordian knot, which prophecy said the ruler of Asia would untie, was cut with his sword, or pulled out at the pin.
4. His horse Bucephalus, tamed when Alexander was 12, died after the Hydaspes and got a city named after him.
5. Alexander was never defeated in battle and was wounded at least eight times, once nearly fatally by an arrow through the lung.
6. Persepolis was burned in a drunken revel allegedly at the urging of the courtesan Thais.
7. His body was hijacked by Ptolemy to Egypt and displayed in Alexandria; its tomb was lost by late antiquity.
8. The Successors' wars over his empire lasted 40 years and produced the Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Antigonid kingdoms.

Sources

• Alexander the Great Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Wars of Alexander the Great Wikipedia
• Alexander the Great World History Encyclopedia
• Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great (1973) Allen Lane

Back to all empires and wars