Second of the three battles of Alexander the Great's Asian campaign (the
first being the
Battle of Granicus and the last the
Battle of Gaugamela).
Fought against King
Darius III of Persia in November 333 BC on the banks
of the river Pinarus, near the town of Issus in
Cilicia.
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Background: In the Autumn of 333 BC, Alexander suffered a bout of sickness,
rumoured to be caused by his bathing in the River Cyndus. While he was convalescing,
he sent the Allied infantry, the Greek mercenaries and the Thessalian Cavalry,
all under the leadership of Parmenio, to report on the movements of Darius.
He learned that Darius had marked from Babylon towards Issus and that he had
camped in the flat, open plains at Sochi, near the Assyrian Gates, to take
advantage of his army's huge size in the battle ( Arrian and Plutarch
place the size of his army at 600,000; whereas Diadorus estimated the number
to be in the region of 400,000) he expected to fight against the Macedonian
Alexander. Amyntas, son of Antiochus, a deserter from the Macedonian army, urged Darius
to stay put on open ground, where his chariots and advantage in numbers could
be used to best effect. However, courtiers of Darius flattered him into
believing that Alexander was frightened and now longer planned to advance.
Darius was taken in by this flattery and advanced to the town of Issus, where
he cruelly slaughtered the invalid Macedonians who were left there. Meanwhile,
Alexander was marching to Soli - the two armies missed one another in the
night and Darius ended up behind the Macedonian army.Alexander has assumed that Darius would fight on open plains and when he
learned that Darius was in the narrow river valley of the Pinarus, he realised
he would have to act quick to have any hope of victory. He secured the surrounding
mountain passes in the night, encouraged his men - singling many of them out
for praise for their feats of bravery in previous military events and advanced
towards Darius' position next morning, fanning out into battle formation as
the land became more open. His left flank stretched to the Gulf of Issus and
his right to the hilly country inland; a distance of 1.75 miles, according
to Callisthenes. He himself took control of the right wing, put Nicanor,
son of Parmenio, in charge of three batalions; Craterus in charge of the
left infantry and Parmenio in charge of the left wing as a whole.
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The Battle: With the Macedonian front spanning the width of the valley,
the Persians had no opportunity to outflank, and thus encircle them. The
Persian infantry was the weak link - Darius placed the ill trained and equipped
Asiatic levies in the rear and his 30,000 Greek Mercenaries in the front.
In the centre of the line, he placed his Royal Bodyguard of 2,000, surrounding
him. His renowned Iranian Cavalry were in front of Parmenio. Alexander had
expected them to face his wing. He sent the Thessalians across to the left,
ordering them to ride behind the phalanx, so they couldn't be seen. Alexander
now halted, in the hope that Darius would charge. He didn't, as he had a
strong defensive position. It was already late afternoon and Alexander had
no choice but to order his forces to charge themselves. Alexander himself led the charge with
his Cavalry Companions. They dashed ahead as soon as they were in Persion
missile range and dismayed the Persians with their speed in crossing the
Pinarus, which they crossed obliquely so that the current wouldn't
sweep them away. The Persian Archers had no time to do much damage and Alexander
quickly routed the Persian left wing, creating a gap for the Macedonian Phalanx
to cross over into. However, the phalanx were unable to stay in formation
whilst climbing the steep banks of the river and Darius' Greek Mercenaries
tried to force them into the river. Ethnic enmity made the fighting here particularly fierce and 120 Macedonians were killed. Alexander, seeing Darius,
charged straight for the royal chariot, through the ranks of Darius' foreign
mercenaries, sustaining a wound in his thigh. Darius fled from the battlefield.
Alexander reluctantly wheeled around and formed a wedge with his Cavalry
Companions in order to help the struggling phalanx. This wedge drove the
Greek Mercenaries back from the river, allowing the phalanx some respite.
The Foreign Mercenaries were now fleeing the battle. Meanwhile, the Persion
and Iranian Cavalry had crossed the river and launched a vigorous assault
on the Thessalian Cavalry. The Persian forces actually had the upper hand,
but panicked when they realised that Darius was in flight and their own mercenaries
had been cut off and massacred by the phalanx. They turned in open and complete
flight, trampling on each other in their desperation to flee and were routed
by the Thessalians.
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Outcome: Many man who had served Alexander as cavalry officers at Granicus
died at Issus. The Persion camp was captured, wherein Alexander found 3,000
talents and Darius' wife (who was also his sister) and mother - most of
his treasure had been sent on to Damascus and Parmenio was sent to capture
it. Plutarch remarks that the lavishness the of the camp caused Alexander
to pity Darius for his belief that royalty was mere wealth and luxury. Although Alexander was wounded, he nevertheless performed his duties - visitng the
wounded and listening to their boastful stories of acts of bravery and arranging
a splendid funeral for those who had perished. He also treated Darius' family
admirably, allowing them to keep all the marks, ceremonies and titles of royalty.
Darius made his escape through the night. Plutarch, Curtius, and Diadorus
all agree on the numbers of casualties: 100,000 for Darius and 450 for the
Macedonians with 4,500 wounded. However these figures are just as unreliable
for those given for the size of the Persian army. Alexander's next move was
to march for Tyre, a walled city of great strategic importance. Byblus
and Sidon both surrendered to him on his way there.
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Sources:
Arrian - The Campaigns Of Alexander
Plutarch - The Age Of Alexander