BATTLE of GRANICUS
Background/Build-up
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Alexander in Troy
Persian satraps met at nearby Zeleia for War Council
Memnon advises retreat into Phrygia and scorched earth policy to force Alexander back to
Greece
Arsites (satrap of Phyrygia) rejects Memnon’s plan to ruin the economy of his satrapy
Other Persian satraps support Arsites suspecting Memnon (a Greek) of cowardice
Alexander’s scouts report Persians massed on River Granicus. Alexander would “have to
fight for entry into Asia at its gates”(Plutarch)
Terrain of the Battle
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Parmenio advises against an assault because the river is fast-flowing with an uneven river
bed and steep, almost sheer, muddy banks. He advises camping on near side to intimidate
Persians into ceding the river.
Alexander rejects Parmenio’s advice, “I would shame the Hellaspont were I to shy from a
mere stream as the Granicus.”
Battle Formations
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The Persians cavalry lined the far bank with the Ionian mercenary phalanxes stationed
behind a ridge
Looking down on the Macedonians moving from Parmenio’s left wing to Alexander’s right
were the allied Greek light cavalries, the Thessalian heavy cavalry then light infantry guards
connecting the cavalry to the central phalanxes mirrored on the right first by Nicanor’s
hypaspists, then the Companion heavy cavalry commanded by Philotas and on the extreme
right were the auxiliaries commanded by Amyntas: the scouts and Paoenian light cavalries,
the Agrianian skirmishers and the archers.
1. According to Arrian, the first Macedonian activity was with Amyntas’ auxiliaries. The
skirmishers and light cavalries were the first to ford the river and sustained heavy casualties
from the Persian archers forcing a partial retreat to rejoin the second wave.
2. Alexander himself led the Companions on an oblique charge across the river (in a reckless
and foolhardy manner according to Plutarch). His goal was the Persian centre. His object was
to come out of the river in as broad a front as possible.
 Initially the charge was ineffective as the Macedonians struggled to gain a footing on the
muddy banks but the Persian lances were no match against the longer reach of the
Macedonian cornel-wood sarissas and Alexander slowly pushed the Persians back far
enough for the Macedonians to make a landing.
 A fierce struggle ensued; “a cavalry battle fought with infantry tactics; man against man
and horse against horse.”
3. The rest of the army crossed the river with relative ease because Alexander, clad in his
thickly plumed helmet and shining armour, drew the Persian’s focus away from them.
X.
During the struggle a gap opened up and either Alexander spied the Persian satraps
charging at him in wedge formation (Plutarch) or Alexander himself charged in wedge
formation at the satraps on the high ground (Arrian).
o Arrian and Plutarch differ in the details of exactly what happens next but they agree
that Alexander himself personally killed two of Darius’ kinsmen, was nearly
decapitated by an axe blow and that Cleitus saved his life by killing a satrap who
came up behind the King.
4. Alexander next ordered the mercenary phalanxes surrounded and then massacred. Plutarch
says he lost more men in this part of the battle than any other.
Aftermath/Consequences
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Macedonian casualties (according to Arrian)
25 Companions
60 other cavalry
30 infantry
Plutarch bases his figure of just 34 on the first-hand account the civilian courtier Arsitobulus
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Alexander’s treatment of the dead and wounded
o He hired his own personal sculptor Lysippus to execute portraits in bronze of the 25
companions to be established at Dium (the hallowed sanctuary of Zeus on the
Macedonian slopes of Mt. Olympus).
o Families of the fallen were exempted from paying taxes and dues
o Soldiers were buried with their arms (armour was expensive – usually recycled)
o Visited the wounded and listened to their war stories
o Persians and Ionians given permission to collect and bury their dead by their own
customs
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The Prisoners
In accordance with the League of Corinth, he sent the captured prisoners (many of them
Greek mercenaries) to hard labour in Macedonia for betraying their countrymen by fighting
for the enemy of Greece.
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Greece
He also wished Southern Greece to share in his victory and send 300 Persian suits of armour
to Athens as an offering to Athena bearing the inscription,
“Alexander, the son of Philip, and the Greeks (except the Lacedaemonians) dedicate these
spoils taken from the Persians who dwell in Asia.”
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Persians
Many of Darius’ satraps of Asia Minor and other kinsmen were killed. Arsites fled to Phyrgia
where he committed suicide.
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Asia Minor
Alexander appointed the Thessalian commander Calas to govern Phrygia and sent Parmenio
ahead with to secure Dascylium, which had been abandoned by the Persian garrison. He also
gave the town of Zeleia (which has been the Persian headquarters) a full pardon since
proclaiming that the Zeleians had been forced to collude with the enemy. His good will
towards Zeleia rippled through Asia Minor and other cities like Ephesus quickly surrendered
to this merciful king.
Battle of Issus
Background/Build-up
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Alexander was first detained in Tarsus having taken a fever from swimming in the glacial
river Cydnus and then in Soli where he celebrated the final seizure of Halicarnassus with
games.
Darius with an army of 600,000 was encamped on the plain of Sochi in Assyria near the
Amanic Gates.
The Macedonian traitor Amyntas, who had fled to Darius after Alexander acceded the
throne, advised Darius to wait for Alexander to seek him out because the plain favoured his
superior numbers but Darius allowed himself to be convinced to attack Alexander because
his sycophants, who as Arrian says “always are and always will be the bane of kings”, advised
him that Alexander was stalling out of cowardice.
From his base in Soli in Cilicia, Alexander sent Parmenio ahead with half the army to secure
the minor Jonah Pass in case Darius tried to use it. Then he left his wounded at Issus and
marched south along the coast towards the Assyrian Gates and Phoenicia.
Meanwhile Darius was on the move north to the Amanic Pass; probably knowing that
Parmenio held the Jonah Pass. Plutarch says the two armies (Alexander’s moving south and
Darius’ moving north; separated by the Amanic Mountains) passed each other in the night.
By dawn Darius had come up behind Alexander at Issus and massacred his wounded.
Alexander did not at first believe his scouts when they reported that Darius was at Issus, so
he sent some of his companions back by sea hugging the coastline in a galley to corroborate
the report. When they returned he convened his synedrion (council) where after a rousing
speech his companions urged him to lead them onto battle.
Alexander fed his army and it passed the night on the rocks of the narrow strip of coastline
clad in full armour. At dawn the Macedonians advanced in column until there was room
enough for the army to assemble.
Terrain of the Battle
The site of the Battle of Issus lay a little south of the town of Issus on the little Pinarus river. It is a
narrow coastal plain set between the sea and the Amanic Mountains. As the traitor Amyntas had
warned Darius, the narrow confines of the place suited Alexander’s smaller army and restricted
Darius’ larger one. Arrian refers to the strange geography of the place where the hills arced round on
Darius’ left forming a sort of bay, which enabled him to outflank Alexander’s right wing; an
advantage that he did not exploit during the battle.
Battle Formations
The Persians
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When his scouts reported that Alexander was advancing Darius sent a contingent of cavalry
and infantry across the Pinarus to guard against a rapid assault and give him time to array
his troops.
Looking down on Darius’ army he stationed most of his cavalry on his right. Of the infantry,
30,000 crack Ionian mercenary phalanxes were posted at his centre and supporting these on
either side he posted Cardacian heavy infantry numbering 30,000 on either side; 60,000 in
all. Reaching into the hills he placed another unit of 20,000 Cardacians. He himself took the
traditional place of the Persian kings in the centre behind the Ionians and behind him he
massed the rest of his army: a mix of both light and heavy infantry; herded according to
ethnic origin. The narrowness of the plain rendered the rear redundant in the battle.
Once Darius was ready he recalled the infantry he had sent across the river and ordered half
the advance cavalry to join the cavalry on his right wing and the other half into the hills on
his extreme left.
Once Darius realised however that the slopes were unsuitable for horses he recalled most of
the cavalry in the hills and sent them in full view of Alexander to re-enforce his right wing. By
now almost all his cavalry was posted on his right wing.
The Macedonians
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Alexander initially took the Thessalian cavalry along with the Companions on his right wing
leaving only the allied Greek cavalries to Parmenio’s left but when Darius moved his cavalry
from the hills to his over to his right Alexander likewise sent the Thessalians to support
Parmenio; only Alexander ordered them to move around in the rear so that Darius would
not see what was happening.
Looking down on Alexander’s final battle array at Issus and moving form Parmenio’s left
wing across to Alexander’s right the Greek allied light cavalries reached from the water’s
edge on the beach to connect with the Thessalian heavy cavalry. Craterus’ guards linked the
cavalry with the heavy infantry phalanxes of Amyntas, Ptolemy and Meleager. Craterus was
in general command of all infantry on the left at Isuss but Parmenio held supreme command
of the left wing. Moving on into the right wing, at the centre was stationed first Perdiccas’
phalanx and then Coenus’ was met by Nicanor’s hypaspists, which linked the infantry to the
heavy Companion cavalry. These in turn were supported by the Scouts and Paeonians and
because of the Persians in the hills on his right Alexander had been forced to split his
extreme right wing in two. The far tip inclined at an angle facing the high-ground occupied
by the Persians. Here Alexander deployed the Agrianes, a few archer detachments, some
mercenary troops and just two squadrons of Companions to keep the Persians in the hills in
check.
Key moments of the Battle
Alexander ordered Parmenio to hold the left wing against the Persain charge and to guard against
an out-flanking manoeuvre on the beach. He also warned his extreme right wing to watch the
Persians in the hills.
1. Alexander led the right wing cavalry on a charge across the Pinarus smashing the Persian left
wing and then turned left and made straight for the Persian centre: the Ionians and Darius.
At the same time the Persian cavalry charged across and clashed with Parmenio’s left wing.
2. The phalanxes followed Alexander’s lead but found the gravelly shore difficult to ascend
furthermore they were met by the Persian infantry, which made gaining a foothold on the
Persian bank doubly difficult.
X. A patriotic battle broke out between the Macedonians in the river and the Ionians on the
bank with each side trying to out-do the other. The fighting was fierce and the Pinarus ran
blood red from the carnage.
3. When Darius saw Alexander charging at him with his Companions his courage failed him and
he wheeled his chariot about and fled the battlefield.
4. Once the massed troops in the rear saw their king fleeing they too fled and a general rout
ensued. The last units to quit the Persian cavalry who might have broken Parmenio’s left
wing had the battle lasted longer.
Aftermath
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Alexander seized Darius’ chariot, bow, shield and cloak as well as his personal treasure of
3,000 talents.
Alexander also took Darius’ harem, which included his mother, wife and children into
custody
He buried the dead with full honours and celebrated the funerals with the full army in
parade
Alexander was himself injured in the thigh by a blade and although Chares (a Greek courtier
of Alexander’s) claimed that it was inflicted by Darius himself Plutarch cites Alexander’s own
letters to disprove it.
Darius himself fled with 4,000 survivors across the Euphrates into Mesopotamia.
100,000 Persian infantry were killed along with 10,000 cavalry. Many of the Persian satraps
that had survived Granicus also now lay dead and Sabaces, the satrap of Egypt was also
killed.