BOOK NAME: Alexander of Macedon
AUTHOR: Harold Lamb
PUBLISHER: Doubleday & Company – New York
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 1976
The following excerpt has been taken from Pages: 347 — 350
"Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great was a king of Macedon a state in the north eastern region of Greece, and by the age of thirty was the creator of one of the largest empires in ancient history, stretching from the Ionian sea to the Himalaya. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of the most successful commanders of all time. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by the famed philosopher Aristotle. In 336 BC he succeeded his father Philip II of Macedon to the throne after Philip was assassinated. Philip had brought most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony, using both military and diplomatic means.
"' Upon Philip's death, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He succeeded in being awarded the generalship of Greece and, with his authority firmly established, launched the military plans for expansion left by his father. In 334 BC he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a series of campaigns lasting ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. Subsequently he overthrew the Persian king Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. The Macedonian Empire now stretched from the Adriatic sea to the Indus River. Following his desire to reach the ' ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea,' he invaded India in 326 BC.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT INVADES INDIA IN 326 BC
"In spring 326, Alexander advanced to the Indus. Here he was welcomed by Taxiles, who laid on a tremendous parade to escort the army into Taxila. Finding it for once unnecessary to fight to maintain their position, the expedition remained some three months in Taxila, and this provided an excellent opportunity for the researchers in Alexander's party to get on with their investigations. One group of people who attracted the interest of Onesicritus were the ascetics known to the Greeks as the gymnosophistae, or ' naked philosophers '. These aroused tremendous interest also among later writers, some of whom referred to them as Brahmans; the Alexander Romance created considerable confusion by identifying them with the Brahmans of the Lower Indus who were instrumental in fermenting opposition to Alexander several months later.
"Alexander's main aim in Punjab, as he faced the Indian's army across the river, was to confuse his enemy as much as possible. He spent several nights arranging sorties and lighting fires at different points up and down the bank; he is also said to have changed his clothes with a Macedonian officer of similar build so that the enemy would be uncertain where the centre of command lay. Finally he identified a crossing-point, some seventeen miles up-river, where an island provided good cover for the transport-ships. The largest body of troops was brought across the river under cover of darkness and with the additional concealment of a tremendous thunderstorm, in which several men were struck by lightning. Craterus at the base camp was instructed not to attempt a crossing until the Indians were fully engaged with the attack from upstream.
"Porus’ chariots proved useless in the muddy terrain, but the elephants were a formidable obstacle for the Macedonians. The Alexander Romance invented a fabulous tale (lovingly illustrated in medieval manuscripts) of how Alexander prepared a front line of bronze warriors, who were heated to red heat and sent the elephants howling into retreat as they tried to wrap their trunks around them. In actual fact, the only stratagem could be constant harrying with spears and arrows; even then many Macedonian troops were trampled under the elephants’ feet. Porus’ son was killed early in the fighting. Gradually the Macedonians surrounded the Indian troops, until Porus, wounded in the shoulder, retreated from the field on the back of his huge elephant. (Decadrachms of Alexander, issued – perhaps from the Susa (Stew-art) or Babylon (Bosworth, Holt) mint – soon after the victory, show a Macedonian horseman prodding cheekily with his lance at the rear of a retreating elephant.) Frank Holt has shown in an exceptionally elegant study (Holt 2003) that these decadrachms, and related issues of tetradrachms with an elephant on the obverse and either an Indian longbowman or a four-horse chariot on the reverse, functioned as a commemorative issue for the battle. On the decadrachms, the reverse is occupied by a figure of Alexander holding a thunderbolt, apparently an allusion to the intervention of Zeus by sending a tremendous thunderstorm, which caused the Indian bowles to lose their footing and the chariots to become stuck in the mud. These coins are a rare item of evidence for contemporary presentation of Alexander's campaign.
"Porus was captured and brought to Alexander, who in a famous exchange asked him how he expected to be treated. ' Like a king’ was the dignified reply. The encounter was a memorable one, as Porus was, by all reports, a very tall man, nearly seven feet tall; Alexander will have come not far above his lower ribs. Rather than deposing him, Alexander confirmed him as ruler of his previous lands, but now as a vassal of the Macedonian king – an indication not so much of a liberal policy of rule as of Alexander's impatience with administrative arrangements which might distract him from fighting and exploration.
"Alexander's horse, Bucephalas, who had accompanied him throughout the expedition, was killed in this battle. A ' city’ was founded and named after the horse — Bucephala — as well as another city, Nicaea (Victory Town), where tremendous athletic contests were laid on to celebrate the victory. But Alexander was already preparing to move on. The rest of India beckoned. He quickly crossed the Acesines (Chenab) and the Hydraotes (Ravi), arriving in the region of Lahore. The local people submitted without a struggle, except for a short siege at Single (probably modern Angela).
"The city of Multan lay around the lofty battlements of a strongly fortified citadel with two perimeter walls that stood in the area taken by the tomb of Rukne Alam today. Alexander led the attack with one division supported by another, under his general perdiccas. Alexander's troops managed to take down a gate, massive as it must have been, penetrating into first corridor.
"As the foreigners milled about in the corridor between two defensive walls, they saw above them the battlements virtually crawling with the defenders. As Alexander ordered sapping operations, he also called for scaling ladders to be put up against the walls. Impetuous as he was, Alexander did not like the slow progress. Snatching a ladder from the man carrying it, Alexander personally placed it against the wall and crouching under his shield, clambered up to the crenulations.
"Immediately behind him was Peucestas, carrying the sacred shield that Alexander always used in battle. Following Peucestas was Leonnatus, the kings personal bodyguard. Having reduced the defenders on the battlement, Alexander stood on the crenulations in full view of both the defenders and his own troops. While his troops were hurrying to join him on the fort walls, alexander jumped inside the fort where he met the best of Rajput troops from Multan and as far away as Rajasthan. In the thick of this battle, as he raised his sword arm to strike an adversary, an arrow from a Multani archer found its target.
"The arrow, having pierced his corselet, lodged in his breast on the right side. Alexander fell. We are told that he bled from the mouth, the blood being mixed with air bubbles, meaning that his lung was punctured. There is then a very moving heroic scene preserved in the histories: Perdiccas standing astride the still body, protecting it with the shield of Achilles and Leonnatus desperately holding off the attackers.
"Meanwhile, Alexander's panicked soldiers had gained the wall by escalade. Soon the gates were thrown open and the fort taken though he gave his army a fright, Alexander did not die. He made it back by the skin of his teeth. This was September 326 BCE.
"Four years later, Alexander died apparently of a fever in Babylon. In between the injury in Multan and his final exit from near Gwadar, Alexander fought several battles, notably those of Rahim Yar Khan, Sehwan and Hyderabad. And he survived the horrendous march across the parched wastes of Makran. Yet so many in Multan believe he died of their arrow.
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