After his spectacular capture in B. Soon after, in a traditional wedding ceremony, the king sliced a loaf of bread in two with his sword and shared it with his new bride.
Alexander himself openly called himself Son of Zeus during a visit to Siwah in B. After six years of ever-deeper incursions into the Persian empire, in B. Alexander conquered Persepolis, the longtime center of Persian culture. Realizing that the best way to maintain control of the Persians was to act like one, Alexander began to wear the striped tunic, girdle and diadem of Persian royal dress—to the dismay of cultural purists back in Macedonia.
In he held a mass wedding in the Persian city of Susa, in which he forced 92 leading Macedonians to take Persian wives Alexander himself married two, Stateira and Parysatis. In B. A second casualty of Alexander's fury was his friend Cleitus, who was angry at Alexander for adopting Persian dress and customs.
After an episode where the two were drinking, Cleitus scolded the king, telling him, in essence, that he should follow Macedonian ways, not Persian customs.
Cleitus lifted up his right hand and said, "this is the hand, Alexander, that saved you then at the Battle of Granicus ," according to Arrian.
Alexander, infuriated, killed him with a spear or pike. Alexander took his act of murder terribly. Alexander's days in central Asia were not all unhappy. After his troops had captured a fortress at a place called Sogdian Rock in modern-day Uzbekistan in B. Plutarch explained in " The Life of Alexander the Great " that he made an alliance with a local ruler named Taxiles, who agreed to allow Alexander to use his city, Taxila, as a base of operations.
He also agreed to give Alexander all the supplies he needed — which was very useful given Alexander's long supply lines. In exchange, Alexander agreed to fight Porus, a local ruler who set out against Alexander with an army that reportedly included elephants.
The two armies met at the Hydaspes River in B. Alexander bided his time; he scouted the area, built up a fleet of ships and lulled Porus into a false sense of security. When Porus mobilized his forces he found himself in a predicament; his cavalry was not as experienced as Alexander's. As such, he put his elephants — animals the Macedonians had never faced in large numbers — up front. Alexander responded by using his cavalry to attack the wings of Porus's forces, quickly putting Porus's cavalry to flight.
The result was that Porus's cavalry, foot soldiers and elephants eventually became jumbled together. Making matters worse for Porus, Alexander's soldiers attacked the elephants with javelins, and the wounded elephants went on a rampage, stomping on both Alexander and Porus's troops.
With his army falling apart, Porus stayed until the end and was captured. Arrian wrote that Porus was brought to the Macedonian king and said, "treat me like a king, Alexander.
Haphaestion's death caused a drastic change in Alexander's personality, Abernethy said. He lost his self-control and his compassion for his men. He became reckless, self-indulgent and inconsistent, causing a loss of loyalty by his men and officers. He had always had a violent temper and been rash, impulsive and stubborn. The drinking made these traits worse. Under such conditions, many of his men insisted that Alexander turn back home, according to Abernethy.
Sailing south down the Indus River, he fought a group called the Malli and was severely wounded after he led an attack against their city wall. After reaching the Indian Ocean he split his force in three.
One element, with the heavy equipment, would take a relatively safe route to Persia, the second, under his command, would traverse Gedrosia, a largely uninhabited deserted area that no large force had ever crossed before. A third force, embarked on ships, would support Alexander's force and sail alongside them. The Gedrosia crossing was a miserable failure, and upto three-quarters of Alexander's troops died along the way. His fleet was unable to keep up with the main force due to bad winds.
Why Alexander chose to lead part of his force through Gedrosia is a mystery. It could simply be because no one had ever attempted to bring such a large force through it before and Alexander wanted to be the first.
Alexander returned to Persia, this time as the ruler of a kingdom that stretched from the Balkans to Egypt to modern-day Pakistan. Alexander got married to two other women, in addition to Roxana, whom he had married in central Asia. Roxana likely did not take kindly to her two new co-wives and, after Alexander's death, she may have had them both killed, Plutarch wrote. This was united by a common Greek language and culture, while the king himself adopted foreign customs in order to rule his millions of ethnically diverse subjects.
Alexander was acknowledged as a military genius who always led by example, although his belief in his own indestructibility meant he was often reckless with his own life and those of his soldiers. The fact that his army only refused to follow him once in 13 years of a reign during which there was constant fighting, indicates the loyalty he inspired. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.
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