122: Alexander in Love

Marriage of Alexander and Roxane, Il Sodoma c. 1517

Alexander the Great had many relationships, both romantic and familial. From mother and father, Olympias and Philip, to a vast array of step-mothers and siblings to at least four romantic and sexual partners, the Macedonian royal family was as vast as it was confusing and controversial.
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121: The Conquests to Come

An Arab tribute delegation depicted at Persepolis via Wikimedia

In 323 BCE, Alexander the Great was preparing for future campaigns. Some sources say that Alexander wanted to defeat Carthage. Others say Alexander planned to attack Rome, but the most likely candidate was actually Alexander’s planned Arabian campaign.
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120: King the Conqueror

Head from a statue of Hephaestion via Wikimedia

In 324 BCE, Alexander the Great took his first real break from war since he became king. At Susa, he orchestrated the mass marriage of his highest officers with Iranian noblewomen and honored the war heroes of his recent campaigns. Alexander faced another mutiny at Opis before heading to Ecbatana, where his closest companion, Hephaestion, died suddenly of an unknown illness, throwing the king into a deep depression.
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119: Pirates of the Arabian

Map of major stops along Nearchos’ route from the Indus to Susa

While Alexander the Great crossed Gedrosia, Nearchus sailed from the Indus to explore the Arabian Sea and chart the coast of the Macedonian Empire. They faced obstacles, became pirates, and fought seas monsters before even reaching the Persian Gulf.
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118: Dead Men’s Rest

Map of the Macedonians’ route through Eastern Iran and India via Wikimedia

After the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander the Great began moving south through the Indus River Valley, battling the Mallians before nearly dying during the siege of their capital city. When he recovered, the Macedonians began to move west for their homeward journey, leaving only Nearchus’ fleet and a few small garrisons behind.
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117: At World’s End

“Surrender of Porus to the Emperor Alexander,” by Alonzo Chappel, 1865

After subduing Bactria, Alexander the Great invaded India. The crossing through the Hindu Kush was heavily contested by various mountain peoples. The Macedonians conquered each opponent before facing of with King Porus in the Battle of the Hydaspes River.
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113: Alexander – King of the Monsters

Iskandar (Alexander) comforts the dying Dara (Darius III-ish), illustrated Shahnameh 1604

In the centuries following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire, Iranian cultural memory changed and shifted, often in strange and unexpected ways. Alexandros Megas ton Makedon was remembered as Gizistag Iskandar-i Rhomiyag – the Accursed Alexander of Rome.
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112: King Darius Escapes

The Punishment of Bessus by Andre Castaigne, 1899

In the final weeks of 331 BCE, Alexander the Great took Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis almost entirely unopposed. By May 330, he had claimed Ecbatana as well and sent Darius III fleeing toward Bactria, but discontent was growing in both armies, and ultimately Artaxerxes V, rather than Darius, would lead Achaemenid Persia’s final stand.
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111: The Man Who Could Walk Through Empires

Map of Alexander’s campaigns via Wikimedia Commons (special thanks to Umberto from So You Think You Can Rule Persia)

After Darius III’s defeat at Gaugamela, Alexander the Great tore through the Persian capitals, taking Babylon and Susa without a fight, and only stalling on his way to Persepolis during the Battle of the Persian Gates. The Macedonians reveled, Persepolis burned, and King Darius fled, ceding Ecbatana to the conqueror.
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