I was looking through Michael Grant's A Guide to the Ancient World: A Dictionary of Classical Place Names and ran across the following entry for Kabul (it said to see Paropamisus) and Kandahar (it said to see Alexander in Arachosia).
Paropamisus (Hindu Kush)
Mountains in central Asia, meeting the Karakoram range near the point where, today, China borders on Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Paropamisus range was called Parnassus by Aristotle, and identified with the Caucasus by writers about Alexander the Great: hence the name of Alexandria Beside Caucasus (qv), founded south of the Paropamisus on the west bank of the united Panjshir-Ghorband rivers. The capital of the people known as the Paropamisadae was at Kapisa, on the opposite shore, but their lands extended into the valley of the river Cabura (Kophen, Kabul).
These territories came under Seleucid and then Indian rule, from which an expedition of Antiochus III the Great (212-206), culminating in his crossing of the range, failed to detach them. Subsequently, however, in the mid-second century, the region was returned to Greek control by the Indo-Greek monarchs, one of whom, Strato I (c 130-75), coined at Alexandria beside the Caucasus and Gardez (south of Cabura), while another, Amyntas (c 100-75), employing the mint of Kapisa, issued the largest silver piece to have survived from the ancient world, describing himself as Nicator (Conqueror), like Seleucus I, the founder of the Seleucid empire, before him. The Indo-Greek principalities succumbed to Indo-Scythians and Yu6h-Chih invaders before the end of the first century BC.
--page 475
Alexander in Arachosia
Alexandropolis (Old Kandahar in Afghanistan) Founded by Alexander the Great in 329BC (according to Isidorus of Charax), the modern name is a corruption of Alexander.
--page 26
Alexander the Great
This led me to Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian for the map (right) and description:
- This done, he proceeded to the territory of the Ariaspians
(this, by the way, was their original name: later they came to
be known as the Benefactors in recognition of the help they
gave Cyrus, son of Cambyses, in his expedition to Scythia).
These people Alexander treated with every courtesy; he
honoured them for the service rendered to Cyrus in the old
days and also for the fact, which he observed for himself,
that their political institutions were different from those of
other tribes in that part of the world: like the best of the
Greeks, they claimed to know the distinction between right
and wrong. He accordingly allowed them to retain their
freedom, and offered to give them as much of their
neighbours' territory as they wanted - and they asked only
for a small slice.
There Alexander sacrificed to Apollo - and arrested one of his personal guards named Demetrius on suspicion of complicity in Philotas' plot. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, was appointed in his place.
These difficulties settled, Alexander advanced against Bessus in Bactria. On the way to Bactria he subdued the Drangae, the Gedrosians, and the Arachotians, appointing Menon as governor of Arachotia. In fact, he got as far as the neighbouring Indian tribes. The march was all the way through deep snow, and his men suffered severely from exhaustion and lack of supplies.
A report came in that, Satibarzanes having entered Aria with a force of 2,000 cavalry which he had received from Bessus, the Arians had again revolted; Alexander accordingly sent the Persian officer Artabazus there, accompanied by Erigyius and Caranus, two of the Companions, with further orders to Phrataphernes, the satrap of Parthia, to assist them in dealing with the Arians. The troops of Erigyius and Caranus fought a brisk engagement with Satibarzanes, the Persians holding their ground until Satibarzanes in hand-to-hand fight with Erigyius was struck in the face with a spear and killed; then they broke, and fled in confusion.
Alexander's route now led him to the Indian Caucasus. Here he founded a city and named it Alexandria; * then, after the traditional religious observances, he crossed the Caucasus range. A Persian called Proexes was made governor of the district, and Neiloxenus, one of the Companions and son of Satyrus, was appointed overseer, and left there with a body of troops at his disposal.
* By the 'Indian Caucasus' Arrian means the Hindu Kush; see pp. z62-3,
and cf. Strabo 11.8.1. The city is generally known as 'Alexandria by the
Caucasus', founded perhaps on the site of Begram, 25 miles north-east of
Kabul.
This sent me back to Grant's guide looking for "Ariaspians," which turned out to be listed under Arachosia.
Arachosia
A large part of what is now southern Afghanistan (Seistan), bounded on the north by Bactria and the Cabura (Kophen, Kabul) valley (the land of the Paropamisadae) and on the south by Gedrosia (Baluchistan). Arachosia was a satrapy of the Persian (Achaemenid) empire, from which excellent cavalry was recruited and elephants and ivory were exported. After Alexander the Great had invaded the Persian dominions and defeated Darius III Codomannus at Gaugamela (331), Barsaentes, satrap of Arachosia, was one of the two men who, supporting the rival claims of Bessus to the Persian throne, stabbed Darius to death. Then he returned to his own country to mobilize additional troops.
But Alexander pressed on into Arachosia, where he may have founded Alexander of the Arachosians--the site of recent discoveries--at or near the royal residence (Shahr-i-Kohna, Old Kandahar). Subsequently Arachosia formed part of a huge province given by Alexander to one of his Macedonian supporters, Sibyrtius.
When the king died, the territory passed to Seleucus I Nicator, but its eastern section probably constituted part of the territories that he ceded to the Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya in exchange for war elephants (301); and c 260 Kandahar passed into the hands of Chandragupta's grandson Asoka.
Soon afterward, what had now become the furthest parts of the Seleucid kingdom, including western Arachosia, were divided between the Greek kingdom of Bactria (256/5) and the Parthian empire (c 247); the major Parthian routes as far as Arachosia are described by Isidorus of Charax. Later, the Bactrian monarch Demetrius I (c 200-185) seems to have retaken part of the Arachosian land originally ceded to Chandragupta Maurya back from the Mauryan empire (which was now failing), and to have founded the Greek colony of Demetrias in the territory he had conquered--apparently the first such settlement established by a Bactrian monarch (another was called Euthydemia after his father). In the later second and first centuries BC this and other huge regions of central Asia were disputed between Indo-Greek kings and Scythians, and then, as the former gradually vanished, passed definitively out of the Greek sphere, becoming the western territories of the Indo-Scythian (Kushan) empire.
Green's Description
By this time, I was in full information mode, pulling in descriptions from various books in my library. Peter Green noted the following in his Alexander of Macedon:
- It was winter by the time Alexander resumed his march.
If he had simply wanted to pursue Bessus, with no other
considerations in mind, he could have back-tracked north to
the point where he left the Murghab (or the Kushk) River, and
then have continued his advance on Zariaspa. Instead, he
swung north-east through Arachosia, which meant that he
would now be forced to cross the Hindu Kush. His main
reason for picking this long, difficult route seems to have been
the still-unpacified state of the southern satrapies, including
Arachosia itself.
Dissension, indeed, was widespread. No sooner had he set out than reports reached him of a fresh rising in his rear, once again under Satibarzanes' leadership. An expeditionary force was at once sent back to Areia to deal with the rebel and its commander, Erigyius of Mytilene, won great distinction by killing Satibarzanes in single combat.
The revolt collapsed, but Areia continued to give trouble. Its Persian governor had subsequently to be replaced by a reliable Macedonian. Alexander appointed another Macedonian, Menon, as satrap of Arachosia: Menon's authority was further reinforced by a new military settlement, probably near the site of modern Kandahar. The whole region, it is clear, was very far from subdued, much less reliable.
Alexander reached Kandahar in February 329, and began his crossing of the Hindu Kush about the beginning of April. During their winter march through the highlands of eastern Afghanistan his troops had suffered severely from. frostbite, snow blindness, and chronic fatigue - the latter probably due to oxygen shortage at high altitudes. Somewhere near Kabul the king gave them a short and well-earned rest. Then, after establishing a third garrison town (which received the name Alexandria-in-the-Caucasus) he took his army over the Khawak pass (11,600 ft), and struck north along the line of the Surkhab River towards Drapsaca (Kunduz).
The crossing is said to have been accomplished in seventeen days - a remarkable feat, and one which must have required the most careful planning and accumulation of supplies at Alexander's base-camp. North of the Hindu Kush Bessus had adopted a scorched-earth policy; all supplies had been either destroyed or else concealed in pits by the local inhabitants. This caused the Macedonians considerable hardship, but failed to hold up their advance.
Bessus himself, together with 7,000 Bactrians and some strong Soghdian levies - the latter under two great feudal barons, Spitamenes and Oxyartes - was confidently awaiting Alexander at Aornus (Tashkurgan). There are no less than seven passes from Kabul to the Oxus valley: Bessus assumed, very reasonably, that the Macedonians would choose the lowest one.
But Alexander, unpredictable as always, did nothing of the sort. The Khawak pass is not only the easternmost of the seven (which was why he chose it) but also the highest and the most heavily snowbound. His army negotiated it with fantastic speed, and Bessus, eighty miles away to the west, found himself outflanked. He therefore decided to abandon Bactria altogether, retreat across the Oxus, and base his defence on Soghdiana.
When this plan was announced, most of his Bactrian cavalrymen promptly deserted, peeling off home to their own villages.
Savill's Description
Some additional detail appears in Alexander the Great and his Time:
- Having called the Assembly, Alexander explained that it
was imperative to secure Bessus; he had assumed the title of
King, and as Viceroy of Bactria and a kinsman of Darius,
would have much support throughout Persia. True, the
relationship of the King of Persia and his barons was not that of
a monarch who could command their obedience, but they were
morally bound to aid their King against foreign invaders. Until
the capture of Bessus the Macedonians would be in constant
danger; they might be forced to make an ignominious peace,
even retreat to the West.
So humiliating an end to their hitherto successful campaign could not be contemplated. Great difficulties would be encountered on the route to Bactria, for they would be obliged to march over trackless mountains peopled by stubborn tribes who would combine to resist any foreign army. In those desolate regions no towns existed, only small villages with a fortified citadel and a so-called palace, the residence of the local chieftain. But after having crossed the mountains they could relax in the fertile, highly civilised provinces of Bactria and Sogdiana.
Apparently Alexander was unaware of any objections to his plan; but dissentient critics, longing to return homeward, were uneasily questioning whither they were bound; their growing complaints precipitated a crisis which came to a head when the army had a time of repose in Drangiana.
Before the ascent to the high hills, thorough reorganisation of the army was essential. For such climbing it was necessary to renew clothing and to provide footwear suitable for rough ground, snow and ice. The equipment was arranged to be light and less cumbersome to carry. Gaps in the ranks were filled with fresh Oriental recruits, an innovation not welcomed by the Macedonian troops. During these preparations Alexander founded a new city-Alexandria-ad- Caucasum
Its site, some twenty miles north of Kabul, was selected because it commanded three important roads leading to Bactria. The Governor appointed for this city was later dismissed as incapable. News came that with the assistance of Bessus, Satibarsanes had returned to Aria and fomented an insurrection. A strong contingent was despatched under Artabazus, a Persian, and in the ensuing battle Satibarsanes was slain. Under a new Governor, Stasanor, the province of Aria flourished. Only when satisfied that he had secured his rear did Alexander begin the march toward the great mountain range.
Persia has several varieties of climate. North of the wide central plateau the air is clear, cold and bracing; the majestic grandeur of its towering mountains, with pinnacles wreathed in clouds and snow, strikes every traveller with awe. South of this plateau lie the deserts and plains, sultry and enervating. In this southern region the excellent irrigation system in olden days produced a vegetation rich enough to support a prosperous and numerous population.
The Himalayas, "Snow-Abode" in Sanscrit, extend along the plateau in a series of mountain chains. Radiating from them on the east are the heights of the Hindu-Kush, called the Caucasus by the Greeks in the time of Alexander, and the Parapamisus by the Persians; to-day these are part of Afghanistan. The western arm of the Himalayas passes along Central Asia, and is separated from the eastern Himalayas by the river Indus running its lengthy descent to the sea on the west coast of India.
North of this mountain chain Turkestan stretches as far as the Caspian Sea; in that province are many streams, rivers, and marshes; its climate resembles that of the West Indies. From the western system of the Himalayas spring two great rivers: the Oxus, flowing through Turkestan in a north-westerly direction, and the Helmund, running southward through Afghanistan. Bactria. lies north of the Parapamisus heights; still further north is Sogdiana; in both these provinces bitter fighting was to occur during the following two years.
Bessus believed that he was safe for the winter in his kingdom; little did he realise the persistent and intrepid nature of his pursuer. No one in Bactria dreamed that any army would be so foolhardy as to attempt the passage of these frowning heights while covered with snow and ice. Realising that Bessus would expect that the lower, easier path to Bactria would be chosen by any foe so venturesome as to cross the Hindu-Kush during the cold season of the year, Alexander decided to take the higher, supposedly impassable route, and thus turn the position of his unsuspecting enemy who at Tashkurgan was ready with a considerable force, together with two Sogdian barons, Oxyartes and Spitamenes.
While awaiting the approach of the Macedonians Bessus laid waste the northern slope of the mountains, so that neither food nor protection would be available for the invaders. Bessus hoped that Alexander would be attracted to pass on to India, leaving Bactria behind; if this choice were taken, Bessus intended to attack the Macedonian rear. With the combined forces of Bactria, Sogdiana and the Scythian territory he believed that at last he could dispose of the hitherto unconquered Western army. But Alexander's strategy had thwarted that design. When he heard of Alexander's close approach to Drapsaca, Bessus had so rude an awakening from this dream that he fled precipitately north to Sogdiana, where he could rely on the aid of Oxyartes, Spitamenes and other barons.
Deprived of their leader, the Bactrian cavalry submitted with apparent relief to the Macedonians, who passed into Bactra-Zariaspa, the capital. The province of Bactria was known as the "Garden of Asia"; its irrigation was so thorough that even underground channels had been constructed from the Polytimetus and the Oxus rivers.
Travelling along part of the Cophen valley, the Macedonian army crossed by the Khawak pass, 11,600 feet high, and eventually reached Drapsaca (now Inderaub). The ground was practically barren; as even wood for firing was hard to obtain from the sparse, scrubby bushes which pushed lean twigs through the snow, the troops suffered from both cold and hunger.
On the southern side the snow had been deep for twelve miles, but on the northern descent the army had travelled forty miles of deep snow. This crossing of the Hindu-Kush in winter is dismissed by most writers in a few cursory sentences; but, said Lieutenant-Colonel Dodge, a professional soldier, do they realise that this was a phenomenal achievement without parallel in history? Hannibal crossed the Alps, but that lesser military success was accomplished after he had studied the methods of his great predecessor and from them drawn inspiration.
The campaigning season 330 to 328 B.C. confuses the lay reader with its many to-and-fro lightning moves over deserts, plains, hills, to towns and fortresses, and over unfordable rivers. Little geography was then known; all the more remarkable was Alexander's unerring instinct in finding his route over strange territory, and his selection of suitable sites for founding new cities.
So far as can be computed, the marching distance amounted to some 3,900 miles; a figure sufficiently approximate to give some idea of the arduous labour of the army under their indomitable leader. When reading the names of the places traversed during the two years' campaign one feels as bewildered as when watching from the window of an express train a rapidly receding landscape. Therefore only the incidents which throw light on Alexander's character can be briefly dealt with in this chapter.
Early in 329 B.C. Alexander started to follow Bessus into Sogdiana. Only with the aid of a map of classical geography is it possible to follow his involved route over Bactria and Sogdiana. On leaving Zariaspa the army passed over forty miles of desert, where many suffered from thirst and the intense heat of the spring season.
On arriving at the Oxus river, deep and with a swiftly running current, they found that during his retreat Bessus had destroyed all means of crossing. But Alexander quickly improvised a method by which the whole army were able to disembark on the opposite bank in five days; firm animal skins, packed with hay and sewn together, provided safe carriage for wooden rafts. Thus no time was lost, and on shore no precious minute was wasted; the march was at once resumed.
By this time Bessus had become somewhat of a problem to his supporters; after the death of Darius his leadership had been so weak that his allies regarded him as a handicap. Alexander received messages from Spitamenes, Oxyartes and other barons, who offered to deliver up Bessus when troops were sent to fetch him. Under Ptolemy, some 6,000 soldiers, including the shield-bearing guards, lancers and infantry, marched to the meeting-place.
The chieftains, reluctant, when it came to the point, to hand over their former colleague, left the district, but after some delay Bessus-was taken prisoner, stripped and questioned. When the report of his interrogation was read aloud by a herald, the troops expressed satisfaction that justice had been done. Bessus had a fair trial and was executed after mutilation of the nose and ears-the usual Persian punishment for a regicide-had been carried out. This is said to be the only instance of torture having been ordered by Alexander.
After replacing the horses lost in Asia, Alexander marched on to Maracanda, the capital and royal summer residence of Sogdiana. Situated in a fertile valley, it had natural barriers against invaders--deserts on the west, and high mountain ranges on the east, north and South.
Plutarch
Plutarch is better at gossip than history, and little about the Afghanistan area appears in his biography of Alexander. Here is the closest:
- 45. From this point, they advanced into Parthia, (Summer 330 BC)
and it was here during a pause in the campaign that he first began to
wear barbarian dress. He may have done this from a desire to adapt
himself to local habits, because he understood that the sharing of race
and of customs is a great step towards softening men's hearts.
Alternatively, this may have been an experiment which was aimed at introducing the obeisance among the Macedonians, the first stage being to accustom them to accepting changes in his own dress and way of life. However he did not go so far as to adopt the Median costume, which was altogether barbaric and outlandish, and he wore neither trousers, nor a sleeved vest, nor a tiara. Instead he adopted a style which was a compromise between Persian and Median costume, more modest than the first, and more stately than the second.
At first he wore this only when he was in the company of barbarians or with his intimate friends indoors, but later he put it on when he was riding or giving audience in public.
The sight greatly displeased the Macedonians, but they admired his other virtues so much that they considered they ought to make concessions to him in some matters which either gave him pleasure or increased his prestige. For besides all his other hardships, he had recently been wounded below the knee by an arrow which splintered the shin-bone so that the fragments had to be taken out, and on another occasion he had received such a violent blow on the neck from a stone that his vision became clouded and remained so for a long time afterwards. In spite of this, he continued to expose himself unsparingly to danger: for example, he crossed the river Orexartes, which he believed to be the Tanais, routed the Scythians and pursued them for twelve miles or more, even though all this while he was suffering from an attack of dysentery.
46. It was here that he was visited by the queen of the Amazons, according to the report we have from many writers, among them Cleitarchus, Polycleitus, Onesicritus, Antigenes and Ister. On the other hand Aristobulus, Chares the royal usher, Ptolemy, Anticleides, Philo the Theban and Philip of Theangela, and besides these Hecataeus of Eretria, Philip the Chalcidian and Douris of Samos all maintain that this is a fiction, and this judgement seems to be confirmed by Alexander's own testimony. In a letter to Antipater in which he describes the details of the occasion, he mentions that the king of the Scythians offered him his daughter in marriage, but he makes no reference to an Amazon.
There is also a story that many years afterwards, when Lysimachus had become king of Macedonia, Onesicritils was reading aloud the fourth book of his history, which contained the tale of the Amazon, at which Lysimachus smiled and asked quietly, 'I wonder where I was then.'
From Battles of the Greek and Roman World
This handy volume covers two of Alexander's battles between capturing Susa (330) and crossing the Hydaspes River (326).
JAXARTES R (328) - Alexander's Anabasis
- After crossing the Caucasus, Alexander moved
northward to Marakanda [Samarkand] and then
turned east until he reached the river Jaxartes [Syr-Darya], which was wrongly identified as the
Tanais. This was the most north-easterly point
which he reached at the end of this leg of his
expedition. By this river a party of Macedonians
were foraging when they were attacked and
slaughtered by a large group of tribesmen estimated to be about 30,000 in number. The enemy then withdrew to a high point in the hills, which was surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides. Alexander moved against this position but his men repeatedly failed to get a foothold on the precipitous slopes and were forced back by the missiles sent down on them from above. Alexander
himself was wounded in the leg by an arrow. The
details of his subsequent success are not recorded but he eventually managed to take the place and inflict enormous losses on the natives. Many of them leapt over the edge of the cliffs and only 8,000 of the 30,000 are said to have escaped.
- Arrian, Anabasis, 3: 30(7-11); Curtius, 7: 6(1-7)
ALEXANDRIA ESCHATE (328) Alexander's Anabasis
- It was on the river Jaxartes [Syr-Darya] that Alexander decided to found a city named after himself at this, the furthermost (eschate) point reached by his expedition on this leg of the journey. He spent three weeks fortifying the site of what is now Leninabad. During this time a horde of Asian Scythians arrived and occupied the opposite bank of the river. They made no move to leave but just stayed, watching and deriding the Macedonians. Alexander decided to move against them and crossed the river with his men in skinfloats. The archers and slingers were the first ashore, with instructions to keep the enemy at bay while the infantry landed. When the vanguard advanced, the Scythians rode around them in circles, discharging their missiles.
A force of cavalry and light troops was sent against them. When these were nearly in contact with the enemy, Alexander ordered the three regiments of the Companions and the mounted javelin throwers to charge, while he followed up with the rest of the cavalry. This broke up the enemy's ring and turned them to flight. Around 1,000 were killed and many more perished in the pursuit.
- Arrian, Anabasis, 4: 3(6)-4; Curtius, 7: 6(25-27 and 8(30)-9(16)
The Bactrian Years
Osprey's Campaign series gives a good overview of various operations with exquisite artwork. Alexander 334-323BC: Conquest of the Persian Empire is no different. Here is the relevant section regarding the Afghanistan area from the chapter: The Bactrian Years
- It was to be almost five years before Alexander would fight another glorious pitched battle; instead, during much of that time he would be occupied with strenuous guerilla fighting and mountain warfare. Darius fled north -eastward into the mountains of Media, guessing rightly that Alexander would immediately turn his attention to the great central cities of the empire, which lay to the south: Babylon, Susa and Persepolis.
Alexander was well received at Babylon and Susa, and his treatment of the population was accordingly generous, but he had to fight for Persepolis, first against Uxian mountain tribes, then against Persian regular forces. When he captured the city, he burnt it. This act of destruction may not have been premeditated: according to some accounts, it was a result of wild caprice, the product of a drinking bout in the company of a courtesan.
Before moving north again through Media in pursuit of Darius, Alexander placed governors over the territory he had recently conquered. These included Persian administrators, and one may discern here a new policy, a foretaste perhaps of those war aims of universal citizenship he was later to embrace when the mere destruction of an enemy seemed no longer to justice the time, trouble and suffering involved. But Darius at this time still seemed bent on some kind of resistance. He had collected around him the semblance of an army, with about 2,000 Greek mercenaries, and could if necessary fall back east of the Caspian then northwards into the Bactrian mountains.
In the event, Alexander never took Darius alive. He was not in time to prevent the Persian king escaping through the Caspian pass into the northern mountains. As the pursuing Macedonian army rested briefly in camp, news came that Darius had been forcibly seized by a group of his own officers, among whom was Bessus, satrap of Bactria, a relative of the King. Bessus had obvious claims - which he soon asserted - to rule over the rump of the Persian Empire. He had commanded the Bactrian contingent at Gaugamela, and there was a likelihood that Alexander might find him a more formidable enemy than Darius.
It was important to forestall a resurgence of Persian opposition. Alexander at once left his main army and pressed on in the tracks of the fugitives with a small, highly mobile body of troops. The men of his advance party eventually discovered Darius on the point of death, mortally wounded by his captors when they found that they could no longer drag him with them in their flight. Alexander arranged a royal funeral for Darius; later, when he captured Bessus, he was to hand the pretender over to Darius's brother Oxathres for barbarous execution.
The problem of war aims now became acute. The populations of Bactria and Sogdiana, northwards, which were loosely attached provinces of the Persian Empire, still seemed determined to fight for their independence. But before making any northerly advance, Alexander pursued the Greek mercenaries who had served under Darius and forced their surrender when he overtook them in Hyrcania, south of the Caspian Sea.
However, Alexander's ideal of a mixed Asiatic and European nationality did not appeal to his men, and he soon faced conspiracies among his officers and immediate entourage. He executed Philotas, the son of his once-trusted second-incommand Parmenio, then as precaution arranged the murder of Parmenio, whom he had left in charge of the Median garrison. In a drunken brawl, he later killed Clitus, the officer who had saved his life at the Granicus. In fact, Alexander often appeared now in the role of a tyrant - a role in which many ancient historians of later centuries consistently saw him. Nevertheless, the rank and file of his army still followed him devotedly.
After the capture of Bessus (329BC), which had occurred in Sogdiana, north of the River Oxus, a new leader of resistance emerged in the person of Spitamenes, a Bactrian nobleman. It might truthfully be said that Spitamenes was the most redoubtable enemy that Alexander ever had to face. The Bactrian leader's flexible guerrilla tactics implemented with the support of Scythian allies from across the River Jaxartes, cost the Macedonians many lives. In fact, in one devastating ambush alone, more of Alexander's men fell than in all his glorious pitched battles put together.
Little by little, however, Alexander garrisoned the north-eastern provinces against his wily enemies. Spitamenes summoned to his aid the Massagetae, a warlike Scythian tribe who lived east of the Caspian Sea. But when defeated by Alexander, the Scythians murdered Spitamenes and sent his head to the victor as a peace offering. (Another account has it that Spitamenes was murdered by his wife.)
At Maricanda (Samarkand), Alexander married Roxana, the daughter of a Sogdian nobleman. She had been taken prisoner by the Macedonians and was a famed beauty. Apart from its immediate political convenience, this marriage was in line with Alexander's emerging war aims - the forging of a Eurasian nation and a Greco-Asiatic culture. The fact that Alexander had previously married Stateira, Darius's daughter, at Susa was no impediment to the Sogdian wedding: Macedonian kings did not profess monogamy, and in this respect at least they were 'unGreek'.
The years of Alexander's fighting in the northeastern provinces of the Persian Empire are recorded by historians in some detail, though with many discrepancies. We hear of battles and of treachery, rapid marches and river crossings, the scaling of cliffs and the capture of daunting mountain strongholds, with feats of arms in the course of which Alexander was more than once wounded. At this time more than any, the sum of effort and hardship suffered by the conquering army seems great and out of all proportion to any useful purpose served.
However, by dint of war and diplomacy, Alexander at last subdued the intransigent population. He secured the whole territory by planting garrisons of Macedonian and Greek soldiers. The Scythians north of the Jaxartes were a permanent menace. They had once been denizens of the lands the Persians later controlled, and there was also a danger that they might make common cause with any resurgent movement in the north-east provinces themselves. Before marching southwards, across the 'Indian Caucasus' (Hindu Kush), Alexander left outposts of rather war-weary men to hold the frontier of the Jaxartes and the town he had founded there -- 'Alexandria-Eschate' that is to say, 'Farthest Alexandria'.
He was now destined for the River Indus. In planning his expedition into India, Alexander pitched his ambitions even beyond the confines of the old Persian Empire. At this point, if any, Alexander's men could be expected to show those symptoms of mutiny that were later to frustrate him. But the army, reassured by legends of the god Dionysus's visit to India, followed their leader into the Indus valley without demur.
Alexander did not in fact immediately attempt a crossing of the great river, but during the winter of 327/326 he spent his time campaigning against hill tribes in the mountainous region towards modern Chitral. His officer Hephaestion was sent by a route farther south and had contrived to bridge the Indus before Alexander rejoined him. Arrian, on the analogy of Roman bridging operations in his own time, suggests convincingly that Hephaestion's bridge was laid on pontoons.
Beyond the Indus, the Macedonians were well received by the ruler of Taxila, who is named in Arrian's history as Taxiles. His real name was probably 'Amphi', and the title 'Taxiles' derived from the name of his chief city. He submitted to Alexander of his own accord, no doubt seeing in the invaders allies against the king farther east, whom the Greeks knew as Porus (Nros). While resting his troops at Taxila, Alexander received the submission of other Indian rulers, but it soon became evident that in making a friend of Taxiles he had assured himself of the enmity of Porus; accordingly, intent upon a new war, he now marched east again towards the River Hydaspes (modern Jhelum), beyond which Porus was mobilizing his army.
Farther East
This led me to Warry's classic book: Warfare in the Classical World and its short passage. Sadly, I could not locate my original British publication, only the far, far inferior B&N reprint. Still, the text should be the same:
- Alexander now took possession of the great capitals of the Persian Empire - Babylon, Susa, Persepolis and Ecbatana - with all their accumulated treasure. Darius became a refugee in the wilder northern provinces, where he was eventually murdered by one of his officers. Alexander was then free to assume the title of King of Persia and, when he captured Darius' murderer, handed him over to Persian justice for barbarous execution.
The subjugation of the central territories of the Persian Empire was not difficult, but conquest of the eastern provinces involved three years of arduous mountain warfare in the areas now comprised by Khorasan, Russian Turkestan and Afghanistan. But Alexander's experience qualified him for all types of warfare, and his marriage to Roxana, daughter of a Bactrian tribal chief, perhaps did something to conciliate what was otherwise a hostile population.
During the years which followed Gaugamela, Alexander's problems became increasingly political rather than military. With the assumption of despotic power, his character revealed itself as despotic and tyrannical. He killed Clitus - the officer who had saved his life at Granicus - in a drunken rage. Philotas, the son of Parmenio, once Alexander's trusted commander of the Companions, was accused of treason and executed. Fear of reprisal then led Alexander to procure the murder of Parmenio.
Alexander realized that he could not hold the Persian empire without conciliating its inhabitants; he progressively adopted Persian manners and dress and required his officers to do the same. But by these conciliatory gestures to the Asiatics, he alienated the Macedomans and the Greeks, who grew indignant and rebellious. However, the prestige of a triumphant warleader will carry any political ruler a long way. It carried Alexander on another march eastward into India. Perhaps he felt that a career of continued military conquest was essential to his political power. On the banks of the Hydaspes (Jhelum river), he defeated the Indian king Porus.
Map from Grant
The amount of new information dwindled at this point, and I figured I had gotten a pretty good picture of Alexander the Great's efforts in the Afghanistan area. Still, there was time to look up one more map, this from Grant:
Sources
Arrian (translated by Aubrey de Selincourt) The Campaigns of Alexander (1958, Dorset edition 1986, ISBN 0-88029-079-X)
Grant, Michael. A Guide to the Ancient World: A Dictionary of Classical Place Names (1986, Barnes & Noble edition 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0425-2)
Green, Peter Alexander of Macedon 356-323 BC: A Historical Biography (1970, Univ. of Calif. Press edition 1991, ISBN 0-520-07165-4)
Montagu, John Drogo. Battles of the Greek and Roman World. (2000, Greenhill Books, ISBN: 1-85367-389-7)
Plutarch. The Age of Alexander. (1973, 1983 edition Penguin. ISBN: 0-14-044286-3)
Savill, Agnes. Alexander the Great and his Time. (1990 reprint, Dorset Press. ISBN: 0-88029-591-0)
Warry, John. Alexander 334-323BC: Conquest of the Persian Empire (1991, Osprey, ISBN: 0-85532-110-6)
Warry, John. Warfare in the Classical World (2000 Barnes & Noble edition, ISBN: 0-7607-1696-X).
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