The Astronomical Diaries describe the omen: According to the Persian Magians, an eclipse of the moon was more significant for the king himself than most other omens.note[Herodotus of Halicarnassus, Histories 7.37.]
Darius raced north toward the pass of the Caspian Gates with some 30,000 infantry, a depleted treasury and a handful of personal attendants.
But King Alexander III, only 25 years old, his reputation preceding him like thunder before a storm, led his men into Asia. Ancient History Encyclopedia Foundation is a non-profit organization. At the tip of this wedge was the Royal Guard and Companion Cavalry. While Alexander was challenging the Persians on the right, Darius sent his scythed chariots towards the Macedonian center, a move that failed to have the effect Darius had hoped. In addition, Alexander, bivouacked in that area, could easily maintain his army on that longer but more fertile route to Babylon. As the sun rose on September 30, Alexander delivered a brief address to his officers. Alexander stationed himself on the Macedonian right, with the bulk of his Companion and mercenary cavalry, and large numbers of psiloi (light infantry). Instead each unit reflects the space it occupies; cavalry are obviously more spaced out than infantry but even this varies from era to era. This is simply awesome.
Ancient History Encyclopedia. Alexander made camp several miles from Darius; his men (estimated at 40,000) would only take their weapons to do battle, nothing else. The Macedonian infantry held the centre, with the entire line arrayed in echelon, slanting away diagonally backward to the left flank. Along with 15 elephants (although they were never used), he had 200 scythed chariots. Back on the right, Alexander, spying Darius, seized upon the opportunity and threw a spear at the shocked king (missing him by inches). In addition, when he decided to march to Gaugamela, Darius forfeited the element of surprise. There is also firm evidence that at some point Mazaeus' Babylonian horsemen broke through the Macedonian lines, only to take the Macedonian camp instead of attacking the enemy from the rear. At the same time, in preparation for his attack on the Persian throne, he dispatched a force of bridge builders led by his lifelong confidant, Hephaestion, east to the Euphrates River to await his advance. Once across the Tigris, Macedonian mounted scouts reported seeing Persian cavalry in the distance. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 5,000 articles originally published in our various magazines. All content copyright © 1995–2020 Livius.org. I never hear anyone ever bring up the fact that he had effectively created the first “Blitzkrieg” capable army, the first freedom of religion, the largest land empire in history, and the U.S. military still uses many of his army structures as well as every other military in the world. What actually happened lies concealed for ever in the dust clouds of the battlefield, but the Astronomical Diaries do offer some interesting information: "King of the world" is how the Babylonians translated "king of Asia", the title accepted by Alexander.
The main body of cavalry, a fighting force of roughly 8,000 commanded by his cousin, Bessus, thundered into the assault. The scene that confronted Alexander's army must have been awe-inspiring. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. Learning that his Macedonian enemy would not be playing into his hands by traveling down the Euphrates Valley, Darius guessed that Alexander intended to ford the Tigris, probably at Mosul. Battle of Gaugamela (October 1, 331 BCE): decisive battle in the war between Macedonia and the Achaemenid Empire, fought in northern Iraq.The outcome was influenced by a celestial omen that announced the imminent downfall of the Persian king Darius III Codomannus and the succession by Alexander the Great. Lying near the hamlet of Gaugamela, the plain was part of a vast territory north of the Persian provincial capital of Babylon where King Darius III, also known as Darius Codomanus, had mustered an army formidable enough, he hoped, to halt the invasion of the Persian-dominated lands of the eastern Mediterranean by Macedonian forces.
Alexander’s well-trained army faced Darius’ massive battle line and organized for attack, charging the left of the Persians’ line with archers, javelin throwers, and cavalry, while defending against Darius’ outflanking cavalry with reserve flank guards. Darius ordered a general advance, pouring more men into the mayhem on his left. On the way, he and his Companions ran head-on into thousands of withdrawing Persian and Indian cavalry - many of whom were returning after plundering his baggage - and the Companions were forced to hack a path through them to reach the Macedonian left. The actual course of events was probably rather different. The night of 30 September 331 was the beginning of autumn, when the Persians celebrated Mithrakana – sure enough, by making sacrifices to the sun, to Mithra and to the holy fire. These figures are almost certainly grossly inflated. The ultimate result was panic and the rout of the remainder of Darius’ army. Map of the Battle of Gaugamela - Alexander's Attackby US Military Academy (Public Domain). Great job BTW. At first the Macedonians did not finish building their bridge all the way to the opposite bank, because they feared Mazaeus' troops would attack their bridgehead. Ghengis Khan with his ‘standard sweeps’ and feigned retreats vs Alexander’s adaptive style would have been beyond EPIC in battle. ps: reply to a previous post. Some swung around to attack the Macedonian left from the rear, but most bypassed the rear phalanx and made for the Macedonian camp, several miles away. Beated in his first encounter with Alexander at Issus (333 BC), Darius III, to avoid another war, offered him all regions West of the Euphrates, a high ransom to regain his harem (which the Macedonian had captured at … The resistance he met along the way—aside from the Persian and Greek mercenary troops he met in battle—at first was minor. Its light was visible on the ground.note[Astronomical Diary -330, obv.5.].
Even though this once powerful kingdom had been ruled for the past three centuries by the Babylonians, whose empire in turn had been absorbed into that of the Persians, the name "Assyria" still spoke to the imagination. His presence meant that the Macedonians would have to engage in siege warfare to feed themselves. Once the Persians had levelled the terrain to make it suitable for war chariots and horsemen, they had to ensure that Alexander would not march off somewhere else. These men were the finest foot-soldiers in the Achaemenid host, and Darius was relying on them to halt the advance of the dreaded Macedonian phalanx. In terms of length alone it conferred an enormous advantage to the Macedonian infantry, because they could start the slaughter whilst the enemy were still attempting to bring their own weapons to bear. License. As the chariots approached, the phalanx merely opened ranks, allowing the chariots to pass through. But under a less talented general, the army might still have been overwhelmed by the sheer weight of Persian numbers. To Alexander, this was another omen of victory. Alexander had learnt much from his captured Persians. Darius then called his next shot. Later, as Alexander addressed his men, he spoke of the forthcoming battle, reassuring the typically superstitious Macedonians that an earlier eclipse of the moon was a sign of victory. Darius now committed reserve Persian cavalry to contain Alexander's right, thus opening up a gap in his centre. The total numbers of the Persian army have been estimated by historians at anywhere from 200,000 to an implausible one million. Your email address will not be published. The Battle of Gaugamela was fought on October 1, 331 BC, during the Wars of Alexander the Great (335-323 BC). Wasson, D. L. (2012, February 27). Alexander is the ultimate generalissimo. Meanwhile, Darius launched his scythe chariots and sent his elephants into action. At that point, the only Persian cavalry still not committed to the battle were those roughly opposite Alexander and his Companions. He resolved to use the river’s swift current—which made crossing it very difficult—to his advantage. The period that preceded the Battle of Gaugamela was filled with a steady onward progression of the forces of Alexander the Great. Please animate the Battle of Isos…You just can’t have Gaugamela without the first battle between Darius and Alexander.
With the assistance of his phalanx, Alexander beat back the Persian line in the direction of Darius, threatening him in both flank and rear. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! Submitted by Grant, published on 18 January 2012 under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. How come no one seems to point out things about Ghengis Khan? He set up his command centre at Arba'il (present-day Irbil), a stronghold on raised ground that was famous as the holy site of the fertility goddess Ištar.
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