Alexander the Great by Graham Phillips

Author:Graham Phillips
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Ancient, History, General
ISBN: 9780753535820
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2012-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

9. MELEAGER – THE LONG MARCH HOME

MELEAGER HAD BEEN a regular Macedonian soldier for over thirty years. Little is known of his early life, but he had seen service in the army of Alexander’s father Philip three decades earlier. Before July 326 BC, Meleager had merely commanded a phalanx of 1,500 men and would have been the equivalent of a modern lieutenant colonel. However, when Coenus was dismissed for failing to control his men, Meleager was appointed commander of the entire infantry. It may have been that Alexander no longer trusted his more senior officers; alternatively, Meleager’s promotion to general may have been to appease the troops. Meleager was a popular, grass-roots soldier – a seasoned veteran of considerable experience. Either way, his appointment suited both the king and the rank and file of his army, although it was obviously not popular with the Macedonian high command.1

Alexander, however, clearly bore a grudge against his army, particularly the infantry, although he could risk only limited and tacit recriminations. To begin with, as they withdrew from Sangala, he left behind around 5,000 men to found a Macedonian colony. These were obviously some of the troops Alexander felt he could no longer rely on, and he no doubt hoped they would never be heard from again. What happened to them in their settlement far inside India is not recorded, but it is interesting that there are tribesmen in the area of Chandigarh today who still claim descent from Alexander the Great.2 Coenus himself may also have been surreptitiously dealt with: a few weeks after the near mutiny he was conveniently found dead – apparently after a fall from his horse.3

The easiest and most direct way to return to Persia and the west would be back via Taxila to Charika, where the expedition into India had started from. However, Alexander realised that, after only a few months, this would look as if his army had been defeated or forced to retreat. Such a perception may well have led to a rebellion in Gandara, so he decided instead to head west to the Indus and then follow the river south to the Arabian Sea. When the army arrived at one of the Indus’ tributaries in September, Alexander ordered his admiral Nearchus to build a fleet of 800 ships to ferry part of his army and supplies down river. The rest would be divided into two – one part commanded by Hephaestion, the other by Craterus – which were to flank the fleet on either bank.4

In November the ships were ready and the army began its 1,000-kilometre trek south. Almost at once, the fleet ran into trouble when dozens of ships were smashed to pieces in a course of rapids and almost a thousand men lost their lives. However, for the next couple of months things went well, until January 325 BC when the army entered the territory of the Indian kingdom of Malava, around modern Multan. This was a relatively small kingdom and the massive army could easily have passed through with little or no trouble at all.

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