Alexander the Great by E E Rice

Author:E E Rice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Alexander the Great
ISBN: 9780752468389
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

THREE

THE FRONTIER

BEYOND

This is a decisive moment in Alexander’s career. The war of revenge against Persia was now over, and his allied Greek troops had been sent home. He had conquered vast areas of Asia Minor, the Middle East, Egypt, Iraq and Iran, and had effectively destroyed the Persian Empire, while capturing the enormously wealthy treasuries in the royal capitals. He had assumed the titles and position of Great King, and secured the administration of the empire by the appointment of new Macedonian and Persian satraps as he went along. Although the outlying satrapies of the Persian Empire, roughly comprising modern Afghanistan and Pakistan (this satrapy of ‘India’ had been loosely held by the Persians), had not at this stage been conquered by him, the nomadic, tribal nature of the north-eastern satrapies probably meant that a concerted revolt against him could not have been sustained for long without the support of the Persian heartland, especially if Macedonian garrisons were left in strategic areas (this is in fact what Alexander did later). Yet Alexander continued to campaign for six more years. It appears that he initially set out on mopping-up operations to quell any revolt after Darius’s death. Did he then intend, despite the almost unimaginable geographical and climatic obstacles he would face, to achieve the complete defeat of all Persian territory in person? Even if this was the case, why did he want to go on after that? What was his final objective? When did he decide on his final objective? The answers to these difficult questions can only be attempted, since the sources record little evidence of Alexander’s intentions. If indeed he knew the answers himself, he apparently kept his own counsel.

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