Siege of Thebes: 335BC
PLAN
Ø Build-Up
ü Alex in Illyria (Cleitus & Glaucias)
ü Coup d’état in Thebes (anti-Macedonian exiles)
ü Alex covers 250 miles in 2 weeks
Ø Outline
ü Diplomacy! Halts east at Sanctuary of Ioulus + demands surrender of ringleaders
ü Thebans divided inside but anti-Macedonian faction dominates + demands surrender of Philotas and Antipater
ü Theban sorties: infantry and cavalry – Alex deploys archers and agrianes
ü Next day to south blocking road to Athens + encouraging besieged garrison on Cadmeia
ü Perdiccas (acting alone) led Hypaspists supported by Amyntas’ phalanx against double palisade
ü Alex sends Agrianes and Archers in support (Amyntas seriously wounded)
ü Macedonians pushed Thebans back to Temple of Heracles
ü Thebans regrouped and pushed Macedonians into retreat (last straw for Alex)
ü Alex orders full assault!
ü Thebans in retreat forget to close the city gate!
ü Besieged garrison breaks out + fierce fighting by Ampheum (Theban agora/market)
ü Theban cavalry fled city to countryside + infantry fought on
Ø Aftermath
ü Alex ceded authority to League of Corinth! Boeotians massacred the men, sold women and children to slavery and razed city to the ground
ü Alex spares priests and priestesses and the House and family of the poet Pindar
ü Timocleia also spared (Plutarch)
ü Alex reinstalls garrison on Cadmeia
ü Alex to Athens to secure surrender (end of revolt in Greece!)
SIEGE of MILETUS: mid-summer 334BC
PLAN
Ø Build-up
ü Asian Minor liberated after GRANICUS
ü Persian commander willing to surrender BUT changed mind when Persian Fleet nearby
ü Miletus to be open to both sides (whoever is there) – INTOLERABLE to Alex!
Ø Outline
ü Nicanor (160 ships) goes ahead to block port. Anchors off nearby Lade island
ü Persian fleet anchors on slopes of Mt. Mycale. Tries to tempt Nicanor into deeper water
ü OMEN – Eagle near ships (Parmenio to command naval battle?) Alex – Eagle perched on pier = Zeus wants a land victory! That night Zeus approves by Thunder Storm over Miletus.
ü Siege of Miletus quickly done. Outer city falls then inner city. Most Milesians killed!
ü Greek mercenaries + refugees flee to nearby islet. Initially Alex tries to take islet with ladder-ships BUT instead pardons the valiant refugees (offers the mercenaries better contract)
ü Philotas send with cavalry and 3 phalanxes to flush out the Persians at Mycale
ü Persians move off to Samos island but eventually depart ceding the city to Alex
Ø Aftermath
ü Alex dismisses his fleet: the Greek navy
· Too expensive to maintain
· Too few ships against many Persians
· Didn’t trust the Greeks !
ü Coastal Policy
· Take all the ports along coast to Egypt. Persian navy will collapse
SIEGE of HALICARNASSUS: Autumn 334BC
PLAN
Ø Build-Up
ü After Miletus Alex turns to Halicarnassus (the fortress naval base of Memnon, now supreme naval commander of Lower Asia for Darius) Orantobates succeeded as satrap after Pixodorus’ death
ü Spies from Myndus (a citadel of Halicarnassus) offered to open the gate to him if he came by night. When Alex arrived with a small force the gates were closed! Tried to take Myndus by storm but was repelled.
Ø Outline
ü Next he surrounded the city at key points with his siege engines and lay siege
ü The enemy harassed the Macedonians with sorties but fled once Alex arrived (Stalemate)
During the siege ... some incidents of note
§ 2 drunk Macedonians attacked the wall alone. Enemy sortied. Macedonians came to rescue. Pointless deaths on both sides.
§ Another sortie against Alex himself as he superintended work on a siege tower. Eenemy easily repelled but gates closed before they got inside. Enemy watched as Macedonians slaughtered their comrades before their own walls.
ü Memnon however saw his position was futile, torched the city and fled by sea
ü Alex saw flames, guessed what had happened + ordered army to save the city BUT not to harm citizens!
Ø Aftermath
ü Some of the enemy retreated to the safety of an island and another made as stand in a nearby stronghold BUT city was taken so they posed no threat. Alex simply posted units to watch them.
ü Razed city to the ground, installed garrison and handed the satrapy to deposed Queen Ada who adopted him as her son (Plutarch – Alex seemed to enjoy her doting)
ü He left for Gordion to rendezvous with Parmenio and other half of army
SIEGE of Tyre: Jan. to July 332 BC (7 months)
PLAN
Ø Build-Up
ü Arrian – siege provoked by breakdown of diplomacy – Tyrians refused to allow Alex into city to sacrifice to Tyrian Heracles. Tyre to remain closed to both Persians and Macedonians until after the War. INTOLERABLE to Alex!
ü Speech to his officers (synedrion)
§ Cannot continue to Egypt leaving Tyre free.
§ Persian fleet still a threat + Sparta also and Athens only loyal through fear
§ Cannot purse Darius for fear of Greece being taken
§ Tyre must be taken! (Companions urged him on)
ü Problem: Tyre was a fortified island and Alex has no navy since Miletus
Ø Outline: actions/reactions
ü Phase 1: The Mole
§ Mole/missiles
§ Siege towers/fireships
ü Tide-Turns with acquisition of Phoenician Navy. Alex to Sidon and Biblos – threatened home cities of Phoenician Navy. Navy changes sides to save homelands, Cypriot navy follows suit.
ü Phase 2 – Sapping enemy resolve and resources
§ Tyrian navy shut up within two harbours – watched by Macedonian fleet
§ Larger mole with more towers progresses smoothly
§ Floating siege engines look to exploit flaws in wall BUT collapsed gypsum slabs in shallows form obstacles for landing
§ Alex uses ships anchors to drag rocks into deeper water BUT Tyrian divers cut the anchor ropes SO Alex replaces them with chains
ü Siege Breaks
§ Co-ordinated two-pronged attack by land (mole) and sea (both harbours).
Ø Aftermath
ü Many Tyrians massacred by traumatized Macedonians (Tyrians had catapulted decapitated heads of Macedonians during siege).
ü Alex sold prisoners to slavery
ü Alex pardoned all those who took refuge in Temple of Heracles
ü Held a festival in honour of Heracles and dedicated a siege tower to the god
ü Continues onto Gaza
SIEGE of GAZA: Sept-Oct. 332BC
PLAN
Ø Build-Up
ü Gaza was of no great strategic importance aside from being the first city one meets on the way out of Sinai desert from Egypt
ü Alex’s pothos was sparked by the satrap Batis (one of Darius’ eunuchs) who boasted the city could not be taken
ü Gaza sat atop a mound. Siege engines useless.
Ø Outline
ü Alex orders army to construct a circular mound around the city to bring his siege engines level with the city-walls
OMEN!
During the work a bird dropped a pebble that hit Alex’s shoulder. Aristander interpreted it to mean that Alex would be victorious but risked personal injury.
ü Once the mound was complete Alex attacked the city 3 times and broke through on the fourth assault.
ü Initially Alex hung back (fearing the omen) but when he saw things go poorly for his army he ran in to lead them and was shot by a catapult bolt that pierced his shield and cuirass and wounded his shoulder. He took a long time to recover.
Ø Aftermath
ü The soldiers were massacred
ü Women and children sold to slavery
ü City re-settled with neighbouring Arabians
ü Installed a garrison and continued on to Egypt
The Three Rocks on the March to India
· Sogdian Rock
· Rock of Choriennes
· Rock of Aornos
Plutarch mentions almost nothing about them apart from saying that Alexander’s tenacity and ambition had by now grown so exagerrated that whenever he was faced with an apparently impossible feat he was keen to conquer it.
The Sogdian Rock
=
How he did it
· Through the many sieges his army had by now waged, there were some 300 men who were by now experienced rock climbers. They would be Alexander’s men with wings.
· Alexander promised 12 talents of gold to the first man to the top, 11 to the second and so on down the line to 300 darics for the twelfth thus facilitating in his winged men a competitive spirit and ambition to take the prize.
· Using tent pegs they scaled the rock at night on the steepest cliff face on the correct assumption that Oxyartes would not have posted guards on that part of the rock. As they scaled the cliff face they hammered the pegs into the ice or earth and looped flaxen ropes onto them for the men below.
· Although about 30 perished the rest reached the summit by dawn and hauliing up their weapons and armour formed rank and then signalled to Alexander with linen rags.
· Alexander then addressed the rebels on the rock and pointed to his “winged men” who were now in possession of the summit.
· Totally taken by surprise and thinking the Macedonians on the summit to be more numerous and better equipped than they actually were the natives surrendered.
Consequences
· Alexander took possession of the Rock
· He also captured the duaghters of Oxyartes inlcuding the beautiful Roxanne, who it was said was the second most beuatiful woman in Asia next to Statira: Darius’ wife. Alexander was smitten with her and married her.
· Now being son-in-law to Oxyartes, Alexander received him when he surrendered and made an alliance with him. According to Plutarch, they were such good friends that Alexander even asked his opinion on the character of Sisymithres to which Oxyartes confessed that he thought him a coward of the highest order, which emboldened Alaexander to proceed his plans to take the Rock of Aornos since being held by a coward an assault on the Rock would surely be successful.
The Rock of Choriennes
Alexander’s reasons for attacking the Rock
· Arrian puts it down to no more than Alexander’s now reckless courage and desire to conquer all seemingly impossible challenges.
How he did it
· Superintending the work personally, Alexander divided his whole army into three teams commanded by his two close friends Ptolemy, Leonnatus and his general Nicanor each working in succession night and day to construct a makeshift bridge across the ravine.
· The work was difficult because of the steep incline and the army only managed to raise 30 feet a day and less by night.
· First the Macedonians fashioned long ladders out of the tall pine trees that grew in abundance nearby. With these ladders they descended into the ravine and drove long stakes evenly spaced into the ground. These would act as supports for the wattle and daub platform of the bridge that would bring the Macedonians across the ravine to the Rock itself.
· From his vantage point high above, Choriennes at first ignored the work thinking it a ridiculuous enterpise but as the work continued he took to firing missiles down on the Macedonians
· Just as he had done during the Siege of Tyre, Alexander protected his workforce by means of screens so that all attempts by Choriennes to hamper Macedonian progress on the bridge came to nothing.
· Seeing Alexander nearing completion of his bridge he sent a message to him asking for Oxyartes to come as negotiator.
· Oxyartes persuaded Choriennes to surrender promising that against Alexander there was no place too high or no fortress that could hold out against his determination. He also cited several examples of Alexander’s magnaimity and honour not least of which his own treatment at his hands following his surrender of the Sogian Rock.
· Choriennes surrendered the Rock to Alexander.
Consequences
· Alexander treated Choriennes very well, keeping him close by his side and even ascedned the rock with 500 guards to inspect the place.
· He made an allaince with Choriennes and left him behind as governor of the area and commander of the Rock.
The Rock of Aornos
Alexander’s reasons for attacking the Rock
· Like the Rock of Choriennes and the Sogdian Rock before Alexanfer simply wanted to take the untakable plus he was even more passionate when he heard that Heracles was reputed to have failed in taking it.
How he did it
· First he ordered Craterus to take the nearby town of Embolina and lay in as many supplies as possible in preparation for a long siege.
(1) Some local guides approached Alexander and offered to guide him by a part of the Rock that might offer him a point from which to launch a successful assault on the Rock. Alexander sent Ptolemy in command of a small detachment to that place with the guides under cover of darkness with orders to raise a stockade and signal to Alexander at dawn whereupon he would attack the Rock.
(2) Alexander’s first assault however failed and the Indians then rounded on Ptolemy’s stockade. A hard battle was fought and Ptolemy’s force suffered greatly but managed to hold its position.
(3) That night Alexander sent one of the Indian guides with orders to Ptolemy to switch from defense to attack once he saw Alexander had commenced his second assault the next day. Caught in a pincer movement the next day the Indians withdrew to higher ground and Alexander pushed his way onto the ridge to rejoin Ptolemy. The assault however failed since the Indians were still in possession of the main peak of the Rock.
(4) Faced now with the summit of the Rock from his position on the ridge Alexander next demonstrated his tactical genius and his pothos (desire to do the impossible) by constructing an earthwork to raise their position so that it came level with the Rock. Just as in Gaza, Alexander now hoped to mount a missile assault using his siege-engines in the Indians’ position. Arrian tells us the whole army was employed in building the earthwork and the mound grew to quickly bridge the ravine and extend some 200 yards towards the Rock itself.