Goodness gracious, will Alexander (or Philip) even have to fight a battle by the time he decides to invade the Achaemenid Empire?
Horus Triumphant - an Alternate Antiquity timeline
- Thread starter phoenix101
- Start date
One of the great things about alternate history is sometimes you can learn something about actual history too!
Yeah Persia's really not doing well, but who knows what the future might bring? Maybe the new management can shake things up and revitalize the empire, or maybe it's all gonna come crashing down. We'll see soon enough. The next update is probably tomorrow.
I've made a small change to the update, as @isabella suggested, Alexander is marrying Artakama instead of Barsine.
Apologies for not having updated yet, despite my promise, some real life stuff got in the way. I'll try to have the update up tomorrow.
5. Egypt, Persia and Macedon 340-335
5. Egypt, Persia and Macedon 340-335
The falcon flies south
The good god Nakhthorheb – life, prosperity, health – Lord of the Two Lands, Chosen of Anhur, beloved by the gods, ordered me to construct a shrine for his father Amun-Ra in the land of Wawat at the place that is called Baki. I, his servant, Horemsaf, son of Ameny, iry-pat, chief lector-priest at the temple of Thoth at Khmun, did what His Majesty desired. I brought granite from Swenet and cedarwood from the land of the Fenekhu to Wawat and constructed the shrine at Baki. It is a shrine beyond compare, never before has its like been seen, and as reward His Majesty made me Overseer of Wawat.
- Inscription in the Tomb of Horemsaf at Khmun [1]
Late in 339 an envoy from Babylon arrived in Memphis, where he was first received by the vizier Wennefer, and afterwards by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt himself. He carried with him a proposal for peace from the new Great King Artabazus; Phoenicia, Palestine and Cyprus would be recognised to be part of the Egyptian sphere of influence, Syria and Cilicia would be part of the dominions of the Great King. The proposal was accepted and gifts were also exchanged, lapis lazuli from Bactria was traded for Egyptian gold. For the first time in 60 years Egypt and Persia were at peace.
Egypt prospered during this period, trade with both the Aegean and, thanks to the peace treaty, Mesopotamia increased significantly. Several excellent inundations meant large agricultural surpluses which could be exported for profit. It also meant that large amounts of flax was grown, which was used to make linen; another valuable export. Nakhthorheb’s efforts at growing Tjebnetjer into a major city included the settling of artisans, many of whom were weavers; consequence of which the city became known for its exquisite dyed linen. Cotton too was grown, but Egyptian cotton textiles were not as highly regarded as its linen. Another highly praised Egyptian export was its faience. Imports seem to mostly have been Greek wine, olive oil, pottery and silver. Iron was imported for the production of weapons. Egyptian rule over Phoenicia also meant that it was now easy to import cedarwood, the Egyptians’ preferred building material for ships and coffins for the elite. Another consequence of Egyptian dominance in the region was that all the trade from the Arab peninsula, caravans laden with Indian spices, incense from Himyar and Hadramaut and less exotic goods such as sheep and goats, now had to pass through Egyptian territory, paying their dues into the treasury of the pharaoh. Especially Gaza seems to have been the terminus for many caravans, there their precious loads were transferred to Egyptian or Phoenician trade ships and transported to Anatolia, the Aegean or beyond.
Nakhthorheb’s construction projects continued apace, work was underway at the new temple of Anhur-Shu at Tjebnetjer and at the first pylon of Ipetsut. Increasingly Hellenic styles can be seen in the architecture of the era, with marble becoming more common and Greek style statues starting to appear. In order to acquire the resources for his construction projects several quarries were reopened, such as the limestone quarry at Royu (Tura) and the granite quarries at Swenet (Aswan). The king also ordered the construction of an obelisk at Gaza, which featured an inscription on one side urging loyalty to the king and on the other side commemorating the peace treaty with Persia. Another building project that was started at this time was the palace at Hebyt, but it would not be completed in Nakhthorheb’s lifetime.
While Tjebnetjer (and its surroundings, like Hebyt) was the focal point of many of his building projects Nakhthorheb mostly seems to have resided at Memphis. There, in the region the Egyptians themselves called ‘the Balance of the Two Lands’, was the ideal place to rule Egypt, close to Delta with access to all branches and upriver to Upper Egypt, and not too far from the border in case of an emergency. Pharaoh Wahibre had built a large palace in the city which was once the seat of the Persian satrap and now was the place from where Nakhthorheb held sway over the land of the Nile. The royal family seems to have resided at a palace at Tjebnetjer, but later on would relocate to the new palace at Hebyt. Increasingly during this era we see the pharaoh’s family come to the forefront: his sons Nakhtnebef and Tjahapimu and his daughter Iaret [2]. Their mother, a daughter of Djedhor named Khedebneithirbinet, had passed away early in Nakhthorheb’s reign, around 350. The middle son, Tjahapimu, named after his grandfather, was initiated as priest at the Great Temple of Ptah in Memphis. Iaret was send to Waset where she would serve as a Chantress of Amun at Ipetsut. It is Nakhtnebef, eldest son and eventual successor of Nakhthorheb, of whom most is known. Born around 358 from his earliest depictions onward he is shown as a vigorous and active figure, he is often depicted riding horses or engaging in sports. While he would have been very young he might have been part of his father’s military expedition in 344, but it is unlikely he was present at Hamath, he probably stayed behind in Sidon. His first major appearance is in 336, during his father’s Nubian expedition.
Egypt’s relationship with its southern neighbour since the end of the Kushite Twenty-Fifth Dynasty had been troublesome. After their expulsion from Upper Egypt Psamtik I was quite conciliatory to the Nubians, even allowing the Nubian princess Amenirdis to continue serving as God’s Wife of Amun (she did however adopt Psamtik’s daughter Nitiqret as her successor). The other Saite pharaohs did not appear to share this attitude, Nekau I send an army to Nubia to defeat a rebellion and Psamtik II send a large military expedition south, where it violently sacked the capital of Napata and reached the fourth cataract. Unlike during the New Kingdom Nubia was not incorporated into Egypt, the army returned with the spoils of war and the border remained at Abu (Elephantine). The Persians too during the reign of Cambyses invaded Nubia and established a garrison at Dorginarti near the second cataract. In their inscriptions Persian kings often claimed Nubia as one of their lands, but actual Persian control was practically non-existent and any Nubian territories they might have occupied were treated as part of the satrapy of Egypt. After becoming independent in 401 Egypt was far too occupied with fending off the Persians to attempt any kind of conquest of Nubia, but trade continued and the presence of Nubian mercenaries in the Egyptian army is still attested.
Nakhthorheb’s expedition in 336 was no large scale invasion. A force around 8000 strong was gathered at Swenet and sailed upstream past Abu into Lower Nubia, known to the Egyptians as Wawat. The towns in the region submitted without fighting and the Egyptian army reached the second cataract, where they established a stronghold at Dorginarti. It was not long afterwards that a Kushite army under King Nastasen [3] showed up. After the sack of Napata by Psamtik II the Kushite capital was relocated further south, to Meroë, which can explain the delayed reaction by the Nubians. Not willing to give up lands that he considered rightfully his Nastasen ordered his army to assault Dorginarti. The fortress was located on an island so it was as much a clash on water as one on land. According to the Egyptian campaign records it was prince Nakhtnebef who led the defence of the fortress, where he performed several acts of bravery. The battle ended in an Egyptian victory after Khababash with a reinforcement flotilla caught the Nubians off-guard and drove away a large part of their fleet, trapping many of their warriors on the island. Not long afterwards Nastasen called for a truce, which Nakhthorheb, who had arrived by now, accepted. All the lands between the second and first cataract were ceded to Egypt, and in order to improve relations Nakhthorheb ordered all captured Nubian soldiers to be released. On the way back home Nakhthorheb had a settlement built at a site called Baki, already settled in the Middle and New Kingdom but now abandoned. Baki was to serve as the capital of Lower Nubia and was located near the entrance to the Wadi Allaqi, a dry riverbed which gave access to many gold mines in the Eastern Desert. Not long after Nakhthorheb’s conquest the first mining expedition is already attested, perhaps revealing the reason for the conquest of Lower Nubia in the first place.
Returning from Nubia in 335 Nakhthorheb first made a stop at Waset, where he oversaw the final construction work being done on the first pylon of Ipetsut. Now that the Precinct of Amun-Ra was surrounded by a wall the first pylon was effectively its gate and this forced everyone who wanted to enter Egypt’s most holy temple to gaze upon the works ordered by (and glorifying) Nakhthorheb, something the king must have been quite pleased about. He also ordered a construction of a shrine, small but elegantly decorated, including a small garden and portico. The shrine was dedicated, of course, to Amun-Ra, in thanksgiving for the conquest of Lower Nubia. This shrine is also the first of place where two regnal dates are mentioned: of Nakhthorheb and Nakhtnebef II, his son and now co-regent. Nakhthorheb was not getting any younger, and it was probably not long after his return from Nubia that his son was elevated to the rank of co-regent, so that the succession would go smoothly in case the king unexpectedly died. Just after the inundation (in August) 335 Nakhthorheb returned to Memphis, probably quite pleased with the current state of his kingdom, which had now had reached a size and prosperity unseen in centuries, and probably hoped that it would last.
The reign of Artabazus
In a year Artabazus had gone from refugee at a foreign court to Great King, but while he did pursue that position vigorously, as the bloodstained fields of Thapsacus can testify, he appeared to have no plans about what to do once he achieved what he desired. To Artabazus, it seems, the kingship itself was a goal, not a means to greater things.
- Excerpt from The lives of the Great Kings of Asia by Hermocles of Brentesion
After his triumphant entrance into Babylon Artabazus spent little time in Mesopotamia’s largest city, but while he was there he opened up the treasury and used some of the Achaemenids’ significant reserves of gold and silver to mint coins. These were used to pay his mercenaries and a large amount (some sources say 500 talents of silver [4]) was given to his son Arsames, who was appointed by his father as satrap of a new combined satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Lydia and Ionia, most of Western Anatolia. The large amount of silver was needed to bribe local potentates, gather mercenaries and finance the construction of defences. Artabazus was no fool, he knew that despite his earlier support Philip of Macedon would not, could not, ever be a friend to the Great King of Persia. Even now despite their children’s marriage and an ostensible alliance he knew that if the opportunity presented itself Philip would leap at the chance of seizing at least Western Anatolia for himself, posturing as liberator of the Greeks of Asia.
His other son Pharnabazus was send in the opposite direction, to Bactria, greatest of the eastern satrapies and often given to the crown prince to rule. Oxyathres, brother of Artashata who handed over Bagoas to Artabazus was given his brother’s old satrapy of Armenia. Atropates was allowed to keep the satrapy of Media and Pherendates was allowed to keep Syria, to which Cilicia was now added. The old satrap of Cilicia, also named Arsames, who turned the tide at Thapsacus with his charge, was granted the satrapy of Babylonia in recognition of his service. Orontobates, a Persian nobleman who was married to the daughter of Pixodarus (the Carian satrap who was deposed by Artabazus) but had joined Artabazus and became a close confidante of him, was appointed chiliarch.
Leaving Babylon Artabazus travelled to Susa and then to Pasargadae, where his coronation ceremony took place. Afterwards he visited Persepolis (or Parsa, as it was known to the Persians), where he ordered the construction of a palace complex. A certain Ariobarzanes was appointed as satrap of Persia, the first time that the homeland of the dynasty got a satrap of its own. For several months he stayed in Persia itself, where he oversaw the raising of new regiments of the royal guard and apparently spent quite a lot of time hunting and drinking with the local nobility, enjoying the excellent wines Persia was famous for. Halfway 338 however grim news arrived; an uprising had taken place in Babylonia, led by a certain Nidin-Bel who claimed the kingship of the ancient kingdom. Unrest in Babylon was largely a consequence of the indifference of several Great Kings to Babylon itself, they rarely took part in the rituals that were necessary to be regarded a rightful king of Babylon. This alone was probably not enough to incite revolt in Babylon, but Artabazus was also particularly disliked because during his entrance into the city several of his mercenary contingents, whose pay had been overdue, had looted their way across the city. Even some temples were looted, and while the perpetrators were harshly punished, it must have given the Babylonians a bad impression of their new king.
The Babylonian countryside thus rose in revolt in 338, and while the eponymous city itself did not fall many others did. Both Opis and Uruk fell to the rebel king Nidin-Bel, who also managed to occupy the roads leading towards Babylon itself, blocking access to the outside world from the city. The satrap Arsames lead his army out of the city, weakening the garrison, and confronted Nidin-Bel somewhere south of the city. Nidin-Bel’s revolting farmers were no match for Arsames’ professional mercenaries and the would-be king himself also fell on the battlefield. With a large part of the garrison away however now the city of Babylon itself revolted, under a man who took the throne of Babylon under the name Shamash-sar-usur [5]. A man of uncertain origins, he apparently had military experience and was a native Babylonian, he led an uprising against the remaining garrison in Babylon which he managed to expel. An attempt at recapturing the city ended in a disaster for the Persians when the satrap Arsames was hit by a javelin while overseeing an assault on the city’s impressive walls. A well timed Babylonian sally managed to drive away many of the Persian troops. Arsames was captured while still alive and was subject to a grisly execution. The still present mercenaries were bribed by Shamash-sar-usur, who used the still sizeable amounts of silver and gold that Artabazus had left behind to hire the services of the mostly Ionian and Carian contingents.
Confronted with the spectre of a resurgent Babylon Artabazus acted decisively, sending a messenger to Syria to order Pherendates to gather an army; forcing Shamash-sar-usur to fight on multiple fronts. Artabazus settled himself in Susa where he gathered an army to reclaim Babylon, marching out in the spring of 337. Near the site of ancient Nippur Artabazus confronted a Babylonian army and defeated it, but the victory was probably closer than Artabazus wanted to admit because instead of marching on Babylon itself he returned to Susa. An attempt at reclaiming Opis by the chiliarch Orontobates, who marched in from Ecbatana in Media, ended in disaster with the Persian army decisively defeated. Pherendates’ march down the Euphrates was disrupted by Shamash-sar-usur’s ordering a scorched earth policy. For a while it must have seen like that an independent Babylonia was inevitable, sadly for Shamash-sar-usur it was not to be. Artabazus was determined to shore up his position as king, and confronted with all the resources that the Achaemenids could muster Babylon alone could not keep them out forever. A renewed offensive on multiple fronts in 336 broke the rebellion’s back. Pherendates reached Babylon and surrounded the city, with Shamash-sar-usur outside the city with his army. Instead of attempting to lift the siege of Babylon he gambled everything on an open battle with Artabazus. The exact location of this battle is unknown, but the king of Babylon’s army was defeated decisively, and he fled to Uruk. The people of Uruk let him into the city, but killed him not long afterwards and offered his head to Artabazus as a sign of loyalty. It seems to have worked for Uruk was not sacked or plundered.
Babylon itself fell relatively quickly, in 335 after a year of siege, especially considering its extensive fortifications. The city was plundered but not excessively so, the ringleaders of the revolt were executed and several thousands deported. Despite this relatively mild treatment there was still extensive damage to the city, including to the important temples of the Esagila and the Etemenanki (only recently renovated by Mazaeus) and the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, and for the remaining years of his reign Susa would be Artabazus’ primary residence. Three years of warfare had left large parts of Babylonia in ruins, a disaster for the Persian exchequer for Babylonia was among its most prosperous and valuable provinces.
For the rest of his reign Artabazus would spend quite a lot of time and effort at rebuilding Mesopotamia. For better or for worse the Babylonian War was the defining part of his reign, and it showed that even in its core unrest and rebellion could wreck the Achaemenid Empire. Artabazus would die in 333, after only six years of rule. He never really recovered from the wounds that he had suffered at Thapsacus and after the Babylonian War increasingly indulged in wine and other vices, never venturing far from Susa and letting his satraps rule the empire. His death in 333 without clearly appointing a successor was the the end for the Achaemenid dynasty.
Hegemony
Is not Philip our enemy? And in possession of our property? And a barbarian? Is any description too bad for him?
- Demosthenes, Olynthiac 3, section 16
In the last decade Philip had gone from strength to strength, culminating in the siege of Athens in 339, which more or less confirmed Macedonian supremacy over the Hellenic states. When Philip returned to Pella during the spring of 338 he received news that Byzantion had finally surrendered, without Athenian support there was little hope for the city on the Bosporus. With the surrender of Byzantion and the cession of the Thracian Chersonese by Athens Macedon now controlled the entire European side of the Propontis, allowing them to control trade between the Aegean and the Black Sea.
Shortly after his return to Pella Alexander was married to Artabazus’ daughter Artakama. The marriage, although it would have big consequences, was not much more than an diplomatic gesture, emphasizing the ties between the Argead line and Artabazus’ branch of the Achaemenid dynasty. Many among the Greeks were appalled by the marriage, and others (such as Demosthenes) saw it as confirmation that Philip was nothing more than an Persian-style despot. After the festivities ended Philip and Alexander left Macedon again, to campaign in Thrace, where he attacked the Scythians who lived near the mouth of the Danube and attacked the Triballi, who lived more upstream. With Thrace secure once again the army returned to Macedon in 337.
Not long after their return news reached the Macedonian court that several Greek states were conspiring to end Macedonian hegemony. A Theban force had managed to occupy Thermopylae and the new Spartan king Agis III had gathered an army in the Peloponnese. In Athens Demosthenes incited rebellion against the Macedonian garrison on the Acropolis, who were put under siege. Much of the funds for the rebellion were provided by the new satrap in Sardis Arsames, who also started the construction of a fleet in Ionia.
Philip and his army rushed south and reached Thermopylae in May of 337. Alexander personally led the elite hypaspists and elite light troops supplied by the Agrianians, a Paeonian tribe allied to Macedon, over the trail that the Persians took to outflank the Spartans. The Thebans, who could have known this, decided to retreat when it became clear that they were about to be surrounded. In the meantime Agis III had left the Peloponnese with his army, consisting of Spartan and allied hoplites, light troops and Persian sponsored mercenaries. He had managed to expel the Macedonian garrison on the Acrocorinth (the citadel of Corinth) and had installed a pro-Spartan government in the city. He then crossed the isthmus and was preparing to aid the Athenians in their siege of the Acropolis, but news had reached Agis that the Theban defenders of Thermopylae had retreated. He marched north into Boeotia and joined forces with the Thebans, hoping that their combined army, in total probably around 40000, would be able to stand up to the Macedonian war machine. Philip crossed into Boeotia in July 337, where the two armies would meet at Ocalea.
The battle that followed only confirmed the Macedonian hegemony over Hellas. Unable to break through the pike phalanx that confronted them on the narrow plains of Ocalea the Thebans attempted to outflank them by using the hills, but there they were slaughtered by the Macedonian light troops and hypaspists. The Spartans and their allies managed to hold their own on the plains, but even they had to relent in the end. At that moment the Hetairoi cavalry struck, shattering the enemy formation. Agis III fell on the field. Before the battle ‘on to Macedonia!’ had been the rallying cry of the forces opposed to Philip, but now even his greatest opponents must have realised that the cities of Greece had little choice but to submit. Thebes opened its gates and was treated mildly, the Athenians, after hearing of the defeat at Ocalea, gave up their siege of the Acropolis and managed to sign a treaty with Philip. Demosthenes was exiled and Athens had to pay a high indemnity to Macedon. The Peloponnese was invaded and Corinth reoccupied, after which Philip send his armies south to ravage Laconia. Several of the towns that made up Sparta were plundered, as were some temples. Now even the famed Lacedaemonians had to give up. With the war practically over it was now time for Philip to organise his hegemony over Greece, and he called for a general meeting of Greeks states at Corinth in 336.
Footnotes
1.Iry-pat roughly means ‘member of the elite’ and denotes the hereditary nobility, a lector priest is a priest whose primary task is the reciting of hymns and spells in ceremonies. The chief lector priest was also in charge of the temple archives.
2. OTL practically nothing is known of Nakhthorheb’s family, one of the few references to them is the presence of an unnamed son at the Persian side during the battle of Issus.
3. OTL King Nastasen on one of his stelas mentions defeating an invader in Lower Nubia named Kambasuten, which could quite possibly be Khababash during his brief kingship after the death of Artaxerxes III.
4. A talent of silver is about 26 kg and was equivalent of 6000 drachmae. A mercenary during the Hellenistic era or a skilled worker or artisan made about 1 drachma a day. The construction of one trireme cost 1 talent, and for 1 talent the crew could be paid for a month. According to Herodotus the annual income of the Persian Empire was 14560 talents of silver. In comparison the tribute that Athens received through the Delian League amounted to 1000 talents a year.
5. Meaning ‘Shamash protect the king’ in Akkadian
The falcon flies south
The good god Nakhthorheb – life, prosperity, health – Lord of the Two Lands, Chosen of Anhur, beloved by the gods, ordered me to construct a shrine for his father Amun-Ra in the land of Wawat at the place that is called Baki. I, his servant, Horemsaf, son of Ameny, iry-pat, chief lector-priest at the temple of Thoth at Khmun, did what His Majesty desired. I brought granite from Swenet and cedarwood from the land of the Fenekhu to Wawat and constructed the shrine at Baki. It is a shrine beyond compare, never before has its like been seen, and as reward His Majesty made me Overseer of Wawat.
- Inscription in the Tomb of Horemsaf at Khmun [1]
Late in 339 an envoy from Babylon arrived in Memphis, where he was first received by the vizier Wennefer, and afterwards by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt himself. He carried with him a proposal for peace from the new Great King Artabazus; Phoenicia, Palestine and Cyprus would be recognised to be part of the Egyptian sphere of influence, Syria and Cilicia would be part of the dominions of the Great King. The proposal was accepted and gifts were also exchanged, lapis lazuli from Bactria was traded for Egyptian gold. For the first time in 60 years Egypt and Persia were at peace.
Egypt prospered during this period, trade with both the Aegean and, thanks to the peace treaty, Mesopotamia increased significantly. Several excellent inundations meant large agricultural surpluses which could be exported for profit. It also meant that large amounts of flax was grown, which was used to make linen; another valuable export. Nakhthorheb’s efforts at growing Tjebnetjer into a major city included the settling of artisans, many of whom were weavers; consequence of which the city became known for its exquisite dyed linen. Cotton too was grown, but Egyptian cotton textiles were not as highly regarded as its linen. Another highly praised Egyptian export was its faience. Imports seem to mostly have been Greek wine, olive oil, pottery and silver. Iron was imported for the production of weapons. Egyptian rule over Phoenicia also meant that it was now easy to import cedarwood, the Egyptians’ preferred building material for ships and coffins for the elite. Another consequence of Egyptian dominance in the region was that all the trade from the Arab peninsula, caravans laden with Indian spices, incense from Himyar and Hadramaut and less exotic goods such as sheep and goats, now had to pass through Egyptian territory, paying their dues into the treasury of the pharaoh. Especially Gaza seems to have been the terminus for many caravans, there their precious loads were transferred to Egyptian or Phoenician trade ships and transported to Anatolia, the Aegean or beyond.
Nakhthorheb’s construction projects continued apace, work was underway at the new temple of Anhur-Shu at Tjebnetjer and at the first pylon of Ipetsut. Increasingly Hellenic styles can be seen in the architecture of the era, with marble becoming more common and Greek style statues starting to appear. In order to acquire the resources for his construction projects several quarries were reopened, such as the limestone quarry at Royu (Tura) and the granite quarries at Swenet (Aswan). The king also ordered the construction of an obelisk at Gaza, which featured an inscription on one side urging loyalty to the king and on the other side commemorating the peace treaty with Persia. Another building project that was started at this time was the palace at Hebyt, but it would not be completed in Nakhthorheb’s lifetime.
While Tjebnetjer (and its surroundings, like Hebyt) was the focal point of many of his building projects Nakhthorheb mostly seems to have resided at Memphis. There, in the region the Egyptians themselves called ‘the Balance of the Two Lands’, was the ideal place to rule Egypt, close to Delta with access to all branches and upriver to Upper Egypt, and not too far from the border in case of an emergency. Pharaoh Wahibre had built a large palace in the city which was once the seat of the Persian satrap and now was the place from where Nakhthorheb held sway over the land of the Nile. The royal family seems to have resided at a palace at Tjebnetjer, but later on would relocate to the new palace at Hebyt. Increasingly during this era we see the pharaoh’s family come to the forefront: his sons Nakhtnebef and Tjahapimu and his daughter Iaret [2]. Their mother, a daughter of Djedhor named Khedebneithirbinet, had passed away early in Nakhthorheb’s reign, around 350. The middle son, Tjahapimu, named after his grandfather, was initiated as priest at the Great Temple of Ptah in Memphis. Iaret was send to Waset where she would serve as a Chantress of Amun at Ipetsut. It is Nakhtnebef, eldest son and eventual successor of Nakhthorheb, of whom most is known. Born around 358 from his earliest depictions onward he is shown as a vigorous and active figure, he is often depicted riding horses or engaging in sports. While he would have been very young he might have been part of his father’s military expedition in 344, but it is unlikely he was present at Hamath, he probably stayed behind in Sidon. His first major appearance is in 336, during his father’s Nubian expedition.
Egypt’s relationship with its southern neighbour since the end of the Kushite Twenty-Fifth Dynasty had been troublesome. After their expulsion from Upper Egypt Psamtik I was quite conciliatory to the Nubians, even allowing the Nubian princess Amenirdis to continue serving as God’s Wife of Amun (she did however adopt Psamtik’s daughter Nitiqret as her successor). The other Saite pharaohs did not appear to share this attitude, Nekau I send an army to Nubia to defeat a rebellion and Psamtik II send a large military expedition south, where it violently sacked the capital of Napata and reached the fourth cataract. Unlike during the New Kingdom Nubia was not incorporated into Egypt, the army returned with the spoils of war and the border remained at Abu (Elephantine). The Persians too during the reign of Cambyses invaded Nubia and established a garrison at Dorginarti near the second cataract. In their inscriptions Persian kings often claimed Nubia as one of their lands, but actual Persian control was practically non-existent and any Nubian territories they might have occupied were treated as part of the satrapy of Egypt. After becoming independent in 401 Egypt was far too occupied with fending off the Persians to attempt any kind of conquest of Nubia, but trade continued and the presence of Nubian mercenaries in the Egyptian army is still attested.
Nakhthorheb’s expedition in 336 was no large scale invasion. A force around 8000 strong was gathered at Swenet and sailed upstream past Abu into Lower Nubia, known to the Egyptians as Wawat. The towns in the region submitted without fighting and the Egyptian army reached the second cataract, where they established a stronghold at Dorginarti. It was not long afterwards that a Kushite army under King Nastasen [3] showed up. After the sack of Napata by Psamtik II the Kushite capital was relocated further south, to Meroë, which can explain the delayed reaction by the Nubians. Not willing to give up lands that he considered rightfully his Nastasen ordered his army to assault Dorginarti. The fortress was located on an island so it was as much a clash on water as one on land. According to the Egyptian campaign records it was prince Nakhtnebef who led the defence of the fortress, where he performed several acts of bravery. The battle ended in an Egyptian victory after Khababash with a reinforcement flotilla caught the Nubians off-guard and drove away a large part of their fleet, trapping many of their warriors on the island. Not long afterwards Nastasen called for a truce, which Nakhthorheb, who had arrived by now, accepted. All the lands between the second and first cataract were ceded to Egypt, and in order to improve relations Nakhthorheb ordered all captured Nubian soldiers to be released. On the way back home Nakhthorheb had a settlement built at a site called Baki, already settled in the Middle and New Kingdom but now abandoned. Baki was to serve as the capital of Lower Nubia and was located near the entrance to the Wadi Allaqi, a dry riverbed which gave access to many gold mines in the Eastern Desert. Not long after Nakhthorheb’s conquest the first mining expedition is already attested, perhaps revealing the reason for the conquest of Lower Nubia in the first place.
Returning from Nubia in 335 Nakhthorheb first made a stop at Waset, where he oversaw the final construction work being done on the first pylon of Ipetsut. Now that the Precinct of Amun-Ra was surrounded by a wall the first pylon was effectively its gate and this forced everyone who wanted to enter Egypt’s most holy temple to gaze upon the works ordered by (and glorifying) Nakhthorheb, something the king must have been quite pleased about. He also ordered a construction of a shrine, small but elegantly decorated, including a small garden and portico. The shrine was dedicated, of course, to Amun-Ra, in thanksgiving for the conquest of Lower Nubia. This shrine is also the first of place where two regnal dates are mentioned: of Nakhthorheb and Nakhtnebef II, his son and now co-regent. Nakhthorheb was not getting any younger, and it was probably not long after his return from Nubia that his son was elevated to the rank of co-regent, so that the succession would go smoothly in case the king unexpectedly died. Just after the inundation (in August) 335 Nakhthorheb returned to Memphis, probably quite pleased with the current state of his kingdom, which had now had reached a size and prosperity unseen in centuries, and probably hoped that it would last.
The reign of Artabazus
In a year Artabazus had gone from refugee at a foreign court to Great King, but while he did pursue that position vigorously, as the bloodstained fields of Thapsacus can testify, he appeared to have no plans about what to do once he achieved what he desired. To Artabazus, it seems, the kingship itself was a goal, not a means to greater things.
- Excerpt from The lives of the Great Kings of Asia by Hermocles of Brentesion
After his triumphant entrance into Babylon Artabazus spent little time in Mesopotamia’s largest city, but while he was there he opened up the treasury and used some of the Achaemenids’ significant reserves of gold and silver to mint coins. These were used to pay his mercenaries and a large amount (some sources say 500 talents of silver [4]) was given to his son Arsames, who was appointed by his father as satrap of a new combined satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Lydia and Ionia, most of Western Anatolia. The large amount of silver was needed to bribe local potentates, gather mercenaries and finance the construction of defences. Artabazus was no fool, he knew that despite his earlier support Philip of Macedon would not, could not, ever be a friend to the Great King of Persia. Even now despite their children’s marriage and an ostensible alliance he knew that if the opportunity presented itself Philip would leap at the chance of seizing at least Western Anatolia for himself, posturing as liberator of the Greeks of Asia.
His other son Pharnabazus was send in the opposite direction, to Bactria, greatest of the eastern satrapies and often given to the crown prince to rule. Oxyathres, brother of Artashata who handed over Bagoas to Artabazus was given his brother’s old satrapy of Armenia. Atropates was allowed to keep the satrapy of Media and Pherendates was allowed to keep Syria, to which Cilicia was now added. The old satrap of Cilicia, also named Arsames, who turned the tide at Thapsacus with his charge, was granted the satrapy of Babylonia in recognition of his service. Orontobates, a Persian nobleman who was married to the daughter of Pixodarus (the Carian satrap who was deposed by Artabazus) but had joined Artabazus and became a close confidante of him, was appointed chiliarch.
Leaving Babylon Artabazus travelled to Susa and then to Pasargadae, where his coronation ceremony took place. Afterwards he visited Persepolis (or Parsa, as it was known to the Persians), where he ordered the construction of a palace complex. A certain Ariobarzanes was appointed as satrap of Persia, the first time that the homeland of the dynasty got a satrap of its own. For several months he stayed in Persia itself, where he oversaw the raising of new regiments of the royal guard and apparently spent quite a lot of time hunting and drinking with the local nobility, enjoying the excellent wines Persia was famous for. Halfway 338 however grim news arrived; an uprising had taken place in Babylonia, led by a certain Nidin-Bel who claimed the kingship of the ancient kingdom. Unrest in Babylon was largely a consequence of the indifference of several Great Kings to Babylon itself, they rarely took part in the rituals that were necessary to be regarded a rightful king of Babylon. This alone was probably not enough to incite revolt in Babylon, but Artabazus was also particularly disliked because during his entrance into the city several of his mercenary contingents, whose pay had been overdue, had looted their way across the city. Even some temples were looted, and while the perpetrators were harshly punished, it must have given the Babylonians a bad impression of their new king.
The Babylonian countryside thus rose in revolt in 338, and while the eponymous city itself did not fall many others did. Both Opis and Uruk fell to the rebel king Nidin-Bel, who also managed to occupy the roads leading towards Babylon itself, blocking access to the outside world from the city. The satrap Arsames lead his army out of the city, weakening the garrison, and confronted Nidin-Bel somewhere south of the city. Nidin-Bel’s revolting farmers were no match for Arsames’ professional mercenaries and the would-be king himself also fell on the battlefield. With a large part of the garrison away however now the city of Babylon itself revolted, under a man who took the throne of Babylon under the name Shamash-sar-usur [5]. A man of uncertain origins, he apparently had military experience and was a native Babylonian, he led an uprising against the remaining garrison in Babylon which he managed to expel. An attempt at recapturing the city ended in a disaster for the Persians when the satrap Arsames was hit by a javelin while overseeing an assault on the city’s impressive walls. A well timed Babylonian sally managed to drive away many of the Persian troops. Arsames was captured while still alive and was subject to a grisly execution. The still present mercenaries were bribed by Shamash-sar-usur, who used the still sizeable amounts of silver and gold that Artabazus had left behind to hire the services of the mostly Ionian and Carian contingents.
Confronted with the spectre of a resurgent Babylon Artabazus acted decisively, sending a messenger to Syria to order Pherendates to gather an army; forcing Shamash-sar-usur to fight on multiple fronts. Artabazus settled himself in Susa where he gathered an army to reclaim Babylon, marching out in the spring of 337. Near the site of ancient Nippur Artabazus confronted a Babylonian army and defeated it, but the victory was probably closer than Artabazus wanted to admit because instead of marching on Babylon itself he returned to Susa. An attempt at reclaiming Opis by the chiliarch Orontobates, who marched in from Ecbatana in Media, ended in disaster with the Persian army decisively defeated. Pherendates’ march down the Euphrates was disrupted by Shamash-sar-usur’s ordering a scorched earth policy. For a while it must have seen like that an independent Babylonia was inevitable, sadly for Shamash-sar-usur it was not to be. Artabazus was determined to shore up his position as king, and confronted with all the resources that the Achaemenids could muster Babylon alone could not keep them out forever. A renewed offensive on multiple fronts in 336 broke the rebellion’s back. Pherendates reached Babylon and surrounded the city, with Shamash-sar-usur outside the city with his army. Instead of attempting to lift the siege of Babylon he gambled everything on an open battle with Artabazus. The exact location of this battle is unknown, but the king of Babylon’s army was defeated decisively, and he fled to Uruk. The people of Uruk let him into the city, but killed him not long afterwards and offered his head to Artabazus as a sign of loyalty. It seems to have worked for Uruk was not sacked or plundered.
Babylon itself fell relatively quickly, in 335 after a year of siege, especially considering its extensive fortifications. The city was plundered but not excessively so, the ringleaders of the revolt were executed and several thousands deported. Despite this relatively mild treatment there was still extensive damage to the city, including to the important temples of the Esagila and the Etemenanki (only recently renovated by Mazaeus) and the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, and for the remaining years of his reign Susa would be Artabazus’ primary residence. Three years of warfare had left large parts of Babylonia in ruins, a disaster for the Persian exchequer for Babylonia was among its most prosperous and valuable provinces.
For the rest of his reign Artabazus would spend quite a lot of time and effort at rebuilding Mesopotamia. For better or for worse the Babylonian War was the defining part of his reign, and it showed that even in its core unrest and rebellion could wreck the Achaemenid Empire. Artabazus would die in 333, after only six years of rule. He never really recovered from the wounds that he had suffered at Thapsacus and after the Babylonian War increasingly indulged in wine and other vices, never venturing far from Susa and letting his satraps rule the empire. His death in 333 without clearly appointing a successor was the the end for the Achaemenid dynasty.
Hegemony
Is not Philip our enemy? And in possession of our property? And a barbarian? Is any description too bad for him?
- Demosthenes, Olynthiac 3, section 16
In the last decade Philip had gone from strength to strength, culminating in the siege of Athens in 339, which more or less confirmed Macedonian supremacy over the Hellenic states. When Philip returned to Pella during the spring of 338 he received news that Byzantion had finally surrendered, without Athenian support there was little hope for the city on the Bosporus. With the surrender of Byzantion and the cession of the Thracian Chersonese by Athens Macedon now controlled the entire European side of the Propontis, allowing them to control trade between the Aegean and the Black Sea.
Shortly after his return to Pella Alexander was married to Artabazus’ daughter Artakama. The marriage, although it would have big consequences, was not much more than an diplomatic gesture, emphasizing the ties between the Argead line and Artabazus’ branch of the Achaemenid dynasty. Many among the Greeks were appalled by the marriage, and others (such as Demosthenes) saw it as confirmation that Philip was nothing more than an Persian-style despot. After the festivities ended Philip and Alexander left Macedon again, to campaign in Thrace, where he attacked the Scythians who lived near the mouth of the Danube and attacked the Triballi, who lived more upstream. With Thrace secure once again the army returned to Macedon in 337.
Not long after their return news reached the Macedonian court that several Greek states were conspiring to end Macedonian hegemony. A Theban force had managed to occupy Thermopylae and the new Spartan king Agis III had gathered an army in the Peloponnese. In Athens Demosthenes incited rebellion against the Macedonian garrison on the Acropolis, who were put under siege. Much of the funds for the rebellion were provided by the new satrap in Sardis Arsames, who also started the construction of a fleet in Ionia.
Philip and his army rushed south and reached Thermopylae in May of 337. Alexander personally led the elite hypaspists and elite light troops supplied by the Agrianians, a Paeonian tribe allied to Macedon, over the trail that the Persians took to outflank the Spartans. The Thebans, who could have known this, decided to retreat when it became clear that they were about to be surrounded. In the meantime Agis III had left the Peloponnese with his army, consisting of Spartan and allied hoplites, light troops and Persian sponsored mercenaries. He had managed to expel the Macedonian garrison on the Acrocorinth (the citadel of Corinth) and had installed a pro-Spartan government in the city. He then crossed the isthmus and was preparing to aid the Athenians in their siege of the Acropolis, but news had reached Agis that the Theban defenders of Thermopylae had retreated. He marched north into Boeotia and joined forces with the Thebans, hoping that their combined army, in total probably around 40000, would be able to stand up to the Macedonian war machine. Philip crossed into Boeotia in July 337, where the two armies would meet at Ocalea.
The battle that followed only confirmed the Macedonian hegemony over Hellas. Unable to break through the pike phalanx that confronted them on the narrow plains of Ocalea the Thebans attempted to outflank them by using the hills, but there they were slaughtered by the Macedonian light troops and hypaspists. The Spartans and their allies managed to hold their own on the plains, but even they had to relent in the end. At that moment the Hetairoi cavalry struck, shattering the enemy formation. Agis III fell on the field. Before the battle ‘on to Macedonia!’ had been the rallying cry of the forces opposed to Philip, but now even his greatest opponents must have realised that the cities of Greece had little choice but to submit. Thebes opened its gates and was treated mildly, the Athenians, after hearing of the defeat at Ocalea, gave up their siege of the Acropolis and managed to sign a treaty with Philip. Demosthenes was exiled and Athens had to pay a high indemnity to Macedon. The Peloponnese was invaded and Corinth reoccupied, after which Philip send his armies south to ravage Laconia. Several of the towns that made up Sparta were plundered, as were some temples. Now even the famed Lacedaemonians had to give up. With the war practically over it was now time for Philip to organise his hegemony over Greece, and he called for a general meeting of Greeks states at Corinth in 336.
Footnotes
1.Iry-pat roughly means ‘member of the elite’ and denotes the hereditary nobility, a lector priest is a priest whose primary task is the reciting of hymns and spells in ceremonies. The chief lector priest was also in charge of the temple archives.
2. OTL practically nothing is known of Nakhthorheb’s family, one of the few references to them is the presence of an unnamed son at the Persian side during the battle of Issus.
3. OTL King Nastasen on one of his stelas mentions defeating an invader in Lower Nubia named Kambasuten, which could quite possibly be Khababash during his brief kingship after the death of Artaxerxes III.
4. A talent of silver is about 26 kg and was equivalent of 6000 drachmae. A mercenary during the Hellenistic era or a skilled worker or artisan made about 1 drachma a day. The construction of one trireme cost 1 talent, and for 1 talent the crew could be paid for a month. According to Herodotus the annual income of the Persian Empire was 14560 talents of silver. In comparison the tribute that Athens received through the Delian League amounted to 1000 talents a year.
5. Meaning ‘Shamash protect the king’ in Akkadian
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So much for the Spartan bogeyman to use to frighten the rest of the Greek cities into compliance.
I hope he gets a happier ending than OTL, where he basically became the Persian Leonidas. Maybe he's allowed to rule the lands east of the Zagros if Philip isn't murdered and later invades Persia. He was more conservative than Alexander, I think.
Without revealing much, yeah he will have a different fate in this timeline. Its often said that Philip was more conservative than Alexander and that he would have settled for Persia's western territories. But that IMO ignores that Philip OTL also was a very ambitious figure (he more or less unified the Greeks, even if temporarily) and I doubt he would not have at least conquered Babylonia and Persia if he was in the same situation as his son after Issus. They are often contrasted with each other but in my humble opinion Alexander resembled his father quite a lot.
6. From Corinth to Gordion
6. From Corinth to Gordion
The League of the Hellenes
I swear by Zeus, Gaia, Helios, Poseidon and all the gods and goddesses. I will abide by the common peace and I will neither break the agreement with Philip, nor take up arms on land or sea, harming any of those abiding by the oaths. Nor shall I take any city, or fortress, nor harbour by craft or contrivance, with intent of war against the participants of the war. Nor shall I depose the kingship of Philip or his descendants, nor the constitutions existing in each state, when they swore the oaths of the peace. Nor shall I do anything contrary to these agreements, nor shall I allow anyone else as far as possible. But if anyone does commit any breach of the treaty, I shall go in support as called by those who need and I shall fight the transgressors of the common peace, as decided (by the council) and called on by the hegemon.
- Oath sworn at Corinth
Near Ocalea, on the shores of Lake Copais in Boeotia, the power of the old city-states of Hellas was crushed decisively. A generation of Spartans fell underneath the hooves of the hetairoi while the Theban Sacred Band was picked off one by one in the hills. Macedonia, once but a pawn in the power-politics of Greece, had overcome all its foes. Now the time had come for consolidation, to focus the efforts of the Hellenes outwards, against their ancestral foe; the Great King of Persia. In order to achieve this Philip called for a general meeting of Greek states at Corinth early 336.
Apart from Sparta all mainland Greek states attended. A league would be established with the King of Macedon as its Hegemon and all its members would be able to send a representative to the Synedrion (congress). Macedon itself would not be a member, but with its king as Hegemon it did not need to be. While not explicitly stated at first, it was an open secret that the league’s actual purpose was to unite the manpower and resources of the Greeks to facilitate an invasion of the Achaemenid Empire. Sparta’s stubborn refusal to cooperate was not a big problem, its military was crushed for a generation, and both of its kings seemed unlikely and unable to challenge the newfound Argead hegemony. Besides Sparta there was one other notable Greek state that did not attend the Congress, not because it did not want to but because it was unable to. That state was Rhodes.
Rhodes in the early 330’s was increasingly prosperous, Egypt’s economic revival meant more trade between the Aegean and the land of the Nile, between which Rhodes was a critical link. Rhodes had been an ally of Maussolos, satrap of Caria, with whose help they rebelled from Athens. Later on it had supported Thebes against Athens and Macedon against Thebes and Sparta. When the satrap Arsames arrived in Sardis in 338 he immediately made contact with some of his acquaintances on the island. His mother, sister of Mentor and Memnon of Rhodes, had been a Rhodian herself and Arsames himself must have been well known with the island. Winning Rhodes over to the Persian side was critical to Arsames’ plans for the Aegean. With the loss of Phoenicia and Cyprus Persia’s navy now heavily depended on the Cilicians and Ionians, and in any future conflict with Macedon a powerful fleet could be decisive factor. Rhodes with its excellent harbour and large fleet would thus be a welcome addition to Persia’s collection of vassal states. In 336, without any warning, a mostly Carian army landed on Rhodes and seized its eponymous capital. A short campaign followed, during which the other Rhodian poleis, Ialysos, Lindos and Kameiros, surrendered. Rhodes was put under supervision of the Satrap of Caria, Ada, but was granted substantial autonomy over its internal affairs.
Arsames while in command of the western satrapies turned out to be a capable ruler. He managed to raise a fleet and gathered a sizeable army. Knowing that by now war was inevitable he meant to time his assault on Macedonia in concert with the revolt in Greece, but Agis III had acted rashly and was crushed, potentially jeopardizing Arsames’ plans. His contacts with other Greek states indicated that any organised uprising against Philip was not possible in the near future. It was then that he ordered Rhodes to be seized and he send forward a force into the Thracian Chersonese under the command of Spithridates and Rhosaces, two brothers, where they occupied several towns. This was tantamount to a declaration of war on Macedon and thus the recently founded Hellenic League. The exact reason why Arsames decided to act is not known, but it is quite possible that it was a pre-emptive strike, attacking before Philip could gather all his forces. The news of the occupation of Rhodes and the attack on the Thracian Chersonese arrived at Corinth at one of the last days of the Congress, and the synedrion unanimously voted for war.
War in the Aegean
It was thus for the sake of Rhodian liberty that the Hellenes waged war on Asia.
- Excerpt from ‘The Life of Philippos Nikator’ by Bomilkar of Malakka
Philip quickly returned to Macedon, where Parmenion had already gathered the army. Attalus, an important Macedonian noble whose daughter Cleopatra Eurydice was married to Philip [1], was send forward with an advance force. Arsames had also send agents into Thrace, handing out gold and promising aid if the Thracians were to rise up against the Macedonians. While not a great success there were still 5000 Thracians who joined up with the army of Spithridates and Rhosaces. At Maroneia Attalus encountered the Persian army, and an inconclusive battle was fought, both sides suffered losses and the Persians returned to Asia, but on the Macedonian side Attalus had fallen. Antipater, his second in command, commanded the remaining forces and occupied the Chersonese, blocking any other Persian advance into Europe. The Persian fleet had in the meantime occupied the straits, making it impossible for Philip to invade Asia. Winter was now fast approaching, and new campaigns had to wait for the spring of 335.
Both sides were now strengthening themselves, in Greece a fleet was brought together under the auspices of the Hellenic League, consisting mostly of Athenian ships. In Sardis the satrap Arsames had received some reinforcements from his father, by now the Babylonian uprising was practically over, and several elite detachments were send west to support Arsames. These included contingents of the Royal Guard (Immortals) and the elite cavalry known as the Royal Kinsmen. His offensive had failed because of the quick Macedonian reaction, now Arsames’ strategy was to draw them into Asia and defeating them with superior numbers on a terrain of his choosing. In March 335 the fleet of the Hellenic League set sail eastwards and engaged a smaller Ionian fleet near Mykonos, who were defeated. The fleet that guarded the Hellespont now returned south, to defend the Ionian coast against a possible landing. A small flotilla was left behind, but it was swept aside by the Macedonian fleet, who then proceeded to ferry over Philip’s army to Asia, where they landed near Abydos.
Arsames did not contend their landing and kept his forces at Sardis. Philip and his army marched south, stopping at the site of Troy to hold funeral games in honour of Achilles and Patroclus, and then went onwards to Adramyttion, which opened its gates without resistance. Another force, consisting of mostly mercenaries and soldiers send by the Hellenic League, was send east to Daskyleion under Kalas, but was ambushed by a Persian cavalry detachment and destroyed near the river Granicus. Despite that this threatened his rear Philip decided to press on, the fleet of the League had defeated the Persians near Chios which enabled them to supply Philip by sea. Near a place called Hyrkanis, just north of Sardis, Arsames had gathered his forces. The Macedonians marched south by the coast and then marched up the Hermus Valley, which led towards Sardis. Philip by then must have heard from his scouts about the army at Hyrkanis and fully confident in his battle-hardened army he decided to confront them.
Arsames however was not so confident of his situation, and several of his commanders thought it better to retreat to Eastern Anatolia, destroying crops and driving away the cattle, so that the Macedonians must chase them over scorched earth. While it might be a sensible strategy it was certain that the locals would turn against them if they tried it, many of whom were part of Arsames’ army. Noblemen like Spithradates and Rhosaces had large amounts of land in Western Anatolia, and thus were unlikely to continue their support for the satrap if he decided to torch their fields. It was thus at Hyrkanis that they decided to make their stand. Arsames’ army was slightly outnumbered, his 35000 men had to face off against Philip’s 37000. He had 8000 Greek mercenaries, 3000 men of the ‘Immortals’, a 1000-strong squadron of the Royal Kinsmen, 3000 Thracians, 5000 cavalrymen from all over Anatolia (mostly Lydians and Cappadocians), 10000 local light troops and 4000 Persian troops from the local garrisons. Philip’s army consisted of 12000 Macedonian infantry, 8000 Greek troops send by the League, his cavalry was equal in numbers to the Persians’, around 5000 (mostly Macedonian and Thessalian) and 12000 light troops, a mix of mercenaries and Thracians and Illyrians who were allies/subjects of Macedon.
The Macedonian phalanx at Hyrkanis
On the 15th of June 335 the armies met at the open plains at Hyrkanis. At the eve of such a large battle both sides made offerings to the gods and had omens observed. Both armies took up their positions in the morning dew, the Macedonians deployed their phalanx flanked by the Thessalians under Parmenion on the left and the hetairoi under Alexander on the right. The Greeks were kept in reserve, the light troops were split between those who were posted in front of the phalanx to harass the enemy and those who were detached with the cavalry to support them. Philip himself was positioned with a elite bodyguard behind the hypaspists on the right flank of the phalanx. Arsames gambled everything on a charge of his cavalry, which he concentrated on his right flank opposing Parmenion and the Thessalians, while his centre consisted of the Greek mercenaries and Persian troops, with the Immortals in reserve. The left flank was guarded by a smaller cavalry detachment under Spithradates. Arsames himself commanded the cavalry on the right and Rhosaces the centre.
The battle started with the phalanx advancing in echelon, with the left flank advancing forward. The light troops exchanged missile fire, attempting to disrupt the opposing formation. Hoping to settle the battle quickly Arsames launched his charge, managing to put pressure on the Thessalians, and on the Macedonian extreme left even managed to outflank them. Philip send in the Greeks, who formed a second line, to repel the Persian advance. The light troops, mostly Thracian and Illyrian peltasts, also proved tenacious and managed to rally despite the Thessalian retreat. The Persians, having lost the impetus of their charge, were now getting bogged down fighting the Greek hoplites and supporting light troops. Meanwhile on the Macedonian right Alexander had defeated the cavalry force, personally killing Spithradates, and now could threaten the Persian rear. The phalanx in the meantime had engaged the Persian main line, and because of its positioning (the line was now diagonal because of the advance in echelon) exposed the Persian left flank, which required it to be covered by the Immortals. Now Philip himself, with his bodyguard and supported by the hypaspists, charged into the enemy flank and drove back the Immortals. Alexander now had a free hand, and he charged his hetairoi in the rear of the Greek mercenaries. The Persian line now collapsed completely, the light troops fled the field, Parmenion had managed to rally the Thessalians and now drove away the Persian cavalry, completing the victory for Macedon. Arsames was captured, Rhosaces managed to escape the field with a cavalry squadron, and fled north to Daskyleion. The Achaemenid army suffered around 6000 death, the Macedonians had around 1200 death to mourn. Philip of Macedon had achieved his greatest victory, and after the battle was often given the epithet ‘Nikator’, meaning victor.
With Arsames in chains and his army shattered Sardis opened its gates for the victorious king. The city was renowned for its wealth, but Philip did not allow it to be plundered, hoping to win the population over to his side. He installed a Greek garrison and rededicated the local temple to Ahura Mazda to Zeus (ironically later on it became a shrine to Zeus Oromazdes). The news of the Macedonian victory at Hyrkanis spread fast and the Ionian cities were now rife with unrest, eager to overthrow the Persian-backed oligarchies that ruled them. Philip quickly marched to the coast, leaving Asandros, a brother of Parmenion, as his satrap in Lydia (the first sign that Philip would, at least partially, incorporate Persian methods of government). The Ionian cities opened their gates to the Macedonians, who expelled both Persian garrisons and their oligarchs or tyrants. In a particularly gruesome example, the tyrant Syrpax of Ephesos was stoned to death together with his family by an angry mob [2]. Miletus intended to resist, but surrendered when the Macedonian fleet appeared in its harbour. In many cities, with the elite often having supported the Persians, a democratic government was now installed. These democracies almost always voted in line with the wishes of Philip (or Alexander, later on).
Philip now split his forces, he himself would march into Caria while Parmenion and Alexander would head back north, to capture Daskyleion and stop Rhosaces, who from Hellespontine Phrygia had launched several raids into Lydia. In October 335 they approached Daskyleion, and Rhosaces, heavily outnumbered, decided to retreat to Kyzikos. There he was put under siege, which would drag on until early 334 when the city finally fell, Alexander was reportedly the first over the wall, Rhosaces fell during the fighting. Philip had it a lot easier in the south, where the ruler of Caria, Ada, was allowed to keep her throne in exchange for naming Philip or his eventual successor as her heir. The complete collapse of Persian hegemony in western Anatolia is not hard to understand, with their armies gone and without a fleet to support coastal cities Macedon was now the local hegemon. The rest of 335 Philip spend campaigning in Lycia and Pamphylia, where most towns also surrendered without resisting. Afterwards he marched back inland through Pisidia, where he defeated a small force at Sagalassus before marching into Phrygia, where he settled himself in Gordion for the coming winter. In the meantime Rhodes was reconquered by a small army under the command of Amyntas, son of Antiochus, where he started his days of misrule. Western Anatolia was now secured for Macedon. In April 334 Philip would be re-joined by Alexander and Parmenion, planning to campaign further east.
Footnotes
The League of the Hellenes
I swear by Zeus, Gaia, Helios, Poseidon and all the gods and goddesses. I will abide by the common peace and I will neither break the agreement with Philip, nor take up arms on land or sea, harming any of those abiding by the oaths. Nor shall I take any city, or fortress, nor harbour by craft or contrivance, with intent of war against the participants of the war. Nor shall I depose the kingship of Philip or his descendants, nor the constitutions existing in each state, when they swore the oaths of the peace. Nor shall I do anything contrary to these agreements, nor shall I allow anyone else as far as possible. But if anyone does commit any breach of the treaty, I shall go in support as called by those who need and I shall fight the transgressors of the common peace, as decided (by the council) and called on by the hegemon.
- Oath sworn at Corinth
Near Ocalea, on the shores of Lake Copais in Boeotia, the power of the old city-states of Hellas was crushed decisively. A generation of Spartans fell underneath the hooves of the hetairoi while the Theban Sacred Band was picked off one by one in the hills. Macedonia, once but a pawn in the power-politics of Greece, had overcome all its foes. Now the time had come for consolidation, to focus the efforts of the Hellenes outwards, against their ancestral foe; the Great King of Persia. In order to achieve this Philip called for a general meeting of Greek states at Corinth early 336.
Apart from Sparta all mainland Greek states attended. A league would be established with the King of Macedon as its Hegemon and all its members would be able to send a representative to the Synedrion (congress). Macedon itself would not be a member, but with its king as Hegemon it did not need to be. While not explicitly stated at first, it was an open secret that the league’s actual purpose was to unite the manpower and resources of the Greeks to facilitate an invasion of the Achaemenid Empire. Sparta’s stubborn refusal to cooperate was not a big problem, its military was crushed for a generation, and both of its kings seemed unlikely and unable to challenge the newfound Argead hegemony. Besides Sparta there was one other notable Greek state that did not attend the Congress, not because it did not want to but because it was unable to. That state was Rhodes.
Rhodes in the early 330’s was increasingly prosperous, Egypt’s economic revival meant more trade between the Aegean and the land of the Nile, between which Rhodes was a critical link. Rhodes had been an ally of Maussolos, satrap of Caria, with whose help they rebelled from Athens. Later on it had supported Thebes against Athens and Macedon against Thebes and Sparta. When the satrap Arsames arrived in Sardis in 338 he immediately made contact with some of his acquaintances on the island. His mother, sister of Mentor and Memnon of Rhodes, had been a Rhodian herself and Arsames himself must have been well known with the island. Winning Rhodes over to the Persian side was critical to Arsames’ plans for the Aegean. With the loss of Phoenicia and Cyprus Persia’s navy now heavily depended on the Cilicians and Ionians, and in any future conflict with Macedon a powerful fleet could be decisive factor. Rhodes with its excellent harbour and large fleet would thus be a welcome addition to Persia’s collection of vassal states. In 336, without any warning, a mostly Carian army landed on Rhodes and seized its eponymous capital. A short campaign followed, during which the other Rhodian poleis, Ialysos, Lindos and Kameiros, surrendered. Rhodes was put under supervision of the Satrap of Caria, Ada, but was granted substantial autonomy over its internal affairs.
Arsames while in command of the western satrapies turned out to be a capable ruler. He managed to raise a fleet and gathered a sizeable army. Knowing that by now war was inevitable he meant to time his assault on Macedonia in concert with the revolt in Greece, but Agis III had acted rashly and was crushed, potentially jeopardizing Arsames’ plans. His contacts with other Greek states indicated that any organised uprising against Philip was not possible in the near future. It was then that he ordered Rhodes to be seized and he send forward a force into the Thracian Chersonese under the command of Spithridates and Rhosaces, two brothers, where they occupied several towns. This was tantamount to a declaration of war on Macedon and thus the recently founded Hellenic League. The exact reason why Arsames decided to act is not known, but it is quite possible that it was a pre-emptive strike, attacking before Philip could gather all his forces. The news of the occupation of Rhodes and the attack on the Thracian Chersonese arrived at Corinth at one of the last days of the Congress, and the synedrion unanimously voted for war.
War in the Aegean
It was thus for the sake of Rhodian liberty that the Hellenes waged war on Asia.
- Excerpt from ‘The Life of Philippos Nikator’ by Bomilkar of Malakka
Philip quickly returned to Macedon, where Parmenion had already gathered the army. Attalus, an important Macedonian noble whose daughter Cleopatra Eurydice was married to Philip [1], was send forward with an advance force. Arsames had also send agents into Thrace, handing out gold and promising aid if the Thracians were to rise up against the Macedonians. While not a great success there were still 5000 Thracians who joined up with the army of Spithridates and Rhosaces. At Maroneia Attalus encountered the Persian army, and an inconclusive battle was fought, both sides suffered losses and the Persians returned to Asia, but on the Macedonian side Attalus had fallen. Antipater, his second in command, commanded the remaining forces and occupied the Chersonese, blocking any other Persian advance into Europe. The Persian fleet had in the meantime occupied the straits, making it impossible for Philip to invade Asia. Winter was now fast approaching, and new campaigns had to wait for the spring of 335.
Both sides were now strengthening themselves, in Greece a fleet was brought together under the auspices of the Hellenic League, consisting mostly of Athenian ships. In Sardis the satrap Arsames had received some reinforcements from his father, by now the Babylonian uprising was practically over, and several elite detachments were send west to support Arsames. These included contingents of the Royal Guard (Immortals) and the elite cavalry known as the Royal Kinsmen. His offensive had failed because of the quick Macedonian reaction, now Arsames’ strategy was to draw them into Asia and defeating them with superior numbers on a terrain of his choosing. In March 335 the fleet of the Hellenic League set sail eastwards and engaged a smaller Ionian fleet near Mykonos, who were defeated. The fleet that guarded the Hellespont now returned south, to defend the Ionian coast against a possible landing. A small flotilla was left behind, but it was swept aside by the Macedonian fleet, who then proceeded to ferry over Philip’s army to Asia, where they landed near Abydos.
Arsames did not contend their landing and kept his forces at Sardis. Philip and his army marched south, stopping at the site of Troy to hold funeral games in honour of Achilles and Patroclus, and then went onwards to Adramyttion, which opened its gates without resistance. Another force, consisting of mostly mercenaries and soldiers send by the Hellenic League, was send east to Daskyleion under Kalas, but was ambushed by a Persian cavalry detachment and destroyed near the river Granicus. Despite that this threatened his rear Philip decided to press on, the fleet of the League had defeated the Persians near Chios which enabled them to supply Philip by sea. Near a place called Hyrkanis, just north of Sardis, Arsames had gathered his forces. The Macedonians marched south by the coast and then marched up the Hermus Valley, which led towards Sardis. Philip by then must have heard from his scouts about the army at Hyrkanis and fully confident in his battle-hardened army he decided to confront them.
Arsames however was not so confident of his situation, and several of his commanders thought it better to retreat to Eastern Anatolia, destroying crops and driving away the cattle, so that the Macedonians must chase them over scorched earth. While it might be a sensible strategy it was certain that the locals would turn against them if they tried it, many of whom were part of Arsames’ army. Noblemen like Spithradates and Rhosaces had large amounts of land in Western Anatolia, and thus were unlikely to continue their support for the satrap if he decided to torch their fields. It was thus at Hyrkanis that they decided to make their stand. Arsames’ army was slightly outnumbered, his 35000 men had to face off against Philip’s 37000. He had 8000 Greek mercenaries, 3000 men of the ‘Immortals’, a 1000-strong squadron of the Royal Kinsmen, 3000 Thracians, 5000 cavalrymen from all over Anatolia (mostly Lydians and Cappadocians), 10000 local light troops and 4000 Persian troops from the local garrisons. Philip’s army consisted of 12000 Macedonian infantry, 8000 Greek troops send by the League, his cavalry was equal in numbers to the Persians’, around 5000 (mostly Macedonian and Thessalian) and 12000 light troops, a mix of mercenaries and Thracians and Illyrians who were allies/subjects of Macedon.
The Macedonian phalanx at Hyrkanis
On the 15th of June 335 the armies met at the open plains at Hyrkanis. At the eve of such a large battle both sides made offerings to the gods and had omens observed. Both armies took up their positions in the morning dew, the Macedonians deployed their phalanx flanked by the Thessalians under Parmenion on the left and the hetairoi under Alexander on the right. The Greeks were kept in reserve, the light troops were split between those who were posted in front of the phalanx to harass the enemy and those who were detached with the cavalry to support them. Philip himself was positioned with a elite bodyguard behind the hypaspists on the right flank of the phalanx. Arsames gambled everything on a charge of his cavalry, which he concentrated on his right flank opposing Parmenion and the Thessalians, while his centre consisted of the Greek mercenaries and Persian troops, with the Immortals in reserve. The left flank was guarded by a smaller cavalry detachment under Spithradates. Arsames himself commanded the cavalry on the right and Rhosaces the centre.
The battle started with the phalanx advancing in echelon, with the left flank advancing forward. The light troops exchanged missile fire, attempting to disrupt the opposing formation. Hoping to settle the battle quickly Arsames launched his charge, managing to put pressure on the Thessalians, and on the Macedonian extreme left even managed to outflank them. Philip send in the Greeks, who formed a second line, to repel the Persian advance. The light troops, mostly Thracian and Illyrian peltasts, also proved tenacious and managed to rally despite the Thessalian retreat. The Persians, having lost the impetus of their charge, were now getting bogged down fighting the Greek hoplites and supporting light troops. Meanwhile on the Macedonian right Alexander had defeated the cavalry force, personally killing Spithradates, and now could threaten the Persian rear. The phalanx in the meantime had engaged the Persian main line, and because of its positioning (the line was now diagonal because of the advance in echelon) exposed the Persian left flank, which required it to be covered by the Immortals. Now Philip himself, with his bodyguard and supported by the hypaspists, charged into the enemy flank and drove back the Immortals. Alexander now had a free hand, and he charged his hetairoi in the rear of the Greek mercenaries. The Persian line now collapsed completely, the light troops fled the field, Parmenion had managed to rally the Thessalians and now drove away the Persian cavalry, completing the victory for Macedon. Arsames was captured, Rhosaces managed to escape the field with a cavalry squadron, and fled north to Daskyleion. The Achaemenid army suffered around 6000 death, the Macedonians had around 1200 death to mourn. Philip of Macedon had achieved his greatest victory, and after the battle was often given the epithet ‘Nikator’, meaning victor.
With Arsames in chains and his army shattered Sardis opened its gates for the victorious king. The city was renowned for its wealth, but Philip did not allow it to be plundered, hoping to win the population over to his side. He installed a Greek garrison and rededicated the local temple to Ahura Mazda to Zeus (ironically later on it became a shrine to Zeus Oromazdes). The news of the Macedonian victory at Hyrkanis spread fast and the Ionian cities were now rife with unrest, eager to overthrow the Persian-backed oligarchies that ruled them. Philip quickly marched to the coast, leaving Asandros, a brother of Parmenion, as his satrap in Lydia (the first sign that Philip would, at least partially, incorporate Persian methods of government). The Ionian cities opened their gates to the Macedonians, who expelled both Persian garrisons and their oligarchs or tyrants. In a particularly gruesome example, the tyrant Syrpax of Ephesos was stoned to death together with his family by an angry mob [2]. Miletus intended to resist, but surrendered when the Macedonian fleet appeared in its harbour. In many cities, with the elite often having supported the Persians, a democratic government was now installed. These democracies almost always voted in line with the wishes of Philip (or Alexander, later on).
Philip now split his forces, he himself would march into Caria while Parmenion and Alexander would head back north, to capture Daskyleion and stop Rhosaces, who from Hellespontine Phrygia had launched several raids into Lydia. In October 335 they approached Daskyleion, and Rhosaces, heavily outnumbered, decided to retreat to Kyzikos. There he was put under siege, which would drag on until early 334 when the city finally fell, Alexander was reportedly the first over the wall, Rhosaces fell during the fighting. Philip had it a lot easier in the south, where the ruler of Caria, Ada, was allowed to keep her throne in exchange for naming Philip or his eventual successor as her heir. The complete collapse of Persian hegemony in western Anatolia is not hard to understand, with their armies gone and without a fleet to support coastal cities Macedon was now the local hegemon. The rest of 335 Philip spend campaigning in Lycia and Pamphylia, where most towns also surrendered without resisting. Afterwards he marched back inland through Pisidia, where he defeated a small force at Sagalassus before marching into Phrygia, where he settled himself in Gordion for the coming winter. In the meantime Rhodes was reconquered by a small army under the command of Amyntas, son of Antiochus, where he started his days of misrule. Western Anatolia was now secured for Macedon. In April 334 Philip would be re-joined by Alexander and Parmenion, planning to campaign further east.
Footnotes
- The marriage of Philip and Cleopatra still took place, but Attalus’ drunken boast and subsequent fight between Philip and Alexander, and thus Alexander’s temporary exile to Epirus, did not.
- Also happened OTL.
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7. The Cilician campaign
7. The Cilician campaign
Philip, who if his life had only gone slightly different would be ruling over nothing, now held supreme power over both Hellas and Anatolia, something no other man had done before. Later on Alexander would claim that it was his father’s wisdom and strength that had forged that empire, but there he forgot a crucial element, something Philip often had: luck.
- Excerpt from ‘The Life of Philippos Nikator’ by Bomilkar of Malakka
In April 334, when Alexander and Parmenion finally joined forces with him again at Gordion, Philip must have looked forward to driving the Persians away completely from Anatolia. News had reached him that in Syria the chiliarch Orontobates was gathering an army to stop Philip’s advance. An envoy was send to Orontobates, proposing the cession of Asia beyond the Taurus to Philip in return for a peace treaty and the release of Arsames, who was held in captivity by Philip. Orontobates, who did not bother sending the message through to Artabazus, rejected the offer. After the news of the defeat at Hyrkanis reached Susa the Great King gave Orontobates the supreme command over the defence of the empire. Despite the recent wars he could still gather a sizeable army, but it was now increasingly drawn not from Babylonia, Syria and Anatolia but from the Empire’s Iranian heartland itself. This provided Orontobates with excellent cavalry, hardened hillmen and capable archers, but aside from several royal regiments there was not much heavy infantry. Like Bagoas before him Orontobates made Aleppo his base of operations, and it was there that he gathered his forces.
Just before departing Gordion Philip received the welcome news that Holophernes, satrap of Cappadocia, had offered his subjugation to Philip, something he gladly accepted for this secured his flank. In Gordion Philip left Antigonos [1] behind as his satrap, and then marched his army to the Cilician Gate, a narrow pass in the Taurus Range between the Anatolian highlands and the Cilician plains. The pass was heavily fortified by the Persians, who had built a wall across the pass. They managed to hold up the Macedonian army for several days, which were used by Philip’s troops to construct ladders. In a daring midnight assault the elite hypaspists and Agrianians stormed the wall and defeated the Persian garrison, giving Philip access to the Cilician plain. In June 334 he marched into Cilicia and besieged Tarsus, which quickly surrendered. On Orontobates’ orders most of the local garrisons retreated to Syria, taking whatever supplies they could with them and burning the rest.
It was then that things took a turn a turn for the worse for Philip. Atropates, satrap of Media, invaded Cappadocia in July 334 with a army mostly consisting of Median and Armenian cavalry, defeating and killing Holophernes in battle and capturing the Cappadocian capital Mazaka. He then launched raids into Phrygia, where he defeated Antigonos in battle near Ankyra, and then marched south towards the Cilician Gate, cutting off Philip and isolating him in Cilicia. Now it was Philip’s turn to fortify the Cilician Gate, he had his engineers repair the Persian wall and had towers topped with torsion catapults and ballista’s constructed, which would rain deadly projectiles on anyone who tried to storm the pass. He also left behind a garrison 5000 strong under the command of Philotas, son of Parmenion, making sure that the pass could not fall. With most of Cilicia pillaged there were relatively little supplies available and it must have seemed as if Orontobates managed to successfully trap Philip. Supplies could of course be brought in by sea, but Philip had after the conquest of Lycia ordered a large part of the fleet to be disbanded, the upkeep off a fleet was expensive after all and the Persians were already defeated at sea. Orontobates had fortified the passes into Syria, daring Philip to march east and fight Orontobates, who by now had gathered around 60000 men, on his own soil. Philip however must have known that marching into Syria now was unwise, having now at most 35000 men at his disposal. His army, increasingly hungry, desperate and unruly, called on their king to act and urged him to march into Syria anyway. Faced with this conundrum Philip in the end decided to turn not to warfare but to diplomacy to solve his current situation. An envoy was send south, not to Persia but to Egypt.
Opinions on Egypt among the Greeks were divided in this era. Many had respect for the country’s ancient customs, traditions and religion. Others ridiculed the animal-headed gods and saw the pharaoh as no better than the king of Persia, a cruel despot ruling over a slave-like population. Among those with a positive opinion of the Egyptian state there were some who even urged Philip to cooperate with them in order to open up a southern front against the Persians. Parmenion was among those who urged cooperation, not out of fondness for Egyptian culture but because of the military implications, he urged Philip to contact Nakhthorheb:
Is his country not, besides ours, the foremost foe of the Persians? Has he not defeated the Persians in battle and has he not instigated rebellions against them? His country overflows with grain and gold, what harm could be done by asking him for aid?
The envoy arrived first at Cyprus and then travelled further to Egypt itself, where he was received by Nakhthorheb in Memphis. Military aid would not be forthcoming, at least not soon, Nakhthorheb was a cautious man and not eager to intervene in foreign lands if he could avoid it. Egyptian interests were, for now, not at risk. He did however agree to sell grain to the Macedonians, allowing the army to be resupplied without harassment because of the Persian lack of a navy. Orontobates became aware of the Egyptian support and, unaware of Nakhthorheb’s reluctance, expected the Egyptian military to come to the aid of Philip. If he wanted to prevent being caught in a pincer between the Egyptians in Phoenicia and the Macedonians in Cilicia he needed to act quickly. Orders were send to Pherendates, satrap of Syria, to launch raids into Palestine and Phoenicia. Orontobates himself gathered his forces and left his defensive positions, marching his 65000 strong army into the Cilician plains in September 334.
Philip, while surprised by the sudden Persian advance, must have been pleased that now his enemy would come to him, allowing him to choose the battlefield. He pulled his men back behind the Sarus river, which bisects Cilicia from north to south, and had all bridges that crossed it destroyed. Now that he was on the offensive it was Orontobates who started to have supply problems, especially since Cilicia was already plundered which made feeding his large army exceptionally hard. He could thus not afford to wait. His scouts reported to him that there was an fordable part of the Sarus just north of Adana, but when he arrived there he found the Macedonian army in battle formation just across the river. Orontobates was not an experienced commander, and because of his numerical superiority he thought he could force his way through. His second-in-command, Mazaces, tried to persuade him not to try it, but to no avail.
On the morning of the 25th of September 334 BC the Persian army started fording the Sarus river, and immediately came under fire by not only Philip’s light troops but also by around 20 torsion ballistae that Philip had his engineers construct on the riverbank. The Macedonian phalanx held the front, and despite some losses, managed to keep the Persians at bay. Orontobates however had one trick up his sleeve, several miles north there was another ford in the river, and he had send a small but elite force under Mazaces [2] there to outflank the Macedonians. Panic thus gripped the Macedonian line when they were suddenly assaulted in the flank by Persian cavalry. The Macedonian left, now surrounded on three sides, started to fall back. Philip himself rode in to rally his forces, which momentarily seemed to work. The Persian assault was finally repelled when Alexander along with the hetairoi managed to drive away the Persian cavalry. He followed the fleeing Persians with his hetairoi and a contingent of the hypaspists and also crossed the Sarus, and repaid the Persians in kind by charging into their flank. When he saw his son assaulting the Persian positions Philip ordered the phalanx onward, driving the Persians back. Orontobates now decided to retreat and managed to escape with most of his elite forces intact.
Persian heavy cavalry engaging Macedonian peltasts
Philip and his army chased after the retreating Persians and catched up to them at the village of Issus two weeks later, where Orontobates decided to make his stand. Both armies were around 30000 strong. The narrow coastal plain was an advantage for the Macedonian phalanx. They faced the Persian Immortals, with their scale cuirasses and large shields, who put down their shield wall and fought the Macedonians first with their bows, and then with their lances, swords and axes. In the end they too had to relent and were forced back. Orontobates himself led a desperate charge of the Royal Kinsmen, but this failed to change the tide of battle. In the hills on the flanks of the battlefield the Iranian troops held out against the Macedonian light troops, but were routed when the hypaspists outflanked them. Now they managed to strike the Persian rear, the chiliarch Orontobates died on the field, a javelin from an Illyrian peltast struck his unguarded neck. The Macedonian phalanx then made way for the charge of the hetairoi under Alexander, who utterly routed the Persians. Once again Philip had won. Cilicia was now his and the way was cleared for an advance into Syria.
Footnotes
Philip, who if his life had only gone slightly different would be ruling over nothing, now held supreme power over both Hellas and Anatolia, something no other man had done before. Later on Alexander would claim that it was his father’s wisdom and strength that had forged that empire, but there he forgot a crucial element, something Philip often had: luck.
- Excerpt from ‘The Life of Philippos Nikator’ by Bomilkar of Malakka
In April 334, when Alexander and Parmenion finally joined forces with him again at Gordion, Philip must have looked forward to driving the Persians away completely from Anatolia. News had reached him that in Syria the chiliarch Orontobates was gathering an army to stop Philip’s advance. An envoy was send to Orontobates, proposing the cession of Asia beyond the Taurus to Philip in return for a peace treaty and the release of Arsames, who was held in captivity by Philip. Orontobates, who did not bother sending the message through to Artabazus, rejected the offer. After the news of the defeat at Hyrkanis reached Susa the Great King gave Orontobates the supreme command over the defence of the empire. Despite the recent wars he could still gather a sizeable army, but it was now increasingly drawn not from Babylonia, Syria and Anatolia but from the Empire’s Iranian heartland itself. This provided Orontobates with excellent cavalry, hardened hillmen and capable archers, but aside from several royal regiments there was not much heavy infantry. Like Bagoas before him Orontobates made Aleppo his base of operations, and it was there that he gathered his forces.
Just before departing Gordion Philip received the welcome news that Holophernes, satrap of Cappadocia, had offered his subjugation to Philip, something he gladly accepted for this secured his flank. In Gordion Philip left Antigonos [1] behind as his satrap, and then marched his army to the Cilician Gate, a narrow pass in the Taurus Range between the Anatolian highlands and the Cilician plains. The pass was heavily fortified by the Persians, who had built a wall across the pass. They managed to hold up the Macedonian army for several days, which were used by Philip’s troops to construct ladders. In a daring midnight assault the elite hypaspists and Agrianians stormed the wall and defeated the Persian garrison, giving Philip access to the Cilician plain. In June 334 he marched into Cilicia and besieged Tarsus, which quickly surrendered. On Orontobates’ orders most of the local garrisons retreated to Syria, taking whatever supplies they could with them and burning the rest.
It was then that things took a turn a turn for the worse for Philip. Atropates, satrap of Media, invaded Cappadocia in July 334 with a army mostly consisting of Median and Armenian cavalry, defeating and killing Holophernes in battle and capturing the Cappadocian capital Mazaka. He then launched raids into Phrygia, where he defeated Antigonos in battle near Ankyra, and then marched south towards the Cilician Gate, cutting off Philip and isolating him in Cilicia. Now it was Philip’s turn to fortify the Cilician Gate, he had his engineers repair the Persian wall and had towers topped with torsion catapults and ballista’s constructed, which would rain deadly projectiles on anyone who tried to storm the pass. He also left behind a garrison 5000 strong under the command of Philotas, son of Parmenion, making sure that the pass could not fall. With most of Cilicia pillaged there were relatively little supplies available and it must have seemed as if Orontobates managed to successfully trap Philip. Supplies could of course be brought in by sea, but Philip had after the conquest of Lycia ordered a large part of the fleet to be disbanded, the upkeep off a fleet was expensive after all and the Persians were already defeated at sea. Orontobates had fortified the passes into Syria, daring Philip to march east and fight Orontobates, who by now had gathered around 60000 men, on his own soil. Philip however must have known that marching into Syria now was unwise, having now at most 35000 men at his disposal. His army, increasingly hungry, desperate and unruly, called on their king to act and urged him to march into Syria anyway. Faced with this conundrum Philip in the end decided to turn not to warfare but to diplomacy to solve his current situation. An envoy was send south, not to Persia but to Egypt.
Opinions on Egypt among the Greeks were divided in this era. Many had respect for the country’s ancient customs, traditions and religion. Others ridiculed the animal-headed gods and saw the pharaoh as no better than the king of Persia, a cruel despot ruling over a slave-like population. Among those with a positive opinion of the Egyptian state there were some who even urged Philip to cooperate with them in order to open up a southern front against the Persians. Parmenion was among those who urged cooperation, not out of fondness for Egyptian culture but because of the military implications, he urged Philip to contact Nakhthorheb:
Is his country not, besides ours, the foremost foe of the Persians? Has he not defeated the Persians in battle and has he not instigated rebellions against them? His country overflows with grain and gold, what harm could be done by asking him for aid?
The envoy arrived first at Cyprus and then travelled further to Egypt itself, where he was received by Nakhthorheb in Memphis. Military aid would not be forthcoming, at least not soon, Nakhthorheb was a cautious man and not eager to intervene in foreign lands if he could avoid it. Egyptian interests were, for now, not at risk. He did however agree to sell grain to the Macedonians, allowing the army to be resupplied without harassment because of the Persian lack of a navy. Orontobates became aware of the Egyptian support and, unaware of Nakhthorheb’s reluctance, expected the Egyptian military to come to the aid of Philip. If he wanted to prevent being caught in a pincer between the Egyptians in Phoenicia and the Macedonians in Cilicia he needed to act quickly. Orders were send to Pherendates, satrap of Syria, to launch raids into Palestine and Phoenicia. Orontobates himself gathered his forces and left his defensive positions, marching his 65000 strong army into the Cilician plains in September 334.
Philip, while surprised by the sudden Persian advance, must have been pleased that now his enemy would come to him, allowing him to choose the battlefield. He pulled his men back behind the Sarus river, which bisects Cilicia from north to south, and had all bridges that crossed it destroyed. Now that he was on the offensive it was Orontobates who started to have supply problems, especially since Cilicia was already plundered which made feeding his large army exceptionally hard. He could thus not afford to wait. His scouts reported to him that there was an fordable part of the Sarus just north of Adana, but when he arrived there he found the Macedonian army in battle formation just across the river. Orontobates was not an experienced commander, and because of his numerical superiority he thought he could force his way through. His second-in-command, Mazaces, tried to persuade him not to try it, but to no avail.
On the morning of the 25th of September 334 BC the Persian army started fording the Sarus river, and immediately came under fire by not only Philip’s light troops but also by around 20 torsion ballistae that Philip had his engineers construct on the riverbank. The Macedonian phalanx held the front, and despite some losses, managed to keep the Persians at bay. Orontobates however had one trick up his sleeve, several miles north there was another ford in the river, and he had send a small but elite force under Mazaces [2] there to outflank the Macedonians. Panic thus gripped the Macedonian line when they were suddenly assaulted in the flank by Persian cavalry. The Macedonian left, now surrounded on three sides, started to fall back. Philip himself rode in to rally his forces, which momentarily seemed to work. The Persian assault was finally repelled when Alexander along with the hetairoi managed to drive away the Persian cavalry. He followed the fleeing Persians with his hetairoi and a contingent of the hypaspists and also crossed the Sarus, and repaid the Persians in kind by charging into their flank. When he saw his son assaulting the Persian positions Philip ordered the phalanx onward, driving the Persians back. Orontobates now decided to retreat and managed to escape with most of his elite forces intact.
Persian heavy cavalry engaging Macedonian peltasts
Philip and his army chased after the retreating Persians and catched up to them at the village of Issus two weeks later, where Orontobates decided to make his stand. Both armies were around 30000 strong. The narrow coastal plain was an advantage for the Macedonian phalanx. They faced the Persian Immortals, with their scale cuirasses and large shields, who put down their shield wall and fought the Macedonians first with their bows, and then with their lances, swords and axes. In the end they too had to relent and were forced back. Orontobates himself led a desperate charge of the Royal Kinsmen, but this failed to change the tide of battle. In the hills on the flanks of the battlefield the Iranian troops held out against the Macedonian light troops, but were routed when the hypaspists outflanked them. Now they managed to strike the Persian rear, the chiliarch Orontobates died on the field, a javelin from an Illyrian peltast struck his unguarded neck. The Macedonian phalanx then made way for the charge of the hetairoi under Alexander, who utterly routed the Persians. Once again Philip had won. Cilicia was now his and the way was cleared for an advance into Syria.
Footnotes
- Not known as Monophthalmos in this timeline because he didn’t lose his eye at Perinthus
- OTL satrap of Egypt under Darius III
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A beautiful and well-researched timeline, phoenix. Can't wait to see how far Phillip will go. Every success that his father achieves means Alexander can go further.
Thanks for the praise, Philip's ultimate fate will probably be made clear in the next update, which will be up the coming weekend.
Alexander is probably chafing under his father's command. Being second-fiddle doesn't seem like something he was ever comfortable with.
I wonder if he could conquer the Indo-Gangetic plain more thoroughly if he ever becomes king ITTL. Of course, he could always attack Egypt instead...
A generation later with an army composed in large part of the sons of Macedonian men and Persian wives, maybe. However if that's the case it's unlikely he'd hold Persia and northern India together for very long.
8. Nikator
8. Nikator
Marching east
Therefore, since the others are so lacking in spirit, I think it is opportune for you to head the war against the King; and, while it is only natural for the other descendants of Heracles, and for men who are under the bonds of their polities and laws, to cleave fondly to that state in which they happen to dwell, it is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammelled freedom, to consider all Hellas your fatherland, as did the founder of your race, and to be as ready to brave perils for her sake as for the things about which you are personally most concerned.
- Isocrates’ To Philip, 5.32
The victories at Hyrkanis, Adana and Issus had made Philip master of the western satrapies of the Persian Empire. Especially Issus had been a decisive victory, a large part of the professional core of the Persian army was destroyed and Philip had captured the Persian baggage train, which included many talents of silver. Most Syrian cities, left without any meaningful protection, submitted to Philip without resistance. Philip himself with most of his forces then marched to Thapsacus on the Euphrates, where he made camp. Upon reaching the river offerings were made to the gods, and Philip ordered a missive to be send to the synedrion in Corinth, detailing the campaign. An envoy was also send to Artabazus in Susa, Philip wanted to negotiate with his former guest and was willing to sign a treaty if the current conquests were ceded to Macedon. Parmenion in the meantime was send further south to seize Damascus and thus the rest of Syria.
Meanwhile in Anatolia Antigonos had received reinforcements from Macedonia and managed to expel Atropates from Phrygia and thus restored the overland route to Cilicia and Syria. Atropates decided to retreat back to Armenia, perhaps he received a message from the Great King to join the large army that was now being gathered in northern Mesopotamia. Cappadocia was now more or less ignored by both warring parties, and after several years of anarchy in the end it would be Ariarathes, son of the last satrap Holophernes, who would claim dominion of the land.
In Damascus the satrap Pherendates decided to surrender, but not to the Macedonians. In October 334 a Egyptian force, 5000 strong, under the command of Khababash arrived at Damascus and took possession of the city. Pherendates and his garrison left the city and travelled to Egypt, to prostrate himself before the Lord of the Two Lands and receive a new position for himself and his troops. He was send to Sau (Saïs) where he would oversee the local garrison and the Western Delta, which bordered Libya and thus vulnerable to raids from that direction. Envoys were also send first to Parmenion and then to Philip, bringing with them a large sum of gold. The Egyptians seizing Damascus must have agitated Philip, but he could not risk antagonizing them now. He accepted their gold and confirmed the Egyptians in their possession of Damascus and the land that the Greeks called Koile Syria (‘Hollow Syria’). The Egyptians also agreed to once again supply grain to the Macedonians.
Having secured his position and supplies Philip, who had received no reply from Artabazus, could now plan his new campaign. With the road through Anatolia clear once again Philip received reinforcements, Macedonian phalangites, Thracian horsemen, Illyrian peltasts and Carian hillmen joined up with the army at Thapsacus. His scouts indicated that the Persians had managed to gather another army, now under the command of Pharnabazus, satrap of Bactria and heir apparent to the empire. It was gathering at Arbela and surpassed Orontobates’ army in size, around 80000 men strong. It consisted mostly of troops from Iran and the eastern satrapies; heavily armed Bactrian lancers, horse archers from the steppes, infantry from the villages on the Iranian plateau and cavalry supplied by its nobility, the remnants of the Immortals, scythed chariots and also 20 Indian elephants. A second force, under the command of the satrap of Persia Ariobarzanes, was positioned just north of Babylon to counter a Macedonian march down the Euphrates.
The Great King Artabazus did not command his armies personally, as one might have expected since the situation was dire. The king however was very ill, and according to the records rarely left his bed anymore, and was thus unable to command the defence of his empire. His heir Pharnabazus, while capable, was not especially popular among the nobility. Defeat after defeat had significantly eroded support for Artabazus and his son, who after all only recently ascended to the throne and there were probably still many Persians who saw them as illegitimate.
In contrast to his former guest Philip had several strokes of luck in the final months of 334. First was the arrival of a reinforcement force 6000 strong, not from Macedonia but send by Nakhthorheb, king of Egypt. It consisted of Greek and Nubian mercenaries and several contingents of the machimoi, under command of Khababash. The presence of the Egyptian force was intended to show to Philip and the Macedonians that Egypt was a willing ally of what now appeared to be the new great power of the region. Philip and most his army, 40000 strong, departed in November 334. The army under Pharnabazus represented a greater threat to the Macedonians and had to be dealt with before marching on Babylon, so instead of marching down the Euphrates Philip and his army marched north from Thapsacus. Parmenion was left behind with 10000 Macedonians and the Egyptian force to guard the fords at Thapsacus, he was to march down the Euphrates if such a command was send by Philip.
The main army under Philip and Alexander first arrived at Urhai, which the Macedonians named Edessa after a city in their homeland the surroundings of which reminded them of the area, and Harran. It was there that Philip was informed of a large cavalry force nearby, which must have alarmed him, perhaps Pharnabazus was already on the march. Not long afterwards an envoy appeared in the Macedonian camp, send by the satraps Atropates and Oxyathres. They had seen the writing on the wall and must have realized the hopelessness of clinging on to the Achaemenid house. They promised to recognise Philip as king and join him with their forces in exchange for them keeping their satrapies. Philip, who could not believe his luck, accepted immediately. His army now reinforced by 5000 Median and Armenian horsemen he marched east, through the old Assyrian heartland, until he reached the banks of the Tigris.
Once he arrived there, at the start of December 334, he received news from his spies that Pharnabazus had left Arbela and had crossed the Tigris. The Achaemenid prince was confident in his ability to defeat the invaders, and with his father’s fragile health and recent decline in mind, eager to establish himself as a great general. Defeating this invasion would go a long way in establishing his line’s legitimacy as rightful kings of Persia. Philip thus marched south and encountered the Persian army on the banks of the Tigris near a village called Mepsila, already mentioned by Xenophon 70 years before. It would be the decisive battle of his campaign.
The battle of Mepsila
Message from His Majesty’s servant, Overseer of the Troops in the lands of Retjenu, iry-pat, Khababash, to the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Senedjemibra, the son of Ra, Nakhthorheb, may he have all life, health and dominion! As commanded by His Majesty I have placed myself and your army at the service of Philip, ruler of the Greeks, who tasked us with guarding a ford in the Inverted Waters [1]. Philip and his son have marched east, seeking to confront the Ruler of Foreign Lands and defeat him in battle. Word has reached me that they found the army of the Asiatics, and that a great battle was fought. Beware though, Your Majesty, these are but rumours, and none of the stories I have heard could agree on who had won the battle or even its location. As soon as I have made certain what had happened I will let Your Majesty know. May this message reach Your Majesty in the Residence in life, prosperity and health.
Early in the morning of the 14th of December 334 Philip of Macedon stood solemnly before an altar, burning incense to Zeus, Athena and Ares. Seers informed the king of good omens, the day would certainly be his. On the opposite side of the battlefield, several kilometres away Pharnabazus’ wise men informed him of the same, he only needed to fight and the enemy would melt away. Truth be told, Philip was in more danger than Pharnabazus, if his army was defeated and shattered its unlikely he (and his heir) would make it out alive. Both men must have realised that, one way or another, this would be the decisive battle of the war.
Once again at the core of the Macedonian army was the phalanx, anchored on it’s left side by the river Tigris, on the right of the phalanx stood the hypaspistai. To their right stood the Thracian and Thessalian cavalry, led by Philotas, son of Parmenion. Behind them, unseen by the Persians, there was a second, smaller, pike phalanx. The phalanxes were supported by light troops from Thrace, Illyria and Caria. Philip was positioned with his bodyguard behind the main phalanx, Alexander with his hetairoi accompanied by Oxyathres and Atropates together with the Medians and Armenians were positioned even further back. The Greeks were kept in reserve, guarding the supply train.
The Persian formation was less sophisticated, hoping to use their numerical superiority in cavalry to outflank and surround the Macedonian formation. The great mass of the Persian infantry was concentrated on the right, near the river, their role was to pin down the phalanx while the Persian cavalry overwhelmed the flanks. Their assault was to be preceded by a charge of the scythed chariots, posted in front of the Persian infantry. The Persian right was under the command of Bessus, a distant relative of Oxyathres who remained loyal to Pharnabazus. Pharnabazus himself commanded the Persian left, composed of the Bactrian, Iranian and steppe cavalry and 20 elephants. They were also supported by the remaining regiments of the Immortals and the remaining Greek mercenaries of Artabazus.
The battle started with the charge of the scythed chariots which was terrifying to behold, but not very effective. The well-trained phalangites simply opened up the phalanx and let the chariots pass through, after which the light troops behind them dealt with the chariot crews. Afterwards the Persian infantry engaged the phalanx, but did not manage to gain any ground except on the muddy riverbanks, where the heavily armed phalangites were outflanked by axe-wielding Persian hillmen, who started to hack away at the Macedonian flank. On the Macedonian right Philotas commanded his cavalry onward, to engage the assembled Iranian cavalry in front of them. Here the fighting was fierce, and no quarter was given. In the meantime the hypaspists, who were under the command of Alexander’s dearest friend, and possibly lover, Hephaistion, had moved forward to support the phalanx against the Persian infantry. The Persian infantry in the centre, now under pressure from two fronts, started to fall back. This advance of the hypaspists however did expose their flanks, something Pharnabazus, or one of his lieutenants, had noticed. Now the Bactrian lancers charged forward, plunging into the flanks of the hypaspists, putting many of them to flight. Pharnabazus, sensing an opportunity, also send forward his elephants, hoping to put the entire Macedonian centre to rout.
The Battle of Mepsila
Philip, seeing that the outcome of the battle was hanging in the balance, decided to act. He first ordered the Greeks to reinforce the phalanx near the river, to stall the Persian advance there. Then he ordered the Agrianians, trained as elite light infantry, forward to harass the elephants with their javelins. Finally Philip himself would join the fray, charging in with his bodyguard and rallying his troops to hold the line.
On the Macedonian right the Thracians and Thessalians under Philotas were now falling back, unable to face the numerically superior Iranian and steppe cavalry they retreated. Eager in their pursuit, and with their vision impaired by the dust clouds thrown up by the fighting armies, they charged forward. But instead of catching up with and slaughtering Philotas’ cavalry they charged into the second phalanx. Both horses and riders were skewered on the long Macedonian sarrisae, who were also supported by peltasts and other light troops. Philotas, far from being defeated, had received messages about the situation in the centre and regrouped his cavalry, who now rode out to support Philip. It was there in the centre that fighting was at its fiercest, with Pharnabazus’ mercenaries and Immortals now marching in to exploit the gap made by the lancers and elephants. The remnants of the hypaspists and the phalanx managed to hold out, the elephants had been driven off by the Agrianians. But the situation was dire, and for a moment Philip might have thought that all was lost.
It was then that Alexander led his combined cavalry force into the enemy rear. At the start of the battle he, Atropates and Oxyathres had ridden off with their cavalry, on order of Philip, and went west. They encountered and overwhelmed a Persian patrol and then rushed south, reaching the Tigris south of the Persian camp. The large amounts of dust thrown up by the fighting armies had for the Persians obfuscated the dust cloud on the horizon that belonged to Alexander’s cavalry. Alexander made sure he rode to the south of the Persian camp to ensure he would not accidentally charge into his own army. Now, at exactly the right moment, they rode onto the battlefield again, torching Pharnabazus’ camp and assaulting the unprepared Persian reserves. Panic now spread throughout the Persian ranks, and while Pharnabazus rushed back to organise defences it was already too late. Philip, seeing the Persians wavering, ordered to phalanx to advance once again and the Persian infantry broke, fleeing across the field. Their commander Bessus fell trying to rally his troops. Pharnabazus himself, with an elite bodyguard, tried to turn the tide of battle by repelling Alexander’s charge but was heavily outnumbered, and was slain in battle supposedly by his brother-in-law Alexander. Victory once again belonged to Philip.
The fall of the Achaemenids
And thus ends the rule of the House of Achaemenes, the first dynasty to rule over Asia.
- Excerpt from The lives of the Great Kings of Asia by Hermocles of Brentesion
At Mepsila the military might of the Achaemenid dynasty was finally broken. Having only suffered setbacks since the death of Artaxerxes II, it is actually quite remarkable that it managed to hold out as long as it did. But the defeat at Mepsila, in the imperial heartland against the heir to the throne himself, was too great a setback to overcome. In the aftermath of the battle the Persian baggage train was plundered, many talents of silver and gold were distributed among the Macedonian troops. After several days of rest the army packed up and continued its march south. A message was also send to Parmenion that he could now advance down the Euphrates. The situation in Babylon itself must have been confusing, many were unsure about Philip’s intentions, did he intent to destroy the city or was he willing to spare them? The local commander, the satrap of Persia Ariobarzanes, had far too few troops to put up any kind of effective resistance. He thus decided to negotiate with Philip, an envoy was send to him and a meeting arranged, which took place at Sippar, north of Babylon.
Ariobarzanes had negotiated well, Philip agreed not to plunder Babylon, Ariobarzanes himself would stay satrap of Persia. Philip would make a formal entrance into the city and would be recognised as its rightful king. Despite the grandeur and wealth of Babylon Philip’s visit was very short, only a couple days. He would of course return later, but there were more pressing concerns at the moment. As his satrap in Babylon he left behind Parmenion, by now more or less Philip’s second-in-command and a trusted advisor. Atropates, who wanted to regain his satrapy, was send to Ecbatana together with 5000 Macedonians under the command of Krateros, a promising commander who had managed to rally the phalanx at Mepsila. Philip set out of Babylon at the start of 333, marching on Susa, where the last Achaemenid Great King was now holed up in his palace. Before he could reach the city however news arrived that Artabazus had died, finally succumbing to his wounds and to his alcoholism. His heirs Pharnabazus and Arsames were both dead, Pharnabazus died on the fields of Mepsila and Arsames had died in Macedonian custody, the chances are high that his death was not natural.
Philip meeting Ariobarzanes at Sippar
Strangely enough, despite the death of Artabazus, Susa did not decide to surrender to Philip. Perhaps they were too confident in their own fortifications, but is unlikely we’ll ever know the true reason. The city was put under siege and Philip had his engineers construct towers and rams, and after several weeks the city was stormed. Philip’s soldiers, having been denied their plunder in Babylon, were now granted the city of Susa to sack. Violent scenes of rape and plunder were enacted all over the city, the inhabitants either murdered or enslaved, but in Philip’s eyes they had paid the price for their resistance. Other cities would now think twice before deciding to close their gates to Philip. Thousands of talents of silver were ‘liberated’ from the vaults at the palace of Susa, Philip took some of it with him for his campaign but most of it was send to Babylon, where Parmenion would watch over the minting of new coins. Several works of art taken by the Persians from Greece during the wars of Xerxes, notably the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton [2], were send back to Greece, reminders that Philip’s war was also a Panhellenic endeavour.
In March 333, accompanied by Ariobarzanes, Philip marched east from Susa, through Elam and towards the Zagros. He paid off the local Uxians [3], as was always done by the Persian kings, and then passed through the Persian Gate and marched on Persepolis. Promising clemency, and with its own satrap present in Philip’s camp, Persepolis opened its gates to the new king. Once again denied plunder some of Philip’s troops rioted, but they were harshly punished, publicly executed to show to all the new king’s dedication to order and justice. Once again he ordered to mostly empty the treasuries with the contents send to Babylon. At the great palace complex Philip ordered the destruction of the palace of Xerxes, vengeance for his burning of Athens. He left behind a strong garrison under command of Philotas, and then turned around and returned to Babylon. Philip was now at the height of his glory, he had made his peripheral kingdom into a great power and had defeated and subjugated the worlds largest empire. In May 333 he returned to the metropolis of Mesopotamia, to great acclamation and festival.
''At that moment in time, as famous amongst the Hellenes as the capture of Troy by Achilles, Philip was beloved by all''
- Excerpt from ‘The Life of Philippos Nikator’ by Bomilkar of Malakka
Egypt during the late 330’s
In the twenty-sixth year under the majesty of the Living Horus, Beloved by the Two Lands, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Senedjemibra [4], the Son of Ra, Nakhthorheb, - may he live forever! - , an envoy from Philip, ruler of the Greeks, arrived at the Residence, carrying with him gifts of oil, wine and silver vessels. The ruler of the Greeks, who was waging war in the land of the Asiatics, requested a treaty with the Lord of the Two Lands and grain because there was hunger among the Greeks, and His Majesty, ever magnanimous, opened up the granaries of Egypt to them. Their hunger was sated, and Egypt became rich in silver. All of this was done under the orders of His Majesty, may he be given all life, stability, dominion, health and happiness and may he arise on the Throne of Horus like Ra forever!
- Record of the vizier Wennefer, describing Philip’s diplomatic mission during the Cilician campaign
Egypt was not just a spectator to Philip’s conquest of the Achaemenid Empire but an active participant, it had gained land and had supported the Macedonians with food and soldiers. Perhaps hoping to gain favour with the new great power in the region and to prevent future war, Egypt went to great lengths to provide the Macedonians with grain and even gold. Still, the land prospered during these years, the harvests were bountiful, gold once again flowed from Nubia and ever more exquisite works of art were produced in the royal workshops.
Rather unexpectedly however Egypt did end up in a military crisis during this period. When Philip marched into Anatolia he had left Amyntas, son of Antiochus, in command of the isle of Rhodes. He turned out to be incredibly corrupt, and in January 333 the Rhodians filed a complaint with Philip. Alexander, who for some reason or another hated Amyntas, managed to convince his father to replace Amyntas as governor. Amyntas, when he heard of this, decided to leave the island with several regiments of loyal soldiers (or, at least loyal to Amyntas’ silver) and the island’s full treasury. He sailed first to Crete, where he gathered mercenaries, probably intending to sail back to Rhodes and seize it by force from its new governor. But while on Crete he had received some interesting news from Egypt.
A minor Delta nobleman, supposedly unhappy because he was passed over for a high position at court, named Padiamun [5] rose up in the Western Delta in March 333, inciting the local population against the king. Being a local nobleman he also had a force of machimoi at his disposal, which he used to seize the city of Sau (Saïs). The local garrison, partially consisting of the Persian soldiers of Pherendates, was surprised and routed. Padiamun, now victorious, entered the temple of Neith and proclaimed himself the rightful King of Upper and Lower Egypt. He then used the substantial treasures stored at the temple to hire Amyntas, who sailed from Crete to Egypt with his mercenary force.
Quite suddenly a credible threat to Nakhthorheb’s kingship had arisen. To his credit, he did manage to successfully contain the rebellion. Several skirmishes took place in the Delta, but no other major towns were captured by the rebel forces. After several months Padiamun and Amyntas, frustrated by the lack of any progress, decided to concentrate their forces and marched out against Tjebnetjer itself. A threat to the dynastic capital could of course not be tolerated, and Nakhthorheb now had to react. His army, under command of his son and co-regent Nakhtnebef, caught up with the rebels at Djedu (Busiris). Cavalry harassed the flanks of the rebel force and, unknown to Padiamun and Amyntas, Nakhthorheb had managed to bribe the Cretan mercenaries who turned against their former comrades. The rebel army fell apart, Amyntas died in battle and his men fled into the marshes where they were picked off one by one. Padiamun was captured and subjected to torture and execution, his lands seized and given to the estate of the temple of Neith in compensation.
A pharaoh brandishing his mace to smite his foes, an enduring image of Egyptian kingship
The uprising had shown to Nakhthorheb that there were still Delta noblemen who dreamt of claiming the throne for themselves, despite everything he had done to bring the country prosperity. Not long afterwards Nakhthorheb ordered the decoration of a new gateway in Sau, on which he was depicted smiting his foes. This time however the foe that was smitten was not a Asiatic or Nubian but an individual labelled as an ‘arrogant nobleman’. Everyone off course knew who was meant with this, and the king showed with this image that foreigners and barbarians were not the only opponents of ma’at, the Egyptian concept of order and truth, that he would oppose and destroy.
The small gateway in Sau, part of a minor shrine to Amun, however important, did not measure up to the king’s next building project. Nakhthorheb was nearing his thirtieth year on the Throne of Horus, which would be celebrated in a grand ceremony known as the Sed festival. Just north of Memphis, on the banks of the Nile, he ordered the construction of a complex of buildings, including several shrines and a festival hall. It would be the last of the king’s major building projects but in many ways the most enduring.
Footnotes
Marching east
Therefore, since the others are so lacking in spirit, I think it is opportune for you to head the war against the King; and, while it is only natural for the other descendants of Heracles, and for men who are under the bonds of their polities and laws, to cleave fondly to that state in which they happen to dwell, it is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammelled freedom, to consider all Hellas your fatherland, as did the founder of your race, and to be as ready to brave perils for her sake as for the things about which you are personally most concerned.
- Isocrates’ To Philip, 5.32
Philippos Nikator, King of Macedonia and Hegemon of the Hellenic League
The victories at Hyrkanis, Adana and Issus had made Philip master of the western satrapies of the Persian Empire. Especially Issus had been a decisive victory, a large part of the professional core of the Persian army was destroyed and Philip had captured the Persian baggage train, which included many talents of silver. Most Syrian cities, left without any meaningful protection, submitted to Philip without resistance. Philip himself with most of his forces then marched to Thapsacus on the Euphrates, where he made camp. Upon reaching the river offerings were made to the gods, and Philip ordered a missive to be send to the synedrion in Corinth, detailing the campaign. An envoy was also send to Artabazus in Susa, Philip wanted to negotiate with his former guest and was willing to sign a treaty if the current conquests were ceded to Macedon. Parmenion in the meantime was send further south to seize Damascus and thus the rest of Syria.
Meanwhile in Anatolia Antigonos had received reinforcements from Macedonia and managed to expel Atropates from Phrygia and thus restored the overland route to Cilicia and Syria. Atropates decided to retreat back to Armenia, perhaps he received a message from the Great King to join the large army that was now being gathered in northern Mesopotamia. Cappadocia was now more or less ignored by both warring parties, and after several years of anarchy in the end it would be Ariarathes, son of the last satrap Holophernes, who would claim dominion of the land.
In Damascus the satrap Pherendates decided to surrender, but not to the Macedonians. In October 334 a Egyptian force, 5000 strong, under the command of Khababash arrived at Damascus and took possession of the city. Pherendates and his garrison left the city and travelled to Egypt, to prostrate himself before the Lord of the Two Lands and receive a new position for himself and his troops. He was send to Sau (Saïs) where he would oversee the local garrison and the Western Delta, which bordered Libya and thus vulnerable to raids from that direction. Envoys were also send first to Parmenion and then to Philip, bringing with them a large sum of gold. The Egyptians seizing Damascus must have agitated Philip, but he could not risk antagonizing them now. He accepted their gold and confirmed the Egyptians in their possession of Damascus and the land that the Greeks called Koile Syria (‘Hollow Syria’). The Egyptians also agreed to once again supply grain to the Macedonians.
Having secured his position and supplies Philip, who had received no reply from Artabazus, could now plan his new campaign. With the road through Anatolia clear once again Philip received reinforcements, Macedonian phalangites, Thracian horsemen, Illyrian peltasts and Carian hillmen joined up with the army at Thapsacus. His scouts indicated that the Persians had managed to gather another army, now under the command of Pharnabazus, satrap of Bactria and heir apparent to the empire. It was gathering at Arbela and surpassed Orontobates’ army in size, around 80000 men strong. It consisted mostly of troops from Iran and the eastern satrapies; heavily armed Bactrian lancers, horse archers from the steppes, infantry from the villages on the Iranian plateau and cavalry supplied by its nobility, the remnants of the Immortals, scythed chariots and also 20 Indian elephants. A second force, under the command of the satrap of Persia Ariobarzanes, was positioned just north of Babylon to counter a Macedonian march down the Euphrates.
The Great King Artabazus did not command his armies personally, as one might have expected since the situation was dire. The king however was very ill, and according to the records rarely left his bed anymore, and was thus unable to command the defence of his empire. His heir Pharnabazus, while capable, was not especially popular among the nobility. Defeat after defeat had significantly eroded support for Artabazus and his son, who after all only recently ascended to the throne and there were probably still many Persians who saw them as illegitimate.
In contrast to his former guest Philip had several strokes of luck in the final months of 334. First was the arrival of a reinforcement force 6000 strong, not from Macedonia but send by Nakhthorheb, king of Egypt. It consisted of Greek and Nubian mercenaries and several contingents of the machimoi, under command of Khababash. The presence of the Egyptian force was intended to show to Philip and the Macedonians that Egypt was a willing ally of what now appeared to be the new great power of the region. Philip and most his army, 40000 strong, departed in November 334. The army under Pharnabazus represented a greater threat to the Macedonians and had to be dealt with before marching on Babylon, so instead of marching down the Euphrates Philip and his army marched north from Thapsacus. Parmenion was left behind with 10000 Macedonians and the Egyptian force to guard the fords at Thapsacus, he was to march down the Euphrates if such a command was send by Philip.
The main army under Philip and Alexander first arrived at Urhai, which the Macedonians named Edessa after a city in their homeland the surroundings of which reminded them of the area, and Harran. It was there that Philip was informed of a large cavalry force nearby, which must have alarmed him, perhaps Pharnabazus was already on the march. Not long afterwards an envoy appeared in the Macedonian camp, send by the satraps Atropates and Oxyathres. They had seen the writing on the wall and must have realized the hopelessness of clinging on to the Achaemenid house. They promised to recognise Philip as king and join him with their forces in exchange for them keeping their satrapies. Philip, who could not believe his luck, accepted immediately. His army now reinforced by 5000 Median and Armenian horsemen he marched east, through the old Assyrian heartland, until he reached the banks of the Tigris.
Once he arrived there, at the start of December 334, he received news from his spies that Pharnabazus had left Arbela and had crossed the Tigris. The Achaemenid prince was confident in his ability to defeat the invaders, and with his father’s fragile health and recent decline in mind, eager to establish himself as a great general. Defeating this invasion would go a long way in establishing his line’s legitimacy as rightful kings of Persia. Philip thus marched south and encountered the Persian army on the banks of the Tigris near a village called Mepsila, already mentioned by Xenophon 70 years before. It would be the decisive battle of his campaign.
The battle of Mepsila
Message from His Majesty’s servant, Overseer of the Troops in the lands of Retjenu, iry-pat, Khababash, to the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Senedjemibra, the son of Ra, Nakhthorheb, may he have all life, health and dominion! As commanded by His Majesty I have placed myself and your army at the service of Philip, ruler of the Greeks, who tasked us with guarding a ford in the Inverted Waters [1]. Philip and his son have marched east, seeking to confront the Ruler of Foreign Lands and defeat him in battle. Word has reached me that they found the army of the Asiatics, and that a great battle was fought. Beware though, Your Majesty, these are but rumours, and none of the stories I have heard could agree on who had won the battle or even its location. As soon as I have made certain what had happened I will let Your Majesty know. May this message reach Your Majesty in the Residence in life, prosperity and health.
Early in the morning of the 14th of December 334 Philip of Macedon stood solemnly before an altar, burning incense to Zeus, Athena and Ares. Seers informed the king of good omens, the day would certainly be his. On the opposite side of the battlefield, several kilometres away Pharnabazus’ wise men informed him of the same, he only needed to fight and the enemy would melt away. Truth be told, Philip was in more danger than Pharnabazus, if his army was defeated and shattered its unlikely he (and his heir) would make it out alive. Both men must have realised that, one way or another, this would be the decisive battle of the war.
Once again at the core of the Macedonian army was the phalanx, anchored on it’s left side by the river Tigris, on the right of the phalanx stood the hypaspistai. To their right stood the Thracian and Thessalian cavalry, led by Philotas, son of Parmenion. Behind them, unseen by the Persians, there was a second, smaller, pike phalanx. The phalanxes were supported by light troops from Thrace, Illyria and Caria. Philip was positioned with his bodyguard behind the main phalanx, Alexander with his hetairoi accompanied by Oxyathres and Atropates together with the Medians and Armenians were positioned even further back. The Greeks were kept in reserve, guarding the supply train.
The Persian formation was less sophisticated, hoping to use their numerical superiority in cavalry to outflank and surround the Macedonian formation. The great mass of the Persian infantry was concentrated on the right, near the river, their role was to pin down the phalanx while the Persian cavalry overwhelmed the flanks. Their assault was to be preceded by a charge of the scythed chariots, posted in front of the Persian infantry. The Persian right was under the command of Bessus, a distant relative of Oxyathres who remained loyal to Pharnabazus. Pharnabazus himself commanded the Persian left, composed of the Bactrian, Iranian and steppe cavalry and 20 elephants. They were also supported by the remaining regiments of the Immortals and the remaining Greek mercenaries of Artabazus.
The battle started with the charge of the scythed chariots which was terrifying to behold, but not very effective. The well-trained phalangites simply opened up the phalanx and let the chariots pass through, after which the light troops behind them dealt with the chariot crews. Afterwards the Persian infantry engaged the phalanx, but did not manage to gain any ground except on the muddy riverbanks, where the heavily armed phalangites were outflanked by axe-wielding Persian hillmen, who started to hack away at the Macedonian flank. On the Macedonian right Philotas commanded his cavalry onward, to engage the assembled Iranian cavalry in front of them. Here the fighting was fierce, and no quarter was given. In the meantime the hypaspists, who were under the command of Alexander’s dearest friend, and possibly lover, Hephaistion, had moved forward to support the phalanx against the Persian infantry. The Persian infantry in the centre, now under pressure from two fronts, started to fall back. This advance of the hypaspists however did expose their flanks, something Pharnabazus, or one of his lieutenants, had noticed. Now the Bactrian lancers charged forward, plunging into the flanks of the hypaspists, putting many of them to flight. Pharnabazus, sensing an opportunity, also send forward his elephants, hoping to put the entire Macedonian centre to rout.
The Battle of Mepsila
Philip, seeing that the outcome of the battle was hanging in the balance, decided to act. He first ordered the Greeks to reinforce the phalanx near the river, to stall the Persian advance there. Then he ordered the Agrianians, trained as elite light infantry, forward to harass the elephants with their javelins. Finally Philip himself would join the fray, charging in with his bodyguard and rallying his troops to hold the line.
On the Macedonian right the Thracians and Thessalians under Philotas were now falling back, unable to face the numerically superior Iranian and steppe cavalry they retreated. Eager in their pursuit, and with their vision impaired by the dust clouds thrown up by the fighting armies, they charged forward. But instead of catching up with and slaughtering Philotas’ cavalry they charged into the second phalanx. Both horses and riders were skewered on the long Macedonian sarrisae, who were also supported by peltasts and other light troops. Philotas, far from being defeated, had received messages about the situation in the centre and regrouped his cavalry, who now rode out to support Philip. It was there in the centre that fighting was at its fiercest, with Pharnabazus’ mercenaries and Immortals now marching in to exploit the gap made by the lancers and elephants. The remnants of the hypaspists and the phalanx managed to hold out, the elephants had been driven off by the Agrianians. But the situation was dire, and for a moment Philip might have thought that all was lost.
It was then that Alexander led his combined cavalry force into the enemy rear. At the start of the battle he, Atropates and Oxyathres had ridden off with their cavalry, on order of Philip, and went west. They encountered and overwhelmed a Persian patrol and then rushed south, reaching the Tigris south of the Persian camp. The large amounts of dust thrown up by the fighting armies had for the Persians obfuscated the dust cloud on the horizon that belonged to Alexander’s cavalry. Alexander made sure he rode to the south of the Persian camp to ensure he would not accidentally charge into his own army. Now, at exactly the right moment, they rode onto the battlefield again, torching Pharnabazus’ camp and assaulting the unprepared Persian reserves. Panic now spread throughout the Persian ranks, and while Pharnabazus rushed back to organise defences it was already too late. Philip, seeing the Persians wavering, ordered to phalanx to advance once again and the Persian infantry broke, fleeing across the field. Their commander Bessus fell trying to rally his troops. Pharnabazus himself, with an elite bodyguard, tried to turn the tide of battle by repelling Alexander’s charge but was heavily outnumbered, and was slain in battle supposedly by his brother-in-law Alexander. Victory once again belonged to Philip.
The fall of the Achaemenids
And thus ends the rule of the House of Achaemenes, the first dynasty to rule over Asia.
- Excerpt from The lives of the Great Kings of Asia by Hermocles of Brentesion
At Mepsila the military might of the Achaemenid dynasty was finally broken. Having only suffered setbacks since the death of Artaxerxes II, it is actually quite remarkable that it managed to hold out as long as it did. But the defeat at Mepsila, in the imperial heartland against the heir to the throne himself, was too great a setback to overcome. In the aftermath of the battle the Persian baggage train was plundered, many talents of silver and gold were distributed among the Macedonian troops. After several days of rest the army packed up and continued its march south. A message was also send to Parmenion that he could now advance down the Euphrates. The situation in Babylon itself must have been confusing, many were unsure about Philip’s intentions, did he intent to destroy the city or was he willing to spare them? The local commander, the satrap of Persia Ariobarzanes, had far too few troops to put up any kind of effective resistance. He thus decided to negotiate with Philip, an envoy was send to him and a meeting arranged, which took place at Sippar, north of Babylon.
Ariobarzanes had negotiated well, Philip agreed not to plunder Babylon, Ariobarzanes himself would stay satrap of Persia. Philip would make a formal entrance into the city and would be recognised as its rightful king. Despite the grandeur and wealth of Babylon Philip’s visit was very short, only a couple days. He would of course return later, but there were more pressing concerns at the moment. As his satrap in Babylon he left behind Parmenion, by now more or less Philip’s second-in-command and a trusted advisor. Atropates, who wanted to regain his satrapy, was send to Ecbatana together with 5000 Macedonians under the command of Krateros, a promising commander who had managed to rally the phalanx at Mepsila. Philip set out of Babylon at the start of 333, marching on Susa, where the last Achaemenid Great King was now holed up in his palace. Before he could reach the city however news arrived that Artabazus had died, finally succumbing to his wounds and to his alcoholism. His heirs Pharnabazus and Arsames were both dead, Pharnabazus died on the fields of Mepsila and Arsames had died in Macedonian custody, the chances are high that his death was not natural.
Philip meeting Ariobarzanes at Sippar
Strangely enough, despite the death of Artabazus, Susa did not decide to surrender to Philip. Perhaps they were too confident in their own fortifications, but is unlikely we’ll ever know the true reason. The city was put under siege and Philip had his engineers construct towers and rams, and after several weeks the city was stormed. Philip’s soldiers, having been denied their plunder in Babylon, were now granted the city of Susa to sack. Violent scenes of rape and plunder were enacted all over the city, the inhabitants either murdered or enslaved, but in Philip’s eyes they had paid the price for their resistance. Other cities would now think twice before deciding to close their gates to Philip. Thousands of talents of silver were ‘liberated’ from the vaults at the palace of Susa, Philip took some of it with him for his campaign but most of it was send to Babylon, where Parmenion would watch over the minting of new coins. Several works of art taken by the Persians from Greece during the wars of Xerxes, notably the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton [2], were send back to Greece, reminders that Philip’s war was also a Panhellenic endeavour.
In March 333, accompanied by Ariobarzanes, Philip marched east from Susa, through Elam and towards the Zagros. He paid off the local Uxians [3], as was always done by the Persian kings, and then passed through the Persian Gate and marched on Persepolis. Promising clemency, and with its own satrap present in Philip’s camp, Persepolis opened its gates to the new king. Once again denied plunder some of Philip’s troops rioted, but they were harshly punished, publicly executed to show to all the new king’s dedication to order and justice. Once again he ordered to mostly empty the treasuries with the contents send to Babylon. At the great palace complex Philip ordered the destruction of the palace of Xerxes, vengeance for his burning of Athens. He left behind a strong garrison under command of Philotas, and then turned around and returned to Babylon. Philip was now at the height of his glory, he had made his peripheral kingdom into a great power and had defeated and subjugated the worlds largest empire. In May 333 he returned to the metropolis of Mesopotamia, to great acclamation and festival.
''At that moment in time, as famous amongst the Hellenes as the capture of Troy by Achilles, Philip was beloved by all''
- Excerpt from ‘The Life of Philippos Nikator’ by Bomilkar of Malakka
Egypt during the late 330’s
In the twenty-sixth year under the majesty of the Living Horus, Beloved by the Two Lands, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Senedjemibra [4], the Son of Ra, Nakhthorheb, - may he live forever! - , an envoy from Philip, ruler of the Greeks, arrived at the Residence, carrying with him gifts of oil, wine and silver vessels. The ruler of the Greeks, who was waging war in the land of the Asiatics, requested a treaty with the Lord of the Two Lands and grain because there was hunger among the Greeks, and His Majesty, ever magnanimous, opened up the granaries of Egypt to them. Their hunger was sated, and Egypt became rich in silver. All of this was done under the orders of His Majesty, may he be given all life, stability, dominion, health and happiness and may he arise on the Throne of Horus like Ra forever!
- Record of the vizier Wennefer, describing Philip’s diplomatic mission during the Cilician campaign
Egypt was not just a spectator to Philip’s conquest of the Achaemenid Empire but an active participant, it had gained land and had supported the Macedonians with food and soldiers. Perhaps hoping to gain favour with the new great power in the region and to prevent future war, Egypt went to great lengths to provide the Macedonians with grain and even gold. Still, the land prospered during these years, the harvests were bountiful, gold once again flowed from Nubia and ever more exquisite works of art were produced in the royal workshops.
Rather unexpectedly however Egypt did end up in a military crisis during this period. When Philip marched into Anatolia he had left Amyntas, son of Antiochus, in command of the isle of Rhodes. He turned out to be incredibly corrupt, and in January 333 the Rhodians filed a complaint with Philip. Alexander, who for some reason or another hated Amyntas, managed to convince his father to replace Amyntas as governor. Amyntas, when he heard of this, decided to leave the island with several regiments of loyal soldiers (or, at least loyal to Amyntas’ silver) and the island’s full treasury. He sailed first to Crete, where he gathered mercenaries, probably intending to sail back to Rhodes and seize it by force from its new governor. But while on Crete he had received some interesting news from Egypt.
A minor Delta nobleman, supposedly unhappy because he was passed over for a high position at court, named Padiamun [5] rose up in the Western Delta in March 333, inciting the local population against the king. Being a local nobleman he also had a force of machimoi at his disposal, which he used to seize the city of Sau (Saïs). The local garrison, partially consisting of the Persian soldiers of Pherendates, was surprised and routed. Padiamun, now victorious, entered the temple of Neith and proclaimed himself the rightful King of Upper and Lower Egypt. He then used the substantial treasures stored at the temple to hire Amyntas, who sailed from Crete to Egypt with his mercenary force.
Quite suddenly a credible threat to Nakhthorheb’s kingship had arisen. To his credit, he did manage to successfully contain the rebellion. Several skirmishes took place in the Delta, but no other major towns were captured by the rebel forces. After several months Padiamun and Amyntas, frustrated by the lack of any progress, decided to concentrate their forces and marched out against Tjebnetjer itself. A threat to the dynastic capital could of course not be tolerated, and Nakhthorheb now had to react. His army, under command of his son and co-regent Nakhtnebef, caught up with the rebels at Djedu (Busiris). Cavalry harassed the flanks of the rebel force and, unknown to Padiamun and Amyntas, Nakhthorheb had managed to bribe the Cretan mercenaries who turned against their former comrades. The rebel army fell apart, Amyntas died in battle and his men fled into the marshes where they were picked off one by one. Padiamun was captured and subjected to torture and execution, his lands seized and given to the estate of the temple of Neith in compensation.
A pharaoh brandishing his mace to smite his foes, an enduring image of Egyptian kingship
The uprising had shown to Nakhthorheb that there were still Delta noblemen who dreamt of claiming the throne for themselves, despite everything he had done to bring the country prosperity. Not long afterwards Nakhthorheb ordered the decoration of a new gateway in Sau, on which he was depicted smiting his foes. This time however the foe that was smitten was not a Asiatic or Nubian but an individual labelled as an ‘arrogant nobleman’. Everyone off course knew who was meant with this, and the king showed with this image that foreigners and barbarians were not the only opponents of ma’at, the Egyptian concept of order and truth, that he would oppose and destroy.
The small gateway in Sau, part of a minor shrine to Amun, however important, did not measure up to the king’s next building project. Nakhthorheb was nearing his thirtieth year on the Throne of Horus, which would be celebrated in a grand ceremony known as the Sed festival. Just north of Memphis, on the banks of the Nile, he ordered the construction of a complex of buildings, including several shrines and a festival hall. It would be the last of the king’s major building projects but in many ways the most enduring.
Footnotes
- The Egyptian name for the Euphrates, named that way because it flows north to south instead of south to north like the Nile.
- The Athenian tyrannicides, whose death paved the way for the eventual introduction of democracy to Athens
- A local nomadic tribe in the Zagros.
- I probably should have mentioned this earlier but Senedjemibra is Nakhthorheb’s throne name, part of the pharaonic titulary, and means ‘who pleases the heart of Ra’.
- His name means ‘he who is given by Amun'
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