The Ancients - Alexander the Great & The Persian Thermopylae (Part Two)

Episode Date: January 23, 2022

In this second part of Tristan’s explainer, he takes us right into the heart of the battle dubbed the Persian Thermopylae. Listen as Alexander begins a full-blooded assault on the Persian Gates, and find out how this battle for the Persian heartlands ended. Preorder Tristan’s book today: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Perdiccas-Years-323320-BC-Hardback/p/20188 Jona Lendering article: https://www.livius.org/articles/battle/persian-gate-330-bce/ The narrow Yasuj pass. If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit. To download, go to Android or Apple store. If you’re enjoying this podcast and looking for more fascinating The Ancients content then subscribe to our Ancients newsletter. Follow this link.Music provided by All3Media and EpidemicSound.Further ReadingHammond, M. (2013), tr., Arrian: Alexander the Great, the Anabasis and the Indica, Oxford.Shepherd, R. (1793), tr., Polyaenus: Stratagems of War, Chicago.Waterfield, R. (2019), tr., Diodorus of Sicily: The Library, Books 16-20, Oxford.Yardley, J. (2001), tr., The History of Alexander: Quintus Curtius Rufus, Chatham.Bosworth, A. B. (1988), Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great, Cambridge.Engels, D. W. (1978), Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army, London.Heckel, W. (2006), Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great, Oxford.

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the Ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host. And in today's podcast, well, it's part two of our special explainer episodes all about Alexander the Great and the Battle of the Persian Gates. Now, in our first part, which we released a few days back,

we covered the aftermath of Alexander's victory at the Battle of Galgamela. We looked at his approach and arrival at the city of Babylon, his stay there with the soldiers for just over a month, before their advancing further east to the prestigious city of Susa. And there, Alexander the Great dealt with a few issues further west in his empire before marching further east in his aim to capture the next great Achaemenid urban centre which was the ceremonial city of Persepolis. We covered up to the Zagros Mountains, we covered up to Alexander's arrival at the Zagros Mountains and here we're

going to continue the story because this is where the climactic Battle of the Persian Gates occurred. Now what I find so fascinating about this battle is that it's sometimes overlooked compared to the great pitched battles of Alexander's campaigns, the likes of the Battle of the River Granicus, the Battle of Issus, Gaugamela or even the Battle of the Hydasicus, the Battle of Issus, Galgamela, or even the Battle of the Hydaspes River. But the Persian Gate, this Persian Thermopylae, as it were, has some really interesting qualities. One of the things I find really fascinating, as I hope I will be able to convey over in a podcast ahead, is the figure of Ariobazanes, the Persian general who mounts this awesome defence to try and stop Alexander and his army from invading

the Persian heartlands. So sit back and enjoy as I talk you through this second part of our Special Explainer episodes all about Alexander the Great and the Persian Thermopylae. So having crushed the Uxian threat, Alexander and his army, they are approaching the Zagros Mountains. And it's here that Alexander decides he's going to split his army, probably somewhere around the modern day cities of Haftkel and Bechbahan. Although I must stress, the exact roots are still debated to this day. But there have been some great articles about it. For instance, an article by Henry Speck in the early 2000s about which pass was the Persian gates the Susian gates perhaps more accessible there's an excellent article written by Jonah Lendering on the Livius website and I'll put

a link to that article in the description below but we need to remember even though it's December even though there's a risk of snow drifts in the mountain passes of the Zagros Mountains Alexander wants to reach Persepolis as quickly as possible and the fastest route is through the Zagros Mountains but this terrain these narrow mountain passes it's not ideal it's not suitable for his huge army because his huge army includes by by now, must have been a pretty sizable baggage train, especially after the Macedonians, after the army had spent just over a month enjoying the luxuries of Babylon. There must have been many people, merchants, prostitutes, new members of Macedonian families, basically, you know, starting new families out in the east. Many people would have now attached themselves to the Macedonian army as it was advancing further east. So we can imagine the

baggage train, it's nothing like that of Philip II of Macedon many years earlier, where he reforms the logistic system so that camp followers and merchants, traders, all of that lot would not be able to go along with the army. That's now all changed because they're not campaigning in the central Mediterranean anymore. They're not campaigning for a season and then going home to their loved ones. They're now campaigning and campaigning and campaigning in territories that are completely new to many of these soldiers. So the baggage train of Alexander's army at this time would have been sizable with many camp followers and that's not even to mention

the siege equipment for instance and the various animals, the pack animals such as camels and mules. So Alexander has this huge baggage train which is not suitable for being taken through the narrow mountain passes of the Zagros mountains particularly in winter. And so what Alexander does is that he orders a large portion of his army, including the baggage train, to take an easier but longer route to Persepolis. And this involves circumnavigating the Zagros Mountain passes, as it were, in a horseshoe shape, shall we say. Upside down, horseshoe shape, so you're going down around the tip of the Zagros and back up along more accessible routes. And this carriage road, which is described as by Arrian, it probably went nearby modern cities such as Beppahan, Kazerun and Shiraz in Iran before reaching the

city of Persepolis. But as mentioned before, the exact route of this carriage road is debated. Persepolis. But as mentioned before, the exact route of this carriage road is debated. In command of this sizable portion of the army, Alexander placed one of his most dependable adjutants at this moment in time, and this was the veteran general Parmenion. Parmenion who had commanded the left flank, the left wing of Alexander's army at the Battle of Galgamella a few months before. And it's interesting with Parmenion because he was probably also labelled as the skoidos. The skoidos was the administrative figure who was in charge of the baggage train, in charge of taking care of the animals, in charge of ensuring that the baggage train ran smoothly, administering this key part of Alexander's army. Now, of course, that means logistically that

Alexander with what's left of his army, this elite component, perhaps just over 10,000 soldiers, his Macedonian infantrymen, some cavalry and also some elite light infantry, some javelin men, some archers, perhaps some slingers there too, this portion of his army is going to be away from the baggage train. So Alexander would have had them take limited rations, but rations enough for them to get through the Zagros mountain passes and then regroup with the main part of the army back at Persepolis days, weeks, months later. It's going to take some time before they're going to reunite at Persepolis. But with this smaller elite force they bid farewell to Parmenion and the larger part of the army and they go east. They advance into the Zagros mountains themselves and they

start marching through these mountain passes. So we've reached early 330 BC. January 330 BC Alexander and his elite contingent of over 10,000 soldiers are in the Zagros Mountains. They're nearing what is to be the Persian Gate. And just here, I will quickly mention the sources that we have for these events between the Battle of Galgamella, leading up to the Battle of the Persian Gate, and including the Battle of the Persian Gate itself. I'd say there are two main ancient historians for these events. One of them is Arian of Nicomedia, writing in the 2nd century AD, and the other is the Roman writer Quintus Curtius Rufus, who is writing in the 1st century AD. They have the most detailed accounts, but we also have snippets, some great information,

some interesting bits of information from the likes of Diodorus Siculus and also the stratagems of Polyaenus. Those are our main ancient sources. A few modern historians who I'll label now include Brian Bosworth and his brilliant book of Alexander's conquests, Conquest and Empire, and also the always handy, the always interesting Waldemar Heckel's Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great. That's especially helpful when you want to know more about particular figures at the time of Alexander, from Xenophilus to Bagophanes to Moseus and the like. That book is where you want to go. It's a brilliant modern book. But back to the story of the Battle of the Persian Gates. Now, Alexander and his army, they're advancing through the passes

of the Zagros Mountains, and they arrived at a pass called the Persian Gates or the Susian Gates following several days. It's been several days since they've left the main army, since they've advanced into the Zagros Mountains proper. Now, as mentioned with the routes earlier, there's a big debate as to where this pass was. Where were the Persian Gates in antiquity? was. Where were the Persian gates in antiquity? But possibly there seems to be more acceptance now that it was probably the pass which is now known as the Dvajay Ifars or the Tangi Mehran which is a pass not far from the Iranian city of Yasuj. Now this pass is very narrow and you can see if you Wikipedia it, if you google image search this pass, I can put the name of it in the description below,

you will see it's very narrow, there's a road there, but it's flanked on either side by steep cliffs. It's an ideal defensive location. And Alexander, he has to encamp west of the pass as he sees that this key strategic defensive location is already occupied and it's occupied by a hostile Persian force. Now, this force was commanded by a Persian nobleman called Ariel Barzanes. He was the governor of Persis, of Persia proper.

And he, unlike the likes of Moseus and Abuletes, he'd refused to submit to Alexander. Instead, he had gathered an army from his satrapy and they had manned the Persian gates. They'd constructed a wall across the narrowest part of this pass and they also had placed soldiers on the cliffs on either side. Another interesting fact about Aribozanes, and likewise this is similar but different to Moseus, is that he had also fought alongside Darius at Galgamela. Whereas Moseus had submitted to him at Babylon, Ariobazanes had opted not to.

But sadly, apart from that, we don't know too much about Ariobazanes before the clash. We know he's a prominent Persian nobleman, and we know that he gathers a force to defy Alexander at the Persian gates to defend this pass to stop Alexander's advance in his tracks. Now how big was this Persian force? Well once again it's debated because Arrian says there was perhaps some 40,000 soldiers almost completely consisting of infantry, 40,000 Persians defending the pass. This seems a gross exaggeration. And the Persian force was probably, almost certainly, much smaller than that. Curtius says that it was roughly 26,000 men, once again, largely infantry. But once again, this does feel a bit exaggerated.

It probably wasn't that large, this force. But then we go in the opposite direction, because more recently, there have been some that have suggested that the Persian army at the Persian gates was less than a thousand men strong and that feels too low. Aribezanes was probably able to muster a few thousand Persians with which to defend the Persian gate, with which to man the cliffs next to the Persian gates. And I think a key thing with this is to actually think of the psychology, maybe the mentality of these Persians now fighting. Because Alexander, he's now invading Persia proper. He's invading the Persian heartlands. This is very different to battles such as the Granicus, Issus, or even Galgamela, where Persians are fighting far away from their homelands for their king. Alexander is now the aggressor. He can no longer portray himself as

a liberator because he is invading the Persian heartlands. And perhaps that influences more Persians to take up the spear, the bow, the javelin, the sling, whatever, and to join Ariobazanes, to rally with Ariobazanes, and to try and blockade Alexander at this particular pass. So having said all that, and when we consider that Alexander's army was probably just over 10,000 soldiers, it's likely that Ariobazanes' army overall was smaller than that of Alexander's. But they are in this incredibly strategic, incredibly strong defensive position. What's also interesting is that on the wall, we hear Arian and we've got no reason to deny it is that Ariobazanes also had artillery. Now for me this is also so interesting because we usually

associate Alexander with artillery. We think of the siege of Tyre or the siege of Gaza or even the siege of Halicarnassus and famous engineers such as Diades or Poseidonius and they're creating these incredible siege machines but here and once again we've got no reason to think that this is wrong the Persians had prepared the wall they constructed by also erecting siege machines catapults ballistae on the wall itself to help the defense to aid the defense to strengthen it against Alexander and any frontal assault that Alexander would launch. Now behind the wall that was where Aribezani's head encamped. The camp there was a ditch the other side to try

and slow down any attackers which got around if that happened and we also hear that there was a series of outposts leading towards Persepolis itself so on the eastern side of the wall in friendly Persian territory as it was. Now, it is interesting how there were all of these defences prepared in this particular pass. As Brian Bosworth, he points out, there must have been defences on other passes as well, similar defences, because they wouldn't have known which pass, which route Alexander was going to proceed through with which to reach Persepolis. And when you think of it in that light, this must have been an incredibly well thought through and incredibly powerful defence because there must have been

several passes where you had these defences erected before Alexander reached there. So very much, Arribazanes, he is orchestrating a great defence trying to prevent Persia from falling into Macedonian hands. It is at the end end of the day, that Persian gates, at this time, when Alexander arrives, are a very strong and formidable defensive position. But for Alexander, the Persian gates are in his way, and he will pick up the gauntlet that Ariobazanus has thrown down to him. He will accept the challenge. And so it was that in early 330 BC, perhaps around the 20th of January, that's

a date sometimes given to this clash, it was probably around that time, around this time of year, that the Battle of the Persian Gates began. Alexander begins it by launching a full-blooded frontal assault on the gates. And it's big mistake the macedonians remember these elite macedonians these are not expendable troops for alexander they are invaluable they advance towards the wall they want to try and take control of this wall and they get into this horrific killing zone where they have enemies firing down projectiles, shooting arrows, firing missiles down on the Macedonians from the wall, combines with the Persians on either cliff above the wall, raining down a hailstorm of missiles on the Macedonian attackers. Arrows, javelins, slingshot, and most interestingly interestingly of all large irregular boulders and just imagine the

scene these macedonians trapped in their own advance as it were seeing coming down from above them from these heights these boulders gaining incredible speeds and crashing into macedonian ranks and consider this now when the m Macedonian shields they aren't the greatest shields in the world because the whole idea of the Macedonians is that you're supposed to hold the six meter long pike in open warfare and you would have a small pelter shield attached to your left arm now I'm not suggesting that in this situation the Macedonians would have been equipped with a six meter long pike I think to attack a fortification the Macedonians would have been equipped with a six metre long pike. I think to attack a fortification, the Macedonians would have put down their long Sarissa pikes because it's just not usable.

It's not feasible. It doesn't work, really. It doesn't work. It makes no sense. And instead would have used their swords, the Ziphos swords, or perhaps, and this perhaps is most likely, their spears, perhaps two meter long Doru spears, something like that. And the elite Hypaspis, this is where they came into their own because yes, once again, going back to the last podcast, I believe that they are primarily equipped

as phalangites with the six meter long Sarissa pike. But the reason they are so elite is because they are also masters of spear and shield, to fight almost as hoplites. They can put down the pike and take up the Doru spear if need be. They can put down the small pelter shield and take up the larger hoplon or aspis shield and fight that way too. So probably part of, if not all of the Macedonians, were fighting in that more close quarters, shall we say, more compact method of fighting.

close quarters, shall we say, more compact method of fighting. But even then, all these rocks raining down on the Macedonians, the speed that they would have going, their arms and armour perhaps would have afforded some protection, but you can imagine just the rocks crashing through and causing incredible damage, terrifying, horrific damage on those Macedonians trapped below. And it's even more frustrating for the Macedonians, many of these veterans by now, because they can't fight back. They've got the wall in front, they're unable to get through the wall, and they've got these Persians hailing down missiles either side of them, and they can't retaliate. They can't do anything. And ultimately, it ends up being a slaughter. A slaughter, and they are forced to retreat alexander is forced to call

them back from the wall the macedonians having to leave their injured their dead brothers in arms behind in front of the wall a chaotic horrific scene the persians aria bazanes had successfully defended the pass from this irrational rash attack frontal assault on its position alexander definitely got one wrong there but credit to ari bazanes for erecting such a successful defense horrific but successful defense of the persian gates now curtis includes a nice albeit slightly exaggerated passage about Alexander's initial setback at the Persian gates. And I'll read you it now because it is quite interesting to really convey the surprise, shall we say, of Alexander's soldiers having to retreat at this time.

Till that day, he, Alexander, had been unbeaten. None of his undertakings had failed. That's a slight exaggeration. Actually, that's a great exaggeration actually that's a great exaggeration but you get the message no harm had come to him entering the ravines of silicia or when the sea had provided him with a new route into pamphylia pamphylia is southern turkey but now his good fortune was arrested stopped dead and the only remedy was to go back the way he had come and so signaling the retreat he ordered the men to leave the pass in close formation with shields interlocked above their heads and they drew back a distance of 30 states so Alexander has called a retreat and now he needs to figure out what he's going to do because one thing that he can't do is retreat completely from the Zagros mountains and follow in the footsteps of Parmenion

take the long way round because what we we mentioned earlier, following the Battle of Galgamela, one of the important, most important tasks for the commander was to ensure that you buried your dead following a battle. And if you couldn't bury your dead, that was seen as terrible. One of the key things, the commander, you're supposed to look after your men. And indeed, going back to what happens following Alexander the Great's death, one of the things that turns the soldiers of Perdiccas against him in Egypt is when he fails to cross the river Nile at Memphis and a thousand of his soldiers are eaten alive by crocodiles and they're eaten all all parts are eaten so they can't be buried and this angers the Macedonians and also the fact that many other Macedonians are washed up dead or

half dead on the Ptolemy's side of the shore and so they have to get the bodies back from Ptolemy who makes the most out of this. This is a great win for Ptolemy, a great coup but Perdiccas, he loses the respect. The final nail in the coffin is hammered by the fact he's unable to bury these dead Macedonian soldiers who had fought for him and died in the process. So that all really emphasises how Alexander cannot retreat from the Persian gates any further. He's got to take this pass but the key question is how? How is he going to conquer this formidable defence? How is he going to take control of the pass and then bury his dead and then move on to Persepolis proper? This is the

great question mark for Alexander at this moment in time, because he can't afford another frontal assault. These Macedonian soldiers that he's got, these elite soldiers, as mentioned, they are invaluable. He can't afford to lose any more. He can't afford to throw them away. But fortunately for Alexander, according to our ancient historians, fortune is on his side. As Alexander and his adjutants, the likes of Perdiccas, Craterus and so on, were contemplating what they were going to do, a solution presented itself to Alexander because it's then, according to Arian, that another route, a route around the Persian gates, a mountain path was revealed to him, a rough and narrow path, difficult for soldiers to get through,

to advance through, but possible, which circumnavigated the Persian gates and would lead Alexander and his detachment around the formidable defence and to attack from behind and to also take possession of the cliffs, at least one side of the cliffs. So who revealed this? Well, this is the interesting bit because Arrian, and I think Arrian is perhaps our most reliable source for this, says that it was a group of prisoners recently captured in Alexander's army and in reward for them revealing this path and guiding Alexander and his men along this path they would get lots of treasure, they would get gifts, they would be heavily rewarded for aiding Alexander,

for showing him a way around this defence. Polyaenus, Diodorus and Curtis, they have a slightly different story. They say yes, this path was revealed to Alexander, but not through a group of prisoners, but through one specific prisoner. A man who was originally a Lycian. Lycia is southern Turkey, southern Anatolia. But this Lycian had previously, according to the story, he was a herdsman and he had managed some of his sheep in this area of the Zagros Mountains before then. And so he knew this area very well. And he tells Alexander of this path. He reveals this path. Now, this idea of one traitor, it's very much these ancient historians, Curtius and the like, hearkening back to the famous 480 BC Battle of Thermopylae, where there was that one traitor,

Ephialtes, which led the Persians around Leonidas and his army's defence at the hot gates. It's probably hearkening back to that. More likely, it was Arian's story, which is this group of prisoners recently captured who knew the local area. And so Alexander's now got the solution. He tells those recently caught prisoners that they are going to be his guides. They're going to guide his army along this mountain path. He gathered together a portion of his force, which included several Macedonian infantry brigades, including his elite high pacifists, and also some light infantry, such as his elite agrianian

javelin men the agrianians which came from the upper reaches of the strimmon valley northeast of macedonia now alexander also brought with him some macedonian cavalry squadrons but presumably to get through this rough this difficult mountain pass they must have been dismounted now as for the rest of his force which was two phalanx battalions, the cavalry and some archers, Alexander left them behind opposite the Persian wall. They would be commanded by one of his most able lieutenants still with him, still with this elite force at that time and this was Craterus, the legendary Craterus. Now Alexander ordered Craterus to light enough fires that night to

give the impression to the Persian scouts who were undoubtedly watching the camp that the whole of the Macedonian army was still there and that Alexander was still there. But in fact he wouldn't be. He and his elite selected lightly armed force are gathered together and ordered to take three day supplies of rations for their march through this circumnavigating mountain pass which they're going to be guided along by these prisoners. But before setting off Alexander also tells Craterus what the plan of action will be. He tells Craterus to wait for his signal, a trumpet call. And then when he hears that trumpet call, that's the moment. That's the moment for Craterus and his part of the army to attack the Persian gates head on. Because when that happens, Alexander and his force will be attacking from

behind, from other areas of the Persian gates. And through this multi-pronged assault, they would overwhelm the Persian gates. That was the plan. Interesting fact about bugles and all that because according to the later writer Asclepiodotus each phalanx battalion each taxis included several special figures and one of these special figures was the bugler the Salpingetis. So wait for the bugle call was Alexander's command to Craterus and then attack, attack, attack. And so that night, having lit all those fires, Alexander and his force began their night's march, heading north to this other route which would circumnavigate the Persian gates. This route was difficult especially for a band of armed men and the fact that according to Curtis the Lycian and no doubt if it was more than

one prisoner which it almost certainly was would have highlighted to Alexander but Alexander supposedly replied you can take my word for it none of the men following you will refuse to go anywhere you lead them you must imagine that there must be even more difficult because lighting fires they wouldn't have been allowed to light many fires if any torches to guide the way because this is a secret night march they don't want to give away to the persians that they have found this route which circumnavigates the persian gates so you can imagine it's december it's cold alexander and this select group of soldiers are being led along this mountain path by these people who until recently these guides were their

prisoners who until recently were fighting against the macedonians and now their lives depended on these guides and them leading them around the persian defense depended on these guides living up to their word, living up to the rewards that Alexander promised any who would show them an alternative route. Snowdrifts did hinder their progress, as did marching at night through this unfamiliar landscape. As mentioned, they depended on their guides.

But after covering some 11 miles, according to Arian, Alexander and his men reached the top of this path, a place from where they could descend on the gates via a number of routes. And here, Alexander divided his elite force. He would take with him the royal foot guards, the royal high pacifists, along with one Macedonian infantry battalion. And this was the battle-hardened Lincestian-Orestian battalion, which had fought with Alexander since really Alexander's accession

and the siege of Thebes, because this battalion was commanded by the one and only Perdiccas, one of Alexander's greatest subordinates. And so Alexander, with Perdiccas, and also some light infantry, some Agrianians, some archers, they would be one part of this divided force. They would be the main attacking force, commanded by Alexander himself naturally, as expected, and they would now descend on the gates. They would attack the gates from behind. The rest of the force Alexander entrusted to four particular subordinates and these were Amintas, Philotas, Polyperchon and Coenus and they would take the other part of the force and descend on the gates particularly on the cliffs and attack the Persians on the cliffs

and then take the wall itself. That's the plan. There is an alternate story in Arian that Alexander sent this portion of Coenus and Polyperton and the like to actually head further east and to construct a bridge which separated the Persian gates from Persepolis so that when Alexander took the pass, they could head as quickly as possible to Persepolis and take control of that important Achaemenid centre. But the former, that this was supposed to be a second attack group and would attack the Persian gates from a different direction, seems most likely. And so with that, Alexander, Perdiccas and their elite section

of this already elite part of Alexander's army advanced towards the Persian gates from now behind the defence itself. So they're heading really from east to west. And it's still night at this time. But thanks to the guides who proved loyal, who proved faithful, they continue to make good progress down this rough and difficult track. And before daybreak, they also managed to assault a series of Persian outposts and annihilate any resistance that they came upon. They managed to take over two Persian outposts without word getting out. And when they assault the third outpost, they are not able to completely annihilate resistance. But fortune was on their side,

according to Aryan, because those Persian troops that were left in this outpost, rather than running to the Persian gates themselves and warning Aryan Bazanes and his defenders that, hey, Alexander and this elite portion of the Macedonians are now behind us, they're blocking off our route, they're going to attack the main defence very quickly, we need to act. Rather than doing that, they legged it to the mountains, intent on flight. And so it was that as daybreak came, following the sacking of these three outposts, the Persians at the gates, Aryabazanes and his followers, still had no idea that Alexander and this elite force was approaching from behind.

But if they didn't know then, they sure did very quickly after. Because at dawn, Alexander and his men, they assaulted the ditch on the eastern side of the wall and they attacked Aryabazanes and the Persian defenders. The buglers, the Salpingetes, they blasted their trumpets and at the same time Craterus and his men still in their camp advanced towards the Persian gates from the west and launched a frontal assault. The Persians were now under attack from both sides and then came that other portion of the Macedonian army, that portion

commanded by Philotas, Polyperchon, Quenus and Amintas. They descend on the cliffs, they attack from that new direction, from that mountain path, and they attack the Persians on top of the precipices. They capture the precipices and they later capture the wall itself. The Persian gates has been taken. The wall, the defence, has fallen. What's interesting to note here, and this is once again one of my little pets and annoyances with this period, is the writing of Arian. Because you'll see in Arian, if you read Arian,

there's quite a few times where Arian mentions the name Ptolemy and associates Ptolemy with some of the most important actions in Alexander's successes. And this is one key example where Arrian, and this is not mentioned in any other sources, so it's a bit sus, actually it's very sus, Ptolemy is actually supposedly leaving this other contingent which takes the wall. But as mentioned, this is mentioned in no other sources. Arrian, one of his main sources, was the writings of Ptolemy himself. And it seems very likely that actually this is Ptolemy inserting his own fake news in the history that he writes later, trying to portray himself as more senior at this moment in time than he really was. Important thing to note about Ptolemy is that he's not really that

important in the Alexander campaigns until the 320s. This is 330 BC. And it's almost certain that Ptolemy is just inserting himself here to try and take some of the credit. He does this. This is what Ptolemy does in Arian's history. If you read Arian's history again, you will notice that sometimes Ptolemy crops up as this amazing figure. But no, let's get facts straight. Ptolemy probably almost certainly wasn't one of these commanders leading the attacks at the Persian gates. Sorry, deal with it, Ptolemy. Okay, I'm still wounding, I'm still hurting after your constant attacks on Perdiccas, which he does launch again and again in his history because Perdiccas and Ptolemy weren't good friends. And that's putting it lightly. But anyways, once again, I digress. Let's go back to the Battle of the Persian Gate. As mentioned, by this time,

Ariobazanes and his men are trapped. They're surrounded. They're being attacked from several different directions. The wall has been taken. The defence is crumbling. Defeat is evident. But Ariobazanes, according to Curtis, he gathers some of his soldiers, largely infantry, but also some cavalry, and they manage to punch through this Macedonian encirclement and hurry back towards Persepolis. Alexander had conquered the Persian gate. It was a victory, but it was probably bittersweet, because that initial assault, where he'd lost so many of his elite Macedonian soldiers, these invaluable nucleus of his army, he'd lost so many of his elite Macedonian soldiers, these invaluable nucleus of his army.

He'd lost so many in this first attack. This was a victory, but it had come at great cost. No doubt following the success, having taken control of the gates, one of the first things that Alexander presumably did was bury his dead soldiers, as was expected, as was required. May well have also set up a trophy. But it's not mentioned. And so that was the Battle of the Persian Gate.

Alexander had won, although it was a difficult encounter for him. And that's what I love about it. I find it so interesting that we sometimes focus on the bigger battles. Issus, Galgamela, even the River Granicus, the Hydaspes River. But actually with some of these more interesting skirmishes, non-open field clashes, which were really difficult for Alexander to overcome. There are more examples, for instance, when he's campaigning in modern-day Afghanistan. And I should definitely mention here the Battle of the Polytimetus River,

which was a horrific disaster for Alexander's subordinates. But back to the Battle of the Persian Gates, its aftermath. Having captured the gates, Alexander and his army, they pressed on to Persepolis. They crossed the intervening river and reached this key ceremonial centre of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. And there, to Rudates, Persepolis' citadel commander invited Alexander to take possession of the Persian treasury and the city itself. But this is where this surrender differs to those we mentioned earlier, for instance, Abulites at Susa or Moseus at Babylon. Because rather than arrive at Persepolis and it being very peaceful, Alexander does the opposite.

He hands Persepolis over to his soldiers and says, you guys go for it. Loot this centre, this centre of the Persian empire. Persepolis is sacked by Alexander the Great's soldiers. So why does he do this? Why does he give Persepolis this special infamous fate compared to Susa and Babylon? Well a lot goes back to his propaganda. We're told that he is trying to portray this as revenge for the Persian invasions of Greece, particularly under Xerxes when he sacked the Athenian Acropolis almost 200 years earlier. And a key revenge in that was to sack Persepolis. So it was cold, but it was a calculated propaganda move by Alexander to hand Persepolis over to his soldiers. For the moment, the royal Persian palace at Persepolis is not touched.

For the moment. So what happened to Ariobazanes? We've been talking about the Macedonians, but Ariobazanes has mentioned he did escape from the battlefield. Well, once again our sources differ. Arian claims that he and a few cavalrymen managed to escape from the battle and fled into the mountains, never to be heard from again. But Curtius has a different, more detailed account. He says that once Ariobazanes and his soldiers

had broken through the Macedonian line, they hurried to Persepolis, but to Herodotus he'd already decided that he was going to hand over the city to Alexander without a fight. Because of this, Ariobazanes and what's left of his force, they decide to turn back towards the Persian gates and to fight the Macedonians. And they perish, fighting the Macedonians, defending their homeland, but ultimately not succeeding. But this story has influenced the legacy of Ari Bazanes. He's considered this heroic figure in Iran, the man who fought against Iskandar, the two-horned one, and even a statue has been erected of him in modern-day Yeshuzh, which you can go and see

today. As for Alexander and Persepolis, he would stay at Persepolis for a bit. He would later burn down the royal palace at Persepolis, but he would also visit the tomb of Cyrus the Great at nearby Pasargadae. And then Alexander would press on. He would head north to Media, to Ekbatana, where Darius had been, but had since fled further east. And he would keep pursuing Darius until he came across Darius's either dead or dying body after Darius had been assassinated by one of his key subordinates, or by a group of his key subordinates, including Bessus. From then, Alexander would continue heading east. He would campaign in modern-day Afghanistan for a few years. It would be some of the hardest fighting of his career. Then cross the Hindukush into the Indus River Valley. He would reach as far as the Hyphasis

then head down the Indus River Valley, return to Central Asia, return to Babylon where he would ultimately die in June 323 BC. But that's only the beginning because after his death, that's when it gets even more interesting. I mentioned figures such as Perdiccas, such as Craterus. They all come into their own element following the death of Alexander. It's extraordinary. But that is a story for another day.

I hope you've enjoyed this podcast all about the run-up to the Battle of the Persian Gate and the Battle of the Persian Gate itself. As mentioned, it's a really interesting clash because it's not one of those great pitched battles like Galgamela or Issus. But it's a fascinating story, especially when you look at the parallels that no doubt certain ancient historians were wanting to draw between the Persian Gate battle and between the legendary Battle of Thermopylae between Leonidas and the Persians a couple of hundred years earlier. Especially, for instance, with the story

of perhaps there being one traitor or a group of traitors and this mountain path which circumnavigated a very formidable, a very strong defensive position. It's a remarkable battle. It's a really interesting battle of Alexander the Great's campaigns. Now, I am now quite tired, and so I'm going to wrap up this episode here. Once again, as mentioned, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want more Ancients content, you can, of course, subscribe to our Ancients newsletter, which you can find a link to in the description below. If you're listening on Spotify, please do drop us a rating, a nice rating especially. That'd be really helpful in us spreading the love of ancient history even further. I'll also mention my Instagram account, at Ancients Tristan. If you want even more Ancients content, we post behind the scenes footage from there of podcasts, of TV work that we're working

on. And I'll also highlight here, I'll definitely do some more promoting of this as it gets nearer its release date. But I've written a book. I've written a book all about what followed Alexander the Great's death, focusing around the figure of Perdiccas in the years between 323 and 320 BC, and why, how Alexander's empire descended into such chaos so quickly following Alexander the Great's death. I'll do more promotion of that in time, but I wanted to highlight it now. I hope you enjoyed this explainer episode. I'm going to go and have a lie down and I will see you in the next episode. Thank you.