Alexander's army crossed the Hellespont in 334 BC with 42,000 soldiers from Macedon, mercenaries and soldiers from Thrace, Paionia, and Illyria.After an initial victory against Persian forces at the Battle of the Granicus, Alexander accepted the deliver of the Persian provincial capital and continued going down the Ionian coast.
At Halicarnassus, Alexander successfully waged the first of many sieges,and forcing his opponents, the mercenary captain Memnon of Rhodes and the Persian satrap of Caria,to withdraw by sea.Alexander left the government of Caria to Ada, who adopted Alexander as her son.From Halicarnassus, Alexander went through mountainous Lycia and the Pamphylian plain, asserting control over all coast. He did this in order to nagate the Persians naval bases; since Alexander had no reliable fleet of his own, defeating the Persian fleet required land-control. From Pamphylia onward, the coast held no major ports and so Alexander moved inland.At the ancient Phrygian capital of Gordium, Alexander "untied'' the Gordian Knot, a feat said to await the future "king of Asia".
Most stories said that Alexandet cut the knot apart with his sword
After spending the winter campaigning in Asia Minor, Alexander's army crossed the Cilician Gates in 333 BC, and defeated the main Persian army under the command of Darius III at the Battle of Issus. Darius was forced to flee the battle after his army broke, and he left all he had behind ( family and riches ).
He afterwards offered a peace treaty to Alexander, the concession of the lands he had already conquered, and a ransom of 10,000 talents for his family.
When Alexander destroyed Tyre, most of the towns on the route to Egypt quickly capitulated, with the exception of Gaza. The stronghold at Gaza was built on a hill and was heavily fortified. At the beginning of the Siege of Gaza, Alexander utilized the engines he had employed against Tyre. After three unsuccessful assaults, the stronghold was finally taken by force, but not before Alexander received a serious shoulder wound. When Gaza was taken, the male population was put to the sword and the women and children were sold into slavery.
Jerusalem, on the other hand, opened its gates in surrender.
Thereupon, Alexander's spared Jerusalem and pushed south into Egypt.
Alexander advanced on Egypt in later 332 BC, where he was regarded as a liberator. He was pronounced the new "master of the Universe".
Alexander often referred to Zeus-Ammon as his true father, and subsequent currency depicted him adorned with ram horns as a symbol of his divinity.
During his stay in Egypt, he founded Alexandria-by-Egypt, which would become the prosperous capital of the Ptolemaic kingdom after his death.
Assyria and Babylonia
Leaving Egypt in 331 BC, Alexander marched eastward into Mesopotamia and defeated Darius once more at the Battle of Gaugamela. Once again, Darius was forced to leave the field, and Alexander chased him as far as Arbela. Darius fled over the mountains to Ecbatana but Alexander instead marched to, and captured Babylon.
From Babylon, Alexander went to Susa, one of the Achaemenid capitals, and captured its legendary treasury. Sending the bulk of his army to the Persian ceremonial capital of Persepolis via the Royal Road, Alexander himself took selected troops on the direct route to the city. The pass of the Persian Gates had been blocked by a Persian army and Alexander had to storm the pass.
At Persepolis, Alexander stared at the crumbled statue of Xerxes and decided to leave it on the ground. During their stay at the capital, a fire broke out in the eastern palace of Xerxes and spread to the rest of the city. Theories abound as to whether this was the result of a drunken accident, or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Persian War.
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