Wednesday 18 November 2009

Last years


Discovering that many of his satraps and military governors, Alexander executed a number of them. He paid off the debts of his soldiers, and announced that those over-aged and disabled veterans back to Macedon, but his troops misunderstood his intention and refusing to be sent away and bitterly criticizing his adoption of Persian customs and dress and the introduction of Persian officers and soldiers into Macedonian units.


Alexander executed the ringleaders of the mutiny, but forgave the rank and file.
After Alexander traveled to Ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the Persian treasure, his closest friend and possibly lover Hephaestiondied, died of an illness, or,possibly of poisoning.


Alexander, distraught over the death of his longtime companion, sacked a nearby town, and put all of its inhabitants to the sword, as a 'sacrifice' to Hephaestion's ghost. From Persia, Alexander planned a series of new campaigns, beginning with an invasion of Arabia, but he would not have a chance to realize them.

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