The death of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was from Greece, and he is known all over the world for his great job of conquering almost the whole world that the Greeks knew at that time. Alexander the Great was born in 336 B.C. and he died in 323 B.C. During his short period of living on this earth, he was able to as I said conquer most of the world known for the Greeks. As you may know, he got the control of Greece when he was only 18 years old, and he led conquests around most of the continent of Asia. He was infact respected by everyone even the ones that he conquered, when he was in Egypt, he was made a pharaoh. In the year of 323 B.C. Alexander the Great died in the palace of Nebuchadrezzar II in Babylon, this is very important because when he was on his death bed, he either said that the person who would control the countries, and places that were under Alexander's control would be the strongest, or he said that it would be the stronger. Scholars are not sure because the two words are very similar, they were "Kratisto" which means "the strongest", or it was "Krat'eroi" which means "the stronger.

The map on the left shows where Babylon specifically is, as you can see, it is in Mesopotamia which is an area in modern day Iraq.

The battle of the Granicus

On the year of 334 B.C. Alexander the Great decided to go and fight the Persian empire. He reached the city of Dascylium by crossing the city of Sestos, then to Hellespont, and finally to Abydos. When he reached there, the Prsians all had already ecidd to go and fight him, and his army at the town called Zelea, and that was at the bank of the Dascylium river. Then one of the people that were fighting named Memnon suggested that they burn all the crops and grass that is infront of Alexander the Great, so that he would not be able to go ahead any further. However, the commanders in the battle did not think that that was a good idea, and they did not agree to do it. There are two reasons for why that battle was important. The first one is that Alexander the Great was hit with an axe by one of the Persian nobles, however Alexander did not die because the noble man was hit, and killed himself. So then Alexander the Great was able to recover and get better. The second reason for why that battle was important is that Alexander the Great had won this battle, and was able to control that piece of land in the Asia Minor.

The painting to the left is an example of what the battle of the Granicus might have looked like, as you can see, some people are falling into water, and that water is the Granicus river. That shows that this painting stands on some real facts of the battle.

The Siege ofthe Sogdian Rock

In the year of 327 B.C. Alexander the great was working on conquering the Achaemenid empire. The defenders had fortifications, and they had really high walls. Then, when Alexander the great was asking those defenders to surrender, they refused and they said that Alexander the great would need men that have wings to be able to get over this walls, and high fortifications. However, Alexander the great accepted the challenge, and said that who ever decideds to go and join the military that would go and get over those fortifications. After all, 300 men that were already in the previous sieges, and they had already become good at climbing rocks. However there were 30 soldiers that died while they were climbing over the defenses. However, after all when the defenders of the Achaemenid empire saw the soldiers coming over the defenses, they were impressed and the gave up to Alexander the Great. This battle was important because Alexander the Great got to control the Achaemenid empire, and get more land under his control.

The image to the left shows the soldiers that agreed to climb the defenses, and as you can see, the soldiers of the Achaemenid empire giving up, and holding their hands up when the climbers reached them.

The Siege of Tyre

In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great was trying to control Tyre, which is a piece of land on the coast of the Meditterranean Sea. He wanted to control that piece of land because it was a strategic piece of land in the battle between Greece, and Persia. Alexander the Great was not able to control Tyre as yet, however he was able to blockade this area of land for about seven months, however Tyre was able to hold on. Then Alexander the Great built a cause way on the remains of Tyre, and when it reached the walls of the city, he broke, and cut the fortifications, or the defenses of the city. Alexander the Great destroyed half of Tyre city, because he was really angry with them for their really strong defenses, and the loss of his soldiers. This battle is important because Alexander conquered a land that was really strategistic in the battle betwen the Greeks, and the Persians.

The picture to the left is a picture of Tyre's army on a high buiding or on a top of a castle throwing arrows at Alexander's army, however Alexander was able to destroy their defence, and as you can see, the walls and the ground of this building is falling down.

The Battle of the Persian gate

This battle was fought between the Greek army led by Alexander the Great, and the Persian army led by Airiobarzanes. This battle was fought at the winter of the year 330 B.C. Alexander the Great was trying to invade Persepolis, and then he would conquor the Persian empire. Even though he managed to do so, he did not get to do that so easily. That is because Airiobaranes, and his army were strong enough to keep Alexander the Great and his army at bay for thirty days. However, then Alexander the Great was able to beat them down, and do what he was planning to do. This battle was important because Greece gained more land controled under it, and that was Persepolis, and the Persian empire.

The image on the left is a breaf explanation of what happened in the battle of the Persian Gate. You can see where the Macedonian (Greek) camp is placed at, and where the Persian camp is placed at too. It also shows where the Greeks, and the Persian where going to.

The Battle of Issus

In the year 334 B.C., Alexander was on the mountains of Southern Turkey, and he was looking for a safe way to get to the sea. However, Darius (the Persian king) decided to go and fight him, and his army. Those two armies met near a town called Issus, each army one side of the small Pinarus River. Alexander's army consisted of 30,000 soldiers, however Darius' army consisted of 100,000 soldiers. Parmenio was the general that led the Greek soldiers, and Alexander the Great was the one that led the right side, and that was the cavalry. After a little time from when the battle started, Alexander the Great decided to go after Darius himself, which caused Darius to be scared. When Darius saw Alexander cutting through Darius' soldiers and going after him, he was really scared and he ran away. When he was recognized running away (which was very
easy because he was the only one in a golden chariot), the Persian military declined. This battle was very important because Alexander the Great won because Darius was affraid, and that caused the Persian army to decline.


The drawing on the left shows an example of what the Issus battle looked like. As you can see, Alexander is on the left of the image, and Darius is in the middle of the image, and Alexander is going to him, and there ar some fallen chariots, which shows that Alexander was attacking them, while he was cutting through to get to Darius.

The Battle of Guagamela

While Alexander the Great was working on occupying the Mediterranean coast and Egypt. After that Alexander went from Syria, and into Persian Empire. While Darius (the Persian ruler at that period of time) was building a strong army. He decided to send an army of 100,000 soldiers to try to defeat Alexander the Great. Darius also chose to have the battle on a plain, so that Alexander the Great would not have any advantages over Darius. This battle was fought over the Persian Empire, and was called Gaugamela after the village where the battle took place, back in the year 331 B.C. This battle was important because Alexander the Great used a really strategic tactic to win this battle, he decided to attack the weak part of the line made of the Persian soldiers, that led the Persian soldiers to be seperated into three broken sections, and that significantley weakened the Persian army.

The image to the left shows an example of what the Guagamela battle might have been like. As you can see, the image shows the battle being on a plain, and that is where the real battle took place.