The World

Darius was overconfident: he should have rushed to destroy Alexander as soon as he could. He left his queens and daughters at Damascus then marched his huge army of over 100,000 to Issus, south-east Türkiye, where the king of kings in his golden chariot, surrounded by 10,000 Immortals, faced Alexander’s 40,000. Aiming to demoralize the enemy and transform numerical disadvantage into kinetic aggression, Alexander charged straight at Darius, hacking his way through Immortal flesh, ignoring a stab in the thigh, hoping to knock out the king himself, until they must have locked eyes. The Persians lost their nerve. As his troops fell back, Darius raced away on his grey horse, leaving 20,000 dead, and returned to Babylon, his priority being empire, not reckless courage.

Afterwards in Darius’ tent, Alexander mused, ‘Let’s cleanse ourselves in Darius’ bath.’

‘No, Alexander’s bath,’ replied his aide. His paladin Parmenion galloped south to secure Darius’ family. When the diminutive Alexander entered the imperial tent with the strapping Hephaistion, the queens – Darius’ mother Sisygambis and his sister-wife Stateira with her daughters – fell to their knees before the taller man. Hephaistion was embarrassed. Alexander touchingly corrected them by saying, ‘He’s Alexander too,’ and raised them to their feet, content to treat them as queens. Here too he met an old acquaintance – Barsine, half-Persian, half-Greek widow of both her uncles Mentor and Memnon. Alexander lost his virginity to her – late for a Macedonian.

For his family Darius offered a regal ransom – Syria, Ionia and Anatolia – and marriage to his daughter. Parmenion advised acceptance.

‘If I was Parmenion,’ replied Alexander, ‘I’d accept too, but I am Alexander.’ He then wrote to Darius: ‘I’ve already defeated you and your satraps in battle and now, since the gods give all to me, I control you and your country. Do not write to me again as an equal … Think of me as the master of everything you have.’

ALEXANDER, ROXANE AND CHANDRAGUPTA: WORLD KING, AFGHAN QUEEN, INDIAN KING

Alexander swung southwards, with Hephaistion in command of his fleet shadowing and provisioning him from the coast. Marching towards Egypt, which fascinated him, he took Sidon, but Tyre, aided by its sister city Carthage, defied him. When Tyre fell, Alexander let his troops run amok, massacring 8,000 Tyrians and crucifying 2,000. He planned vengeance against Carthage. On the way into Egypt, he massacred every person in Gaza.

At Memphis he had himself crowned pharaoh, son of Amun-Ra, and descended the Nile by royal barge to visit Amun’s home, the Temple of Luxor, where he ordered the engravings that still show him as Lord of Both Lands. Back at the Nilotic delta, he founded a city named Alexandria.

Now that Alexander had become a god, his retinue questioned why he was dallying in the land of mummies while Darius was mustering in Babylon. But the god-king was keen to visit the famous Oracle at Siwah, an oasis in the Libyan desert, to confirm his apotheosis. After an exciting pilgrimage across the Sahara, accompanied by Ptolemy and Hephaistion, he was told by the oracle that he was indeed the son of Amun, Horus. He asked if the murder of Philip had been avenged, maybe to lift suspicion from his mother or himself, though he never revealed the answer. But Parmenion’s son Philotas mocked the idea that Alexander’s father was Zeus–Amun: Philip was his father.

Darius moved towards Nineveh (Mosul) and waited on the plain at Gaugamela. As Alexander marched into Iraq, he learned that Darius’ wife Stateira had died in childbirth: the baby was almost certainly Alexander’s. The possession of her body was the possession of Persia. Was she seduced by Alexander? Raped?

At dawn on 1 October 331, Parmenion found Alexander oversleeping, a sign of his preternatural calm and confidence. Darius presided over the centre of his army. Alexander, at the head of his cavalry, suddenly charged obliquely across the field into the Persian left, cleaving their line. Darius then led a chariot charge, ordering his archers to fire at the king, outstanding in his golden breastplate and purple cloak, while a corps of cavalry was to liberate his mother and wives. But Alexander wheeled round the rear and headed for Darius, who galloped off the battlefield, heading across the Zagros to Ecbatana (Iran).