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  down of the palaces, which occurred several months later. In January the

  palaces were still intact.62

  The palace treasury at Persepolis, which Tiridates handed over to

  Alexander untouched, contained the Achaemenids’ basic reserves of

  bullion and other treasures they had accumulated for over more than 200

  years. The total value was 120,000 talents, therefore much more than the

  treasure at Susa. With time this vast amount of bullion, which had so far

  only been thesaurized by the Achaemenids, was converted into coins to

  cover the costs of war as well as allow Alexander to demonstrate his

  largess towards artists, philosophers, soldiers and courtiers. The king’s

  expenditure during his entire expedition east is estimated to have been on

  average 7,500 talents a year. The economic effect of putting into

  circulation such a massive amount of bullion has frequently been

  compared to the effect of the influx of South American silver and gold in

  the 16th and 17th centuries, and more often than not the Persian bullion

  effect has been estimated to have been greater. Alexander decided to

  concentrate all the treasure captured from the Persians in Susa. Some of

  the sources mention captured treasure being transported from Persis to

  Ecbatana though that could have only happened after the city was taken,

  i.e. only after June 330. It is possible that these seemingly contradictory

  accounts are due to the fact that some of the treasure was transported to

  Susa while the rest was left to cover the costs of ongoing and future

  campaigns in Iran. And it would have been that the second batch of

  treasure was ultimately transported to Ecbatana. No doubt the decision to

  shift the treasure resulted from knowledge that the palaces of Persepolis

  would be burned down and therefore could no longer serve as the empire’s

  main treasury. The exceptionally responsible mission of transporting the

  bullion and other precious items was entrusted to Parmenion. This was a

  61 Diod., 17.71.3-8. Schmidt 1953-1970; Walser 1966; Wiesehöfer 1996, pp. 24-26;

  Cuyler Young 1988, pp. 108-110; Briant 1996, pp. 183-228.

  62 Diod., 17.70, 17.71.3; Curt., 5.6.1-9. Badian 1985, pp. 440, 443; Atkinson 1994,

  pp. 110-115; Bloedow, Loube 1997, p. 349; Nawotka 2003b, p. 68.

  King of Asia

  251

  major logistical undertaking requiring 20,000 mules and 3,000-5,000

  camels. Some of the pack animals and fodder had to be brought over from

  Babylonia and Elam. That is why the transporting lasted two months and

  was probably completed shortly before the end of Alexander’s four-month

  stay in Fars.63 Persepolis was stripped of all its valuables so thoroughly

  that in levels that could not have been subsequently robbed archaeologists

  have found no more than twenty-one coins and small amounts of cheap

  jewellery. The fact that the Macedonians must have spent so much time

  and trouble to remove everything of value from the palaces indicates that

  there was already a plan to burn them down.64

  In lands he had previously occupied Alexander had always strived to

  win the support of the local elites and thus legitimise his authority. This

  policy had proved to be successful in Asia Minor, Egypt and Babylonia.

  The same was to happen in Iran. After the Battle of Gaugamela Alexander

  was proclaimed king of Asia and a similar proclamation could have been

  made in April 330,65 therefore during his stay in Fars. As the rightful

  successor of the Achaemenids Alexander not only appointed Persian

  aristocrats as satraps but also adopted the key elements of Persian attire.

  The equivocal nature of this latter issue has been the subject of

  controversy among modern historians. The way the king dressed was not a

  matter of fashion but of politics. Both the Iranians and the Greeks were

  aware that the Great King was surrounded by a complex courtly system of

  ceremonies which also included attire worn exclusively by him. By putting

  on elements of this royal dress Alexander showed his intention to take

  over Darius III’s legacy; this way he demonstrated to the Iranian

  aristocracy the legitimacy of the authority he had gained through military

  victories. Alexander most probably never wore the entire Persia costume.

  However, the major historical sources (Arrian and Vulgate authors)

  mention situations in the royal court when Alexander appeared with its

  most important items including a tiara, which was generally regarded to be

  an emblem of the Persian monarchy.66 It was also then that he founded a

  unit of bodyguards modelled on the Persian melophori.67

  63 Diod., 17.71.1-3; Str., 15.3.9; Plu., Alex. , 37.4. Keynes 1930, ii, pp. 150-152,

  291; Bosworth 1988, pp. 92-93; Callataÿ 1989, p. 263; Bloedow, Loube 1997, pp.

  347-352; Le Rider 2003, pp. 310-316; Holt 2003, p. 13.

  64 Schmidt 1953-1970, i, pp. 16-78; Borza 1972, p. 235; Sancisi-Weerdenburg

  1993, pp. 181-182; Bloedow, Loube 1997, pp. 344-346; Nawotka 2003b, p. 73;

  Shabazi 2003, pp. 19-20 and n. 71.

  65 Ael., VH, 2.25. Date: Grzybek 1990, pp. 43-44.

  66 Goukowsky 1975; Badian 1985, pp. 450-452; Wiesehöfer 1996, pp. 105-107;

  Wirth 1993, p. 223; Briant 1996, pp. 90-94. Alexander’s Persian costume: Duris,

  252

  Chapter V

  Symbolic gestures were important to Alexander in Fars as a means of

  acquiring acceptance among the Persians and that is why, for instance, he

  visited Pasargadae. Located 43 km from Persepolis, this city was founded

  by Cyrus after his victory over the Medes as the capital of the land of the

  Pasargadae tribe, to which he himself belonged. A palace complex was

  built there together a royal garden ( paradeisos). After Darius I had

  transferred the capital to Persepolis, Pasargadae remained a place of

  investiture for Persian monarchs; the most important edifice there was the

  grave of Cyrus the Great. The commandant of Pasargadae, Gobares,

  surrendered the city without resistance and Alexander captured another

  6,000 talents from that city’s treasury. But the main objective of

  Alexander’s mission was to visit Cyrus’s gave and pay his respects. This

  visit was described by Aristobulus who accompanied the king on this

  expedition.68

  However, neither the satrap nominations nor the symbolic gestures

  made the intended impression on the Persians. Already Ariobarzanes’s

  fierce resistance at the Persian Gate gave a foretaste of the problems that

  would be encountered in Fars. The ancient authors report hostilities

  between Alexander and the Persian populace and that he had to take

  fortified towns by force. The most serious fighting was against the

  belligerent tribe of the Mardi, who were closely affiliated to the

  Achaemenid dynasty. Alexander led a 30-day campaign against them in

  the winter of 330. Traces of these events are found in the Iranian

  Zoroastrian tradition, which is the only one to show Alexander in a

  decidedly negative light. It alone blames Alexander for Darius’s death, of

  trying to destroy the true religion, of extinguishing sacred fires, of burning

  the Avesta, of stealing and translating sacred books, of destroying cities, of

&nbs
p; murdering aristocrats and magi and of carving up Ērānšahr (Iran). Though

  not all these accusations are equally valid, for instance the Avesta had not

  yet been written in Alexander’s time, they do reflect what the ancient

  authors also describe as a campaign of terror to break the sprit of

  ap. Ath., 12.50; Arr., An. , 4.7.4; Diod., 17.17.5; Curt., 6.6.4; Luc., DMort. , 12.4; ME, 2; Just., 12.3.8; Plu., Alex. , 45.2; Plu., mor. , 329f-330a. Nawotka 2003, pp.

  100-101; Olbrycht 2004, pp. 286-293.

  67 ME, 2.

  68 Aristobul., ap. Str., 15.3.7-8; Arr., An. , 3.18.10; Curt., 5.6.10; Ps.-Callisth.,

  2.18.1. Bosworth 1980, pp. 329-330; Briant 1980, pp. 65-72; Stronach 1985, pp.

  838-849; Mallowan 1985, p. 418; Wiesehöfer 1996, pp. 26, 32; Tuplin 1996, pp.

  88-89.

  King of Asia

  253

  resistance among the Persians in Fars. 69 Yet the desire to acquire

  legitimacy in Fars was probably doomed to fail from the start, especially

  while Darius III was still alive. The Persians considered themselves to be a

  chosen people and therefore their king could only be a Persian, an Aryan

  and a member of the Achaemenid dynasty. For the Persians, who viewed

  the world largely from a religious perspective, Alexander could only be an

  anti-monarch, a rebel against Ahura-Mazda.70

  Despite successive defeats Darius was still considered the legitimate

  ruler not only in Fars but also in at least some of the countries Alexander

  had already conquered. Thanks to extant local sources we know the mood

  among some Babylonians. Recorded after the Battle of Gaugamela, the

  ‘Dynastic Prophecy’ reports Darius’s defeat (at Gaugamela) and the

  occupation of Babylon by Hanû (Alexander) but it predicts that the

  rightful king would be victorious in the next battle, Babylon would be

  liberated and peace and prosperity would return. 71 Nevertheless, for

  Alexander the situation was nowhere worse than in Fars. In that region’s

  tradition recorded in Ardā Wīrāz-Nāmag book the Macedonians are

  remembered as a tribe of dishevelled demons from the land of wrath. Their

  king is nicknamed Guzastag (the Accursed) – just like the god of evil,

  deceit and darkness, Angra Mainyu. The doggedness of Persian resistance

  in the winter of 330 probably explains why in a letter from Aristotle to

  Alexander in the summer of 330 there is a suggestion that the Persians,

  exceptionally among other Asian nations, should be deported to Europe

  and Africa.72

  At that time Darius III was some 600 km from Persepolis in Ecbatana

  and trying to gather forces for the next battle. The formidable east Iranian

  cavalry had retreated from Gaugamela relatively unscathed and Darius

  was also counting on the arrival of allied forces from Scythia, so his army

  could not be ignored and it would not have been prudent to leave behind a

  province that was not fully subjugated and inhabited by a population still

  69 Curt., 5.6.11-19; Diod., 17.73.1. Green 1974, pp. 314-320; Atkinson 1994, pp.

  118-120; Wiesehöfer 1994, pp. 363-364, 395-397; Briant 2002, pp. 90-92; Shabazi

  2003.

  70 Eddy 1961, pp. 58-62; Balcer 1978, pp. 126-127.

  71 Sachs-Hunger 1988, no. 328, col. v. Grayson 1975, pp. 24-37; Marasco 1985;

  Kuhrt 1987, pp. 154-156; Briant 1996, p. 803; Mehl 1999, p. 34; Brosius 2003, pp.

  171-172; Shabazi 2003, pp. 15-19. But some see in the Dynastic Prophecy Darius

  III as an usurper justly punished: van der Spek 2003, pp. 324-342.

  72 Eddy 1961, pp. 12-41; Green 1974, pp. 314-315; Boyce 1982, pp. 12-15, 290;

  Plezia, Bielawski 1970, chapter 7 of Aristotle’s letter; Carlier 1995, p. 156;

  Faraguna 2003, pp. 116-117; Shabazi 2003.

  254

  Chapter V

  loyal to the Persian king. Once his efforts to appease proved unsuccessful,

  Alexander embarked on a campaign of terror which culminated in the

  burning of Persepolis. The destruction of the palaces with fire, a sacred

  element in the Zoroastrian religion, was supposed break the spirit of

  resistance among Persians. The destruction happened towards the end of

  Alexander’s stay in Fars, i.e. in May 330.73 That the Macedonians were

  conducting an ideological war is confirmed by archaeological findings.

  Inside the Persepolis treasury approximately 300 fragments of deliberately

  smashed stone mortar were found. Such mortars were used to produce

  haoma – a potion used in the Zoroastrian cult. 74 In all probability

  Macedonian soldiers destroyed the mortars as an action against the magi

  who had been stirring up religious and nationalistic feelings among the

  native Persians.

  The burning of the Persepolis palaces has been recorded in all the main

  historical sources concerning Alexander. The blaze is also confirmed by

  archaeological findings. In three edifices – the Apadana, the Hundred

  Column Hall and the Treasury – the charred remains of cedar wood were

  found in a 0.3-1 m thick layer of ashes, and we know that cedar wood was

  used as a building material in Persepolis. The ancient authors give diverse

  accounts of the course of events and Alexander’s motives behind the

  destruction. According to Arrian, Strabo and the anonymous author of

  Itinerarium Alexandri, this was an act of revenge for the burning of Greek

  temples by Xerxes in 480, and such was no doubt the official version of

  Macedonian propaganda. Diodorus, Curtius and Plutarch give, after

  Cleitarchus, a colourful description of how during a drinking party an

  Athenian hetaera (courtesan) Thais persuaded a drunken Alexander to do

  it. Arrian does not mention this incident as his chief source, the work of

  King Ptolemy I also failed to mention it; Thais had been Ptolemy’s

  mistress for many years and he would not have wished her to be associated

  with this unprecedented act of vandalism. Three buildings were burnt, but

  the distances between them and the materials they were built from (brick

  walls and clay roofs) precluded the possibility of the blaze spreading

  naturally after just one of the buildings had been set alight by drunken

  revellers. All three edifices must have been set on fire after some

  preparation, which is also confirmed by the lack of valuables found on site.

  73 Schwartz 1985, p. 678; Nawotka 2003b.

  74 Schmidt 1953-1970, ii, pp. 53-55; Balcer 1978, p. 31; Schwartz 1985, pp. 676-

  677.

  King of Asia

  255

  The first torch may have indeed been cast by Thais, but in doing so she

  would have been doing exactly what Alexander intended.75

  A couple of months later it became apparent that Darius III posed a

  significantly smaller threat than had originally been supposed in May 330.

  That is why the destruction of the Persepolis palaces – the symbol of

  Achaemenid might – turned out to be so costly, not only because of the

  obvious material loss but above all because it alienated Alexander from

  Persian elites and ordinary Persians alike. In their eyes the Macedonian

  was to remain an invader and not the rightful king of Iran.76

  5. The death of Darius III

  Towards the end of May 330 the Macedonian army set off for Ecbatana,

  where Alexander knew Darius III to be. Th
is city (today Hamadan in

  western Iran) was the former capital of Media and on account of its

  relatively cool climate, being located 1,880 m above sea level in the

  Zagros Mountains, it later served as the summer residence of the Persian

  kings. Waiting until May before starting the 600-km trek to Ecbatana was

  logistically advantageous for much of the route led through the mountains

  and it was only in late spring that they were entirely free of snow.

  Moreover, the Median harvest began in June, which made it easier to

  acquire essential provisions. The Macedonians certainly advanced along

  the Royal Road, which ran through the province of Paraitacene in the

  upper reaches of the river Araxes. Alexander conquered this province and

  appointed as satrap Oxathres (Oxyathres?), the son of Abulites the satrap

  of Susa. Next the Macedonian army marched into neighbouring Media. It

  was there that they were joined by reinforcements raised in Cilicia,

  numbering 5,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry. These forces had most

  probably crossed Mesopotamia directly into Media and not taken the long

  route through Persis as Alexander had done a few months earlier. It was in

  Media that rumours reached Alexander that Darius had now received

  Scythian and Cadusian reinforcements and was preparing for battle.

  Therefore, leaving behind his baggage train (including some of the

  Persepolis treasure) to be guarded by a large escort, he proceeded with

  most of his forces on a forced march to Ecbatana.77

  75 Clitarch., ap. Ath., 13.37; Arr., An. , 3.18.10-12; Diod., 17.70-72; Str., 15.3.6;

  Curt., 5.7.2-11; Plu., Alex. , 38; It. Alex. , 67. Nawotka 2003b.

  76 Nawotka 2003b, pp. 75-76; Brosius 2003, pp. 181-185; Brosius 2003a, pp. 227-

  228; Heckel 2009, p. 40.

  77 Str., 15.3.6; Arr., An. , 3.19.1-3; Curt., 5.7.12; Ps.-Callisth., 2.19. Engels 1978, pp.

  73-79; Seibert 1985, pp. 108-109; Heckel 2006, pp. 186-187.

  256

  Chapter V

  However, the rumours turned out to be only partly true. Darius was

  indeed counting on the support of his allies and east Iranian vassals.

 

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