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  the Hyphasis or that he wished to make up for his humiliation there and

  restore his image of a man for whom nothing was impossible. Another

  modern hypothesis is that he wished to explore the possibilities of

  establishing a direct sea route between India and Mesopotamia and/or

  conquer the coast of Gedrosia, even though this territory has neither

  strategic nor economic value.1

  The maximum number of troops in Alexander’s army as stated in the

  sources is 120,000 – 135,000 men. Even if this was the case – though the

  number seems exaggerated – then a large part of the army would have

  comprised the Indian contingents which would have returned home at the

  end of the Indian campaign. The only likely exception would have been

  the Indian mahouts in the Craterus’ corps; their special skills, knowledge

  and experience regarding Indian elephants made them indispensable.

  Craterus’ corps also included Iranian and some of the European soldiers.

  Nearchus’ fleet comprised 34 triremes, 80 triconters and some 400

  transport vessels with a crew of some 12,000 sailors and 7,000-8,000

  soldiers. Taking all these figures into account, scholars assume that at least

  30,000 soldiers and probably a much larger number of camp followers

  marched with Alexander across the desert.2 This army set out from Patala

  at the end of summer (in late August or early September) 325 to take

  advantage of the relative abundance of water after the monsoon season. It

  should be stressed that regardless of whether he was trying to rival the

  feats of the mythical Semiramis or Cyrus the Great, who had already been

  dead for two centuries, Alexander did take logistics into consideration.

  The stay at Patala was used to gather a four-month supply of provisions.

  Moreover, wells were specially dug and food stocks were left along the

  coast. At a time when land transport was limited to pack animals an army

  could march for no longer than nine days before the food and fodder ran

  out. For this reason a theory has been formulated according to which the

  1 Str., 11.11.4, 15.1, 15.2.5; Arr., An. , 6.24.2-3 (both after Nearchus: FGrH, 133

  F3a, b). Wilcken 1967, pp. 194-195, 197-198; Hamilton 1973, p. 126; Green 1974,

  p. 430-431; O’Brien 1992, pp. 181-184; Bosworth 1996, pp. 180-183; Hahn 2000,

  p. 231; Allen 2005, p. 154. Attempts to rationalize Alexander: Badian 1961, p. 21;

  Lane Fox 1973, pp. 387-390; Scheppens 1989; Bosworth 2000, p. 34; Brosius

  2003, pp. 174-175.

  2 Arr., Ind. , 19.5; Plu., Alex. , 66.5. Engels 1978, pp. 111-112; Bosworth 1988, p.

  142; Sick 2000, pp. 131-133.

  The Last Years

  333

  original plan was for the fleet to synchronize its progress with the land

  army; the fleet was to keep the army supplied with provisions while the

  army would dig wells to provide the fleet with water. If this theory

  formulated by Macedonian army logistics expert D. Engels is true, bad

  coordination rendered the plan useless. Above all, the fleet waited for the

  start of the monsoon at the end of October and thus set sail over a month

  after the land army had started marching. Moreover, the land army

  marched at a distance so far from the coast that at no point were Nearchus

  and Alexander close enough to communicate with one another even via

  informants from among the local populations.3

  Alexander’s army marched off from Patala in a south-westerly

  direction to reach the river Arabius (today either the Hab or the Porali,

  both of which flow into Somiani Bay to the west of Karachi) after nine

  days. Next the army turned to the coast and swiftly marched across the

  arid land beyond that river. When they reached the land of today’s Las

  Bela, Alexander together with some elite units broke off from the rest of

  the army, now left under the command of Hephaestion, and conducted a

  lightning campaign against the Oreitans. This was an independent tribe

  most probably belonging to the pre-Aryan population of India. The

  invaders broke up into three columns commanded by Alexander, Ptolemy

  and Leonnatus. Like the Arabitae just before them, after some short

  resistance, the Oreitans surrendered. Alexander had their largest settlement,

  Rhambaceia, converted into a city and most probably named Alexandria.

  Its exact location has so far not been established with any degree of

  certainty. It was around then that Alexander also appointed Apollophanes

  satrap of Gedrosia, whereas Leonnatus was made commander of this new

  satrapy’s garrison. After main Macedonian forces had left, the Oreitans

  rebelled and killed the newly appointed satrap Apollophanes, but

  Leonnatus was able to quell the rebellion. He also established contact with

  Nearchus’ fleet and provided it with supplies. Next he led the men under

  his command west to eventually rejoin Alexander’s forces in Carmania or

  Susa. The satrapy of Gedrosia most probably did not survive its first

  governor and merged with the satrapy of Arachosia.4

  3 Str., 15.2.3; Arr., An. , 6.20.5-21.1, 6.23.1; Arr., Ind. , 26.1; Curt., 9.10.2. Engels 1978, pp. 112-114; contra Scheppens 1989, pp. 43-50. Seibert 1985, p. 171;

  Bosworth 1988, p. 144.

  4 Arr., An. , 6.21.3-22.3, 6.27.1; Arr., Ind. , 23.5; Diod., 17.104.4-105.2; Curt., 9.10.4-7, 9.10.19; Plin., Nat. , 6.97; Plu., Alex. , 66.4; St. Byz., s.v. Alex£ndreiai (4).

  Eggermont 1975, pp. 89-93; Goukowsky 1981, pp. 92-100; Seibert 1985, pp. 172-

  175; Bosworth 1988, pp. 142-143; Heckel 1992, pp. 102-103; Fraser 1996, pp.

  164-166; Klinkott 2000, pp. 92-93.

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  Chapter VII

  Although Alexander must have wanted to keep to the coastline and

  continue preparing wells and improvised ports for the fleet, ironically

  logistic considerations forced him to take a route more to the north. This

  was because cavalry patrols informed him that drinking water and food

  were very hard to come by along the desert coast, whereas the primitive

  peoples inhabiting this region and living off fishing had nothing worth

  plundering. Unable to transport provisions for the entire 60-day journey

  from the land of the Oreitans to Pura in western Gedrosia (probably

  modern-day Iranshahr in south-eastern Iran), the army had no choice but

  rely on plunder. Alexander presumably chose the most frequently used

  route leading through the Kolwa and Kech valleys between the Makran

  mountain passes running some way off but parallel to the sea. In this part

  of the world which is heavily reliant on monsoon rains the harvest season

  occurs in late autumn, so the Macedonian army marched there at a

  relatively good time as far as food was concerned. However, this was still

  not enough to feed so many soldiers and civilian followers especially

  when they were heading west and ever further from the monsoon region.

  The sources report a great shortage of food, provisions and water. Pack

  animals died of exhaustion or were killed and eaten by the soldiers. The

  lack of beasts meant that the baggage had to be abandoned, including tents

  and valuables the soldiers had plundered for themselves. No doubt the sick

  and weak were also abandoned on the way. Many died as result of

  drinking water t
oo greedily in the rare places where it was found. There

  were also cases of drowning as people were washed away in flash floods

  caused by intensive downpours of rain. In such conditions the sources also

  report a breakdown in discipline. Alexander ordered some grain, probably

  requisitioned at Turbat Oasis, to be transported to the coast so that it could

  be picked up by the fleet. However, the soldiers disobeyed their king’s

  order and divided this food among themselves. In this time of extreme

  hardship Alexander as usual tried to keep up morale by setting an example

  through self-denial; when presented with a helmet full of precious water

  he would not drink it but in front of his men ostentatious poured the much

  desired liquid onto the ground so as not to benefit from something that

  could not be shared with the others. Nevertheless, it must be remembered

  that this information in the sources about the hardships endured are to

  some extent exaggerated and ultimately originates from Nearchus’ account,

  who was not actually there. From Turbat Oasis the army turned south

  towards the Arabian Sea, probably somewhere in the region of today’s

  port of Pasni in western Pakistan, where at least it was easy to extract

  water from the wells the soldiers dug. Thence the army marched for seven

  days along the coast until the guides found the right road leading north.

  The Last Years

  335

  After another dozen or so days at the end of November or beginning of

  December 325 the Macedonians reached Pura. There provisions from

  Drangiana and Areia were already waiting for them, for while they were

  still crossing the Makran range Alexander had sent messengers on fast

  camels with instructions to the satraps of those regions.5

  The sixty-day march through the Makran passes must have subjected

  the Macedonians to unspeakable hardships but the losses stated by the

  ancient authors should be treated with considerable caution, especially

  when Plutarch claims Alexander’s army was reduced to less than a quarter

  of what it had been in India. Of course Craterus’ and Nearchus’

  detachments accounted for much more than a quarter of these forces, so

  Plutarch or his source here clearly paid more attention to rhetoric than to

  historical truth. The losses in Alexander’s corps must have been great but,

  on evidence of Arrian, the casualties were largely among the civilian

  followers, especially the women and children. Most of the soldiers who

  had marched with him across the Makran Mountains most probably

  reached Pura, though greatly weakened and without their booty.6

  Now the time of celebrations began. Within seven days the Macedonians

  covered the 280 km distance from Pura to the Persian royal residence at

  Salmus (probably today’s Kahnuj in the Iranian province of Kerman),

  riding carriages with platforms bearing special tents. They wore garlands

  of ivy and, on Alexander’s instructions, the towns they passed on the way

  greeted them with flowers. Everywhere they were also offered wine and

  were accompanied by the sound of music. In other words, to celebrate the

  crossing of the Makran Mountains Alexander had arranged a Bacchic

  procession in which his entire army took part. This procession is

  mentioned by neither Aristobulus nor Ptolemy, for which reason Arrian

  and some modern scholars after him believe the story to be historically

  untrue and a mere invention of the historian Cleitarchus, who was

  allegedly a source for the works of Plutarch, Diodorus and Curtius Rufus.

  However, this cannot be the case as the tale of the Macedonian

  Bacchanalia in Carmania were known to the contemporary Theophrastus

  and they was also mentioned in a no longer extant source used by the

  5 Arr., An. , 6.23.1-27.1; Arr., Ind. , 26.1; Diod., 17.105.3-106.1; Curt., 9.10.8-18; Str., 15.2.3, 15.2.5-7; Plu., Alex. , 66.4-7; Just., 12.10. Goukowsky 1981, p. 49;

  Seibert 1985, pp. 174-177; Bosworth 1988, pp. 143-145; Bosworth 1996a, pp. 166-

  180; Hamilton 1999, pp. 183-185.

  6 Plu., Alex. , 66.4; Arr., An. , 6.25.5. Bosworth 1988, pp. 145-146; Bosworth 2000, pp. 34-35; Hammond 1996, p. 238; Heckel 1997, p. 215.

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  Chapter VII

  Hellenistic historian Carystius. Therefore we can assume that the general

  facts regarding the procession in Carmania are basically true.7

  It was only once Alexander reached Carmania that official thanksgiving

  sacrifices were made for the army’s return from India. It was also here that

  artistic and sports competitions were held. Plutarch and Dicaearchus relate

  an anecdote about how Alexander’s homosexual favourite Bagoas

  received a prize in a music competition. Alexander, under the influence of

  wine and egged on by calls from the audience was to publicly embrace and

  kiss his male lover.8 It was in Salmus in December 325 or January 324 that

  Nearchus and his men, having covered a distance of approximately 150

  km from the shore of the Strait of Hormuz in five days, rejoined the army

  of their king. Alexander had not had contact with the fleet since his army

  left Patala and therefore expected the worst. That is why the arrival of

  Nearchus, who informed him that the fleet had reached the Carmanian

  coast virtually unscathed, came as a very pleasant surprise. As it turned out,

  the fleet had had to leave Patala more or less a month earlier than planned

  on account of the hostility of local inhabitants, who felt free to

  demonstrate their true feelings towards the invaders once their fear of

  Alexander had waned. Nearchus sailed his ships down a western

  distributary and out into the ocean, but then they had to wait twenty four

  days at an offshore island for the wind to change direction. Basically

  sailing was only possible once the monsoon winds stopped at the start of

  November 325. That same month the fleet established contact with

  Leonnatus in the land of the Oreitans. There provisions for the next ten

  days were taken aboard, whereas those sailors who had demonstrated a

  lack of discipline were left marooned on the shore. In the next leg of the

  voyage provisions were obtained from supplies left earlier near the shore

  on Alexander’s instructions or seized from the native inhabitants. However,

  the natives had very little food to offer regardless of how much force was

  used. Most of the coast was inhabited by primitive hunter gatherers whom

  Nearchus called Ichthyophagi (‘Fish-eaters’). The entire voyage generally

  7 Thphr., HP, 4.4.1; Caryst., ap. Ath., 10.45; Diod., 17.106.1; Curt., 9.10.24-27;

  Plu., Alex. , 67.1-6; Plin., Nat. , 16.144; Arr., An. , 6.28.2-4. Historicity of Bacchanalia denied: Tarn 1948, i, p. 109; Wilcken 1967, p. 201; Hammond 1996,

  p. 236; Hamilton 1999, p. 185. Historicity accepted: Lane Fox 1973, pp. 399-400;

  Green 1974, p. 438; Goukowsky 1981, pp. 47-64; Bosworth 1988, p. 147;

  Worthington 2004, p. 172. Salmus: Goukowsky 1981, pp. 53-60; Seibert 1985, p.

  177.

  8 Dicaearch. Hist., ap. Ath., 13.80; Plu., Alex. , 67.7; Diod., 17.106.4; Arr., An. , 6.28.3; Curt., 6.5.22-23. Badian 1958; Hamilton 1999, pp. 186-187; Ogden 2009,

  pp. 213-217.

  The Last Years

  337

  abounded in exotic rather than dang
erous encounters, such as schools of

  whales – creatures that the Greek sailors had never before seen. Eventually

  the fleet reached the coast of Carmania, where the sailors were surprised to

  spot Macedonian soldiers on the shore. From these they learned of

  Alexander’s whereabouts. Nearchus ordered his men to build a fortified

  camp at the mouth of the river Anamis, while he hurried to meet his king.

  Alexander celebrated the safe arrival of his fleet by offering sacrifices to

  the gods who saved those in need – Zeus Soter (the saviour), Apollo,

  Heracles, Poseidon and other sea gods. He next instructed Nearchus to sail

  his fleet to the coast of Susiana and up the river Pasitigris towards Susa.9

  2. Empire in Crisis

  Five years had passed since Alexander left the central provinces of his

  Asian empire and almost ten since the army marched out of Macedonia. In

  that time Alexander did not appoint a ‘regent’ to govern his entire vast

  domain during his absence. Macedonia and the entire Balkan Peninsula

  were put under the charge of Antipater. However, his authority was in

  various ways undermined by Olympias, who as the king’s mother was

  quite free to do as she pleased and therefore she constantly wrote letters to

  her son accusing Antipater of all sorts of things. The various Asian

  provinces were put under the charge of satraps, military commanders and

  treasurers personally appointed by Alexander; the treasurers were also

  answerable to Harpalus. Contemporary means of transport and

  communication meant that all these prefects became de facto independent

  rulers during their monarch’s absence. In that time way the satrapies were

  governed was left to their personal strengths of character and foresight.

  The conduct of some of these Macedonian and Iranian nobles suggests that

  they were indeed counting on Alexander never returning from India alive.

  The Macedonians, who had been raised in relative austerity though with

  more than a healthy appetite for wealth and power, made full use of the

  Persian treasuries and plunder at their disposal to live a life of pleasure,

 

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