Alexander the Great

by Philip Freeman

  Alexander knew the march ahead through the Gedrosian desert would be extremely difficult for his army, but he was determined nonetheless to lead his men through one of the most desolate landscapes on earth. Some scholars, ancient and modern, have suggested that the king wanted to punish his soldiers for forcing him to turn back from the conquest of the Ganges valley. By this line of reasoning, Alexander was deliberately trying to kill off his army in the wilderness that lay ahead. This was certainly not his intention. Alexander could be petty and vindictive, but it is unreasonable to suggest that he wanted to eliminate the very force that made it possible for him to create and control his empire. The answer to the mystery of the Gedrosian desert journey is plainly stated by the historian Arrian and is perfectly consistent with what we know of Alexander from other episodes in his life. First, as a practical matter, he wanted to keep in close contact with the fleet as it moved west through the Indian Ocean. The exploration of the coast and the opening of a trade route between India and Persia was an essential part of his future plans. But second, and perhaps even more important, Alexander wanted to lead his army across the Gedrosian desert because no one had ever done it before. There were stories that the Babylonian queen Semiramis had once brought an army back this way from India, but only twenty of her men survived the journey. The first Great King Cyrus had reportedly tried the same route, with only seven of his soldiers living to tell the tale. The historical accuracy of these tales is doubtful, but the challenge they would have stirred in the imagination of Alexander was real enough. If he could bring his army back from India through the wastelands of Gedrosia, it would be a story of glory that would live forever. To Alexander, that was reason enough.

  More than fifty thousand Macedonian and allied soldiers left the Indus River in late summer accompanied by a vast train of camp followers, including most of the women and children who trailed after the army wherever it went. The land and climate were pleasant enough at first as they moved west along the shore and over low mountains into the territory of the Arabitae. Alexander sent parties to dig wells for the fleet on the shore and took time to launch a series of surprise attacks on natives in the area who had not yet submitted to his authority. After two weeks he arrived in a well-watered valley near the coast that was the home of the Oreitae, who fled at his approach. Their chief village of Rhambacia was a promising site for a trading post and colony, so Alexander left Hephaestion behind to establish it as another Alexandria—the last such city he would found in the East.

  The king discovered the natives hiding in the hills to the west of their home waiting to attack the Macedonians. But when Alexander brought forward just a small force to meet them, they immediately deserted their posts and sent their leaders forward to surrender on their behalf. He accepted their submission and assured the natives that they would be allowed to live in peace in their own land under the rule of a Macedonian satrap and garrison. The king also left behind his companion Leonnatus to await the arrival of the fleet and clean up any remaining resistance in the area. By this point, Hephaestion had caught up with the army as the men left the mild valley of the Oreitae and began the trek west into the desert.

  Gedrosia, straddling the border of modern Iran and Pakistan, was the poorest and least hospitable of all the provinces of the Persian Empire. It consisted of little more than an arid wilderness of salt flats surrounded by mountains too dry to support agriculture. Only the Phoenician traders traveling in the army’s wake seemed impressed by what the desert had to offer. There were unusually tall myrrh trees in scattered locations that yielded priceless gum, which the merchants loaded onto their pack animals. They also gathered ginger grass, though most of it was crushed by the feet of the passing army, leaving a delightful fragrance wafting over the countryside. The soldiers were able to dine well at first on rabbits that snared themselves in the plentiful thornbushes as they fled from the army, but soon even these were left behind. The few natives who lived in Gedrosia clustered along the seashore and lived a life as primitive as anything the Macedonians had ever seen. They were called the Ichthyophagi, or Fish Eaters, because their only nourishment came from whatever small fish they were able to collect offshore and dry in the sun. These natives let their hair grow into long mats and never trimmed their nails. Their clothing was made of fish scales and their primitive houses of shells and skins stretched over whale ribs. The Fish Eaters were so destitute that Alexander didn’t even bother to plunder their villages for supplies.

  But as there was still no sign of Nearchus and the fleet along the coast, Alexander began to despair. There was not enough food for the army without the supplies brought by sea. After the grain supply was gone, men began to eat their pack animals. The king sent messengers on racing camels to the nearby satrapies with orders to dispatch provisions to him as quickly as possible, but the distances were too great for these calls to be easily answered. When the water ran out, the soldiers were totally dependent on whatever oases they could find in the desert, though these were few and far between. Once a waterhole was discovered, the first men there would rush in and drink all they could scoop into their hands, becoming sick from overdrinking and fouling the water for the rest of the army. Thereafter Alexander made a rule that every camp would be at least two miles from a water source and access strictly limited.

  As days turned into weeks, men began to fall by the wayside by the hundreds, then thousands, from sickness, heatstroke, and thirst. Many simply gave up and refused to rise from their bedrolls. Those who pulled themselves together after the army departed would try to follow in the tracks of their companions, but most of these were lost in the desert just like men fallen overboard into the sea.

  One night the army made camp in a dry riverbed with a welcome trickle of water running through the sand. But as darkness fell, a wall of water suddenly coursed down the stream from a thunderstorm in the distant hills. The flash flood caught the soldiers by surprise, but most were able to escape, though many with only their weapons at hand and the clothes on their backs. The civilians were not so fortunate. Most of the women and children who had dragged themselves on this hellish trek through the wilderness had no time to flee and were drowned in the very water they so desperately craved.

  Toward the end of the march, when officers and men alike had all but given up hope of escaping the desert alive, some scouts found a small spring with only enough water to fill a single helmet. The patrol was so thankful that they had found even this that they brought it before Alexander, who was as thirsty as anyone. As wretched as his own state was, however, he knew his men were suffering even more. Therefore, just as he had done in the desert crossing in Bactria four years earlier, Alexander refused to drink when his army could not. He took the helmet of precious water and poured it on the ground in full view of his army. To the parched men, for their king to share in their suffering in this way meant more than the water soaking into the sand. They were so heartened, says Arrian, it was as if they had each drunk every drop that he poured on the ground.

  Alexander then turned back to the sea in one final attempt to find water and rendezvous with the fleet. The ships were nowhere to be seen, but the army was able to dig wells along the shore for their own needs and travel for a week with adequate water supplies. At last the king realized in shame that his fleet must have been lost somewhere along the trackless shore of the southern sea. He had failed Nearchus and condemned his whole navy to death. The army that had followed him through the desert for two months was little better off. Perhaps half his soldiers had perished in the sands of Gedrosia and almost all the civilians had been lost. He then led the men in a final push north away from the sea more than a hundred miles to the provincial capital at the shabby frontier town of Paura on the road to Persepolis. The emaciated and exhausted Macedonians who stumbled through the gates of the city must have been a frightening sight to the natives, who nevertheless welcomed them in peace and provided them with food, water, and much needed rest.

  The final leg of
the journey from Paura to Persepolis was almost five hundred miles long, but the countryside, while still arid, promised a steady supply of food and water for Alexander’s remaining troops. Several ancient authors report that the king was so relieved after his march through the Gedrosian desert that he led his army along the road as in a Dionysian parade with pipes playing and soldiers bedecked with garlands. Alexander also held festivals and contests to celebrate their crossing, including a singing and dancing competition won by the Persian eunuch Bagoas, who had been one of the king’s lovers since they had departed from Persepolis several years earlier. After the contest, Bagoas in full costume marched through the theater and sat down at Alexander’s side, to the delight of the army. The men shouted and called loudly on the king to kiss the winner, which he gladly did.

  Alexander was now back on the edges of civilization and could turn his mind to matters other than mere survival. It had been five years since the Macedonians had left the heartland of Persia for the campaign in the eastern provinces. Many of the governors and officials Alexander had left behind doubted he would ever return—most, in fact, hoped he would not. Reports began to reach the king that his appointees had taken advantage of his long absence to set themselves up as virtually independent rulers in their satrapies, indulging in extravagant lifestyles and enforcing their will with private militias. Alexander spent the next few months purging his empire of corrupt officials—natives, Greeks, and Macedonians alike—including his old friend Harpalus. This unregenerate shyster had been given charge of the treasury and squandered countless talents of gold on exquisite luxuries and expensive women. He imported rare delicacies from distant lands for his table and bought celebrated Athenian courtesans for his bed. When news reached him that a very angry Alexander was on his way back to Persia, he panicked and fled to Athens with six thousand mercenaries and all the money he could load onto a fast ship. Demosthenes and his anti-Macedonian allies in the Athenian assembly were at first reluctant to risk the wrath of Alexander by granting refuge to Harpalus, but a generous bribe convinced them it was worth the consequences. But when one of Alexander’s admirals showed up beneath the Acropolis to demand his extradition, the Athenians had Harpalus arrested, though they did keep his money. He soon escaped and made his way to Crete, where he was murdered by Macedonian agents.

  While Harpalus was still in flight to the Aegean, Alexander and his army made their way through the land of Carmania near the Straits of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Here Craterus arrived at last with his veterans and elephants safely in tow after the march along the northern route from India through Kandahar and eastern Persia. It was also near the straits that a small party of filthy, sunburned men arrived at the edge of Alexander’s camp with long hair and clothes covered in brine. No one recognized them at first, though they carried themselves like Macedonian officers. The leader then spoke in a raspy voice and declared that he was Admiral Nearchus, just arrived from India, and asked to be led to Alexander himself to tell his tale.

  The story of the voyage of Nearchus is one of the best-preserved travel accounts from ancient times, largely because the log of the expedition was copied almost word for word by the historian Arrian. Nearchus and his fleet left the Indus River port of Patala in September, several weeks after Alexander had departed by land. The monsoon rains were still falling, but the admiral was eager to catch up with the army and decided to risk travel in spite of the unfavorable conditions. After the usual sacrifices to the gods, the fleet sailed down the delta for several days until they at last reached the open sea at the mouth of the Indus. From here they turned west and followed the coast along the land of the Arabitae until they arrived at an island called Crocala. It was the habit of Nearchus to sail as close to the shore as possible, anchoring at protected bays or nearby islands at night to avoid the risks of making camp on the mainland. The next day they found a well-protected harbor near an island called Bibacta. Nearchus was so struck by the tranquil setting that he named the spot Alexander’s Haven. A strong monsoon wind was still blowing in from the ocean, forcing the fleet to delay their departure. As the unfavorable winds continued unabated, Nearchus realized he would have to wait out the weather at Bibacta and so built a fort on the island surrounded by stone walls to guard against raids by the natives. The trade winds that would carry them across the Indian Ocean were late that year, forcing the fleet to tarry almost a month at the island. Nearchus must have been frantic at this point, realizing that such a delay would put him well behind the march of the army. Still, there was nothing he could do until the weather changed. The sailors themselves were more sanguine and enjoyed the weeks on their tropical island hunting for mussels, oysters, and other shellfish, though they did complain that the fresh water tasted brackish.

  As soon as the winds shifted from west to east, Nearchus weighed anchor and sailed along the coast to a desert island called Domai, where his men searched in vain for water. This was the primary concern of the admiral throughout the voyage and the main reason he was so dependent on the well-digging parties of Alexander that had preceded him. However, it seems that only in rare instances was Nearchus able to find the wells that the army had dug, leaving him on his own to supply water for his thirsty sailors. This problem was solved at Domai and elsewhere by sending armed patrols inland, sometimes many miles, to collect fresh water in large jars and skins for transport back to the ships.

  At one point during the next few days, Nearchus sailed so close to the coast that his ships were barely able to squeeze between the beach and the rocks just offshore, forcing the men to strike the oars against solid ground on both sides. But the fleet passed this dangerous spot and found a safe haven in a small bay named in the local language Woman’s Harbor for a queen who had once ruled there. Dodging large waves and shifting tides, the fleet advanced briefly along a more hospitable shore lined with a thick forest to the mouth of the Arabis River. This marked the end of the lands ruled by the Arabitae and the beginning of the territory of the Oreitae, who had earlier fled in panic from Alexander’s army.

  The seas were rough as they continued up the coast, forcing Nearchus to anchor well offshore to protect his vessels from being dashed against the rocks. Three ships nonetheless were lost in the waves as the sailors struggled to keep the fleet away from the breakers. The men became so seasick in the constant swell that after a few days the admiral took the risk of building a fortified camp on a mainland beach to allow his men a night’s rest on steady ground. At this point Nearchus was delighted to find Alexander’s companion Leonnatus, whom the king had left behind to await the fleet and secure the area. Things had not gone well in the land of the Oreitae since Alexander’s departure, forcing Leonnatus to kill several thousand local warriors in a battle that also took the life of the satrap Apollophanes. But the general had been faithful to his charge of preparing for the fleet and had stockpiled enough food to supply the sailors for at least ten days. Nearchus also took the opportunity to repair some of the damaged vessels and rid himself of the more troublesome sailors, leaving them with Leonnatus and replacing them with men from Leonnatus’s command.

  The shore became more mountainous as the fleet moved west up the coast of Gedrosia while the land grew ever more arid. Water was a pressing concern, forcing even longer journeys into the interior to dig wells. At a welcome stream called the Tomerus, the fleet for the first time met the primitive Fish Eaters, whom the army had encountered along the same coast. Nearchus described them as more warlike than did Alexander, perhaps because of their recent experience with the Macedonian land force. A people who had rarely had contact with the outside world for generations were suddenly forced to deal with a second invasion by a large foreign force in as many months. Six hundred angry natives were waiting to attack the sailors when they came ashore, but Nearchus could see that their wooden spears would be a threat only at close range. He therefore sent his best swimmers among the light-armed troops over the side into the shallow surf and ordered them to advance to
gether with weapons drawn into battle. With a loud cry to Ares, the men swept forward against the natives protected by a volley of arrows from the ships. The half-naked Fish Eaters were terrified and fled inland to the wilderness to escape. The few that were captured were a source of fascination to the Macedonians. Nearchus noted, as had Alexander, that they let their nails grow long, but observed that this was not out of a lack of hygiene but rather that they might use their nails as other people would iron tools, since they lacked the skill to forge metal blades.

  The coast of Gedrosia was the southernmost point reached by any of Alexander’s men, so Nearchus, observant sailor that he was, commented on the unusual stars visible in the sky over the ocean. The fleet was so far south that the familiar northern constellations they had all grown up with dipped below the horizon and new stars appeared.

  But astronomical observations did little to distract Nearchus from his increasingly perilous situation. The coast was ever more rocky and inhospitable with water increasingly difficult to find. Day after day the thirsty sailors traveled west along a barren coast relieved only by the occasional appearance of a Fish Eater village. These natives had little to steal, but the fleet did manage to haul off a few scraggly sheep. As there was no grass in this land for grazing, the animals were fed on dried fish, giving the mutton a distinctly maritime taste, according to the Macedonians. Most of the villages were deserted before the fleet could pull ashore, but at one small harbor Nearchus found an experienced native sailor to guide them along the remainder of the Gedrosian coast. Near the harbor was also a welcome source of fresh water to restock their supplies.