by David Alkek
"But Alexander," Craterus complained, "the men are tired of marching and fighting. What reason do we have to go further east?"
"Must I instruct you in your geography, General? Greek scholars have told me that there is a great ocean that encircles the world. We must only reach the eastern shore, and then we can sail back to Babylon."
Reluctantly, the army followed its commander, but at the Hyphasis River, a deputation of his captains approached his tent.
One of the senior captains that Alexander knew and admired for his bravery and leadership spoke. "Sire, the men are grumbling. They say that they could see the reason for the campaigns in Persia, but now we have conquered it. They are reluctant to march further away into the unknown. They have heard of vast deserts, of fierce warriors, of armies of elephants in the lands ahead."
"What, are they afraid of elephants? Darius and Porus had these, and we defeated them. Are they afraid of unknown lands and difficult terrain? We have campaigned in many strange countries and crossed mountains, deserts, and rivers. Are they now shivering women, cowards who would not follow their King?"
"No, Sire, they are not cowards. They are tired. We have been gone from Macedon for over eight years of hard campaigns and battles. They yearn for home, where they may spend the fruits of conquest with their families."
"Order the men to prepare to march tomorrow."
"They will not march, Sire. With respect to you as their commander and king, they will not go further."
Callisthenes wrote to Phidias, “Alexander waited three days on the banks of the Hyphasis River for them to change their minds. When they would not, he agreed to return home. He had his men erect twelve altars to the Olympian gods in gratitude for his many victories.”
Alexander decided to divide his army on the return march. "A part of the force will take a northerly route back. I will lead the rest of the army back through the southern regions. We have yet to explore that part of Persia," Alexander stated.
"But, Sire, doesn't the large Baluchistan desert lie in our path? It will be a dangerous march."
"Have you not been accustomed to dangerous marches, Ptolemy? We will have experienced guides, who know the desert and where the watering holes may be found. I want to see that part of my empire on our way back to Persepolis. Tell the men to prepare to march and that we will fight on our way, if we must."
On the way down the course of the Indus Valley, Alexander and his men fought their way through hostile tribes. During the attack on one city, Alexander led the advance upon the walls, and was severely wounded. After the victory was complete, his men carried their seriously stricken leader to his tent.
Hardened veterans with tears in their eyes passed his wounded form and kissed his garments, overcome with emotion by his courage and sacrifice. So serious were his wounds that Alexander spent three months convalescing, but then resumed the march to the Indian Ocean. Here he sent part of his forces back by ships. Callisthenes went with them.
With his remaining men, Alexander turned northwest, where his route lay through the scorching desert of Baluchistan. The heat was so intense, they had to march by night. "We have not seen water for several days," Alexander said to a captain. "Send the guides to me."
The captain returned with one of the guides, who said that they had missed a landmark but were sure to find it the next day.
"Tell him that if they do not find our way out of this desert soon we will all die, but he will be the first because I will personally flay him alive," Alexander threatened.
The guide did not flinch. He said through an interpreter, that he was not afraid to die, but that if Alexander killed him, he would never find his way out of the desert.
Alexander told him to go and do the job that he was supposed to do. For the next 200 miles the guides did not find the way. Food supplies ran out. The baggage animals had to be sacrificed, and the baggage abandoned. Water was extremely scarce. A little was found and sent to Alexander.
Alexander took the cup of precious water. "I cannot accept this cup when my men cry with thirst. I will suffer with them. They are my comrades, who give their lives for me." With that, he poured the water into the sand.
The heat killed thousands on this march and thirst killed more. When Alexander finally reached Susa, he had lost ten thousand men and was himself half mad.
Chapter 28
During his recovery in the comfort of Susa, Alexander came to the realization that he would have to channel his energy from conquest to the consolidation and control of his vast empire.
Persian satraps or governors of the provinces, leaders of cities, and wealthy merchants came to Alexander, pleading for his control. They were concerned not only for their safety, but for the security and prosperity of Persia.
As more and more territory fell under his control, Alexander realized that in order to hold his new empire, he had to govern it effectively, and to do that, he had to somehow merge it with the Greek world.
Alexander had been told by Aristotle to treat all Greeks as free men, but to consider all barbarians, that is non-Greeks, as slaves. During the nine years he had been in Persia, however, Alexander was surprised to find a high degree of refined taste and good manners among the Persian aristocrats. He admired the way in which the Persian Empire was organized and governed and wondered if his hardy Macedonians could step into the shoes of the Persian governors.
"In order to give a sense of continuity and permanence to my reign, I must abandon my role as a Macedonian King," he confided to some of his closest advisers. He had increased the number of Persian ministers that advised him.
"I must conceive of myself as a Greco-Persian Emperor. The Empire must be a mingling of Greeks and Persians, who will be on equal footing. We will no longer be conqueror and conquered subjects by a marriage of cultures and blood." His Persian subjects were pleased. They had charmed their master with their civilized manners, and courtly ways.
"I will also follow the expedient example of my predecessors and tolerate local religious and social customs. Each province or ethnic group will be able to maintain its own identity, but Greek ideas and culture will be infused throughout my Empire. In order to do that, I will create new Greek cities over the land, and encourage Greeks to settle in it." He encouraged colonizers to come from Greece, where they scratched a living from impoverished soil, and he founded no fewer than sixteen cities that bore his name.
Alexander had been overly involved with his conquests and political problems to have had much energy for the opposite sex. He had not seemed to care too much for the company of women. Like his father he enjoyed the camaraderie of men, fighting, carousing, drinking, and conversing. His closest and dearest companion, some thought even his lover, was Hephaestion. Alexander fought side by side with him, often sharing his tent and meals. It may just have been that this young man in his mid-twenties, just enjoyed physical activities and the companionship of other men.
He seemed to have an endless supply of energy, and belittled his officers, who succumbed to luxury. He confided to Hephaestion, "Sleep and sexual activity make me realize that I am mortal. After all, the weariness that leads to sleep, and the pleasure derived from the sex act belong to the unthinking weakness of human nature. They remind me that I am a man who has human frailties and feelings. If I am to be a god, I must overcome those shortcomings."
Nevertheless, while Alexander was campaigning in Sogdiana and Bactria, he was smitten by a princess named Roxana. Whether he was captivated by her beauty and seductiveness or because of political expediency, he married her. Many of the soldiers had already taken native women, and following Alexander's example, married them. These counted into the thousands over the years.
Three years later in Susa, Alexander considered more ways in which he could consolidate his empire. At a dinner with his top officers and advisors, Cleitus rose to toast him. "Let's all raise our cups and honor the new Great King, Alexander. He with the help of his generals and the courage of his men has put an end
forever to the threat of Persia. May his reign be long and prosperous." All present yelled their approval and drank to Alexander.
Acknowledging the compliments, Alexander stood and toasted his officers in return. "It is three years since I have mounted the throne of Darius. All of the old Persian Empire, including Egypt, the Ionian Greeks, Macedon, and Greece acknowledge me as their King. It is now one realm and should be one culture, although comprised of many nationalities and tolerating many religious traditions.
"I have instituted several policies in order to consolidate my new empire. We have merged the Persian cavalry into our own. Tomorrow I will send out the order to have thirty thousand Persian young men trained in Macedonian military tactics. Persian administrators work at maintaining the provinces. To further the melding of our peoples, I have opened lands in Mesopotamia and Persia to colonists from Greece. This will not only relieve the pressure of feeding excess population, but diffuse some of the class warfare in our home country. Landless Greeks can now settle across Asia, and bring with them the Greek language and culture.
"In the next few days I will announce to the entire world that I am to marry Statira, Darius’ daughter, and Parysatis, daughter of Artaxerxes. Although these are political unions, they also symbolize the union of our two peoples. I want my top eighty officers to marry eighty Persians of the nobility. All of you present will gain wives that will also bring you wealth and lands. As wedding presents, I will give the officers twenty thousand talents. We will have a great public ceremony and celebrate all the marriages in the great Court of the Palace in Susa. The priests of all religions will make sacrifices to all the gods and bless our nuptials.
"The centuries-long quarrel between Europe and Asia will end in a great wedding feast. Unity and peace will rule the world. Let us drink to our weddings, and to our Empire."
During the talk, the officers smiled and winked at each other when Alexander talked of uniting the two nations of Greece and Persia. They had been away from home a long while, and appreciated the beauty of the Persian women and welcomed the prospect of marrying noble girls. They rose and drank and yelled approval of Alexander's marriage plans.
A few weeks after Alexander's new wives moved into the Palace with all of their retinue, it was noticed that Alexander also increased the number of his Persian attendants. He began wearing Asian clothes. His servants used many of the Persian modes of service such as bathing, dressing, and serving food and wine to Alexander. All of them made obeisance by prostrating before him. It was not long before Alexander asked his fellow Macedonians and Greeks to do likewise.
Callisthenes wrote to Aristotle. "Alexander, first put on barbarian dress perhaps to gain the affection and approval of the Persians in his effort to bring Greek civilization to them. Nothing gains the most impression upon men than conformity to their customs. Let it be noted that he did not affect the ostentatious show of the most opulent of Persian dress. He moderated his taste by adopting a middle way between the Persian and the Macedonian mode, being not so pompous as the one, yet more flaunting than the other.
"The officers and soldiers see the change in Alexander, not only of dress and manners, but in his personality. They mourn the loss of their leader to Asia. They miss the affection and time that he once showered on them. They are being softened by oriental luxury and grumble at any of his orders to train or garrison. They have forgotten his generosity and speak of desertion and going home. Alexander for his part seems to lap up the flattery that the Persians spread on him, like a dog with honey. He resents the soldiers’ lack of appreciation and prefers more and more the society of the Persian nobility.
"When Alexander asked his soldiers to follow the Persian custom of prostrating themselves before the King, his captains were affronted by this. They thought that this implied worship, and they did not think Alexander was a god his captains were fronted.. They told him it was not their custom as Greeks, and they refused to prostrate themselves.
"I am afraid, uncle, that there will be open rebellion and even threat of violence against Alexander. There are many, including generals, who scoff at his ideas and resent his forcing the Persian ways upon them."
Alexander was aware of the resentment of his Macedonians, who saw him favoring Persians and even copying their dress and manners. He called together his Persian and Macedonian officers. "You must realize now that we have made the world smaller by the unity of our countries. You must regard the whole world as your home, and all good men as brothers. The idea of universal brotherhood must be left to philosophers, but for us it is a reality. It is politically expedient that we hold together our multilingual empire. Therefore, I urge my Persian captains to feel as though they are the equal of the Macedonians, and I urge the Macedonians to accept this equality."
The assemblage applauded and thanked him, the Persians more enthusiastically than the Macedonians. Alexander's actions and words may have mollified the conquered Persians, but it was resented by the victorious Macedonians.
Phidias wrote to Aristotle, "Alexander has sent an announcement to all the Greek states except Macedon, that he wishes to be publicly acknowledged from this time as the son of Zeus-Ammon. He omitted Macedon because he thought this might be taken as an insult to the memory of his father, Philip, and arouse resentment. I have heard that most of the Greek states complied, even the Spartans, replying that Alexander could consider himself to be a god if he wants to. After all, we Greeks are familiar in our history with heroes being semi-divine or divine.
“I believe that there is a purely political side of Alexander in wanting to be considered divine. Many of the members of the Hellenic League like Macedonian overlordship. It keeps the power of large cities like Athens and Sparta away from them. On the other hand, Alexander is obviously aware of Greek sensitivity of being ruled by a king.
“Thus as a god, he stands outside the cities. They can maintain their own form of government and a sense of individuality. As the supreme commander of the league, he knows that he cannot order, but can only persuade. This may be one of Alexander's more brilliant moves. It allows the Greek city-states to remain as political entities. And even though many Macedonians mock his divinity, his closest associates admit that it is politically expedient.
"The Egyptians have always considered their pharaohs to be gods. The priests at Siwa and Babylon, who were believed to have special knowledge in this respect, all assured Alexander of his divine status. It is quite unlikely that Alexander really considers himself to be a god, for he has come very close to death from sickness or wounds. Yet after his self-deification, he has become more arrogant. He sits on a golden throne surrounded by sycophants. He wears sacred vestments and has incense and candles burned around him. Sometimes he even wears the horns of Ammon on his head. If anyone disagrees with him, he becomes very irritable and berates them.
"For my part, I do not believe that he thinks he is divine, for he continues to give sacrifices to the gods. This would be unheard of if he were divine himself. I think that he is promoting his deification to easier rule a superstitious and heterogeneous population. No doubt, he feels that the common people of our two worlds will more likely give him reverence if his divinity is accepted by the upper classes.
"We Greeks, of course, don't accept Alexander deifying himself. That is unheard of. If men sometimes are so honored, it is because it is bestowed upon them by the gods or by other men. Alexander's puffed up ideas of God-Emperor are becoming obnoxious to his men."
As Alexander's ideas and plans for unifying Greeks and Persians filtered through the Macedonian ranks, they made little headway. “We are not political philosophers," complained a soldier to his fellows. "I leave the idea of brotherhood with barbarians to them. I am a Macedonian soldier."
"I agree," said another. "After all, we conquered these people. They should be our slaves, and we their masters."
"Yeah," added someone else," he should govern this barbarian country like he did Macedon and Thrace."
"And I resen
t his treatment of the Persians as our equals," said the first soldier. "He has placed some Persians over us as commanders, and has even made some governors."
They had no sympathy for Alexander's dream to unite the Empire, and to govern it responsibly with fairness to all its peoples.
One of the older Macedonian veterans, who had only been listening, added his thoughts. "I feel that our King and Commander has put himself on a pedestal. He is too much taken with his titles and power. He has abandoned the comradeship that has always been part of the Macedonian army. His father drank and ate with us, and made himself always available if we had a problem. Alexander wants us to grovel like his Persian lackeys."
Alexander more and more felt this resentment and heard the grumblings of his officers and men. More and more he feared conspiracy, revolt, and assassination.
Chapter 29
Marching east of Susa, Alexander stopped with his men in the town of the Zarangians and was invited to take over the local king's rude castle as his headquarters. The army was encamped outside the town. That evening he was having a bath to wash off the dusty march before dinner, when one of his squires burst in.
Surprised to come in on Alexander naked in his bath, the squire was embarrassed and speechless. "What is it Metron?" Alexander shook him aware. "What is so important."
"Sire, there's a man outside, who says that he has heard of a plot to kill you."
"What? Where is he?"
"He is under guard in a locked room."
"What's his name?"
"Cebalinos."
"What is it that he said?" Alexander was drying off and being dressed by a Persian slave boy.
In fits and pieces, Alexander drew out of the squire what he knew. Apparently Cebalinos was told by his brother, Nicomachus, that Dymnos of Chalesta had approached him to join a conspiracy to kill the King. "Dymnos told Nicomachus that he would kill him if he didn't join, so he pretended to agree, but told his brother. That's why Cebalinos came to tell you."
Alexander called for the Captain of the Guard and told him to arrest Dymnos, then went with a guard and the squire to the room where Cebalinos was guarded. When Alexander entered the room, the terrified prisoner knelt and started babbling, "Oh, Sire, thank goodness I got word to you before it was too late." He told him how Dymnos had felt slighted by the King and had collected others who resented Alexander.