Alexander the Great remains one of history\u2019s most enigmatic figures\u2014a wide-eyed boy from the hills of Macedon who ruled most of the known world by his mid-twenties. For centuries, historians, refugees, poets, and explorers have told his story, yet Alexander himself has stayed a mystery. Now, thanks to a series of recent, remarkable discoveries, author Edmund Richardson thrusts readers into Alexander\u2019s world in ways that have never before been possible. <\/p>\n
Richardson\u2019s new book, Alexander<\/em>, provides a revelatory retelling of one of the most famous and elusive stories in history. The narrative captures the raw human reality behind an empire-building campaign that ultimately reshaped the ancient world, beginning on a fateful night in November 333 BCE.<\/p>\n They had watched the sky for generations. Night after night, they had stared up at the stars. Now, in the early hours of November 5, 333 BCE, the astronomers of Babylon looked to the heavens again, trying to glimpse the future.<\/p>\n It was 1 a.m. The moon was setting. The constellation of the Lion shone high in the sky. Like all the signs of the Zodiac, it had first been named in Babylon. Beneath the stars, the city slept. Babylon, the shimmering heart of the Persian Empire, was built in a vast square, sprawling across the plains on either side of the Euphrates River. Along its northern walls, the ramparts of the Ishtar Gate glowed blue and gold in the moonlight. The courtyards of the great palace of Nebuchadnezzar lay undisturbed, apart from the tread of an occasional watchman. In the temples, the sacred fires crackled quietly. To the south, the ruins of a colossal brick ziggurat, the Etemenanki, loomed up in the darkness. The Babylonians called it \u201cthe foundations of heaven and earth.\u201d Others called it the Tower of Babel\u2014a structure so monstrous that it must have been built to steal knowledge from heaven. That night, the astronomers were doing just that.<\/p>\n In 333 BCE, Babylonian astronomy was already over a thousand years old. Every day, the astronomers recorded their observations on small clay tablets, writing in wedge-shaped cuneiform script, one of the earliest writing systems in history. Writing was invented\u2014according to the legend of Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta\u2014because, one day, a messenger was overwhelmed by how much he had to remember. The messenger, whose mouth was weary, could not repeat the message. Because his lips were heavy, and he could not remember it, the lord of Kulaba shaped some clay and inscribed the message on it, as though on a tablet. Before then, no one had written messages on clay. But on that day, beneath the sun, it became so. The astronomers\u2019 observations, inscribed on hundreds of cuneiform tablets dating back centuries, formed one of history\u2019s first databases: an archive of comets and asteroids, stars, and omens.<\/p>\n Many constellations still carry the names given to them by the Babylonians. Leo is the Babylonian Lion, Gemini is the Great Twins, and Libra is the Scales, though some constellations have not retained their ancient monikers, such as the Wild Boar, the Lord of Battles, and the Mad Dog. Four hundred years earlier, the Babylonians had begun to develop elaborate mathematical models to predict the course of the planets and eclipses of the moon. By 333 BCE, even when the night was cloudy and neither the stars nor the moon could be seen, the astronomers could still chart the sky above their heads with pinpoint precision. Often, their archives record the positions of the stars on a given night, along with the ancient Sumerian phrase nu pap\u00e2<\/em>\u2014\u201cI could not see.\u201d <\/p>\n The first horoscopes were also cast in Babylon. Astronomers calculated the positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets at the time a person was born and used that information to predict the course of their life. For Babylonians, the sky was an engine for understanding the future.<\/p>\n Yet, on that particular night, something more earthly preoccupied the Babylonians. For months, they had been hearing rumors from the west. An army had poured into the Persian Empire\u2014men from the cold, rocky lands near the edges of the earth. No one was sure why they had come, or what they wanted. Their king was said to be a young man called Alexander, or Aleksandaris<\/em>, as the Babylonians knew him. <\/p>\n City after city had fallen to the invaders. Eventually, the Great King of Persia, Darius III, had gathered an enormous army and led it west to drive the strangers from his lands. Tens of thousands of soldiers, drawn from across the Persian Empire, had marched from Babylon one autumn morning: young men in purple, chariots decorated with gold and silver, and infantry in shimmering armor. The retinue of the Great King stretched for miles, including Darius\u2019s chefs, flower-arrangers, bodyguards, and his family. Darius himself rode tall in his royal chariot, dressed in gold, purple, and white, carrying his bow. Behind the army, hundreds of mules laden with gold and silver plodded wearily into the west. Now, every day, Babylon waited for news.<\/p>\n During the hours of darkness, uncertainty and dread crept into the world. In the sky, within the constellations of the Eagle and the Dead Man, the Babylonians saw the souls of the dead traveling across the stars on their long journey to the afterlife. Night in Mesopotamia belonged not just to the astronomers, but to demons and ghosts\u2014watchers in the darkness that scratched at doors like wolves and flashed like lightning.<\/p>\n Hours passed, and the stars wheeled overhead. Sharru, the \u201croyal star\u201d known today as Regulus, hung in the eastern sky, holding the fortunes of the king. Nearby was the constellation of the Serpent, a warning of coming death and destruction. But the stars did not always bring answers. Sometimes, the future remained hard to see, even from the Tower of Babel.<\/p>\n While the astronomers watched the sky, hundreds of miles away near the shores of the Mediterranean, Alexander was praying. The moon had set a little before 2 a.m. Above his head hung many of the same constellations that shone over Babylon: Leo, which Greeks called the Nemean Lion, and the Serpent, which Greeks saw as the Hydra, both vanquished by Heracles. But while the astronomers glimpsed the future unfolding, Alexander\u2019s mind was fixed firmly on the earth below.<\/p>\n He knew that the coming day would bring the greatest battle of his life. The army of Darius was drawn up ahead of him on the narrow coastal plain of Issus, situated in the southwest corner of modern Turkey. The plain was crossed by the Pinarus River and hemmed in by the Mediterranean to the west and steep green hills to the south and east. Behind the hills, dusty grey mountains rose, cutting off the coast from the vast Syrian deserts stretching east for hundreds of miles. <\/p>\n Alexander was outnumbered and far from home. Unable to sleep, he had climbed to the top of a hill in the middle of the night. There, alone and surrounded by flaming torches, he prayed, knowing it might be the last time he saw the stars. \u201cHis confidence had given way to dread,\u201d wrote Quintus Curtius Rufus. \u201cFortune had made him\u2014but now he feared it.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexander was twenty-three years old. Three years earlier, his father, King Philip II of Macedon, had been assassinated, leaving Alexander to inherit a tumbledown kingdom, a pile of debts, and an army that answered to nobody. He was a slight, wiry young man whom no one had paid much attention to until he suddenly ascended the throne. His face was pale and intense, quick to flush red, with a sharp nose and huge eyes. He wore his curly hair long. <\/p>\n Portraits of Alexander often conceal as much as they reveal, but a fragmentary bust known as the Delos Alexander captures something of the young king beneath the stars. His neck is thick, his body solid muscle, and his face full and open. His hair is brushed back in a tangle of curls, matted with dust and rain. His eyes are wide but sunken, with puffy shadows beneath the eyelids, and his jaw is clenched. He looks tired, like a young Achilles. <\/p>\n (Alexander famously hated having his portrait taken. Apelles, one of the greatest artists of the ancient world, had recently painted him with his horse, Bucephalus. When Apelles showed Alexander the finished work, the king mumbled grudging praise. Accustomed to rapturous receptions, Apelles sent for Alexander\u2019s horse. When Bucephalus neighed at the painting, thinking it was real, Apelles remarked, \u201cMy king, your horse knows more about art than you do.\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n Soon after claiming the throne, Alexander had led his army east into the vast Persian Empire. For Greeks in the fourth century BCE, Persia was a land of wonder and unimaginable luxury, where the Great King ruled over roughly 50 million people. Having threatened to swallow up Greece on multiple occasions, Persia now faced Alexander\u2019s promise of revenge. He had led his army south from the Hellespont, marching down the coast of Asia Minor while looting and liberating in roughly equal measure. <\/p>\n He had barely survived a battle with Darius\u2019s governors at the Granicus River, coming within a second of losing his head. He had spent weeks laid up with a debilitating fever, while his treasurer ran off with as much gold as he could steal. Dissent and rebellion were everywhere, and the campaign seemed on the brink of collapse before rumors reached him that a vast army was bearing down.<\/p>\n Alexander had set out in search of Darius, but recent days had brought misery. Steady rain had left the Greeks cold and anxious as they struggled through the hills. The giant Persian army remained elusive, causing Alexander to worry that his men would be defeated not by enemy bravery, but by their own exhaustion. As the baggage train fell further behind, Darius made his move.<\/p>\n Under cover of darkness in the early hours of November 4, the Great King led his army through a narrow pass in the Amanus mountains onto the coastal plain of Issus. Within hours of march from Alexander, Darius fell upon Alexander\u2019s vulnerable rearguard\u2014the baggage, supplies, and sick or injured soldiers straggling south along the coast. The Greeks never stood a chance. Some were killed, while others were taken prisoner and horribly mutilated: their hands were cut off, and their bloody wounds were cauterized with pitch. Dragged in agony through the Persian army, these survivors were turned loose to tell Alexander what they had seen.<\/p>\n The first Alexander knew of the disaster was when a mutilated soldier staggered into his camp. More followed, each bearing the same nightmare of black-stained stump hands. Unwilling to believe the news at first, Alexander sent soldiers down the coast in a small boat to investigate. Around 6 p.m., as the sun set, his men witnessed the Persian campfires stretching across the plain of Issus\u2014so many that \u201cthe whole world seemed to be ablaze.\u201d Darius had outmaneuvered him, blocking the path home to Greece and leaving the Greeks with only the food they carried. With their options narrowed to fighting or fleeing against a massively outnumbered force on enemy soil, Alexander faced a desperate crisis.<\/p>\n In the cold November dusk, Alexander walked up and down the ranks of his soldiers. To his commanders, he spoke of past victories; to his soldiers, he spoke of the glory and wealth awaiting them. Singling out men who had previously performed remarkable acts of battle, he praised them by name. Soon, soldiers crowded around him from every direction, pressing to grasp his right hand\u2014hands that were cold from the November chill, calloused, and scarred from years on the march. Trying to push thoughts of the mutilated men from his mind, Alexander ordered the army to turn around and march straight for the Great King.<\/p>\n Around midnight, the Greeks reached the pass leading down into the plain of Issus, set up camp, and ensured the men had eaten. Yet Alexander could not sleep. Leaving his tent to stand under the stars, he prayed and waited for the dawn.<\/p>\n As a child, Alexander had been taught by Aristotle, who viewed courage as the most important virtue of all. Aristotle taught that true courage did not mean being fearless in battle, but rather facing down fear and inspiring others, meeting a worthy death without fear if necessary. Standing beneath the stars, Alexander tried to quiet his anxiety. As Quintus Curtius Rufus noted, he was far from sure he would be victorious, but he was certain that if he died, it would be gloriously.<\/p>\n Within a few brief years, the young man from the hills of Macedon would rule the greatest empire in history, stretching from Athens to the plains of India. His campaign would transform the world, reshaping reality more profoundly than almost anyone else in history. Driven by hope, desperation, and desire, he would lead his army to the edges of the known world, unleashing violence on an unprecedented scale that claimed the lives of nearly one percent of the world\u2019s population before his life ended in Babylon.<\/p>\n For now, however, Alexander was still a frightened young man standing alone beneath the stars, praying to every god who might listen as his torches guttered and died. As 5 a.m. approached and the sun had still not risen, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter shone brightly in the east, leaving the young king to wonder if his luck had finally run out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alexander the Great remains one of history\u2019s most enigmatic figures\u2014a wide-eyed boy from the hills of Macedon who ruled most of the known world by his mid-twenties. For centuries, historians, refugees, poets, and explorers have told his story, yet Alexander himself has stayed a mystery. Now, thanks to a series of recent, remarkable discoveries, author […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[2010,230,2011,828,231,2964,627,126,229,2012,358,411,2963,2962,441],"class_list":["post-1791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eastern-heritage-and-history","tag-alexander","tag-archaeology","tag-battle","tag-book","tag-eastern-culture","tag-epochal","tag-great","tag-heritage","tag-history","tag-issus","tag-night","tag-offers","tag-retelling","tag-revelatory","tag-rise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}I<\/h2>\n
The Watchers<\/h2>\n
Babylon & Issus, 5 November 333 BCE<\/h2>\n