By Bill Yenne
While the Oracle of Delphi instructed Alexander the nice that he was once invincible, it was once right.
The son of the nice King Philip II of Macedonia, Alexander was once informed by way of Aristotle and commanded a wing of his father's military within the victory over the Thebans and Athenians on the conflict of Chaeronea-all whilst he was once nonetheless only a youngster. by the point of his dying at age 32, he had accrued an empire that stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River and integrated all of Persia and so much of Egypt. He governed as either the shah of Persia and as a pharaoh of Egypt through correct of conquest, and he used to be additionally topped king of Asia.
Here, historian invoice Yenne illuminates the mythical imaginative and prescient of this classical hero. displaying the easiest characteristics of a battlefield chief, Alexander was once audacious, competitive, fearless and positive. His unfailing integration of strategic imaginative and prescient and tactical genius took him to the ends of the earth, and into immortality as an army chief. Alexander's impression on cultural and political heritage and the scope of his army prowess continues to be awe-inspiring to today.
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Additional resources for Alexander the Great: Lessons from History's Undefeated General
Sample text
The trireme, so named for its having three rows of oars on each side, was the standard Mediterranean warship of the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Though triremes were the most common warship of the day, larger vessels called quadriremes and quinqueremes were also used by various navies during this period. While Alexander emphasized land power over naval power in his military doctrine, he occasionally deployed a fleet comprised mainly of allied naval forces, and all three types of vessels were included.
The exact number of Persian combat troops is not known, and modern estimates vary widely from about 20,000 to nearly 50,000. Two of the principal Persian field commanders were Spithridates, the Persian satrap of Lydia and Ionia, and Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darius. The Persian force also included a substantial number of Greek mercenaries. At the Granicus, they were led by Memnon of Rhodes, reportedly a favorite of Darius. The battle lines were drawn on opposite sides of the river, with Alexander to the north and west, and the Persians to the south and east.
Plutarch repeats the story he was told that the Persians lost 20,000 infantry and 2,500 cavalry. He then quotes Aristobulus of Cassandreia, who tells that Alexander’s total losses numbered just 34. Aristobulus was an architect and military engineer who accompanied Alexander on the campaign and wrote an account that served as one of Arrian’s primary sources. Continuing to reference Aristobulus, Arrian adds that Alexander ordered bronze equestrian statues to be cast by the sculptor Lysippus, who did a great deal of work for Alexander though the years, including statues of the young king himself.
