Alexander at the Battle of the Granicus - Rupert Matthews
A few months ago I read the excellent The Wars of Alexander's Successors 323 - 281 BC: Commanders and Campaigns by Bennett and Roberts. I'm sure I reviewed it on this blog, but can't find the post. Hmm. Anyway, I have just finished reading the equally excellent Alexander at the Battle of the Granicus A Campaign in Context by Rupert Matthews, who I think is a private historian. This is a really informative look not only at how Alexander won his first battle against the Persian army but the make up of his own army at the time. It also takes a glance at what happened afterwards.
As well as the text, there are some simple graphics to illustrate the formation of the two armies at the Granicus River and how it changed during the battle. Matthews commentary is not one sided - he also takes a look at the Persian forces, which were under the command of the Greek mercenary Memnon. Memnon lost this battle, but he may have fared better if the Persian satraps had paid attention to him earlier on instead of placing their interests ahead of the need for victory over the upstart Macedonian. But that is probably why they chose to do so.
Matthews' insights afford many moments of pleasure during the reading of this book, but it was his retelling of an anecdote that I enjoyed most. Following his victory at the Granicus, Alexander visited the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos (i.e. Ephesus) to give money to the chief priest for its rebuilding. Alexander was born on the day it was burnt down (21st July 356BC) and according to legend, the goddess Artemis was too busy atttending to him to save her temple. He bore, therefore, the responsibility for its destruction. So, Alexander's gift of money was a kind of reparation.
As modest as ever, as Alexander was giving the money to make the temple grander than it had ever been before, he told the chief priest that he might like to inscribe Alexander's name on it. The Chief Priest did not wish to do so, but how would he tell Alexander this without getting his head chopped off? Well, he hit upon an ingenious solution. He told Alexander that he would not carve his name, because, "It is not fitting for one god to do honour to another." Well done that man.
Matthews' insights afford many moments of pleasure during the reading of this book, but it was his retelling of an anecdote that I enjoyed most. Following his victory at the Granicus, Alexander visited the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos (i.e. Ephesus) to give money to the chief priest for its rebuilding. Alexander was born on the day it was burnt down (21st July 356BC) and according to legend, the goddess Artemis was too busy atttending to him to save her temple. He bore, therefore, the responsibility for its destruction. So, Alexander's gift of money was a kind of reparation.
As modest as ever, as Alexander was giving the money to make the temple grander than it had ever been before, he told the chief priest that he might like to inscribe Alexander's name on it. The Chief Priest did not wish to do so, but how would he tell Alexander this without getting his head chopped off? Well, he hit upon an ingenious solution. He told Alexander that he would not carve his name, because, "It is not fitting for one god to do honour to another." Well done that man.
Another little golden nuggett in this book is the short What Happened Next chapter, which outlines what happened to all the major characters in the drama. It reads just like the captions at the end of historical films. Thus,
Ada remained Queen of Caria for the rest of her life. Her date of death is unknown.Aristobuoulos remained with Alexander until h is death, then returned home and spent the rest of his life writing books on geographyRheomithras skillfully led his Cavalry units out of Alexander's reach, heading southeast towards the Euphrates. He joined Darius late in 334BC. In 333BC he was killed fighting Alexander at the Battle of Issus.
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