Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

Silver Coin of Sidon (? 374-62 b.c).
CHAPTER XXII
THE CAREER OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT TO THE DEATH
OF DARIUS CODOMANNUS
His city there thou seest, and Bactra there ;
Ecbatana her structure vast there shows,
And Hecatompylos her hundred gates ;
There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream
The drink of none but kings.
Milton, Paradise Regained.
The Battle of Arbela^ 331 b.c-— Upon quitting Tyre
Alexander made for Thapsacus on the Euphrates, just
as Cyrus the Younger had done. There he found two
bridges of boats which had been constructed by his orders.
A small Persian force of 3000 cavalry which had been
posted without support to defend the passage had withdrawn.
Indeed it is an extraordinary feature of this
campaign that Darius, who had large bodies of light horse
at his disposal, made no attempt whatever to harass the
Greek troops, who were heavily armed and possessed only
a small force of light cavalry. In these vast open plains
the Macedonian host should have been constantly assailed,
as was done with complete success a few centuries later by
the Parthians, who in this way brought down the pride
of Rome.
After crossing the Euphrates, Alexander marched
"hrough the fertile district of Mesopotamia past Carrhae, to
made no
|he Tigris, which Darius with fatuous negligence
.ttempt to defend, although owing to its VOL. I 273
swiftness it
T
was