The stage was set. With his iron grip on Greece and the Balkans, Alexander the Great turned his gaze east. His invasion of Asia Minor was a calculated risk – the sprawling Achaemenid Empire, though weakened by revolt in Egypt, remained a formidable foe. Yet, Darius III’s absence left the western provinces vulnerable, ripe for the taking.
But the Persian satraps, hardened veterans of conflict with Greeks, weren’t about to surrender their lands without a fight. They gathered their armies, a mix of local levies and seasoned Greek mercenaries, and met Alexander on the banks of the Granicus River. The battle that ensued would mark the young king’s dazzling debut on the Asian stage.
The Prelude: Philip’s Legacy and Persian Resistance
Alexander’s ambitions were built, in part, on the foundation laid by his father, Philip II. The brilliant Macedonian king had dispatched an expeditionary force under Parmenion, aiming to carve out a beachhead in Asia Minor. Initial success, however, was fleeting. Philip’s assassination sparked widespread revolts that threw Alexander’s reign into chaos, leaving the foothold in Persia hanging by a thread.
Meanwhile, Darius III crushed the Egyptian uprising and turned his wrathful eye towards the Macedonians. Memnon of Rhodes, his cunning Greek mercenary general, drove the Macedonians back in a series of victories. Yet, they stubbornly clung to their toehold. By 334 BCE, Alexander had subdued the uprisings in his own backyard and was ready to surge across the Hellespont with the full might of Macedon behind him.
Armies on the Riverbank
Alexander’s army was his father’s weapon honed to deadly perfection. The Macedonian phalanx, bristling with long pikes, formed its unyielding core. Swift Agrianian javelin-men, hardened Thessalian cavalry, and the elite Companion cavalry – Alexander’s hammerblow – completed this formidable force.
The Persian army, while perhaps numerically superior, was a patchwork force. Local levies of questionable loyalty stood alongside battle-tested Greek mercenaries. Their strength lay in their greater number of cavalry, vital on the open terrain flanking the Granicus.
Memnon of Rhodes: Alexander the Great’s Skilled Adversary
Memnon of Rhodes, a Greek mercenary commander in Persian service, stood as a formidable obstacle during Alexander the Great’s Asian campaigns. His strategic brilliance and deep understanding of Macedonian tactics nearly derailed Alexander’s ambitions.
Memnon’s career began in 358 BCE under the Persian satrap of Phrygia. His involvement in a revolt against the Empire led to exile in Macedonia, where he interacted with both Philip II and the young Alexander. These encounters provided crucial insights into Macedonian military strengths and political vulnerabilities.
Welcomed back into Persian service in 343 BCE, Memnon quickly faced off against Macedonians in the defense of Byzantium (339 BCE) and Parmenion’s campaign in Asia Minor.
With Alexander’s arrival in Asia Minor, Memnon advocated a devastating scorched earth policy. He understood both the weaknesses in Alexander’s supply lines and the anti-Macedonian sentiment within Greece. However, egotistical Persian satraps, unwilling to sacrifice their territories, overruled his sound strategy.
The clash at the Granicus River saw Memnon positioned with the cavalry, likely intended as a show of force rather than the main battle. This could imply distrust from the satraps or a calculated move on Memnon’s part.
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Battle At The Granicus
The battle began disastrously for the Macedonians. Alexander’s initial cavalry assault across the river was met with a barrage of missiles from the Persians holding the high ground. Heavy losses forced a Macedonian retreat, luring the Persians from their advantageous position.
Whether a calculated ploy or opportunistic reaction, the result was devastating for the Persians. Alexander launched his primary attack, leading the Companion cavalry and the Macedonian phalanx across the river and up the now-unprotected bank. The Persian cavalry’s disrupted formation made them vulnerable, and Alexander’s personal charge proved decisive.
Alexander’s Cavalry Decimates the Persians
Across the treacherous Granicus River, Alexander’s Macedonian cavalry surged, engaging the Achaemenid forces in a desperate melee. The Macedonians, armed with their formidable lances, swiftly overpowered their Persian adversaries, whose shorter javelins proved ineffective in the close-quarters combat. Historians speculate that Alexander may have employed a cunning wedge or diamond formation, allowing his cavalry to pierce the Persian ranks and sow chaos within their lines.
True to his warrior spirit, Alexander fearlessly led from the front lines, a whirlwind of steel amidst the fray. The young king exemplified the Homeric ideal of the warrior-hero, engaging in a series of high-stakes duels. First, he felled Mithradates, son-in-law of Darius III, with a lance thrust to the face. Retaliation swiftly followed; Rhosaces, a Persian noble, nearly cleaved Alexander’s head in two, the blow glancing off his helmet. Undeterred, Alexander pierced Rhosaces through the chest before the satrap Spithridates could strike him from behind. Cleitus the Black, ever vigilant, intervened with deadly force, saving the king’s life.
The tide had turned. Macedonian cavalry, firmly established across the river, relentlessly drove back the faltering Persians. This pivotal skirmish on the banks of the Granicus was a decisive victory for Alexander, a harbinger of the Achaemenid Empire’s inevitable downfall.
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Memnon’s Mercenaries: A Doomed Force
The Battle of the Granicus saw the swift collapse of the Achaemenid cavalry’s left flank, their center soon following in panicked retreat. While some clashes between the two infantries likely occurred, the details of those engagements remain lost to history. With the Achaemenid cavalry routed, Alexander honed in on the force that posed the greatest remaining threat – the formidable Greek mercenaries in the employ of Memnon.
Tragically for the mercenaries, they had been positioned too far back to support the cavalry and their commander, Memnon, was engaged with the cavalry when the battle erupted, leaving them without leadership. Despite these disadvantages, the Greek mercenaries remained a force to be reckoned with. Alexander, ever the shrewd tactician, directed his assault toward them.
With the rest of the Achaemenid army in disarray, the mercenaries sought a more defensible position, even attempting to negotiate terms of surrender. Alexander, however, saw them as treacherous and refused. The famed Macedonian Foot Companions charged head-on, while the cavalry encircled the mercenaries, hemming them in from all sides. The Greeks, though hopelessly outnumbered, refused to go down without a fight. They met the Macedonian assault with legendary tenacity, and many of the Macedonian casualties were suffered during this brutal clash. Ultimately, however, their resistance was overcome, leaving few survivors.
Granicus: The Aftermath and Its Implications
Assessing casualties in ancient battles is often a matter of guesswork. Based on historical accounts, Macedonian losses likely hovered around 100-120, primarily among the cavalry. The Achaemenids suffered far heavier losses, with an estimated 5,000-6,000 killed. An additional 2,000 Greek mercenaries were taken prisoner, a bitter prize for Alexander. Condemning them as traitors to Greece, he enslaved them in Macedonia. To commemorate his victory, he dispatched 300 suits of Persian armor to the temple of Athena in Athens, a bold reminder of his triumph.
In the wake of Granicus, the Achaemenids were forced to abandon several garrisons across the region, conceding strategic footholds to Alexander. Dascylium, Magnesia, Tralles, the critically important Ephesus, and even mighty Sardis fell into Macedonian hands. Only Miletus stood defiant and was promptly besieged. In a swift campaign, Alexander had seized control of western Asia Minor.
Despite these gains, the core of the Achaemenid army remained intact, having regrouped at Halicarnassus. While their spirit was bruised, the vast resources of the Persian Empire meant resistance was far from futile. Yet, the tide had turned. Alexander now possessed a vital base of operations within the empire and could strike into its heartland at will. The stage was set for a conquest that would shape the ancient world.
