| Battle of Issus | |||||||||
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| Part of theWars of Alexander the Great | |||||||||
 Alexander battling Darius at the Battle of Issus (Naples National Archaeological Museum) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
Total:c. 37,000
| Modern estimate: 50,000–100,000[1] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 150 killed 4,500 wounded 302 missing[6][7] | ~20,000–40,000 casualties[7] | ||||||||
  Issus Issus (Turkey) Show map of Turkey | |||||||||
TheBattle of Issus (alsoIssos) occurred in southernAnatolia, on 5 November 333 BC between theHellenic League led byAlexander the Great and theAchaemenid Empire, led byDarius III. It was the second great battle of Alexander's conquest of Asia, and the first encounter between Darius III and Alexander the Great. The battle resulted in the Macedonian troops defeating the Persian forces.
After the Hellenic League soundly defeated the Persiansatraps ofAsia Minor (led by Greek mercenaryMemnon of Rhodes) at theBattle of the Granicus, Darius took personal command of his army. He gathered reinforcements and proceeded to lead his men in a surprise march behind the Hellenic advance, in order to cut off their line of supply. Alexander was forced to countermarch, and the stage was set for the battle near the mouth of thePinarus River and the city ofIssus.
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The battle took place south of the ancient cityIssus, which is close to the present-dayTurkish city ofIskenderun (theTurkish equivalent of "Alexandria", founded byAlexander to commemorate his victory), on either side of a small river calledPinarus. At that location, the distance from theGulf of Issus to the surrounding mountains is only 2.6 km (2 mi), a place where Darius could not take advantage of his superiority in numbers. Speculation on the location of the Pinarus has taken place for over 80 years. Older historians believed it to be theDeli Tchai river, but historians N.G.L. Hammond and A. M. Devine claim that the Pinarus is actually thePayas River, the latter using his own examination of the course of the river, which he considered would not have drastically changed since antiquity. Their evidence is based onCallisthenes' accounts of the measurements of the battlefield and distances marched by both sides' armies in the prelude to the battle and distance given byDiodorus after the battle.
Alexander set out into Asia in 334 BC and defeated the local Persiansatraps at theBattle of the Granicus. He then proceeded to occupy most of Asia Minor, with the idea of capturing all coastal settlements so as to negate the power of the vastly superior Persian fleet. He captured several important settlements such asMiletus in 334 BC andHalicarnassus. While Alexander was inTarsus, he heard of Darius massing a great army inBabylon. If Darius were to reach the Gulf of Issus, he could use the support from the Persian fleet underPharnabazus still operating in theMediterranean Sea, thus easing his supply and possibly landing troops behind the enemy. Alexander kept his main army at Tarsus but sentParmenion ahead to occupy the coast around Issus. In November, Alexander received reports that the great Persian army had advanced into Syria to a town named Sochoi. Alexander decided to mass his scattered army and advance south from Issus through the Pass of Jonah.
Darius knew that Parmenion held the Pass of Jonah and thus chose a northern route of advance. The Persians captured Issus without opposition and cut off the hands of all the sick and wounded that Alexander had left behind. Now Darius found out he had placed his army behind the Hellenic League and had cut their supply lines. He then advanced to the south and got no further than the river Pinarus before his scouts spotted Alexander marching north. Darius had to set up camp on this narrow coastal plain.
There is much debate as to the motives of Alexander and Darius preceding Issus. One modern perspective, based onCurtius, is that Darius was forced to move camp to terrain that favored Alexander because Alexander was fighting defensively due to a recommendation by his war council andParmenion.[citation needed] Darius' large army could not be supported in the field during winter and his cities inPhoenicia were already in unrest at the arrival of Alexander. Darius was forced to move his large army to a small battlefield, greatly to the advantage of Alexander's smaller force.
Alexander was waiting for Darius to come south around the Amanus Mountain range because the pass Darius would have used, theBelen Pass, was much closer to Sochi and offered the quickest access to the area Alexander defended. Alexander was waiting 15 km (9.3 mi) to the west of the Belen Pass atMyriandus to spring a trap on Darius as he crossed through the Belen Pass or through the Pillar of Jonah if he moved north, where Darius' army would be disorganized and disjointed in the narrow crossing. Darius instead moved north from Sochi and around the mountains, through theAmanic Gate or another nearby pass, emerging behind Alexander's position and on his supply and communication lines. Thus Alexander was forced to march to Darius, who had caught him off guard in a large flanking maneuver. This gives the illusion that Darius was the one acting defensively, since Alexander was forced to march to him.
Some ancient sources (Arrian andPlutarch), who based their accounts on earlier Greek sources, estimated 600,000[3] Persian soldiers in total, whileDiodorus andJustin estimated 400,000, andCurtius Rufus estimated 250,000.
Modern historians find Arrian's count of 600,000 men highly unlikely. They argue that thelogistics of fielding more than 100,000 soldiers in battle was extremely difficult at the time.Hans Delbrück gives an estimate as small as 25,000, although most (including Engels andGreen) estimate the total size of Darius' army to be no larger than 100,000 at Issus,[2] including 11,000 cavalry,[3] 10,000Persian Immortals, and 10,000 Greek mercenaries.[5] Warry estimates 108,000 in total.
The size of the Hellenic army may not have exceeded 40,000 men, including their other allies, led by Alexander. Alexander's army may have consisted of about 24,000 heavy infantry (9,000phalangites, 3,000hypaspists and 7,000 allied and 5,000 mercenary Greekhoplites), 13,000 light infantry (peltasts, archers, slingers) and 5,850cavalry.[3]
The Greeks advanced through the Pillar of Jonah. Alexander led hisCompanion cavalry on the right flank and he set his Thessalian allied cavalry on the left of thephalanx withParmenion in command.
Darius formed his line with his heavy cavalry concentrated next to the coast on his right, followed by the Greek mercenary phalanx (historian A. M. Devine places them at a strength of 12,000, comparable to Alexander's Greek phalanx). Next to the Greek phalanx Darius spread his Persian infantry, theCardaces, along the river and into the foothills, where they wrapped around to the other bank and threatened Alexander's right flank (the formation resembledgamma, Γ).Arrian gives an inflated figure of 20,000 to these troops. Darius positioned himself in the centre with the Greek mercenaries, his royal cavalry guard, and his best infantry. According to some historians, like P. Stratikis, he was trying to replicate the Hellenic battle formation of theBattle of the Granicus.
The Persian cavalry first charged Parmenion and the allied cavalry, crossing the river to open battle. Alexander's right wing became the crux of the battle, as atGaugamela two years later, where Parmenion held the left wing long enough against superior Persian numbers for Alexander to make his calculated cavalry strike against Darius and break the Persian army.[8] The infantry of the Greek left flank was commanded by the generalCraterus, in a promotion from his position commanding a single brigade ofpezhetairoi infantry at the Granicus.[9]
Things did not go well for the Macedonians in the beginning. Their center phalanx, having to advance across a river and up a fortified bank, suffered severely against the Greek mercenaries waiting for them on the other side. Arrian noted that a hundred and twenty Macedonians "of note" (probably meaning officers) were slain here, and the Macedonians were forced to retreat across the river. In the left flank, the Thessalian struggled against the outnumbering mass of Persian heavy horse that faced them, delivering charges and retreating again to buy time.
Then theHypaspists led by Alexander on foot delivered an assault on the Cardaces, and managed to punch a hole through the Persian line. TheAgrianians too drove back a mass of Persian skirmishers menacing Alexander's far right, securing the flank of theCompanions. Alexander then mounted a horse at the head of his Companions and led a direct assault against Darius and his bodyguards, causing them to flee from the battlefield. Alexander then saw his left flank and center in trouble, and allowing Darius to flee, he crashed into the rear of the Greek mercenaries. The Greek mercenaries broke up and started retreating from the battlefield as well. The Persians saw that their Great King had gone and that the battle was being lost, and they abandoned their positions and fled in full rout. The Hellenic cavalry pursued the fleeing Persians for as long as there was light. As with most ancient battles, significant carnage occurred after the battle as the pursuing Greeks slaughtered their crowded, disorganized foe. Arrian notesPtolemy mentioning that while pursuing Darius, Alexander and his bodyguards came upon a ravine which they easily crossed on the piled up bodies of dead Persians. It was a decisive victory for Alexander.
The Battle of Issus was a decisive Hellenic victory and it marked the beginning of the end of Persian power. It was the first time the Persian army had been defeated with the King (Darius III at the time) present[citation needed]. After the battle, the Hellenes captured Darius' wife,Stateira I, his daughters,Stateira II andDrypetis, and his mother,Sisygambis, all of whom had accompanied Darius on his campaign. Alexander, who later married Stateira II, treated the captured women with great respect.
Later, the Spartan kingAgis III recruited the Greek mercenary survivors of the Battle of Issus who had served in the Persian army, a force of 8,000 veterans, and used them in his fight against the Macedonians. In the summer of 331 BC, Agis defeatedCoragus, the Macedonian general in command of the Peloponnese and the garrison ofCorinth, but was finally defeated at theBattle of Megalopolis.
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At the battle of Issus in 333, the Armenian contingent is said to have numbered 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry
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