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Sarah Rhodes Porfolio

Alexander the Great Battle Map

This is a map containing five of Alexander the Greats greatest conquest. I think Alexander and his story is interesting and have studied him and his empire a lot in the past. So when we were told to make a map of six points containing any information we wanted it to, I chose Alexander and a few of his many battles. Below I included a short paragraph about his background from a paper I wrote last semester over Alexander and his reputation.

" Alexander was born in 356 BC, and showed signs of a ruler from an early age. In their book The Prince of Macedon, Alan Fildes and Joann Fletcher talk about Alexander’s taming of the “untamable” horse, Bucephalus, his tutoring by the remarkable Aristotle, and his battle triumphs as a young boy. Watching Alexander grow up, people, including his father King Philip III, knew he was destined to be a king.[1]After his father’s abrupt death in 336 BC, Alexander became king of the Macedonian Empire. The people of this empire already valued Alexander and many were hopeful he would do great things to continue to help their empire expand. As stated in Bosworth’s Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great,Alexander had his first great battle victory in May of 334 BC over the empire’s biggest rival, the Persian Empire. Bosworth says Alexander heroically lead his army in a diagonal line across the Granicus River, and even fought in hand-to-hand combat to earn his first battle victory for his empire.[2]"

[1]Fildes, Alan, and Joann Fletcher. “The Prince of Macedon:359-335 BCE.” In Alexander the Great: Son of the Gods, 10–32. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002.

[2]Bosworth, A.B. “First Victory.” In Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great, 35–44. Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Contents of this path:

The capturing of the island city of Tyre took Alexander seven months. The city is located on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean and had tall walls surrounding it. This prevented Alexander and his army from entering and this angered Alexander. By the time he found a way to knock down the walls, he was so enraged that de destroyed half of the city. This event took place from January to July 332 BC at what is now known as Lebanon.
The Battle of Thebes was a bit different from some of Alexanders other battles in that this city was already under Macedonian occupation after Alexanders father captured the city years earlier. But the people of Thebes, present-day Boeotia, Greece, revolted and after not accepting Alexanders request for submission, Alexander reluctantly destroyed the city as an example to others and to earn respect. Alexanders large army full of experienced troops defeated the Theban troops in December of 335 BC.
The Battle of Issus was the second battle between Alexander and his biggest rival, King Darius III. This battle was fought in southern Anatolia on November 5th, 333 BC. King Darius III of the Persian, or Achaemenid Empire, was defeated by Alexander and his army, but King Darius still remained leader of his army after. This was a surprise attack on Alexanders army to cut their line of supply. Alexander countermarched, and the battle of Issus began at the mouth of the Pinarus River.
In 326 BC Alexander confronted King Porus, ruler of Paurava and his army at the banks of a river called Jhelum, also known as Hydaspes. This battle was fought at modern-day Punjab, Pakistan, and is one of Alexanders well-known battles for his "masterpiece" technique he used. King Porus never thought Alexander the would take his army across the monsoon-swollen river, but he did and it led him to victory. But Alexander's army did suffer greatly and it was their most costly battle.
This battle was the beginning of the three-year-long war between Alexander the Great, and King Darius III of the Persian Empire. The battle took place in Northwest Asia Minor near Troy, in May of 334 BC. Alexander attacked King Darius and his army after crossing the Granicus river in the night to catch the Persians off guard. Alexander was victorious after losing 300 men, whereas Darius lost around 3,000. This was the first battle of a big rivalry.
After three years of war, Alexander the Great was able to finally defeat his greatest enemy, King Darius III of Persia at this location on October 1st, 331 BC. Alexander chose this location of Gaugamel, current day city of Dohuk, to meet his enemy after making sure the location worked in his favor. Despite his army being smaller in numbers, his army was well trained, and Alexander came out on top. This battle was the decisive victory that lead to the fall of the Persian Empire.