Alexander the Great at War

Chapter 1: Greece and Persia in the 5th Century

When Alexander ascended the throne of Macedon following the death of his father in 336, the city-states of Greece and the huge empire of Persia had already been in conflict for hundreds of years. Ancient Greece was divided into hundreds of city-states (poleis, singular polis). The size of these states varied considerably but most comprised an urban centre, where much of the population lived, and where the principal public buildings were located, plus a surrounding rural territory. Although there were many differences in the ways that each state was organized and governed, broadly speaking they came in two types: either a democracy, where decision making was in the hands of the majority of the citizens, or an oligarchy, in which effective control of decision making was limited to a minority of the citizens. Armed conflict between the city-states was common. In his Laws Plato argued that peace is but a word, and that every state was, by nature, engaged in a permanent undeclared war with every other state. (Laws, I.626a) Warfare pervaded all spheres of political, cultural and intellectual endeavour in Greece, it was the subject of most of the surviving Greek tragedies and comedies and warriors and warfare are the most common subjects of Greek sculptures and vases, while Classical Greek philosophy also addressed the role of the hoplite: the citizen-soldier.Conflict was common within the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. At its greatest extent, the empire covered a huge area, from Asia Minor to India, and its subjects included numerous peoples. The kings of Persia expanded their rule for centuries, and were constantly challenged by the huge distances involved in ruling and administering the provinces of their empire, known as satrapies. In the late 6th century, King Darius I had a trilingual inscription carved into a rockface at Bisitun in Iran to record his actions as king. After taking the throne, he had put down a number of rebellions across his empire over several years; the carving includes representation of nine of the defeated rebel leaders tied together. Revolt or rebellion among the peoples of the empire and the men who ruled the satrapies in the name of king, and even members of the king’s own family were common throughout the empire’s history. The Greek and Persian Wars grew out of what was originally classed as one of these revolts.