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The Battle of Issus (also Issos) occurred in
southern Anatolia, on November 5, 333 BC between the Hellenic League led by
Alexander the Great and the Achaemenid Empire, led by Darius III, in the second
great battle of Alexander's conquest of Asia. The invading Macedonian troops
defeated Persia. After the Hellenic League soundly defeated the Persian satraps
of Asia Minor (led by Greek mercenary Memnon of Rhodes) at the Battle of the
Granicus, Darius took personal command of his army. He gathered reinforcements
and led his men in a surprise march behind the Hellenic advance to cut their
line of supply. This forced Alexander to countermarch, setting the stage for
the battle near the mouth of the Pinarus River and the town of Issus.
Opponents:
Macedon - versus Achaemenid Empire
Commanders and leaders:
Macedon - Alexander the Great Parmenion Craterus Hephaestion Ptolemy
Pantordanus Sitalces II Menes Balacrus
Persians - Darius III Arsames † Rheomithres † Atizyes † Bubaces
† Sabaces †
Strength:
Macedon - 13,000 peltasts, 22,000 heavy infantry, 5,850 cavalry Total: 40,850
Persians - 30,000–80,000 light infantry (Babylonian spears, Ionian
peltasts) 11,000 cavalry 10,000 Persian Immortals 10,000 Greek mercenaries
Total: 50,000–60,000 (modern sources) 250,000–600,000 (ancient
sources)
Casualties and losses:
Macedon - 452 killed 5,000 wounded
Persians ~20,000-40,000 casualties
Location:
The battle took place south of the ancient town Issus, which is close to the
present-day Turkish town of Iskenderun (the Turkish equivalent of
"Alexandria", founded by Alexander to commemorate his victory), on
either side of a small river called Pinarus. At that location, the distance
from the Gulf 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 the Deli Tchai river, but historians N.G.L.
Hammond and A. M. Devine claim that the Pinarus is actually the Payas 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 on Callisthenes' accounts of the measurements of the battlefield and
distances marched by both sides' armies in the prelude to the battle and
distance given by Diodorus after the battle.
Background Movements to the battlefield. Red indicates Persian forces, and blue
indicates Macedonian forces. Alexander set out into Asia in 334 BC and defeated
the local Persian satraps at the Battle of the Granicus. He then proceeded to
occupy all 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 as Miletus in 334 BC and Halicarnassus, a
siege lasting four months, starting in late December the same year. While
Alexander was in Tarsus, he heard of Darius massing a great army in Babylon. If
Darius were to reach the Gulf of Issus, he could use the support from the
Persian fleet under Pharnabazus still operating in the Mediterranean Sea, thus
easing his supply and possibly landing troops behind the enemy. Alexander kept
his main army at Tarsus but sent Parmenion 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.
Motives Initial dispositions of Persian and Macedonian forces There is much
debate as to the motives of Alexander and Darius preceding Issus. One modern
perspective, based on Curtius, 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 and Parmenion.[citation needed] Darius'
large army could not be supported in the field during winter and his cities in
Phoenicia 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, the
Belen 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 at Myriandus 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, 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.
Combatants Persian army Some ancient sources (Arrian and Plutarch), who based
their accounts on earlier Greek sources, estimated 600,000[2] Persian soldiers
in total, while Diodorus and Justin estimated 400,000, and Curtius Rufus
estimated 250,000. Modern historians find Arrian's count of 600,000 men highly
unlikely. They argue that the logistics 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 and Green)
estimate the total size of Darius' army to be no larger than 100,000 at
Issus,[3] including 11,000 cavalry,[2] 10,000 Persian Immortals, and 10,000
Greek mercenaries.[4] Warry estimates 108,000 in total.
Macedonian army 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 22,000 phalangites and hoplites, 13,000 peltasts, and 5,850
cavalry.[2]
Battle The Greeks advanced through the Pillar of Jonah. Alexander led his
Companion cavalry on the right flank and he set his Thessalian allied cavalry
on the left of the phalanx with Parmenion in command. The battlefield at Issus
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, the Cardaces,
along the river and into the foothills, where they wrapped around to the other
bank and threatened Alexander's right flank (the formation resembled gamma, G).
Arrian gives an inflated figure of 20,000 to these troops. Darius positioned
himself in the centre with his best infantry, the Greek mercenaries, and his
royal cavalry guard. According to some historians, like P. Stratikis, he was
trying to replicate the Hellenic battle formation of the Battle of the
Granicus. Alexander's decisive attack 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 at Gaugamela 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 general Craterus, in a promotion from his position commanding a single
brigade of pezhetairoi infantry at the Granicus.[9] Sabakes, the Achaemenid
satrap of Egypt, died at the Battle of Issus defending Darius III. 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 the Hypaspists led by Alexander on foot delivered an assault on
the Cardaces, and managed to punch a hole through the Persian line. The
Agrianians too drove back a mass of Persian skirmishers menacing Alexander's
far right, securing the flank of the Companions. 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 notes Ptolemy 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.
Aftermath The family of Darius in front of Alexander, by Justus Sustermans and
displayed in the Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer 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. After the battle, the Hellenes
captured Darius' wife, Stateira I, his daughters, Stateira II and Drypetis, 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 king Agis 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 defeated Coragus, the Macedonian general in command of
the Peloponnese and the garrison of Corinth, but was finally defeated at the
Battle of Megalopolis.
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