150-666: (Redirected from Persian Campaign ) Persian expedition or Persian campaign may refer to: Persian campaign (Alexander the Great) (334–333 BC) Julian's Persian expedition (363) Persian expedition of Stepan Razin (1669) Persian campaign of Peter the Great (1722–1723) Persian expedition of 1796 of Catherine the Great Persian campaign (World War I) (1914–1918) See also [ edit ] Anabasis (Xenophon) ,
300-639: A scorched earth strategy. He wanted the Persians to destroy the land in front of Alexander, which he hoped would force Alexander's army to starve, and then to turn back. The satraps in Anatolia rejected this advice, considering it their duty to defend their land. Eventually, with Alexander advancing deeper into Persian territory, Darius ordered all five satraps of the Anatolian provinces to pool their military resources together and confront Alexander. This army
450-743: A Greek victory in 449 BCE, and the Ionian cities regained their independence. By the Peace of Antalcidas (387 BCE), which ended the Corinthian War , Persia regained control over Ionia. In 334 BCE, the Macedonian Greek king Alexander the Great conquered the Anatolian peninsula from the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Alexander's conquest opened up the interior of Asia Minor to Greek settlement and influence. Following
600-545: A baggage train being pulled by an ox, was lying next to a lone dog and his royal robes were covered in blood. He asked for water, and then, clutching the Macedonian soldier's hand, said that he was thankful that he would not die utterly alone and abandoned. Alexander, who may have felt genuinely saddened at Darius' death, buried Darius next to his Achaemenid predecessors in a full military funeral. Alexander claimed that, while dying, Darius had named Alexander as his successor to
750-470: A bitter series of civil wars followed by a combined attack by Medes , Persians , Scythians and their own Babylonian relations. The last Assyrian city to fall was Harran in southeast Anatolia. This city was the birthplace of the last king of Babylon , the Assyrian Nabonidus and his son and regent Belshazzar . Much of the region then fell to the short-lived Iran-based Median Empire , with
900-756: A decisive victory for the Macedonians. After the Siege of Gaza, Alexander advanced from Syria towards the heart of the Persian Empire, crossing both the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers without any opposition. Darius was building up a massive army, drawing men from the far reaches of his empire, and planned to use sheer numbers to crush Alexander. Though Alexander had conquered part of the Persian empire, it
1050-444: A defensive posture. Alexander personally led the more elite Greek Companion cavalry against the Persian left up against the hills, and cut up the enemy on the less encumbering terrain, thereby generating a quick rout. After achieving a breakthrough, Alexander demonstrated he could do the difficult thing and held the cavalry in check after it broke the Persian right. Alexander then mounted his beloved horse Bucephalus , took his place at
1200-602: A few years of Alexander's death, the Diadochi began a series of military campaigns against each other and divided the territories of the Macedonian Empire among themselves, triggering 40 years of warfare during the Hellenistic period . In 336 BC, Philip II was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards , Pausanias of Orestis . Philip's son, and previously designated heir, Alexander, was proclaimed king by
1350-617: A fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus , while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran and Makran now part of Pakistan ). According to Plutarch, during the 60-day march through the desert, Alexander lost three-quarters of his army to the harsh desert conditions along the way. ⁂ Anatolia Anatolia ( Turkish : Anadolu ), also known as Asia Minor ,
1500-675: A free hand to install dictators and tyrants wherever he saw fit in order to minimize the risk of a rebellion. As he moved deeper into Persia, however, the threat of trouble seemed to grow. Many of these towns had been ruled for generations by heavy handed tyrants, so in these Persian towns, he did the opposite of what he did in Greece. Wanting to appear to be a liberator, he freed the population and allowed self-government. As he continued marching into Persia, he saw that his victory at Granicus had been lost on no one. Town after town seemed to surrender to him. The satrap at Sardis , as well as his garrison,
1650-418: A hill and was heavily fortified. The inhabitants of Gaza and their Nabataean allies did not want to lose the lucrative trade which was controlled by Gaza. Batis , the commander of the fortress of Gaza, refused to surrender to Alexander. Though a eunuch, Batis was physically imposing and ruthless. After three unsuccessful assaults, the stronghold was finally taken by force, but not before Alexander received
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#17327653065521800-430: A letter to Alexander in which he promised to pay a substantial ransom in exchange for the prisoners of war, and agreeing to a treaty of alliance with and the forfeiture of half of his empire to Alexander. Darius received a response which began "King Alexander to Darius". In the letter, Alexander blamed Darius for his father's death and claimed Darius was but a vulgar usurper, who planned to take Macedonia. He agreed to return
1950-625: A new defense. Ada of Caria , the former queen of Halicarnassus, had been driven from her throne by her usurping brother . When he died, Darius had appointed Orontobates satrap of Caria, which included Halicarnassus in its jurisdiction. On the approach of Alexander in 334 BC, Ada, who was in possession of the fortress of Alinda , surrendered the fortress to him. Alexander and Ada appear to have formed an emotional connection. He called her "mother", finding her more amicable than his megalomaniacal snake-worshiping mother Olympias . In return for his support, Ada gave Alexander gifts, and even sent him some of
2100-506: A serious shoulder wound. When Gaza was taken, the male population was put to the sword and the women and children were sold into slavery. According to the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus , Batis was killed by Alexander in imitation of Achilles ' treatment of the fallen Hector . A rope was forced through Batis's ankles, probably between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon , and Batis
2250-400: A sign of weakness, and so they killed the envoys and threw their bodies over the city wall. The dissent against Alexander's plans to take the city by force disappeared, and his engineers began to design the structure. Alexander began with an engineering feat that shows the true extent of his brilliance; as he could not attack the city from sea, he built a kilometer-long causeway stretching out to
2400-676: A sizeable Armenian population before the Armenian genocide ) an "ahistorical imposition" and notes that a growing body of literature is uncomfortable with referring to the Ottoman East as "Eastern Anatolia". The highest mountain in the Eastern Anatolia Region (also the highest peak in the Armenian Highlands ) is Mount Ararat (5123 m). The Euphrates , Aras , Karasu and Murat rivers connect
2550-469: A small breach in the south end of the island. He then coordinated an attack across the breach with a bombardment from all sides by his navy. Once his troops forced their way into the city, they easily overtook the garrison, and quickly captured the city. Those citizens that took shelter in the temple of Heracles were pardoned by Alexander. It is said that Alexander was so enraged at the Tyrians ' defense and
2700-601: A small core of his forces remaining intact, although the Bactrian cavalry and Bessus soon caught up with him. The remaining Persian resistance was quickly put down. In all, the Battle of Gaugamela was a disastrous defeat for the Persians, and possibly one of Alexander's finest victories. After the battle, Parmenion rounded up the Persian baggage train while Alexander and his own bodyguard chased after Darius in hopes of catching up. Substantial amounts of loot were gained following
2850-399: A stream that flowed from the mountain with water that was ice cold. Not thinking, Alexander jumped into the stream, suffered a cramp and then a convulsion, and was pulled out nearly dead. He quickly developed pneumonia , but none of his physicians would treat him, because they feared that, if he died, they would be held responsible. One physician named Philip, who had treated Alexander since he
3000-596: A time. Ariobarzanes had hoped that defeating Alexander at the Persian Gates would allow the Persians more time to field another army, and possibly stop the Macedonian invasion altogether. Ariobarzanes held the pass for a month, but Alexander succeeded in encircling the Persian army and broke through the Persian defenses. The defeat of Ariobarzanes's forces at the Persian Gate removed the last military obstacle between Alexander and Persepolis. Upon his arrival at
3150-564: A written work, titled Persian Expedition in a well-known translation List of wars involving Persia Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Persian expedition . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persian_expedition&oldid=1169822199 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
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#17327653065523300-731: Is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey . It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Turkish Straits to the northwest, and the Black Sea to the north. The eastern and southeastern limits have been expanded either to the entirety of Asiatic Turkey or to an imprecise line from
3450-570: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Persian campaign (Alexander the Great) Achaemenid Empire The wars of Alexander the Great ( Ancient Greek : Πόλεμοι του Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου ) were a series of conquests carried out by Alexander III of Macedon from 336 to 323 BC. They began with battles against the Achaemenid Empire , then under
3600-581: Is not well understood how the Osmanlı, or Ottoman Turks , came to dominate their neighbours, as the history of medieval Anatolia is still little known. The Ottomans completed the conquest of the peninsula in 1517 with the taking of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum ) from the Knights of Saint John . With the acceleration of the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century, and as a result of
3750-625: Is probably a Medieval Latin innovation. The modern Turkish form Anadolu derives directly from the Greek name Aνατολή ( Anatolḗ ). The Russian male name Anatoly , the French Anatole and plain Anatol , all stemming from saints Anatolius of Laodicea (d. 283) and Anatolius of Constantinople (d. 458; the first Patriarch of Constantinople ), share the same linguistic origin. The oldest known name for any region within Anatolia
3900-471: Is related to its central area, known as the "Land of Hatti " – a designation that was initially used for the land of ancient Hattians , but later became the most common name for the entire territory under the rule of ancient Hittites . The first recorded name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula, though not particularly popular at the time, was Ἀσία ( Asía ), perhaps from an Akkadian expression for
4050-706: The Aeolian , Ionian and Dorian colonies situated along the eastern coasts of the Aegean Sea , but also encompassing eastern regions in general. Such use of Anatolian designations was employed during the reign of Roman Emperor Diocletian ( r. 284–305 ), who created the Diocese of the East , known in Greek as the Eastern Diocese, but completely unrelated to the regions of Asia Minor. In their widest territorial scope, Anatolian designations were employed during
4200-594: The Anatolian languages , the earliest attested branch of Indo-European, have been spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BCE. The earliest historical data related to Anatolia appear during the Bronze Age and continue throughout the Iron Age . The most ancient period in the history of Anatolia spans from the emergence of ancient Hattians , up to the conquest of Anatolia by the Achaemenid Empire in
4350-973: The Arab invasion of the Levant (634–638). In the 10 years following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia migrated over large areas of Anatolia, with particular concentrations around the northwestern rim. The Turkish language and the Islamic religion were gradually introduced as a result of the Seljuk conquest, and this period marks the start of Anatolia's slow transition from predominantly Christian and Greek-speaking, to predominantly Muslim and Turkish-speaking (although ethnic groups such as Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians remained numerous and retained Christianity and their native languages). In
4500-635: The Balkans . The Phrygian expansion into southeast Anatolia was eventually halted by the Assyrians, who controlled that region. Another Indo-European people, the Luwians , rose to prominence in central and western Anatolia c. 2000 BCE. Their language belonged to the same linguistic branch as Hittite . The general consensus amongst scholars is that Luwian was spoken across a large area of western Anatolia, including (possibly) Wilusa ( Troy ),
4650-519: The Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, but was so impressed by the demeanor with which the king carried himself that he allowed Porus to continue governing his own kingdom as a satrap. Although victorious, Battle of the Hydaspes was also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians. East of Porus' kingdom, near the Ganges River , was the powerful Nanda Empire of Magadha . According to
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4800-868: The Black Sea to the Gulf of Alexandretta . Topographically, the Sea of Marmara connects the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles , and separates Anatolia from Thrace in Southeast Europe . During the Neolithic , Anatolia was an early centre for the development of farming after it originated in the adjacent Fertile Crescent . Beginning around 9,000 years ago, there
4950-467: The Black Sea , coterminous with the Anatolian Plateau . This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary . Under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands , and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia . To the southeast, it is bounded by
5100-467: The Eastern Anatolia Region , which largely corresponds to the historical region of Western Armenia (named as such after the division of Greater Armenia between the Roman / Byzantine Empire (Western Armenia) and Sassanid Persia ( Eastern Armenia ) in 387 AD). Vazken Davidian terms the expanded use of "Anatolia" to apply to territory in eastern Turkey that was formerly referred to as Armenia (which had
5250-712: The Greek and Roman eras. During the 6th century BCE, all of Anatolia was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire , the Persians having usurped the Medes as the dominant dynasty of Persia . In 499 BCE, the Ionian city-states on the west coast of Anatolia rebelled against Persian rule. The Ionian Revolt , as it became known, though quelled, initiated the Greco-Persian Wars , which ended in
5400-665: The Hellenic world . He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. Further annexations by Rome, in particular of the Kingdom of Pontus by Pompey , brought all of Anatolia under Roman control , except for the southeastern frontier with the Parthian Empire , which remained unstable for centuries, causing a series of military conflicts that culminated in the Roman–Parthian Wars (54 BCE – 217 CE). After
5550-458: The Hellespont into Asia. It took over one hundred triremes (triple-banked galleys) to transport the entire Macedonian army, but the Persians decided to ignore the movement. In these early months, Darius still refused to take Alexander seriously or mount a serious challenge to Alexander's movements. Memnon of Rhodes , the Greek mercenary who aligned himself with the Persians, advocated for
5700-848: The Indus to the Hydaspes , complied, but the chieftains of some hill clans, including the Aspasioi and Assakenoi sections of the Kambojas (known in Indian texts also as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas ), refused to submit. In the winter of 327/326 BC, Alexander personally led a campaign against these clans; the Aspasioi of Kunar valley , the Guraeans of the Guraeus valley, and the Assakenoi of
5850-659: The Later Roman Empire . Anatolia's wealth grew during the 4th and 5th centuries thanks, in part, to the Pilgrim's Road that ran through the peninsula. Literary evidence about the rural landscape stems from the Christian hagiographies of the 6th-century Nicholas of Sion and 7th-century Theodore of Sykeon . Large and prosperous urban centers of Byzantine Anatolia included Assos , Ephesus , Miletus , Nicaea , Pergamum , Priene , Sardis , and Aphrodisias . From
6000-574: The League of Corinth . Alexander proceeded to solidify Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion in the southern Greek city-states and staged a short but bloody excursion against the city-states to the north. He then proceeded east to carry out his plans to conquer the Achaemenid Empire. His campaign of conquests from Greece spanned across Anatolia , Syria , Phoenicia , Egypt, Mesopotamia , Greater Iran , Afghanistan , and India . He extended
6150-403: The Paleolithic . Neolithic settlements include Çatalhöyük , Çayönü , Nevali Cori , Aşıklı Höyük , Boncuklu Höyük , Hacilar , Göbekli Tepe , Norşuntepe , Köşk Höyük , and Yumuktepe . Çatalhöyük (7.000 BCE) is considered the most advanced of these. Recent advances in archaeogenetics have confirmed that the spread of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe was strongly correlated with
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6300-540: The Roman Republic ; western and central Anatolia came under Roman control , but Hellenistic culture remained predominant. Mithridates VI Eupator , ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia, waged war against the Roman Republic in the year 88 BCE in order to halt the advance of Roman hegemony in the Aegean Sea region. Mithridates VI sought to dominate Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars (the Mithridatic Wars ) to break Roman dominion over Asia and
6450-439: The Swat and Buner valleys. A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi in which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight. Alexander then faced the Assakenoi, who fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to Alexander in the strongholds of Massaga, Ora and Aornos . The fort of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which Alexander himself
6600-436: The Vallahades from Greek Macedonia ), were resettled in various parts of Anatolia, mostly in formerly Christian villages throughout Anatolia. A continuous reverse migration occurred since the early 19th century, when Greeks from Anatolia, Constantinople and Pontus area migrated toward the newly independent Kingdom of Greece , and also towards the United States , the southern part of the Russian Empire , Latin America, and
6750-437: The first division of the Roman Empire , Anatolia became part of the Eastern Roman Empire , otherwise known as the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium . In the 1st century CE, Anatolia became one of the first places where Christianity spread , so that by the 4th century CE, western and central Anatolia were overwhelmingly Christian and Greek-speaking. Byzantine Anatolia was one of the wealthiest and most densely populated places in
6900-430: The migration of early farmers from Anatolia about 9,000 years ago, and was not just a cultural exchange. Anatolian Neolithic farmers derived most of their ancestry from local Anatolian hunter-gatherers , suggesting that agriculture was adopted in site by these hunter-gatherers and not spread by demic diffusion into the region. Anatolian derived Neolithic Farmers would subsequently spread across Europe, as far west as
7050-462: The "sunrise" or possibly echoing the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. The Romans used it as the name of their province , comprising the west of the peninsula plus the nearby Aegean Islands . As the name "Asia" broadened its scope to apply to the vaster region east of the Mediterranean, some Greeks in Late Antiquity came to use the name Asia Minor (Μικρὰ Ἀσία, Mikrà Asía ), meaning "Lesser Asia" to refer to present-day Anatolia, whereas
7200-447: The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey . Of the remainder, most have left Turkey since then, leaving fewer than 5,000 Greeks in Anatolia today. According to Morris and Ze'evi, 4 million christians were ethnically cleansed from Asia minor by the Turks from 1894 to 1924. Anatolia's terrain is structurally complex. A central massif composed of uplifted blocks and downfolded troughs , covered by recent deposits and giving
7350-462: The 6th century BCE. The earliest historically attested populations of Anatolia were the Hattians in central Anatolia, and Hurrians further to the east. The Hattians were an indigenous people, whose main center was the city of Hattush . Affiliation of Hattian language remains unclear, while Hurrian language belongs to a distinctive family of Hurro-Urartian languages . All of those languages are extinct; relationships with indigenous languages of
7500-424: The Achaemenid throne and had asked Alexander to avenge his death, a striking irony since it was Alexander who had pursued him to his death. The Achaemenid Persian Empire is considered to have fallen with the death of Darius. Alexander, viewing himself as the legitimate Achaemenid successor to Darius, viewed Bessus as a usurper to the Achaemenid throne, and eventually found and executed this 'usurper'. The majority of
7650-850: The Armenian Highlands to the South Caucasus and the Upper Euphrates Valley. Along with the Çoruh , these rivers are the longest in the Eastern Anatolia Region. The English-language name Anatolia derives from the Greek Ἀνατολή ( Anatolḗ ) meaning "the East" and designating (from a Greek point of view) eastern regions in general. The Greek word refers to the direction where the sun rises, coming from ἀνατέλλω anatello '(Ι) rise up', comparable to terms in other languages such as " levant " from Latin levo 'to rise', " orient " from Latin orior 'to arise, to originate', Hebrew מִזְרָח mizraḥ 'east' from זָרַח zaraḥ 'to rise, to shine', Aramaic מִדְנָח midnaḥ from דְּנַח denaḥ 'to rise, to shine'. The use of Anatolian designations has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to
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#17327653065527800-544: The Assyrian colony of Kanesh , use an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. Unlike the Akkadians and Assyrians, whose Anatolian trading posts were peripheral to their core lands in Mesopotamia , the Hittites were centered at Hattusa (modern Boğazkale) in north-central Anatolia by the 17th century BCE. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language , or nesili (the language of Nesa) in Hittite. The Hittites originated from local ancient cultures that grew in Anatolia, in addition to
7950-411: The Babylonians and Scythians briefly appropriating some territory. From the late 8th century BCE, a new wave of Indo-European-speaking raiders entered northern and northeast Anatolia: the Cimmerians and Scythians . The Cimmerians overran Phrygia and the Scythians threatened to do the same to Urartu and Lydia , before both were finally checked by the Assyrians. The north-western coast of Anatolia
8100-527: The Caucasus have been proposed, but are not generally accepted. The region became famous for exporting raw materials. Organized trade between Anatolia and Mesopotamia started to emerge during the period of the Akkadian Empire , and was continued and intensified during the period of the Old Assyrian Empire , between the 21st and the 18th centuries BCE. Assyrian traders were bringing tin and textiles in exchange for copper, silver or gold. Cuneiform records, dated c. 20th century BCE , found in Anatolia at
8250-399: The Egyptians, annexing much Hittite (and Hurrian) territory in these regions. After 1180 BCE, during the Late Bronze Age collapse , the Hittite Empire disintegrated into several independent Syro-Hittite states , subsequent to losing much territory to the Middle Assyrian Empire and being finally overrun by the Phrygians , another Indo-European people who are believed to have migrated from
8400-643: The Greek sources, the Nanda army was five times larger than the Macedonian army. Fearing the prospects of facing the powerful Nanda Empire armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River , refusing to march further east. This river thus marks the easternmost extent of Alexander's conquests. As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having done all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing
8550-400: The Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles, as well as to the Maghreb . Most modern Europeans derive a significant part of their ancestry from these Neolithic Anatolian farmers. Neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family , although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that
8700-407: The League of Corinth. By doing so, they promised to provide monetary support to Alexander. The Siege of Halicarnassus was undertaken in 334 BC. Alexander, who had a weak navy, was constantly being threatened by the Persian navy. It continuously attempted to provoke an engagement with Alexander, who would have none of it. Eventually, the Persian fleet sailed to Halicarnassus , in order to establish
8850-480: The Macedonian noblemen and army. He also succeeded his father as head of the League of Corinth , a confederation of Greek states that were under the hegemony of Macedonia in order to combat the Achaemenid Empire . News of Philip's death roused many states into revolt, including Thebes , Athens , Thessaly , as well as the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedon. When news of the revolt reached Alexander, he took quick action. Although his advisers recommended
9000-424: The Persians. He sent some of the spoils back to Greece, including three hundred panoplies (complete Persian suits of armor) back to Athens to be dedicated in the Parthenon with the inscription "Alexander, son of Philip and the Greeks, Lacedaemonians ( Spartans ) excepted, these spoils from the barbarians who dwell in Asia". Antipater , whom Alexander had left in charge of Macedon in his absence, had been given
9150-411: The Seha River Land (to be identified with the Hermos and/or Kaikos valley), and the kingdom of Mira-Kuwaliya with its core territory of the Maeander valley. From the 9th century BCE, Luwian regions coalesced into a number of states such as Lydia , Caria , and Lycia , all of which had Hellenic influence. Arameans encroached over the borders of south-central Anatolia in the century or so after
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#17327653065529300-508: The Siege of Cyropolis and fought against the Sakas in Battle of Jaxartes . After Alexander defeated the last of the Achaemenid Empire 's forces in battle of Gabai against Spitamenes, and Coenus (Koinos), one Alexander the Great's generals in 328 BC, he began a new campaign to Ariana in 327 BC. He wanted to conquer the entire known world, which in Alexander's day, ended on the eastern end of India. Greeks of Alexander's day knew nothing of China, or any other lands east of Bactria . The Siege of
9450-482: The Sogdian Rock , a fortress located north of Bactria in Sogdiana , occurred in 327 BC. Oxyartes of Bactria had sent his wife and daughters, one of whom was Roxana , to take refuge in the fortress, as it was thought to be impregnable, and was provisioned for a long siege . When Alexander asked the defenders to surrender, they refused, telling him that he would need "men with wings" to capture it. Alexander asked for volunteers, whom he would reward if they could climb
9600-541: The Triballi, who were crushed in turn. Alexander then advanced on to the Danube , encountering the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. The Getae army retreated after the first cavalry skirmish , leaving their town to the Macedonian army. News then reached Alexander that Cleitus , King of Illyria, and King Glaukias of the Taulantii were in open revolt against Macedonian authority. Alexander defeated each in turn, forcing Cleitus and Glaukias to flee with their armies, leaving Alexander's northern frontier secure. While he
9750-483: The Uxians, he would not encounter any more enemy forces during his march, Alexander neglected to send scouts ahead of his vanguard, and thus walked into Ariobarzanes ' ambush. Once the Macedonian army had advanced sufficiently into the narrow pass, the Persians rained down boulders on them from the northern slopes. From the southern slope, Persian archers and catapults launched their projectiles. Alexander's army initially suffered heavy casualties, losing entire platoons at
9900-475: The administration of the Empire preferred the description Ἀνατολή ( Anatolḗ ; lit. ' the East ' ). The endonym Ῥωμανία ( Rōmanía "the land of the Romans, i.e. the Eastern Roman Empire") was understood as another name for the province by the invading Seljuq Turks , who founded a Sultanate of Rûm in 1077. Thus (land of the) Rûm became another name for Anatolia. By the 12th century Europeans had started referring to Anatolia as Turchia . During
10050-409: The annual income of Athens to Greece, in order to put down a Spartan rebellion. Darius, meanwhile, dispatched letters to his eastern satrapies asking them to remain loyal. The satrapies, however, had other intentions, and quickly capitulated to Alexander. Bessus fatally stabbed Darius, before fleeing eastwards. Darius was found by one of Alexander's scouts, moaning in pain. Darius, dying and chained to
10200-407: The appearance of a plateau with rough terrain, is wedged between two folded mountain ranges that converge in the east. True lowland is confined to a few narrow coastal strips along the Aegean, Mediterranean, and the Black Sea coasts. Flat or gently sloping land is rare and largely confined to the deltas of the Kızıl River , the coastal plains of Çukurova and the valley floors of the Gediz River and
10350-410: The army, at the side of the satrap Porus and Taxiles . Eudemus became ruler of a part of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BC with their armies. In 321 BC, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in India and overthrew the Greek satraps. Alexander now sent much of his army to Carmania (modern southern Iran ) with his general Craterus , and commissioned
10500-466: The arrival of Indo-European languages. Attested for the first time in the Assyrian tablets of Nesa around 2000 BCE, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BCE, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland , however, the Hittites (along with the other Indo-European ancient Anatolians ) were themselves relatively recent immigrants to Anatolia from
10650-427: The arrival of another hundred and twenty from Cyprus , which had heard of his victories and wished to join him. Alexander then sailed on Tyre and quickly blockaded both ports with his superior numbers. He had several of the slower galleys, and a few barges, refit with battering rams, the only known case of battering rams being used on ships. Alexander started testing the wall at various points with his rams, until he made
10800-507: The banks of the Granicus River. Alexander ultimately fought many of his battles on a river bank. By doing so, he was able to minimize the advantage the Persians had in numbers. In addition, the deadly Persian chariots were useless on a cramped, muddy river bank. Arrian , Diodorus , and Plutarch all mention the battle, with Arrian providing the most detail. The Persians placed their cavalry in front of their infantry, and drew up on
10950-538: The battle, Memnon died. His replacement was a Persian who had spent time in Macedonia called Pharnabazus . He disrupted Alexander's supply routes by taking Aegean islands near the Hellespont and by fomenting rebellion in southern Greece. Meanwhile, Darius took the Persian army to intercept Alexander. Alexander marched his army east through Cappadocia , where, for a stretch of nearly 150 km (93 mi), there
11100-451: The battle, with 4,000 talents captured, as well as the King's personal chariot and bow. Darius planned to head further east, and raise another army to face Alexander while he and the Macedonians headed to one of the Persian capitals, Babylon , and then to another, Susa . There, Alexander found wealth that even he had never imagined possible. He paid his troops, and sent a sum of money six times
11250-410: The battlefield, and the Greek mercenary infantry they held in reserve were encircled by the Macedonians and slaughtered; only around two-thousand of which survived, and were sent back to Macedonia for labor. After the battle, Alexander buried the dead Greeks and Persians and sent the captured Greek mercenaries back to Greece to work in the mines as an abject lesson for any Greek who decided to fight for
11400-413: The battlefield. Darius had recruited the finest cavalry from his eastern satrapies . Darius placed himself in the center with his best infantry as was the tradition among Persian kings. The Macedonians were divided into two, with the right side of the army falling under the direct command of Alexander, and the left to Parmenion . Alexander began by ordering his infantry to march in phalanx formation towards
11550-435: The beginning of the end of Persian power. It was the first time the Persian army had been defeated with the King present on the field. Darius left his wife and an enormous amount of treasure behind as his army fled. The greed of the Macedonians helped to persuade them to keep going, as did the large number of Persian concubines and prostitutes they picked up in the battle. Darius, now fearing for both his throne and his life, sent
11700-581: The best cooks in Asia Minor, realizing that Alexander had a sweet tooth. In the past, Alexander had referred to his biological father, Philip, as his "so-called" father, and preferred to think of the deity Amon Zeus as his actual father. Thus, he had finally managed to divorce himself from both of his biological parents. Orontobates and Memnon of Rhodes entrenched themselves in Halicarnassus. Alexander had sent spies to meet with dissidents inside
11850-631: The boundaries of his Macedonian Empire as far east as the city of Taxila in modern-day Pakistan . Prior to his death, Alexander had also made plans for a Macedonian military and mercantile expansion into the Arabian Peninsula , after which he planned to turn his armies to Carthage , Rome , and the Iberian Peninsula in the west. However, the Diadochi (his political rivals) abandoned these plans after he died; instead, within
12000-465: The bulk of the area of modern-day Turkey. Nonetheless, a variety of non- Turkic languages continue to be spoken by ethnic minorities in Anatolia today, including Arabic , Kurdish , Neo-Aramaic , Armenian , the North Caucasian languages , Laz , Georgian , and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to an indefinite line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to
12150-441: The causeway. The fire spread quickly, engulfing both towers and other siege equipment that had been brought up. This convinced Alexander that he would be unable to take Tyre without a navy. Fate would soon provide him with one. Presently, the Persian navy returned to find their home cities under Alexander's control. Since their allegiance was to their city, they were therefore Alexander's. He now had eighty ships. This coincided with
12300-531: The center of the enemy line. Darius now launched his chariots, which were intercepted by the Agrianians , and quickly rendered useless. Alexander, while leading the charge, formed his units into a giant wedge, which quickly smashed right into the weakened Persian center. Darius' charioteer was killed by a spear, and chaos rang out as everyone (incorrectly) thought it was Darius who had been killed. The Persian line then collapsed, and Darius fled. Darius escaped with
12450-555: The city of Persepolis , Alexander appointed a general named Phrasaortes as successor of Ariobarzanes. Four months later, Alexander allowed the troops to loot Persepolis. A fire broke out and spread to the rest of the city. It is not clear if it had been a drunken accident, or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Greco-Persian War . In 329 BC, Alexander launched
12600-427: The city walls, surprising the Persian forces and killing Orontobates. Memnon, realizing the city was lost, set fire to it and withdrew with his army. A strong wind caused the fire to destroy much of the city. Alexander then committed the government of Caria to Ada; and she, in turn, formally adopted Alexander as her son, ensuring that the rule of Caria passed unconditionally to him upon her eventual death. Shortly after
12750-463: The city, who had promised to open the gates and allow Alexander to enter. When his spies arrived, however, the dissidents were nowhere to be found. A small battle resulted, and Alexander's army managed to break through the city walls. Memnon, however, now deployed his catapults, and Alexander's army fell back. Memnon then deployed his infantry, and shortly before Alexander would have received his first (and only) defeat, his infantry managed to break through
12900-402: The cliffs under the fortress. There were some 300 men who from previous sieges had gained experience in rock-climbing. Using tent-pegs and strong flaxen lines, they climbed the cliff face at night, losing about 30 of their number during the ascent. In accordance with Alexander's orders, they signaled their success to the troops below by waving bits of linen , and Alexander sent a herald to shout
13050-462: The coasts of Anatolia. Greeks started Western philosophy on the western coast of Anatolia ( Pre-Socratic philosophy ). In Classical antiquity , Anatolia was described by the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus and later historians as divided into regions that were diverse in culture, language, and religious practices. The northern regions included Bithynia , Paphlagonia , and Pontus ; to
13200-525: The control of the Mongols, at least nominally, through declining Seljuk sultans. The Beyliks did not mint coins in the names of their own leaders while they remained under the suzerainty of the Mongol Ilkhanids . The Osmanli ruler Osman I was the first Turkish ruler who minted coins in his own name in 1320s; they bear the legend "Minted by Osman son of Ertugrul". Since the minting of coins
13350-450: The country. The speech worked, and Alexander's troops agreed to remain with him. Alexander, now the Persian "King of Kings", adopted Persian dress and mannerisms, which, in time, the Greeks began to view as decadent and autocratic. They began to fear that Alexander, the king they had hero-worshiped, was turning into an eastern despot, although a young eunuch was eventually introduced to Alexander, and helped to keep his decadence in check. In
13500-624: The death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Roshanak in Bactrian ) to cement his relations with his new Central Asian satrapies, Alexander was finally free to turn his attention to the Indian subcontinent . Alexander invited all the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara , in the north of what is now the Jhelum River , Pakistan , to come to him and submit to his authority. Omphis , ruler of Taxila , whose kingdom extended from
13650-617: The death of Alexander the Great and the subsequent breakup of the Macedonian Empire , Anatolia was ruled by a series of Hellenistic kingdoms, such as the Attalids of Pergamum and the Seleucids , the latter controlling most of Anatolia. A period of peaceful Hellenization followed, such that the local Anatolian languages had been supplanted by Greek by the 1st century BCE. In 133 BCE the last Attalid king bequeathed his kingdom to
13800-596: The decline of the Ilkhanate from 1335 to 1353, the Mongol Empire 's legacy in the region was the Uyghur Eretna Dynasty that was overthrown by Kadi Burhan al-Din in 1381. By the end of the 14th century, most of Anatolia was controlled by various Anatolian beyliks . Smyrna fell in 1330, and the last Byzantine stronghold in Anatolia, Philadelphia, fell in 1390. The Turkmen Beyliks were under
13950-609: The defeat of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. The empire reached its height in the 13th century BCE, controlling much of Asia Minor, northwestern Syria , and northwest upper Mesopotamia. However, the Hittite advance toward the Black Sea coast was halted by the semi-nomadic pastoralist and tribal Kaskians , a non-Indo-European people who had earlier displaced the Palaic-speaking Indo-Europeans. Much of
14100-583: The different circumstances of the terrain made that strategy useless. Had he mounted a credible defence of the defile, Alexander would have been easily repulsed. He left only a small contingent to guard the defile, and took his entire army to destroy the plain that lay ahead of Alexander's army. The Persian contingent that was supposed to guard the defile soon abandoned it, and Alexander passed through without any problems. Alexander supposedly said after this incident that he had never been so lucky in his entire career. After reaching Mount Taurus, Alexander's army found
14250-631: The early 20th century (see the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire ). During World War I, the Armenian genocide , the Greek genocide (especially in Pontus ), and the Assyrian genocide almost entirely removed the ancient indigenous communities of Armenian , Greek , and Assyrian populations in Anatolia and surrounding regions. Following the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 , most remaining ethnic Anatolian Greeks were forced out during
14400-611: The efficiency of government. The true effect, however, was to separate the civil from the financial function of these satrapies, thus ensuring that these governments, while technically independent of him, never truly were. Otherwise, he allowed the inhabitants of these towns to continue as they always had, and made no attempt to impose Greek customs on them. Meanwhile, ambassadors from other Greek cities in Asia Minor came to Alexander, offering submission if he allowed their 'democracies' to continue. Alexander granted their wish, and allowed them to stop paying taxes to Persia, but only if they joined
14550-467: The era of classical antiquity (see Classical Anatolia ), the Anatolian languages were largely replaced by the Greek language , which came to further dominate the region during the Hellenistic period and the Roman period . The Byzantine period saw the decline of Greek influence throughout the peninsula as the Byzantine–Seljuk wars enabled the incoming Seljuk Turks to establish a foothold in
14700-639: The era of the Ottoman Empire , many mapmakers referred to the mountainous plateau in eastern Anatolia as Armenia . Other contemporary sources called the same area Kurdistan . Geographers have used East Anatolian plateau , Armenian plateau and the Iranian plateau to refer to the region; the former two largely overlap. While a standard definition of Anatolia refers to the entire Asian side of Turkey, according to archaeologist Lori Khatchadourian, this difference in terminology "primarily result[s] from
14850-424: The existing satraps were to give their loyalty to Alexander, and be allowed to keep their positions. Alexander's troops now thought the war was over. Alexander was unsure how to deal with this, so he decided to scare them into submission. He gave a speech, arguing that their conquests were not secure, that the Persians did not want the Greeks to remain in their country, and that only the strength of Macedon could secure
15000-758: The expansionist policies of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus , many Muslim nations and groups in that region, mainly Circassians , Tatars , Azeris , Lezgis , Chechens and several Turkic groups left their homelands and settled in Anatolia. As the Ottoman Empire further shrank in the Balkan regions and then fragmented during the Balkan Wars , much of the non-Christian populations of its former possessions, mainly Balkan Muslims ( Bosniaks , Albanians , Turks , Muslim Bulgarians and Greek Muslims such as
15150-727: The fall of the Hittite empire, and some of the Syro-Hittite states in this region became an amalgam of Hittites and Arameans. These became known as Syro-Hittite states . From the 10th to late 7th centuries BCE, much of Anatolia (particularly the southeastern regions) fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire , including all of the Syro-Hittite states , Tabal , Commagene , the Cimmerians and Scythians , and swathes of Cappadocia . The Neo-Assyrian empire collapsed due to
15300-424: The first time that his plan was to conquer the entire Persian Empire. The Siege of Tyre occurred in 332 BC when Alexander set out to conquer Tyre , a strategic coastal base. Tyre was the site of the only remaining Persian port that did not capitulate to Alexander. Even by this point in the war, the Persian navy still posed a major threat to Alexander. Tyre, the largest and most important city-state of Phoenicia ,
15450-411: The fleeing Persians for as long as there was light. As with most ancient battles, significant carnage occurred after the battle as pursuing Macedonians slaughtered their crowded, disorganized foe. The invading troops led by Alexander were outnumbered more than 2:1, yet they defeated the army personally led by Darius III of Achaemenid Persia . The battle was a decisive Macedonian victory and it marked
15600-722: The following century, the Byzantines managed to reassert their control in western and northern Anatolia. Control of Anatolia was then split between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm , with the Byzantine holdings gradually being reduced. In 1255, the Mongols swept through eastern and central Anatolia, and would remain until 1335. The Ilkhanate garrison was stationed near Ankara . After
15750-423: The head of his Companion cavalry , and led a direct assault against Darius. The horses that were pulling Darius' chariot were injured, and began tossing at the yoke. Darius, about to fall off his chariot, instead jumped off. He threw his royal diadem away, mounted a horse, and fled the scene. The Persian troops, realizing they had lost, either surrendered or fled with their hapless king. The Macedonian cavalry pursued
15900-775: The history of the Hittite Empire concerned war with the rival empires of Egypt , Assyria and the Mitanni . The Ancient Egyptians eventually withdrew from the region after failing to gain the upper hand over the Hittites and becoming wary of the power of Assyria, which had destroyed the Mitanni Empire. The Assyrians and Hittites were then left to battle over control of eastern and southern Anatolia and colonial territories in Syria . The Assyrians had better success than
16050-441: The island on a natural land bridge no more than two meters deep. Alexander then constructed two towers 150 feet high and moved them to the end of the causeway. The Tyrians, however, quickly devised a counterattack. They used an old horse transport ship, filling it with dried branches, pitch, sulfur, and various other combustibles . They then lit it on fire, creating what we might call a primitive form of napalm , and ran it up onto
16200-460: The latter to the northern part of the Mesopotamian plain. According to Richard Hovannisian , this changing of toponyms was "necessary to obscure all evidence" of the Armenian presence as part of the policy of Armenian genocide denial embarked upon by the newly established Turkish government and what Hovannisian calls its "foreign collaborators". Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to
16350-406: The loss of his men that he destroyed half the city. Alexander granted pardon to the king and his family, whilst 30,000 residents and foreigners taken were sold into slavery. There was a family, though, that Alexander gave a very high position in his government, but the only contact he ever had with them was when he spent the night with the wife of the household. The stronghold at Gaza was built on
16500-590: The men, he said, "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland". Alexander, seeing the unwillingness of his men agreed and diverted. Along the way his army conquered the Malli clans (in modern-day Multan ). In the territory of the Indus, he nominated his officer Peithon as a satrap , a position he would hold for the next ten years until 316 BC, and in the Punjab he left Eudemus in charge of
16650-586: The mid-5th century onwards, urbanism was affected negatively and began to decline, while the rural areas reached unprecedented levels of prosperity in the region. Historians and scholars continue to debate the cause of the urban decline in Byzantine Anatolia between the 6th and 7th centuries, variously attributing it to the Plague of Justinian (541), the Byzantine–Sasanian War (602–628), and
16800-460: The news of a Thracian uprising in the north. Before crossing to Asia, Alexander wanted to safeguard his northern borders and, in the spring of 335 BC, he advanced into Thrace to deal with the revolt, which was led by the Illyrians and Triballi . At Mount Haemus , the Macedonian army attacked and defeated a Thracian garrison manning the heights. The Macedonians were then attacked in the rear by
16950-536: The news to the enemy's advanced posts that they might now surrender without further delay. The defenders were so surprised and demoralized by this that they surrendered. Alexander fell in love with Roxana, whom ancient historians call the "most beautiful woman in the world" (not an uncommon claim for an ancient queen), on sight and eventually married her. The story of the siege is told by the Roman historian Arrian of Nicomedia , in Anabasis (section 4.18.4–19.6). After
17100-475: The north. However, they did not necessarily displace the population genetically; they assimilated into the former peoples' culture, preserving the Hittite language. The Hittites adopted the Mesopotamian cuneiform script . In the Late Bronze Age, Hittite New Kingdom ( c. 1650 BCE ) was founded, becoming an empire in the 14th century BCE after the conquest of Kizzuwatna in the south-east and
17250-693: The northwest, the Galatian variant of Gaulish in Galatia until the 6th century CE, Cappadocian in the homonymous region, Armenian in the east, and Kartvelian languages in the northeast. Anatolia is known as the birthplace of minted coinage (as opposed to unminted coinage, which first appears in Mesopotamia at a much earlier date) as a medium of exchange, some time in the 7th century BCE in Lydia. The use of minted coins continued to flourish during
17400-747: The only remaining part of the Byzantine East , and thus commonly referred to (in Greek) as the Eastern part of the Empire. At the same time, the Anatolic Theme ( Ἀνατολικὸν θέμα / "the Eastern theme") was created, as a province ( theme ) covering the western and central parts of Turkey's present-day Central Anatolia Region , centered around Iconium , but ruled from the city of Amorium . The Latinized form " Anatolia ", with its -ia ending,
17550-461: The prisoners without ransom, but told Darius that he and Alexander were not equals, and that Darius was to henceforth address Alexander as "King of all Asia". Darius was also curtly informed that, if he wanted to dispute Alexander's claim to the Achaemenid throne, that he would have to stand and fight, and that if he instead fled, Alexander would pursue and kill him. By this, Alexander revealed for
17700-567: The ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria and the Mesopotamian plain. Following the Armenian genocide , Western Armenia was renamed the Eastern Anatolia Region by the newly established Turkish government. In 1941, with the First Geography Congress which divided Turkey into seven geographical regions based on differences in climate and landscape, the eastern provinces of Turkey were placed into
17850-583: The region. Thus, the process of Anatolia's Turkification began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century and continued under the Ottoman Empire until the early 20th century, when the Ottoman dynasty collapsed in the aftermath of World War I . Between 1894 and 1924, millions of non- Turkic peoples and Christians were suppressed and removed by the Ottoman Turkish authorities from
18000-599: The reign of Roman Emperor Constantine I (306–337), who created the Praetorian prefecture of the East , known in Greek as the Eastern Prefecture, encompassing all eastern regions of the Late Roman Empire and spanning from Thrace to Egypt . Only after the loss of other eastern regions during the 7th century and the reduction of Byzantine eastern domains to Asia Minor, that region became
18150-564: The rest of Europe. Following the Russo-Persian Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) and the incorporation of Eastern Armenia into the Russian Empire, another migration involved the large Armenian population of Anatolia, which recorded significant migration rates from Western Armenia (Eastern Anatolia) toward the Russian Empire, especially toward its newly established Armenian provinces. Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until
18300-408: The right (east) bank of the river. The Macedonian line was arrayed with the heavy Phalanxes in the middle, Macedonian cavalry led by Alexander on the right, and allied Thessalian cavalry led by Parmenion on the left. The Persians expected the main assault to come from Alexander's position and moved units from their center to that flank. Alexander's second-in-command, Parmenion , suggested crossing
18450-635: The river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. Alexander spoke to his army and tried to persuade them to march further into India but Coenus pleaded with him to change his opinion and return,
18600-425: The river upstream and attacking at dawn the next day, but Alexander attacked immediately. He ordered a small group of cavalry and light infantry to attack from the Macedonian right to draw the Persians off the bank and into the river. Seeing that he had broken the Persian line, Alexander led his horse companions in oblique order further to the right in order to outflank the Persians and buy time for his infantry to cross
18750-521: The river. Several high-ranking Persian nobles were killed by Alexander himself or his bodyguards, although Alexander was stunned by an axe-blow from a Persian nobleman named Spithridates. Before the noble could deal a death-blow, however, he was killed by Cleitus the Black . The Macedonian cavalry opened a hole in the Persian line as the Macedonian infantry advanced, forcing the enemy back and eventually breaking their center. The Persian cavalry turned and fled
18900-608: The rule of Darius III . After Alexander's chain of victories, he began a campaign against local chieftains and warlords that stretched from Greece to as far as the region of Punjab in South Asia . By the time he died , Alexander ruled over most regions of Greece and the conquered Achaemenid Empire, including much of Achaemenid Egypt ; he did not, however, manage to conquer the Indian subcontinent in its entirety according to his initial plan. Despite his military accomplishments, Alexander did not provide any stable alternative to
19050-559: The rule of the Achaemenids, and his untimely death threw the vast territories he conquered into a series of civil wars commonly known as the Wars of the Diadochi . Alexander assumed kingship over ancient Macedonia following the assassination of his father, Philip II ( r. 359–336 BC ). During his two decades on the throne, Philip II had unified the poleis (Greek city-states) of mainland Greece (with Macedonian hegemony) under
19200-601: The shifting political fortunes and cultural trajectories of the region since the nineteenth century". Turkey's First Geography Congress in 1941 created two geographical regions of Turkey to the east of the Gulf of Iskenderun-Black Sea line, the Eastern Anatolia Region and the Southeastern Anatolia Region , the former largely corresponding to the western part of the Armenian Highlands,
19350-857: The southeast, while Galatian , a Celtic language , was spoken throughout Galatia in the central peninsula. Among the other peoples who established a significant presence in ancient Anatolia were the Galatians , the Hurrians , the Assyrians , the Armenians , the Hattians , and the Cimmerians , as well as some of the ancient Greek tribes , including the Ionians , the Dorians , and the Aeolians . In
19500-514: The stage for the battle near the mouth of the Pinarus River and south of the village of Issus . Darius was apparently unaware that, by deciding to stage the battle on a river bank, he was minimizing the numerical advantage his army had over Alexander's. Initially, Alexander chose what was apparently unfavorable ground. This surprised Darius who mistakenly elected to hold the wrong position while Alexander instructed his infantry to take up
19650-419: The strategic hill-fort after the fourth day of a bloody fight. This fight was the challenge Alexander was looking for, an army with huge elephants that were almost able to defeat Alexander. After gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara , including the city of Taxila , Alexander advanced into Punjab , where he engaged in battle against the regional king Porus , whom Alexander defeated in
19800-507: The throne of the Pharaohs , giving him the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt , and named him the incarnation of Ra and Osiris . He set in motion plans to build Alexandria , and, though future tax revenues would be channeled to him, he left Egypt under the management of Egyptians, which helped to win him their support. The Battle of Gaugamela took place in 331 BC in what is now Iraqi Kurdistan , possibly near Dohuk , and resulted in
19950-466: The use of diplomacy , Alexander ignored the advice and instead proceeded to gather his Macedonian cavalry of 3,000 men. Together, the army rode south towards Thessaly (Macedon's immediate neighbor to the south). When he found the Thessalian army blocking the pass between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa , he had his men ride over Mount Ossa. When the Thessalians awoke, they found Alexander at their rear. The Thessalians quickly surrendered, and their cavalry
20100-417: The west were Mysia , Lydia , and Caria; and Lycia , Pamphylia , and Cilicia belonged to the southern shore. There were also several inland regions: Phrygia , Cappadocia , Pisidia , and Galatia . Languages spoken included the late surviving Anatolic languages , Isaurian , and Pisidian , Greek in western and coastal regions, Phrygian spoken until the 7th century CE, local variants of Thracian in
20250-446: The winter of 330 BC, at the Battle of the Persian Gate northeast of today's Yasuj in Iran , the Persian satrap Ariobarzanes led a last stand of the Persian forces. After the Battle of Gaugamela in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan , Alexander had advanced to Babylon and Susa . A Royal Road connected Susa with the more eastern capitals of Persepolis and Pasargadae in Persis (the Persian Empire had several "capitals"), and
20400-451: Was a child, agreed to treat him. Although he soon fell into a coma, he eventually recovered. The Battle of Issus took place in southern Anatolia on November 333 BC. After Alexander's forces defeated the Persians at the Battle of the Granicus , Darius took personal charge of his army, gathered a large army from the depths of the empire, and maneuvered to cut the Greek line of supply, requiring Alexander to countermarch his forces, setting
20550-634: Was a major migration of Anatolian Neolithic Farmers into Europe , with their descendants coming to dominate the continent as far west as the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles . The earliest recorded inhabitants of Anatolia , who were neither Indo-European nor Semitic , were gradually absorbed by the incoming Indo-European Anatolian peoples , who spoke the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The major Anatolian languages included Hittite , Luwian , and Lydian ; other local languages, albeit poorly attested, included Phrygian and Mysian . The Hurro-Urartian languages were spoken throughout Mitanni in
20700-403: Was a prerogative accorded in Islamic practice only to a sovereign , it can be considered that the Osmanli, or Ottoman Turks, had become formally independent from the Mongol Khans. Among the Turkish leaders, the Ottomans emerged as great power under Osman I and his son Orhan . The Anatolian beyliks were successively absorbed into the rising Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. It
20850-438: Was added to Alexander's force. He then proceeded south, towards the Peloponnese . Alexander stopped at Thermopylae , where he was recognized as the leader of the Sacred League before heading south to Corinth . Athens sued for peace and Alexander received the envoy and pardoned anyone involved with the uprising. At Corinth, he was given the title ' Hegemon ' of the Greek forces against the Persians. Whilst at Corinth, he heard
21000-406: Was among the first of many satraps to capitulate. As these satraps gave up, Alexander appointed new ones to replace them, and claimed to distrust the accumulation of absolute power into anyone's hands. There appeared to be little change from the old system. Alexander, however, appointed independent boards to collect tribute and taxes from the satrapies, which appeared to do nothing more than improve
21150-475: Was dragged alive by chariot beneath the walls of the city. Alexander, who admired courage in his enemies and might have been inclined to show mercy to the brave Persian general, was infuriated at Batis's refusal to kneel and by the enemy commander's haughty silence and contemptuous manner. With Gaza taken, Alexander marched into Egypt. His entry was described as "closer to a triumphant procession than an invasion." They welcomed Alexander as their king, placed him on
21300-431: Was guided by Memnon, while absolute command was split among the five satraps. The Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC was fought in Northwestern Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), near the site of Troy . After crossing the Hellespont , Alexander advanced up the road to the capital of the Satrapy of Phrygia . The various satraps of the Persian Empire gathered their forces at the town of Zelea and offered battle on
21450-435: Was inhabited by Greeks of the Achaean / Mycenaean culture from the 20th century BCE, related to the Greeks of southeastern Europe and the Aegean . Beginning with the Bronze Age collapse at the end of the 2nd millennium BCE, the west coast of Anatolia was settled by Ionian Greeks , usurping the area of the related but earlier Mycenaean Greeks . Over several centuries, numerous Ancient Greek city-states were established on
21600-465: Was located both on the Mediterranean coast as well as a nearby Island with two natural harbors on the landward side. At the time of the siege, the city held approximately 40,000 people, though the women and children were evacuated to Carthage , an ancient Phoenician colony. Alexander sent an envoy to Tyre, proposing a peace treaty, and asked to visit their city and offer sacrifices to their God Melqart . The Tyrians politely told Alexander that their town
21750-413: Was neutral in the war, and that allowing him to offer sacrifices to Melqart would be tantamount to recognizing him as their king. Alexander considered building a causeway that would allow his army to take the town by force. His engineers did not believe it would be possible to build such a massive structure, and so Alexander sent peace envoys once more to propose an alliance. The Tyrians believed this to be
21900-446: Was no water. As his army approached Mount Taurus , they found only one route through which to pass, which was a narrow defile called "The Gates". The defile was very narrow, and could have been easily defended. However, the Persian satrap of Cappadocia had an inflated view of his own abilities. He had been at the Battle of the Granicus River , and had believed that Memnon's scorched Earth strategy would work here. He did not realize that
22050-407: Was still vast in area and in manpower reserves, and Darius could recruit more men than Alexander could dream of. Also present in the Persian army, a sign that the Persians were still very powerful, were the feared war elephants. While Darius had a significant advantage in number of soldiers, most of his troops were not as organized as Alexander's. The battle began with the Persians already present at
22200-419: Was the natural venue for Alexander's continued campaign. After the conquest of Susa, Alexander split the Macedonian army into two parts. Alexander's general, Parmenion , took one half along the Royal Road, and Alexander himself took the route towards Persis. Passing into Persis required traversing the Persian Gates, a narrow mountain pass that lent itself easily to ambush. Believing that, after his victory over
22350-512: Was triumphantly campaigning north, the Thebans and Athenians rebelled once more. Alexander reacted immediately, but, while the other cities once again hesitated, Thebes decided to resist with the utmost vigor. This resistance was useless, however, as the city was razed to the ground amid great bloodshed and its territory divided between the other Boeotian cities. The end of Thebes cowed Athens into submission, leaving all of Greece at least outwardly at peace with Alexander. In 334 BC, Alexander crossed
22500-408: Was wounded seriously in the ankle. According to Curtius , "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles". A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi. In the aftermath of Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians fled to the fortress of Aornos . Alexander followed close behind their heels and captured
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