Early European History Part 26

The next step was to subdue the Phoenician city of Tyre, the headquarters of Persia's naval power. The city lay on a rocky island, half a mile from the sh.o.r.e. Its fortifications rose one hundred feet above the waves.

Although the place seemed impregnable, Alexander was able to capture it after he had built a mole, or causeway, between the sh.o.r.e and the island.

Powerful siege engines then breached the walls, the Macedonians poured in, and Tyre fell by storm. Thousands of its inhabitants perished and thousands more were sold into slavery. The great emporium of the East became a heap of ruins.

ALEXANDER IN EGYPT

From Tyre Alexander led his ever-victorious army through Syria into Egypt.

The Persian forces here offered little resistance, and the Egyptians themselves welcomed Alexander as a deliverer. The conqueror entered Memphis in triumph and then sailed down the Nile to its western mouth, where he laid the foundations of Alexandria, a city which later became the metropolis of the Orient.

ALEXANDER IN LIBYA

Another march brought Alexander to the borders of Libya, Here he received the submission of Cyrene, the most important Greek colony in Africa. [7]

Alexander's dominions were thus extended to the border of the Carthaginian possessions. It was at this time that Alexander visited a celebrated temple of the G.o.d Amon, located in an oasis of the Libyan desert. The priests were ready enough to hail him as a son of Amon, as one before whom his Egyptian subjects might bow down and adore. But after Alexander's death his worship spread widely over the world, and even the Roman Senate gave him a place among the G.o.ds of Olympus.

BATTLE OF ARBELA, 331 B.C.

The time had now come to strike directly at the Persian king. Following the ancient trade routes through northern Mesopotamia, Alexander crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris and, on a broad plain not far from the ruins of ancient Nineveh, [8] found himself confronted by the Persian host.

Darius held an excellent position and hoped to crush his foe by sheer weight of numbers. But nothing could stop the Macedonian onset; once more Darius fled away, and once more the Persians, deserted by their king, broke up in hopeless rout.

END OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

The battle of Arbela decided the fate of the Persian Empire. It remained only to gather the fruits of victory. The city of Babylon surrendered without a struggle. Susa, with its enormous treasure, fell into the conqueror's hands. Persepolis, the old Persian capital, was given up to fire and sword. [9] Darius himself, as he retreated eastward, was murdered by his own men. With the death of Darius the national war of Greece against Persia came to an end.

CONQUEST OF IRAN

The Macedonians had now overrun all the Persian provinces except distant Iran and India. These countries were peopled of by warlike tribes of a very different stamp from the effeminate Persians. Alexander might well have been content to leave them undisturbed, but the man could never rest while there were still conquests to be made. Long marches and much hard fighting were necessary to subdue the tribes about the Caspian and the inhabitants of the countries now known as Afghanistan and Turkestan.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT About 323 B.C.]

CONQUEST OF INDIA

Crossing the lofty barrier of the Hindu-Kush, Alexander led his weary soldiers into northwestern India, where a single battle added the Persian province of the Punjab [10] to the Macedonian possessions. Alexander then pressed forward to the conquest of the Ganges valley, but in the full tide of victory his troops refused to go any farther. They had had their fill of war and martial glory; they would conquer no more lands for their ambitious king. Alexander gave with reluctance the order for the homeward march.

ALEXANDER'S RETURN TO BABYLON

Alexander was of too adventurous a disposition to return by the way he had come. He resolved to reach Babylon by a new route. He built a navy on the Indus and had it accompany the army down the river. At the mouth of the Indus Alexander dispatched the fleet under his admiral, Nearchus, to explore the Indian Ocean and to discover, if possible, a sea route between India and the West. He himself led the army, by a long and toilsome march through the deserts of southern Iran, to Babylon. That city now became the capital of the Macedonian Empire.

DEATH OF ALEXANDER, 323 B.C.

Scarcely two years after his return, while he was planning yet more extensive conquests in Arabia, Africa, and western Europe, he was smitten by the deadly Babylonian fever. In 323 B.C., after several days of illness, the conqueror of the world pa.s.sed away, being not quite thirty- three years of age.

43. THE WORK OF ALEXANDER

ALEXANDER AS WARRIOR AND STATESMAN

Alexander the Great was one of the foremost, perhaps the first, of the great captains of antiquity. But he was more than a world-conqueror; he was a statesman of the highest order. Had he been spared for an ordinary lifetime, there is no telling how much he might have accomplished. In eleven years he had been able to subdue the East and to leave an impress upon it which was to endure for centuries. And yet his work had only begun. There were still lands to conquer, cities to build, untrodden regions to explore. Above all, it was still his task to shape his possessions into a well-knit, unified empire, which would not fall to pieces in the hands of his successors. His early death was a calamity, for it prevented the complete realization of his splendid ambitions.

h.e.l.lENIZING OF THE ORIENT

The immediate result of Alexander's conquests was the disappearance of the barriers which had so long shut in the Orient. The East, until his day, was an almost unknown land. Now it lay open to the spread of Greek civilization. In the wake of the Macedonian armies followed Greek philosophers and scientists, Greek architects and artists, Greek colonists, merchants, and artisans. Everywhere into that huge, inert, unprogressive Oriental world came the active and enterprising men of h.e.l.las. They brought their arts and culture and became the teachers of those whom they had called "barbarians."

FUSION OF EAST AND WEST

The ultimate result of Alexander's conquests was the fusion of East and West. He realized that his new empire must contain a place for Oriental, as well as for Greek and East and Macedonian, subjects. It was Alexander's aim, therefore, to build up a new state in which the distinction between the European and the Asiatic should gradually pa.s.s away. He welcomed Persian n.o.bles to his court and placed them in positions of trust. He organized the government of his provinces on a system resembling that of Darius the Great. [11] He trained thousands of Persian soldiers to replace the worn-out veterans in his armies. He encouraged by liberal dowries mixed marriages between Macedonians and Orientals, and himself wedded the daughter of the last Persian king. To hold his dominions together and provide a meeting place for both cla.s.ses of his subjects, he founded no less than seventy cities in different parts of the empire. Such measures as these show that Alexander had a mind of wide, even cosmopolitan, sympathies. They indicate the loss which ancient civilization suffered by his untimely end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SARCOPHAGUS FROM SIDON (Imperial Ottoman Museum, Constantinople.)

One of eighteen splendid sarcophagi discovered in 1887 A.D. in an ancient cemetery at Sidon. The sculptures on the longer sides represent two scenes from the life of Alexander--the one a battle, the other a lion hunt. The figures, in almost full relief, are delicately painted. ]

44. h.e.l.lENISTIC KINGDOMS AND CITIES

THE THREE GREAT KINGDOMS

The half century following Alexander's death is a confused and troubled period in ancient history. The king had left no legitimate son--no one with an undisputed t.i.tle to the succession. On his deathbed Alexander had himself declared that the realm should go "to the strongest." [12] It was certain, under these circ.u.mstances, that his possessions would become the prey of the leading Macedonian generals. The unwieldy empire at length broke in pieces. Out of the fragments arose three great states, namely, Macedonia, Egypt, and Syria. The kingdom of Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals. Seleucus, another of his generals, established the kingdom of Syria. It comprised nearly all western Asia.

These kingdoms remained independent until the era of Roman conquest in the East.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A GREEK CAMEO (Museum, Vienna) Cut in sardonyx. Represents Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, and his wife Arsinoe.]

MINOR INDEPENDENT STATES

Several small states also arose from the break-up of Alexander's empire.

[13] Each had its royal dynasty, its capital city, and its own national life. Thus the conquests of Alexander, instead of establishing a world- power under one ruler, led to the destruction of the unity of government which Persia had given to the East.

CITY LIFE IN THE ORIENT

More significant for the history of civilization than these kingdoms were the h.e.l.lenistic [14] cities, which from the time of Alexander arose in every part of the eastern world. Some were only garrison towns in the heart of remote provinces or outposts along the frontiers. Many more, however, formed busy centers of trade and industry, and became seats of Greek influence in the Orient. Such cities were quite unlike the old Greek city-states. [15] They were not free and independent, but made a part of the kingdom in which they were situated. The inhabitants consisted of Greeks and Macedonians, comprising the governing cla.s.s, together with native artisans and merchants who had abandoned their village homes for life in a metropolis. In appearance, also, these cities contrasted with those of old Greece. They had broad streets, well paved and sometimes lighted at night, enjoyed a good water supply, and possessed baths, theaters, and parks.

ALEXANDRIA

In the third century B.C. the foremost h.e.l.lenistic city was Alexandria. It lay on a strip of flat, sandy land separating Lake Mareotis from the Mediterranean. On the one side was the lake-harbor, connected with the Nile; on the other side were two sea-harbors, sheltered from the open sea by the long and narrow island of Pharos. [16] The city possessed a magnificent site for commerce. It occupied the most central position that could be found in the ancient world with respect to the three continents, Africa, Asia, and Europe. The prosperity which this port has enjoyed for more than two thousand years is ample evidence of the wisdom which led to its foundation.

ANTIOCH

The chief city in the kingdom of Syria was splendid and luxurious Antioch.

It lay in the narrow valley of the Orontes River, so close to both the Euphrates and the Mediterranean that it soon became an important commercial center. The city must have been a most delightful residence, with its fine climate, its location on a clear and rapid stream, and the near presence of the Syrian hills. In the sixth century A.D. repeated earthquakes laid Antioch in ruins. The city never recovered its prosperity, though a modern town, Antakia, still marks the site of the once famous capital.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, THE KINGDOMS OF ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS (About 200 B.C.), Before the Roman Macedonian Wars]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE DYING GAUL (Capitoline Museum, Rome) The statue represents a Gaul who in battle has fallen on his sword to avoid a shameful captivity. Overcome by the faintness of death he sinks upon his shield, his head dropping heavily forward. Though realistic the statue shows nothing violent or revolting. It is a tragedy in stone.]

PERGAMUM

Asia Minor, during this period, contained many h.e.l.lenistic cities. One of the most important was Pergamum, the capital of a small but independent kingdom of the same name. Its rulers earned the grat.i.tude of all the Greeks by their resistance to the terrible Gauls. About fifty years after Alexander's death this barbarous people, pouring down from central Europe, had ravaged Greece and invaded Asia Minor. The kings of Pergamum celebrated their victories over the Gauls with so many works of architecture and sculpture that their city became the artistic rival of Athens.

RHODES

One other great h.e.l.lenistic center existed in the island city of Rhodes.