The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
to batter the wall down. He easily filled up the ditch, and the towers
were then brought forward. But the men in Halicarnassus made a sally by
night with the design of setting fire both to the towers and the other
engines which had been brought up to the wall, or were nearly brought
up to it. They were, however, easily repelled and shut up again within
the walls by the Macedonians who were guarding the engines, and by
others who were aroused by the noise of the struggle and who came to
their aid. Neoptolemus, the brother of Arrhabaeus, son of Amyntas, one
of those who had deserted to Darius, was killed, with about 170 others
of the enemy. Of Alexander’s soldiers sixteen were killed and 300
wounded; for the sally being made in the night, they were less able to
guard themselves from being wounded.
CHAPTER XXI.
SIEGE OF HALICARNASSUS.
A few days after this, two Macedonian hoplites of the brigade of
Perdiccas, living in the same tent and being messmates, happened in
the course of conversation each to be extolling himself and his own
exploits. Hence a quarrel arose between them as to which of them was
the braver, and, being somewhat inflamed with wine, they agreed to arm
themselves, and of their own accord go and assault the wall facing
the citadel, which for the most part was turned towards Mylasa. This
they did rather to make a display of their own valour than to engage
in a dangerous conflict with the enemy. Some of the men in the city,
however, perceiving that there were only two of them, and that they
were approaching the wall inconsiderately, rushed out upon them; but
they slew those who came near, and hurled darts at those who stood at
a distance. At last, however, they were overmatched both by the number
of their assailants and the disadvantage of their own position; for the
enemy made the attack upon them, and threw darts at them from a higher
level.[167] Meanwhile some other men from the brigade of Perdiccas,
and others from Halicarnassus, rushed out against each other; and a
sharp contest ensued near the wall. Those who had made the sally from
the city were driven back, and again shut up within the gates by the
Macedonians. The city also narrowly escaped capture; for the walls
at that time were not under strict guard, and two towers, with the
whole intermediate space, having already fallen to the ground, would
have offered an easy entrance within the wall to the army, if the
whole of it had undertaken the task. The third tower, which had been
thoroughly shaken, would likewise have been easily thrown down if it
had been undermined; but the enemy easily succeeded in building inside
a crescent-shaped brick wall to take the place of the one which had
fallen. This they were able to do so quickly because of the multitude
of hands at their disposal. On the following day Alexander brought his
engines up to this wall also; and the men in the city made another
sally to set them on fire. A part of the wicker-work shed near the
wall and a piece of one of the wooden towers were burnt, but the rest
were protected by Philotas and Hellanicus, to whom the charge of them
had been committed. But as soon as those who were making the sally saw
Alexander, the men who had come out to render aid by holding torches
threw them away, and the majority of them cast away their arms and fled
within the walls of the city. Then at first they had the advantage from
the nature of their position, which was commanding on account of its
height; for not only did they cast missiles right in front against the
men who were guarding the engines, but also from the towers which alone
had been left standing at each end of the battered-down wall, they were
able to cast them against the sides, and almost against the backs, of
those who were assaulting the wall which had just been built in place
of the ruined one.[168]
CHAPTER XXII.
SIEGE OF HALICARNASSUS.
A few days after this, when Alexander again brought his military
engines up to the inner brick wall, and was himself superintending
the work, a sortie in mass was made from the city, some advancing by
the breach in the wall, where Alexander himself was posted, others by
the triple gate, where the Macedonians did not at all expect them.
The first party cast torches and other combustibles at the engines,
in order to set them on fire and to defy the engineers excessively.
But when the men around Alexander attacked them vigorously, hurling
great stones with the engines from the towers, and launching darts
at them, they were easily put to rout and fled into the city; and as
a great number of them had sallied forth and great audacity had been
exhibited in the fight, no small slaughter of them took place. For
some of them were slain fighting hand-to-hand with the Macedonians,
others were killed near the ruins of the wall,[169] because the breach
was too narrow for such a multitude to pass through, and the fragments
of the wall made it difficult for them to scale it. The second party,
which sallied forth by the triple gate, was met by Ptolemy,[170] one
of the royal body-guards, who had with him the regiments of Addaeus
and Timander and some of the light-armed troops. These soldiers by
themselves easily put the men of the city to rout; but as the latter
in their retreat were fleeing over a narrow bridge which had been made
over the ditch, they had the misfortune to break it down by the weight
of their multitude. Many of them fell into the ditch, some of whom
were trampled to death by their own comrades, and others were killed
by the Macedonian weapons from above. A very great slaughter was also
made at the very gates, because they were shut before the proper time
in a state of panic. For the enemy, being afraid that the Macedonians,
who were close upon the fugitives, would rush in with them, shut many
of their friends out, who were slain by the Macedonians near the very
walls. The city narrowly escaped capture; indeed it would have been
taken, had not Alexander called back his army, to see if some friendly
sign of surrender would be made by the Halicarnassians; for he was
still desirous of saving their city. Of the men in the city about one
thousand were slain; and of Alexander’s men about forty, among whom
were Ptolemy, one of the king’s body-guards, Clearchus, a captain of
the archers, Addaeus, who had the command of a thousand infantry, and
other Macedonians of no mean position.[171]
CHAPTER XXIII.
DESTRUCTION OF HALICARNASSUS.—ADA, QUEEN OF CARIA.
Then Orontobates and Memnon, the commanders of the Persians, met and
decided from the state of affairs that they could not hold out long
against the siege, seeing that part of the wall had already fallen
down and part had been battered and weakened, and that many of their
soldiers had either perished in the sorties or been wounded and
disabled. Taking these things into consideration, about the second
watch of the night they set fire to the wooden tower which they had
themselves built to resist the enemy’s military engines, and to the
magazines in which their weapons were stored. They also cast fire into
the houses near the wall; and others were burned by the flames, which
were carried with great fury from the magazines and the tower by the
wind bearing in that direction. Some of the enemy then withdrew to the
stronghold in the island (called Arconnesus), and others to another
fortress called Salmacis. When this was reported to Alexander by some
deserters from the incendiaries, and he himself could see the raging
fire, though the occurrence took place about midnight, yet he led out
the Macedonians and slew those who were still engaged in setting fire
to the city. But he issued orders to preserve all the Halicarnassians
who should be taken in their houses. As soon as the daylight appeared
he could discern the strongholds which the Persians and the Grecian
mercenaries had occupied; but he decided not to besiege them,
considering that he would meet with no small delay beleaguering them,
from the nature of their position, and moreover thinking that they
would be of little importance to him now that he had captured the whole
city.
Wherefore, burying the dead in the night, he ordered the men who
had been placed in charge of the military engines to convey them to
Tralles. He himself marched into Phrygia, after razing the city to
the ground, and leaving 3,000 Grecian infantry and 200 cavalry as a
guard both of this place and of the rest of Caria, under the command
of Ptolemy. He appointed Ada to act as his viceroy of the whole
of Caria.[172] This queen was daughter of Hecatomnus and wife of
Hidrieus, who, though he was her brother, lived with her in wedlock,
according to the custom of the Carians. When Hidrieus was dying, he
confided the administration of affairs to her, for it had been a
custom in Asia, ever since the time of Semiramis, even for women to
rule men. But Pixodarus expelled her from the rule, and seized the
administration of affairs himself. On the death of Pixodarus, his
son-in-law Orontobates was sent by the king of the Persians to rule
over the Carians. Ada retained Alinda alone, the strongest place in
Caria; and when Alexander invaded Caria she went to meet him, offering
to surrender Alinda to him, and adopting him as her son.[173] Alexander
confided Alinda to her, and did not think the title of son unworthy of
his acceptance; moreover, when he had captured Halicarnassus and become
master of the rest of Caria, he granted her the privilege of ruling
over the whole country.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ALEXANDER IN LYCIA AND PAMPHYLIA.
Some of the Macedonians who served in Alexander’s army had married just
before he undertook the expedition. He thought that he ought not to
treat these men with neglect, and therefore sent them back from Caria
to spend the winter in Macedonia with their wives. He placed them under
the command of Ptolemy, son of Seleucus, one of the royal body-guards,
and of the two generals Coenus, son of Polemocrates, and Meleager, son
of Neoptolemus, because they were also newly married. He gave these
officers instructions to levy as many horse and foot soldiers as they
could from the country, when they returned to him and brought back the
men who had been sent away with them. By this act more than by any
other Alexander acquired popularity among the Macedonians. He also sent
Cleander, son of Polemocrates, to levy soldiers in Peloponnesus,[174]
and Parmenio to Sardis, giving him the command of a regiment of the
Cavalry Companions, the Thessalian cavalry, and the rest of the Grecian
allies. He ordered him to take the wagons to Sardis and to advance from
that place into Phrygia.
He himself marched towards Lycia and Pamphylia, in order to gain
command of the coastland, and by that means render the enemy’s fleet
useless. The first place on his route was Hyparna, a strong position,
having a garrison of Grecian mercenaries; but he took it at the first
assault, and allowed the Greeks to depart from the citadel under a
truce. Then he invaded Lycia and brought over the Telmissians by
capitulation; and crossing the river Xanthus, the cities of Pinara,
Xanthus, Patara, and about thirty other smaller towns were surrendered
to him.[175] Having accomplished this, though it was now the very depth
of winter, he invaded the land called Milyas,[176] which is a part of
Great Phrygia, but at that time paid tribute to Lycia, according to
an arrangement made by the Great King. Hither came envoys from the
Phaselites,[177] to treat for his friendship, and to crown him with
a golden crown; and the majority of the maritime Lycians also sent
heralds to him as ambassadors to treat for the same object. He ordered
the Phaselites and Lycians to surrender their cities to those who were