Alexander was not lured aside to pursue and crush Darius, but moved against Syria. Sidon had been reduced by Persia a few years before, so that she welcomed Persia's new foe, who accepted her submission and restored her former territory and rights. The Macedonian army reached Tyre at the end of 333; when this city declined to re ceive Alexander, it was at once invested. The siege lasted from January to the end of July, 332; again and again the attackers were beaten back, but at last the city fell to a concerted on slaught. Alexander now could advance on Egypt, since Syria was secure. Gaza alone offered stub born resistance, but succumbed after a siege of some weeks.
About November. 332. Egypt was reached, and the Persian satrap promptly yielded. At Ahem phis, Alexander was crowned king; he then sailed down the Nile to Canopus and founded a new city bearing his name. This lie intended to become the new capital of Egypt and to supplant Tyre as the emporium of trade. History has shown how wisely the site was chosen and the city planned, hut the most significant immediate re sult was the transfer of commerce from the Phvenieians to the Greeks. Presently Cyrene sent Alexander her submission, so that his influence extended to Carthaginian territory. Early in 331 he visited the shrine of Ammon-lb: in the Libyan desert, where tradition says the god acknowledged him as his son, thereby giving him divine title to succeed the Pharaohs.
The following spring Alexander returned to Tyre. where he was occupied with questions of organization. Then he started for Babylon with 40,000 foot and 7000 horse. Early in August he reached the Euphrates, then advanced across Northern Mesopotamia, and marched down the banks of the Tigris. At last he heard that Darius was encamped in a plain near t=angaroeha with an enormous host, which tradition reports nmn bered 1,000,000 infantry and 40,000 horse. Oeto isa- 1, 331, the armies engaged. At certain points the Greeks were hard pressed, hut at a critical moment Alexander broke the Persian centre, whereupon Darius fled as he had done at Issus; finally the W011 at every point. Da rius was pursued to Arbela, where his chariot and weapons were found, but the king esen ped on horse to the Median highlands. Babylon opened its gates to the victor, and there the army rested. Susa, with its enormous treasures, soon fell into Alexander's hands.
It was of great importance that Pcrsis and its capital be secured at once, so that although the season was mid-winter Alexander pressed on over the Uxian Pass. lie stormed the almost impreg nable 'Persian Gates,' and soon was at Persepolis and the royal palaces, whose ruins still give some idea of their magnificence. No less than 120,000 talents were found in the treasuries, together with other spoil. At Pasargadle also much treas ure was taken. About four months, apparently from January to April, 330, were spent at the ancient palace of the Achaemenian kings. During this time the district of Carama pia yielded. Then Alexander started in pursuit of Darius, who he had heard was at Ecbatana with an army; but on reaching the city he found that Darius had fled eastward. Alexander soon pressed on, but after great efforts secured only the dead body of his enemy, who had been treacherously slain by his followers. One of the murderers had fled to Hyrcania on the south shore of the Caspian, and Alexander felt it necessary to secure this district before following the other chief assassin into re moter Bactria. The Persians who had retreated
into Hyrcania yielded when Alexander appeared, and left him free to advance into northern Areia, where the Persian satrap promptly surrendered. It is not possible here to give in detail the suc cessive steps of Alexander's new advance; by mid summer, 328, he was master of Drangiana, Seis tan, Gedrosia, and Araehosia, satrapies corre sponding roughly to modern Afghanistan and Baluchistan; lie had annexed Baetria and Sogdi ana at the north, and had fixed the limits of his conquests in this direction by founding Alexan dria Esehate (Khodjeud) near the pass over the Tian-shan Mountains. The following year was spent in putting down uprisings and in firmly establishing his power.
Alexander then turned to the conquest of India. He came back to Afghanistan and at Nicaca (Kabul ?) prepared for the new campaign. The advance must have been made by the Khyber Pass. The winter of 327-26 was spent in subdu the hill-men and the inhabitants of the river valleys along the western base of the Himalayas. In the spring he marched to the Hydaspes, receiv ing the submission of the native princes on the way. At the river he was opposed by King Porus, but by stratagem and skill the Indian monarch was defeated. Alexander gave him back his king dom much increased, thereby securing a buffer State on his own borders, for apparently he in tended the Indus to be the eastern boundary of his empire. Ile then continued to the southeast un til he reached the river Hyphasis. Here the Macedonians refused to go farther, and unwill ingly Alexander was obliged to turn back when, as he thought, he was near the end of the world. lie returned to the llydaspes; then advanced southward, subduing the tribes of the lower Pun jab, and finally reached the Indian Ocean in the early summer of 325. Part of his force had al ready been dispatched to reduce a revolt in Ara ehosia. Alexander himself started in early au tumn to return to Babylon across the desert of Mekran, while his fleet was to find a seaway between the East and West. For two months he and his army struggled across the desert, suffer ing from heat, hunger, and thirst. The losses were very great, so that only a portion of those who started reached the capital of Gedrosia. Af ter a rest, Alexander pressed on to Kirman, where he met his admiral, who in spite of great hard ships had made the voyage from India. He was ordered to sail along the Persian Gulf and up the river Pasitigris to Susa, whither Alexander pro ceeded overland. L'pon his arrival his first task was the correction and punishment of misrule on the part of his .satraps, many of whom, believing he would never return, had oppressed their prov inces and had planned to set up independent kingdoms. When the abuses had been corrected and the guilty punished, Alexander set about the further amalgamation of the Greeks and Orien tals. Ile had already founded Greek cities wher ever he had been; he now encouraged intermar riage and set the example himself by taking to wife Statira, the daughter of Darius. lie had already married Roxana (q.v.), a Bactrian prin cess. \lany of his officers chose Persian consorts. Furthermore he planned to admit Orientals and Greeks to equality in military service, and estab lished military schools in the various provinces, much against his veterans' wishes.