Classical Studies 2902B

Gaugamela

[Please reread the material on the first screen of the course website about which room to go to for the mid-term test next Tuesday. This is extremely important. CLM]

We did not discuss the Agis III War in Greece on Tuesday; so this will be our first order of business on Thursday. Please bring the course website material on this topic with you on Thursday.

Thereafter we shall consider the campaign that led to Alexander’s final victory over Darius III at Gaugamela on 30^th September/1^st October, 331 BC. Darius had hoped to entice Alexander to attack down the line of the Euphrates River towards Babylon (as Greek mercenaries had done in support of “Cyrus the Younger” in 401 BC, to their utter defeat. Alexander knew the details of this campaign as contained in Xenophon’s Anabasis and he evaded all parallels. Instead, he headed for the Tigris River in N. Mesopotamia, which caused Darius to move his army northwards at high speed (and quite efficiently too). Thereafter there was considerable manoeuvring, but always A. managed to maintain a psychological advantage over Darius and it was the latter who had to scramble to find a suitable site for a battle---at Gaugamela. A. took his time, rested his troops, and when finally confronted by the fact that he was seriously outnumbered, sat down quietly and took a day to work out a battle plan that has been copied (successfully) by at least two of the great strategists of subsequent history. Darius should have won this battle—but he was not Alexander. It was hard fought and it continued for quite some time after Darius and his immediate elite had fled the field. We shall examine the details in a succinct but intelligible manner.

Finally, we shall consider a couple of passages from the first question in last year’s paper in preparation for next Tuesday’s mid-term test; and we shall also consider a couple of “brief identification” topics from the same previous exam.