Lysimachos in the wake of Alexander – Part I

Lysimachos was in Babylon at the time of Alexander’s death in 323 BC. Almost immediately, anarchy erupted as the king had no successor. Every single one of his generals felt entitled to succeed Alexander pending the coming of age of his yet unborn son. 

The War of the Diadochi had begun and would last for the next forty years or so. The generals took sides, changed sides, and made peace treaties but coveted each other’s possessions soon after. Their lust for power led them to conquer ever more land. They eliminated each other systematically until around 280 BC; four contenders remained: Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucos in Asia, Antipater / Cassander in Macedonia/Greece, and Lysimachos in Thrace. 

Lysimachos’ origin is obscure, and the best guess is that he was born around 361 BC to Thessalian parents living in Pella. He was educated at the court of Philip and was probably one of his Bodyguards. He was only a few years older than Alexander, and we can safely assume that he joined the young prince in Mieza to attend Aristotle’s teaching with the other selected young men. 

Historians hardly mention Lysimachos in Alexander’s early campaigns, although he was present throughout the king’s conquests of Persia as one of his trusted Bodyguards. This lack of information does not imply that Lysimachos was not a valued element in Alexander’s organization. Many positions beyond that of a general were of the utmost importance. Take, for instance, the logistics of the entire enterprise, or the scouting parties to locate otherwise hidden enemies or find the appropriate location for the following camping site, or escorting Queen Sisygambis and her retinue till their arrival at Susa, and many other tasks. 

Lysimachos joined the ranks of the Companion Cavalry, maybe after several of Alexander’s masterly reshuffling of the army according to his needs. 

Except for him being mauled by a lion in Syria, he was not documented until 328 BC, when Alexander crossed the Hydaspes River. There is no further information. 

Lysimachos participated in the siege of Sangala (see: The siege of Sangala). Alexander lost less than one hundred men in this fierce fight, but an excessive number of 1200 soldiers were wounded, including Lysimachos. 

He was evidently present at the Susa Wedding in 324 BC, but we don’t know the name of his bride. Since she is not mentioned when he moves to Thracia, we may conclude that he left her behind after Alexander’s death, at which time he became ruler of Thracia. 

The position of Thracia was strategically crucial as the land extended to the Black Sea and the Hellespont, both major links with Asia. Upon arrival, Lysimachos faced the rebellious Thracian tribes fighting each other. Their most powerful dynasty was the Seuthes. However, Lysimachos was quickly able to establish his authority. 

As the War of Alexander’s Successors raged on with the other generals fighting among themselves, Lysimachos managed to stay away from their intrigues. 

In 321 BC, to stabilize his position further, he decided to marry Nicaea, Antipater’s daughter, after Perdiccas had refused her hand. This alliance secured his position vis-à-vis both Antipater and Cassander. The couple would have three children: one son, Agathocles, and two daughters. 

In 315 BC, a revolt broke out among the cities on the Black Sea. Antigonus Monophthalmus, who reigned over most of Asia Minor, saw an opportunity to annex Thrace to his own territory and stirred up the local tribes against their king. Once again, Lysimachos managed to suppress the revolt and consolidate his power. Peace was reached in 311 BC. 

This revolt drew him into the Succession Wars, and he sided with Cassander, Ptolemy, and Seleucos against Antigonus Monophthalmus. In 309 BC, to secure the Hellespont, he built a new city, Lysimachia, in a commanding location on the Chersonese peninsula. 

By 305 BC, all the contestants in the Wars of the Diadochi adopted the title of king and Lysimachos followed suit by assuming the royal title as well. He was now an equal player in the succession game of the thrones. 

In 302 BC, Lysimachos again joined forces with Cassander to conquer Asia Minor from Antigonus Monophthalmus. As winter approached, he set up camp in Herakleia Pontus, where he met Amastris, granddaughter of Queen Sisygambis, who had been given as wife to Craterus at the Susa Wedding. She left her husband after he took Arsinoe of Egypt as his wife, who became the widowed Queen of Herakleia. So, Lysimachos married Amastris, but this marriage didn’t last long, for soon afterward, he decided to take as spouse Arsinoe, daughter of Ptolemy. Consequently, Amastris left Lysimachos and returned to Herakleia Pontus (see: Time to reconnect with Princess Amastris). 

In fact, with his marriages, Lysimachos was in line with the other Successors or contenders who still aimed at re-establishing Alexander’s empire. Marriage was much cheaper than war to conquer more land.

 [continued in Part II]

Alexander caring for the wounded and the dead

Battlefields always revolve around numbers and tactical moves. The human aspect is generally left out, simply because it is an inevitable by-product of war. Modern warfare is far more clinical, and statistics of the number of dead and wounded are kept pretty accurately.

In antiquity, the situation was entirely different. A person’s life was of little value. Men died in battle, women died in childbirth, and if they managed to escape that fate, they could fall victim to raids from a neighboring town and finally die as slaves. Not the happiest prospect for any being, unless you belonged to the upper class of society. But still.

The Greeks considered that dying on the battlefield was an honorable death, but they were not ready to sacrifice their lives for that sole purpose.

When I watched Oliver Stone’s picture of the aftermath of the Battle of Gaugamela with hundreds and thousands of corpses spread over the battlefield, I remembered a similar shot of Atlanta in the movie Gone with the Wind. In both scenarios, I wondered about the smell of the decaying bodies of men and beasts, the puddles of blood and excrement, the buzzing of the flies, and the vultures uttering their guttural screams. There is nothing glorious left on a battlefield after the victory is claimed by one party.

Following Alexander on his major confrontations at the Granicus, at Issus, at Gaugamela, and on the Hydaspes, our sources from antiquity wind up producing the strangest figures when it comes to counting the dead. Numbers on either side have been distorted. They were either to make the losses on the enemy’s side much higher than they were or to reduce the casualties on Alexander’s side to a questionable minimum. It is impossible to verify any of the information that has reached us through Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus, Curtius, or Justin, more so because it was penned down centuries after the facts.

As to the wounded, it seems they were not accounted for, or only in exceptional cases. Counting the dead on a battlefield did not equate to the ultimate number of casualties. Many of the wounded were bound to die afterward. 

Hygiene was a foreign word in antiquity, and if there was any basic knowledge, it was a far cry from our modern concept. We should remember, however, that Alexander had a great interest in medicine and learned from Aristotle everything he could. Healing illnesses with plants and specific concoctions was one aspect, but stitching the soldiers’ cuts back together and cleaning their wounds was another.

If we consider the many cases of trepanation that were successfully carried out since the Neolithic, we must admit that the knowledge available in antiquity is far beyond what we might think. Philip, Alexander’s father, lost an eye and survived the operation quite well. So did Antigonus Monophthalmus. Speaking of eyes, it is known that cataract surgeries were performed as early as 4,000 BC by the Egyptians. The list of medical wonders is probably endless, but the point I am trying to make is that the physicians in Alexander’s army were far more knowledgeable than we may believe. Cleanliness certainly was one of the main requirements. 

Early last century, for instance, it was essential to wash a bleeding wound with water and soap. This has been done for centuries and may well have been applied by the caretakers in antiquity. In my own youth, when a wound was infected, it was to be soaked repeatedly in hot water and soda crystals. The ancients may well have used something similar. The technique of cauterization was known long before the early trappers in the American West, and that knowledge was inherited from earlier generations. A hot knife, dagger, or even a sword would seal the wound and kill the bacteria at the same time.

It has been reported that Alexander visited the wounded after the battle. Going from one soldier to the next, he listened to their report, how they had been injured, acknowledged their courage, and showed them respect. I am sure that the king checked their wounds and how they were treated. The caretakers and physicians were watched closely by Alexander because he, himself, had considerable knowledge of healthcare and medicine. In the end, he gave his soldiers and the caretakers a huge boost in morale. There cannot have been a better medicine than that. In the end, this may well be the secret to justify the low rates of mortality among the Macedonian troops.

What about the wounded enemies, one might wonder? Well, I don’t think that the Macedonians were inclined to show much pity, if any, to their adversaries. They were not in for half measures, just as Alexander wasn’t. For them, the enemy had to be eliminated. I would doubt if any of the wounded were left behind with some breath in their lungs. 

When the enemy, however, asked to retrieve their dead to give them a proper burial, Alexander did not refuse. We’ll remember how he even sent the body of Darius III back to his mother to accomplish the funeral according to Persian customs. On an earlier occasion, at Issus, the king had also given the Queen Mother permission to bury the Persians from the battlefield. The recovery of wounded enemy soldiers is never mentioned.

The soldiers who died in Alexander’s service always received an appropriate burial with full honors. After the Battle of the Granicus, Alexander instructed Lysippos to create a bronze memorial for the 25 cavalrymen who had fallen on the battlefield. For several centuries, it stood in Dion, the sanctuary of Macedonia.

The list of lavish and expensive burials is a long one. I relied on Frank Holt’s account, as mentioned in his book “The Treasures of Alexander the Great”. For the soldiers as a group, there was a burial at Issus in 333 BC, Ecbatana in 330 BC, on the Polytimetus River in 329 BC, and Sangala in 326 BC. Personal and more elaborate funerals took place in honor of his generals/companions, Hector in Egypt in 331 BC, Nicanor in Alexandria Ariana in 330 BC, Philip and Erigyius in Sogdiana in 327 BC, Demaratus in 327 BC, and Coenus on the Hydaspes River in 326 BC. Also to be mentioned is the gymnosophist and sophist Calanus from Taxila, who immolated himself in Susa in 324 BC. Last but certainly not least was the expensive funeral pyre that Alexander had built for his dearest Hephaistion, who died in Ecbatana in 324 BC.

Clearly, nothing was too good for the dead.

[The picture of the battlefield is from Oliver Stone's movie Alexander]

The realm of King Sopeithes included modern Bhera?

After having stopped at the Hyphasis River (modern Beas) to build his Twelve Altars (see: Alexander erected twelve altars on the banks of the Hyphasis), Alexander returned to the Hydaspes River (modern Jhelum), where he founded Alexandria Nicaea and Alexandria Bucephala (see: Locating Alexandria Nicaea and Alexandria Bucephala).

At this point, Alexander split his army into three divisions: Craterus would lead his party down the right bank of the Hydaspes, Hephaistion the left bank, and Alexander would sail down the river to its confluence with the Indus River and the Ocean beyond.

Arrian (using Ptolemy’s account) states that both generals were instructed to march at all speeds to the palace of King Sopeithes. Why these orders were issued and what happened further, he does not tell. Diodorus and Curtius, who followed the writing of Cleitarchus, place the encounter with Sopeithes as early as the Hyphasis River, just after the siege of Sangala (see: The siege of Sangala, in modern Pakistan).

Whatever the case, the encounter of Alexander with Sopeithes is very well rendered in Andrew Chugg’s book “Alexander the Great in India. A Reconstruction of Cleitarchus,” which I used hereafter.

Sopeithes had the reputation of ruling with high moral principles. For him, moral eminence and physical beauty were rated above everything else. A young child was judged by its physical condition and, as a result, was allowed to live on if it was handsome, healthy, and vigorous. Otherwise, the youngster was killed. At the time of their marriage, the young people were matched with the sole objective of producing beautiful and athletic offspring, as opposed to the usual values of dowries or wealth. It is unsurprising to learn that the citizens considered themselves superior to others.

When Alexander arrived at the town occupied by Sopeithes, he found the city gates closed and its walls and towers unmanned. He assumed that either the city was abandoned or this was a trap. Imagine his amazement when the massive doors were flung wide open, and the Indian king stepped forward to meet him, flanked by his two eldest sons. Three handsome men and a very tall king wrapped in long garments embellished with gold and purple welcomed Alexander, who must have been impressed, if not by the wealth, then certainly by the attractive and imposing personages. The king wore gilded sandals set with jewels; strings of pearls hung down from his shoulders to his wrist, and huge dazzling gemstones adorned his ears. He held a golden scepter set with beryl that he yielded to Alexander in a gesture of goodwill. Sopeithes surrendered himself and his kingdom to Alexander.

He certainly knew how to win Alexander’s heart, and the young conqueror generously reinstated Sopeithes in his kingship. With so much generosity to go around, Sopeithes organized entertainment for the entire Macedonian force that lasted several days. Alexander was showered with splendid gifts, including a party of 150 large hunting dogs of unique valiant breed.

Now the location of this unnamed city held by Sopeithes is subject to discussion. Still, based on Arrian and the analysis made by Alexander Cunningham in 1871, it is thought to be Bhera on the right bank of the Hydaspes River (today, the new city of Bhera stands on the left bank). Recent excavations have exposed several mounds (Barrian mounds) yielding artifacts from Achaemenid, Greek, and Mauryan times.

[Picture from PAK]

The modern village of Mong, built on top of Alexandria Nicea, lies only 10 kilometers away, making it plausible that Alexander crossed the Hydaspes near Bhera.

It is noteworthy that another King Sophytes in the eastern territories, minted his own coins in Greek style between 315 and 305 BC. He may have been a satrap under Seleucos I.

The siege of Sangala (in modern Pakistan)

It is one of those fights that hardly catches our attention and is generally ignored among the greater battles of Alexander. Yet it is another of those gems among his incessant conquests pushing ever further eastwards.

As soon as Alexander had set foot on the eastern bank of the Hydraotes River, modern Ravi (see also: Alexander marching beyond the Hydaspes), most of the Indian tribes surrendered without resistance and those who did not were, of course, subdued by force. Sangala, however, was another story. Although the city has not yet been located, we are told by Arrian that it stood on top of a hill. The tribes that resisted Alexander in the immediate surrounding of the city had sought and found refuge inside its walls. Three consecutive circles of carts were set up around the hill by the defenders to function as individual obstacle walls. They felt pretty comfortable behind their defenses from where they could easily venture out to face Alexander - or so they thought.

Alexander is a master when it comes to adjusting his tactics to any given situation and upon arrival, he immediately instructed his archers to ride along the enemy front line while shooting their arrows at long range in order to pin them down inside the city. This gave Alexander enough time to put his men into position so he could start the advance towards the outer line of carts. The Indians advanced and climbed on their carts, attacking with bows and arrows at long range. Clearly, the cavalry was of no use here and Alexander rapidly dismounted to lead his infantry to the assault. The enemy was soon driven from the first line of carts and rallied behind the second line where they could better defend themselves as they fought in closer ranks. Although the Macedonians had to push and maneuver their way through the outer ring of carts to reach the Indians, the enemy was once again forced to withdraw. They did not make another stand behind the third ring of carts but retreated rapidly inside the city instead.

This was enough fighting for one day and Alexander instructed his infantry to string out around Sangala. However, he did not have enough troops available at this time to allow a complete encirclement. The break in his defenses was opposite a shallow lake so he took the precaution to post his cavalry around the lake. Alexander’s guess was that the Indians would try to slip out of Sangala under cover of darkness. How well he understood what warfare was all about, for his supposition turned out to be correct. In the dead of night, the Indians left the city but fell in the arms of the patrolling cavalry. Many were killed, others returned to the relative safety of the city walls.

At this stage, Alexander built a double stockade around the city and made sure that the lake itself was more efficiently guarded. He even made arrangements to bring in his siege engines when he learned from stray Indians that the people of Sangala planned to escape that very night through the opening in the stockade at the lake.

Ptolemy was put in charge and he collected all the Indian carts that were left behind and placed them across the line of the Indian’s escape route to stop or at least slow down their flight. He also instructed his men to collect the wooden posts that had not been used for the construction of the stockade and pitch them as a barrier on either side between the lake and the city. Since most of this work had been done in near darkness, the people of Sangala had no knowledge of this barrier. As soon as the Indians opened their city gates and speeded down to the lake, Ptolemy sounded the alarm and soon his men were on top of the Indians who tried to find their way between the carts and the newly erected palisade – to little or no avail and once again they withdrew inside the city.

At this time, Porus who had been called in to reinforce Alexander’s troops arrived with his elephants and some 5,000 Indians, and Alexander had erected his siege engines. The Macedonians, in the meantime, had been able to undermine the city wall and climbed the scaling ladders they set all around the town. Sangala was taken by assault and up to 17,000 Indians were killed in the process while over 70,000 were taken prisoner. Alexander also captured 500 cavalry and 300 war chariots. His own losses did not reach more than one hundred men but strangely enough over 1,200 of his troops were wounded – a remarkably high number. These figures can be explained when reading Curtius’ account of the battle. He tells us that the Indians had tied the chariots together and standing on their platforms were able to rapidly leap from one cart to the next, attacking the Macedonians with lances and axes from above. In the ensuing chaos, Alexander soon ordered that the bonds that held the chariots together should be cut first after which his troops could attack the enemy on the individual carts. It must have been quite a bloody affair.

After having buried his dead with the proper rituals and ceremonies, Alexander sent his secretary, Eumenes, with a small detachment to convince the two neighboring towns which had joined in Sangala’s resistance with offers of peace if they surrendered willfully. The embassy was useless for the bad news had traveled ahead of them and the people of both cities had fled by the time Eumenes arrived. Alexander tried to catch up with them, but they had had enough time to get away. He then returned to Sangala and razed it to the ground.

Porus was sent to back to the cities that had surrendered with instructions to garrison them. Alexander himself resumed his march east towards the Hyphasis River, modern Beas.

[Picture of the Hydraotes River from Wikipedia By Vjdchauhan - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0]
[Map from Travel, Tourism, Transport and Maps of Pakistan]

Alexander marching beyond the Hydaspes

After the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander made customary offerings and sacrifices to thank the gods. The dead were given the usual burial ceremony with all the splendor and pomp this occasion required. The king organized games and competitions, and he built two new cities to crown his victory. Nicaea (Alexandria Nicaea), named after Nike, the goddess of Victory, emerged on the battlefield itself. At the same time, Bucephala (Alexandria Bucephala) was erected at the point where he started the river crossing and was meant to honor his faithful charger who died at this time (most probably not on the battlefield but instead of old age).

[By Acphalia - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0]

Once this was resolved, he instructed Craterus to supervise the fortification of the newly founded settlements and maintain his communication line. Alexander pursued his march further east and took 37 towns, the smallest of which had more than 5,000 inhabitants; according to Arrian, some were even double that size. Many well-populated villages also surrendered, and all these settlements were handed over to Porus.

Alexander then headed for the Acesines River, which was nearly 3,000 meters wide at the point where he chose to cross it. It has been speculated that he deliberately opted for the widest point to take advantage of the slower current. Once again, he used boats and floats, which had to maneuver around large jagged rocks in the fast-flowing water. The floats managed well, but several boats hit the rocks and fell apart, drowning many men in the process. Here he left Coenus to supervise the remainder of the troops that followed with the grain and other supplies taken from the just conquered territories. Porus was sent back to his realm with instructions to collect more men and elephants and join up with Alexander further down the road.

[Acesines River from Wikimapia]

Then, there was the other Porus, generally known as the bad Porus, a nephew of King Porus. He ruled over Gandaris, the lands between the Acesines River (modern Chenab) and the Hydraotes River (modern Ravi). He had sent Alexander repeated offers to surrender simply because he hated his uncle. Still, when his namesake was granted many new territories by Alexander, he fled his country, taking with him as many fighting men as he possibly could. This bad Porus fled east beyond the Hydraotes River, and Alexander followed on his tail. This meant that he had to cross this major river as well. It was swollen by the melting snows from the Himalayas and was as wide as the Acesines but not as swift. It is amazing how all these river crossings are treated as a matter of course by our historians while each and every one was a challenge in its own right.

[Bridge of boats on the Hydraotes in 1880]

Before engaging in the river crossing, Alexander, as always, made sure to safeguard his rear. This was especially important at this point since he was advancing in enemy territory. Arrian recognizes the significance of these measures, and he particularly mentions how Alexander left troops at every strategic point throughout the region west of the Hydraotes, allowing both Craterus and Coenus to move around with minimal risk during their foraging expeditions. At this point, Hephaistion was sent back with Demetrius to catch the renegade Porus and take any independent Indian tribe he might encounter on the way and hand them over to the “good” Porus.

As soon as Alexander landed on the other bank of the Hydraotes, most Indian tribes surrendered without resistance and those who did not were subdued by force. An exception was the stand made at Sangala, but that is another story (see: The siege of Sangala in modern Pakistan).