Discovering Forts Alexander might have known (Central Asia 9)

[8 - In Spring 328 BC, Alexander splits up his army in five sections. Hephaistion cleans up the Panj River Valley, Ptolemy the Vaksh River Valley, Perdiccas the Karfernigan, Coenus the Surkhan, and Alexander marches to Maracanda, where his generals will join him afterwards.]

Alexander used his winter in Bactra to evaluate the complex resistance he has been facing in Sogdiana. Killing Bessus had made him King of Persia, but as it turned out, not the ruler of Sogdiana, where Spitamenes and his warlords led a full-scale guerrilla war. Alexander had to learn to face this new kind of warfare and had to make drastic changes in his tactics and in his army set-up. He decided, once across the Oxus, to split his forces into five columns, as each of them would mop up the valleys between the outstretched fingers of the Pamir Mountains. His faithful friend Hephaistion would handle the Panj River Valley on today’s border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan; Ptolemy would take care of the Vaksh River Valley originating in Kyrgyzstan as the Kyzyl-Suu, passing Dushanbe and emptying into the Amu Darya; Perdiccas would lead his men along the Karfernigan River, the longest of Kyrgyzstan and last tributary to join the Amu Darya; Coenus would subdue the people along the Surkhan River in southern Uzbekistan, also running into the Amu Darya; and Alexander would ride to Maracanda to rendezvous with all his generals afterwards. Unfortunately, historians only relate stories about Alexander, dismissing any details about the accomplishments of his generals.

They took several forts perched high amidst the Central Asian plains, roughly east of Derbent on the southern edges of the Pamir Mountains into western Tajikistan.  When I am in Khiva, I have the opportunity to visit some of such forts. It is my chance to get an idea of what this episode must have meant in Alexander’s life. The road takes me north, on the other side of the main road, Urgench-Tashkent near Beruni, towards Bostan. This is still within reach of the Oxus and its irrigation canals, watering the cotton fields. We make an unexpected stop alongside the road for a steady look at the Kyzyl Kala, i.e., the Red Fort, just beyond the fluffy cotton stacks. It is a near-square construction of 65 x 63 meters that once stood two stories high - not difficult to guess even from this distance. Soldiers from neighboring Toprak Kala were stationed there, I’m told, spending alternatively one week inside these walls, one week at Toprak Kala, and one week working in the fields. Time-wise, it belongs to the 1st-8th century as part of the Kingdom of Khorezm.

Now Khorezm deserves some explanation, for most of us have never heard of this kingdom, which may find its origin in the fact that it goes by many different spellings: Chorasmia, Khwarezmia, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Khorezm, Khoresm, Khorasam, Harezm, Horezm, and Chorezm. Pick your choice!

The land was inhabited as early as 3,000 BC and is said to have been colonized by an Iranian hero in 1292 BC. When Alexander arrived here some thousand years later, it was governed by the Persian Achaemenids together with Bactria and Carmania. Arrian, in his Anabasis, mentions that the king of the Chorasmians, Pharasmanes, visited Alexander at his court in Bactra in great style, “with 1,500 mounted troops. He told Alexander that his territory had common frontiers with the Colchians and the Amazon women, and that if Alexander should ever contemplate an invasion of those countries with the object of reducing the various peoples in that part of the world as far as the Black Sea, he was willing to act as his guide and to provide all the necessary supplies for his army.” It is one of those paragraphs we tend to dismiss amidst all the events Alexander is being confronted with in 328 BC. It is evident that he had no intention at all to march back west, as his plans for India were by now drawn up. So “he thanked Pharasmanes for his offer and concluded a pact of friendship with him, adding that an expedition to the Black Sea was not at the moment convenient…” [Arrian, Book 4, 15-16]. This being said, it is clear that this Kyzyl Kala survived the largely independent days of the later Parthian and Seleucian dynasties, and those of the Sassanid rulers as well. How exciting to stand in a place with such rich history! Of course, Islam took over, and leaders like Genghis Khan and Tamerlane swarmed down over these lands as well, but that is beyond this part of the story.

Back to my own itinerary, the landscape soon becomes very desolate, and that is no surprise since I’m in the middle (well, middle…) of the Kyzylkum, the Red Desert, which I first discovered from my precarious airplane. We drive on for quite a while as distances are proportionate to the land, as always. I enjoy the comforts of an air-conditioned bus, while Alexander and his army had to trudge through these sands and spiny shrubs on foot. Sturdy men, no doubt.

Toprak Kala, meaning Clay-Fort, lies in the middle of the Ellik Kala oasis as part of a city of which I see no remains. This fort is much larger than the previous one, 500 x 350 meters, with walls reaching up to 8-9 meters, but I find the site in poor condition; the earthen walls have suffered badly from eons of exposure and erosion. One of the wooden doorposts still carries an inscription, but I cannot even figure out in what language it is written. Russian archaeologists have counted three hundred rooms in the palace on the northwestern side, discovering wall frescoes and polychrome statues of Zoroastrian gods as well as documents from the royal archives written in the Khorezm language (1st-4th century). A few vaulted corridors are, in fact, the most striking elements that remain today.

About twenty kilometres further down the road, the fort of Ayaz Kala stamps its presence on the flat landscape. It was part of a series of forts very much like the Roman Limes, built to protect the agricultural lands against the nomads’ invasions. From the top of its one-hundred-meter-high hill, it has a commanding view over the surrounding land. It measures 180 x 150 meters and dates from the 4th/early 3rd century BC, meaning this is the kind of fort Alexander must have been confronted with. And I am going to climb to the top, plowing through the loose sands as if walking in the dunes, what an experience!

Once I have reached the inside of the fort, I’m totally taken by surprise as it has not just one outer wall but two walls with in between them a vaulted passageway approximately two meters wide. Each wall is about ten meters high and at its base at least 2.2 to 2.4 meters thick. What a defense that must have been! During the 3rd century AD, these walls were enhanced and fortified by forty-five semicircular watchtowers at 10-15 meter intervals. As a fort, this construction was used till the first century, but after that it remained a safe haven for the local population till far into the Middle Ages. The flat top of this hill has been stretched to its limits and covers an area fit for a small town. The entrance gate was built in the shape of a labyrinth and was consequently highly defensible. How ingenious!

Under me, between this fort and the road, lies a lower hill of about forty meters high, with on its top, another, much smaller fort. This was the residence of King Afrig and was at the time connected by a suspension bridge to the next rocky outcrop crowned with a citadel to defend the king’s palace. This is all more recent, 7th/8th century AD, and functioned until the 13th century. These walls are clearly round and oval in shape, quite original, I would say. From what I hear, the movie about Genghis Khan was shot at this location – has anyone seen it?

The view alone is worth the climb. The wind feels like a storm up here, and I’m not surprised to learn that the locals called this place Windy Fort. I’m still within the flat valley floor of the Oxus, and in the distance I can see the blue waters of Akcha-Kul Lake on one side and to the left the sharp outlines of yet another fort. This one, shaped as a parallelogram of 260 x 180 meters, dates from the 1st/2nd century AD, but remains in the north-eastern corner are said to be much older, 5th/4th century BC. So, yet another fort from Alexander’s days! The outside walls were not as thick as up here, a mere 7.5 meters, and the watchtowers were entirely circular. According to the archaeologists, the fort was mainly used during the 1st century as a garrison, but it may also have served as a shelter for the tribes’ leaders or even as a temporary residence for the local population in case of trouble. Those who want to learn more about these forts can visit this interesting link on the UNESCO website.

It goes without saying that this entire setting in this specific desert area is giving me a precious insight into the forts Alexander the Great had to besiege during his campaign. Besides, who dares to say he never was here? It is not because nothing is put down in our history books that nothing has happened here …

Click here to read Episode 10 of Central Asia 

Alexander's March to Maracanda (Central Asia 8)

[7 - In early autumn of 329 BC, Alexander marched to Maracanda in three days and nights to see Spitamenes vanish in thin air. He re-crossed the Oxus to winter in Bactra. Arrival of reinforcements from Macedonia.]

In early autumn 329 BC, as soon as he could manage health-wise, Alexander marched to Maracanda to find Spitamenes and avenge the recent cruel ambush of his envoys. Alexander was never in for half measures, and he proved it once again, covering a good 180 miles from Alexandria-Eschate to Maracanda in three days and nights, the fastest march of his life (an average of some 45 miles a day!). He must have had an iron constitution to travel at such high speed after suffering the discomforts of dysentery and his recent wounds. The loss of the 2,000 good men in Maracanda must have hit him hard.

Spitamenes, meanwhile, had attacked Maracanda a second time, but as soon as he was informed of Alexander’s approach, he quickly withdrew. Alexander set in pursuit, but his enemy’s lead was too great. In this process, Alexander passed the ghostly battlefield where his troops had lost their lives a few months earlier and arranged for a decent burial. In his anger, he ordered to sweep the entire valley of the Polytimetus River, modern Zeravshan, still running past Samarkand. His instructions were clear: every house and every village should be taken down, all the crops burnt, and any person sympathizing with Spitamenes should be killed. I wonder how many questions the enraged Macedonians bothered to ask before killing…

These measures only put more oil on the fire with the Bactrians and the Sogdians. Most of their towns were now in ruins, the population wiped out, they had nothing to lose, and their only hopes lay with Spitamenes. Personally, I think it is about this time that the new Great King realized that warfare in this part of his empire was entirely different from his well-planned, well-drilled, and well-executed battlefields.

With the fast-approaching winter at his doorstep, Alexander left 3,000 men on guard in Bactria and retired to Bactra, where enough provisions had been stored to sustain the severe winter months. The good news must have been that the highly needed and long-expected reinforcements finally arrived from Macedonia, 22,000 fresh Greek mercenaries sent out by Antipater. A welcome boost to manpower and morale, no doubt.

I just can’t believe I have arrived in Samarkand myself, the Maracanda of the Greeks and the Afrasiab of antiquity! The very name rings like Baghdad, Babylon, or Persepolis, an unknown world as far as I’m concerned, somewhere in the Orient. No wonder that Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in the world, although opinions differ widely when it comes to dating its origins. However, we are sure that the Persian Achaemenids ruled the local tribes from the 6th to the 4th century BC. With the arrival of Alexander the Great in 329 BC, Maracanda occupied a key position and became an important business center thanks to its impregnable citadel surrounded by a more than ten kilometers long city wall, which in later centuries even kept the Arabs out. But the arrival of Islam and the hordes of Genghis Khan could not be stopped. Golden times blessed the city when Tamerlane declared Samarkand the capital of his empire that reached from the Bosporus to the Indus. Today’s treasures of Samarkand are to be found in the mosques, madrassa’s and mausoleums Tamerlane left us, unique beauties that are luckily added to the World Heritage List of UNESCO. Samarkand is also closely linked to the Silk Road, situated on the crossroad of two main routes, one running from Persia in the west to China in the east, the other running south towards India. As I said before, Alexander must have followed these same roads since they ran, in fact, on top of the Royal Roads built by the Great Kings over the centuries to connect their many palaces and to quickly move their armies through this vast empire.

No trace of Alexander is to be found in today’s Samarkand. I’ll have to go to neighboring Afrasiab, constantly inhabited until the Mongols arrived here in 1220 and leveled the proud city upon explicit orders of Genghis Khan. Those who survived these terrors fled the premises and chose to settle at the edge of the foothill, and this is where today’s Samarkand is still shining. I’ll be visiting Afrasiab, of course. [See: Part 10, Afrasiab, ancient Samarkand]

I’m walking along the Zeravshan River, the old Polytimetus River, during my visit to a Natural Reserve in that area. I am told that this is a safe haven for foxes and lynxes, a certain number of birds, but all I see are some apparently unique deer, fenced in like our deer parks. Not exactly what one would expect under the label of a Natural Reserve, but we are probably very spoiled with our western safari parks and the kind. The local guide is willing to take us to the banks of the Zeravshan River; nobody is really interested but me. Yes, of course, Alexander has been here rampaging through the thickets on his reprisal expedition after Spitamenes’ brutal murder of the Greek mercenaries around here. The path is wild and overgrown with lots of spiny plants and branches that scratch you wherever they can; not very inviting, I must say. How Alexander’s men cut their way through these dense thickets and low thorny branches makes you bow in respect because their bodies, arms, and legs must have been covered with scars. I guess these seasoned troopers were used to it, or worse. I can’t take in enough of these wild-grown shrubs and grasses, as if Alexander could dash out of this wilderness anytime before me!

A year later, Alexander is back for another sweep-up along the Polytimetus and its tributaries to demonstrate his power and that of his army. Strangely enough, and in spite of his harsh actions, legends about Alexander still flourish in this part of the country where an Alexander River (Iskander Darya) flows out of an Alexander Lake (Iskander Kül). It is believed that he built a golden dam to create the lake and that gold particles can still be panned further downstream. Another story tells how Alexander and his trusted horse Bucephalus rise from the lake with every full moon to cross the sky (Michael Wood and Frank Holt).

My path stops abruptly at the bank of the Zeravshan, at least five feet above the riverbed. All I see is a charcoal-black muddy surface plowed by deer and cattle that waded through on their way to the water near the opposite side – a shimmering rivulet, nothing more. But then, this time of the year (fall), the rivers around here are at their lowest; they swell in spring after the snow from the surrounding mountains starts melting. The Zeravshan rises at the fringes of the Pamir Mountains, and I crossed on my way from Shahr-i-Sabz and may have emptied into the Oxus in antiquity, although today, it simply peters out in the desert before reaching that far. Alexander must have seen this river also fully swollen, as he repeatedly traveled between Maracanda and Bactra (having to cross the Oxus River each time again). We have no idea of the hardships or distances out here; Samarkand-Balkh, for instance, is roughly 200 miles, almost as far as Los Angeles - Las Vegas or London - Land’s End.

Click here to read Episode 9 of Central Asia.

Tlos in the beautiful Xanthos Valley

I find it quite exciting to read that recent excavations have been carried out in the ancient city of Tlos, not too far from Fethiye in Turkey. To me, Tlos is entirely linked to Alexander the Great, although there is no proof at all that he ever was here. In fact, this is true for the entire Xanthos Valley, which is part of ancient Lycia. All we know is that Alexander crossed Lycia in today’s Southern Turkey after his siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BC. At that point, he sent the newlywed soldiers home to Macedonia for the winter. He split the remaining part of his army up with his general Parmenion, who would take his men to Gordion. Alexander would cross Lycia from west to east to join Parmenion next spring in Gordion.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of having lunch amidst the ruins of Tlos on a most exquisite picnic place: a series of blocks from the bathhouse aligned in its shade with an eagle eye’s view over the historic valley below. This was really something special, to sit there among those ruins savoring the food in a place where Romans, Greeks, Lycians, and earlier civilizations lived in centuries past. The ancients must have spotted this place too, and maybe savored their own snack while watching the same scenery. It always makes me feel very privileged to sit in a place where people from times bygone sat. What were they seeing? What were they thinking? Whom did they talk to? This is beyond imagination, of course.

Inevitably, I pictured Alexander the Great riding his Bucephalus at an easy pace through this luscious Xanthos Valley that produced and still produces a variety of crops. These fertile fields were dotted with a string of cities from Tlos and Pınara in the north to the more familiar Xanthos and Letoon in the south. Somewhere to the northwest of Letoon lies Sidyma, half-buried under and among today’s Dodurga. An abundance of history for the taking!

 [picture from The Hurriyet Daily News]

Turkey is rich in antique sites, some of them being left mostly untouched, but from time to time archaeologists set out for further investigation. This summer, apparently, it was the turn of Tlos, where several Roman statues have been uncovered and moved to the local museum in Fethiye. Time to go back, it seems. From the one picture published with this article in The Hurriyet Daily News in August 2011, one can easily recognize Emperor Hadrian standing in the middle of the group. Other life-sized statues represent Antonius Pius and his daughter Faustina Minor, Marcus Aurelius, and the goddess Isis.

Moreover, other artifacts helped to date Tlos back 10,500 years, while it was previously believed that the site was occupied for the past 2,700 years only. The archaeological team will continue its excavations over the next few months, focusing on the city center, the rock tombs around the Acropolis, the Stadium, the Basilica, and the Theater tower, and investigate Girmeler Cave and Tavabaşı Cave.

Tlos is not very well known and evidently much less than Xanthos or Myra, for instance, but it is definitely worth investigating if ever you are in the area.

When I was there in 2007, archaeologists had been working on the Roman Bath complex, removing much of the soil and rubble from the Solarium, where apparently precious mosaics were found, now covered with plastic and dirt to protect them from the elements – and unfortunately, to my view also. The thickness of the layer of soil that has been removed here is remarkable (I would say 1.5 to 2 meters), exposing pure white building stones. The many rooms of this bathhouse had not been mapped yet, but it is too early to establish their function.

Inside the Byzantine Basilica, all the trees and bushes had recently been cut down (the core of the trunks and branches is still whitish). The overall plan now plainly exposes three wide naves with a central row of columns lying just as they have fallen down. There are even a few traces of plaster visible on the walls. This Basilica might be standing on top of an older temple; only time will tell.

The theater is located next to the Basilica. The loose stones have been inventoried, and one day they’ll be moved back to their original place again. Parts of the skene and proscenium are still standing, including a remarkable window to the outside that may have been framed by a column on either side and covered with a protruding roof.

Inside the theater, the lower rows of seats are cleared of rubble and soil. The big blocks are piled up near the skene, and the debris is neatly heaped up in the middle of the orchestra, waiting to find a way to be carried outside. The benches of each row are still neatly aligned, with the lion paws at the corner. All around the top of the theater, high slabs are preventing the visitors from falling down, as the theater’s back is not leaning against the hillside. The original construction is definitely Greek and was adapted to Roman needs, as done in Fethiye and Patara. The bashed and battered VIP seats have been moved to the ambulatorium, meaning that at some point the theater was turned into an arena. The vomitoriums on either side are still filled with fallen stones and rocks. It would be interesting to return someday to see the results of these excavations and restorations, as apparently the archaeological team is working here again in 2011!

On the other side of the modern road, the Stadium has been unearthed, showing several rows of seats over the entire length, leaning against the Boouleuterion wall. The floor itself is being used by the villagers for their promising crop of corn, but the spine of the stadium has been cleared and is plainly visible. From what I saw lately on Turkish TV, diggings have been carried out recently, clearing part of the floor. It is a place that tantalizes your imagination, picturing the races that were held here, something like in the Ben-Hur movie.

The rocky hillside behind the Stadium was obviously the favorite spot for the Lycians to build their tombs, many displaying the early wooden door patterns. I even discovered one tomb that still has its sliding door in place! I tried to move it, but it didn’t budge. Maybe it needs some waxing to make it slide again, I wonder.

I climbed higher up to the Acropolis, past a few typical, very weathered Lycian sarcophagi. The Acropolis proper had little to offer from ancient times, only the 19th-century walls of the fort that Aga Ali, also called Bloody Ali, built here. Yet the view over the Xanthos Valley is breathtaking! One can easily locate the other old cities of Sidyma, Pınara, and Patara further south, with at the far horizon the glittering Mediterranean Sea. This was definitely a very fertile valley, and it still is today with the many prosperous fields and healthy fruit trees.

So, yes, you definitely should include a visit to Tlos whenever you are around Fethiye or the Xanthos Valley!

The latest news about the Palace of Aegae

In recent years the Palace of Philip II in Aegae has been off-limits to visitors because of new archaeological digs on the site of what is now called Vergina in northern Greece. Intensive restoration works have lead to document new facts about the lay-out of this palace.

According to the latest news, construction of the palace was started by Philip II of Macedon in 350 BC and works were completed only in 336 BC, the year of his cruel murder. The research has revealed important information about ancient Macedonian architecture, especially since the palace was built without interruption and thus in a very consistent style.

Most revealing is the two-storied front section of the building as archaeologists until now believed that such galleries appeared only in the 2nd century BC. More importantly even is the general acceptance that Pytheos was the palace’s architect, i.e. the same one who built the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Aegae seems to share the same sculptor Leochares, also.

I simply can’t wait till this area will open to the public again to have a closer and different look at all these details!

Alexander and Turkey

As you’ll know by now, I like to follow the latest archaeological news in the Hurriyet Daily News. When the news is about Alexander the Great, it has my undivided attention.

Last summer (July 2011), they published an article written by Frank White, Professor Emeritus at City University of New York, under the title “Alexander and the land that became Turkey”. I was, as can be expected, very much intrigued by what he could be revealing about the role of today’s Turkey in Alexander’s conquests. After all, the king of Macedonia spent only a good year crossing this country from the Hellespont (today’s Dardanelles) to the Syrian border. Still, he fought two major battles against the Persians, one at the Granicus River and the other at Issus. In both cases, he was evidently victorious.

But I found this article very disappointing. There were no new facts or revelations, no accent on any part of Alexander’s campaigns, sieges, or routes, while Turkey certainly can provide a wealth of information on these matters. Yet all I read is a speedy list of successive countries, cities, and territories which Alexander crossed over during the twelve years of his conquest of Asia, and I entirely fail to understand the relation between the title and the contents. I would have expected more from a university professor, especially since he lives in Alanya part of the year and should be familiar with Alexander’s traces in Turkey.

In any case, the article will make good reading for whoever wants to have a compact text about the life and conquests of Alexander the Great. You are free to fill the gaps where and whether you want.

Alexandria-Eschate and Cyropolis (Central Asia 7)

[6 - In July 329 BC, Alexander was building his Alexandria-the-Furthermost, modern Khodjend in Tajikistan, while taking seven Sogdian cities, including Cyropolis. Alexander was seriously wounded.]

Alexander marched north to Cyropolis, a city founded by nobody less than Cyrus the Great, whom he admired greatly. But Cyropolis was situated about 10 km away from the edge of the Jaxartes River and Alexander felt that it didn’t serve his purpose, i.e. to protect the country against the nomads inhabiting the lands beyond the majestic river. He decided to build a city of his own, Alexandria-Eschate or Alexandria-the-Furthermost (Ultima) right on the banks of the Jaxartes – the location of today’s Khodjend in Tajikistan. Shortly after starting his project, a general revolt broke out and the entire area exploded into an armed resistance counting as much as 20,000 men. It was more than obvious that this Macedonian settlement was not welcome.

The uprising spread rapidly to Cyropolis and the neighbouring towns. An infuriated Alexander struck back and was wounded for the first time since Asia Minor, taking an arrow in his leg that broke his splint-bone. However, determined as always, he sent Craterus to besiege Cyropolis (by far the largest town), while he systematically subdued the other six cities in the area. Arrian mentions that the king took five cities in three days, nothing less. From what I have seen in other places, the walls of these towns, although made of mud-bricks could be quite formidable, yet he razed them all to the ground. Returning to Cyropolis and in spite of his wounds, Alexander was alert enough to notice a stream running under the city walls; that was all he needed to crawl inside and open the city-gates from the inside to let his army in and subsequently subdue the city. Most of the defenders were obviously killed but in such a close-combat many of Alexander’s men suffered severe injuries, and so did Alexander. He fell unconscious when a large stone hit him on the head. He suffered from blurred vision and couldn’t speak for several days. He must have been quite upset with himself for all these injuries combined made it impossible for him to ride his horse, see or speak clearly. He may have been lucky after all, for it was here that Cyrus lost his life during a similar attack in 530 BC.

As if the situation was not bad enough, the king received news that his garrison in Maracanda had been attacked by Spitamenes who had banded up with several other warlords in order to resist Alexander’s decision to settle the area. The tables had turned since the capture of Bessus just a few months earlier, and certainly not to Alexander’s advantage. The Bactrians and Sogdians became true terrorists (although the very word is a modern conception) and Spitamenes was the worst among them. In my eyes, he was the equivalent of the Bin Laden of our times. Nothing seems to have changed in that part of the world …

To settle the rebellion in his back, Alexander sent 2000 mercenaries to Maracanda hoping that the rebels could be talked into peace – a serious miscalculation as he had put this detachment under command of an interpreter instead of a capable general. They were never to be seen again.

In spite of his impaired condition, Alexander pushed on with the construction of Alexandria-Eschate. Within 21 days the city-walls were erected, 5.5 miles long, i.e. the equivalent of a Macedonian camp. A prowess by itself! But the Scythians from the opposite shore of the Jaxartes also grew furious about this new city and they joined the Sogdian revolt, putting Alexandria-Eschate under constant attacks and taunting Alexander to come after them. When the city walls reached a defendable height and the king had recovered well enough from his wounds to fight back, the crossing of the Jaxartes was set in motion. It is one of those exploits that is not stressed enough in our history books!

I have no visual image of the Jaxartes since it was pitch dark by the time I crossed it, but picturing it more or less like the Oxus I cannot be far from the truth. When Alexander decided to attack the daunting Scythians on the opposite bank, he had a solid plan. This was far from the one he applied on the Oxus earlier on because if he had sent his men swimming across the Jaxartes they would have been killed like sitting ducks by the enemy’s arrows. He conceived a flotilla of large rafts (12,000 rafts assembled in three days, according to Curtius) made from stuffed leather tent covers, rigged together and covered with a sturdy platform. These rafts could carry a serious contingent of men and even some horses. Besides, Alexander equipped them with long-range catapults, a kind of machine the Scythians were going to discover for the first time. As the volleys hit the startled nomads, Alexander’s archers, slingers and other catapults kept on firing while the troops, both infantry and cavalry managed to get ashore – nothing less than a modern landing with amphibian tanks! The current was swift and tore at the rafts but they held long enough for every men and horse to land safely. When the Scythians recovered from their first shock and surprise, they played their favourite manoeuvre by riding and attacking in circles, but even here Alexander knew the answer. He threw in a mixed force of infantry and cavalry and successfully broke the circle, sending the Scythians to retreat further inland. Alexander, as a matter of course, set in the pursuit for several miles into the desert before giving up. I read somewhere (but don’t remember where) that this battle took place near Kungur-tao on the northern bank of the Jaxartes but I can’t pinpoint this location. Any suggestions?

King and army then set out to return victorious to Alexandria-Eschate, but many were sick with dysentery as they had drunk foul water. Alexander shared the same fate and on top of all his recent wounds, he now had to be carried on a stretcher. Ancient sources mention that infantry and cavalry quarreled about who would be carrying the very ill king, as both fell entitled to the honour . Alexander settled the matter in person, as dear old Solomon would have done: they should take turns.

Click here to read Episode 8 of Central Asia 

Jaxartes River and the Iron Gates (Central Asia 6)

[5 - Alexander moved to the end of the Persian Empire on the Jaxartes River (modern Syr Darya) through the Iron Gates (the only road east out of Maracanda), over Jizzak and Uratube.]

On my travel across Uzbekistan, I happen to drive on the road from Samarkand to Tashkent, which inevitably passes through the Gates of Tamerlane or Iron Gates, i.e. the only way to go east from Samarkand – now as it was in antiquity. This narrow passage is just wide enough to let the Sanzar River run through, flanked by a railroad and our main road. The lush grasses along the river offer good grazing grounds for a handful of cows and goats – a timeless picture, no doubt. In short, this pass is worth of Thermopylae, an easy place to defend.

It is obvious that history has been written here over the centuries and Alexander was no exception. Spirits from the past still seem to haunt the present carried by the winds squeezed at increasing speed between these steep rocky walls. On either side of the pass, these same walls once carried two Persian inscriptions; one telling about Ulugbek’s campaigns (the grandson of Tamerlane); the other about the brutal murder of Abdullah Khan, son of Iskandar Khan. Luckily both panels have been removed and placed in the care of the museum because the walls are desperately defaced with horrible screaming graffiti. Isn’t there a law against this? There is, but nobody seems to reinforce it. A dreadful sight for such a historic location!

It should be noted that there are two places in Uzbekistan labeled as “Iron Gates”. There is this one, on the road out of Central Asia to the east and there is a place south of Samarkand near Derbent which I mentioned above when Ptolemy went in pursuit of Bessus (I have not seen it for myself). Useless to mention that this adds to the confusing in locating Alexander’s path through Bactria and Sogdiana.

We drive on through Jizzak, an uneventful place. Further north we unexpectedly have to take a detour because of the intricate jigsaw puzzle borderline with Kazakhstan. The main road runs right through that foreign enclave, a complicated situation with customs and passport control we rather avoid by driving around it. We loose precious time, as far as I’m concerned for when we finally reach the Jaxartes River, of which I had such high hopes, it is pitch dark. The beams of the bridge flash by against a black void where the Jaxartes is said to run. What a disappointment that is.

This is one of the places of which we know for sure that Alexander was here and now I can’t see it! In the summer of 329 BC, he entered Maracanda, but not for long as he badly needed to secure the borders of his newly acquired empire which the Persians had set along the Jaxartes River (Syr Darya). On this occasion, he must have passed through these very same Iron Gates and the city of Jizzak to reach the Jaxartes which I didn’t see. So much for tracing Alexander in this corner of Uzbekistan!

[Click here to see all my pictures of the Iron Gates]
Click here to read Episode 7 of Central Asia .

Alexander Meeting the Branchidae on his march to Maracanda (Central Asia 5)

[4 - Encounter with the Branchidae, emigrants from Miletus whom Alexander massacred because of treason.]

Alexander first arrived in Maracanda in late June 329 BC in pursuit of Bessus, who had proclaimed himself King Artaxerxes V after killing Darius III. On his way, he unexpectedly met a group of Greek-speaking people and was told that they were the Branchidae, a group of emigrants who had fled Miletus a good hundred years before.

In the 5th century BC, the Branchidae ruled the Temple of Apollo in Didyma (which belonged to Miletus). They were in charge of the temple's money, and during Xerxes’ conquests of Greece, taking their responsibilities seriously, they refused, at first, to hand over this money, but eventually, they gave in – meaning in fact that they took the side of Persia. When the Greeks came out victorious from the Persian War in 479 BC, the Branchidae had reason enough to fear revenge from their compatriots. Their pro-Persian attitude forced them to ask for Persian protection, and that is how the Branchidae packed their belongings and migrated east to Central Asia – the end of the world as was generally accepted.

As a consequence, the Temple of Apollo at Didyma was left unattended, the sacred waters dried up, and the oracle fell silent till Alexander arrived there in 331 BC on his way from Miletus to Halicarnassus. He always had a deep respect for the gods and maybe more so for the oracles. When he visited the temple, history tells us that the sacred waters started to flow again. With the spring, the oracle came back to life, and as we know, the first prophecy went directly to Alexander, predicting his victory at Gaugamela and the death of Darius III.

But this happened two years and many, many miles before … Now Alexander finds himself in the middle of Central Asia and is happily welcomed by Greek-speaking people. Curtius remarks that although the Branchidae have maintained their ancestral customs, they had already degenerated from their native tongue and had become bilingual (which is exactly what happens to Bactria after Alexander’s death, where it takes about that same time for the population to become “Hellenized”). To the men in the army, it must have felt like a homecoming so far from home, and initially, the surrender of the Branchidae is generally accepted, till many feel that the Pan-Hellenic cause has been betrayed. Arrian, strangely enough, does not mention this episode, but the facts have been reported by Callisthenes, who was present at that time. He wrote that after the festivities and warm welcomes, Alexander gave orders to kill the entire population, raze their town to the ground, and even uproot the trees and vines, burning the very roots. What the Branchidae had done was considered a betrayal of their country and what it stood for, maybe even sacrilege.

I look around at the desolate terrain with sparse houses and some cattle roaming freely over the dusty lands. A few trees, some green shrubs, where water must be flowing, not very enticing. The Branchidae must have found a good location, an oasis with plenty of water for their crops. I wonder if we will ever find any trace of this paradisiacal setting where such atrocities have happened.

Click here to read Episode 6 of  Central Asia.

Alexander the Great and Bactria by Frank Holt

If you pay attention to the details, Alexander the Great AND Bactria (ISBN 9004086129) is a striking title, while one would expect to read Alexander the Great IN Bactria. There is a good reason for that.

Although the title includes only Bactria, one should see this book in the broader context of Bactria + Sogdiana, generally reunited under the label of Central Asia. Besides his Introduction, Frank Holt divides his book into three distinct parts: before the arrival of Alexander, during Alexander’s occupation; and what became of the area after his death. All in all a far from an easy task.

Frank Holt’s account of Alexander’s campaign through today’s Afghanistan in Into the Land of Bones was a fascinating and captivating voyage in the wake of the Macedonian King. I expected to find the same in this book about Bactria, but this is an entirely different ballgame.

In Alexander's days, Bactria was at the far end of the known world, where nobody “civilized” wanted to go, and nobody really knew where it started or ended. Even a meticulous geographer such as Strabo often got confused between Bactria and Sogdiana. Arrian and Curtius were no great help either, as they randomly gave contradictory accounts using Bactria and Sogdiana. As it turns out, modern historians are not more successful in their endeavors. Rivers are not exact frontiers but seem to bring the desert peoples together instead. The same goes for mountains, where passes commute between different peoples instead of separating them.

So far, I have had a somewhat confused view of Central Asia, and I was hoping that Frank Holt would shed some light on the subject. In a way, he did, as besides Strabo, Arrian, and Curtius, he closely analyzed all available ancient authors like Pliny (National History), Claudius Ptolemy (Geography), Ammianus-Macellus (on Persia), and Stephanus the Byzantine (Ethnika). Yet, despite his thorough study and consulting other modern writers, the end result could be better. Facts and dates are so intertwined that there is no way to clarify the situation.

I assume that this explains why Frank Holt talks about Alexander AND Bactria instead of Alexander IN Bactria. It makes sense. Pending new discoveries, new excavations, and new theories, Frank Holt is the best we have for now to get an excellent overall view of Bactria and Sogdiana, roughly of Central Asia.

The book is not easy to come by; the latest print dates back to 1989, but it is a handy tool for those who want to understand Alexander’s maneuvers' complexity and genius. After all, he spent three years of his short life in Central Asia – three years out of the ten during which he marched through Asia!

What is Persian music like?

According to the announcement, it should be a kind of variation on Arabic music, i.e., the music as played in the Arabic-speaking countries ranging from North Africa to Western Asia. It seems that pure Persian music has been lost in time, only to surface again mingled with the melodies which Islam spread from Baghdad to Cordoba in the wake of its conquests. After the fall of these proud cities, we had to wait till the 19^th century for a revival which is still developing today.

The “Degocha Ensemble,” which I am about to hear, consists of a male singer, accompanied by a drum (tombak), a string instrument (târ), and a reed flute (nay). For some reason, however, the flute player was not available, and the nay has been replaced by another string instrument, the name of which I didn’t catch.

Sitting in one of the front rows, I have all the time to take a closer look at these peculiar instruments. The leader of the group plays the târ. This instrument has the shape of a calabash. About 1/3 of this gourd has been cut off lengthwise, to which a rather long handle has been attached to support the six strings. It is played like a guitar and sounds like its remote brother, but warmer, I would say. The other string instrument is smaller and is played held upright on the knee of the musician. It looks as if it is made from the calabash’s bottom and has only four strings. The drum is bigger than I would expect, maybe 50 cm in diameter, and its wooden barrel has the elegant shape of a huge chalice.

Musique persane 1ere partie door shadok2006

The music sounds very different from what I have ever heard. It calls for visions of arid plains where any sound resonates in the overall stillness of the landscape, while at other times, images of Persepolis come to my mind with dancing girls entertaining the king and his court. Maybe King Darius (and Alexander the Great) once listened to some similar melodies, who knows? There definitely are Ottoman influences in this music, with an occasional string of notes related to music from the Maghreb. Musicologists have taken the trouble to explain that the rhythm varies from 10/8 to 3/8; well, I'm not going to figure that out! The singer has quite a lot to tell, and I regret that I can’t understand his story. Somehow, he reminds me of a bard travelling from one place to the next, telling his tale. Why didn’t we receive a translated text? Even a summary would have been helpful.

After this inspiring and captivating performance, I made this remark to the gentleman sitting next to me. He kindly confirms that he understands the language, well, most of it. According to him, the songs were poems from the 11^th century, mostly about love and lost loves (of course). With a deep sigh, he expresses his hope to return to Iran one day. I take a closer look at him for nothing betrays his eastern origin, an Iranian with pale blue eyes and light hair? I can’t help but smile, for I have thoughts of the Macedonian army veterans left behind in Persia by Alexander the Great. Well, why not?