The Anabasis of Alexander : $b or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the GreatArrian
History
The Anabasis of Alexander : $b or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
Arrian
Alexander, the Great, 356 B.C.-323 B.C.; India -- History -- To 324 B.C.; Iran -- History -- To 640
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.
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