The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin: Being Translations of such portions of the Works of these and other Classical Authors as describe Alexander's Campaigns in Afghanistan, the Panjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and KarmaniaMcCrindle, John Watson
History
The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin: Being Translations of such portions of the Works of these and other Classical Authors as describe Alexander's Campaigns in Afghanistan, the Panjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and Karmania
McCrindle, John Watson
Alexander, the Great, 356 B.C.-323 B.C.; India -- History -- To 324 B.C. -- Sources
served, took care that the sentence should be executed before the news
of his son’s death, which he might seek to avenge, could reach his ears.
Many other Macedonians were also at this time tried and put to death.
Alexander’s confidence in his friends was thus much shaken; and instead
of entrusting as formerly the command of the Companion Cavalry to one
individual, he divided that body into two regiments, giving the command
of one to Kleitos, and of the other to Hêphaistiôn.
From Prophthasia he proceeded southwards into the fertile plains along
the Etymander (R. Helmund), then inhabited by a peaceful tribe called the
Ariaspians, who had received from Cyrus the title of _Euergetai_—that is,
benefactors, because they had assisted him at a time when he had been
reduced to great straits. Alexander spent two months in their dominions,
probably awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Ekbatana. During
this interval Dêmetrios, a member of the king’s bodyguard, was arrested
on suspicion of his having been implicated with Philôtas in the recent
plot, and his office was bestowed on Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, for
whom this promotion opened the way to a royal destiny. Alexander before
resuming his march appointed a governor over the Euergetai, but rewarded
their hospitality by augmenting their territory and confirming them in
the enjoyment of their political privileges.
He left this country about mid-winter, and ascending the valley of the
Etymander penetrated into Arachosia, a province which stretched eastward
to the Indus. As he advanced northward by Kandahar the snow lay deep
on the ground, and the soldiers suffered severely both from hunger and
cold. About this time he heard that the Areians had again revolted at the
instigation of Satibarzanes, who had entered their province at the head
of 2000 horse, and he immediately sent a detachment under Erigyios to
quell the insurgents. Continuing meanwhile his own advance, he arrived
at the foot of the colossal mountain-barrier, the chain of Paropanisos,
which separates Kabul from Baktria. Here in a commanding position,
near the village of Charikar, which stands in the rich and beautiful
valley of Koh-Daman, he founded yet another Alexandreia (called by way
of distinction Alexandreia of the Paropamisadai, or Alexandria apud
Caucasum), and planted it with Macedonian colonists. According to Strabo
he wintered in this neighbourhood, but Arrian leads us to suppose that he
departed as soon as he had founded the city. He crossed the mountains,
as some think, by the Bamiân Pass, the most western of the four routes
which give access from the Koh-Daman to the regions of the Upper Oxus.
It is likelier, however, that he ascended by the more direct route along
the course of the Panjshir river. The army again suffered on the way from
the severity of the cold, and still more from the scarcity of provisions.
According to Aristoboulos nothing grew on these hills but terebinth
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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