The Battle East of the Tigris on 1 October 331 BCE That Ended the Persian Empire When Alexander the Great Defeated Darius III

Alexander had crossed the Hellespont in May 334 BCE with approximately 47,000 Macedonian and allied troops. He had defeated Darius III twice already — at the Granicus (May 334) and at Issus (November 333) — but had not destroyed the Persian field army. Darius had retreated east to assemble a new force.

The two armies met east of the Tigris on the substantial plain near Gaugamela (the modern village of Tel Gomel in northern Iraq) on 1 October 331 BCE. Darius had selected the substantial flat ground to allow his substantial scythed chariots, war elephants, and substantial Bactrian cavalry to operate. He had reportedly substantially graded the ground in advance.

Estimates of Persian numbers vary widely between ancient sources. Arrian gives 1 million; modern reconstructions substantially settle at approximately 100,000.

The battle

Alexander’s tactical solution was the substantial echelon formation. His right wing under his own command advanced at an angle, drawing the Persian left toward him. As the Persian line stretched to follow, a substantial gap opened in the centre. Alexander charged the gap personally with his Companion cavalry — approximately 1,800 elite heavy cavalrymen led by Alexander himself with substantial Sarissa lances.

The substantial Companion charge struck the Persian centre about 50 metres from Darius. Darius’s substantial bodyguard collapsed within minutes. Darius turned his substantial chariot and fled the field.

The Persian left collapsed when news of Darius’s flight reached it. The Persian right wing under Mazaeus had been making substantial progress against the Macedonian left under Parmenion when Darius’s flight became known. Mazaeus’s army substantially also broke.

The substantial Macedonian casualties were approximately 1,000. The substantial Persian casualties have been variously estimated at approximately 50,000 — most killed during the substantial chaotic pursuit rather than the actual battle.

What followed

The substantial Persian Empire substantially collapsed within months. Babylon surrendered without fighting on 21 October 331 BCE. Susa surrendered in December 331. Persepolis — the substantial Achaemenid ceremonial capital — was occupied in January 330 and substantially burned several months later, possibly by Alexander’s substantial deliberate order, possibly by accident during a banquet.

Darius fled east into the substantial Iranian highlands. He was substantially murdered in July 330 BCE by his own satrap Bessus, who substantially attempted to take the substantial Persian throne. Alexander pursued Bessus, captured him, and had him executed by the substantial Persian method of being torn apart by bent trees.

Alexander continued substantially eastward through substantial Bactria (modern Afghanistan), substantially crossed the Hindu Kush in 327 BCE, and substantially defeated the substantial Indian king Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes (modern Jhelum river in Pakistan) in May 326 BCE. His substantial army substantially refused to march further east at the Hyphasis (modern Beas river) in July 326 BCE.

He turned back. He reached Babylon in spring 323 BCE. He died there of substantial fever on 13 June 323 BCE, aged 32. The substantial empire he had conquered substantially fragmented within a generation among his substantial generals — the substantial Diadochi (“Successors”) — into the substantial Hellenistic kingdoms of substantial Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Asia, Antigonid Macedon, and several substantial smaller states.

The substantial cultural legacy substantially outlasted the substantial political fragmentation. The substantial Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE) substantially produced the substantial Greek-language scientific, philosophical, and artistic culture that substantially shaped the substantial subsequent Roman Empire and through it the substantial subsequent Western tradition. The substantial Alexander conquest substantially established the substantial Greek language as the substantial Mediterranean-and-Near-Eastern lingua franca for substantial six centuries until the substantial 7th century CE Arab conquests.

The substantial location of Alexander’s tomb has not been recovered. He was substantially originally buried at Memphis by his substantial general Ptolemy in 321 BCE, then substantially moved to a substantial purpose-built mausoleum at Alexandria in approximately 280 BCE. The substantial Alexandrian tomb was substantially visited by Julius Caesar (48 BCE), Augustus (30 BCE), Caligula (39 CE), and Caracalla (215 CE) as a substantial substantially central pilgrimage site of the substantial Roman elite. It was substantially lost by approximately 400 CE. The substantial modern attempts to substantially identify the substantial location — particularly in the substantial Alexandria Latin Quarter — have not produced substantial confirmed results.