Week 3

Question 1

Why did Alexander make war with such limited resources?

Answer 1

→ Philip II left very little to Alexander and had a lot of debt
→ Alexander was hoping to gain money by taking enemy cities

Question 2

During the siege of Tyre, where do many Tyrian citizens flee?

Answer 2

Carthage

Question 3

At which battle is the Cypriot fleet said to have defected to Alexander?

Answer 3

The Siege of Tyre

Question 4

What omen indicated to Alexander the need to take Tyre?

Answer 4

A dream in which Herakles took Alexander by the hand and led him to Tyre

Question 5

What strategy are the Tyrians said to have used to disrupt Alexander’s construction of the causeway?

Answer 5

Fireships

Question 6

Who is said to have rescued fleeing Tyrians?

Answer 6

Alexander’s Sidonian allied troops

Question 7

According to Curtius Rufus, why was Alexander so angry at the Tyrians?

Answer 7

• Because they allegedly killed Alexander’s envoys

Question 8

How many Tyrians died at the siege of Tyre?

Answer 8

8000

Question 9

Which Afghan rock mountain outpost does Alexander face tremendous difficulty in taking?

Answer 9

Aornos

Question 10

Which battle does the quote “This was a victory more over the terrain, than the enemy” refer to?

Answer 10

Aornos

Question 11

What 2 things permitted Alexander to overrun the defenses at Aornos?

Answer 11

1. A local guide showed him a path for a price
2. Alexander fills in the ravine with trees

Question 12

What does Alexander do once he out-bluffs the Indian defenders at Aornos?

Answer 12

He sets up an altar to Athena-Nike

Question 13

Which Sogdian warlord is considered to be Alexander’s most bitter and worthy opponent?

Answer 13

Spitamenes

Question 14

How is Spitamines able to inflict defeats on the Macedonians?

Answer 14

→ Hit and run tactics
→ The Massagetic Scythians are nomadic, and melt into the landscape
→ Little supplies in the region

Question 15

For how long is Alexander’s army stuck in Sogdiana and Bactria?

Answer 15

3 months

Question 16

Which revolts inflict the heaviest losses on Alexander’s army?

Answer 16

Sogdiana and Bactria (under Spitamenes)

Question 17

Where does Alexander sustain the worst injury of his life? What was the nature of the wound?

Answer 17

• At the siege of Multan (326-325 BC)
• Punctured lung from an arrow

Question 18

How does Alexander’s near-death experience in the siege of Multan demonstrate his army’s loyalty to him?

Answer 18

→ Even Alexander’s bodyguard were weary of scaling the walls
→ Alexander jumps the ladders over the wall alone, and he gets a punctured lung from a missile weapon, and has to have an emergency surgery
→ His men are furious at the Mallians, and slaughters and plunders mercilessly

Question 19

Which Greek physician is tasked with Alexander’s emergency surgery after his near-fatal injury at the Siege of Multan?

Answer 19

Critobulus

Question 20

Why is Critobulus reluctant to operate on Alexander at Multan?

Answer 20

Because if Alexander happened to die during surgery, he would face the blame, and likely be killed.

Question 21

Which 2 Persian generals target Alexander at Granicus?

Answer 21

Spithridates and Rhoesaces

Question 22

Explain Alexander’s near-death experience at Granicus:

Answer 22

• Alexander leads a cavalry charge across the river
• Alexander engages in melee with Rhoeasaces
• Spithridates sneaks up on Alexander from behind
• Cleitus the Black manages to cut off Spithridates’ arm and Alexander manages to kill Roesaces

Question 23

According to Arrian, why did Alexander choose to fight at nightfall at Granicus?

Answer 23

→ He had the setting sun behind his back, in the eyes of his tired enemy, who had just done a long forced march

Question 24

What was the name of the heights on the flank at Issus?

Answer 24

The Amanus Mountains

Question 25

Where is Darius at the battle of Issus?

Answer 25

Sitting far removed from his army on the Amanus heights

Question 26

Which one of Darius' satraps do most historians believe was a double agent for Alexander?

Answer 26

Mazaeus

Question 27

At which battle does Alexander chose to sacrifice his baggage train as a diversion?

Answer 27

Issus

Question 28

What prevents Alexander from chasing Darius immediately following the Persian retreat at Issus?

Answer 28

Alexander had to go back and save Parmenio

Question 29

What did Bessus declare himself after killing Darius?

Answer 29

King of Asia

Question 30

What did Alexander do with his baggage while entering Afghanistan? Why?

Answer 30

- He burnt it - Because it would slow him down and was difficult to manage in mountainous areas

Question 31

What did Alexander's men do when they ran out of water sources in Afghanistan?

Answer 31

- They drank Silphium

Question 32

______________ was the source of all great rivers in Asia.

Answer 32

The Hindu Kush

Question 33

True or False: The Greeks knew about the Hindu Kush mountains

Answer 33

TRUE

Question 34

Where did Alexander slaughter all the Branchidae?

Answer 34

Bactria

Question 35

Define: Branchidae

Answer 35

Descendants of Greeks who had for years paid tribute to Persian kings

Question 36

In what condition did Alexander's men manage to find Bessus?

Answer 36

Naked, with a collar, and his hands and nose cut off

Question 37

How did Bessus die?

Answer 37

Bessus was sent back to Persia to be impaled by spear

Question 38

What did the enemy garrison commander at the Sogdian rock tell Alexander?

Answer 38

That he needed "troops who could fly"

Question 39

How does Alexander finally manage to capture the Sogdian Rock?

Answer 39

Alexander gets 300 volunteers to scale the rock cliff by rope

Question 40

How many of the Macedonian climbers die climbing the Sogdian Rock?

Answer 40

32

Question 41

What did Alexander do to make peace with the Sogdians after capturing the Sogdian Rock? Who did he meet there?

Answer 41

- He had a banquet with the Sogdians - He met Roxanne; one of the Sogdian dancers present

Question 42

What member of Alexander's court was tortured and killed for refusing to acknowledge Alexander's deification?

Answer 42

Callisthenes (Aristotle's nephew)

Question 43

In what ways did Alexander and his administration go native?

Answer 43

- Alexander adopts Persian dress - His tyrannical political system is the Persian model of kingship - He likes extravagance, like many eastern cultures at the time - Proskynesis

Question 44

Define: Proskynesis

Answer 44

The originally Persian custom of groveling and bowing down to one's knees as a sign of deference

Question 45

Define: Epigonoi

Answer 45

Alexander's elite unit, made up exclusively of young Persians

Question 46

True or False: Alexander is said to have used Darius' seal ring

Answer 46

TRUE

Question 47

True or False: Philip II had himself hailed as the 13th Olympian god

Answer 47

TRUE

Question 48

What was the reaction to Alexander’s Orientalism?

Answer 48

- Old school Macedonians fear losing their identity in the new world order