“Alexander’s Persian policies are a fascinating element of his reign and demonstrate insight into his skills as a strategist. He was able to effectively forge a combined political and military effort that sustained his rule in Asia.”

By Joseph Stiles

The Battle of Gaugamela in the fall of 331 BC was the decisive encounter of Macedonian King Alexander the Great’s eastern campaign against the Persian Empire.

Alexander’s victory in the battle confirmed the end of centuries of Persian rule over Western Asia. The Macedonian ruler now took on the new title ‘King of Asia’ and gloriously entered the famed city of Babylon. The unfortunate Persian King Darius III fled into the depths of what remained of his empire.

The collapse of Persian power presented the young Macedonian monarch with the new challenge of how to deal with the conquered population. Since beginning his war, in the spring of 334, Alexander had portrayed himself as a liberator sent to rescue the Greeks, Egyptians and Babylonians from Persian oppression. But now as King of Asia, Alexander was looking to establish his legitimacy as ruler rather than fight a campaign of liberation. The Persians, or at least the elite families of the former empire, would need to be subdued either through force or more preferably accommodation.

Even before Gaugamela, Alexander had taken steps to maintain the architecture of the Persian empire while bringing it into his service. He saw no reason to disband the satrapal administration system that had served Persian kings so well. He had taken into his service Persian defectors such as Mithrenes at Sardis and Mazaeus at Babylon. The Persian royal mint at Tarsus served Alexanders’ needs instead of its former master. When Alexander captured Darius’ immediate family following the Battle of Issus, he treated them with a level of respect befitting their rank.

The real turning point for Alexander came in the summer of 330 BC with the murder of disgraced King Darius by a satrap named Bessus. Bessus would declare himself the new king, thus presenting a grave threat to Alexander. However, Bessus’ regicide was something Alexander capitalized on. Ironically, the Macedonian was able to rally support for his own rule by portraying himself as the avenger of Darius and setting out against the usurper. Darius’ family, still in captivity, would shift their support to Alexander and Darius’ own brother, Oxyathres, also came over to the Greek side in the war against Bessus.

Alexander ultimately had Bessus hunted down and captured, and in a masterful bit of propaganda, had the prisoner tied and brought before his army and the gathered Persian nobles. Alexander, in royal fashion, rode up to the scene in a chariot, perhaps even the captured chariot of Darius. He berated Bessus publicly for his treason and left him to be brutally tortured by Darius’ brother.

With Bessus dead, Alexander found himself in a far stronger position. The king’s habits themselves took on a Persian character. As noted previously, Alexander made use of the royal chariot. He also began to wear the signet ring of the Persian king. At Alexander’s court one could find lavish banquets, Persian bodyguards, eunuchs and ushers, all as if Darius was still reigned.

Hephaestion, Alexander’s closest comrade, took on the position of chiliarch of Asia, equivalent to the Persian rank of hazarapatis or grand vizier.

Alexander adopted Persian or ‘Median’ style dress and had his companions reciprocate.

More controversially, Alexander allegedly put in place the Persian proskynesis ritual at his court, where men would bow to those of superior rank, in the Persian fashion. Any opposition voiced by his Macedonian and Greek comrades was dealt with brutally.

The climax of Alexander’s Persian policies came in 324 to 323 BC, after his return from India. While traveling through the Persian homeland of Persis, Alexander visited the tomb of Cyrus, the great founder of the Persian empire, and ordered it restored to its former glory.

Additionally, he appointed one of his comrades. Peucestas, to rule over the province. Peucestas was particularly enthusiastic about Alexander’s pro-Persian policies and would prove himself to be a very popular governor with the people.

Later at the royal city of Susa, Alexander held mixed marriages between his senior officers and daughters from Persia’s elite families. The king had previously married the Bactrian princess Roxane, in part to help win over her powerful father Oxyartes, and he now took as his wives the elder daughter of Darius and a daughter of the previous Persian king Artaxerxes. Meanwhile, Hephaestion married Darius’ younger daughter.

Alexander soon after took the next dramatic step of forming the epigoni or offspring, a 30,000-man phalanx drawn from Asian recruits. These final measures led to a mutiny of Alexander’s native Macedonian soldiers in the summer of 324 BC. The king managed to diffuse the discontent with an impassioned speech and a reconciliation banquet.

The death of Alexander the Great in June of the following year left his plans for the empire unfulfilled. The Persians are said to have reacted with sorrow at the king’s demise, Darius’ mother allegedly starved herself at the news.

Alexander’s Persian policies are a fascinating element of his reign and demonstrate insight into his skills as a strategist. He was able to effectively forge a combined political and military effort that sustained his rule in Asia.

Alexander’s ultimate successor as ruler of Asia, Seleucus, would build on many of Alexander’s Persian policies. Seleucus understood the benefits of gaining the support of the native population and incorporating them into his army. With the Asian wife Seleucus married at Susa he would have his son and successor Antiochus. The Seleucid dynasty would rule over Western Asia for the following centuries.

Joseph Stiles is the author of Alexander the Great and Persia: From Conqueror to King of Asia (Pen & Sword, 2022).  He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Temple University and recently gained his master’s degree in World History from Norwich University, Vermont, where his research centred on Alexander the Great and his policies in the East. He now works as a teacher and lives in suburban Philadelphia.