Revolt of Agis III of Sparta

1. Revolt of Agis III of Sparta While Alex is away the spartans play

2. King Agis III of Sparta was determined to free the Greek States from Macedonian rule. He allied himself with the Persians to do this. Revolts back in Greece • Agis revolted near Corinth, in 333 BC and defeated a Macedonian General. • Memnon revolted in Thrace, in 331 BC. Antipater had to leave Macedon (where Alexander had left him as H_____, with a big army)\ • While Antipater was distracted in Thrace, Agis revolted. He wanted Greece to become Anti-Macedonia. He got money & boats from the Persians & Greek mercenaries. Agis captured cities in Crete (island off Greece) and forced them to join Persian side. He gathered support of many Greek states, (army of 30, 000 men) However Athens refused to support Agis and Persia. (when had Athens previously seen punishment for when a state misbehaves?) Alexander left Antipater to sort this situation out The revolts ended when Antipater and Memnon agreed on a settlement. Antipater encouraged Memnon and the Thracians to oppose Agis, (gathered a force of 40, 000) and they destroyed Agis’ army, and killed Agis in battle. The League of Corinth, under Alexander’s influence, decided to punish Sparta by taking 50 Spartan nobles as hostages and forcing them to join the League of Corinth

3. Gaugamela, a battle • 331 BC • Find it on your maps • Alexander’s army moved to confront Darius. Again his army was largely outnumbered by the Persian army (who was made up of many nationalities) • Darius had prepared the battle ground by removing shrubs &filling in potholes • Parmenio advised Alexander to not fight straight away. Alexander took this advice. He was worried about th3 Persian Cavalry being so good. • Alexander commanded his men to have a meal and rest. Darius kept his on standby all night. Arrian sees this as a major error in judgement.

4. Deployment of Troops

5. Events in the battle… • Darius launched a cavalry attack on Alexander’s right flank, to break through and get behind. • Darius launched the elephants and scythe-chariots against the Phalanx. The attack largely failed. Many chariots and elephans were stopped by a group of lancers placed there. The rest of the Elephants an Scythe-chariots put terror into the Phalanx but because of their training and discipline thy were able to open their ranks to create ‘corridors’ for the charging elephants to go through. • After the failure of the elephants, Darius ordered a general attack, Mazaeus launched against Parmenio’s wing. • The rest of the cavalry were sent to help Bessus on Alexander’s right. This caused a gap to open in the Persian line, to the left of the centre.

6. Events in the battle • Alexander was waiting for the opportunity for a gap to appear and advanced towards Darius. But he was held up by Dairus’ bodyguards and Greek Mercenaries. • Darius, standing on his chariot decided the battle was lost and fled (which other battle did he do this in?) Bessus and the Bactrian cavalry followed Darius. Parmenio was hard pressed by Mazaeus so he called for help. Instead of chasing Darius, Alexander went to help him. On the way to Parmenio Alexander encountered the Persian royal guard and other troops trying to excape. There was a fierce battle . Many companions were killed. By the time Alexander got to Parmenio he was no longer needed. Mazaeus had heard about Darius’ flight and followed also.

7. Paul Artus • P.57-59 • Read over and take additional notes on the detail that this powerpoint missed out • Workbooks, ‘Gaugamela’ worksheet

8. After the battle • How was Alexander’s victory significant? What did it illustrate about him as a military leader? • Alexander chased Darius through the night but failed to capture or kill him. Darius headed for Media. Alexander decided on Babylon, to capture the main cities in the Persian Empire – Babylon, Susa and Persepolis.