Battle of Gaugamela

Alexander the Greats victory effectively destroyed the Persian Empire.

Date: October 1, 331 b. c.e.

Category: Wars and battles

Locale: Plain of Gaugamela, north of modern Baghdad

Summary Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire in 334 b. c.e. After defeating a Persian satrap at the Granicus, then defeating Darius III of

This Greek relief depicts the victory of Alexander the Great over the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela. (Library of Congress)

Persia at Issus, Alexander took control of the eastern Mediterranean coast and Egypt. With his rear secured, he marched east looking for Darius, who had just raised a new army.

Darius gathered his 200,000-man army on raised ground on the plain of Gaugamela (gaw-guh-MEE-luh), with level ground before him so he could deploy his elephants and scythed chariots. Alexander arrayed his 47,000 men in two parallel lines of infantry with cavalry on the flanks.

Alexander led his right wing cavalry at the Persian left flank, creating a gap in his lines that Persian chariots immediately attacked. Greek light infantry negated their effort but created an even bigger gap in the Greek line. Persian cavalry in the center broke through the gap but rode past the battle to loot the Greek camp. Alexander charged the space left by the Persian cavalry and drove directly at Darius. The Persian emperor stood briefly, then fled. Leaderless, the Persian army began to disintegrate.

Significance Alexander seized the Persian treasury at Persepolis, then pursued Darius to Ecbatana (Agbatana, later Hamadan). Darius’s death, coupled with the acquisition of the empire’s wealth, gave Alexander both an eastern empire and the means to invade India.

Further Reading

Arrian. The Campaigns of Alexander. Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt. Baltimore: Penguin, 1958.

Keegan, John. The Mask of Command. New York: Little, Brown, 1982. Livesey, Anthony, and Randal Gray. Great Commanders and Their Battles. London: Greenwich Editions, 1997.

Lonsdale, David J. Alexander the Great, Killer of Men: History’s Greatest Conqueror and the Macedonian Art of War. New York: Carroll & Graf,

2004.

Warry, John Gibson. Alexander, 334-323 B. C.: Conquest of the Persian Empire. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2005.

Paul K. Davis

See also: Alexander the Great; Alexander the Great’s Empire; Granicus, Battle of; Issus, Battle of; Macedonia.