One thing is fatal. Darius trusted the Persian nobles and the Persian army, knowing that the fighting capacity of the Persian army was not as good as that of the hired Greek army, but he still entrusted him with an important task. Several suggestions made by Mennong and others were rejected by his stubbornness, which is slightly similar to that of Emperor Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty. Finally, the Persian army was defeated and humiliated, and his family was captured. It can be said that this is very sad.
When this ambitious man wanted to revive the glory of the empire created by his ancestors, Alexander's Crusaders shattered everything, and his dreams, ambitions and even his own life were lost in this war.
Darius Iii was the last monarch of the Persian Empire, who reigned for 336 to 33 1 year. He is the only Persian king whose portrait has been handed down from generation to generation. Other Persian monarchs only have the same outline on reliefs and coins handed down.
183 1 year, when the Italian kingdom of Naples excavated the ruins of Pompeii in ancient Rome, it found a well-preserved mural, which is the famous "Isus mural". Isus mural is 5.82 meters long and 3. 13 meters high, and consists of 500,000 ponies. Archaeologists have determined that this mural was completed in the late 2nd century BC. Historians generally believe that this mural was painted by Philo Senus of Luo Xuan for Macedonian King Cassandra in 3 10 BC. This mural shows the last moment of the battle of Isus. On the left, Alexander led the guards to charge, and his spear pierced a Persian cavalry. On the right is Darius, king of Persia, who is high above the chariot and surrounded by the praetorian guard. Darius leaned forward, his eyes wide open and his face was shocked and unbelievable. His coachman waved his whip desperately and turned around in his chariot to escape. As the representative works of western classical art, Isus murals are world-famous, and the image of Darius is therefore familiar to millions of people.
all one's life
Western classical historical materials call the last king of Persia "Darius Iii Kodomanus". Kodoman is obviously a poor transliteration of Darius' real name by the Greeks. According to ancient Babylonian literature, his real name was Altashata. Darius was born around 380 BC. His grandfather is the brother of King Artaxerxes II of Persia, and his parents are cousins. This kind of consanguineous marriage was quite common in the Persian dynasty. Darius in history is tall and handsome, 190-200cm, which is consistent with the image of the Persian king depicted in Isus murals.
According to Diodoro's records, Darius was a warrior who enjoyed a high reputation in the Persian Empire for many years before he ascended the throne. At that time, Darius, still Prince Atashata, conquered Kadusian with the rebellion of King Atta Xue Xisi III of Persia. When the two armies confronted each other, the enemy came out with one of the best fighters and challenged the same Persian nobleman. At that time, dozens of nobles around the king of Persia hesitated, and finally Ataz Khata came out and subdued his opponent after some struggle. King Yue of Persia immediately made him the governor of Armenia. From 343 to 338 BC, Atta Xue Xisi suppressed the rebellion in Kaducia. At this time, Atta Tasha was an unquestionable year.
In the later period of the Xue Xisi III dynasty of Atta, the eunuch Baguazhang ruled the country, and Atta Shata gradually gained the trust of Baguazhang and became an important official. Later, gossip poisoned Atta Xue Xisi and Crown Prince assis one after another, and Persian royal family members withered away, so it was the turn of collateral prince Atta Tasha to inherit the throne. In the spring of 336 BC, Atashata ascended the throne and officially adopted the title of Darius, known as Darius Iii in history. Shortly after Darius ascended the throne, Gossip found him difficult to control, so he planned to do the same thing again and prepared a poisoned wine for Darius. Here, Diodoro wrote brilliantly that Darius had seen the gossip plot, switched his cup with the gossip cup, and then ordered him to drink it all at once. This notorious eunuch is full of evil.
The Persian empire inherited by Darius has been decaying for a long time, and Egypt, the main grain-producing area of the empire, has been independent for many years. Darius organized the conquest of Egypt shortly after he ascended the throne. It took him only six months to assemble a Persian army, and as a result, Egypt was wiped out in one fell swoop, which made the empire feel refreshed. Darius, 44, is young and promising, showing extraordinary courage and courage in domestic and foreign affairs. He is undoubtedly the long-awaited revival of the Persian Empire. However, just a few months after Darius ascended the throne, a young man of only 20 years old became king in the remote kingdom of Macedonia in the northern part of the Greek peninsula. This young man named Alexander will eventually overthrow Darius' empire and let his great ambition go down the drain.
Darius, described by classical historians, is gentle and honest. Although he has a reputation as a soldier, he is not a combative man by nature. Kochus thinks that he is fair, compassionate, sincere and loyal to those who support him, and he is a responsible fatherly leader. Arion unceremoniously pointed out Darius' character defects: he was partial to hearing and partial to believing, lacked courage at the last moment, had violent mood swings, and was easily excited and discouraged. As a military commander, these are undoubtedly fatal flaws.
From the moment Alexander landed in Asia Minor, the god of luck seemed to be with him day and night, and heavy blows fell on Darius one after another. First, the poor command of Persian generals in the Battle of Granikus River ruined the military and political leadership of the whole Persian Asia Minor; Then Meng Nong, the most dependent, died before receiving his salary, completely disrupting Darius' strategic deployment. Coccius records that when Darius learned of Monnon's death, he was so depressed that he couldn't attend the event for a few days. However, he quickly pulled himself together and led an army to face Alexander.
In the autumn of 333 BC, Darius organized hundreds of thousands of Persian troops in Babylon, including at least 30,000 Greek mercenaries, and set out from Babylon for the Amik Plain. A A Min Amintas in the camp advised him not to go down to the coastal areas, because the narrow terrain there would affect the number advantage of Persian troops. However, in order to increase the mobility of the army, Darius has sent military supplies to Damascus. After two or three weeks of stalemate, Darius gave in first. However, he did not join forces with Alexander directly, but went north first, then went inland, and finally reached the vicinity of Isus, the strategic rear of the Pan-Greek Coalition forces, thus cutting off their connection with the newly captured reserve base of Asia Minor and gaining a certain strategic advantage for the Persian army.
Darius cut off his hands, branded the backward Greek veterans and wounded in nearby cities, and asked him to report to Alexandria. However, this is a tactical failure. Seeing that their soldiers were tortured, the pan-Greek Coalition forces were very angry and had high morale, which also accelerated the process of the campaign. Keilis Ness said that the battle point was only 2.5 kilometers along the coastal plain, which undoubtedly affected the Persian army's numerical superiority. Thinking that Alexander was going to start arranging battle formations, Darius sent 20,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry across the Pinarus River, giving himself enough time to deploy on the other side of the river. On the other hand, Alexander made an impassioned speech to his troops, and then let them eat, drink and rest.
At dawn the next day, the two sides disposed of it. Darius was in the center of the Persian king's standing army and was in charge of the overall situation. As usual, Alexander personally led the royal cavalry wedge queue to cross the river and attack the Persian left wing, and the battle was on the verge. The Persian army left a large number of personnel, but it had a great disadvantage in quality and was quickly defeated. The infantry in the center of Persia was also defeated by Macedonian infantry with more than five meters of spears and tight formations. The Persian right wing was eager to surround the pan-Greek Coalition forces on the other side of the river and failed to clear the gap in time, which was also considered to be the key to the whole campaign. Alexander was able to attack Darius directly, and Darius fled in a hurry, and the entire Persian army was completely chaotic. Scattered Persian troops fled to nearby mountains, and at least 100,000 people were killed. And all the treasures and harem that Darius left in the Isus camp fell into the enemy's hands, losing his daughter, wife and mother, which was even heavier for him than losing an army.
On the night of the invasion of Isus camp, the pan-Greek allied forces were still intoxicated with the huge wealth in a small Persian camp (only 3,000 talents in cash, and General Wang's camp was inlaid with many gold and silver jewels), but they heard the crying of heartbreaking. It turned out that the Persian harem thought Darius was dead and he was dying. Alexander led the soldiers to meet him at the camp, and Darius' mother Sisgambis immediately knelt on Hephaestion, who was taller and more handsome than herself, and asked for forgiveness. Alexander didn't care about this. He gave the Persian harem its initial honor. Sisyphus was disappointed with Darius' abandonment, and was grateful to Alexander, who was adopted as his adopted son.
Within two years after the defeat of the Battle of Isus, Darius lost the military towns such as Tyre and Gaza in the eastern Mediterranean, and Egypt and the western empire completely fell, but it also gave Darius enough time to rebuild his army. During this period, Darius had two correspondence with Alexander. The first time was shortly after the battle of Isus. Darius claimed that Persia was only passively protecting its territory and would have a conflict with Greece. He asked Alexander to return his family to himself, and he was willing to form an alliance with him. Alexander told him that he invaded Asia in revenge for the Sino-Persian War. In 480 BC, Persia invaded Athens and burned the most sacred acropolis temple in Greece. Darius and other Persian kings also bribed the Greeks many times to incite rebellion, and blamed the death of former king Philip II on the assassins bribed by Persia. First, Darius must surrender to him, and then all other conditions can be agreed.
Cocius recorded that after the Battle of Isus, the spirit of Darius was not crushed. He immediately set out to rebuild the Persian army and trained the new army day and night without wasting a day. It is worth noting that although Darius lost tens of thousands of troops in the battle of Isus, the scenery in the western part of the empire is no longer there, but his ruling foundation in the east of the Euphrates River is still solid, and those self-respecting Persian nobles still gather around him, waiting for his disposal. Darius spent two years rebuilding a huge army. In contrast, his ancestor Xue Xisi spent five years assembling an army to explore Greece at the peak of the Persian Empire. Historians recognize that the army formed by Darius is undoubtedly the most well-equipped and tactically advanced army of the Persian Empire 100 years. Darius fully analyzed the causes of the first two Persian defeats, and comprehensively considered the factors such as terrain, weapons, psychology and formation. He specially equipped the infantry with lengthened spears and swords, arranged at least 200 chariots with side knives, and even brought 15 war elephants from India, hoping to scare off the horses through the war elephants, thus cutting off the attack of Macedonian cavalry. He knew that to take advantage of his huge number of soldiers, he had to be on the open plains, so he took the initiative to choose the vicinity of the ancient city of Nineveh on the Assyrian plain as a fighting point, and sent Majus to intervene the enemy to cross the Euphrates River, so that he had time to cross Mesopotamia and the Tigris River, and finally arrived at Goga Milla wasteland in the autumn of 33 BC1year.
At the same time, in the summer of 33 1 BC, Darius brought Alexander a second peace treaty, thanking him for his kindness to the royal prisoners, ceding all the territory west of the Euphrates River, and paying 30,000 talents (compared with 60 talents in Macedonia's national treasury before the Crusade), hoping that he would marry one of his daughters and make peace. But Alexander thinks that he has ruled most of the area west of the Euphrates River, and he can also marry Darius' daughter directly. Moreover, at present, a new war is ready to go, and it is impossible to be so peaceful. He said that Darius should either obey him in order to live a relaxed and peaceful life, or stand up and fight for glory with himself.
In his reply, he told Darius something that broke his heart. His wife, Stati, the first beauty of Persia, died in childbirth around 332 BC. In classical history, there are not many detailed records about the specific time and process of this incident, so some people suspect that Stati's child is not Darius'.
Before Gauguin's Milla War, Alexander sent advance troops to investigate the military situation of Darius' army, and learned that Darius' army was huge and well-equipped. Darius thought he had the advantage in terrain, tactics, equipment and numbers in this war, and Alexander, who was eager to win, would attack at any time to gain the advantage, so he kept all the soldiers up all night to keep the battle formation. However, Alexander didn't want to risk burning the midnight oil. After giving a long speech to the soldiers, he told everyone to rest. Although many restless soldiers stayed up all night, Alexander actually fell asleep on the most crucial day of his life. Many classical historians believe that Darius' keeping his soldiers alert all night was the biggest tactical failure before the war, which made them exhausted and psychologically disadvantaged.
The formation arrangement of the two sides in this war is undoubtedly the most complicated conflict between East and West in the ancient world. Darius distributed half of the chariots in front of the left wing, greatly increasing the number of cavalry and infantry on the left wing, hoping to passivate the attack of the royal Macedonian cavalry; A large number of archers were arranged near the other side of the mountain, hoping to contain the other side's attack; Fifty chariots, 15 elephants and most Persian elite cavalry were distributed in front of the king chariot in the center of the army to protect the king and maintain the overall control of the Persian army; On the other hand, in order to surround the enemy's left wing, the right wing arranged the elite cavalry led by Mazzau to attack.
As usual, Alexander first led the wedge-shaped queue of the royal cavalry to the Persian left. This time, he constantly sent command teams to attract the attention of the other side, trying to cross the left wing and directly win Darius. But Darius' left-wing queue was tense and there were many people, and Alexander fell into a war of attrition. At the same time, the Persian right wing, which attacked the left wing of Alexander's army, also fell into a war of attrition. Although there were a large number of Persians, the siege of Persia could not be realized because of the stubborn resistance of the cavalry led by Macedonian general Pamenio. However, the Macedonian infantry array in the middle of the Pan-Greek Coalition was too long to keep up with the attack, which gave the Persian cavalry a chance to sprint. They crossed the gap in the middle. Traditionally, Persia should win because they can surround the enemy from behind. However, the complacent Persian army ran head-on into the rear army arranged by Alexander in the middle-another complete Macedonian infantry array, which was completely annihilated. Soon, Alexander finally broke the blockade of the Persian left wing and hit the middle of Persia. Darius fled again. The fierce attack of the Persian right wing was gradually cracked and Persia was completely defeated. The Persian army, which lost its command, was scattered in the wilderness and was basically wiped out.
Later, Alexander moved the capital to Babylon, Susa and Persepolis, and gained huge wealth of over160,000 talents in the East, as well as a harem composed of 365 beautiful women selected by Darius from all over the country. He rewarded soldiers handsomely, arranged foreign and domestic affairs, and burned down the extremely luxurious palace in Persepolis during the carnival. He put Darius' wife in Susa's palace and apologized to her for not offending Sisyphus.
After Gauguin's defeat in Milla, Darius once again set foot on the road to escape. This time, he fled from Albera to Ek Platthana in Midia Mountain, but Alexander failed to catch up after several attempts. In Ek Platthana, he wrote a letter to the governors of the eastern provinces of the Persian Empire, demanding that all the soldiers of Qin Wang be sent out. However, Alexander seems to be faster than Darius' army. Three days before Alexander arrived in Ek Platthana, desperate Darius fled to the Caspian Sea with 7,000 talents, 3,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry. He said to his men, "I won't live to see the demise of this empire." My life and my rule will end together. " Obviously, Darius no longer wants to win, but only expects a decent ending. The Persian king remained loyal to Monon's father-in-law and former governor of Geras, Attabaz. He said, "We will follow our king to the battlefield."
However, a group of Persian nobles, led by Bisu, began to plot to overthrow Darius. Bazzani, the prime minister of Darius and commander-in-chief of the cavalry at the Battle of Issus, publicly proposed that Bisu be the regent. Darius thundered, "You vicious slave!" He drew his sword and rushed to Na Bazzani, but was stopped by Qin Bing of Essence. Attabaz tried to mediate the contradiction between the monarch and his subjects, but Payne, the commander-in-chief of the Greek mercenaries who knew the inside story, clearly told Darius that the monks and their gang were going to kill the monarch. One day, Attabaz came to Darius' room to discuss countermeasures. Darius said helplessly that at this time, there was no choice but to rely on the governors in eastern Persia. The monarch and ministers wept bitterly. So Darius called all the eunuchs, relieved them of their hard labor and dismissed them. That night, monks and others staged a coup and imprisoned Darius.
On the way of Alexander's pursuit of Darius, several fleeing Persian nobles came to report the plight of the Persian king. Alexander was afraid that Bisu and others threatened him with Darius, and immediately led a light horse to chase him day and night. Along the way, Alexander met more and more Persian nobles, who despised what Sue had done and fled one after another, bringing the news that Darius was still alive. When Bysu and others fled to a place called Hecatompylos in the northeast of the Iranian plateau, Alexander's pursuers were approaching. Besu and his friends were frightened and urged Darius to change to a fast horse. Darius, wearing a gold chain, refused to leave his carriage, claiming that he would never cooperate with traitors. Essence, Na Bazzani and their associates stabbed Darius with spears, killed his chariot horses, and then fled to the east. By the time Alexander arrived with his pursuers, Darius was dead, his carriage was surrounded by a group of loyal followers, and everyone was in a trance.
According to classical historical records, a Macedonian soldier named Boris Trass found that Darius was dying and took out his water bag to feed him. Darius' last words were to ordinary soldiers: "I owe you something I can't repay." This is probably my last misfortune. " Darius stretched out his right hand to shake hands with him, hoping that he would convey his handshake greetings to Alexander and then die. Alexander transported the body of Darius back to Babylon and held a grand state funeral ceremony. Bisu, who betrayed Darius, was later betrayed by his men and presented to Alexander. Alexander gave Bisu to Darius' brother, who gouged out his eyes, cut off his nose and chopped him up according to the Persian custom of dealing with traitors.