Did Alexander carry out a Massacre in Asia Minor

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jasonxx

Did Alexander carry out a Massacre in Asia Minor

Post by jasonxx »

As you know by now I talk to many nationals in our Kitchen. Lately we have a French Temp chef whos Name is Philip his Brother Is called Alexander and his father comes from Thrace.

We had conversation about Alexander and hid death. He mentioned something about slaughtering some people in Asia Minor. I know of an incidint in the East Where he did offer truce. But fearing treason he surrounded and slaughtered the inhabitants. Sorry my evey for detail aint as good as yours. But Im pretty sure he didnt do such an atrocity against Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor?

Any theories or clues?

Thanks

Kenny
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Massacre

Post by Archange »

I'm sorry but What did Americans do in the middle east?
Do you arrive to the gange river?
derek
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Post by derek »

Kenny,

I'd guess that would be the massacre of the Greek mercenaries at the Granicus, who numbered between 5,000 and 20,000 depending on who you believe. But it wasn't an outright massacre. Alexander refused their surrender and sent the troops in from all sides, but they were still armed and fought back, so the Macedonians would have taken casualties too.

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Post by marcus »

I can't remember where it was off-hand, and I don't have time to look it up at the moment - too stressed and too much to do - but ... there was a town, and I think it was in Asia Minor, where the inhabitants agreed to submit to Alexander, then as soon as he'd passed by they went "ha ha, fooled you!". Alexander turned round and gave them a drubbing, which included a very large fine. It was during the end of the year's campaigning before he marched to Gordium.

ATB

[A couple of hours later: no, I remembered incorrectly. I was thinking of Aspendus, but Alexander didn't massacre the Aspendians. He made it very clear that he was displeased, and they were so frightened that they agreed to his new terms, and offered up hostages for their future good behaviour. Arrian I.27]
Last edited by marcus on Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Callisto
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Post by Callisto »

Most likely its the story of the Branchidae.

"In pursuit of Bessus the Macedonians had arrived at a small town inhabited by the Branchidae who, on the orders of Xerxes, when he was returning from Greece, had emigrated from Miletus and settled in this spot. This was necessary because, to please Xerxes, they had violated the temple called the Didymeon. The culture of their forebears had not yet disappeared thought they were now bilingual and the foreign tongue was gradually eroding their own. So it was with great joy that they welcomed Alexander, to whom they surrendered themselves and their city. Alexander called a meeting of the Milesians in his force, for the Milesians bore a long-standing grudge against the Branchidae as a clan. Since they were the people betrayed by the Branchidae, Alexander let them decide freely on their case, asking if they preferred to remember their injury or their common origins. But when there was a difference of opinion over this, he declared that he would himself consider the best course of action.
When the Branchidae met him the next day, he told them to accompany him. On reaching the city, he himself entered through the gate with a unit of light-armed troops. The phalanx had been ordered to surround the city walls and, when the signal was given, to sack this city which provided refuge for traitors, killing the inhabitants to a man. The Branchidae, who were unarmed, were butchered throughout the city, and neither community of language nor the olive-branches and entreaties of the suppliants could curb the savagery. Finally the Macedonians dug down to the foundations of the city walls in order to demolish them and leave not a single trace of the city."

[Curtius Rufus 7.5.28]
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And do you believe this?

Post by jan »

:cry: The story of the Branchidae always fascinates me. If there are no survivors and no remains, can one believe that anyone had ever lived there? Is this a soldier's tale that just grows bigger and bigger over time or what? I have never known quite what to think of the final sentence. Nothing remained to even know that it had existed at all.

Who told this story anyway? Should we believe it? Is it just propaganda? I mean seriously, with even a mountain of evidence, OJ Simpson was acquitted. Now with no evidence, who is going to believe that a group of Macedonians are that thorough in their cleanup of a massacre? GEE WHIZ! :roll:
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Post by Callisto »

The story of Branchidae is being mentioned by Curtius but not by Arrian and Plutarch. Bearing in mind, Curtius source is probably Cleitarchus, the validity of the story is challenged. However, there is a reference of Strabo about the city of the Branchidae destroyed by Alexander the Great. Most likely Strabo was using as his sources Callisthenes and Aristobulus. Since both of them participated in Alexander's campaign, their testimonies cannot be doubted.
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Re: Did Alexander carry out a Massacre in Asia Minor

Post by Demos »

Isn't Strabo's account far outdated? He himself is considered unreliable, merely because of the timeframe the sources he uses are from. Callisthenes and Aristobulus would be stellar sources but the likelihood of their accurate accounts being used by Strabo seems low.
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Re: Did Alexander carry out a Massacre in Asia Minor

Post by Alexias »

Hi. Strabo's account is less sensational than Curtius'.
here Alexander met with sumptuous hospitality and married Rhoxana, the daughter of Oxyartes; but the rock in Sogdiana, they say, is twice as high as that in Bactriana. And near these places, they say, Alexander destroyed also the city of the Branchidae, whom Xerxes had settled there — people who voluntarily accompanied him from their home-land — because of the fact that they had betrayed to him the riches and treasures of the god at Didyma. Alexander destroyed the city, they add, because he abominated the sacrilege and the betrayal.
Book XI Ch. 11
Whatever the original source, and whether or not Curtius's account has been embroidered, it is very likely that Alexander did destroy the city and massacred the inhabitants. It wasn't the first or last city to be obliterated from Thebes to India. Unfortunately a fact of war in Alexander's campaigns, and probably not unique to him.
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Re: Did Alexander carry out a Massacre in Asia Minor

Post by Alexias »

Also, it has been suggested (by whom I unfortunately can't remember) that Alexander used these sacking of cities as a way of letting his army off the leash and rewarding them with plunder. A sort of whetting the blade edge of the army and glutting the appetite for slaughter. The same thing happened at Persepolis where he let them sack the city after several months stay before they left. It would dehumanise their victims to them, render their reputation for ferocity greater, satisfy their desire for riches and make them more willing to endure the otherwise hard conditions and discipline of campaigning.
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Re: Did Alexander carry out a Massacre in Asia Minor

Post by tei »

IIRC, the armies of most of the Greek city-states, and in general most armies before Philip's professionalization of the Macedonian army, were wither not paid at all or paid very little-- the promise of plunder was, essentially, salary. So even though Alexander's men were being paid (for the most part, though I'm not sure about the Greek units who were released/hired on after Darius was dead) I would guess that the general culture and expectation of all armies would be that plunder makes up at least part of the payment you expect, and makes it worth it to be there at all.
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