dear nicator.

[cyrusthegreat]

you mentioned that an army of 5 to 1 should have won.
dont get me wrong but where do you get this kind of information.
from hereodotus the liar?
i think that Alexander was affraid of the truth. thats why he burned Persepolis.
allmost what you know about persia is from greeks like hereodotus.
please write me back.

[maciek]

Hi Cyrrus!
Herodotus lived in years 489 - 425BC. That was much before Alexander. Our main sources are Arrian, Plutarch, Rufus, Justin and Diodorus Siculus. Not all of them were Greeks - Rufus of Justin were even against Alexander in their books. But still Justin in his excerpts from Pompejus Trogus writes that in Issos were 500thousands of Persians. In Gaugamela the smallest number of Persians given by Rufus is 250 thousands which is still 5:1 proportion. I think that if You have some better accounts then us You should share Your knowledge. I think we all would be happy to read something unknown until now, what is from ancient times.
Best regards
Maciek

[Nicator]

Well said Maciek...lest we forget, Arrian actually states something like 1.2 million Persians...no doubt exagerated. The 250,000 is the least no. given by all the primary sources, and it seems reasonable indeed. As far as Herodotus being a liar is concerned...what the heck is Cyrus talking about? I would also like to know where Cyrus is getting his information? If there is some as of yet unknown secret scroll which clarifies things, by all means share. I'm ashamed that I don't know the history of Cyrus very well, but wasn't it Herodotus that wrote about him in a favorable light? And according to Renault (and she has pegged some really compelling quotes from Cyrus and applied them to Alexander) Alexander must have admired Cyrus...and I have no doubt that he did. Alexander, according to the Greek sources, punished the grave robbers severely for ransacking his tomb, and demanded that it be put back into order bones and all. This diatribe is a bit irritating to me, and unless you can add something constructive...keep it to yourself.later Nicator