Alexander crossed the Hellespont in the spring of the year
334 B.C. He landed not far from the historic plain of Troy and at once began
his march along the coast. Near the little river Granicus the satraps of Asia
Minor had gathered an army to dispute his passage. Alexander at once led his
cavalry across the river in an impetuous charge, which soon sent the Persian
troops in headlong flight. The victory cost the Macedonians scarcely a hundred
men; but it was complete. As Alexander passed southward, town after town opened
its gates—first Sardis, next Ephesus, then all the other cities of Ionia. They
were glad enough to be free of Persian control. Within a year Asia Minor was a
Macedonian possession.
BATTLE OF ISSUS, 333 B.C.
In the meantime Darius III, the Persian king, had been
making extensive preparations to meet the invader. He commanded half a million
men, but he followed Alexander too hastily and had to fight in a narrow defile
on the Syrian coast between the mountains and the sea. In such cramped quarters
numbers did not count. The battle became a massacre, and only the approach of
night stayed the swords of the victorious Macedonians. A great quantity of
booty, including the mother, wife, and children of Darius, fell into
Alexander's hands. He treated his royal captives kindly, but refused to make peace
with the Persian king.
