Five-minute digest
The Campaigns of Alexander
Summary
The Campaigns of Alexander, also called the Anabasis of Alexander, is Arrian of Nicomedia's seven-book history of Alexander the Great from the assassination of Philip II in 336 BCE to Alexander's death in Babylon in 323. Written in Greek in the second century CE by a Bithynian who studied under Epictetus and held Roman office, it is the fullest surviving narrative of the conquest of the Persian Empire. Arrian states at the outset that he trusts chiefly the lost histories of Ptolemy son of Lagus and Aristobulus, both companions of Alexander, and that when they disagree he chooses the more credible and worth recording; other reports he marks as rumor. Book I opens with Alexander's securing of Greece and the Balkan campaigns, then the crossing into Asia and the victory at the Granicus. Book II carries the war through the Gordian knot, the illness at Tarsus, Issus, the careful treatment of Darius's captured family, and the long siege of island Tyre by a mole from the mainland. Book III covers Egypt, the visit to the oracle of Ammon in Libya, the foundation of Alexandria, and the decisive battle near Gaugamela, followed by the entry into Babylon, Susa and Persepolis and the pursuit of Darius. Books IV and V narrate the hard fighting in Central Asia, the drunken killing of Clitus at Maracanda, the Indian campaigns including the Hydaspes, and the army's refusal at the Hyphasis to advance farther east. Books VI and VII follow the Indus voyage, the Gedrosian march, Hephaestion's death, the marriages at Susa, the mutiny at Opis, and Alexander's final illness; Arrian closes with a measured character sketch rather than a simple panegyric. For classical Christian classrooms the work is valuable as a primary window onto pagan imperial ambition, friendship, mercy, rage and the limits of command. Inclusion is not endorsement: students should weigh clemency after Issus beside the destruction of Tyre and the murder of Clitus, and ask what greatness without temperance is worth. The hosted text is E. J. Chinnock's literal 1884 English translation (Project Gutenberg #46976).
Top Lessons
Sources before spectacle
Arrian opens by choosing witnesses who were present and had reason to tell the truth after Alexander's death. Students should ask who saw an event and what each stood to gain by shaping it, and notice when Arrian marks a story as rumor rather than fact.
Courage is not the whole of virtue
Alexander's daring at the Granicus, Tyre and the Hyphasis sits beside the murder of Clitus and the shaming of the army. Arrian admires energy and piety without hiding rage; greatness of spirit can coexist with grave injustice.
Clemency and conquest
The care shown to Darius's family after Issus is part of how Alexander justifies rule. Mercy can be both a moral act and political craft; students should weigh the gesture against the destruction of Tyre and later acts of severity.
Limits of command
At the Hyphasis the army refuses to go farther. Even a victorious king depends on men who can still say no; Coenus's speech and Alexander's angry reply show command as persuasion under strain, not mere will.
Verified Quotes
“from those statements which differ I have selected that which appears to me the more credible and at the same time the more deserving of record”
“But in my opinion the narratives of Ptolemy and Aristobulus are more worthy of credit than the rest”
“There is indeed a report that Alexander pronounced Achilles fortunate in getting Homer as the herald of his fame to posterity”
“he struck the cord with his sword and cut it through, saying that it had been untied by him”
“But he, having read the letter, and still holding it in his hand, took the cup which contained the medicine and gave Philip the letter to read. While Philip was reading the news from Parmenio, Alexander drank the potion”
“Nor did he treat the mother, wife, and children of Darius with neglect”
“a long pike from one of his ordinary guards, with which he struck Clitus and killed him”
“those who wished to return home were at liberty to return and carry back word to their relations that they were come back, having deserted their king in the midst of his enemies”
“According to the statement of Aristobulus, he lived thirty-two years, and had reached the eighth month of his thirty-third year. He had reigned twelve years and these eight months”
Medical Lens
Arrian records Alexander's fever at Tarsus and the trust placed in Philip the Acarnanian despite Parmenio's warning letter; wounds and medical care on campaign; the role of wine in the killing of Clitus; and the final illness in Babylon, including the rumor of poison which Arrian reports without affirming.
- Book II, Chapter 4
Fever, sleeplessness and the cup of medicine taken while reading Parmenio's accusation against Philip the Acarnanian.
- Book IV, Chapter 8
Drunken quarrel at Maracanda ending in the killing of Clitus.
- Book VII, Chapters 25–27
The final fever, the royal diary of the illness and rumors that Alexander was poisoned.