Alexander the Great: Macedonia brings an end to Persian domination of Ionia
Angered by the attempts of the cities of mainland Greece to provide the Ionian city-states in western Aantolia with material and moral support, the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes both organized punitive campaigns against Athens and Sparta, one consequence of which was Xerxes’s destruction of Athens in 480 B.C. After a lengthy struggle Persian aggression was successfully stymied. But now the Greek city-states, polarized around the competing cities of Athens and Sparta, engaged in a seriees of bloody fratricidal wars that left them politically and economically exhausted and easy prey for a new aggressor from the north: Macedonia.
The process of uniting Greece begun by Philip II of Macedonia was continued by his son, the twenty year-old Alexander whose main goal was to put a final end to Persian rule of the region. In 334 B.C. he landed in Anatolia with a small force of well-trained men near the site of ancient Troy and defeated the Persian satraps at the Granicus (Kocabas. Qayi). Unable to withstand Alexander’s a rapid and determined campaign, the Persians suffered defeat after defeat and in less than five years, the Macedonians reached their capital city of Persepolis, which Alexander burned and destroyed in retaliation for the destruction of Athens a century and a half earlier. Conquering the entire Persian Empire — the greatest of its day — the young Macedonian king himself become emperor worthy of the title “Alexander the Great”.
In western Anatolia, the Persian-enthralled cities of Tralles, Magnesia, and Nysa surrendered without resistance to Alexander. The Persian garrison and fleet at Miletos were much stronger however and so opposed his advances. During the siege of this city — which controlled entrance to the Maeander valley, Alexander established his headquarters at Priene where the people showed him much affection. In gratitude, the young king donated money for the rebuilding of the city of Priene. Today, remains known as the “House of Alexander” and the “Temple of Alexander” are to be found in Priene.
The city of Alinda, to which King Mausolos (the Persian satrap of Caria) had exiled his sister Ada also opened its doors to Alexander and as a reward, Alexander declared Ada queen of Caria. Tralles, owing to its central location during the Carian and Lycian campaigns, served as a base for Alexander’s forces.
Alexander however died in 323 B.C., his plans to establish a single worldwide state unrealized. His hastily put-together empire fell apart just as rapidly upon his untimely death.
