Search found 106 matches

by Hando
Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:11 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Wakhan: any chance Alexander ever went there?
Replies: 2
Views: 6301

Re: Wakhan: any chance Alexander ever went there?

I saw that series online a few months ago and really enjoyed it. However, I also do not think Alexander went to the Wakhan. I did go to the Pamirs 3 years ago and it was breathtaking. I visited Penjikent (Alexander Eshcate), but unfortunately only the outskirts of the city so I did not manage to vis...
by Hando
Wed Aug 13, 2014 3:03 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Yet ANOTHER potential tomb...
Replies: 24
Views: 11920

Re: Yet ANOTHER potential tomb...

If anyone descended from Alexander was found to be buried in there, such as his son through Roxanne, it would be great to extract DNA and maybe we could get closer to finding Alexander himself one of these days. Maybe see if it matches the DNA of the person buried at St. Marks in Venice.
by Hando
Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:59 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

Hello, this question is regarding Issos and not Gaugamela. I received a reply from Jona Lendering to my question regarding Issos. Here is the question I asked him. This will be followed by the two answers he gave me, but I am not exactly sure what he mean, because his answers seem hurried. First my ...
by Hando
Sun Aug 03, 2014 11:51 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

Even the Persians would not drag totally useless mouths around, and the Greek sources always have useless hordes in mind when they speak of Persian armies, it is easy to be seduced by their bias since we have nothing to balance it and the fact remains that the Persians lost each battle. It has to b...
by Hando
Sun Aug 03, 2014 7:50 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

I would say, letting them sleep and breakfast rather than standing to all night would be a biggie, Dareios demonstrated his fear and weakened his force physically. Including them in the offensive plan too would demonstrate the king's belief in them and keep them occupied, the worst thing for milita...
by Hando
Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:05 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

I would say, letting them sleep and breakfast rather than standing to all night would be a biggie, Dareios demonstrated his fear and weakened his force physically. Including them in the offensive plan too would demonstrate the king's belief in them and keep them occupied, the worst thing for milita...
by Hando
Fri Aug 01, 2014 6:50 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

:D Hando, A full discussion of Gaugemela can be found on pp.262 through 284 in Theodore Reyault Dodge's book Alexander, and a discussion of Issus is in this text on pp. 295 - 315. Exact troop numbers are given. Full descriptions of the choices to be made which makes it enthralling reading. In Peter...
by Hando
Fri Aug 01, 2014 5:21 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

I'm not quite sure how keen the French were to get into action, but I would saythat we don't realy know musch about the motivation of the Persian foot; we are caught between the cultural bias of our Greek sources and the fact that they did run, with the additional possibility of bad omens, what we ...
by Hando
Fri Aug 01, 2014 5:19 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

Hando, you said: 1)Since the only Persian troops that fought at Gaugamela were the cavalry which totaled 18,000 to 20,000, Forgive me for going off on an tangent here, but are you saying that Alex's army only fought the totality of said number at Gaugamela? Anyone, do you agree with him? To me it s...
by Hando
Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:57 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

I am not sure that the levies would have 'got stuck in' had the cavalry continued to fight, but there would have been no trigger for their flight so they would have stayed on the field. Sorry, I don't understand your expression 'got stuck in' so I checked for British slang and maybe this is what yo...
by Hando
Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:15 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

Well I'm not sure what you think of my opinion regarding the Persian levies' willingness to fight if their cavalry had given the Macedonians a hard time? But then again Mazeus' cavalry did give Parmenion's men a hard time and the levies didn't get involved. But then again the levies seem to have got...
by Hando
Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:49 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

Since the whole of the front line was cavalry it follows that the cavalry had to be broken through before anything could threaten the levies. Thanks for that. Yes it makes sense that the Persian levies would run away only after they were certain their chances weren't good. If their better trained c...
by Hando
Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:13 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

Why the levies broke, would be a combination of factors, .... the example of their mounted betters being driven back... Is it correct that the levies fled only after they saw their cavalry losing? The scenario I had in my mind was that of the levies fleeing immediately at the very beginning of the ...
by Hando
Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:05 pm
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS
Replies: 139
Views: 48357

Re: THE STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN ARMY AT ISSOS

We never count only those troops engaged when computing odds as this gives a false impression...what they (the French) fail to point out was that the French were outnumbered (in the Franco-Prussian war), because they failed to get their troops into the theatre in time to fight whereas the Prussians...