Sending soldiers back to Macedon

[Peter]

Hi All,Following the battle of Granicus we know that Alex sent his MARRIED soldiers back for winter (while asking them to come back with reinforcements).This, we know, increased Alexander's popularity among his army.Is this something that he did on a 'regular' basis or as he moved to the east he dropped it (probably as he began his orientalization)?I know he refreshed his army by sending old soldiers back and getting reinforcements by Antipater. My question is specifically on the policy of sending people back for a specific period of time and then having them return.Common sense says that the more he moved to the east the more time it would take for men to go to Greece and come back as well as he would fear that they would never return, therefore he granted "vacation" a la Babylon (where if I'm not mistaken his army was given a month "off") instead.Did I just answer my question???Thanks!!!!!!!

[ruthaki]

Remember that he also started recruiting foreigners (including Persians) into the army as he went along.
Old veterans were sent home. And in particular anyone who opposed his policies.

[marcus]

Acutally, apart from the one occasion, early on in the campaign, I am not aware of any time when Alexander sent soldiers home for a period of R & R.Also, Ruth, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that "in particular, anyone that opposed his policies". These were just the people he *didn't* want going back to Macedonia, with the possibility of spreading dissent. In fact, if he didn't have his opponents killed, and if they didn't die of naturaly causes (cf. Coenus and all the attendant conspiracy theories...) the one occasion when we know specifically what Alexander did with subversives was when he formed them into a special squadron of 'undesirables' - the result being that they exerted themselves to prove their loyalty and win back his trust.The situation in Babylon in 324 was different - this was a case of disbanding troops rather than giving them a holiday... and we know how *that* ended up!All the bestMarcus