Site of the Battle of the Granicus

[Alexias]

Archaeology magazine https://archaeology.org/news/2025/01/06 ... -granicus/

The new evidence includes traces of the ancient city of Hermaion, recorded as Alexander’s last encampment site before the battle.

Granicus battlefield as seen by Alexander

[marcus]

I get very frustrated when these articles include no actual information to flesh out the story. The 'Hermaion' discovery sounds interesting (Arrian 1.12.6) if it turns out that it is indeed that city; but they still don't tell us where the blinkin' site is!

Still, pretty cool if and when they decide to give us some actual geographical information!

[Alexias]

I get very frustrated when these articles include no actual information to flesh out the story. The 'Hermaion' discovery sounds interesting (Arrian 1.12.6) if it turns out that it is indeed that city; but they still don't tell us where the blinkin' site is!

Still, pretty cool if and when they decide to give us some actual geographical information!

Yes, I know - tempt you to buy the magazine maybe. Anyway, this article https://www.livescience.com/archaeology ... -in-turkey says the battlefield is located on the Biga river, which appears to have been long associated with the Granicus. The article also says

The (battle)site is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of the city of Biga in northwest Turkey.

[marcus]

Thank you. I will have a look at the other article.

I'm not surprised if it turns out to be a site already associated. Very often a 'new discovery' isn't always new; it simply hasn't been published outside academia before ...

[marcus]

Although it's a little sloppy for the journalist to say "Ancient records say that Alexander stationed Persian Greek mercenaries on a hill ..."

[chris_taylor]

I don't understand the jist of this article at all: I thought that the site of the battlefield was undisputed: on the alluvial plane formed by the Biga Cay river, about 10km north east of modern day Biga, Turkey.

the only thing "new" is the potential location of Hermaion. that'd be great, because it would tell us about the route he took to get to the Granicus (along the coast or through the mountains). but as Marcus points out, until they give a location, that's not much use.

[Alexias]

The photo I posted appears to show the hill on which Alexander stationed the Greek mercenaries in the middle distance and the river going from left to right along where the line of trees is. The key point is that last year they found the grave of an adult male with weapons on this hill (undated as yet), where other graves and weapons have previously been found. Presumably the hypothesis is that they belong to the mercenaries, which Alexander may not have afforded a grand funeral pyre, as he possibly did for the Macedonian dead.

[chris_taylor]

I understand the key point now about the bones found on Mercenary Hill - thanks for clarification

The photo I posted appears to show the hill on which Alexander stationed the Greek mercenaries in the middle distance and the river going from left to right along where the line of trees is.

not sure about the photo, though. I think that's possibly taken standing ON the hill, looking NW, towards what Arrian calls the "Idaean Mountains".

for those who haven't been to the battlefield, Google lets you drive past the foot of the Mercenary Hills virtually. They're only about 30m high, but the landscape is so flat, they really stand out. I tried to capture that weird discrepancy in a photo and failed. Google to the rescue: follow the road in the direction the motorcyclist with the red hat, they're just coming up on your right ...

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@40.30209 ... FQAw%3D%3D

[Alexias]

The photo I posted appears to show the hill on which Alexander stationed the Greek mercenaries in the middle distance and the river going from left to right along where the line of trees is.

not sure about the photo, though. I think that's possibly taken standing ON the hill, looking NW, towards what Arrian calls the "Idaean Mountains".

for those who haven't been to the battlefield, Google lets you drive past the foot of the Mercenary Hills virtually. They're only about 30m high, but the landscape is so flat, they really stand out. I tried to capture that weird discrepancy in a photo and failed. Google to the rescue: follow the road in the direction the motorcyclist with the red hat, they're just coming up on your right ...

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@40.30209 ... FQAw%3D%3D

Oh, that's really interesting, thank you. You may be right that the hill from which the photo was taken is the one where the grave was found as it is much nearer the river than the background hill.

One issue though, I can't tie these bare empty hills and fields up with the photo above (taken by the archaeology professor Reyhan Körpe), so I am not sure this is the same place. Also, if the line of trees in the background of the Google view (swing to the left) is the line of the river, it looks a long way away to station infantry. I am going to have to go and read up on the battle as my recollection is very sketchy, but I seem to recall that Alexander kept the mercenaries in reserve? Even so, I think that is too far away for them to effectively engage.

The Live Science article has three photos. Looking at it again the caption for the photo I posted is "The Granicus battlefield, near where Alexander himself may have been positioned.", so yes, that hill in the background is probably a red herring.

The caption for the first photo is "The battlefield as seen from a hill used by Greek mercenaries."



The final photo shows part of the Hermaion site.

[Jeanne Reames]

All very very interesting. Thanks, folks!

[Alexias]

I had a suspicion whilst writing last night that the Greek mercenaries were fighting on the Persian side, not on Alexander's side. I therefore did a bit of investigating.

Diodorus says (Book XVII, 17) that of the troops Alexander took into Asia there were 5,000 mercenary infantry.

There were found to be, of infantry, twelve thousand Macedonians, seven thousand allies, and five thousand mercenaries, all of whom were under the command of Parmenion. Odrysians, Triballians, and Illyrians accompanied him to the number of seven thousand; and of archers and the so‑called Agrianians one thousand, making up a total of thirty-two thousand foot soldiers.

Looking at the battle line-ups for the Granicus, these mercenaries are not mentioned specifically. They therefore have to have been incorporated into the six battalions of the phalanx, commanded by Perdiccas, Coenus, Amyntas s. of Andromenes, Philip s. of Amyntas, Meleager, Craterus at the Granicus. To the right of them stood the hypaspists under Parmenion's son Nicanor. These are likely to have been mostly Macedonian.

There is also no mention of a hill behind Alexander or reserves. The only higher ground mentioned seems to be on the Persian, presumably the eastern, side of the river.

Diodorus says (Book XVII, 19)

When Alexander learned of the concentration of the Persian forces, he advanced rapidly and encamped opposite the enemy, so that the Granicus flowed between the encampments. The Persians, resting on high ground, made no move, intending to fall upon the foes as he crossed the river,

Arrian (Book I, 14) says

They (the Persians) had extended their horse along the bank of the river in a long phalanx, and had posted the infantry behind the cavalry, for the ground above the bank was steep and commanding.

Plutarch says (Book I, 16)

the Macedonian phalanx crossed the river and the infantry forces on both sides engaged. 13 The enemy, however, did not resist vigorously, nor for a long time, but fled in a rout, all except the Greek mercenaries. These made a stand at a certain eminence, and asked that Alexander should promise them quarter.

Once the Greek mercenaries were defeated, Arrian (Book I, 16) says

Of the other cavalry over sixty were slain, and of the infantry, about thirty. These were buried by Alexander the next day, together with their arms and other decorations.

The grave that has been found therefore (even if it is of the right period), is either Macedonian or from the Greek allies/mercenaries. There appears to have been a confusion in these reports with the Greek mercenaries fighting for the Persians with Alexander's side. None of the Greek mercenaries on the Persian side are likely to have been buried with honour or their weapons as the survivors were sold into slavery by Alexander.

As for the photos, I need to have a think about these and see if I can work out which direction they are facing.

[marcus]

I had a suspicion whilst writing last night that the Greek mercenaries were fighting on the Persian side, not on Alexander's side. I therefore did a bit of investigating.

Diodorus says (Book XVII, 17) that of the troops Alexander took into Asia there were 5,000 mercenary infantry.

Although there is certainly a theory - based on Arrian's description of the Macedonian battle lines (I think - I don't have the references to hand) - that Alexander didn't actually deploy any of the allied Greek troops, nor his mercenaries. The only troops at the Granicus were the Macedonians and Thessalians. If I can find the references for this I will post; but not close enough to my resources at the moment.

[chris_taylor]

Ah! now I see where the confusion arose. the article says "...uncovered a man’s bones in 2024, could be the place where *Alexander* had stationed the Greek mercenaries".

that didn't make any sense: the only "Greek Mercenaries" that had their own story line in this battle were those on the *Persian* side: they were inexplicably not deployed, they stayed put watching the battle "rather from amazement at the unexpected result of the struggle than from any steady resolution" and Alexander burying their commanders afterwards.

so I automatically assumed that the writer of the article wasn't well versed with the details and just made a mistake. Instead, he meant "... where the *Persians* stationed the Greek Mercenaries". then the rest of what it says and the photo made sense.

if it helps, these two photos were taken at 40.308590, 27.305981, the hill from where they watched the battle unfold literally at their feet. the river is nowadays 2km away. Note: the word "hill" creates the wrong impression. it's a knoll or a hillock. you can run straight down it in twenty seconds.

this one looks due north, towards Karabiga (ancient Priapus). the tall tower on the horizon in the centre of the picture is part of the power station at Karabiga, about 7km away, at the sea.

granicus to karabiga shrunk.jpg (105.21 KiB) Viewed 10572 times

this one is a panoramic view of the entire battle field taken from the same spot, facing NW about 320 degrees. the thick green line of vegatation is the river bed, today about 2km away. the dark mountains in the background are the Idaean Mountains, 13km away. Karabiga is just outside the picture, off to the right.

[Alexias]

Thanks for the photos, Chris. I'm afraid I still think your photos are in a different location than the Turkish professor's photos. All of the Persian infantry, including the Greek mercenaries, were stationed behind the Persian cavalry, and once Alexander broke through the cavalry, the Persian infantry fled, apart from the Greeks. Two kilometres (a mile and a quarter) away from the river is far too far away for the infantry to have been stationed. There would have been no point in them standing on a hill because the momentum of a charge would have long been lost before they engaged with Alexander's forces. Also, Alexander did not bury any of the mercenaries, including the commanders, he only buried his own men.

J F C Fuller's map of the battle shows a lake Edje Gol, and some higher ground to the south west of Alexander's position. I haven't been able to find this lake on Google maps, so maybe it has been drained. However, this screenshot shows where the higher ground on Fuller's map is, where it says Cinarkopru, and the river runs right at the base of this higher ground. I've marked with an X approximately where your photo was taken, but looking directly across the valley cannot be where Alexander was positioned as there simply isn't room to deploy his troops. It has to be further up where it says Granicus River. Beyond that, the river seems to widen, rendering it less likely that the battle was further north. I cannot though place where the professor's photos are from.

Screenshot_16-1-2025_225748_www.google.co.uk.jpeg (133.02 KiB) Viewed 10562 times

[chris_taylor]

Thanks for the photos, Chris. I'm afraid I still think your photos are in a different location than the Turkish professor's photos.

you might be right. simplest thing would be to email the guy and ask. I'd do it, but I'm just an amateur.
https://comu.academia.edu/ReyhanK%C3%B6rpe

who knows, he might even join us here )

All of the Persian infantry, including the Greek mercenaries, were stationed behind the Persian cavalry, and once Alexander broke through the cavalry, the Persian infantry fled, apart from the Greeks. Two kilometres (a mile and a quarter) away from the river is far too far away for the infantry to have been stationed.

It's an alluvian plane, so there is no guarantee that the river and its final branches are still in the same place. we know it changed course multiple times, as did its tributaries. at some time, there were also marshes and a lake. for all we know, today's "Granicus" wasn't even Alexander's Granicus: over two millenia, multiple name changes in different languages, the river and one of its tributaries may have swapped identities. certainly looking at the last confluence of today, it's a coin toss to say which one is the river and which one a tributary.

this is a heat map of the alluvial river plane.

alluvial plane.png (245.31 KiB) Viewed 10550 times

.

what we can say with certainty is that :

a) the battle was fought somewhere on blue.
b) the Persians had enough space on the east bank of the river to deploy their army
c) there was a hill behind the Persian lines.

BTW, the little green knobbing in the picture at the bottom centre was also proposed as the mercenary hill. there's a horse stable on top of it now.

Also, Alexander did not bury any of the mercenaries, including the commanders, he only buried his own men.

Arrian, Book 1, XVI. Chinnock translation" "He also buried the Persian commanders and the Greek mercenaries who were killed fighting on the side of the enemy."

J F C Fuller's map of the battle shows a lake Edje Gol, and some higher ground to the south west of Alexander's position. I haven't been able to find this lake on Google maps, so maybe it has been drained. However, this screenshot shows where the higher ground on Fuller's map is, where it says Cinarkopru, and the river runs right at the base of this higher ground. I've marked with an X approximately where your photo was taken, but looking directly across the valley cannot be where Alexander was positioned as there simply isn't room to deploy his troops.

not sure I understand that: the Persians were there first, so they picked their place on the east bank of the river, wherever they thought was strategically best all around. but wherever that was, there's heaps of space on the west bank for Alexander to move