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First Battle of Issus

Battle of Issus
Part of the Wars of Alexander the Great
Battle of Issus mosaic - Museo Archeologico Nazionale - Naples BW.jpg
Alexander battling Darius at the Battle of Issus (Naples National Archaeological Museum)
Date November 5, 333 BC
Location Issus, Achaemenid Empire (modern-day Turkey)
Result Decisive Greek victory
Territorial
changes
Alexander controls southern Asia Minor
Belligerents
Vergina Sun - Golden Larnax.png Macedon
League of Corinth
Standard of Cyrus the Great (Achaemenid Empire).svg Achaemenid Empire
Commanders and leaders
Alexander the Great
Parmenion
Craterus
Hephaestion
Ptolemy
Pantordanus
Sitalces II
Menes
Balacrus
Darius III
Arsames 
Rheomithres 
Atizyes 
Bubaces 
Sabaces 
Strength
13,000 peltasts,
22,000 heavy infantry,
5,850 cavalry
Total: 40,850

30,000–80,000 light infantry (Babylonian Speers, Ionian peltast)
11,000 cavalry
10,000 Persian Immortals
10,000 Greek mercenaries

Total: 61,000–108,000 (modern sources)
250,000–600,000 (ancient sources)
Casualties and losses
452 and many wounded ~20,000

Coordinates: 36°50′16″N 36°12′40″E / 36.837894°N 36.211109°E / 36.837894; 36.211109

30,000–80,000 light infantry (Babylonian Speers, Ionian peltast)
11,000 cavalry
10,000 Persian Immortals
10,000 Greek mercenaries

The Battle of Issus occurred in southern Anatolia, on November 5, 333 BC between the Hellenic League led by Alexander the Great and the Achaemenid Empire, led by Darius III, in the second great battle of Alexander's conquest of Asia. The invading Macedonian troops defeated Persia. After the Hellenic League soundly defeated the Persian satraps of Asia Minor (led by Greek mercenary Memnon of Rhodes) at the Battle of the Granicus, Darius took personal command of his army. He gathered reinforcements and led his men in a surprise march behind the Hellenic advance to cut their line of supply. This forced Alexander to countermarch, setting the stage for the battle near the mouth of the Pinarus River and the town of Issus.

The battle took place south of the ancient town Issus, which is close to the present-day Turkish town of Iskenderun (the Turkish equivalent of "Alexandria", founded by Alexander to commemorate his victory), on either side of a small river called Pinarus. At that location, the distance from the Gulf of Issus to the surrounding mountains is only 2.6 km (2 mi), a place where Darius could not take advantage of his superiority in numbers. Speculation on the location of the Pinarus has taken place for over 80 years. Older historians believed it to be the Deli Tchai river, but historians N.G.L. Hammond and A. M. Devine claim that the Pinarus is actually the Payas River, the latter using his own examination of the course of the river, which he considered would not have drastically changed since antiquity. Their evidence is based on Callisthenes' accounts of the measurements of the battlefield and distances marched by both sides' armies in the prelude to the battle and distance given by Diodorus after the battle.


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