The Campaigns of Alexander the Great

Major Battles

Alexander's Ladder

Ancient Greece North
http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/T/Tempe-Va.html
"Without waiting to reorganize his kingdom or to assure himself of the allegiance of the tribes bordering it, Alexander swept like a whirlwind southward along the coast into Thessaly at the head of his army. At Tempe, the Thessalians bade him halt outside the pass while they deliberated whether to admit him. To avoid battle and yet circumvent the pass, he ordered his men to cut steps in the sea-face of Mount Ossa and appeared on the further side of the pass before the Thessalians guessed what he was up to." The Generalship of Alexander The Great by J. F. C. Fuller.

Troy

Map of Vicinity of Troy

Battle of Granicus River

Map 1 of Battle of Granicus River 1

Map 2 of Battle of Granicus River

Siege of Halacarnassos

Map of Helicarnassos
Alexander was obliged to take Halicarnassus, and he must have understood that whatever the outcome of the siege, he was to be the loser. At this moment, Memnon had at least 300 ships and he could evacuate the garrison at every moment he liked. Another Persian advantage was that the walls of Halicarnassus were recently built and exceptionally strong: the architects knew how to deal with siege engines and had taken countermeasures. Maybe Alexander could take Halicarnassus, but he would suffer severe losses, whereas the Persians could leave the city before their losses would become unacceptable.

Battle of Issus

Map of Battle of Issus Overview

Gulf of Issus

Pinarus River (south)

Battlelines (southern scenario)

Siege of Tyre

Map of Ancient Tyre

Battle of Gaugamela

Map of Battle of Gaugamela

Persepolis

Royal Road Map

Persian Gates

Persepolis Map

Persepolis Air Photo

Palace Plan

Battle of Hydaspes

The Indian Campaign

Battle of Hydaspes (Detail)

Places

1 Greece

Pass at Vale of Tempi
http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/T/Tempe-Va.html
"Without waiting to reorganize his kingdom or to assure himself of the allegiance of the tribes bordering it, Alexander swept like a whirlwind southward along the coast into Thessaly at the head of his army. At Tempe, the Thessalians bade him halt outside the pass while they deliberated whether to admit him. To avoid battle and yet circumvent the pass, he ordered his men to cut steps in the sea-face of Mount Ossa and appeared on the further side of the pass before the Thessalians guessed what he was up to." The Generalship of Alexander The Great by J. F. C. Fuller.

Mt. Ossa

Mount Olympus

Dium
Pydna
Pella
Abdera
Philippi
Amphipolis
Alexandroupolis
Sestus

2 Turkey

Amanian Gate

Bahce

Pillar of Jonah

(333BC) Battle of Issus
Issus

Darius' Route

Halicarnassos
(334 BC) Siege of Halicarnassos
In the 340's, the members of the royal family were quarreling, and some of them were pro-Persian, whereas others were pro-Macedonian. When Alexander the Great approached Caria in 334, Halicarnassus was one of the most important Persian strongholds, defended by the Greek mercenary leader Memnon of Rhodes, and the Macedonian invaders of Asia came very close to defeat. However, a discontent member of the royal family, Ada, sided with Alexander, which gave him sufficient support in Caria to continue the siege.
(334 BC) Battle of Granicus River
Arrian, a 2nd-century Greek historian whose account of the battle is the most comprehensive and reliable, described the hard-fought cavalry action that ensued in the river and on its bank: "At the point where the vanguard under Amyntas and Socrates touched the bank, the Persians shot volleys on them from above, some hurling their javelins into the river from their commanding position on the bank, others going down to the stream on the more level ground. There was a great shoving by the cavalry, as some were trying to get out of the river, others to stop them, great showers of Persian javelins, much thrusting of Macedonian spears. But the Macedonians, much outnumbered, came off badly in the first onslaught; they were defending themselves from the river on ground that was not firm and was beneath the enemy's while the Persians had the advantage of the bank; in particular, the flower of the Persian cavalry was posted here, and Memnon's sons and Memnon himself ventured their lives with them. The first Macedonians who came to grips with the Persians were cut down, despite their valor."
Battle of Granicus River

Burial Mounds of Achillies and Patroclus

Telmessos

Termessos
Perga
Side
Aspendus
Gordion
Pessinus
Synnada
Celaenae
Sagalassos
Tyana
Misli
Yesilhisar
Incesu
Caesarea-Mazaca
Ancyra
Tavium
Smyrna
Pergamon
Mytilene

Lampascus

Dascy
Sardis
Thyatira
Byzantium
Abydus

Crossing to Anatolia

Ephesos
Alexandretta
Tarsus
Pozanti
Cilician Gates
Adana
Soli
Issus
Magnesia
Myrina
Iassus
Miletus
Tralles
Amuq Plain
Sochoi
Myriandrus
Mylasa
Antioch
Seleucia

3 Syria
Syrian Gates (Beilan Pass)
Syrlan Gates
Nisibis
Thapsacus
Carrhae
Aleppo
Hamah
Homs
Damascus
Latakia
Aradus
Tripolis

4 Lebanon
(332 BC) Siege of Tyre
When the Tyrians saw the size of this fleet, they refused to fight, leaving it to the Macedonians to try to attack the walls. Alexander mounted catapults and siege towers on the decks of the ships but the Tyrians would sink them with huge boulders and would pour scalding liquids and hot sand on them. It took months to complete the causeway and during its progress toward the island, Alexander constructed several one hundred fifty foot tall towers on which he mounted catapults to fire back at the Tyrians. The images shown below are typical of siege machines of this era (circa 300 BC).
Tyre
Byblos
Berytus
Sidon

5 Palestine/Israel
Ashdod
Ascalon
Gaza
Joppa
Acre
Siege of Gaza

6 Egypt

The Pyramids

Paraetonium
Kanayis
Bir el Istabl
Bir Faud
Bir el Nuss
Bir el Basur
Pelusium
(331 BC) Memphis
Memphis
Cairo
Naucratis
Alexandria
Siwa

8 Iraq
(331 BC) Battle of Gaugamela
The battleground at Gaugamela was a sandy plain, and the sand they kicked up would have made it impossible for the Macedonians and Persians to see what was happening. After a day of fighting in a dust storm, Alexander's army emerged in control of the field. No one could say how this had come about, although the Macedonians naturally assumed that their plan of attack had proved successful: an advance by the companion cavalry on the right wing, led by Alexander, while Parmenion's left wing and the second line took up defensive positions. There is also firm evidence that at some point Mazaeus' Babylonian horsemen broke through the Macedonian lines, only to take the Macedonian camp instead of attacking the enemy from the rear.
http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_z7.html
Gaugamela

Zagros Mountains

Nineveh
Arbela
Onis
Abu Wajnam
Baghdad

Babylon

9 Iran
Persepolis

Iran (Sousian Gate)

Susa
Baghdad
Harmozia
Salmous
Alexandria Carmania
Pura

Persian Gate

Alexandria Charax

Susa

Pasargadae
Ispahan
Ecbatana

Teng-i-Suluk (Probably Caspian Gates)

Rhagae

DAMAVAND Mountain
Status: Holocene Type: Stratovol Click here for Google search

Hecatompylus
Damghan
Zadracarta
Susia

10 Afghanistan

Balkh
Balkh was the Arabs' "mother of cities," seat of the satrap and a famous image of Anahita, water goddess of the oxus. At Balkh, the satrap of Bactria held his court.

Bactria

Sefid Kuh Mountains

Khawak Sar

Oxus River

Artacoana
Alexandria Areia
Farah
Prophthasia

Helmand

(329 BC) Kandahar

Alexandria Arachosia
Kabul
Alexandria (Massaca)
Khushan Pass
Khawak Pass
Drapsaca
Alexandria-by-the-Caucaus

Alexandria of Oxiana

11 Turkmenistan
Alexandria Margiana

12 Uzbekistan
Alexandria Eschate

Maracanda (Samarqand)

Nautaca

13 Pakistan

Jhelum
Pakistan

Bucephala

Battle of Hydaspes
In May 326, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great and his ally, raja Ambhi of Taxila, defeated Porus, a raja who had not been able to surrender himself to Alexander. There were heavy rains -the monsoon seems to have started early- and the river Jhelum, already wide in May because of the melting waters of the Himalayas, became very wide.http://www.livius.org/a/pakistan/jhelum/hydaspes.html

Karachi
Pattala Hyderabad
Rhambacia
Embolima
Attock

Sangala

Quetta
Alexandria Opiana
Nicaea
Taxila
Khyber Pass
(Khyber" means "Across the river" or "divide" and is derived from "Habar" in Aramaic, which also translates to the word "Hebrew")
The Khyber Pass is a 53-kilometer (33-miles) passage through the Hindu Kush mountain range. It connects the northern frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan. At its narrowest point, the pass is only 3 meters wide. On the north side of the Khyber Pass rise the towering, snow-covered mountains of the Hindu Kush. The Khyber Pass is one of the most famous mountain passes in the World. It is one of the most important passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is the best land route between India and Pakistan and has had a long and often violent history. Conquering armies have used the Khyber as an entry point for their invasions. It was also been a major trade route for centuries.
Khyber Pass, mountain pass in western Asia, the most important pass connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan, controlled by Pakistan. The Khyber Pass winds northwest through the Sefid Koh Range near Peshawar, Pakistan to Kabul, Afghanistan, varying in width from 3 to 137 m. The mountains on either side can be climbed only in a few places. The pass is walled by precipitous cliffs that vary in height from about 180 to 300 m. The pass reaches its highest elevation at the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The history of the Khyber Pass as a strategic gateway dates from 326 B.C., when Alexander the Great and his army marched through the Khyber to reach the plains of India. From their, he sailed down Indus River and led his army across the desert of Gedrosia.
Source: http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/khyber.html

Hindu Kush

Newar Pass

Alexandria Sogdiane

Mulia Pass
Alexandria Port
Alexandria of the Oreitae
Cocala
Gwadar

Alexander's Route Out
Greece (Pella)
Turkey (Sestus)
Turkey (Troy)
Turkey (Granicus)
Turkey (Thyatira)
Turkey (Sardis)
Turkey (Ephesos)
Turkey (Halicarnassos)
Turkey (Telmessos)
Turkey (Side)
Turkey (Cilician Gates)
Turkey (Adana)
Turkey (Issus)
Lebanon (Aradus)
Lebanon (Bayrut)
Israel (Tyre)
Israel (Jerusalem)
Israel (Gaza)
Egypt (Cairo)
Egypt (Alexandria)
Egypt (Bir el Basur)
Egypt (Siwa)
Egypt (Memphis)
Syria and Iraq
Iran (Alexandria Charax)
Iran (Shiraz)

Iran (Yasuj)

Iran (Persian Gates)

Iran (Persepolis)
Iran (Ispahan)
Iran (Caspian Gates)
Iran (Hecatompylus)
Iran (Susia)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Areia)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Arachosia)
Afghanistan (Kabul)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Massaca)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Caucaus)
Afghanistan (Balkh)
Uzbekistan (Alexandria Oxiana)
Uzbekistan (Alexandria Eschate)

Alexander's Route Back
Afghanistan (Kabul)
Pakistan (Khyber Pass)
Pakistan (Taxila)
Pakistan (Nicaea)
Pakistan/India
Pakistan (Alexander Sogdiane)
Pakistan (Mulia Pass)
Pakistan (Alexandria Oreitae)
Pakistan (Hyderabad)
Iran (Alexandria Carmania)

Iraq (Baghdad)

Other Map Overlays

Bactria and Sogdia Map

Balkh

Khawak Pass Small Scale

Khawak Pass (Detail)

Small Scale Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass is a 53-kilometer (33-miles) passage through the Hindu Kush mountain range.
http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/khyber.html

Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass is a 53-kilometer (33-miles) passage through the Hindu Kush mountain range. It connects the northern frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan. At its narrowest point, the pass is only 3 meters wide. On the north side of the Khyber Pass rise the towering, snow-covered mountains of the Hindu Kush. The Khyber Pass is one of the most famous mountain passes in the World. It is one of the most important passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is the best land route between India and Pakistan and has had a long and often violent history. Conquering armies have used the Khyber as an entry point for their invasions. It was also been a major trade route for centuries.
http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/khyber.html