PART OF THE NOVEL "ALEXANDER THE GREAT (MACEDONIAN)" BY ULRICH WILKEN TRANSLATED BY SLAVE KATYN – PART I
When Alexander anchored, he sent Parmenion with a small part of the army to announce the capture of the sea-passes leading from Cilicia to Syria, and he marched westwards to avoid the mountainous region of Thraceia in Cilicia, in order to subdue and to seize the sea-coast as far as Lycia, and to fully protect his hinterland before meeting the Great King.
The rapid execution of this task in a few days showed that he had returned to his former power. On his way to the ancient ancient Greek coastal city of Soloy, he received news that his generals, to whom he had entrusted the siege of the fortress at Halicarnassus, had won a great victory.
In honor of that victory, Alexander the Great prepared a feast, and expressed gratitude to the god Asclepius for his recovery. In addition to the procession and torch races, there were also gymnastics and music competitions, which were held here for the first time. There were gymnastic competitions of the soldiers as well as artistic competitions involving singers, musicians and artists who were probably brought from the military headquarters to the Tape.
Then the main body of the army began the march from Tape to the east. When Alexander the Great came to Mal, he offered a sacrifice to the hero-prophet Amphilochus of Argos, who had a famous prophecy here and was revered as the founder of the city. At Mal he heard from Parmenion, who had meanwhile conquered the preslaps, that Darius had encamped with his army at Sochoi in the plain of Syria, two days' march from the pass which they now called Bailan.
After Memnon's death, the Great King decided to personally take command and meet Alexander the Great in decisive combat. For this purpose he gathered a large army in Babylon.
Late in the summer of 333, informed that Alexander the Great was in Galicia, Darius proceeded to the Euphrates accompanied by a large retinue of baggage, and then crossed into the plain east of Mount Haman, to prepare for Alexander the Great's entry into the Bailan gorge , and here in Sohoi to start a fight with his numerous army. Starting from his great superiority, Darius believed in victory.
Moreover, he realized that he should value Alexander the Great as an adversary, which can be inferred from the fact that some time before, as a true sultan, he had incited Alexander the Lynxtian to kill Alexander the Great.
As soon as Alexander heard the news concerning Sohoi, when he was at Mal, he called a council of war to agree what should be done, and with the approval of the council decided to oppose the Great King.
However, the battle was not fought on the other side of Mount Amman in Sohoy, but on this side of northwestern Syria, south of Is. How did this come about? It is one of the most interesting and exciting parts in the entire history of war.
Alexander's road, which Parmenion had formerly been sent to reconnoitre and capture, led through the Cilician gorges, along the Syrian coast.
Then the road turns to the south, passes by Is, through the river Pinar (Deli-Chai) and the small river Payas to the Syrian sea pass and through the Yonah mountain pass it continues to Miriandre (near the present Alexandretta-Iskanderun).
From here the road leads southeast through Amman from the Bailan Pass to the Syrian plain. It was the road that the young Cyrus had once traveled and was known to the ancient peoples from the Xeiophonian narratives.
After recovering from illness at Issus, marching southward, Alexander the Great reached Myriander, where, due to a heavy autumn storm and rain that fell during the night, his units remained in camp for the next day, presumably to rest before the battle ahead.
There, in the evening, to his great surprise, he was informed by the deserters that Darius and his army were to the north of him, on the river Pinar. He hardly believed it and sent some officers to the north coast to check what he heard: they confirmed the news.
To be continued
It says: SLAVE KATIN
