killed or put out of action by wounds. Accordingly, somewhere near midnight they had the magazines set on fire together with the wooden tower which had been constructed as a counter to the enemy assault machines. The houses near the wall were also fired, while flames from the fiercely burning tower and magazines were spread by the wind to other buildings, which were soon ablaze as well. Their own surviving forces withdrew to the Arconnese, an island stronghold, and the high ground known as Salmakis.
These events were reported to Alexander by some Halicarnassians who had deserted after the fighting; accordingly, as the fire was still spreading before his eyes, he ordered up his Macedonian divisions, in spite of the fact that it was nearly midnight, with instructions to kill every man they could catch in the act of setting fire to buildings. Any of the townspeople found indoors were, on the contrary, to be rescued from the conflagration.
Daylight revealed the occupation by the Persians and their mercenaries of Salmakis and the Arconnese. Alexander, however, decided not to lay siege to these strongholds, because in addition to the fact that they would be awkward to take and much time would be wasted, he knew that, with the town itself already in his hands, theywould not bring him any great advantage. So he buried the men killed in the night’s fighting, ordered the troops in charge of the assault engines to move them to Tralles, and then razed the town to the ground. To garrison the place, together with the rest of Caria, he left a force of 3,000 infantry – mercenaries – and about 200 mounted troops under their commander Ptolemy. Then he made his preparations to move on into Phrygia.
He appointed Hecatomnus’ daughter Ada to the governorship of Caria as a whole. This woman was the wife of Hidrieus – and also his sister, a relationship in accordance with Carian custom; Hidrieus on his death-bed had bequeathed her his power, government by women having been a familiar thing in Asia from the time of Semiramis onward. 64 She was subsequently deposed by Pixodarus, who seized power, and was succeeded after his death by his son-in-law Orontobates, who had been appointed to the position by a warrant from the King. Ada meanwhile remained in control of Alinda only, one of the most strongly defended places in Caria, and when Alexander invaded Caria she presented herself before him, surrendered the town, and offered to adopt him as her son. Alexander did not refuse the offer. He restored Alinda to her, and when, with the fall of Halicarnassus, he found himself master of Caria, he put the whole country under her control.
A number of the Macedonians serving in the campaign had been married just before the expedition started; feeling that some consideration was due to these men, Alexander dismissed them from Caria and sent them home tospend the winter with their wives; they were put in charge of Ptolemy, son of Seleucus, an officer of the Royal Guard, and of two other officers of high rank: Coenus son of Polemocrates, and Meleager son of Neoptolemus – both chosen because they, too, were newly married men. The officers’ instructions were to raise levies of both horse and foot on as large a scale as possible on their rejoining the army with the party in their charge. No act of Alexander’s ever made him better beloved by his native troops.
At the same time he sent Cleander, son of Polemocrates, to raise troops in the Peloponnese, while Parmenio was dispatched to Sardis with a force consisting of a regiment of the Companions, the Thessalian cavalry, the other allied contingents, and the baggage wagons. His orders were to proceed from Sardis to Phrygia. Alexander himself marched for Lycia and Pamphylia, to establish control of the coast and so immobilize the enemy’s fleet. On the way the first place he took was the fortified town of Hyparna; it was held by a mercenary garrison, but on the offer of a truce they abandoned the
These events were reported to Alexander by some Halicarnassians who had deserted after the fighting; accordingly, as the fire was still spreading before his eyes, he ordered up his Macedonian divisions, in spite of the fact that it was nearly midnight, with instructions to kill every man they could catch in the act of setting fire to buildings. Any of the townspeople found indoors were, on the contrary, to be rescued from the conflagration.
Daylight revealed the occupation by the Persians and their mercenaries of Salmakis and the Arconnese. Alexander, however, decided not to lay siege to these strongholds, because in addition to the fact that they would be awkward to take and much time would be wasted, he knew that, with the town itself already in his hands, theywould not bring him any great advantage. So he buried the men killed in the night’s fighting, ordered the troops in charge of the assault engines to move them to Tralles, and then razed the town to the ground. To garrison the place, together with the rest of Caria, he left a force of 3,000 infantry – mercenaries – and about 200 mounted troops under their commander Ptolemy. Then he made his preparations to move on into Phrygia.
He appointed Hecatomnus’ daughter Ada to the governorship of Caria as a whole. This woman was the wife of Hidrieus – and also his sister, a relationship in accordance with Carian custom; Hidrieus on his death-bed had bequeathed her his power, government by women having been a familiar thing in Asia from the time of Semiramis onward. 64 She was subsequently deposed by Pixodarus, who seized power, and was succeeded after his death by his son-in-law Orontobates, who had been appointed to the position by a warrant from the King. Ada meanwhile remained in control of Alinda only, one of the most strongly defended places in Caria, and when Alexander invaded Caria she presented herself before him, surrendered the town, and offered to adopt him as her son. Alexander did not refuse the offer. He restored Alinda to her, and when, with the fall of Halicarnassus, he found himself master of Caria, he put the whole country under her control.
A number of the Macedonians serving in the campaign had been married just before the expedition started; feeling that some consideration was due to these men, Alexander dismissed them from Caria and sent them home tospend the winter with their wives; they were put in charge of Ptolemy, son of Seleucus, an officer of the Royal Guard, and of two other officers of high rank: Coenus son of Polemocrates, and Meleager son of Neoptolemus – both chosen because they, too, were newly married men. The officers’ instructions were to raise levies of both horse and foot on as large a scale as possible on their rejoining the army with the party in their charge. No act of Alexander’s ever made him better beloved by his native troops.
At the same time he sent Cleander, son of Polemocrates, to raise troops in the Peloponnese, while Parmenio was dispatched to Sardis with a force consisting of a regiment of the Companions, the Thessalian cavalry, the other allied contingents, and the baggage wagons. His orders were to proceed from Sardis to Phrygia. Alexander himself marched for Lycia and Pamphylia, to establish control of the coast and so immobilize the enemy’s fleet. On the way the first place he took was the fortified town of Hyparna; it was held by a mercenary garrison, but on the offer of a truce they abandoned the
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