The Strand Study Bible

BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS

CASPIAN SEA

BACTRIANE

• Gaucamela • Arbela

Hindu Kush Bactra

• Hecatompylos

Rhagae •

• Mesked

• Cabul Valley

• Herat • Farah

• Ecbatana

• Babylon

Susa •

•

Persepolis

PERSIAN GULF

GADROSIA

INDIAN OCEAN

From the Hindu Kush, Alexander pressed on to Maracanda, the summer capitol of Sogdiana, and thence into Perghana. Upon returning to Bactria, Alexander married Roxana, the beautiful daughter of the ruling chieftain Oxyartes. Marriage to a rich princess in Central Asia was a shrewd political device, and Alexander knew it. The year was 328 BC. By now Alexander began to insist that he be treated like a god. This, of course, did not go well with his Macedonian troops. They saw him bleed on too many occasions and knew he wasn’t a god. It was during this unstable time in Alexander’s life that he had four of his closest friends executed for frivolous reasons: Philotas (the son of General Parmenio and one of Alexander’s best friends since boyhood), General Parmenio (his faithful old soldier), “Black” Cleitus (the man who once saved his life at the Granicus River), and Callisthenes (Aristotle’s nephew-in-law and official historian to the expedition). Sadly, Alexander became more and more pitiless toward those who disagreed with him. Simply put –he had forgotten the sacrifice of those who gave him his glory. It was “Black” Cleitus, right before his death, that reminded Alexander what the Greek poet Euripides once wrote, Is it thus that Greece rewards her heroes? Shall one man claim the trophies Won by thousands? * Good leadership learns to remember its beginnings and to keep itself humble ( I Ki 21:29 ) Alexander was now ready to subjugate India, the only part of the old Persian Empire he had not yet conquered. By the spring of 327 BC, Alexander had crossed the Hindu Kush again and marched his troops down through the Cabul Valley, where he encountered some very heavy fighting.

FERGHANA

CASPIAN SEA

Maracanda

Oxus River

SOGDIANA

Bactra BACTRIANE

Hindu Kush •

• Hecatompylos • Mesked

• Ecbatana Rhagae •

Cabul Valley

• Babylon

INDIA

• Herat • Farah

Susa •

• Persepolis

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