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Alexander the Great in Conquest of Gaugemel In the early summer of 331, Alexander the Great took his whole army northeast through Syria, reaching Euphrates, not earlier than July 10. Darius, the great king of the Persian empire, knew very well that Babylon itself was Alexander’s next objective. Babylon, the great city on the Lower Euphrates, was the economic center of the empire. Alexander the Great struck hard, fast, and with maximum economy. It was therfore …

…out from Arbela, taking the road east though the Armenian mountains, and eventually hitting Ecbatana from the north. Here Darius stopped for a while to let some stragglers join up. He made a few efforts to reorganize and rearm them and also sent a few nervous notes to his governors and generals in Bactria and the upper satrapies urging them to remain loyal. But at Gaugamela he lost his nerve and never recovered it (Green 75).