Son of the Star, born of the Mountain Alexander the Great

“He loves both his mother and father, but they don’t get along well, and the Olympiad has a very domineering character,” Alexander’s bodyguard replied to him. “I hope that this time it will be okay.”

Having entered the city, the prince dismissed the detachments to their homes, leaving the hypaspists and personal squad, and the entire retinue approached the palace, where Alexander sent a vestnik of his return, and since King Philip returned to the city with a successful war, in honor of his victory and victory Son called all the nobility to the feast. But first, the Eters went to the bathhouse, the palace had the same showers as Miez, so they managed to get comfortable in order, and after changing their clothes, the Eters went to the Great Hall of the Palace, but Alexander went to visit his mother, so long as he did not with friends. The hall was richly decorated, and for the sake of celebration, it was thickly hung with flower garlands, there were lodges for the Goths and small tables nearby, and a large table, on which stood oratory and subtle divine aromas of fine and wine, Philip and Alexander Lodge were near, on some elevation, they also invited two aedovs in order to brighten the ears of the guests with declamation and music. Philip, as the owner, was already reclining in a wreath of flowers, the prince was not there yet, and the butler indicated the place to the guests according to their merits and nobility, so Alexander’s eters were far from the royal place. Philip was gloomy, and already called the butler to him, as Alexander appeared, he was wearing a new beautiful dress, but he was collected and pale,

“You keep yourself waiting, my beloved son,” said the king, with a light reproach, “you have undoubtedly accomplished many feats, but still?

– Sorry, father, -Alexander came up and kissed the king on the cheek,

“Your son is a skillful commander!” Said Perdiccas loudly, “he has the sense of a true warrior!”

Philip really liked the praise of a skilled commander, and he didn’t hide it.

“I don’t like to shed blood just like that, and Alexander’s face slightly twisted, as if it were from pain,” but it’s better to live a faithful ally than scorched fields and mountains of corpses.

“Well, after all, you took Alexandropolis by attack,” Philip pointedly noted, “this is the Tsarevich who kept modestly silent,” now the hones will send us help, the tsar added for his entourage. And just the butlers filled the cups, and the king proclaimed:

– For my son, Alexander, the brave and intelligent commander!

All happily shouted and drank fragrant wine. Then they went merrily – they drank for the army, for Macedonia, then the saints began to perform excerpts from the Iliad, singing the heroic deeds of the heroes, and many noble births of the Macedonians were directly descended from the heroes of the Trojan War, at least it was thought so. Then they were just drinking a lot, and the young people with Alexander slipped out of the hall. On the way from the hall, all the prince’s friends noticed that the butler was leading the flutist and heter to continue the fun.

The next day, after saying goodbye to his father and mother, Alexander and his retinue gathered and moved to Mieza to continue their studies with Aristotle. They did not know what was left to study for less than two years. The arresttel taught the main thing that to act decently and correctly is better and more useful than to follow evil and commit evil. A letter came to Nearh that Kallifen would soon arrive with his son in Amphipolis, and the prince agreed that this was correct because it was not good when the wife was far from her husband, and the husband was from his wife. But Kallifen arrived only two years later, after a big war.

A new war broke out two years later, Thebes in alliance with Athens came out against Macedonia. The messengers from Philip jumped up so that the Eters and Alexander would gather and would appear in Pella, and that the prince would receive the sludge in command. It’s time for parting. mentor, everyone gathered, and went to his house. Alexander knocked on the door, opened the elderly servant of the philosopher, let the students into the courtyard,

“Come in, I will call the tutor now,” and quickly went into the house, from which he almost immediately emerged majestically and leisurely, leaning on his staff, dressed in white linen clothes befitting a philosopher, Aristotle.

– Hello Alexander, hello my worthy students, – he greeted,

“Greetings, Teacher, we came to say goodbye, I don’t know whether we will meet again or not,” Philip’s son began to speak loudly and clearly, “a great war began, and we should go on a campaign. We did not pass your training for nothing, and I hope you will be proud of us.

– I am also glad that you took lessons from me, I didn’t have any better students, and there won’t be. The best gratitude for a mentor is worthy student behavior.

“You will not be ashamed of having taught us,” Alexander added with a bow, and so the students of the Miezensh School said farewell to the philosopher Aristotle. And so ended their adolescence.

War

Philipe convened all the sovereign princes of the conquered areas with their retinues, and successfully prepared regular troops with the help of Parmenion and Antipater. We managed to collect thirty thousand infantry, of which twelve thousand prepared phalangites and three thousand cavalry, of which about eight hundred cataphracts. Alexandrov gastrafeti were not ready, although the prince wanted to check them in, and the first detachment of three hundred soldiers trained with might and main. But the mechanism was very expensive, costing an inexpensive horse, and when Philip found out how much he was worth, he simply choked at dinner. Thebes collected eleven thousand infantry and one and a half thousand horsemen, the Athenians recruited fifteen thousand mercenaries in Arcadia and Messenia, and collected fifteen thousand infantry militia and a thousand horsemen, so the forces were almost equal, but the Macedonians had easy cavalry, Agrian and Thracian, and they took to ruin Boeotia. Parmenion and Philip constantly maneuvered to trap the mercenaries in one of the passes, and they succeeded, the Athens mercenaries surrendered, and the prisoners were sent north to Thrace to keep the border from the Mezians, since the mercenaries quickly figured out the situation and agreed to serve Argeadam, but did not want to fight Athens and Thebes. The clash was inevitable, and Lysicles hastily led the Athenian militia to help Thebes, and even Demosthenes also took the goplon in his hands. The intelligence of the Macedonians from light cavalry disturbed the Athenians and the Thebans, holding them like a hunting dog of a bear, and not allowing them to leave the flat field advantageous to the Macedonians. Philip hastily led the army in three columns, he entrusted the cavalry and hypaspites to Alexander, himself led the Phalangites and Peltasts and the Thracian infantry.

The enemies set up camps opposite each other at Heronei, where the battle was to break out. Philip summoned the peacers to the Council and a feast to encourage the commanders before the battle, and once again to discuss the battle plan. Towards noon, all the commanders, Parmenion with his son, Antipater with Cassander, Cleet, Ken, Attal, Meleagr, and Alexander with the inseparable friend Hephaestion and his bodyguard Ptolemy, approached. In the middle was a table with poured sand, and figures of soldiers denoting military units, white Macedonians, black opponents, the Athenians and the Thebans.

“Come, comrades-in-arms,” suggested Philip, everyone looked at the location of the Macedonians – infantry in the first row, Thracians and Pelttes in the first row; in the second row, in the distance of the arrow-phalanx, three hundred Thracian riders of the reserve were built, on the right flank all was built cavalry and hypaspists and runners, as well as eight hundred cataphracts under the command of Alexander.

“Dangers, said Parmenion,” are the Peltasts ahead? yes they will flee before the Athenians,

“That’s just the point, an old friend,” Philip smacked, blinking with one single eye, “Lysikel, Hares, and especially Demosthenes, people who are fond of, and rush to pursue our avant-garde and fall on spears of phalangites and Alexander will hit them on the flank, and the Athenians shall be broken, they shall bare the flank, and we shall surround the Thebans. -pages began to distribute wine to guests, handing out filled bowls to the generals.

“And you, son, restrain the Thebans, and remember – Feagen is clever, you can’t lure him into an ambush,” Philip said further, taking a sip of wine, “break their cavalry, and wait for our help and do not break it, and the goddess Nika will open his wings above us.

Everyone agreed, nodding that the best possible plan, the servants brought tables with food, as always the same sheep cheese, flatbread and olives. None of the guests lost their appetite in front of the Sich, everyone was experienced fighters and commanders. They drank three bowls, the last for all the gods, and went to bed.

The starry sky over Herney became brighter in the east, and wake-ups began to play in the camps, the warriors had a little snack, and rejoicing that the summer heat had not yet begun, put on armor and went out to build according to the schedule of the commanders and went away in perfect order to the field covered from the sudden the attacks of the enemy by preservation, Alexander, and Philip, the son and the father, went to different flanks of the army, and with them the warriors and ordinary fighters rose to their seats in the ranks. Far in the haze, it was clear how the Athenians were being built with the Thebans, and there, too, the detachment was connected with the detachment, making up an impregnable line of hoplites. The troops in the ranks approached each other at a distance of three flights of arrows, and Philip sent light infantry and peltasts on the wall of the Athenians to attack. Lysikel sent his Peltastes, but most of the Peltasts were mercenaries, and they now served the Macedonians in the north, and the Athenian peltas, being in the minority, fled, and Lysicles was forced to throw his infantry into the attack, throwing the Macedonians, but then his inspiration caused him, and the excessive vehemence of Demosthenes, who carried away the Athenians to persecution, played a role, and the fleeing Thracians and Peltasts went into the passages in the phalanx, and there Antipater didn’t doze, and the Macedonians, staring ahead sarissas, did not let the Athenians form under the deafening howls of flutes and beeps, under the sound of terrible pyrrhics attacked. This music completely deprived the warriors of fear, and did not let them feel tired. First, the phalanx struck with darts, because the ranks from the fourth to the fifteenth, they were lightly-armed throwers, so at first Lysicles’s militia began to be whipped by a storm of light spears, dozens and dozens of warriors were wounded and killed, and half a stage with quick steps hit phalangites who did not crush shields as it was customary in the battle of the hoplites between themselves, they beat with spears longer than usual three times. Each row of Macedonians beat either at once, three spears at once into one person, or separately, at the command of the first in a row, or two spears hit the shield to deflect him, and hit the opponent with the third, and most importantly, do not let the tip get stuck in the shield or the body of the enemy.So the phalangites wielded as oarsmen on the ship, rhythmically and consistently, destroying opponents, the ship’s tail cuts the foam of the waves, so that the Macedonians formed a blockage from the wounded and killed Athenians, laying in layers from two to five people on top of each other, and pouring blood on each other from the wounds, and finally they quivered, unable to resist this death machine of Philip. At first they gave a little bit, and then running, rapidly from the battlefield, the Athenian hoplites fled, pursued by the Thracians. Alexander had everything much harder, first the Macedonian cavalry knocked down the Theban cavalry from the field, and the Thessalians began to pursue them, and the prince for the time being sent detachments of Peltasts to the Thebans by tying them into battle without giving a strike, and the commander Feagen was afraid to bare the flank only when the Athenians began to pursue the Macedonians, the Thebans rushed to the attack, but Alexander quelled their impulse by striking the Agrians in the flank of the Theban infantry and maneuvered the cavalry, not attacking, and only when the Athenians retreated, and Feagen tried to retreat to the camp about organized, the prince threw first In the attack of the Dimahs, they began to throw the marines of Thebes with darts, and when they tried to attack, they cut them with swords, from the right flank they were hit by hypaspists, and in the battle Feagen died and the Thebans also fled, but the Sacred squad stood unmoved.

Alexander saw these heroes, and, accompanied by the Eters, rode up to them.

“Surrender, I swear, I will let you all go home,” he shouted to this detachment of braves, “We were enemies, it’s all over, I don’t want to kill you, and the least thing will still drive you out of the city, this is the best outcome for you.” Can you and your families suggest Alexandropol to exile. Your servants will bring your families there later.

The Thebans thought for a long time and agreed, and the prince ordered Nearh to send Teres with the wounded to Alexandropol, two days later the servants of the townsfolk came with carts in which the wounded were families, and they moved to Thrace. And the most interesting is that everyone whom young Argead was treating did not die.

Later, Alexander came to the wounded Macedonians, Nearh helped him. The young man worked as a simple doctor, not churayas blood, easing the suffering of people. Nearh saw that Alexander was terribly tired, his already very bright face, which had never sunburnt, was gray with the pain and fear of others. Nearh then heard for the first time how the prince began to speak, whispered as if with himself: “To drag, but not to overtighten… Tighten the skin on the inlay and glue together with a plaster and tighten…”

Kuret saw a seriously wounded man, wearing a tunic drenched in blood, with his eyes closed, and called Alexander.

“I’m not Elicia, she’s smoking, I’m not raising the dead and not battling Tanat,” he said in a different, hollow voice. “Humble yourself, Nearh, he’s already dead,” he said in his usual tone, and tapped the Cretan on the shoulder. – Let me see you, you never know, you are also wounded, I examined everyone, you alone remained.

Néarch did not argue, and took off his chiton, and Aristotle’s student quickly unwound the bandage, examined the canvas on the wound, quickly wiped it, suddenly grabbed the edges of the wound, pulled it slightly, overlapping the edges of the cut skin with each other and fixed it with glue and tightly bandaged.

“Then thank you, and your wife will like it,” he said, grinning, “And you fought bravely, becoming a real rider. Come on, you have to wash and eat.

Simple warriors happily greeted the Eters who came out of the tent.

– Thank you, Alexander, now for sure our friends will survive, they will not die! Alexander our king, Philip our commander – the warriors shouted, and Nearh was slightly frightened here, and Alexander smiled happily, accepting thanks to experienced warriors covered with scars, with simple weapons in their hands, who had gained Macedonia and this victory.

And in a separate pile laid down the weapons of the Sacred Squad, forbidding him to touch the name of the prince. Ten cataphracts, twenty runners and thirty-five hypaspists were killed in battle, and on the flank of Philip eight hundred and fifty lightly armed. The battle was over.

World after war, hegemony

Lightly armed began to walk around the field, collecting weapons and valuables, but Philip forbade removing clothes from dead enemies, although usually the dead were robbed by naked. The king was going to take a ransom for the dead Thebans, the Athenians immediately announced that he would not take a ransom for the return of the bodies and for the prisoners, too, the signing of a compulsory union would be the price. For the Thebans there were more stringent demands – the Macedonian garrison must be in the Cadmea, and it is maintained at the expense of the city, and Plateia and Orchomen must be restored.

Philip decided to drive around the battlefield with commanders, when the dead were still gathered from this mournful place. The king carefully examined the places where more warriors died, and there was no joy on his face. The warriors had already finished burying the Macedonians and their allies, and the captured Thebans buried their soldiers under the guard of the Macedonians, the Sacred Squad was buried separately from others.

Immediately, next to the field, he ordered a shed to be laid out, and armchairs were placed for the commanders of the troops, the pages brought tables with food and wine, and they were sent for Alexander. The guests began to move in to Philip, he personally met everyone and thanked and seated, and the pages immediately poured wine to the guest.

“For Philip, the winner!” Shouted the experienced fighters, the king’s companions, “For the victory over Athens and Thebes, the commanders of the troops immediately proclaimed,

“I’m not looking for the authorities, but the unity of Hellas,” their leader replied to his comrades-in-arms, and did not want to shed blood.

– What now, ashamed of victory, Attal said.

“I will make a sacrifice according to the old custom, I will redeem the spilled blood,” said the king, and ordered to bring himself a shepherd’s fur coat, a staff, and call for the flutists. When they brought the required, he undressed himself, put on a fur cloak, took the staff and went barefoot on the field, where there were no dead.

“Play Pirrich, warriors,” Philip ordered, and to the frantic rhythm of the instruments, he began to move to the beat of the music, offering a sacrifice to the gods with dance,

– We are already at home here, Alexander, – the Thebans shouted to him, – You’re the guest!

– Well, the prince shouted at them, – I will honor you!

– Ila line up, runners and hypaspists stand in the back of the head for equestrian, squires help the wounded! – he quickly commanded, and the warriors ran his orders running, running high-horse cataphracts, lined up in powerful armor, slinging up huge sarissas, and among them was Alexander and all his friends.

“Marsh, march, through one, with spears, forward,” in a youthful voice, commanded by a fair-haired leader, and on Bukefale, the first, holding a sarissa with two hands, directed her to one of the Thebans, they also took spears at the ready and covered themselves with shields. But can this shield protect against the impact of a long spear of a cataphract? There was an overwhelming crash, and the shield burst like a nut, and a fragment of a spear that broke at the moment of impact, broke through the chest of a brave foot soldier, and Alexander already sent his horse back to the ranks of the runners and hypaspists to change the spear, and other riders also attacked the best warriors of Thebes. Nearh saw Filota, Erigy, Ptolemy, repeating the same maneuver, in one of these races Ptolemy still touched with a spear in his hand, after a few seconds it was the turn of Notarch, and he, too, jumped on a horse and sarissa in two hands The Theban’s head, the tip of the spear pierced the copper helmet as an egg shell, and the enemy fell like a podkoshenny, but the warrior from the third row, in despair threw his spear at him, it hit the side of the wheel, when he turned around, he carried it out of the saddle, like extra eaglet from the nest. Nearh immediately immediately felt that he was already lying on the ground, and the wound in his side was bleeding a little, thanks to his father’s strong armor, and Teres was already racing on his horse, swinging his mace, he instantly dismounted, and on the other side Eleftherion ran up, and to them, breaking the ranks and hoping to kill at least him, the best guardsmen of Thebes fled. Kuret rose, threw a small shield from his back into the arm, pulled his sword out of its scabbard with a dry crack, and the fight boiled, for some reason, Neararu remembered that it was all in the manner of Homer’s Iliad the battle for Patroclus’s body (fortunately for him, he did not yet become Patroclus, for after all, while he was still alive). The Macedonian runners rushed to their aid, and the Thebans broke the line, and the battle turned into a bloody massacre. The Cretan man no longer saw the battle; he could only be cut down by a faithful mahaira. He fought together with Teres, and Eleftherion covered the rear, he was able to reach one of the opened Thebans with a chopping blow from the top, and another Teres hit his shoulder with his shestoper, and the enemy’s hand turned into a solid wound, so that his comrades dragged him to the rear. The fight continued, and soon Ptolemy rode up to him with his squires, and bent, clapping him on the shoulder in a friendly manner, from which Nearhs all twisted and hurt his whole body after falling, and a trickle of blood unpleasantly flowed down on his side, on his foot, and flowed into sandals.