Notes on Alexander- 2/18/10

• About 12,000 ft
• Plentiful food supply
• The people of Bactrius didn't put up a fight
• Alexander pursued Bessus
• The troops didn't bring enough water to the desert, and they drank the wine supply instead
• That made them hungover, and they got even more lost
• Alexander made homemade rafts and got his men across the river
• A small town they found spoke Greek and had Greek people in it
• Their ancestors fought with the Persians in the war Alexander was out to avenge
• Alexander massacred the whole city, and leveled it
• Bessus had his ears and nose cut off, and was impaled
• Alexander built a statue of Dionysus to mark his farthest border, "Alexandria the Farthermost"
• The locals did not want a Greek empire
• They were a hit and run team of horsemen
• Alexander lost his sight and speech to injuries by them
• He forced his way across the river, and won against the nomads
• 50,000 men went almost to China
• The mountain is 14,000 feet high
• The people surrendered after Alexander's men climbed up the mountain