The Land of Bones: Forgotten Lessons from Afghanistan

Alexander by Lysippos

When people think of Alexander the Great, they usually think of the Macedonian wunderkind who conquered the world and died young, leaving a good-looking corpse. At least, that’s how I saw him. A couple of years ago, I began reading about Alexander, and like most people who do, got sucked into his endlessly fascinating life. Like an addiction, it started with a Wikipedia article, then biographies and works by ancient historians, and finally with books about particular facets of his life and conquests.

One of the most interesting of these books of the latter type, is Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan by Frank Lee Holt. [1] Dr Holt is a professor at the University of Houston and an expert on Alexander. In Alexander’s time, Afghanistan was known as Bactria. Holt’s interesting title comes from the Zoroastrian custom of exposing their dead to carrion birds and scavenger dogs, something that revolted Alexander and his Greek troops. Of course, the Bactrian’s found the Greek custom of burning their dead just as revolting.

Into the Land of Bones chronicles Alexander’s invasion of Bactria in 330 BC. What he found was a harsh mountainous land ruled by isolated, semi-autonomous, warlords; each easy to defeat, defeating all of them at the same time a near impossibility. Sound familiar?

Since Alexander, successive invaders have encountered similar conditions, including in more modern times, the British Empire in the 19th century, Russia in 1979, and of course the United States in 2001. As Holt points out, “All these invasions of Afghanistan went well at first.” Each, however, ended up paying a heavy price and was left scrambling to extricate itself. The poet and philosopher George Santayana famously wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The final chapter of the US/Afghanistan saga has yet to be written; therefore, Into the Land of Bones becomes as much a cautionary tale as a history lesson.

In 336 BC, Philip II, King of Macedonia, was assassinated. He had been planning an invasion of Persia and already had generals in Asia Minor carrying out operations. The Persian Empire, at this time, stretched from northern Africa in the west to the Indus Valley in the east and was capable of fielding enormous armies. Philip’s 20-year-old son, Alexander, blamed Persian King Darius III for his father’s death and vowed revenge. In the next five years, Alexander reeled off a dizzying succession of military and diplomatic victories, conquering the Persian Empire, and earning the titles of Hegemon of Greece, Pharaoh of Egypt, King of Kings, and Lord of Asia. In addition, an Egyptian oracle told him that he was a god, and strange as it may seem today, Alexander probably believed it. For years, his treacherous, snake-worshiping mother Olympias had been telling him that he was a demigod.

Philip II

What remained on Alexander’s to-do-list were the capture of Darius and then the conquests of India and China. His men did not know about the India China thing yet. It can be argued that events in Bactria would cause him to fall short of the latter two, dreams that were probably inspired by his former know it-all teacher Aristotle.

Following his third decisive victory over the Persians on the plains of Gaugamela (now in Iraq), Alexander chased King Darius and the remnants of his grand army across Persia and into Bactria. When he finally caught up to Darius, he found him lying dead in a wagon. Darius had been betrayed by his Bactrian kinsman Bessus, who was now claiming the royal title of Artaxerxes V. Alexander was now compelled to hunt Bessus down. It didn’t take long.

With Alexander in pursuit, the new King of Kings fled across the Oxus River into Sogdiana. Sogdiana was an ancient kingdom north of Bactria, encompassing parts of present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Holt seems to lump it in with Bactria for discussions of Afghanistan. It was Bessus’ turn to be stabbed in the back. Knowing Alexander’s fierce reputation and determination, Bessus’ men, lead by the Sogdian nobleman Spitamenes, got cold feet and left him collared and chained by the side of the road. Alexander gave Darius a royal funeral befitting his rank and had the pretender to the throne, Bessus, executed in the Persian manner – mutilation followed by impaling.

Holt Lesson 1: “There are no immutable loyalties or alliances in Afghanistan whatever ethnic or religious umbrella they may be formed under and however fervent the oaths that seal them. Bessus betrayed Darius, and others revealed themselves willing to betray Bessus in turn.”

Darius Codomanius

It had all been so easy. Alexander next marched north to Maracanda (now Samarkand), the capital of Sogdiana. The Bactrian and Sogdian warlords were expecting that he would take his royal titles and split for India. They really did not care who was the King of Kings, whether it was Darius, Alexander, or whoever. All that they wanted was to be left alone, but Alexander was on the scene and bossing everyone around. This was too much for the proud warlords to handle. The tinderbox exploded.

The unsuspecting Greeks suddenly found themselves in the middle of armed battles all across the region. Put down one insurrection and another one would erupt. On the battlefield, Alexander was still the boy genius. To his credit, he was able to divide his army into several smaller, more mobile and effective units but while he could win, he could not conquer. If only he could fight a decisive battle such as the ones that he had fought at the Granicus River, Issus, or Gaugamela. It was whack-a-mole warfare 4th century BC style, and just as costly as it is today. He tried every tactic he knew. Good invader-bad invader; kind and merciful in one village, kill everyone and everything in the next. Back and forth; nothing worked. Alexander would lose more men in Bactria than it took to defeat the much greater Persian Empire.

Holt Lesson 2: “So far no superpower has found a workable alternative to what might be called the recipe for ruin in Afghanistan: 1. Estimate the time and resources necessary to conquer and control the region. 2. Double all estimates.3. Repeat as needed.”

Most implacable of all the warlords would turn out to be Spitamenes, the man who had made a gift of Bessus. When Alexander marched north to the Jaxartes River, Spitamenes led a surprise raid on the garrison at Maracanda, killing 2,000 infantry and 300 cavalry. Rushing back to Maracanda, Alexander found that Spitamenes had vanished. For the next two years, Spitamenes lead costly guerilla raids and ambushes between Bactria and Sogdiana.

Punishment of Bessus by Castaigne 1899

Ironically, it would be Spitamenes’ wife who would bring an end to his rampage. Worn out from constantly being on the run, this unnamed woman begged Spitamenes to make peace with Alexander. Accepting the futility of her pleas, she decided to take matters into her own hands. One night after Spitamenes had drunk himself into a stupor and fallen asleep, she cut off his head and proudly presented it to Alexander. He did not know whether to feel happy that she had killed his hated foe or repelled by the sheer savagery of this act.

All this killing and being killed was having a demoralizing effect on Alexander and his troops. In addition, two incidents would cast a complete pall over his army. First, an assassination plot was uncovered involving Philotas, a close friend of Alexander and a successful cavalry commander. While Philotas was not accused of being one of the direct assassins, he admitted to having knowledge about the plot beforehand and was thus suspect. Under extreme torture, he not only named the would-be assassins but also accused his father Parmenion of being involved.

Macedonian Phalanx

Now, Parmenion was not just anybody. He had been Philip and Alexander’s most popular and successful general. He was an amazing man and at the time was around 70 years old. Many experts believe that without Parmenion commanding the left side of his battle line, Alexander would never have been able to defeat Darius. At the time of this plot, Parmenion was commanding an army guarding the royal treasury at Ecbatana, and with the execution of his son Philotas, Alexander did not believe that he could safely leave him in charge. A swift squad was dispatched and arriving before the news of the plot, Parmenion was killed, probably without ever knowing why.

The second incident involved another cavalry officer and close friend of Alexander. At a banquet in Maracanda, Alexander and Cleitus, known as "the Black,” became extremely drunk and began arguing. Cleitus was the brother of the king’s much beloved childhood nurse Hellanice and had saved his life at the Granicus River. Despite the pleas of everyone and attempts by the Somatophylakes (Alexander’s bodyguards) to separate the two, neither would let it drop. Somehow, Alexander was able to get hold of a spear and ran Cleitus through, killing him. The next day when Alexander sobered up the terrible realization of what he had done set in, and he became despondent almost to the point of suicide.

Holt Lesson 3: “All invaders so far have had to face one more difficult choice: once mired in a winless situation, they have tried to cut their losses through one of two exit strategies: 1. Retreat, as did the British and Soviets, with staggering losses. 2. Leave a large army of occupation permanently settled in the area, as Alexander did."

Alexander’s most loyal and longest-serving troops from Macedonia and Greece had been in many difficult fights before. They had always had faith in him. He fought alongside them, bled with them, suffered with them and always seemed to have their back. After Gaugamela he had changed. More and more he was taking on Persian dress and customs, including proskynesis, which required his subjects to bow down before him and which was particularly humiliating to the Greeks. The deaths of Parmenion, Philotas, Cleitus, and others left his ordinary soldiers deeply shaken. If it could happen to those closest to him, then it could happen to anyone.

What started out as a side trip to capture Darius was now entering into its third year. Alexander was desperate to bring this campaign to an end and move on to India. He was so desperate, in fact, that he got married. I know it sounds like a bad Henny Youngman joke but that’s exactly what the world’s most eligible bachelor did. The lucky little lady was a Sogdian teenage beauty named Roxane. Ancient historians tell us that when Alexander first saw her, he fell in love and shortly after, they were married.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that she was the daughter of Oxyartes, brother of deceased King Darius and Satrap (governor) of Sogdiana. Having avenged Darius’ death by killing Bessus and given his former enemy Darius a grand send-off, Alexander’s marriage to Roxane gave him a reliable ally in her father for the first time. With Bactria heavily garrisoned, Oxyartes solidly on his side, Alexander believed he was now free to invade India.

In the summer of 327 BC, Alexander crossed into India (modern Swat region of Pakistan) and swept down the Indus valley. At the Hyphasis River near Taxila, Alexander’s army would give him one more glorious victory and then refuse to go any further. Ten years of continuous fighting had left them warn out and old beyond their years. Cajole as he might, for the first time, Alexander could not inspire his men. His dream of pushing to the sea was over. Reluctantly accepting his fate, the Macedonian demigod began the long backtrack to the west.

Hephaistion

At Susa Alexander ordered and took part in a mass wedding, marrying two more wives: Statiera the daughter of Darius and Parysatis daughter of Darius’ predecessor Artaxerxes III. On his return to Ecbatana, Alexander would suffer his most devastating personal loss when Hephaestion his trusted general, boyhood friend, and lover died of a mysterious illness. Arrian tells us "he flung himself on the body of his friend and lay there nearly all day long in tears, and refused to be parted from him until he was dragged away by force by his Companions…” [2] His grief and rage were irrational and brutal. He had Hephaestion's doctor, Glaucias crucified and a tribe called the Cossaeans massacred as an offering to the spirit of Hephaestion. Hephaestion was given a royal funeral that is estimated to have cost well over $240,000,000 in today’s dollars.

In May of 323 Alexander returned to Babylon planning to make it the capital of his empire. Soon after, he also fell mysteriously ill and died ten days later on June 10 just ten months after Hephaestion. His sudden death has never been fully explained. Current theories center around disease (malaria, typhoid fever), complications from heavy drinking, and his many enemies make poison a distinct possibility. What followed was the mother of all inheritance battles.

Olympias

In the next few years, Alexander’s mother Olympias, his full sister Cleopatra (not the Egyptian one of legend), his half sisters Cynane and Thessalonike, his older retarded half brother Arrhidaeus, his wives Roxane, Statiera, and Parysatis, his mistress Barsine, and finally his two young sons Herakles and Alexander IV would all be murdered in a feeding frenzy of greed by the Diadochi (rival generals, family and friends of Alexander who fought for control of his empire after his death).

No sooner had Alexander crossed the Hindu Kush into India than he began receiving reports that Bactria was reverting to its pre-Alexandrine ways. Echoes of Alexander the Great in Afghanistan can still be found, especially in the cities that he founded and named after himself such as Kandahar. Within a few years of his departure and death, however, life would go on in Afghanistan as if barely touched by the world’s greatest conqueror.

References:

1. Frank L. Holt, Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan. University of California Press, 1 edition,  2005.
2. Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander. translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, Penguin Classics, 1958.
3. Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History of Alexander the Great. translated by John Yardley, Penguin Books Ltd, 1984.
4. Robbert Bosschart, All Alexander's Women: The Sisygambis Letters. BookSurge Publishing, 2009.
5. Waldemar Heckel, Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire. Wiley-Blackwell, 1 edition, 2008.

Alexander in Babylon