The siege of Gaza took place in 332 BC, and was part of the

Egyptian campaign The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the pr ...

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

, the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

king of Macedonia. It ended the

Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt The Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXXI, alternatively 31st Dynasty or Dynasty 31), also known as the Second Egyptian Satrapy, was effectively a satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 343 BC to 332 BC. It was founded by A ...

, which functioned as a

satrapy A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...

of the

Achaemenid Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

. During the siege, Alexander succeeded in reaching the walls by utilizing the engines he had employed against Tyre. After three unsuccessful assaults, the stronghold was taken by storm. Batis, a

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

and the commander of the fortress of Gaza, expected to hold

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in subjection until the Persian king

Darius III Darius III ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; c. 380 – 330 BC) was the last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC. Contrary to his predecessor Artaxerxes IV Arses, Dar ...

could raise another army and confront Alexander in a battle from this city. The fortress was located on an eminence, on the edge of a desert from which the surrounding area could be easily controlled. It enabled control over the main road that went from Persian Assyria to Egypt. The city, over high, was traditionally employed to control the surrounding area, which even then was a hotbed of dissent. Batis was aware that Alexander was marching down the coast, as he had just been victorious at Tyre. He therefore provisioned Gaza for a long siege. It is likely that he was aware of Alexander's intention of controlling the entire

Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the eas ...

before moving to Persia proper.

Siege

Upon arriving, Alexander camped near the southern side of the city and deemed the southern walls as the weakest. It is alleged that the mounds were built quickly, despite the engineers' belief they could not be completed due to the nature of Gaza's fortifications. One day during the siege, the Gazans made a sortie against enemy siege equipment constructed on site, and Alexander led his shield bearing guards into counterattack. Alexander's shoulder was injured in the attempt. According to Arrian, the rest of the mound was completed shortly after, around the whole of Gaza. At some undefined period after this, the siege equipment from Tyre arrived, and was put into use also. It was after this that major sections of the wall were broken by the Macedonians. After three attempts to enter the city, the Macedonians finally entered the city. The Gazans fought bitterly; at one point, an Arab mercenary pretended to surrender and after being taken to the Macedonian camp, attacked Alexander who suffered a minor injury before the Arab was struck down.

Consequences of the siege

Batis refused to surrender to Alexander. When Gaza was taken, the male population was put to the sword and the women and children were sold into slavery. According to the Roman historian

Quintus Curtius Rufus Quintus Curtius Rufus () was a Roman historian, probably of the 1st century, author of his only known and only surviving work, ''Historiae Alexandri Magni'', "Histories of Alexander the Great", or more fully ''Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedon ...

, Batis was killed by Alexander in imitation of Achilles' treatment of the fallen Hector: A rope was forced through Batis's ankles, probably between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon, and Batis was dragged alive by chariot beneath the walls of the city until he died. Alexander, who admired courage in his enemies and might have been inclined to show mercy to the brave Persian general, was infuriated at Batis's refusal to kneel and by the enemy commander's haughty silence and contemptuous manner. As a result of the siege, Alexander was allowed to proceed south into Egypt securely, without his line of communications being threatened from the North by Batis from Gaza.

References

External links

* * * * {{Achaemenid Empire 332 BC Gaza Gaza 330s BC conflicts History of Gaza City