Hi there. You're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast. In our last episode, we covered

Alexander's travels into Egypt, his visit to the Oracle at the Sea While Oasis, a discussion on

Godhood, and we finished with the Battle of Galgamela in the autumn of 331 BC. With Darius' forces utterly destroyed, Alexander effectively

had to conquer much of the Persian Empire. Darius was still somewhere in the east,

though, having fled the field during the Battle of Gagamele. And as long as he remained free,

Alexander knew that a chance of Darius' return would only be a matter of time.

But Darius and his remaining forces would have to wait.

Alexander instead turned to the southeast, marching his forces to one of the most famous cities in all of the ancient Near East, Babylon.

A welcoming party was waiting at the city gates for King Alexander's arrival,

and he was taking into the city with honors and gifts. In a gesture of goodwill, Alexander ordered

sacrifices in the customs of the Babylonians, and vowed to rebuild the despoiled temples of the city.

This was met with great fanfare, since the Babylonians had long viewed the Persians as

religious oppressors.

In a repeat of his last actions in Egypt, Alexander kept the Persian governor in charge of

the political and administrative duties, but he left the financial aspects to trusted

Macedonian officials. Leaving one jewel for another, Alexander turned towards Susa, one of the capitals of the Persian Empire.

Inside the palace laid a vast treasury, amounting to a whopping 50,000 talons of silver, equivalent to 300 million Greek drachmae.

In addition, some spoils from Xerxes, Sack of Athens, and 480 BC were also found, and restored back to the city,

with a decree that all of the cities of Greece were to be free of any tyrannies.

The return art was a nice gesture, but the decree was basically a bold-faced lie,

considering that the Macedonians themselves

were effectively replacing the tyrants.

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