Hi there. You're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

In our last episode, we covered the campaigns of Alexander from the autumn of 331 to the summer of 330 BC.

The spoils of empire had at long last been sweet for Alexander, abound with hordes of Persian gold and silver.

But the atmosphere of the celebration was betrayed by tension lurking beneath the surface of the

structure of the army, which would begin to manifest as cracks in its foundation, as seen with

the execution of Philotus and his father father Parmenian. In addition, though Alexander

managed to reach Darius, or rather the slain body of Darius, his usurper Bezos still remained a threat

and needed to be put down. Afghanistan is a big place. It also is a land of extremes.

A land where the climate is marked by freezing winters and extremely dry and hot summers.

Temperatures reaching as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit or as low as negative 10 degrees.

Weak levels of precipitation is the standard.

The area receiving on average only 12 inches of rain per year in some areas, and whatever

water was available, was rarely potable, resulting in Alexander and much of his officers

and soldiers contracting diarrhea from drinking the fed at supply.

The geography is very mountainous, particularly along its eastern borders,

which is demarcated by the Hindu Kush, known in ancient times as the Indian Caucasus.

Any veteran of the 1980s Soviet or the 2000s-led invasion of Afghanistan can attest to the

brutality of trying to maintain dominance over the land.

The ancient areas that approximate Afghanistan include Bactria, Erakosia, and Gandhara,

populated by aggressive mountain tribes.

Sagdiana to the north, on the other hand, would make up parts of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan,

but it was controlled largely by peoples who the Greeks would identify as Skithians or Massacatai, nomadic peoples of the Eurasian

...