It's the entrance on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's

podcast we'll be part two of our special explainer episodes all about Alexander the Great

and the Battle of the Persian Gates. Now in our first part which we released a few days

we covered the aftermath of Alexander's victory at the Basel of Galgamella. We looked at his

approach and arrival at the city of Babylon. His stay there with the soldiers for just over a month

before their advancing further east to the prestigious city of Susa. And there Alexander the Great

dealt with a few issues further west in his empire before marching further east in his aim to

capture the next great achaemenid urban center which was the ceremonial city of Persepolis.

We covered up to the Zagros Mountains. We covered up to Alexander's arrival at the Zagros

Mountains and here we're going to continue the story because this is where the climactic

battle of the Persian gates occurred. Now what I find so fascinating about this battle is that

it's sometimes overlooked compared to the great pitched battles of Alexander's campaigns,

the likes of the Basel of the River Granicus, the Battle of Isis, Galgamella, or even the

Battle of the High Daspis River. But the Persian gates, this Persian thomopoli as it were,

has some really interesting qualities. One of the things I find really fascinating is I hope

I will be able to convey over in a podcast ahead is the figure of Arya Bazzane, the Persian general

who mounts this awesome defense to try and stop Alexander and his army from invading the Persian

heartlands. So sit back and enjoy as I talk you through this second part of our special explainer

episodes all about Alexander the Great and the Persian thomopoli.

So having crushed the Oaxian threat Alexander and his army they are approaching the Zagros

Mountains and it's here that Alexander decides he's going to split his army probably somewhere

around the modern day cities of Haftkel and Behrbahan. Although I must stress the exact routes

...