ABSTRACT
Alexander invaded Persia in spring 334. He had with him an army of some 32,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry (but note Sources 19 and 20), which grew to about 50,000 when it linked with an advance force (Arr. 1.17.11). He crossed the Hellespont, symbolically casting a spear into Asian soil before he disembarked to show he regarded Persia as ‘spear-won’ territory, and then immediately went to Troy to sacrifice at the tomb of his hero and ancestor Achilles.1 Soon after Alexander advanced to the Granicus river in Hellespontine Phrygia, where he defeated a Persian army (cf. Sources 41 and 42).2 This was not a Persian army proper but a hastily levied contingent and the Great King, Darius III, was not present at the battle. Alexander then journeyed down the coast of Asia Minor, dealing with any resistance (as at Miletus and Halicarnassus) and freeing Greek cities there from Persian rule, in accordance with one of the reasons for the invasion that he had laid before the League of Corinth. In Priene he dedicated the newly constructed temple of Athena Polias (Source 26). It is likely that the cities of Asia Minor joined the League of Corinth.
