Figure 66 Obverse of silver coin minted by Alexander’s successor Lysimachus, showing Alexander with
ram’s horns. Ottilia Buerger Collection of Ancient and Byzantine Coins, Lawrence University, Appleton,
WI. Source: Ottilia Buerger Collection of Ancient and Byzantine Coins, Lawrence University, Appleton,
WI. Inv. 91.046.
“Darius wrote a letter to Alexander which was delivered by his personal friends in which he asked
him to accept ten thousand talents in exchange for the prisoners, granted him possession of all lands
west of the Euphrates River, and offered to make him his friend and ally by letting him marry one of
his daughters. When Alexander informed his Royal Companions of the offer, Parmenio said, ‘If I
were Alexander I would accept.’ To which Alexander replied, ‘By Zeus, so would I – if I were
Parmenio.’” (Plutarch, The Life of Alexander 29.7–8)The divinity of Alexander the Great was to have important consequences: It set a precedent that was
followed by his successors and it seems to have inspired Alexander with an even greater confidence in
his personal invincibility. Without wasting any time he set out in pursuit of Darius, who was reorganizing
his army near Babylon. This time, Darius was determined to meet the Macedonian army in a large, open
plain. Alexander was willing to oblige and in October of 331 his troops won a decisive victory at
Gaugamela, near what is today Mosul in northern Iraq. He now had at his disposal the resources of the
Persian Empire, and he rewarded his troops magnificently. For he would continue to need their services.