Assignment on Alexander the Great UAE Write short notes on: 1. Why did Alexander the Great supposedly create a larger fleet of ships after Nearchus journey to the Arabian Gulf? 2. What aspects of the coastal area was Nearchus particularly interested in?
Answers
Answer:
because he wanted to travel a other countries
Answer:Nearchus Discovers a Sea Route from India to the Arabian Peninsula
Overview
In 325 b.c. the Greek military commander Nearchus undertook a naval expedition from the mouth of the Indus River in what is now Pakistan to that of the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia, or modern Iraq. His voyage served a number of purposes, not least of which was to ferry a large portion of Alexander the Great's fighting force from India back to Greece; but his principal mission was to find a sea route between the Indian sub-continent and the Near East. This he did, in the process making possible much greater trade and exchange between India and lands to the west.
Background
The career of Nearchus (360-312 b.c.), who came from Crete, is inexorably tied with that of his friend and leader, Alexander the Great (356-323 b.c.) Alexander's father, Philip II of Macedon (r. 359-336 b.c.), conquered the Greek city-states with the aim of uniting all of Greece and going on to subdue the dying empire of the Persians. But he was assassinated before he could undertake his mission, so it fell to his son to become the greatest military leader the world has ever known.
In 335 b.c. Alexander began moving his vast army into Asia Minor, and soon won an engagement against pro-Persian forces led by a Greek mercenary named Memnon. He then moved into Cilicia, where he scored a decisive victory against the Persian emperor Darius III (d. 330 b.c.) at Issus. As a result, the Greeks gained control of the entire western portion of the Persian Empire, and during the period from 334 to 331 b.c., Alexander's forces secured their hold over southwestern Asia and Egypt. In October 331 b.c. they met a Persian force at Gaugamela in Assyria, this time scoring a complete victory over the enemy.
Alexander moved eastward to claim his empire, but he was not content merely to subdue Persia itself: between 330 and 324 b.c. his armies conquered what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan, and ventured into India. But in July 326 b.c., just after they crossed the Beas River in what is now Pakistan, Alexander's troops refused to go on. The men had been gone from their homeland for nearly a decade and were eager to return to their families, so Alexander agreed to begin heading westward again.
Throughout the long years of battle, Near-chus had fought by the side of his friend and commander. His role as a close associate of Alexander was revealed early, when the leader granted him the role of satrap, or governor, over the provinces of Lydia and Pamphylia in Asia Minor. Now, as he began preparations for the return to Greece, Alexander again granted Nearchus a favored position as admiral. While one group of Greek troops returned via a northerly route and another, led by Alexander himself, pursued a southerly route, Nearchus's fleet would sail along the coast to Mesopotamia. With this honor Alexander included a charge: it was Nearchus's job to find the best possible sea route between India and the Near East.
Impact
In fact Alexander appointed Nearchus to the position of admiral in 327 b.c., before the decision to turn back. This indicates one or both of two possibilities: that the commander knew his troops were growing anxious for a return to their homeland, and that he had already conceived the idea of a seaborne mission of exploration. Certainly historians believe that had he lived, Alexander would have devoted his remaining years not to administration and perhaps not even to conquest—given the fact that his troops were weary, and he was a commander who kept a close watch on the sentiments of his men—but to exploration.
It is not known when, or indeed whether, Nearchus gained earlier experience as a commander of a sea force. However, the historian Arrian (d. a.d. 180), who wrote extensively on Alexander's military campaigns, offered insights both regarding Alexander's decision not to lead the naval force himself, as well as his choice of Nearchus. Loosely quoting Nearchus, Arrian wrote that "Alexander had a vehement desire to sail the sea which stretches from India to Persia; but he disliked the length of the voyage and feared lest ... his whole fleet might be destroyed; and this, being no small blot on his great achievements, might wreck all his happiness; but yet his desire to do something unusual and strange won the day."