Battle of the Persian Gate

A battle fought in Persis in 330 BCE, in which Alexander the Great’s forces overcame a Persian defense led by Ariobarzanes at a narrow mountain pass.

Persian Gate: A narrow mountain pass in Persis where Ariobarzanes attempted to stop Alexander’s advance. Its confined terrain let Persian defenders inflict heavy losses before Alexander found a route around them.
Battle of Gaugamela: The 331 BCE battle in which Alexander defeated Darius III’s main army near Gaugamela. Its outcome left Alexander able to advance into the Persian Empire’s central territories.
Alexander’s Anabasis: Arrian’s Greek history of Alexander’s campaigns, composed centuries after Alexander’s death. Arrian gives a detailed account of the pass, the ambush, and the route around the defenses.
Burning of Persepolis: The destruction by fire of parts of Persepolis in 330 BCE during Alexander’s occupation of the city. The city became accessible after the Persian defense at the pass was overcome.
Ariobarzanes: A Persian satrap who commanded resistance against Alexander in Persis. His defense of the pass turned the battle into a costly obstacle for Alexander’s army.
Battle of the Persian Gate campaign: The Macedonian advance through Persis in 330 BCE, including the struggle at the Persian Gate. The pass battle was one episode in Alexander’s movement toward Persepolis.
Diodorus Siculus: A Greek historian of the first century BCE who wrote a universal history including Alexander’s campaigns. His narrative offers an ancient account of the Persian Gate’s defense and defeat.
Fall of the Achaemenid Empire: The collapse of Achaemenid rule under Alexander’s invasion, culminating in the early 330s BCE. The defeat weakened the remaining Persian resistance during the empire’s final collapse.
Alexander the Great: King of Macedon who conquered the Persian Empire and campaigned across western and central Asia. He led the Macedonian force and sought a way around the Persian position.
Persis: The southwestern Iranian homeland of the Persians and core region of the Achaemenid Empire. The pass lay in Persis, whose approach Alexander needed to secure.

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Cambyses IICompared with: Unlike Cambyses’s successful conquest of Egypt, this later invasion brought down Achaemenid rule.