Blood is the food of the gods
The Battle of Gaugamela (1st October 331 BCE, also known as the Battle of Arbela) was the final meeting between Alexander the Great of Macedon and King Darius III of Persia. After this victory, Alexander was, without question, the King of all Asia. Gaugamela (means "The Camel's House") was a village on the banks of the river Bumodus. The site of the battle is thought to be Tel Gomel (Hebrew - "Camels Mount") in northern Iraq.
Alexander had planned to march straight to Babylon, but when he learned of Darius’ presence at Gaugamela, he turned northward to meet the waiting Persian king. He realized a victory at Gaugamela meant all of Persia - Babylon, Persepolis, and Susa - would be his.
After Parmenion suggested to him after the Battle of Issus that he should accept Darius III of Persia's offer of an alliance, the hand of his daughter in marriage, and all Minor Asia, saying "If I were Alexander, I would accept the terms." (Variant translation: I would accept it if I were Alexander.) As quoted in Lives by Plutarch
— Variants: I too, if I were Parmenion. But I am Alexander.
Darius, however, had learned his lesson at the Battle of Issus and had carefully chosen Gaugamela for his next, and hopefully last, battle against Alexander. This time his army was quite different, having brought together men from all over his empire, even Indian mercenaries - estimates of his army vary from 50,000 to 100,000 to almost a million. Along with 15 elephants (although they were never used), he had 200 scythed chariots. He fashioned longer swords and lances as well as adding more cavalry. The terrain of Gaugamela was also significant; it was much wider so he could make use of his chariots and deploy his cavalry more effectively, something that had been impossible at Issus. He had the ground leveled, placing obstacles and traps to impede the advances of Alexander’s forces. To Darius it appeared the size of his army and the terrain gave him a significant advantage.
Alexander made camp several miles from Darius; his men (estimated at 40,000) would only take their weapons to do battle, nothing else. After assembling a small scouting party, Alexander looked down from a hill, unobserved by Darius, accessing the king’s preparation. Luckily, while on the scouting trip, he came upon an advance party sent out by Darius. While some of the party fled, several others were captured and more than willingly told of Darius’ numbers and the presence of the traps and obstacles on the field.
The night before battle Alexander held a council of his generals; Parmenio, the commander of Alexander’s left flank, suggested that the large size of Darius’s forces called for them to attack at night; however, Alexander disagreed. The historian Arrian made mention of this episode in his History of Alexander:
It is said that Parmenio came to him in his tent and urged him to make a night attack on the Persians, saying that thus he would fall upon them unprepared and in a state of confusion … but the reply which he made to him … was that it would mean to steal a victory …
Later, as Alexander addressed his men, he spoke of the forthcoming battle, reassuring the typically superstitious Macedonians that an earlier eclipse of the moon was a sign of victory.
On the day of the battle, Alexander is said to have overslept. As he had done previously, he made sure his men were well-fed and well-rested. Darius’ men, on the other hand, had been awake all night fearing a night attack that never came. As Alexander looked across the battlefield towards the Persians, Alexander called out individual soldiers by name, speaking of their bravery in other battles and asking them to fight again for Macedonia. As he spoke an eagle (a favorite animal of Zeus) flew overhead and towards Darius. To Alexander, this was another omen of victory.
