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Maurice Sartre

Between the battle of Issus (November of 333 BCE) at the entrance to North Syria and that of Gaugamela (1 October 331 BCE) to the north of Mesopotamia, the destiny of the Achaemenid Near East was decided: the former opened Syria to Alexander of Macedon, and the latter gave him all of Mesopotamia since Darius III chose to flee to Iran. The siege of Tyre (January to July of 332 BCE) and that of Gaza (September to November of 332 BCE) marked local resistance along the route from Egypt, but not a widespread refusal of Macedonian dominance. Alexander made no changes to the existing administrative framework and was content to switch men. Although the sources do not enable us to understand with certitude the choices of Alexander, he could only have placed trusted men in Syria and Mesopotamia because the loyalty of these provinces was essential for the communications of his army with the Mediterranean world. He even left the Phoenician kings in place – with the exception of the king of Sidon, who was put into power by the Persians, whom he replaced by a member of that city’s former royal family ― and was content to appoint for this region a financial officer in charge of collecting tribute.