Bessus

You can deal with Bessus now or later, but unless you want to see your families slaughtered in their beds by hordes of Bactrian cavalry, you had better finish it now.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

To make the situation worse, little food or fodder was available in a land that had suffered the scorched-earth policy of Bessus.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

But this was precisely what Bessus was expecting him to do, though not so early in the season.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

The king told him to put a wooden collar on Bessus and tie him naked to a pole along the road that the army would soon pass.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

Would you rather fight Bessus here and end this or do you want to face him when he crosses the Hellespont and ravages Macedonia?

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

Then with his Bactrian cavalry, Bessus fled east into the mountains.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

Bessus now claims to be Great King and many people are willing to follow him.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

Some Persian troops remained loyal to Darius and refused to follow Bessus, including the Greek mercenaries who had set off into the mountains to try to make their way home.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

Yes, we could go home now, but no sooner than we were settled beside our hearths back in Macedonia, we would see the armies of Bessus rising up behind us.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

Alexander appointed his old family friend Artabazus as the new satrap of Bactria and headed north to the Oxus after Bessus.

Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011