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Breaching Halicarnassus was a tremendous feat — as had been the victory at the Granicus, not to mention the slew of cities throughout Asia Minor that had surrendered without a fight.
Yet the victory Alexander truly craved remained elusive.
He set off once more, seeking a confrontation with the Persian king, Darius III — named after the very monarch who had launched the first Persian invasion of Greece.
Along the way, Alexander came upon the town of Gordion.
Here, there was an ancient cart tied to a post by the most fiendishly intricate knot, a tangled mass of ancient cords, twisting, snaking, weaving, slipping over and under and around, a knot with no visible beginning or end.
Not a very interesting attraction, you might think. But it was said that whoever could undo the knot would rule the world.
Alexander examined the knot, paused for thought… Then with a single stroke of his sword, simply sliced it in two.
From there Alexander proceeded south, until he reached Cilicia. He began to feel a frightful heat rising in his breast; then he broke into a wild sweat, frothing like a raging stallion.
He flung himself into the icy cold waters of the River Cydnus, but emerged wracked with cramps and fever.
All of the king's physicians feared to administer a remedy — what dreadful tortures would await them if they failed, or worsened the king's condition?
Only one – Philip of Acarnania – was willing to produce a cure.
But as Alexander was about to raise the potion to his lips, a messenger passed him a letter from Parmenion, claiming that the Persian king had paid the doctor to poison him.
Alexander looked the physician straight in the eye, and downed the cup in one go.
At first, the king fell back, his breath lost, swooning into near-unconsciousness — but then, as Philip attended to him, Alexander regained his senses, and felt the cure work its way through his body.
A period of rest was clearly in order. Alexander and his men, welcomed into the cities of lower Cilicia, at last paused their relentless march.