Tristan Hughes

And then Alexander's father, Philip, rises into prominence.

And then all of a sudden, within Alexander's...

13-year reign or so, they control an empire unlike anything the Macedonians or Greeks in general, ancient Greeks in general, had ever ruled over before.

An incredibly diverse one too, stretching from India, you've got Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, you've got the traditional, you've got Egypt and that long, really respected ancient culture of Egypt in their ranks as well.

Like it's a new world for the Macedonians.

Alexander's army, when he dies, probably, as mentioned, maybe around 70,000.

He still has about 15,000 of his core Macedonian troops left.

You might think of the iconic Macedonian infantry with their long pikes and their small shields in big phalanx formations.

But you're also seeing at this time an evolution in Alexander's thinking.

You see it in the

running this empire, you know, taking over the Persian empire.

In the fact that he's incorporating many Persian units into his army, he's bringing in units which are beyond, you know, Persia as well.

He's got Scythian horse archers.

You've got Indian war elephants.

You've probably got Anatolian troops there.

And also troops which are very much playing to their own strengths, fighting techniques that they've been, you know,

using for decades, if not centuries by that point, whether it's light infantry, heavy cavalry, light cavalry with javelins and so on.

But at the same time, also bringing certain troops in to fight in the Macedonian manner.

There's a story of a Persian phalanx of 30,000 men.

There's a story of a mixed phalanx as well.