01x05 - The Living God

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music playing]

[Oracle] Into each life comes adversity.

[Alexander] What is there to understand?

Why you would march us

through a burning desert for weeks,

just to see us climb into a lion's mouth?

What if it's something

I have to do before I face Darius?

[Oracle] But for those who seek greatness,

they must take the hardest path,

the road less traveled.

They must pass through the tempest,

the eye of the storm.

[strong wind blowing]

[Oracle] But this is how the gods test us.

- [Hephaestion yells]

- [yells]

[Oracle] For it is only

in the eye of that storm

where we find if we are truly worthy,

how they challenge us

to recognize what is truly important

Alex?

[Oracle] what is worth fighting for

and what is worth moving heaven and earth

[both laugh]

[Oracle] to protect.

[dramatic music intensifies]

[dramatic music fades, echoes]

[suspenseful music playing]

We have been waiting for you, Alexander.

You know who I am?

The world knows who you are.

The question is,

do you?

Hmm.

Two bitter enemies

worlds apart.

But two sides of the same coin.

A young Macedonian prince

fighting for his country

and for his own name.

And a Persian king

determined to defend

the greatest empire on earth.

But who shall be victorious?

The gods will decide.

So

this w*r,

the worlds I fight for,

everything I do in pursuit of some

higher meaning is pointless?

That is not what I said.

And it is not what you feel within.

But what if I fail?

The child of a god cannot fail.

My mother

She told me that.

She told you only what

you needed to hear to set you on the path.

The path to where?

Let me show you.

[voice whispers]

[ethereal music playing]

[chants in Coptic]

[thunder claps]

[chants in Coptic]

[chanting continues, echoes]

- [horses galloping]

- [Darius screams]

[Oracle continues chanting]

[music ends, echoes]

- [wind blows]

- [voice whispers]

[Lloyd] We simply do not know

what happens in that inner sanctuary

in the Temple of Amun at Siwa.

Our sources are

at loggerheads with each other here.

But one thing is certain,

is that Alexander comes out

of the experience a changed man.

He claims that the Oracle

pronounced that he was

the son of the god Amun.

And whether it is

a fervent spiritual belief of his

or whether it is

an incredible piece of politics,

he projects himself from here on in

as a living, breathing god.

[dramatic music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[cheering continues]

[Ptolemy] Stand back!

Everybody back!

Guards! Control this crowd!

[loudly] Ptol, it's okay.

[cheering continues]

Really.

[Salima] Alexander spends the night

at the temple in Siwa,

and there, the Oracle speaks to him.

- [crowd cheers]

- [Ptolemy] Alexander, keep moving.

[Salima] When he comes out, he says that

the god Amun-Ra claimed him as his son.

And so, Alexander is also divine

and, therefore, obviously

the legitimate ruler of Egypt,

and certainly for the Egyptians,

he is a god from that point on.

- [crowd cheers]

- [man] Alexander!

General.

Alexander.

[cheering continues]

It's good to see you.

[inhales, exhales]

- A living god?

- [exhales]

The High Priest confirmed it.

Apparently, he's the son of Zeus.

[inhales deeply, exhales]

Well, then, if he is not Philip's son,

is he really our king?

- It's not a joke, General.

- And I'm not laughing.

The troops are getting fractious.

They've done nothing but train for months.

Then they'll be ready

to fight for Macedon.

But will Alexander?

Doesn't it bother you?

Him here, in his Egyptian clothes,

learning Persian from the enemy's wife.

He's going native.

A pharaoh.

Now a god.

Where does it all end?

With a glorious victory over Persia.

Does it?

[exhales]

I need to know that he is still with us.

And you too.

[Carolyn] Why go to the oracle

of an Egyptian deity, Amun?

Well, the Greeks were quite flexible

in their understanding of their gods.

They accepted that perhaps their gods

could go by

different names in different places

and so, although it was

the oracle of Amun in Egypt,

the Greeks associated Amun with Zeus.

So, in going to that oracle,

it's also like Alexander

was getting recognition from Zeus as well.

They would've been

one and the same to the Greeks.

[dramatic music intensifies]

- [swords clatter]

- [man grunts]

[Darius] Again.

[swords clatter]

[man grunts]

[both grunt]

Again.

I've never seen him like this.

[straining]

- [strains]

- [man grunts]

Right now, he would take on all of Macedon

if it would save

Stateira from that savage.

[both straining]

[Lloyd] Let's not over-egg the idea

that it's all over for Darius.

He's still got substantial territories

from Babylon all the way through

to Northern India and Pakistan.

But we can't deny that the loss

of Asia Minor, the Levant,

Egypt, to Alexander

is an enormous blow.

That was a substantial part

of his kingdom gone.

Plus the fact now, he's lost his wife,

he's losing confidence

with his chief advisors,

ministers, and council of w*r.

It is looking dodgy for him.

- But the game isn't over yet.

- [grunts]

My king, I bring news.

Of Alexander's death, I hope.

[both straining]

No, sir.

My hope he would have been swallowed

by the Great Sand Sea proved optimistic.

He returned from

the Temple of Siwa a few days ago

to some excitement, it would seem.

Excitement? [pants]

[strains]

- [swords clatter]

- [Darius grunts]

Rumor amongst the locals is that

the high priestess at Siwa

has declared him the rightful pharaoh.

- [straining]

- [man grunts]

[Bessus] More than that

- [swords clink]

- [Darius grunts]

son of Zeus-Amun, sir.

- [man moans]

- [strains]

A living god.

[both grunting]

- [dramatic music stops]

- [pants]

Then it seems

I am to be a god k*ller. [panting]

I have a little something to tell you.

I have a little news myself.

I'm afraid your news

has already spread like wildfire.

Is he going to be known as the son

of the son of God?

Alexander.

You need to come with me.

It's urgent.

[Lloyd] By this stage in Alexander's life,

I think his heart

is no longer Macedonian per se,

but here's a young man

experiencing a much wider world

with a great cultural depth to it.

And I just think he happily buys in

to whatever he encounters next.

I think that's the thing with Alexander.

He's incredibly receptive

to the next thing that opens up to him.

[Alexander] Hm.

Well, this doesn't feel welcoming.

We are concerned,

the leaders of your army.

May I speak my mind, sir?

You've earned that right, General.

Then hear me when I say

we have lost all focus on our mission.

You might be worshiped

here by the Egyptians,

but our men

will never bow down to one of their own.

Now, wait a minute, General.

I know my men.

Theirs is a faith that needs to be earned

in great deeds.

Then I will earn that faith.

I promise you.

We'll make preparations

to leave Egypt immediately

and face Darius on the field.

But

I must have loyalty.

Especially among those

that I depend on most.

Did I not lead you to victory at Granicus?

Halicarnassus?

Issus and Tyre?

So I ask all of you right now

to make your choice.

Go

with my blessing.

Or pledge your life to me all the way

to the gates of Babylon and Persia beyond.

[dramatic music intensifies]

What do you say?

[music wanes]

I agree with you, General.

Out here,

how they worship my oldest friend, it's

[scoffs]

It feels like hysteria.

It does.

But they are willing

to follow him to the ends of the world.

And that belief,

that faith in him

it can level armies,

entire cities.

They're ready to fight to the death

to win a w*r in his name.

The least we can do

is show them how.

So am I with you, my king?

- Nai!

- [heroic music intensifies]

Nai!

[soldiers] Nai!

Nai!

[heroic music playing]

[softly] Nai.

[music wanes]

[Lloyd] Ptolemy's dilemma is palpable.

He was probably the person who knew

Alexander best of all of his generals.

They'd grown up together since boyhood.

He knew him intimately.

And so, for Alexander

to now present himself to Ptolemy

as this god-king,

and an Egyptian-style god-king at that,

is so unpalatable to Ptolemy

and to the rest

of the the Macedonians, of course.

But there is an irony to all of this,

and that is,

in years to come,

Ptolemy himself, of course,

was going to be crowned

as the pharaoh of Egypt,

the Lord of the Two Lands,

and he himself was made into a living god.

Thank you, Ptol.

For your faith in me.

Faith?

It's not faith, Alexander.

It's friendship.

And it's blood.

Because I know that for all of this,

you are still Macedon

to the bone.

[dramatic music begins]

[music intensifies]

[door opens]

Sir, the magi, what did they say?

The usual.

Omens of victory,

vague warnings of doom, empty words.

Are the generals all assembled?

They're ready for your orders, my king.

I can assure you, Bessus, they are not.

[Ali] I don't think there's any doubt

whatsoever that after Issus,

Darius is hemorrhaging support

from the political elite.

They're starting to have doubts.

They don't know whether

this guy's gonna survive.

It It's really quite chaotic.

If you can imagine that you've had

this imperial system in place

for 200 years,

it's very disruptive to everyone.

They don't know what comes in its place,

what's happening.

So, really, for Darius,

he's got one very last throw of the dice.

I think a big showdown

somewhere was inevitable.

[Mazaeus] Alexander still has

a huge numerical disadvantage,

even with his Egyptian reinforcement.

We estimate 30,000 heavy infantry,

7,000 cavalry.

Which means

we can easily contain his forces here

[assertively] No.

My king?

[calmly] No, no, no.

No, Mazaeus.

I've read those reports too.

He's restored army morale

and won the hearts of the Egyptian people.

He even has a new nickname.

Alexander the Invincible.

So, no.

We will not contain him.

We need to destroy him.

So, I am hereby mobilizing

the Immortal guards,

the hoplites,

the scythed chariots,

as well as the cavalries

of the Eastern satrapies,

the Indian garrison,

and the allied Scythian tribes.

In fact

send everything.

Then let us see

how this Alexander the Invincible

fares against the entire Persian Empire.

Indeed, sir.

A great army.

Truly inspired.

[Darius] Mazaeus?

[Mazaeus] Yes, my king?

I know you'll want to be at the vanguard,

so ride out

and determine Alexander's route.

Then burn all the crops between us.

We need to starve them out.

[breathes heavily]

But be aware.

That will harm our people too.

It's two years since the Battle of Issus.

Things are looking grim for Darius.

The w*r is not over yet.

He has been in Babylon all this time,

putting troops together,

bringing in more mercenaries.

Darius is all set again for the fight.

[strains]

- [midwife] Yes.

- [straining]

[straining]

[moans in effort]

[Lloyd] Stateira had been separated

from Darius III

for two years at this point,

so it is out of the question

that Darius could have fathered

this child, of course.

- So that leaves Alexander or his men.

- [straining]

[Lloyd] Now, I do not think that Alexander

would have conceivably allowed anyone

to have sexual relations

with this queen of Persia,

which leads me to believe that

the father of that child

can only have been Alexander himself.

[dramatic music playing]

Maman?

Maman?

Stateira and the baby do not survive

the traumas of childbirth.

[sobbing]

[Lloyd] Alexander's biographer,

the historian Plutarch,

specifically names Stateira,

and he tells us

the circumstances in which she died.

That's extremely unusual for Plutarch

or any other historian of the time.

The second thing is we can trace

the events that

lead up to Stateira's death

in the Babylonian evidence

from the astronomical charts.

- [somber music playing]

- [sighs]

[Barsine shudders]

[cries]

[Jennifer] Alexander seems to have

at least made a show

of mourning Stateira's death.

[Barsine inhales]

[Jennifer] We know from our sources

that he provided her with a lavish funeral

that seems to have been in concert

with her station in Persian society.

And so at least Alexander made

a political performance out of her death.

[somber music continues]

[Bessus] My king.

A message has arrived from Alexander.

Darius should hear of her passing from me,

not his spies.

Yes, my king.

[Alexander] But, Ptol?

Make sure you tell him how she died.

Your wife

She died giving birth

to a son.

[Darius shudders]

[shudders]

We really see Alexander there just

twisting the knife deliberately.

[shuddering]

[tearfully] Bessus, she was lost.

And I failed her.

Sir.

We are soldiers.

We are Persia.

[shuddering]

[breathes shakily]

[Bessus] Sir?

They're waiting for you.

[breathes shakily]

[dramatic music playing]

[man] Stand guard!

[Carolyn] Stateira being alive

gives Darius more legitimacy.

He wasn't a direct heir to the throne.

She was a Persian royal woman.

She was of high status.

And so, her connection to Darius

gave Darius more authority

and more of a right to rule.

Her loss means

that's been cut off from him.

[dramatic music continues]

[Lloyd] Interestingly, at this period,

one of our key players,

Mazaeus, comes back into focus.

He's Darius's great confidant.

He's one of his chief advisors,

one of his go-to men,

and we find at this point, increasingly,

those who are loyal to Darius

start to move away from him.

Some of them actually even

start to go over to Alexander's camp.

And one later tradition,

outside the Alexander historians,

suggests that Hephaestion

actually met with Mazaeus

and persuaded him

to go over to Alexander's side.

[Hephaestion] Governor Mazaeus.

You know I'm duty bound

to gut you like a fish right here.

But before you do,

you should know

that Barsine is alive and well.

Untouched?

Not a hair on her head.

And King Alexander promises

that she will remain this way

under his personal protection.

- But

- [horse neighs]

he cannot keep his promise if he loses.

[chuckles]

Why are you telling me this?

Perhaps you can help save Barsine

and remain governor of Babylon.

[Carolyn] Darius has been trying

to avoid another pitched battle,

and you cannot blame him for that.

This was a disaster for the Persian side,

but Alexander is having none of it.

He is determined

to show his military expertise

to capture Darius and to literally take

the Persian Empire for himself.

And so, it's inevitable that the two

have to meet on the b*ttlefield again.

They can only dance around each other

like two territorial dogs for so long

before they have to come to blows.

[Lloyd] Darius leads his army to an area

that the locals called

the Place of the Camel,

Gaugamela, in Babylonian.

Gaugamela is situated in modern-day Iraq,

north of Babylon.

Alexander and his men

were pushing through the desert of Iraq

to get to this place,

and when they arrived

at their eventual campsite,

they were thirsty, hungry,

and exhausted already.

Meanwhile, Darius

and his men had set up camp.

They were well-fed, well-watered, rested.

- [horse neighs]

- [men chattering]

If Alexander has

already crossed the Tigris

he will be just days away.

You saw his cavalry, yes?

Mazaeus.

Yes, sir.

From a distance.

Then he will take

the direct southeastern route to Babylon.

[dog barks]

Mazaeus, ride out with your cavalry

and prepare the plains for battle. Do it.

[exhales]

[shouts] Do it now!

Yes, my king.

[Lloyd] For Mazaeus,

this is a moment where

he begins to question

what Darius is all about.

Uh, and so, you really begin to see

this certain anxiety emerge in him

about Darius's qualities as a king.

[man] My king! Bessus!

You must see this.

[wind blowing]

[men whispering]

[wind continues to blow]

[Lloyd] Darius seems to be trapped in

this whirlwind of bad news all the time,

and suddenly, out of the night sky,

comes the worst omen

he could possibly have,

and that's a lunar eclipse.

The skies darken,

and the moon turns bloodred.

- [men whispering]

- [wind blowing]

Mazaeus.

Quickly, spread the word.

The magi have decreed

this foretells of a great victory.

That is all.

My king

Do you understand?

Yes, my king.

Immediately.

Sir,

I suspect the magi

would see this omen differently.

[low chattering continues]

Yes.

They would.

Find me a runner.

I need to send Alexander a message.

- Let me call back Governor Mazaeus.

- No.

He can be your envoy.

No, Bessus.

He must never know.

[Ali] As with these things in these times,

these are omens,

and they're taken as omens

by either side about what it means

and interpreted in different ways.

And it's more than likely that,

from the Persian point of view,

it would've been seen as

the great king, in this case, Darius,

being eclipsed by the new challenger,

and that would have been Alexander.

[Lloyd] Conversely, in Alexander's camp,

who witnessed the same eclipse, of course,

there, Alexander's priests say,

"Nothing to worry about here."

"This bodes badly for Darius,

but for you, this is a good sign."

[horse neighs]

You've seen it.

[Ptolemy] Well

- You can't exactly miss it.

- Hm.

[horse neighs]

You're right.

- [tools clattering]

- [men chatter]

What's worrying you, old friend?

[chuckles]

What worries me

is the thousands of men

over that hill that want to k*ll us.

That we might be outnumbered five to one.

That we're walking into this

behind a man who thinks he's invincible.

- [horse neighs]

- [chatter continues]

And that might be

the sign he's very much not.

[clears throat]

Alexander has requested our presence.

A message has arrived from Darius himself.

What is it? A demand for surrender?

[Alexander] Nope.

It's another desperate offer.

In return for peace, Darius will give me

all the territory west of the Euphrates

and 30,000 silver talents.

I take it it's not enough?

No.

He did leave a little extra bonus

to sweeten the deal though.

What?

The hand in marriage

of his daughter Barsine.

[Hephaestion] Seriously?

She's already betrothed to

Governor Mazaeus, his most loyal general.

What's he thinking?

Exactly.

If he's making an offer like that,

what's going through his head?

Let Darius know I will not accept.

[Hephaestion] Wait.

Alex.

We can use this.

[dramatic music playing]

We return Darius's offer

along with a message

from you declining it.

But we send it

care of Governor Mazaeus himself,

with instructions

to deliver it to his beloved king.

[dramatic music intensifies]

[music ends]

[Carolyn] As Darius

is trying to negotiate,

Alexander's also planning ahead,

and so, Alexander

sends Mazaeus a little note being,

"Hey, you thought you were gonna

get to marry the great king's daughter."

"Well, he's changing his mind about that."

"So maybe don't believe

everything he tells you."

And this is an important part

of Alexander's strategy as well,

not just winning

victories on the b*ttlefield

but also manipulating personalities

and relationships

behind the scenes as well.

This must have put Mazaeus

in a difficult position,

because who do you believe?

Do you believe the Macedonian,

who could be telling the truth,

or could be lying through his teeth?

[horses neighing, galloping]

[chariot rattles]

[dramatic music playing]

[horse nickers]

[music wanes]

[Darius] While you're here,

place a garrison

on guard throughout the night.

I don't want a surprise attack.

[Carolyn] So, Mazaeus has to decide

who does he sort of

throw his weight behind?

Does he continue to support his great king

and do what he can

to defend Persia from the Macedonians?

Or does he start

to question where he belongs

and who will be more beneficial to him?

This w*r will soon be over, my friend.

[suspenseful music begins]

[Oracle] It is human nature

to try to bend the fates in their favor

because they refuse to see

what destiny is.

That for all their plans

[breathes heavily]

[Oracle] for all their paranoia,

they ignore the only truth that matters.

[dramatic music intensifies]

[Oracle] That their lives

are in the lap of the gods.

[soldiers shouting]

[man] Charge!

[men shouting over dramatic music]

[neighs]

[dramatic music playing]

[music ends]