Qualla: Siege of Cyropolis https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:32 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/q/x/9/siege-of-cyropolis-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Siege of Cyropolis https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis Siege of Cyropolis: Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis/ Photo credit DEMIS Mapserver, पाटलिपुत्र, CC BY-SA 3.0. Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world without suffering a serious wound. Then he came to Cyropolis. In 329 BCE, pushing into the Central Asian region of Sogdiana, Alexander targeted seven fortified towns that resisted Macedonian rule. Cyropolis was the largest, the best defended, and home to what ancient sources called the finest fighters in the region. Alexander took the first five towns in two days. Cyropolis took longer -- and it hit back. While leading a commando squad through a dried-up water channel beneath the city walls, Alexander was struck in the head and neck by a stone. His general Craterus was wounded by an arrow. The city fell, but it cost Alexander something rare: his own blood.

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/q/x/9/siege-of-cyropolis-wp/tqx9-siege-of-cyropolis-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Cyropolis: Seven Towns in the Dust https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis/ Photo credit Шухрат Саъдиев, CC BY-SA 4.0. Alexander's campaign through Sogdiana was not a grand set-piece battle but a grinding pacification operation. Seven towns held out against Macedonian authority, and Alexander decided to eliminate them systematically. He began at Gazza and worked outward, sending his general Crate...

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Image: Шухрат Саъдиев | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/q/x/9/siege-of-cyropolis-wp/tqx9-siege-of-cyropolis-seven-towns-in-the-dust.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Cyropolis: Under the Walls https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis/ Photo credit Шухрат Саъдиев, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cyropolis was not like the others. It had the largest population, the strongest fortifications, and a garrison of approximately 15,000 fighting men, according to the ancient historian Arrian. Alexander brought up his siege engines and began battering the defenses. But while the b...

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Image: Шухрат Саъдиев | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/q/x/9/siege-of-cyropolis-wp/tqx9-siege-of-cyropolis-under-the-walls.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Cyropolis: The Stone That Found a King https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis/ Photo credit Шухрат Саъдиев, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the defenders realized their city had been breached from within, they did not surrender. They counterattacked with fury. The fighting inside Cyropolis was close, chaotic, and violent. Alexander was struck by a stone that hit him in the head and neck -- a blow severe enough t...

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Image: Шухрат Саъдиев | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/q/x/9/siege-of-cyropolis-wp/tqx9-siege-of-cyropolis-the-stone-that-found-a-king.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Cyropolis: Conflicting Accounts https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis/ Photo credit Шухрат Саъдиев, CC BY-SA 4.0. What happened after the fall of Cyropolis depends on which ancient source you trust. Arrian, drawing on the memoirs of Ptolemy -- one of Alexander's generals and later the founder of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty -- records that the city surrendered and that Alexander distributed the...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/q/x/9/siege-of-cyropolis-wp/tqx9-siege-of-cyropolis-conflicting-accounts.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Cyropolis: What Cyropolis Cost https://qualla.com/siege-of-cyropolis/ Photo credit Шухрат Саъдиев, CC BY-SA 4.0. Alexander recovered from his wound and continued his campaigns, eventually pushing beyond Sogdiana to the edges of India before his army refused to march farther. But Cyropolis left its mark. The siege demonstrated that Central Asian resistance was fiercer and more costly than th...

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Image: Шухрат Саъдиев | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/q/x/9/siege-of-cyropolis-wp/tqx9-siege-of-cyropolis-what-cyropolis-cost.mp3 0:06 6 full