ver. After this successful campaign, he returned quickly to put down a Theban revolt. He chose to crush the Thebans entirely, razing the town and selling its citizens into slavery. This action provided the remaining Greek city-states with an example of Alexander's might in the face of dissension, and no further revolts occurred.
             His success in controlling Greece gave Alexander the confidence he needed to take on an old foe, the Persian Empire to the East. Long a threat to Greek independence, the Persians had been forced out of Greece last in 479 B.C., after the famed battles of Thermopylae and Salamis . The Persians, though, remained a threat to the Greek way of life, having an influence on their politics due to Medic supporters in the Greek citizenry. Indeed, Sparta received backing from Persia in order to conduct the Peloponnesian War . So, to Alexander, the unchallenged ruler who had just consolidated his power at home, it was time to prove his might to the enemy and end the Persian threat once and for all. He led his forces across the Hellespont in 334 B.C. and never returned . Victories elsewhere in Anatolia, and at Issus left the Persian king Darius III fleeing Alexander's armies, draining the royal treasury and destroying the Persian forces, leaving the fate of the Achaemenids in the han!
             ds of Alexander. Without aid from Darius, the satrapy of Egypt surrendered without a fight. The battle at Gaugamela in 331 B.C. finished the Persians, allowing Alexander to capture the cities of Babylon, Susa and Persepolis . Upon Darius' assassination in 330 B.C., Alexander assumed the role of Persian Great King. This provided him with Persian support in his later conquests.
             As Alexander continued to march through Asia, he continued to adapt his dress and manners to accommodate the conquered cultures. His marriage in 327 B.C. was to an Iranian princess, Roxane. His changed demeanour led to some dissensio...