320s BC
320s BC: events by year
Contents: 329 BC 328 BC 327 BC 326 BC 325 BC 324 BC 323 BC 322 BC 321 BC 320 BC
By place
Macedonian Empire
From Phrada, Alexander the Great presses on up the valley of the Helmand River, through Arachosia, and over the mountains past the site of modern Kabul into the country of the Paropamisade, where he founds Alexandria by the Caucasus.
In Bactria, Bessus raises a national revolt in the eastern satrapies using the title of King Artaxerxes V of Persia.
Crossing the Hindu Kush northward, probably over the Khawak Pass, Alexander brings his army, despite food shortages, to Drapsaka. Outflanked, Bessus flees beyond the Oxus river.
Marching west to Bactra (Zariaspa), Alexander appoints Artabazus of Phrygia as the satrap of Bactria.
Crossing the Oxus, Alexander sends his general Ptolemy in pursuit of Bessus. In the meantime, Bessus is overthrown by the Sogdian Spitamenes. Bessus is captured, flogged, and sent to Ptolemy in Bactria with the hope of appeasing Alexander. In due course, Bessus is publicly executed at Ecbatana. With the death of Bessus (Artaxerxes V), Persian resistance to Alexander the Great ceases.
