Darius III of Persia in the context of "Bagoas"

Sisygambis (Ancient Greek: Σισύγαμβις; died 323 BCE) was the mother of Darius III of Persia, whose reign was ended during the wars of Alexander the Great. After she was captured by Alexander at the Battle of Issus, she became devoted to him, and Alexander referred to her as "mother".

The Battle of Issus (also Issos) occurred in southern Anatolia, on 5 November 333 BC between the Hellenic League led by Alexander the Great and the Achaemenid Empire, led by Darius III. It was the second major battle in Alexander's invasion of the Persian empire, and the first encounter between Darius III and Alexander the Great. The battle resulted in the Macedonian troops defeating the Persian forces. Darius was forced to flee, leaving behind his family and treasury which were captured by Alexander the Great.

After the Hellenic League soundly defeated the Persian satraps of Asia Minor, who were led by the Greek mercenary Memnon of Rhodes at the Battle of the Granicus, Darius took personal command of his army. He gathered reinforcements and proceeded to lead his men in a surprise march behind the Hellenic advance, in order to cut off their line of supply. Alexander was forced to countermarch, and the stage was set for the battle near the mouth of the Pinarus River and the city of Issus.

Autophradates (Old Persian: *Vātafradātaʰ; Ancient Greek: Αὐτοφραδάτης, romanized: Autophradátēs, lived 4th century BC) was a Persian Satrap of Lydia, who also distinguished himself as a general in the reign of Artaxerxes III and Darius III.

Erigyius (in Greek Ἐριγυιoς; died 328 BC), a Mytilenaean, son of Larichus, was an officer in Alexander the Great's army. He had been driven into banishment by Philip II, king of Macedon, because of his faithful attachment to Alexander, and returned when the latter came to the throne in 336 BC. At the battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC, he commanded the cavalry of the allies, as he did also when Alexander set out in 330 BC from Ecbatana in pursuit of Darius III. In the same year Erigyius was entrusted with the command of one of the three divisions with which Alexander invaded Hyrcania. He was also among the generals sent against Satibarzanes, whom he slew in battle with his own hand. In 329 BC, together with Craterus and Hephaestion, and with the assistance of Aristander, a soothsayer, he endeavoured to dissuade Alexander from crossing the Jaxartes river against the Scythians. In 328 BC he fell in a battle against the Bactrian fugitives.

The Pinarus River (Greek: Πίναρος) is a small stream in southern Anatolia near today's Turkey—Syria border. It was famous in antiquity as the site of the First Battle of Issus, where Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia.

Ancient sources describe it as being near a small coastal village or town which straddled the stream. The river was said to run red with blood after Alexander the Great, leading his elite Companion cavalry turned the right flank of the Persians, smashed the center, and routed the Persian forces personally led by Darius III of Persia, who subsequently fled the field in a panic.

The Battle of Alexander at Issus (German: Alexanderschlacht) is a 1529 oil painting by the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538), a pioneer of landscape art and a founding member of the Danube school. The painting portrays the 333 BC Battle of Issus, in which Alexander the Great secured a decisive victory over Darius III of Persia and gained crucial leverage in his campaign against the Persian Empire. The painting is widely regarded as Altdorfer's masterpiece, and is one of the most famous examples of the type of Renaissance landscape painting known as the world landscape, which here reaches an unprecedented grandeur.

Duke William IV of Bavaria commissioned The Battle of Alexander at Issus in 1528 as part of a set of historical pieces that was to hang in his Munich residence. Modern commentators suggest that the painting, through its abundant use of anachronism, was intended to liken Alexander's heroic victory at Issus to the contemporary European conflict with the Ottoman Empire. In particular, the defeat of Suleiman the Magnificent at the siege of Vienna may have been an inspiration for Altdorfer. A religious undercurrent is detectable, especially in the extraordinary sky; this was probably inspired by the prophecies of Daniel and contemporary concern within the Church about an impending apocalypse. The Battle of Alexander at Issus and four others that were part of William's initial set are in the Alte Pinakothek art museum in Munich.

Nicanor (/naɪˈkeɪnər/; Greek: Nικάνωρ Nīkā́nōr; died 330 BC), son of Parmenion, was a distinguished officer in the service of Alexander the Great. He is first mentioned at the passage of the Danube river, in the expedition of Alexander against the Getae, 335, when he led the phalanx. But during the expedition into Asia he appears to have uniformly held the chief command of the body of troops called the Hypaspists (υπασπισται) shield-bearers or foot-guards, numbering three units of 1,000 men. As his brother Philotas did that of the εταιρoι, or horse-guards. We find him mentioned, as holding this post, in the three great battles of the Granicus, of Issus, and of Gaugamela. He afterwards accompanied Alexander with a part of the troops under his command, during the rapid march of the king in pursuit of the king Darius III Codomannus in 330; which was probably his last service, as he died of disease shortly afterwards, during the advance of Alexander into Bactria. His death at this juncture was considered a fortunate event, as it prevented him from participating either in the designs or the fate of his brother Philotas.

Barsine (Greek: Βαρσίνη; c. 363–309 BC) was the daughter of a Persian father, Artabazus, satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, and a Greek Rhodian mother, the sister of mercenaries Mentor of Rhodes and Memnon of Rhodes. Barsine became the wife of her uncle Mentor, and after his death married her second uncle, Memnon.

In 334 BC, the year of Alexander's invasion of Asia, she and her children were sent by Memnon to the king Darius III as hostages for his fidelity; and in the ensuing year, when Damascus was betrayed to the Macedonians, she fell into the hands of Alexander, by whom it is said that she became the mother of Heracles.

Satibarzanes (Old Persian: *Šyātibr̥zaⁿs; Ancient Greek: Σατιβαρζάνης Satibarzánēs; died 330 BC), a Persian, was satrap of Aria under Darius III, king of Persia.

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great, marching through the borders of Aria on his way from Hyrcania against the Parthians, was met at a city named Susia by Satibarzanes, who made submission to him, and was rewarded for it by the restoration of his satrapy. In order to prevent the commission of any hostilities against the Arians by the Macedonian troops which were following from the west, Alexander left behind with Satibarzanes forty horse-dartmen, under the command of Anaxippus. These, however, together with their commander, were soon after murdered by the satrap, who incited the Arians to rebel, and gathered his forces together at the city of Artacoana.