It is sixteen years since Manchester Universities Professor of Public History and TV Historian Michael Wood appeared on our screens with his ‘In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great’.

It was acclaimed one of the standout presenter-led history series of the last fifty years.

Last night at the Manchester Museum, Moss side born Wood returned to the subject updating the Alexander story with new material as part of the Museum’s Meets Talks.

The story of Alexander the Great’s epic journey from Macedonia to the banks of the Indus was not just a military one but would spread Hellenic culture for a thousand years. If he had not died , he would surely had conquered the Brittannic Islands said the historian Arius.

When the original series was filmed back in the late part of the 1990’s part of the journey was prevented due to the political tensions of the time, notably Iraq, where in the North his greatest battle was, and the Syrian route and the crossing of the Euphrates, a window opened in 2007 to go and film and Wood returned with 35mm camera and the protection of coalition forces.

Sadly the last few months had seen the area shut again for this is now the domain of the Islamic state.

Alexander left his homeland in 334BC driven by the Gods and seeking revenge on the Persians.

He was just aged 20, his father Philip dead. He goes to Troy where he made offerings at the site of an earlier battle between Greeks and Asians. Then there follows a six month siege of Tyre and another at Gaza, before heading to Egypt and heading to the oasis at Siwa to gain acceptance from the Gods of the Pharoes.

He founds Alexandria which would become for a time the commercial centre of the world then returns to Tyre.

The Persians under Darius are based in Babylon, and one of the greatest battles in history takes place near the modern city of irbil on the great Persian Royal Road.

Wood believes that on his recent visit, he found the battle place conforming to what the Greek accounts say on the plains between modern day Mosul and Erbil.

He descends on Babylon takes Susa and the royal treasure and onto Persepolis.

As Darius escapes, Alexander pursues cutting through the mountain passes of the Zagros at the height of winter to prevent his escape.

The Greeks are blocked in the mountain passed and Alexander takes ten thousand men above the pass to circumvent them and annihilates the Persian army.

Persepolis, the most hated city on earth according to Alexander was destroyed, capturing the tombs of the hereditary kings of the Persians

He pursues Darius to the Caspian Sea, but he is killed by his own men as he is surrounded.

Alexander continues to the Kabul plain via Helmut before heading north to the Hindu Kush and crossing the Oxus.

His journey ended on the banks of the Indus, eight years after he left Greece as his generals told him the army had had enough of campaigning

He stayed in his tent for three days expecting a change of heart but none came and they turned back, following the Indus into Pakistan down to the sea near where Karachi is today before heading into Iran, where Alexander would die at the age of 32 in Babylon.

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