The Macedonian King Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) sits splendidly on a horse at the centre of the picture. It is a chaotic scene. It represents the decisive moment during the Battle of the Granicus River in 334BC. Alexander and his cavalry are attacking the central units of the Persian forces, where a number of high-ranking figures are to be found. One of the Persians, Spithridates, is attacking Alexander from behind with an axe. The attack is repelled and a moment later Spithridates himself is killed. When the Greek historian Arrian (c. 86 – c. 160 AD) described the Persian expedition in Anabasis, he wrote that Alexander and his forces crossed the river to the sound of trumpets and to the accompaniment of battle cries to the god of war Ares.
Granikos is on the Dardanelles (then known as the Hellespont) in the north-western part of modern Turkey and dividing the continents of Europe and Asia. When Alexander with his Greek and Macedonian forces crossed the Hellespont in 334 AD, he was embarking on an eleven-year-long campaign in Asia.
Le Brun pinxit. / B. Picart dir.exit. / la Vertu sur monte tout obstacle / Virtus omni obice major. / Alexandre ayant passé le granique attaqua les Perses a forces imgales / et mit en fuitte leurs inombrable multitude / Alexander suprato Granico Persas imparibus copjis a greditur e orum que / innumerabilem exercitum fundit / A Paris chez Crepy rue S.t Jacques a S.t Pierre
