Those close to Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) at the Battle of Gaugamela on 1 October 331 BC believed they saw an eagle hovering above Alexander’s head. The Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus (1st century AD) wrote this in his biography of Alexander. The seer Aristander, who closely followed Alexander on foot, pointed the bird out to the soldiers and interpreted the eagle as a sure sign that they would be triumphant. This story is illustrated at the centre of the picture.
When Alexander reached Gaugamela near Arbela in the north of Babylon, three years had elapsed since he first set foot on Asian soil. Gaugamela was in what today is northern Iraq. There, Alexander conquered the Persian King Darius the Third. In this picture, we see King Darius turning around as he sits aloft in his throne-like carriage on the right side of the picture. The victory and Darius’ flight opened the way for Alexander the Great shortly afterwards to make his entry into Babylon.
It was the story of this entry, in the form of a historical victory parade, that provided the background to Thorvaldsen’s frieze Alexander the Great’s Victorious Entry into Babylon (inv. no. A503), modelled in 1812.
Le Brun pinxit. / B. Picart dir.exit / la Vertu est digne de Lempire du monde. / Alexandre a pres phisieurs victoires deffit Darius dans la bataille qu'il donna / pres Darbelle et ce dernier combat ayant achevé de renverser le Throne des perrses / tout Lorient fut soumis a la puissance des Macedoniens. / Digna orbis Imperia virtus. / Post Multus victorias virtu sua arta ultimo ad Arbelam proelio Darium / fugat Alexander eaque da de funditus everso Persarum solio totus Oriens in / potestam Macedonici cessit impery / A Paris chez Crepy rue St Jacques a St Pierre