(Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany)
A painting by the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538). this piece was commissioned, together with several other paintings, by Duke William IV of Bavaria (1493 – 1550) for his palace in Munich (the Residenz). The painting shows the battle of Issus on 5 November 333 BC, between the forces of King Alexander III the Great of Macedon and King Darius III of Persia. After his invasion of the Persian (Achaemenid) empire, Alexander managed to defeat a Persian army at the Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC. After this defeat king Darius III took personal command of his army and marched upon Alexander. On 5 November 333 BC the two armies met each other south of the ancient town Issus (close to the present-day Turkish town of Iskenderun). Again Alexander managed to defeat the Persian army and Darius, together with his army, fled from the battlefield. Albrecht Altdorfer shows the battle in a fantasy landscape with the soldiers on both sides looking more like a 15th-century army. The large tablet in the sky explains the depicted battle: "Alexander the Great defeating the last Darius, after 100,000 infantry and more than 10,000 cavalrymen had been killed amongst the ranks of the Persians. Whilst King Darius was able to flee with no more than 1,000 horsemen, his mother, wife, and children were taken prisoner". Painting from around 1490.
