Researchers may have finally identified the site where Alexander the Great fought the Battle of the Granicus against the Persian Empire.
The site is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of the city of Biga in northwest Turkey. In 334 B.C. Alexander’s forces defeated the Persians at the battlefield, which enabled them to establish a foothold in Persian territory and push deeper into the Middle East.
“The Battle of Granicus was not only one of the most significant turning points in Alexander’s life, later earning him the epithet ‘the Great,’ but [was] also a pivotal moment in world history,” team leader Reyhan Körpe, an archaeology professor at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, told Live Science in an email.
The discovery is not entirely new. Körpe noted that Heinrich Kiepert, an archaeologist who worked in the region in the 19th century, had suggested that the same area could be the location of the battlefield. But Körpe’s team has now uncovered additional evidence supporting the suggestion.
Notably, the team identified the remains of the ancient city of Hermaion, which ancient records indicate was the location of Alexander’s last encampment before the battle. The researchers then conducted geomorphological tests to reconstruct what the nearby landscape looked like when the battle was fought. They found that the path of the Granicus River had changed little since Alexander’s time. They also found that some areas were marshy in Alexander’s time and therefore don’t match the description of the battlefield, enabling the team to rule out these locations.
Related: What if the Persians had defeated Alexander the Great?
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Ancient records say that Alexander stationed Persian Greek mercenaries on a hill, and the team identified a promising hill site where local farmers had found graves with weapons that may date to Alexander’s time. For example, in 2024, farmers uncovered the remains of human bones during plowing near the southern slope of the hill. The researchers examined the bones and found that they are from an adult male.
“The lack of typical grave markers or artifacts indicated these were not part of a formal cemetery,” Körpe said. However, more tests need to be done to determine when this individual dates to and how they died.
Live Science contacted scholars not involved with the researchers to get their thoughts. Graham Wrightson, a history professor at South Dakota State University, said that the team’s finds are interesting. “It is exciting that they believe it has been identified,” Wrightson told Live Science in an email. “We’ll have to wait more years now to see what artifacts come out of the annual digs.”
Körpe said that the team plans to conduct geophysical surveys and excavations to get a better idea of what lies beneath the ground.
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