The Alexander Romance: History and Literature, 159–168 History into literature in the account of the Campaign of Gaugamela in the Alexander Romance 1 K RZYSZTOF N AWOTKA University of Wrocław The battle of Gaugamela, or of Arbela, was the high point of Alexander the Great’s war of conquest which ended in the utter defeat of the Great King Darius and which resulted in Alexander’s proclamation as king of Asia, i.e. the legitimate ruler of the Persian empire. 2 His opponent, who fled to Ecbatana with some of his troops, would never again field an army capable of facing that of Alexander in another battle and in July 330 he was deposed and eventually killed by his closest courtiers and vassals. An ancient literary work practically never used in the study of the battle of Gaugamela is the Alexander Romance and for good reason, as this paper will show. The account of the campaign of Gaugamela sheds, however, much light on what is history for Ps.-Callisthenes and how he relates to various traditions on Alexander history, surely available to him in greater variety than they are to us. In order to approach these issues I will go through the battle itself and through a number of significant episodes preceding and following it: Alexan- der’s marching eastwards and crossing of the Euphrates, Alexander rebuking a traitor, Alexander’s embassy to Darius, his crossing of the Stranga, the death of Darius, Alexander’s visit at the tomb of Cyrus, and the burning of the palaces in Persepolis. ————— 1 My research on this topic was supported by a grant from the National Science Centre (Po- land) UMO-2012/05/B/HS2/04025. All dates in this paper are B.C. (B.C.E.), unless marked otherwise. 2 Plu., Alex. 34; Just. XI 14.6; ME 1; Oros. III 17.4; Zonar. Epitome historiarum, IV 11. Nawotka 2012.