The Battle of Mazaka was fought between the armies of the Achaemenid satrapy of Cappadocia and the Kingdom of Macedon in central Anatolia in March 333 BC amid Alexander the Great's campaign to conquer the Persian Empire. The Persian generals Kuri and Nebuchadrezzar marched south from Gordion with two Cappadocian armies and attempted to surprise the Macedonian general Crios' battered army outside of Mazaka, but, defying the odds, Crios and the Macedonian garrison commanded Hippokrates were able to defeat the Cappadocian armies and inflict heavy losses, while suffering considerable losses of their own.
Background[]
The advances made by Alexander the Great's Macedonian army through central Anatolia and his general Crios' army along Anatolia's southern coast led to the near-collapse of Achaemenid rule in the region, as Lydia fell under the combined pressure of a Macedonian invasion and a Pergamese rebellion. However, by the time that the Macedonian armies came up against the Satrapy of Cappadocia, the Persian "King of Kings" himself, Shahanshah Darius III, arrived in Anatolia with three massive armies, commanded by himself, Ariarathes, and Vaumisa. Darius and Ariarathes marched to the Cappadocian capital of Gordion in central Anatolia to reinforce the beleaguered Cappadocians, who were forced to focus on Macedonian incursions from the south (led by Crios), the west (led by Alexander), and from the north (led by Balakros) at the same time. After Crios captured the major city of Mazaka (Kayseri) in early 333 BC, the Cappadocian general Kuri decided to march south from Gordion with his and Nebuchadrezzar's new armies and attack Crios' army as it rested and replenished outside the city walls. The two Cappadocian armies, totalling 3,428 troops, met Crios and garrison commander Hippokrates' 2,314-strong army outside of the city in a battle which was notionally a sure win for the Cappadocians.
Battle[]
However, the Persians underestimated their foe in Crios, who had served as Alexander's right-hand man since his Thracian campaign two years earlier. Crios had his cavalry positioned in the woods on his right flank, where they would launch an unexpected charge into the side of Kuri's army as it advanced to take on Crios' main body. When the first Cappadocian army marched into battle with the Macedonians, Crios sprung his trap, with the Macedonian cavalry attacking the Cappadocians' exposed left flank. As the Macedonian pikemen presented a strong challenge to the Cappadocian infantry, the Macedonian cavalry hammered the Cappadocian soldiers against the anvil of Crios' main body, rolling up the Cappadocian force and causing its collapse. When the second Cappadocian army arrived, the Macedonians defeated it piecemeal as its bodies of warriors arrived on the battlefield in separate formations. By then, the Macedonians outnumbered the Cappadocians, who found themselves surrounded. Kuri was killed, while his general Nebuchadrezzar escaped with the 1,132 remaining soldiers of the Persian army; the Persians lost two-thirds of their strength in the battle. However, the battle cost the Macedonians dearly, and the Macedonians lost both of their Greek Bronze Shield Pikemen phalanxes, two other phalanxes, and their two troops of Sarissa Lancers. Half of the Macedonian army was lost in the battle, and, anticipating that Darius would send one of his armies south to finish him off, Crios ultimately withdrew from Mazaka and retreated to Kelainai. Mazaka, along with its garrison commander Hippokrates, fell to Ariarathes' massive Persian army a month later.
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