The Sogdian Rock was a Persian fortress located in Sogdiana (near present-day Samarkand, Uzbeskistan) which fell to the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great in 327 BC. The fortress was well-provisioned and considered to be impregnable, and, when Alexander laid siege to the Sogdian Rock, the defenders boasted that he would need men with wings to capture it. Alexander responded by dispatching 300 rock climbers to infiltrate the fort, and 30 men died in the process. However, the arrival of the Macedonian soldiers scared the Persian defenders into surrendering without a fight, and the Bactrian noblewoman Roxana fell into his captivity. He fell in love with her at first sight, and he married her after leading his army and his followers into Bactria.
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