Battle of Gaugamela · Nabard-e Gaugamela

Culture of origin: Iranian · Historical

Holiday sources: Iran

At Gaugamela, about 60 miles from Arbela, east of today's Mosul, Alexander the Great won his decisive victory over Darius III. Darius had flattened a wide plain to give his scythed chariots and his strong Iranian cavalry the advantage, but Alexander outmanoeuvred him. A lunar eclipse eleven days earlier was read as a sign of Darius's fall, and a Babylonian astronomical diary has settled the long-debated date.