Battle of Jaxartes

Overview

The Battle of Jaxartes was fought in 329 BC by Alexander the Great and his Hellenic (Greek) army against the Saka at the River Jaxartes, now known as the Syr Darya River. The site of the battle straddles the modern borders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, just south-west of the ancient city of Tashkent and north-east of Khujand.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Jaxartes was fought in 329 BC along the River Jaxartes — modern Syr Darya — between Alexander the Great's Macedonian and allied Greek forces and the Saka, in the far northeastern reach of Alexander's campaigns. The engagement took place in a region straddling what are now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, southwest of ancient Tashkent and northeast of Khujand, placing it among the most geographically remote operations of the Wars of Alexander the Great. With Macedonian casualties recorded at approximately 1,000 out of a force of 6,000 — a loss rate of roughly one in six — and Saka losses at around 1,200, the battle was a costly affair for both sides. The engagement extended Alexander's operational reach to the northeastern frontier of the former Achaemenid Empire and into the Central Asian steppe, representing the outer limit of Macedonian military projection in that direction.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (1)