Editing Alexander the Great (section)

===Assyria and Babylonia===
{{Further|Battle of Gaugamela}}
[[File:Charles Le Brun - Entry of Alexander into Babylon.JPG|thumb|''Entry of Alexander into Babylon'' by [[Charles Le Brun]] (1665)|upright=1]]
Leaving Egypt in 331&nbsp;BC, Alexander marched eastward into [[Achaemenid Assyria]] in [[Upper Mesopotamia]] (now northern [[Iraq]]) and defeated Darius again at the [[Battle of Gaugamela]].<ref>{{harvnb|Arrian|1976|loc=III 7–15}}; also in a [https://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t40.html contemporary Babylonian account of the battle of Gaugamela] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224083355/http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t40.html |date=24 February 2017 }}</ref> Darius once more fled the field, and Alexander chased him as far as [[Erbil|Arbela]]. Gaugamela would be the final and decisive encounter between the two.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hanson |first=Victor Davis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGr16-CxpH8C |title=Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power |year= 2007 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-42518-8|access-date=5 September 2020}}</ref> Darius fled over the mountains to [[Ecbatana]] (modern [[Hamadan]]) while Alexander captured [[Babylon]].<ref name="AIII16" />

[[Babylonian astronomical diaries]] say that "the king of the world, Alexander" sent his scouts with a message to the people of Babylon before entering the city: "I shall not enter your houses".<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.livius.org/sources/content/oriental-varia/a-contemporary-account-of-the-battle-of-gaugamela/| title = a contemporary account of the battle of Gaugamela| access-date = 16 July 2021| archive-date = 12 August 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210812155458/https://www.livius.org/sources/content/oriental-varia/a-contemporary-account-of-the-battle-of-gaugamela/| url-status = live}}</ref>