The September meeting of the Society was addressed by our fellow member, Mr Achilles Kallos, who presented a fascinating talk entitled "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great".

Mr Kallos began by describing Alexander's development as a young man, through several years of instruction under Aristotle until he ascended the throne in 336B.C. at the age of twenty

Alexander embarked almost immediately on his program of exploration and conquest, with his first objective in Asia Minor being the city of Troy. Winning a major battle against the Persians at the River Granicus facilitated his move south

His next important engagement against the Persians under Darius, was at Issus in 333 B.C. which he won before capturing, after a 7 month siege, the island city of Tyre.

In 332 B.C. he entered Egypt, where he sent troops down to present day Jordan to the oasis at Petra, the trade link between Asia and the West.

In mentioning the battles Mr Kallos made use of maps to illustrate Alexander's strategies and battle tactics.

After conquering the Persians, Alexander marched down to Babylon and thence into Asia proper, arriving at Samarkand in 328. Alexander's routes through the Khyber Pass and through Pakistan to India were vividly illustrated by means of excellent slides.

Mr Kallos also discussed Alexander's return to Babylon, his death in 323 B.C. and emphasised the fact that Alexander had covered 27,000km in his eight years of conquest.

In conclusion, Mr Kallos provided an interesting insight into Alexander's character and showed how his method of encouraging integration between his troops and the nations he conquered, had contributed largely to his success.

The interest aroused by the talk was clearly evident at question time and Mr Ian Uys thanked the speaker on behalf of the Society.

At the next meeting on Wednesday 17th October, Professor W D Maxwell-Mahon will address the Society on the Gallipoli Campaign

8th November - meeting: Museum Evening.

Society Braai - 13th October

Owing to a lack of support, the braai has had to be cancelled. As of the date of this newsletter, only six couples had responded.

03 October 1990
JENNY COPLEY