jul 31, 330 BC - Darius is killed

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After the battle of Gaugamela, Parmenion rounded up the Persian baggage train while Alexander and his own bodyguard chased after Darius in hopes of catching up.
Substantial amounts of loot were gained following the battle, with 4,000 talents captured, as well as the King's personal chariot and bow.
Darius planned to head further east, and raise another army to face Alexander while he and the Macedonians headed to one of the Persian capitals, Babylon, and then to another, Susa. There, Alexander found wealth that even he had never imagined possible.
He paid his troops, and sent a sum of money six times the annual income of Athens to Greece, in order to put down a Spartan rebellion. Darius, meanwhile, dispatched letters to his eastern satrapies asking them to remain loyal. The satrapies, however, had other intentions, and quickly capitulated to Alexander.

Bessus fatally stabbed Darius, before fleeing eastwards. Darius was found by one of Alexander's scouts, moaning in pain.
Darius, dying and chained to a baggage train being pulled by an ox, was lying next to a lone dog and royal robes covered in blood.
He asked for water, and then, clutching the Macedonian soldier's hand, said that he was thankful that he would not die utterly alone and abandoned. Alexander, who may have felt genuinely saddened at Darius' death, buried Darius next to his Achaemenid predecessors in a full military funeral.
Alexander claimed that, while dying, Darius had named Alexander as his successor to the Achaemenid throne and had asked Alexander to avenge his death, a striking irony since it was Alexander who had pursued him to his death. The Achaemenid Persian Empire is considered to have fallen with the death of Darius.

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