U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will hardly ever manage to make his way to Persepolis. But Alexander the Great did—and not only that: urged on by an intoxicated woman, he set the city ablaze. In the end, only a few lonely columns were left standing.
An intoxicated woman?
Ancient historians tell us her name was Thais. She may have been in her twenties or thirties when she joined Alexander on his bloody conquest of Persia. The empire was so vast it could make one dizzy, stretching from the Mediterranean to India. When the drama was over, tens of thousands lay dead on the battlefield.
We must go far back in time—to the year 334 BC. That was the year the young Alexander set out on a campaign that would shake large parts of the known world. He was only 22 when he took the field. Yet as the young king of Macedon and the son of the murdered Philip II of Macedon, he radiated a rare authority. Moreover, he had received military training from childhood and several years of instruction from none other than Aristotle.
The rest we know in broad outline. After securing Greece, he crossed the Hellespont, the narrow strait linking Europe with Asia Minor. His force consisted of around 40,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. A smaller number of women also accompanied the army as “hetaerae.” The term comes from the Greek word hetairos, meaning “companion” (or “friend” in the masculine form).
These women stood out. They were often well educated and capable of discussing politics, philosophy, and art. In this way, they gained access to the world of men, where they could deliver speeches and take part in drinking parties. No formal education was required to become a hetaera, but the role in practice demanded training and skill.
Many hetaerae could sing, play instruments, and recite poetry. They also needed a well-developed ability to “read the room.” When should they speak, and when should they remain silent? And how should they behave to win the trust of powerful men?
We know little about Thais, but as a hetaera she became the companion of Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander’s most trusted officers. Perhaps she was his lover. In the years that followed, she lived among a military elite constantly on the move.
It is almost unbelievable, but Alexander the Great needed only four years to bring the vast Persian Empire to its knees. The young Macedonian triumphed in battle after battle, often against far larger forces. Mobility, tactical brilliance, and his ability to choose the time and place of engagement gave him the advantage.
Tehran did not exist in Alexander’s time. In antiquity, the area consisted mainly of villages and farmland. There were, however, plenty of cities to conquer. Babylon—in present-day Iraq—was one of the largest in the world at the time, yet it surrendered without a fight. Susa, another great city, did the same. Here the conqueror found one of the largest treasuries in the Persian Empire. Ancient sources report that it took months to transport the enormous quantities of gold and silver onward. This plunder gave Alexander the financial strength to continue his campaign deeper into Asia.
Later, in 324 BC, Susa became the scene of a much-discussed event: Alexander arranged a mass wedding in which he and eighty of his officers married Persian women. The wedding was an attempt to unite the Greek and Persian elites into a single ruling class. Alexander had three years earlier married Roxana, but that did not prevent him from taking further wives. He now married two more—Stateira II and Parysatis II—both members of the Persian royal family.Had Thais been as skilled with the pen as she was with speech, she might have written a gripping diary of battles, intrigues, feasts, and marriages. But the texts of antiquity are overwhelmingly written by men. Many women were indeed literate, yet they lived in an oral culture in which power and influence were primarily exercised through conversation.
In 330 BC, Alexander stands before Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. The city is filled with treasures, and he allows it to be plundered. What happens next has fascinated historians for more than two thousand years. According to writers such as Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus, a lavish banquet was held in the palace. Wine flowed, spirits ran high, and the intoxication of victory took over.
In the midst of the revelry, Thais rises and delivers a fiery speech. She reminds the audience of how the Persian king Xerxes I had burned Athens nearly 150 years earlier. Now, she says, the time for revenge has come. What could be more fitting than setting fire to the royal palace?
“Why do you hesitate?” she is said to have asked Alexander. “This is the moment! Go before us with a torch and avenge Greece!”
The atmosphere in the hall turns electric.“Of all your achievements, this will be the greatest: to punish the Persians for what they did to Greece. They burned the temples and destroyed Athens. Now you have the power to avenge us. Why not do it with a single act that will be remembered forever? Let us set fire to the palace, so that it will be known throughout the world that women from Greece took revenge on Persia!”
Alexander, inflamed by wine and applause, allows himself to be swept along. He seizes a torch, and Thais does the same. Together they lead a procession into the night, up toward the great palaces. The fire spreads quickly through woodwork, curtains, carpets, and decorations. The magnificent city built by Darius I and Xerxes I is soon engulfed in flames—and Persepolis is reduced to ashes.But what really happened? Was the burning a spontaneous drunken impulse, or a calculated political act staged to mark the death of the Persian Empire?
Already in antiquity, historians disagreed. Some sources claim Alexander regretted the act the very next day. Others argue that the fire was carefully planned, intended as a signal to Persians and others that a new world order had arrived. The story of Thais’ role is equally difficult to verify. Was she truly the driving force behind the act? Or was she turned into a scapegoat in a story that required drama?
We will never know. The destruction of Persepolis was, in any case, a major symbolic defeat for the Persian Empire. Months later, King Darius III is captured and killed. Alexander now assumes control of his conquered realm and begins to adopt Persian dress. Several more years of campaigning follow in Afghanistan and Central Asia.
But he does not stop there. In 326 BC, he orders his troops to march into India. He wins the first great battle, but encounters war elephants and an enemy that fights with utter ferocity.
Now his soldiers refuse to go on. After years of marching through deserts, mountains, and unknown lands, they want to go home—and Alexander is forced to turn back.
The retreat is brutal, and thousands die of thirst and exhaustion. Eventually, Alexander returns to Babylon, where he begins planning new campaigns. But then, suddenly, he falls ill. A few hours later, he dies—only 32 years old.
But what became of Thais?
After the night in Persepolis, she is scarcely mentioned, though sources suggest she remained associated with Ptolemy. The empire Alexander left behind was divided into three main kingdoms. One of them was Egypt, where Ptolemy established himself as king, with Alexandria as his capital. Several later sources describe Thais as his wife or long-term partner. Some even say she bore him children.
If so, she went from being a hetaera in a campaigning army to becoming a powerful woman in a great and important kingdom. But beyond that, we know nothing. We do not know how she lived her final years, what role she truly played, or when she died. Historians such as Plutarch and others were primarily interested in her alleged role in Persepolis. After that, they lose interest.
And so Thais—the woman with the torch—disappears from history as suddenly as she entered it.
