The Battle of Gaugamela: Overlooking the Battleground

From Wikipedia: "The Battle of Gaugamela, also called the Battle of Arbela... took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great and the Persian Army under King Darius III. It was the second and final battle between the two kings, and is considered to be the final blow to the Achaemenid Empire, resulting in its complete conquest by Alexander.

The fighting took place in Gaugamela, a village on the banks of the river Bumodus, north of Arbela (modern-day Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan). Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Army of Macedon emerged victorious due to the employment of superior tactics and the clever usage of light infantry forces. It was a decisive victory for the League of Corinth, and it led to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire and of Darius III."

View from the hilltop out to the surrounding plain. Presumably the battle would have been fought mainly on level territory like this, rather than on local hills.

A view from the hilltop down to the schoolyard at the base of the hill. The quasi-militaristic alignment of the children on the soccer field, with a "commanding officer" in yellow shirt, enhances the potential connection of this ground with the battlefield.

These boys came up the hill to see what we were doing, and I persuaded them to line up to simulate a military formation.