The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
[189] This river is celebrated for the double victory of Cimon the
Athenian over the Persians, in B.C. 466. See Smith’s _Greece_, p. 252;
_Grote_, vol. v. p. 163.
[190] This lake is mentioned by _Herodotus_ (vii. 30), as being near
the city of Anava. It is now called Burdur.
[191] Here Cyrus the Younger reviewed his Grecian forces and found them
to be 11,000 hoplites and 2,000 peltasts. Here that prince had a palace
and park, in which rose the river Maeander, close to the source of the
Marsyas. See Xenophon (_Anab._, i. 2); compare _Curtius_ (iii. 1).
[192] _Curtius_ (iii. 1) says they made a truce with Alexander for
sixty days.
[193] Antigonus, called the One-eyed, was father of Demetrius
Poliorcetes. On the division of Alexander’s empire he received Phrygia,
Lycia, and Pamphylia. He eventually acquired the whole of Asia Minor;
but was defeated and slain at the battle of Ipsus by the allied forces
of Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus (B.C. 301). When he was
slain he was in his eighty-first year.
[194] Balacrus was left by Alexander to command in Egypt. See _Arrian_
(iii. 5).
[195] The capital of the old Phrygian kings. It was rebuilt in the time
of Augustus, and called Juliopolis.
[196] This Ptolemy was killed at the battle of Issus (_Arrian_, ii.
110).
[197] We learn from _Curtius_ (iv. 34) that Alexander released these
prisoners at the request of ambassadors from Athens, who met him in
Syria after his return from Egypt.
[198] The other cities of Lesbos were Methymna, Antissa, Eresus, and
Pyrrha.
[199] Now called Cape Sigri, the west point of the island.
[200] The southern point of Euboea, now called Cape Mandili. Cf. Homer
(_Odyss._, iii. 177).
[201] The south-eastern point of Laconia, now called Cape Malia di St.
Angelo. It was dreaded by ancient mariners; see Homer (_Odyssey_, ix.
80); Ovid (_Amores_, ii. 16, 24); Vergil (_Aeneid_, v. 193). There was
a saying:—Μαλέας δὲ κάμψας ἐπιλάθου τῶν οἴκαδε (_Strabo_, viii. p. 250).
[202] In accordance with the convention of Corinth. Compare next
chapter. For the pillars compare _Herodotus_ (ii. 102, 106);
_Thucydides_ (v. 18, 47, 56); Aristophanes (_Acharnians_, 727;
_Lysistrata_, 513).
[203] This treaty was concluded by the Spartans with the king of
Persia, B.C. 387. It was designed to break up the Athenian supremacy.
It stipulated that all the Grecian colonies in Asia were to be given
to the Persian king; the Athenians were to retain only Imbros, Lesbos,
and Scyros; and all the other Grecian cities were to be autonomous. See
Xenophon (_Hellenics_, iv. 8; v. 1).
[204] Cf. ii. 13 infra.
[205] “Cyclades ideo sic appellatae, quod omnes ambiunt Delon partu
deorum insignem.”—_Ammianus_, xxii. 8, 2. Cf. Horace (_Carm._, i. 14,
19; iii. 28, 14).
[206] Cf. Vergil (_Aeneid_, ii. 21).
[207] The regent of Macedonia and Greece during Alexander’s absence.
[208] One of the Cyclades, a little to the north-east of Melos. It
was noted for the low morality of its inhabitants. See Aristophanes
(_Fragment_, 558; on the authority of Suidas).
[209] Euripus properly means any narrow sea, where the ebb and flow
of the tide is violent. The name was especially applied to the strait
between Boeotia and Euboea, where the ancients asserted the sea ebbed
and flowed seven times in the day (_Strabo_, ix. 1). Modern observers
have noticed these extraordinary tides. The present name of the
island, Negropont, is the Italian name formed from Egripo, the modern
corruption of Euripus. Cf. Cicero, _pro Muraena_, xvii.:—Quod fretum,
quem Euripum tot motus, tantas, tam varias habere putatis agitationes
fluctuum, quantas perturbationes et quantos aestus habet ratio
comitiorum. Aristotle, _Ethica Nicomachea_, ix. 6:—τῶν τοιούτων γὰρ
μένει τὰ βουλήματα, καὶ οὐ μεταῤῥεῖ ὥσπερ Εὔριπος.
[210] One of the Cyclades, about half-way between Attica and Siphnus.
[211] ἐπιπτῆναι, a poetical form for ἐπιπτέσθαι.
[212] Cf. _Justin_, xi. 7.
[213] Cf. _Curtius_, iii. 2 (Zumpt’s edition); Plutarch (_Alexander_,
18).
[214] Now called Angora. In the time of Alexander the country was named
Great Phrygia, the term Galatia being afterwards applied to it, from
the fact that it was conquered by the Gauls in the 3rd century B.C.
[215] Now called Kizil-Irmak, _i.e._ the Red River. It is the largest
river in Asia Minor, and separated the empires of Persia and Lydia,
until the conquest of the latter by Cyrus.
[216] The chief pass over the Taurus between Cappadocia and Cilicia.
It is more than 3,600 feet above the sea-level. Its modern name is
Golek-Boghaz. Cf. _Curtius_, iii. 9-11. It is called Tauri Pylae by
Cicero (_Epistolae ad Atticum_, v. 20, 2).
[217] See Xenophon (_Anabasis_, i. 2, 20, 21).
[218] _Curtius_ (iii. 11) says, that Alexander wondered at his own
good fortune, when he observed how easily Arsames might have blocked
up the pass. Cyrus the Younger was equally fortunate in finding this
impregnable pass abandoned by Syennesis, king of Cilicia. See Xenophon
(_Anabasis_, i. 2, 21).
[219] Now called Tersoos-Chai. See _Curtius_, iii. 12; _Justin_, xi. 8;
and Lucian (_De Domo_, i.). At Tarsus the emperor Julian was buried.
See _Ammianus_, xxv. 10, 5.
[220] Probably none of the physicians would venture to prescribe, for
fear of being held responsible for his death, which seemed likely to
ensue. Nine years after, when Hephaestion died of fever at Ecbatana,
Alexander caused the physician who had attended him to be crucified.
See _Arrian_, vii. 14; Plutarch (_Alexander_, 72).
[221] Cf. _Curtius_, iii. 14-16; _Diodorus_, xvii. 31; _Justin_, xi.
8; Plutarch (_Alex._, 19). The barbarous conduct of Alexander towards
Philotas four years after, when contrasted with his noble confidence
in Philip, shows the bad effect of his unparalleled success, upon his
moral character.
[222] This pass was called the _Syrian Gates_, lying between the shore
of the Gulf of Issus and Mount Amanus. Cyrus the Younger was six days
marching from Tarsus through this pass. See Xenophon (_Anab._, i. 4).
The Greeks often gave the name of Assyria to the country usually called
by them Syria. The Hebrew name for it is Aram (highland). Cf. Cicero
(_ad Diversos_, xv. 4, 4); _Diod._, xiv. 21.
[223] A city of Cilicia on the coast, a little west of the mouth of the
Cydnus.
[224] Said to have been the last of the Assyrian kings.
[225] Cf. _Strabo_ (xiv. 5) for a description of this statue.
[226] This was, doubtless, the arrow-headed writing which has
been deciphered by Sir Henry Rawlinson. Cf. _Herodotus_, iv. 87;
_Thucydides_, iv. 50.
[227] Now called Mezetlu. It was a Rhodian colony on the coast of
Cilicia, between the rivers Cydnus and Lamus. It was afterwards
re-named Pompeiopolis. The birthplace of Philemon, Aratus, and
Chrysippus.
[228] About £49,000.
[229] Asander was a nephew of Parmenio. He afterwards brought a
reinforcement to Alexander from Greece (_Arrian_, iv. 7). After the
king’s death he obtained the rule of Caria, but joining the party of
Ptolemy and Cassander, he was defeated by Antigonus, b.c. 313.
[230] These were Carian cities.
[231] Cos, the birthplace of Apelles and Hippocrates, is one of the
group of islands called Sporades, off the coast of Caria. Triopium is
the promontory terminating the peninsula of Cnidus, the south-west
headland of Asia Minor. Cf. _Tibullus_, ii. 3, 57; _Propertius_, i. 2,
1; ii. 1, 5; _Herodotus_, i. 174.
[232] Called by the Romans, Aesculapius. He was the god of the medical
art, and no doubt Alexander sacrificed to him, and celebrated the
games, in gratitude for his recovery from the fever he had had at
Tarsus.
[233] This plain is mentioned in _Homer_, vi. 201; _Herodotus_, vi.
95. The large river Pyramus, now called Jihan, falls into the sea near
Mallus.
[234] Mallus was said to have been founded by Amphilochus after the
fall of Troy. This hero was the son of Amphiaraüs, the great prophet of
Argos, whom Zeus is said to have made immortal. Magarsus, of Megarsa,
was the port of Mallus. The difference of meaning between θύειν
and ἐναγίζειν is seen from _Herodotus_, ii. 44; Plutarch (_Moralia_,
ii. p. 857 D).
[235] Usually called the Syrian Gates. See chap. v. note^1 supra.
[236] A city on the Gulf of Issus, being a settlement of the
Phoenicians. _Herodotus_ (iv. 38) calls the gulf the Myriandric Gulf.
Cf. Xenophon (_Anab._, 4).
[237] Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 29; _Curtius_, viii. 17.
[238] Aeschines tells us in his speech against Ctesiphon (p. 552), that
the anti-Macedonian statesmen at Athens at this time received letters
from their friends, stating that Alexander was caught and pinned up
in Cilicia. He says Demosthenes went about showing these letters and
boasting of the news. Josephus (_Antiquities of the Jews_, xi. 7, 3)
says that “not only Sanballat at Samaria but all those that were in
Asia also were persuaded that the Macedonians would not so much as come
to a battle with the Persians, on account of their multitude.”
[239] There are two passes by which the eastern countries are entered
from Cilicia; one on the south, near the sea, leads into Syria. The
other pass lies more to the north, and leads to the country near the
Euphrates. The latter was called the Amanic, and the former the Syrian
gate. Alexander had just passed through the Syrian gate in order to
march against Darius, at the very time that Darius was descending
into Cilicia by the Amanic gate, and occupying Issus with his
advanced guard. Alexander, who had reached Myriandrus in Syria, made
a countermarch to meet Darius. Plutarch (_Alex._, 20) says that they
missed each other in the night, which is quite a mistake.
[240] Cf. Sallust (_Catilina_, 59); Cæsar (_Bell. Gall._, ii. 25).
[241] See Xenophon (_Anab._, iii. 3).
[242] At Cunaxa. _Xenophon_ (ii. 2, 6) does not mention the name of the
place where the battle was fought, but says that he was informed it was
only 360 stadia (about 40 miles) from Babylon. We get the name Cunaxa
from Plutarch (_Life of Artaxerxes_, c. 8), who says it was 500 stadia
(about 58 miles) from Babylon.
[243] Callisthenes the historian, who accompanied Alexander into Asia,
states that the breadth of the plain between the mountain and the sea
was not more than fourteen stadia, or a little more than one English
mile and a half. See _Polybius_, xii. 17.
[244] These seem to have been foreign mercenaries. See _Polybius_, v.
79, 82; _Strabo_, xv. 3. Hesychius says that they were not a nation,
but foreigners serving for pay.
[245] Callisthenes—as quoted in _Polybius_, xii. 18—reckoned the
Grecian mercenaries of Darius at 30,000, and the cavalry at 30,000.
Arrian enumerates 90,000 heavy-armed, not including the cavalry. Yet
Polybius tries to prove that there was not room even for the 60,000
troops mentioned by Callisthenes.
[246] “The depth of this single phalanx is not given, nor do we know
the exact width of the ground which it occupied. Assuming a depth of
sixteen, and one pace in breadth to each soldier, 4,000 men would stand
in the breadth of a stadium of 250 paces; and therefore 80,000 men in
a breadth of twenty stadia. Assuming a depth of twenty-six, 6,500 men
would stand in the breadth of the stadium, and therefore 90,000 in a
total breadth of 14 stadia, which is that given by Kallisthenes. Mr.
Kinneir states that the breadth between Mount Amanus and the sea varies
between one and a half mile and three miles.”—_Grote._
[247] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 31), and Plutarch (_Alex._, 18), give the
same number; but _Justin_ (xi. 9) says the Persians numbered 400,000
infantry and 100,000 cavalry. It took five days for them to cross the
Euphrates, over bridges of boats (_Curtius_, iii. 17). The money alone
of the king required 600 mules and 300 camels to convey it (_Curtius_,
iii. 8).