The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
[307] For this use of ἐνύπνιον, cf. Homer (_Iliad_, ii. 56);
Aristophanes (_Wasps_, 1218).
[308] Cf. _Arrian_, i. 11 and 25 supra.
[309] The island was about half a mile from the mainland, and about a
mile in length.
[310] We learn from _Diodorus_ (xvii. 40) that the breadth of this mole
was about 200 feet.
[311] _Curtius_ (iv. 10) says that the timber was procured from
Lebanon, and the stones from Old Tyre on the mainland.
[312] Cf. _Polyaenus_ (iv. 3).
[313] Cf. Cæsar (_Bell. Gall._, vii. 24)—reliquasque res, quibus ignis
excitari potest, fundebant. Krüger has unnecessarily altered ἐπὶ ταύτῃ
into ἐπ’ αὐτήν (_i.e._ πρῷραν).
[314] _Curtius_ (iv. 12) says that the stern was loaded with stones and
sand.
[315] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 42) and _Curtius_ (iv. 12) say that a great
tempest helped to demolish the palisade.
[316] We learn from Josephus (_Antiquities of the Jews_, ix. 14), on
the authority of Menander, that when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, four
centuries before Alexander’s time, besieged Tyre, the other Phoenicians
supplied him with ships in like manner.
[317] This was a state vessel, or guardship, similar to the _Paralus_
and _Salaminia_ at Athens. See _Alciphron_, Bk. I. Epistle 11, with
Bergler’s note.
[318] See _Arrian_, ii. 2 supra.
[319] _Curtius_ (iv. 11) says that about thirty of the Macedonians
collecting timber in Lebanon were killed by a party of wild Arabs,
and that a few were also captured by them. _Lebanon_ is a Hebrew word
meaning _white_, like _Alpes_. It was so called on account of its white
cliffs, just as Britain is called by Aristotle, _Albion_, the Celtic
for white.
[320] Plutarch (_Life of Alexander_, 24) gives us, on the authority of
Chares, some details of daring valour on the part of Alexander in this
expedition.
[321] Cleander was put to death by Alexander for oppression in
exercising his duties as governor of Media. See _Arrian_, vi. 27 infra.
[322] In regard to this manœuvre, see _Herodotus_, vi. 12;
_Thucydides_, i. 49, with Arnold’s note.
[323] συμπεπηγμέναι:—“In the best authors πέπηγα is used as the perf.
pass. of πήγνυμι” (_Liddell & Scott_). Cf. v. 12, 4; 24, 4, infra.
[324] Cf. Plautus (_Mercator_, iv. 2, 5), _hortator remigum_.
[325] Amathus was a town on the south coast of Cyprus. It is now called
Limasol. Cf. _Herodotus_, v. 104-115; Tacitus (_Ann._, iii. 62); Vergil
(_Aeneid_, x. 51).
[326] Curium was also a town on the south coast of Cyprus.
[327] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 45) says, that after Admetus was killed,
Alexander recalled his men from the assault that night, but renewed it
next day.
[328] Agenor, the father of Cadmus, was the reputed founder of Tyre and
Sidon. See _Curtius_, iv. 19.
[329] The Tyrians had been encouraged in their resistance by the
promise of aid from their colony Carthage. But the Carthaginians
excused themselves on the ground of their own difficulties in
contending with the Greeks. The Tyrians however despatched their women,
children, and old men to Carthage for safety. See _Diodorus_, xvii. 40,
41; _Curtius_, iv. 8 and 15. We learn from _Diod._, xx. 14, that the
Carthaginians were in the habit of sending to the Tyrian Hercules the
tenth of their revenues.
[330] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 46) and _Curtius_ (iv. 19) state that 2,000
Tyrians who had escaped the massacre were hanged on the seashore by
Alexander’s order.
[331] The end of July and beginning of August B.C. 332. _Diodorus_
(xvii. 46) tells us that the siege lasted seven months. See also
_Curtius_ (iv. 20) and Plutarch (_Life of Alexander_, 24). We find from
_Strabo_ (xvi. 2) that Tyre again became a flourishing city.
[332] About £2,440,000.
[333] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 54) puts the arrival of this embassy after
Alexander’s conquest of Egypt. _Curtius_ (iv. 21) says that the name of
the daughter whom Darius offered to Alexander was Statira.
[334] The term Palestine is derived from _Pĕlesheth_, the name given
in Hebrew to the coast district in the south-west of Palestine, the
inhabitants of which were called _Pĕlishtim_, or Philistines. As this
tract of country lay directly between Phoenicia and Egypt, it became
known to the Greeks sooner than the rest of the Holy Land, and they
called it Syria Palaestinē. The name was gradually extended until
it became the usual one for all the Holy Land among Greek and Latin
writers. An interesting account of Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem and
his dealings with the Jews is found in Josephus (_Antiquities_, xi. 8).
[335] Nearly two miles and a half. _Strabo_ (xvi. 2) says that the city
was only seven stades from the sea.
[336] Gaza is the Greek form of the Hebrew name _Azzah_ (fortress). Its
position on the border of Egypt and Palestine has given it importance
from the earliest times. It was one of the five cities of the
Philistines; and retained its own king till a late period, as we learn
from Zechariah ix. 5. It was the scene of a battle between Richard I.
and the Saracens. It is now called Guzzeh, with a population of 15,000.
[337] Compare _Arrian_, i. 11 and 25; ii. 18. Plutarch (_Alex._, 25)
says that the bird was entangled and caught among the nets and cords.
See also _Curtius_, iv. 26.
[338] A stadium equalled 606-3/4 feet.
[339] Cf. _Thucydides_, ii. 76 (description of the siege of Plataeae).
[340] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 48) says that the siege of Gaza lasted two
months. _Polybius_ (xvi. 40) speaks of the resolution and valour of
the Gazaeans. We learn from _Curtius_ (iv. 28) and from _Dionysius_ of
Halicarnassus (_De Compositione Verborum_, pp. 123-125) that Alexander
treated the brave Batis with horrible cruelty. He ordered his feet to
be bored and brazen rings to be put through them, after which the naked
body was tied to the back of a chariot which was driven by Alexander
himself round the city, in imitation of the treatment of Hector by
Achilles at Troy. Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 14. Dionysius quotes from Hegesias
of Magnesia, who wrote a history of Alexander, not now extant. Curtius
says that nearly 10,000 of the Persians and Arabs were slain at Gaza.
_Strabo_ (xvi. 2) says that in his time (_i.e._ in the reign of
Augustus) the city still remained desolate, as it was left by Alexander.
[341] Pelusium is identical with the Hebrew _Sin_ (a marsh) the most
easterly city of Egypt, which is called in Ezekiel xxx. 15, the
_strength of Egypt_, because it was the key to that country from its
frontier position. Cf. _Herodotus_, iii. 5. _Strabo_ (xvii. 1) says
it was situated near marshes. It stood east of the Pelusiac branch of
the Nile, about 2-1/2 miles from the sea. This mouth of the river was
choked up with sand as early as the first century of the Christian era
(_Lucan_, viii. 465). Sennacherib advanced as far as this city, and
here Cambyses defeated the Egyptians, B.C. 525. Iphicrates the Athenian
advanced to Pelusium with the satrap Pharnabazus, B.C. 373. Cf. Vergil
(_Georgic_, i. 228); _Martial_, xiii. 9; _Silius_, iii. 375.
[342] _Curtius_ (iv. 22) says that this fleet was under the command of
Hephaestion.
[343] His predecessor, Sabaces, was slain at Issus. See _Arrian_, ii.
11 supra.
[344] _Curtius_ (iv. 29) says that Mazaces surrendered to Alexander
treasure to the amount of 800 talents, nearly £200,000.
[345] Memphis, the capital of Egypt, is called in the Hebrew Bible,
_Noph_. In Hosea ix. 6 it is called _Moph_. The Egyptian name was
_Mĕnoph_, of which both Moph and Noph are contractions. The name
signifies _place of Ftah_, the Egyptian name for Vulcan. Memphis
stood on the west bank of the Nile, and is said by _Herodotus_ (ii.
99) to have been founded by Menes. It had a circumference of fifteen
miles. Its numerous temples were famous and are mentioned in the poems
of Martial, Ovid, and Tibullus. It never recovered the devastation
committed by Cambyses, who was exasperated by its resistance. The rise
of Alexandria as the capital under the Ptolemies, hastened the decline
of Memphis. At Gizeh, near Memphis, are the three great pyramids, being
of the height respectively of 460, 446, and 203 feet. Not far off are
six smaller ones. Near the second pyramid is the Sphinx, cut out of the
solid rock, which was probably an object of worship. Cf. _Apollodorus_,
ii. 4.
[346] Heliopolis is known in Hebrew as _On_, which is an Egyptian
word meaning _Sun_. It is mentioned in Gen. xli. 45, 50; xlvi. 20.
In Ezek. xxx. 17, it is called _Aven_, which is the same word in
Hebrew as On, with a variation of the vowels. In Jer. xliii. 13 it
is called _Beith-Shemesh_, which in Hebrew means _House of the Sun_,
a translation of the Egyptian name. The Greeks called it Heliopolis,
_City of the Sun_. The great temple of the Sun and its priesthood
are described by Herodotus and Strabo. There are still remaining
a beautiful obelisk of red granite nearly 70 feet high, and the
brick wall of the temple 3,750 feet long by 2,370 feet broad. Cf.
_Apollodorus_, ii. 4.
[347] The word Nile never occurs in the Hebrew Bible; but that river is
called _Yeor_ (river). In Amos viii. 8 it is called _Yeor Mitsraim_,
the river of Egypt; but it is usually called simply _Yeor_, the river.
In Isa. xxiii. 3 the corn of Egypt is called the _harvest of Yeor_, or
the Nile. In like manner Avon, Ganges, Rhine, mean _river_. The Greek
name _Neilos_, or Nile, means a _bed with a stream_, and was originally
applied to the land of Egypt, as the valley of the Nile. It rises in
the lake Victoria Nyanza, and has a course of 3,300 miles. In Isa.
xxiii. 3 and Jer. ii. 18 the Nile is called _Shichor_ (turbid). In
Homer (_Odys._, iv. 477, etc.) the river is called Egypt as well as the
country. Cf. _Ammianus_, xxii. 15.
[348] The Bull of Memphis, sacred to _Ftah_, the god of fire. See
_Herodotus_, iii. 27, 28; _Strabo_, xvii. 1; _Ammianus_, xxii. 14; Ovid
(_Met._, ix. 690).
[349] Now Aboukir, about 13 miles north-east of Alexandria, near the
westernmost mouth of the Nile. Cf. Aeschўlus (_Supp._, 311; _Prom._,
846); _Strabo_, xvii. 1, 17; Tacitus (_Ann._, ii. 60).
[350] Usually called Lake Mareotis, now Mariût. Cf. Vergil (_Georgic_,
ii. 91).
[351] We learn, from _Curtius_ (iv. 33), that Alexander at first
resolved to build the city on the island of Pharos, but finding it too
small, built it on the mainland.
[352] A goddess representing the moon, and wife of Osiris the sun-god.
[353] Cf. _Strabo_ (xvii. 1); Plutarch (_Alex._, 26); _Diodorus_ (xvii.
52); _Curtius_ (iv. 33); _Ammianus_ (xxii. 16).
[354] We find from _Valerius Maximus_ (i. 4) and _Ammianus_, l.c.,
that his name was Dinocrates.
[355] Krüger substitutes ἐπενόει for ἐποίει, comparing iv. 1, 3, and 4,
1 infra.
[356] See _Arrian_, ii. 2 supra.
[357] Methymna was, next to Mitylene, the most important city in Lesbos.
[358] Chares was an Athenian who had been one of the generals at the
fatal battle of Chaeronea. _Curtius_ (iv. 24) says that he consented to
evacuate Mitylene with his force of 2,000 men on condition of a free
departure.
[359] On an island in the Nile, of the same name, opposite Syene. It
served as the southern frontier garrison station.
[360] The temple of Jupiter Ammon was in the oasis of Siwah, to the
West of Egypt. Its ruins were discovered by Browne in 1792. This oasis
is about 6 miles long and 3 broad. The people called Libyans occupied
the whole of North Africa excluding Egypt. In Hebrew they are called
_Lubim_ (sunburnt). See 2 Chron. xii. 3; xvi. 8; Dan. xi. 43; Nah. iii.
9. Cf. _Herodotus_, ii. 32; iv. 168-199.
[361] King of the island Seriphus. Cf. _Herodotus_, ii. 91.
[362] The gigantic son of Poseidon and Ge.
[363] King of Egypt, who was said to have sacrificed all foreigners
that visited the land.
[364] Perseus was the grandfather of Alemena, the mother of Hercules.