Chapter 14

115Plutarch (Life of Alex., 15), says that Alexander also went through the ceremony, still customary in his own day, of anointing himself with oil and running up to the tomb naked. Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, x. 4) Cicero (Pro Archia, ch. 10).

116By Pindar and Bacchylides.

117See Xenophon’sAnabasis, Book ii.

118A town in the Macedonia district of Mygdonia, south of Lake Bolbe. It is now called Polina.

119We find fromDiodorus(xvii. 7), that the Persian king had subsidized this great general and 5,000 Greek mercenaries to protect his seaboard from the Macedonians. Before the arrival of Alexander, he had succeeded in checking the advance of Parmenio and Callas. If Memnon had lived and his advice been adopted by Darius, the fate of Persia might have been very different. Cf. Plutarch (Life of Alex., 18).

120Diodorus(xvii. 18) says that Memnon, while advising the Persian generals to lay waste the country, and to prevent the Macedonians from advancing through scarcity of provisions, also urged them to carry a large force into Greece and Macedonia, and thus transfer the war into Europe.

121The Granicus rises in Mount Ida, and falls into the Propontis near Cyzicus. Ovid (Metam., xi. 763) calls itGranicus bicornis.

122This was a brigade of about 1,000 men. SeeLivy, xxxvii. 42.

123ὑποφθάσομεν. This future is used by the later writers for the Attic ὑποφθήσομαι. It is found however in Xenophon.

124Craterus was one of Alexander’s best generals. On the death of the king he received the government of Macedonia and Greece in conjunction with Antipater, whose daughter he married. He fell in battle against Eumenes (B.C. 321).

125Calas was appointed viceroy of Phrygia. He consequently took no further part in Alexander’s campaigns after this.

126Alexander had three generals named Philip, two of whom are mentioned here as sons of Amyntas and Menelaüs. The third was son of Machatas, and was left in India as viceroy.

127Son of Tyrimmas, was commander of the Odrysian cavalry. See iii. 12 infra.

128Diodorus(xvii. 19) says that the Persian cavalry numbered 10,000, and their infantry 100,000. Both these numbers are inaccurate. We know fromArrian(chaps. 12 and 13) that the Persian infantry was inferior in number to that of Alexander.

129This is an Homeric name for Mars the war-god. InHomerAres is the Trojan and Enyalius the Grecian war-god. Hence they are mentioned as different in Aristophanes (Pax, 457). See Paley’s note onHomer(vii. 166). As to the practice of shouting the war-cry to Mars before battle, see Xenophon (Anab., i. 8, 18; v. 2, 14). The Scholiast onThucydides(i. 50) says that the Greeks used to sing two paeans, one to Mars before battle, another to Apollo after it.

130ὡς ἀνυστόν = ὡς δυνατόν. Cf.Arrian, iv. 12, 6; Xenophon (Anab., i. 8, 11;Res. Laced., i. 3).

131ξυνειστήκει μάχη. This is a common expression with Arrian, copied fromHerodotus(i. 74,et passim).

132Plutarch (Alex., 16);Diodorus(xvii. 20).

133Diodorus(xvii. 21) says that more than 10,000 of the Persian infantry were killed, and 2,000 cavalry; and that more than 20,000 were made prisoners.

134Her name was Statira.

135An important city in Macedonia on the Thermaic gulf, named after a temple of Zeus.

136Lysippus of Sicyon was one of the most famous of Greek statuaries. None of his works remain, inasmuch as they were all executed in bronze. Alexander published an edict that no one should paint his portrait but Apelles, and that no one should make a statue of him but Lysippus. When Metellus conquered Macedonia, he removed this group of bronze statues to Rome, to decorate his own portico. See Pliny (Nat. Hist., xxxiv. 19);Velleius Paterculus(i. 11).

137As most of the infantry on the Persian side were Grecian mercenaries, who, according toPlutarch, fought with desperate valour, and, according toArrianhimself, all the infantry were killed except 2,000, the number of Alexander’s slain must have been larger than Arrian here states.

138At Corinth,B.C.336.

139For the fact that the Acropolis of Athens was often called simplypolis, seeThucydides, ii. 15; Xenophon (Anab.vii. 1, 27);Antiphon(146, 2); Aristophanes (Equites, 1093;Lysistrata, 758).

140A city at the foot of Mount Ida.

141A city of Bithynia, on the Propontis.

142About eight miles.

143This river flows through Phrygia and Lydia, and falls into the gulf of Smyrna. Its present name is Kodus-Çhai. See Vergil (Georg., ii. 137);Silius, i. 159; Claudian (Raptus Proserpinae, ii. 67).

144Nearly two-and-a-half miles.

145For a description of this fortress, seeHerodotus, i. 84.

146Memnon had succeeded his brother Mentor as governor for the Persian king of the territory near the Hellespont. SeeDiodorus, xvii. 7.

147This man took refuge with Darius, and distinguished himself at the battle of Issus. See Plutarch (Alex., 20);Curtius, iii. 28. He met with his death soon after in Egypt. SeeArrian, ii. 6 and 13;Diod., xvii. 48.

148The temple of Artemis at Ephesus had been burnt down by Herostratus in the night on which Alexander was born (Oct. 13-14,B.C.356), and at this time was being restored by the joint efforts of the Ionian cities. SeeStrabo, xiv. 1. Heropythus and Syrphax are not mentioned by any other writers.

149This was the Carian Magnesia, situated on the Lethaeus, a tributary of the Maeander. Tralles was on the Eudon, another tributary of the Maeander. SeeJuvenal, iii. 70.

150Lysimachus was of mean origin, his father having been a serf in Sicily. He was one of Alexander’s confidential body-guards, and on the death of the great king obtained Thrace as his portion of the dismembered empire. In conjunction with Seleucus he won the battle of Ipsus, by which he obtained a great part of Asia Minor. He ultimately acquired all the European dominions of Alexander in addition to Asia Minor; but in his eightieth year he was defeated and slain by Seleucus at the battle of Corus,B.C.281. Sintenis was the first to substituteLysimachusforAntimachus, the reading of the MSS. Cf. vi. 28 infra.

151Eleven in number. SeeHerodotus, i. 149-151.

152Thirteen in number, of which Miletus and Ephesus were the chief in importance.

153For the celebrated interview of Alexander with Apelles at Ephesus, see Aelian (Varia Historia, ii. 3).

154Cf.Herodotus, vi. 7. Here the Persians destroyed the Ionic fleet,B.C.497.

155Famous for the victory won near it by Leotychides and Xanthippus over the Persians,B.C.479.

156Cf. Vergil (Aeneid, vi. 3).Obvertunt pelago proras.See Conington’s note.

157Strabo(xiv. 1) says that Miletus had four harbours.

158ἐφομαρτούντων. This word is rare in prose. See Homer (Iliad, viii. 191);Apollonius Rhodius, i. 201.

159Miletus lay nearly ten miles south of the mouth of the Maeander.

160A similar stratagem was used by Lysander at Aegospotami,B.C.405. See Xenophon (Hellenics, ii. 1).

161Iassus was a city in Caria on the Iassian Gulf, founded by the Argives and further colonized by the Milesians.

162Caria formed the south-west angle of Asia Minor. The Greeks asserted that the Carians were emigrants from Crete. We learn from Thucydides and Herodotus that they entered the service of foreign rulers. They formed the body-guard of queen Athaliah, who had usurped the throne and stood in need of foreign mercenaries. The word translated in our Bible in 2 Kings xi. 4, 19 ascaptains, ought to be renderedCarians. See Fuerst’sHebrew Lexicon,sub voceכָּרִֽי

163Now called Budrum. It was the birthplace of the historians Herodotus and Dionysius.

164Little more than half a mile.

165Now called Melasso, a city of Caria, about ten miles from the Gulf of Iassus.

166A colony of Troezen, on the western extremity of the same peninsula on which stood Halicarnassus.

167Diodorus(xvii. 25) says that this incident occurred in the night, which is scarcely probable. Compare the conduct of the two centurions Pulfio and Varenus in the country of the Nervii. Cæsar (Gallic War, v. 44).

168Compare the sieges of Avaricum, Gergovia, and Alesia by Cæsar (Gallic War, lib. vii.); and that of Saguntum by Hannibal. SeeLivy, xxi. 7-15.

169This use of ἀμφί with the Dative, is poetical. The Attic writers use περί with the Accusative. Cf. ii. 3, 8; iii. 30, 1.

170There were at least four generals in Alexander’s army of this name. The one here mentioned was probably not the famous son of Lagus.

171Diodorus(xvii. 25-27) gives a very different account of the last struggle of the besieged in Halicarnassus. When the leaders saw that they must eventually succumb, they made a last desperate effort to destroy Alexander’s military engines. Ephialtes, the eminent Athenian exile, headed the sally, which was effected by troops simultaneously issuing from all the gates at daybreak. The advanced guard of the Macedonians, consisting of young troops, were put to rout; but the veterans of Philip restored the battle under a man named Atharrias. Ephialtes was slain, and his men driven back into the city.

172Hecatomnus, king of Caria, left three sons, Mausolus, Hidrieus, and Pixodarus; and two daughters, Artemisia and Ada. Artemisia married Mausolus, and Ada married Hidrieus. All these children succeeded their father in the sovereignty, Pixodarus being the last surviving son.

173Amyntas, king of Macedonia, grandfather of Alexander the Great, adopted the celebrated Athenian general Iphicrates, in gratitude to him as the preserver of Macedonia. See Aeschines (De Falsa Legatione, pp. 249, 250).

174SeeArrian, ii. 20 infra.

175The Marmarians alone defended their city with desperate valour. They finally set fire to it, and escaped through the Macedonian camp to the mountains. SeeDiodorus(xvii. 28). As to Xanthus the river, see Homer (Iliad, ii. 877; vi. 172); Horace (Carm., iv. 6, 26).

176Lycia was originally called Milyas; but the name was afterwards applied to the high table in the north of Lycia, extending into Pisidia. SeeHerodotus, i. 173.

177Phaselis was a seaport of Lycia on the Gulf of Pamphylia. It is now called Tekrova.

178He also crowned with garlands the statue of Theodectes the rhetorician, which the people of Phaselis, his native city, had erected to his memory. This man was a friend and pupil of Aristotle, the tutor of Alexander. See Plutarch (Life of Alex., 17); Aristotle (Nicom. Ethics, vii. 7).

179Philip was murdered by Pausanias. Three only of his reputed accomplices are known by name, and they were Alexander, Heromenes, and Arrhabaeus, sons of Aëropus. The two latter were put to death; but the first named was not only spared, but advanced to high military command for being the first to salute Alexander as king. CompareCurtius(vii. 1);Justin(xi. 2). Alexander was accused by some of forgiving his father’s murderers. Probably the reference was to his kind treatment of Olympias and this Alexander. SeeCurtius, vi. 43.

180That of the Hellespontine Phrygia. See chap. xvii. supra.

181See chap. xvii. supra.

182Nearly £250,000.

183See chap. xi. supra.

184Compare Plutarch (Alex., 17). Just as the historians of Alexander affirmed that the sea near Pamphylia providentially made way for him, so the people of Thapsacus, when they saw the army of Cyrus cross the Euphrates on foot, said that the river made way for him to come and take the sceptre (Xen.,Anab., i. 4). So also the inhabitants prostrated themselves before Lucullus when the same river subsided and allowed his army to cross (Plutarch,Lucullus, chap. xxiv.). There was the same omen in the reign of Tiberius, when Vitellius, with a Roman army, crossed the Euphrates to restore Tiridates to the throne of Parthia (Tacitus,Annals, vi. 37). Cf.Strabo, xiv. 3.

185Aspendus was on the Eurymedon.

186About £12,000.

187Sidē was on the coast of Pamphylia, a little west of the river Melas.

188Syllium was about five miles from the coast, between Aspendus and Side.

189This river is celebrated for the double victory of Cimon the Athenian over the Persians, inB.C.466. See Smith’sGreece, p. 252;Grote, vol. v. p. 163.

190This lake is mentioned byHerodotus(vii. 30), as being near the city of Anava. It is now called Burdur.

191Here 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); compareCurtius(iii. 1).

192Curtius(iii. 1) says they made a truce with Alexander for sixty days.

193Antigonus, 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.

194Balacrus was left by Alexander to command in Egypt. SeeArrian(iii. 5).

195The capital of the old Phrygian kings. It was rebuilt in the time of Augustus, and called Juliopolis.

196This Ptolemy was killed at the battle of Issus (Arrian, ii. 110).

197We learn fromCurtius(iv. 34) that Alexander released these prisoners at the request of ambassadors from Athens, who met him in Syria after his return from Egypt.

198The other cities of Lesbos were Methymna, Antissa, Eresus, and Pyrrha.

199Now called Cape Sigri, the west point of the island.

200The southern point of Euboea, now called Cape Mandili. Cf. Homer (Odyss., iii. 177).

201The 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).

202In accordance with the convention of Corinth. Compare next chapter. For the pillars compareHerodotus(ii. 102, 106);Thucydides(v. 18, 47, 56); Aristophanes (Acharnians, 727;Lysistrata, 513).

203This 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).

204Cf. 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).

206Cf. Vergil (Aeneid, ii. 21).

207The regent of Macedonia and Greece during Alexander’s absence.

208One 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).

209Euripus 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.

210One of the Cyclades, about half-way between Attica and Siphnus.

211ἐπιπτῆναι, a poetical form for ἐπιπτέσθαι.

212Cf.Justin, xi. 7.

213Cf.Curtius, iii. 2 (Zumpt’s edition); Plutarch (Alexander, 18).

214Now 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 centuryB.C.

215Now 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.

216The 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).

217See Xenophon (Anabasis, i. 2, 20, 21).

218Curtius(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).

219Now called Tersoos-Chai. SeeCurtius, iii. 12;Justin, xi. 8; and Lucian (De Domo, i.). At Tarsus the emperor Julian was buried. SeeAmmianus, xxv. 10, 5.

220Probably 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. SeeArrian, vii. 14; Plutarch (Alexander, 72).

221Cf.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.

222This pass was called theSyrian 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.

223A city of Cilicia on the coast, a little west of the mouth of the Cydnus.

224Said to have been the last of the Assyrian kings.

225Cf.Strabo(xiv. 5) for a description of this statue.

226This was, doubtless, the arrow-headed writing which has been deciphered by Sir Henry Rawlinson. Cf.Herodotus, iv. 87;Thucydides, iv. 50.

227Now 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.

228About £49,000.

229Asander 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.

230These were Carian cities.

231Cos, 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.

232Called 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.

233This plain is mentioned inHomer, vi. 201;Herodotus, vi. 95. The large river Pyramus, now called Jihan, falls into the sea near Mallus.

234Mallus 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 fromHerodotus, ii. 44; Plutarch (Moralia, ii. p. 857 D).

235Usually called the Syrian Gates. See chap. v. note1supra.

236A 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).

237Cf.Arrian, vii. 29;Curtius, viii. 17.

238Aeschines 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.”

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