Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/86

 70 ISSUS. NV. and forms Strabo's Amanides Pylae, unite in the interior, as Strabo says (p. 535) ; and our mo- dern maps represent it so. There is a plain at the head of the gulf. Strabo gives a greater extent to the Issic gulf than we do to the gulf of Scanderoon, for he makes it extend along the Cilician coast as far as Cilicia Trachea, and certainly to Soli (pp. 534, 664). In another passage (p. 125) he shows what extent he gives to the gulf of Issus, by placing Cyprus in the Pamphylian sea and in the gulf of IssLis, — the west part of the island being in the Pam- phylian, and the east in the Issic gulf. The gulf of Iskenderuii was surveyed by Lt. Murphy in the Euphrates expedition under the command of Colonel Chesney. The ancient geographers did not agree about the position of the isthmus of the country which we call Asia !Minor ; by which isthmus they meant the shortest distance across the eastern part of the pen- insula from the Euxine to the Mediterranean. Strabo (p. 673) makes this shortest distance lie along a line joining Amisus and Tarsus. If he had said Amisus and the head of the gulf of Issus, he would have been quite right. He was nearly correct as to the longitude of the head of the gulf of Issus, which he places in the meridian of Amisus and Themiscyra (p. 126); and in another passage he says that the head of the gulf of Issus is a little more cast than Amisus, or not at all more east (p. 519). Amisus is, in fact, a little further east than the most eastern part of the gulf of Issus. The longest direction of the inhabited world, according to Strabo's system (p. 118), from west to east, is measured on a line drawn through the Stelae {Straits of Gibraltar'), and the Sicilian strait (^Sti-aits of' Messina), to Ehodus and the gulf of Issus, whence it follows the Taurus, which divides Asia into two parts, and ter- minates on the eastern sea. Those ancient geogra- phers who made the isthmus of the Asiatic peninsula extend from Issus to the Euxine, considered the shortest line across the isthmus to be a meridian line, and the dispute w-as whether it ran to Sinope or Amisus (Strab. p. 678). The choice of Issus as the point on the Jlediterraneau to reckon from, shows that Issus was the limit, or most eastern point, on the south coast of the peninsula, and that it was not on that part of the bay of Issus where the coast rmis south. Consequently Issus was on or near the head of the gulf. Herodotus (iv. 38) makes the southern side of this peninsula, or Acte, as he calls it, extend from the Myriandric gulf (gulf of Issus) to the Triopian promontoiy, which is quite correct. On the north side he makes it extend from the mouth of the Phasis to the promontory Sigeum, which is correct as to the promontory ; but he carries the neck too far east, when he makes it begin at the Piiasis. This mistake, however, shows that he knew something of the position of the mouth of the Phasis, for he intends to make the Acte begin at that part where the coast of the Euxine begins to lie west and cast ; and though the mouth of the Phasis is not exactly at this point, it was the best known river of any near it. In another passage (i. 72), which, like many others in his history, is ob- scurely expressed, he describes the neck {avxVf) of this Acte as nearly cut through by the river Halys ; and he makes its width from the sea opposite to Cyprus to the Euxine to be five days' journey for an active man, — an estimate very much short of the truth, even if we allow Greek activity to walk 30 miles a day through a rough coimtry. Strabo's re- ISSUS. port from hearsay (vol. i. p. 538), that the bay of Issus can be seen from the summit of Argaeus [Argaeus], is very improbable. Xenophou says that Cyrus marched 15 parasangs from the Pyramus (Jaihan) " to Issi, the uttermost city of Cihcia, on the sea, great and prosperous." From Issus to the Pylae of Cilicia and Syria, the boundary between Syria and Cilicia, was five para- sangs, and here was the river Carsus (Xen. Anab. i. 4. § 4). The next stage was five parasangs to Myriandrus, a town in Syria on the sea, occupied by I'hoenicians, a trading place (^iairdpiov), where many merchant ships were lying. Carsten Niebuhr, who went through the Pylae Ciliciae to Tarsus, has some remarks on the probable site of Issus, but they lead to no conclusion (vol. i. p. 116), except that we cannot certainly determine the site of Issus from Xenophon ; and yet he would give us the best means of determining it, if we knew where he crossed the Pyramus, and if we were also certaui that the numbers in the Greek text are correct. The nearest road to Susa from Sardis was through the Cilician plains. The ditficulties were the passage into the plains by the Ciliciae Pyjae or pass [Vol. I. p. 619], and the way out of the plains along the gulf of Issus into Syria. The great road to Susa which Herodotus describes (v. 49, 52), went north of the Taurus to the Euphrates. The land forces in the expedition of Datis and Artaphernes, B. c. 490, crossed the Syrian Amanus, and went as far as the Aleian plain in Cilicia ; and there they em- barked. (Herod, vi. 95.) They did not march by land through the Cilician Pylae over the Taurus into the interior of the peninsula ; but Mardonius (Herod, vi. 43), in the previous expedition had led his troops into Cilicia, and sent them on by land to the Hellespontus, while he took ship and sailed to Ionia. The land force of Mardonius must have passed out of Cilicia by the diflicult pass in the Taurus. ['ol. I. p. 619.] Shortly before the battle of Issus (b. c. 333) Alexander was at Mallos, when he heard that Darius with all his force was at Sochi in Assyria ; which place was distant two marches from the Assyrian Pylae. (Arrian, Anab. ii. 6.) " Assyria" and " As- syrian" here mean " Syria" and " Syrian." Darius had crossed the Euphrates, probably at Thapsacus, and was encamped in an open country in Sjria, which was well suited for his cavaliy. The place Sochi is unknown : but it may be the place which Curtius calls Unchae. (Q. Curt. iv. 1.) An-ian says that Alexander left Mallos, and on the second day he passed tkrough the Pylae and reached My- riandrus : he does not mention Issus on this march. Now the shortest distance that Alexander could march from Mallos to Scanderoon is at least 70 miles, and if ]Iyriandrus was south of Scanderoon, it was more than 70 miles. This statement of Ar- rian as to time is therefore false. Curtius (iii. 8) says that Alexander only reached Castabalum [Cas- taealum] on the second day from Jlallos ; that he went through Issus, and there deliberated whether he should go on or halt. Darius crossed the Amanus, which separates Syria from the bay of Issus, by a pass called the Amanicae Pylae (Arrian, ii. 7), and advancing to Issus, was in the rear of Alexander, who had passed through the Cilician and Syrian Pylae. Darius came to the pass in the Amanus, says Curtius, on the same night that Alexander came to the pass (fauces) by which Syria is entered. The place where Darius crossed the Amanus was