Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/88

 72 ISSUS. From the Sarus the army marched 5 parasangs to the Pyramus, which was crossed where it was 600 Greek feet wide; and the march from the Pyramus to Issus was 15 parasangs. Accordingly, the whole distance marched from Tarsus to Issus was 30 parasangs. The direct distance from Tarsus to the head of the gulf is about 56 geographical miles ; and these two points are very nearly in the same lati- tude. The modern road from Tarsus, through Adana on the Sarus, and Mapsuestia on the Py- ramus, to the head of the gnlf, has a general direc- tion from V. to E. The length of Cyrus's march, from Tarsus to the Sarus, exceeds the direct dis- tance on the map very much, if we reckon the para- sang at 3 geographical miles; for 10 parasangs are 30 geograpliical miles, and the direct distance to Adana is not more than 16 miles. Mr. Ainsworth inf )rms us that the Sarus is not fordable at Adana; and Cyrus probably crossed at some other place. The march from the Sarus to the Pyramus was 5 parasangs, or 15 geographical miles; and this appears to be very nearly the direct distance from Adana to IVIopsuestia (il/is/s). But Cyrus may have crossed some distance below Mopsuestia, without lengthen- ing his march from the Sarus to the Pyramus; and he may have done this even if he had to go lower down the Sarus than Adana to find a ford. If he did not go higgler up the Pyramus to seek a ford, for the reasons which Mr. Ainsworth mentions, he must have crossed lower down than Jlopsuestia. The distance from the point where the supposed old bed begins to turn to the south, to the NE. end of the gulf of Issus, is 40 geographical miles; and thus the distance of 1 5 parasangs from the passage of the Pyramus to Issus, is more easily reconciled with the real distance than the measurement from Tarsus to the Sarus. The places not absolutely determined on or near the gulf of Issus, are: Slyriandrus, Nicopolis, Epi- phaneia [Epiphaneia], Arae Alexandri, and Issus, though we know that Issus, must have been at the head of the gulf and on it. The following extract from Colonel Chesney contains the latest information on these sites; — "About 7 mUes south-eastward from the borders of Syria are the remains of a con- siderable city, probal)ly those of If^sus or Nicopolis, with the ruins of a temple, a part of the Acropolis, an extensive aqueduct, generally with a double row of arches, running ESE. and WNW. These, in ad- dition to the walls of the city itself, are entirely built of lava, and still exist in considerable perfection. Nearly 14 miles southward from thence, the Deli CluiT quits the foot of the Amanus in two branches, which, after traversing the Issic plain, unite at the foot of the mountain just previously to entering the sea. The principal of these branches makes a deep curve towards the NE., so that a body of troops occupying one side might see behind and outflank those posted on the opposite side, in which, as well as in other respects, the stream appears to answer to the Pinarus of Alexander's historians. A little southward of this river are the castle, khan, bazar, baths, and other ruins of Bayas, once Baiae, with the three villages of Kuretur in the neighbourhood, situated in the midst of groves of orange and palm trees. Again, 5 miles southward, is the pass, above noticed, of Suk;il-tutan, and at nearly the same dis- tance onward, the fine bay and anchorage of Iskende- nin, with an open but convenient landing-place on a bold beach; but, in consequence of the accumulation of the sand by which the mouths of the streams ISTRIA. descending from this part of the Amanus are choked, a pestilential swamp extends from the very edge of the sea almost to the foot of the mountain. In the marsh towards the latter are some trifling ruins, which may possibly be the site of ancient Myrian-' drus; and within a mile of the shore are the remains of a castle and bridge constructed by Godfrey of Bouillon." (^Expedition for the Survey of the Hivers Euphrates and Tigris, vol. i, p. 408.) There is no direct proof here that these remains are those of Issus. The aqueduct probably belongs to the Roman period. It seems most likely that the remains are those of Nicopolis, and that I.ssus on the coast has disappeared. Colonel Chesney's description of the bend of one of the branches of ihe, Deli Tschai corresponds to Arrian's (ii. 2. § 10), who says, " Darius placed at the foot of the moun- tain, which was on the Persian left and opposite to Alexander's right, about 20,000 men ; and some of them were on the rear of Alexander's army. For the mountain where they were posted in one place opened to some depth, and so a part became of the form of a bay on the sea. Darius then, by ad- vancing further to the bend, brought the men who were posted at the foot of the mountain, in the rear of the riglit wing of Alexander." There still seems some doubt about the site of Jlyriandrus, which Mr. Ainsworth (^Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand, ijc. p. 60) places about half way between Scanderoon and Rhosus (Arsus); and he has the authority of Strabo, in his enumera- tion of the places on this coast, and that of Ptolemy, who places Myriandrus 15' south of Alexandria ad Issum. As to Arsus, he obseiTes, — " there are many ruins, and especially a long aqueduct leading from the foot of the mountains." [G. L.] ISTAEVONES. [Germania and Hillevi- ONES.] ISTER. [Danurius.] rSTHJIIA, a small district in Thcssaly. [Zela- SIUM.] ISTHMUS. [CoRiNTHus, p. 682, seq.] ISTO'NE. [Corcyra.] ISTO'NIUM. [Celtiberia.] rSTRIA ('Itrrpia) or HI'S IRIA, was the name given by the Greeks and Romans to the country which still bears the same appellation, and foims a peninsula of somewhat triangular form near the head of the Adriatic sea, running out from the coast of Liburnia, between Tergeste (^Trieste} and the Sinus Flanaticus, or Gulf of Quarnero. It is about 50 G. miles in length, and 35 in breadth, while the isthmus or strip of land between the two gulfs of Trieste and Quarnero, by which it is united to the mainland, is about 27 G. miles across. The name is derived both by Greek and Latin authors from the fabulous noticju entertained at a very early period that one branch or arm of the Danube (the Ister of the Greeks) flowed into the Adriatic sea near its head. (Strab. i. p. 57; Plin. iii. 18. s. 22.) The deep inlets and narrow channels with which the coasts of the Adriatic are intersected for a consider- able distance below the peninsula of Istria may have contributed to favour this notion so long as those coasts were imperfectly known ; and hence we cannot wonder at Scylax speaking of a river named Istnis (which he identifies with the Danube) as flowing through the land of the Istrians (Scyl. p. 6. § 20); but it seems incredible that an author like ilela, writing in the days of Augustus, should not only speak of a river Ister as flowing into this part of the