Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/380

 362 BABYLONU. into them by dykes or dasna made acroes the riyer. Instances of the former practice are still fonnd at Adhem on the Diala (one of the eastern tribntaries of the Tigris), and at Hit on the Euphrates (Frazer, Mesop. and At^. p. 31). Herodotus, who states, generally, that Babylonia, like Egypt, was intersected by many ouials {icararir- fiTtrcu tls Suipvxaf, i. 193), describes particularly one only, which was constructed by a Qu^ Nitocris as a protection against an inyasion from Media, (i. 1 85.) It was an immense work, whereby, he adds, the course of the Euphrates, which had previously been straight, was rendered so tortuous, as thrice to pass the same village, Arderioca. The position of this place has not been ascertained : we only knew that it was to the north of Babylon itself; pTx>- bably not far below the ancient Pylae or Charmande, which both Colonel Chesney and Mr. Ainsworth sup- pose to be near Hit The position indeed of Pylae cannot be accurately determined, but it has been supposed (Grote, BisL Greece j vol. iz. 48) that there were some artificial barriers dividing Babylonia from Mesopotamia, and which bore the name of Pylae, or Gates. It was, probably, at that part of the country where the hills which have previously fol- lowed the course of the Euphrates melt into the alluvial plain. (See remarks of Col. Chesney, L p. 54). Xenophon (^Anab. i. 7. § 15) speaks of four prin- cipal canals, which were separated the one iirom the other by a parasang. According to him, they flowed from the Tigris in the direction of the Euphrates, and were large enough to convey com vessels. It is most likely that the Nahr-Malcba (which appears under various names more or less corrupted as in Isid. Charaz, Narmacha ; in Zosimus, iii. 27, Nar- malaches; in Ahjd.ap.Euseb. Praep. Evang.ix. 41, Armacales ; in Plin.vi.26, Armalchar)is the fitylarTi r&y Jiuopvx^^ of Herodotus, as this appears to have borne the name of the Royal River. Ammianus (xxiv. 6) speaks of a work which was called and Abydenus (JL c.) attributes its creation to Nebu- chadnezzar. Herodotus (i. 193) says that it con- nected the two rivers and was navigable. Like all the other canals in the soft alluvial soil of Baby- lonia, it soon fell into decay on the decline of the capital. It was, however, opened again by Trajanus and Severus, so that, with some subsequent reparation, Julian's fleet passed down by it from the Euplira- tes to the Tigris (Amm. Marc. xxiv. 6). It appears to have left the Euphrates not far above the modem castle of Felujah, and to have entered the Tigris ori- ginally below the city of Seleuceia. In later times, its course was slightly altered, and an opening was made for it above that city. Besides the canals to the N. of Babylon, and more or less connecting the Euphrates wi^ the Tigris, there were two other great works, of which mention is made in antiquity, designed, as it would seem, to carry off seawaids the superabundant waters of the Euphrates, and to facilitate the navigation of the river. The first of these, called by Ptolemy (v. 20. § 2) Maarsares {Viaapaifnis^ and by Ammianus (zxiii. 6.) Marses, (most correctly Nahr-sares), com- menced a little above Babylon, and flowed on tfte west side of it, parallel with the Euphrates, till it terminated near the place where that river and the Tigris form one stream. It has been conjectured that it may be the same as the Narraga of Pliny (vi. 26), but for this there is no sufficient evidence. BABYLONIA- The Bec<»d was called Pallacopas (noAAoic^vaSy Arrian, viL 21 ; Pallacottas, Appian, B,C, iL 153.) It commenced about 800 stadia, or 76 miles, below Babylon, and served as an outlet f<x its waters into the marshes below, at the time when they were at their highest. At the diier season it was, however, found necesaiy to prevent the escape of the water from the river, and Arrian mentions a Satrap who ruled the country and who had employed 10,000 men (as it would seem ineffectually) in constracting dams &c. to keep the rivor within its ordinary chan- nel. It is recorded, by the same writer, that Alex- ander having sailed down the Euphrates to the Pal- lacopas, at once perceiving the necessi^ of making the works more efficient, blocked up its former mouth, and cut a new channel 30 stadia lower down the Euphrates, where the nature of the soil was more strong and less yielding. Arrian adds, that Alexander having reached the land of Arabians by the Pallaoo- pos, built a city there, and founded a colony for his mercenary and invaUded Greek soldiers. Frazer -(p. 34) supposes that the Pallacopas must have com- menced about the latitude of Kufah^ and that Meshed Ali now represents the site dt the town he founded. Its termination was at the sea near Te- redon (now Jehel /Sbnom), for Col. Chesney travel- ling W. from Basrah fotmd its bed sixty paces broad, between Zobeir and that town. (Frazer, L c.) Besides the main stream of the Euphrates, and the numerous canals more or less connected with it, a large portion of Babylonia, especially to the S. of the capital, was covered by shallow lakes or marslies. Of these some were probably artificial, like the vaat work ascribed to Nitocris by Herodotus(i. 185), which was to the N. of Babylon. The majority of them, however, were certainly natural ; <m the west, ex- tending up to the veiy walls of the city, and forming an impassable natural defence to it (Arrian, vii. 17); on the south, covering a vast extent of territory, and reaching, with little interraption, to the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris. They bore ^e general name of rk wXri t^^ Korh XaKtaiovi (Strab. xvi. 767), Chaldaicus Lacus (Plin. vi. 27. s. 31). and it was through them, according to Onesicritus, that the Euphrates reached the sea (Strab. xv. p^ 729). Late surveys confirm the general accuracy of the ancient accounts. Thus the marshes oSLamlum no doubt represent the first great tract of marahy land below BabyloiL Ainsworth {Re$, p. 123) describes them as shallow sheets of water with reeds and rushes like the tarns of Scotland and meres of Eng- land : they teem with buffaloes, and when partiaUy dried in summer, are covered with luxuriant rice crops. They extend firom Lasnlum to KekU-al-Gherrahy 40 miles in lat. and nearly the same in long. The people live in reed huts temporarily erected on the dry spots like islets. To the south, the plains rise almost imperceptibly from the marshes. A little N. of Korna, the place where the Euphrates and Tigris now join, Ainsworth states {Re». p. 123) that there is a vast extent of country subject to idmost perpetual inundation, and (p. 129) extensive reed marshes which are chiefly fled by the Tigris. Col. Chesney thinks that the Chaldaicus Lacus is now represented by the Samargah and Samidah marshes ; but these would seem to be too much to the E. Pliny, however, speaks of the Tigris flowing into them. The general effect of these canals and marshes was to make the main stream of the Euphrates of very irregular breadth, and to produce the re-
 * Naarmalcha, quod interpretatur flumen regium, "