Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/135

 876 ELTHRATES. The third period of history which throws light upon the Eaphrates system is the Macedooisn Ex- peditioQ into Asis, b. c. 331. Alexander marched throogb Phoenicia and Syria to the Eaphrates, and following the footsteps of Cjms, crossed the river at the Zeugma of Thapsacos, which derived its name from tlie bridge originally constrocted for the tnms- port of Alexander's army. (Arrian, Anab. iii. 8; Q. Curt. iv. 9 ; comp. Dion Cass. zi. 17 ; Kinneir, Geog. Mem, p. 316). Local tradition lus trans- mitted the fact of the passage of Jskeader Acbdr^ and there is the additional fact, that, tempted by the advantages of the situation, he ordered the city of l^icepborium (^RkaJekah') to be built. In pursuance of his great pUn of fusing the West with the East by the promotion, through Greek influence, of a union between different nations from the Nile to the Euphrates, the Jazartes, and the Indus, the ancient city of Babylon in the East was intended by Alex- ander to be one of the metropolitan cities of the Macedonian universal empire. To carry out this design, as the course of the Lower Euphrates was hitherto unknown, Nearchns and other followers of Alexander, were despatched to collect materials: and the narrative preserved by Arrian, of the daring vojsge of NearchuB to the estuary of the Euphrates, is the most valuable record of antiquity, by which an idea can be formed of the former oondidcni of the Delta of that river and of Susiana. The fleet fi- nished its course at Diridotes (Teredon), a port which was not unknown, as it was frequented by the Arabian merclumts, who brought hither their frankincense and other spices for sale. Teredon or Diridotes, the foundation of which has been assigned to Nebuchad- nezzar (comp. Abyd. op. Seal. Emend. Temp. p. 13), wffe a village* at the month of the Euphrates, at a distance, according to the reckoning of the Ma* cedonian navigator, of 3300 stadia from Babylon (Arrian, Ind. xii.). The position of this pUce has been fixed at J^bel Sandm. a gigantic mound near the Pallacopas branch of the Euphrates, o(»isiderably to the N. of the embouchure of the present Eu- phrates. The fleet, in following the windings of the ciiannel, might be carried much beyond the Shatt el reached the supposed mouth of the PalUcopas, op- posite to the island of Boobian (comp. Che^ney, £xped. EMphnU. voL ii. p. 865; Ainsworth, pp. 185—195). At'the dissolution of the Macedonian empire con- siderable inland intercourse and traffic was encou- raged by the Seleucidae; nor can it be doubted but that the marks of population and industry which have been found on the banks of the Euphrates should be referred to the two centuries of their do- minion, when the course of the river would be better protected than when it became the boondary-line between Rome and the Parthians. The gieat high- way from Asia Minor to the cities of Persia, which crossed the Zeugma of the Euphrates, and which in later times bore the imposing name of the " road of peace '* {^ 2^ugma Latinae Pacis iter," Stat Silo. iii. a. 137), though improved and stiengthened by the Romans when their power was established through the whole of Mesopotamia, was probably laid down on the Imes which were in use at the time of the Seleucid princes. (Comp. Merivale, Hiai. of Ute BomoM wider ike Empire^ voL L p. 517.) The Roman soldiers first crossed the Euphrates under Lu- cullus, when the passage, in consequence of an acci- dental drought, was rendered much easier (Plat EUPHRATES. LuaOL 24); and in the &tal expeditioo of Ci seven legions and 4000 horse took the pasasge of Thapsacus. (Pint Cross. 20.) Augustus was ooo- tented to make the Euphntes the £. bonndaiT of the Roman empire; nor was that frootier advanced, except during the short interval of the Eastern ood- qnests of Trajan. Under Hadrian the Boaan boundaries again receded within the Eaphratea. The campaigns of Trajan, Sevems, Julian, Bdisa- rius, Chosroes, and Heradius, illustrate in a vesy interesting manner many paints in the geography of the badcs of this river; but the oooaideratiQa of them does not fsll within the scope of the present article. It may, however, be obsfOired, that Napo- leon, when foiled before the walls of *Atkd of his projected march upon India, had conceived the plan of pursuing the steps of Trajan and Julian. 3. Phyricai Geography. — Stimbo (xL pu 527) and Pliny (v. 20)y among the ancients, have given a ge- neral view of the course of the Euphrates, ^hile, as has been observed above, the narrative of the voyage of Nearchus gives the best account of the then state of the embouchure of the river. It must, however, be recollected that considerable changes have, even in the historic period, taken place in the oonfigurstion of the soil of the lower districts, in consequence of the great amount of alluvial matter brought down by the Euphrates to the Delta of the Persian Gult Nor is this the only circumstance which makes it difiicult, in any satisfactory manuer, to reconcile the positions of the ancients with modem investigatkos* — as changes have also been efiected by art Thr great extent of the plain of Babylonia is everywhere altered by artificial works : mounds •rise upon the otherwise uniform level; walls, and mud ramparts and dykes, intersect each other; elevated masses at friable soil and pottery are succeeded by low plaiw, inundated during the greater part of the year; and the old beds of canals are to be seen in every di- rection. Further researches may throw great light on the comparative geography of the course of the Lower Euphrates: tOl then, it may be better to hold our judgment in suspense. It is, however, probable, both from the statements of the ancients and the physical indications of the seal, that the united waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris at no vexy remote period emptied themselves into the gulf by several distinct mouths; one of which was at Tere- don, according to Nearchus, — the mouth of the Eu- phrates; the other the Pasitigris oi Pliny, probably the Shatt-el-'Arab. The extent of the basin of the Euphrates, not- withstanding the great length of the river (1780 English miles), has been estimated at not more than 108,000 geographical miles. (Ainsworth, J2esearcAe«, p. 109.) The ancients correctly ]daced the sonreea of this river in Taurus, on the W. slopes of the ele- vated plateau of yVdn. At Kebban Modern the two branches unite, and the Euphrates assumes an imposing character, struggling to make good its original course towards the Mediterranean (**Ki obstet Taurus in nostra maria venturus,** Pompu Mela, iii* § 5), but stiU pressing against the Taoiio chain at the elbow made by MtJaAyak (Mditeiw), tUl it finally forces a passage through Taurus. Alter precipitating itself through this gap, the Euphrates winds through chalk hills of a ntodemte devaticn, while its waters and those of the Tigris oonwrge and surround Mesopotamia. It was in this district that the fords of the river were made, and the passages of SmiuSadt^ Mm Kala'k, Bir, and Hammim, have
 * Arab^ which is easily missed, and thus might have