Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/527

 LOCALITIES NEAR ISSUS. 495 in liis rear, in case of a possible revprse. Suppose him repulsed and forced to retreat — it would be a material assistance to his retreat, tc have assured himself beforehand of Myriandrus as well as the other pea-ports. In the approaching months, we shall find him just as care- ful to make sure of the Phenician cities on the coast, before he march- es into the interior to attack Darius at Arbela. Farther, Alexander, marching to attack Darius, had nothing to gain by haste, and nothing to lose by coming up to Sochi three days later. lie knew that the enormous Persian host would not try to escape ; it would either await him at Sochi, or else advance into Kilikia to attack him there. The longer he tarried, the more likely they were to do the latter, which was what he desired. He had nothing to lose there- fore in any way, and some chance of gain, by prolonging his march to Sochi for as long a time as was necessary to secure Myriandrus. There is no more difficulty, I think, in understanding why he went to Myriandrus, than why he went westward from Tarsus (still more out of his line of advance) to Soli and Anchialus. It seems probable (as Rennell (p. 56) and others think), that the site of Myriandrus is now some distance inland ; that there has been an accretion of new land and morass on the coast. The modern town of Scanderoon occupies the site of '.JAfJwc^^ftw xai "laaor, founded (probably by order of Alexander himself) in commemoration of the victory of Issus. According to Ritter (p. 1791)," Alexander had the great idea of establishing there an empori- um for the traffic of the East with Europe, as at the other Alexandria for the trade of the East with Egypt." The importance of the site of Scanderoon, in antiquity, is here greatly exaggerated. I know no proof that Alexander had the Idea which Ritter ascribes to him ; and it is certain that his successors had no such idea ; because they found- ed the great cities of Antioch and Seleukeia (in Pieria), both of them carrying the course of trade up the Orontes, and therefore diverting it away from Scanderoon. This latter town is only of importance as being the harbor of Aleppo ; a city (Beroea) of little consequence in antiquity, while Antioch became the first city in the East, and Sele» knia among the first : see Ritter, p. 1152. BMS.