Page:Political History of Parthia.pdf/278

232 banks. The horses placed on board suffered greatly from cramped quarters. Only occasionally were the fleet and the army separated by cliffs and bends, as they would be in passing Dura-Europus. Eddies in the currents of the winding river caused much difficulty.

A great wall, said to have been built by "Semiramis," was passed, the towns of Phaliga and Dura-Europus were visited, and the triumphal arch already mentioned was erected at the latter place. The army moved on past Anatha, then known by its later name of Tyre, to Ozogardana, where Trajan reviewed his troops and where his tribunal was still shown in the days of Ammianus Marcellinus. At some point below modern Baghdad, where the rivers came closest together, Trajan undertook to transport his fleet across to the Tigris. A canal was considered; but the Emperor was informed that the Euphrates was much higher than the Tigris, and his informants seem to have discouraged the plan. Perhaps the operation was