to consult the god, because the oracle of Ammon was said to be exact in its information, and Perseus and Heracles were said to have consulted it, the former when he was despatched by Polydectes[1] against the Gorgons, and the latter, when he visited Antaeus[2] in Libya and Busiris[3] in Egypt. Alexander was also partly urged by a desire of emulating Perseus and Heracles, from both of whom he traced his descent.[4] He also deduced his pedigree from Ammon, just as the legends traced that of Heracles and Perseus to Zeus. Accordingly he made the expedition to Ammon with the design of learning his own origin more certainly, or at least that he might be able to say that he had learned it. According to Aristobulus, he advanced along the sea-shore to Paraetonium through a country which was a desert, but not destitute of water, a distance of about 1,600 stades.[5] Thence he turned into the interior, where the oracle of Ammon was located. The route is desert, and most of it is sand and destitute of water. But there was a copious supply of rain for Alexander, a thing which was attributed to the influence of the deity; as was also the following occurrence. Whenever a south wind blows in that district, it heaps up the sand upon the route far and wide, rendering the tracks of the road invisible, so that it is impossible to discover where one ought to direct one's course in the sand, just as if one were at sea; for there are no landmarks along the road, neither mountain anywhere, nor tree, nor permanent hill standing erect, by which travellers might be able to form a conjecture of the right course, as
- ↑ King of the island Seriphus. Cf. Herodotus, ii. 91.
- ↑ The gigantic son of Poseidon and Ge.
- ↑ King of Egypt, who was said to have sacrificed all foreigners that visited the land.
- ↑ Perseus was the grandfather of Alemena, the mother of Hercules.
- ↑ About 183 miles. This city lay at the extreme west of Egypt, in Marmarica.
