As soon as he had fled, the bridges were completed as far as the further bank, and Alexander crossed upon them with his army.[1] Thence he marched up into the interior through the land called Mesopotamia, having the river Euphrates and the mountains of Armenia on his left. When he started from the Euphrates he did not march to Babylon by the direct road; because by going the other route he found all things easier for the march of his army, and it was also easier to obtain fodder for the horses and provisions for the men from the country. Besides this, the heat was not so scorching on the indirect route. Some of the men from Darius's army, who were dispersed for the purpose of scouting, were taken prisoners; and they reported that Darius was encamped near the river Tigris, having resolved to prevent Alexander from crossing that stream. They also said that he had a much larger army than that with which he had fought in Cilicia. Hearing this, Alexander went with all speed towards the Tigris; but when he reached it he found neither Darius himself nor any guard which he had left. However he experienced great difficulty in crossing the stream, on account of the swiftness of the current,[2] though no one tried to stop him. There he made his army rest, and while so doing, an eclipse of the moon nearly total occurred.[3] Alexander thereupon
- ↑ We learn, from Curtius (iv. 37), that Alexander took eleven days to march from Phoenicia to the Euphrates.
- ↑ Curtius (iv. 37) says that Tigris is the Persian word for arrow; and that the river was so named on account of the swiftness of its current. The Hebrew name is Chiddekel, which means arrow. See Gen. ii. 14; and Dan. i. 4, where it is called the great river. The name Tigris is derived from the Zend Tighra, which comes from the Sanscrit Tig, to sharpen. It is now called Dijleh. It joins the Euphrates 90 miles from the sea, and the united stream is called Shat-el-Arab. Its entire length is 1,146 miles. In ancient times the two rivers had distinct mouths. So the Rhon formerly had several mouths. See Livy, xxi. 26. Strabo (iv. 1, 8) says that Timaeus gave it five mouths; Polybius gives it two; others give seven.
- ↑ This eclipse occurred September 20th, B.C. 331.
