Flight of Macedonian Deserters into Egypt.
107
He then made a forced march towards the city of Thapsacus[1] and the river Euphrates,[2] in order to put that river as soon as possible between himself and Alexander. But Amyntas son of Antiochus, Thymondas son of Mentor, Aristomedes the Pheraean, and Bianor the Acarnanian, all being deserters, fled without delay from the posts assigned them in the battle, with about 8,000 soldiers under their command, and passing through the mountains, they arrived at Tripolis in Phoenicia.[3] There
- ↑ Thapsacus is understood to be identical with the city called Tiphsach (passage) in 1 Kings iv. 24; which is there said to have been the eastern boundary of Solomon's empire. It is generally supposed that the modern Deir occupies the site of the ancient Thapsacus; but it has been discovered that the only ford in this part of the river is at Suriyeh, 165 miles above Deir. This was probably the site of Thapsacus. From the time of Seleucus Nicator the city was called Amphipolis (Pliny, v. 21). See Stephanus of Byzantium, sub voce Amphipolis. Cf . Xenophon (Anabasis, i. 4, 11).
- ↑ The Euphrates is the largest river of western Asia, and rises in the mountains of Armenia. It unites with the Tigris, and after a course of 1,780 miles flows into the Persian Gulf. It is navigable by boats for 1,200 miles. The annual inundation, caused by the melting of the snow in the mountains of Armenia, takes place in the month of May. The Euphrates, Tigris, and Eulaeus had formerly three separate outlets into the Persian Gulf; but the three now unite in a single stream, which is called Shat-el-Arab, The Hebrew name for the river which the Greeks called Euphrates, was Pĕrath (rapid stream). It is called in the Bible, the Great River, and the River (Gen. xv. 18; Exod. xxiii. 31; et passim). In Jeremiah xiii. 4-7, the word Pĕrath stands for Ephrath, another name for Bethlehem; in our Bible it is mis-translated. See Fürst's Hebrew Lexicon.
- ↑ The term Cĕnaan was applied to the lowland plain from Aradus to Gaza. The northern portion, from Aradus to Carmel, is known to as under its Grecian name of Phoenicia, which is probably derived front the Greek phoiɴix (a palm-tree), which grew abundantly in the country, and was the emblem of some of its towns. Others derive it from another Greek word phoinix (red dye), which formed one of its most important manufactures. The Phoenicians applied the term Cenaan to their land in contrast to the highlands to the west, which they called Aram (highland), the Hebrew name for Syria. The country of Phoenicia was 120 miles long and with an average breadth of 12 miles, never exceeding 20 miles. The chief cities of Phoenicia were Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Byblus,
