part of the country. These cuts appear to have been filled
with water, but the difficulties were overcome by cutting down
the palm trees to make bridges, in which operation Clearchus
set the example, and the army reached the intended halting-
place in some villages probably not more than ten miles from
the preceding station. These were abundantly supplied with
The Greek corn, vinegar, and wine made from dates.1 After spending
wMi the°DS about twenty-three days in negotiations, having made engage-
Persmns fail. men(;S to be faithfully conducted homeward, and obtained
supplies, the Greeks, the troops of Arieeus, and those of the
king under Tissaphernes, commenced what seemed a peaceable
march, although certain circumstances attending it gave rise
to suspicion, and some precautions were adopted in conse-
They continue quence by the Greeks. In three days, probably taking, as in
the Median the preceding march, a westerly direction, in order to round
• the marshes and inundations near ’Akar Ktif|2 the armies came
up to, and departed from, the Median wall into the interior.3
1 Anabasis, lib. I I ., cap, ii. * See Map No. 7.
s The translation of this passage of Xenophon, atyUovTO itpog to M e d ia e
Teiy(oe, Kai iraptjX-Toy a v r o v eitrot, Anabasis, lib. I I ., cap. iv., has been much
discussed and variously rendered. In Allpress’s Xenophon, p. 80, the
army is made to arrive at and pass along within the Median wall, which
translation is also given in the Anabasis of Xenophon, by Charles Anther,
LL.D., William Tegg and Co., Cheapside; by the Rev. Dr. Butcher,
Fellow of Trinity College, D u b lin ; as well as by Schneider, who, in a note
on this passage, condemns Halbkardt for translating i t : “ Kamen sie zur
Medischen Mauer, und setzten nun jenseit derselben ihren Marsch fort.”
Yiger, in his Greek Idioms, also quotes an instance from Xenophon, where
the verb occurring in the passage in question joined with a substantive in the
genitive case, signifies “ departure from” or deflection; and Donnegan’s
Greek Lexicon gives e’into as an adverb, with the signification of “ in the
interior,” “ inside,” or within, which renderings of the passage are in conformity
with the relative geographical positions of the Median wall and
Sitace. On the other hand, Hutchinson, in his edition of Xenophon, p. 139,
and Mitford, History of Greece, vol. IV., p. 189, state that the Greeks came
up to and passed through the Median w a ll; and this interpretation has been
followed by Bishop Thirlwall, in his History of Greece, vol. IV ., p. 335, ed.
London, 1847, since he conceives, in accordance with Passow, in his Greek
Lexicon, that when joined with a verb of motion e'iato must bear the signification
o f to the inside, not on the inside. The Bishop of St. David’s
considers that Schneider’s condemnation of Halbkardt arises solely from the
great difficulty of reconciling his translation with the geographical position
This wall, whose remains are described by Xenophon,1 was of
bricks, and once 100 feet high and 20 feet thick : it is still to
be traced, with its towers and ditch, running south-westward
from the Tigris, nearly opposite Kâdisiyeh, to the Euphrates,
near Felujah, a distance of forty-two or forty-three miles.2
In two marches of eight parasangs, apparently in an easterly
direction, and crossing two canals coming from the Tigris, they
encamped near a handsome park, close to the once magnificent
city of Sitace, which was situated about fifteen stadia from the
river Tigris. The next morning they crossed the river on a Thence they
bridge of thirty-seven boats, without being molested by the Tigris, and
enemy -, and making twenty parasangs in four marches, they^ ““ *0
reached the river Physcus, where stood a large and populous
city named Opis.3
In taking the distance backward at the average rate of the
march through Asia Minor, or 2 608 geographical miles per
parasang along the Upper Tigris (at the favourable season of the
year), from the known point of the river Zab, there would be 130
geographical miles for the fifty parasangs to Opis, which places
that city a little above Kaim,4 and close to the head of the
Nahrawân, instead of being, as before supposed, some miles
lower down near the river ’Adhim.5 Twenty parasangs or position of
fifty-two geographical miles from thé latter along the ancient ! ^ and
bed of the Tigris, would place Sitace about ten miles northwest
of Baghdad, near Sherfat el Be'idha, the presumed site of
the Sitace of Xenophon.6 The circuit made to the Median
wall in going thither can be partly accounted for, by the
necessity of avoiding the marshes and inundations, which at this
season, the period of floods, would have intervened in a direct
line from the first halting-place.
of Sitace, but that the philological difficulty thus raised by Schneider, is
quite as great as the geographical difficulty of the other. The same opinion
appears to be held by other Grecian scholars : the Right Rev. Dr. Wilson,
Lord Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, and the Rev. Dr. MacDonnell, Senior
Fellow of T rinity College, Dublin, among the number.
1 Anabasis, lib. I I . , cap. iv.
! See above, vol. I., 29, 30, 118, also Geographical Journal, vol. IX .,
pp. 446, 472, and 473, and vol. X I., p. 130.
3 Anabasis, lib. I I ., cap. iv. 1 See Map No. 6.
5 See above, vol. I ., p. 30. • Anabasis, lib. I I ., cap. iv.