The Gates of India: Being an Historical NarrativeHoldich, Thomas Hungerford, Sir
History
The Gates of India: Being an Historical Narrative
Holdich, Thomas Hungerford, Sir
Afghanistan -- Description and travel; Balochistan (Pakistan) -- Description and travel
After the reduction of Bazira Alexander marched towards the Indus and
received the submission of Peukelaotis, which was then the capital of
what is now, roughly speaking, the Peshawur district. The site of this
ancient capital appears to be ascertained beyond doubt, and we must
regard it as fixed near Charsadda, about 17 miles north-east (not
north-west as M'Crindle has it) from Peshawur. From this place
Alexander marched to Embolina, which is said to be a city close
adjoining the rock of Aornos. On the route thither he is said by
Arrian to have taken "many other small towns seated upon that river,"
_i.e_. the Indus; two princes of that province, Cophæus and Assagetes,
accompanying him. This sufficiently indicates that his march must have
been up the right bank of the Indus, which would be the natural route
for him to follow. Arrived at Embolina, he arranged for a base of
supplies at that point, and then, with "Archers, Agrians, Cænus'
Troop" and the choicest, best armed, and most expeditious foot out of
the whole army, besides 200 auxiliary horse and 100 equestrian
archers, he marched towards the "rock" (8 miles distant), and on the
first day chose a place convenient for an encampment. The day after,
he pitched his tents much higher. The ancient Embolina may not be the
modern Amb, but Amb undoubtedly is an extremely probable site for such
a base of supplies to be formed, whether the final objective were
Mahaban or any place (as suggested by Stein) higher up the river. The
fact that there is a similarity in the names Amb and Embolina need not
militate against the adoption of the site of Amb as by far the most
probable that any sagacious military commander would select. A mere
resemblance between the ancient and modern names of places may, of
course, be most deceptive. On the other hand it is often a most
valuable indication, and one certainly not to be neglected.
Place-names last with traditional tenacity in the East, and obscured
as they certainly would be by Greek transliteration (after all, not
worse than British transliteration), they still offer a chance of
identifying old positions such as nothing else can offer excepting
accurate topographical description. Once again, if Embolina were not
Amb it certainly ought to have been.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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