The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin: Being Translations of such portions of the Works of these and other Classical Authors as describe Alexander's Campaigns in Afghanistan, the Panjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and Karmania — John Shaqi
The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin: Being Translations of such portions of the Works of these and other Classical Authors as describe Alexander's Campaigns in Afghanistan, the Panjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and KarmaniaMcCrindle, John Watson
History
The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin: Being Translations of such portions of the Works of these and other Classical Authors as describe Alexander's Campaigns in Afghanistan, the Panjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and Karmania
McCrindle, John Watson
Alexander, the Great, 356 B.C.-323 B.C.; India -- History -- To 324 B.C. -- Sources
The fleet, on weighing from the haven, ran a course of 60
stadia, and anchored under shelter of a desert island called
Domai. Next day, with a run of 300 stadia, it reached Saranga,
and on the following day anchored at a desert place called
Sakala. Another run of 300 stadia brought it on the morrow to
Morontobara or Women’s Haven. This haven had a narrow entrance,
but was deep, capacious, and well-sheltered. The fleet, before
gaining the entrance, had passed through between two islets,
which lay so close to each other that the oars grazed the
rocks on each side. On leaving this harbour next day it had on
the left a tree-covered island 70 stadia long which sheltered
it from the violence of the sea. As the channel, however,
which separated the island from the mainland was narrow, and
shoal with ebb-tide, the passage through it was difficult and
tedious, and it was not till near the dawn of the following day
that the fleet succeeded in clearing it. A course of 120 stadia
brought it to a good harbour at the mouth of the Arabios. Not
far from this harbour lay an island described as being high and
bare.
The island of Domai Colonel Holdich and others would identify with
Manora. Manora, however, Haig points out, is even now 4 to 5 miles off
from the nearest mainland, and must have been further in Alexander’s
time. He would, therefore, place Domai rather more than 4 miles due
west of the town of Karâchî, or perhaps further north. The fleet, in
its course to Saranga, must have rounded Cape Monze or Râs Muâri, but
this projection is not mentioned by Arrian. The position of Saranga, to
judge from the recorded length of the run, must have been near the mouth
of the Hub river, which is 26 miles distant from the position assigned
to Domai. The Hub mouth has been silted up, and this led, last century,
to its port being abandoned. Our author points out that if Κ were
substituted for Σ in Saranga, we would then have in Karanga a very fair
representation of Kharok, the name of the Hub port. However this may be,
he adds, there can be no doubt that the Saranga of Nearchos was either at
the Hub mouth or a few miles further north.
He then corrects a mistake into which Dr. Vincent and myself had both of
us fallen in our respective translations of the record of the next part
of the voyage—that from Saranga to Sakala, and thence to Morontobara. Our
versions represented the two rocky islets, between which the fleet passed
instead of taking a circuitous course out in the open sea, as being in
the neighbourhood of Sakala instead of that of Morontobara. Sakala, Haig
thinks, may be placed a little east of Bidok Lak—a place 24 miles distant
from Saranga, if Saranga be taken to lie a few miles north of the Hub
mouth. Between these two places the fleet must have passed the island of
Gadâni, which is now a part of the mainland, and was probably the Kodanê
of Ptolemy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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