A Revised Itinerary of the Route Followed by Cyrus the Younger through Syria, 401 B.C.

Abstract

The traditional route followed by the Army of Cyrus the Younger as shown in Map I of Vol. VI of the Cambridge Ancient History and in Bury's History of Greece take an almost straight line from the sea at Myriandros to the great bend in the R. Euphrates where it turns to the south-east. Thapsacus, where Cyrus crossed the river, is shown at the bend, approximately where the modern Meskeneh now stands, in the Cambridge Ancient History, while Bury places it farther east at or near the modern Raqqa. Both identify the R. Araxes with the modern Khabour.As a result of a close examination of parts of Chapters iv and v of the Anabasis, wide reading of the works of ancient and modern travellers in those parts, coupled with some researches in the parasang and a knowledge of the terrain gained during some war-time journeys in that area, I find myself unable to accept these identifications, as they fit neither the length of marches itemised by Xenophon, nor the physical features of the terrain. Both entirely ignore the existence of a considerable river known today as the R. Belekh.