description of arabia.—voyage of nearchus.

the common report is, that he heard that the arabs venerated only two gods, uranus and dionysus938; the former because he is visible and contains in himself the heavenly luminaries, especially the sun, from which emanates the greatest and most evident benefit to all things human; and the latter on account of the fame he acquired by his expedition into india. therefore he thought himself quite worthy to be considered by the arabs as a third god, since he had performed deeds by no means inferior to those of dionysus. if then he could conquer the arabs, he intended to grant them the privilege of conducting their government according to their own customs, as he had already done to the indians. the fertility of the land was a secret inducement to him to invade it; because he heard that the people obtained cassia from the lakes, and myrrh and frankincense from the trees; that cinnamon was cut from the shrubs, and that the meadows produce spikenard without any cultivation.939 as to the size of the country, he was informed that the seaboard of arabia was not less in extent than that of india; that near it lie many islands; that in all parts of the country there were harbours sufficiently commodious to provide anchorage for his fleet, and that it supplied sites for founding cities, which would become flourishing. he was also informed that there were two islands in the sea facing the mouth of the euphrates, the first of which was not far from the place where the waters of that river are discharged into the sea, being about 120 stades940 409distant from the shore and the river’s mouth. this is the smaller of the two, and was densely covered with every kind of timber. in it was also a temple of artemis, around which the inhabitants themselves spent their lives. the island was devoted to the use of wild goats and stags, which were allowed to range at large as being dedicated to artemis. it was unlawful to chase them unless any one wished to offer sacrifice to the goddess; and for this purpose alone it was lawful to chase them. aristobulus says that alexander ordered this island to be called icarus, after the island so named in the aegean sea,941 on which, as the report goes, icarus, son of daedalus fell, when the wax, by which the wings had been fastened to him, melted. for he did not fly near the earth, according to his father’s injunctions, but senselessly flying far aloft, he allowed the sun to soften and loosen the wax. icarus left his name to the island and the sea, the former being called icarus and the latter the icarian. the other island was said to be distant from the mouth of the euphrates about a day and night’s voyage for a ship running before the breeze. its name was tylus942; it was large and most of it neither rugged nor woody, but suitable for producing cultivated fruits and all things in due season. some of this information was imparted to alexander by archias, who was sent with a triacontor to investigate the course of the coasting voyage to arabia, and who went as far as the island of tylus, but durst not pass beyond that point. androsthenes943 was despatched with another triacontor and sailed to a part of the peninsula of arabia. hieron of 410soli the pilot also received a triacontor from alexander and advanced farthest of those whom he despatched to this region; for he had received instructions to sail round the whole arabian peninsula as far as the arabian gulf near egypt over against hero?polis.944 although he coasted along the country of the arabs to a great distance, he durst not go as far as he was ordered; but returning to alexander he reported that the size of the peninsula was marvellous, being only a little smaller than the country of the indians, and its extremity projected far into the great sea.945 nearchus indeed in his voyage from india had seen this stretching out a little, before he turned aside into the persian gulf, and he was almost induced to cross over to it. the pilot onesicritus thought they ought to have gone thither; but nearchus says that he himself prevented it, so that after sailing right round the persian gulf he might be able to give a report to alexander that he had accomplished the voyage on which he had sent him. for nearchus said he had not been despatched to navigate the great sea, but to explore the land bordering on the sea, to find out what men inhabit it, to discover the harbours and rivers in it, to ascertain the customs of the people, and to see if any of the country was fertile and if any was sterile. this was the reason why alexander’s naval expedition returned in safety; for if it had sailed beyond the deserts of arabia, it would not have returned in safety. this is said also to have been the reason why hieron turned back.