- William Ainsworth (1807-1896) was an English surgeon, traveller, geographer and geologist. This work is a geographical and descriptive account of the expedition of Cyrus the Great and of the retreat of his Greek mercenaries after the death of the Persian prince. -
(pg. 13) Two facts are evident from this detail: first, that the army, to avoid Mount Tmolus, followed the vale of the Cogamus; and secondly, that they crossed the Maeander above or north of the junction of Lycus.
(pg. 18) From Colossae, Cyrus made in three days' march, twenty parasangs, or sixty geographical miles, to Celaenae, a city of Phrygia, which is described by Xenophon as being at that time large, rich and well inhabited.
(pg. 23) The route followed by Cyrus in travelling from Colossae to Celaenae does not appear to be satisfactorily made out, as the shortest line by the north side of lake Chardák would only give a direct distance of fifty geographical miles. The two points being however determined by other means, we must leave this discrepancy to the details of a march of three days' length.
(pg. 24) Cyrus marched from Celaenae in two days, ten parasangs, (thirty geographical miles), and arrived at Peltae, a city concerning which there are few early notices, but which Xenophone describes as being then well inhabited.
Peltae is placed in the Theodosian tables on the road from Apamea to Dorylaeum, by way of Eucarpia, and at some distance from Eumenia, but without that distance being definitely marked.
(pg. 26) From Peltae, Cyrus made in two marches twelve parasangs, or thirty-six miles, and came to the market of the Ceramanians, or Cramians. This was a city well inhabited, and the last of the country of Mysia. It is almost the only town in the Expedition, or retreat, the position of which has not been at least proximatively established.
Cyrus made from the market of the Cramians, in three days’ march, thirty parasangs, or ninety geographical miles; certainly an astonishing march, and arrived at the plain of Caystrus, where was a well-people city, in which he staid five days.
(pg. 30) From the plain of Caystrus, Cyrus made thirty geographical miles in two days’ march, and came to the city of Thymbrium, a town well inhabited. Thirty geographical miles from Súrmeneh, with a slight circuitousness of road, caused by the projections of the Sultán Tágh, take us to the modern Isháklí, which is also distant thirty parasangs, or ninety miles by road from Kόniyah. Isháklí is remarkably situated at the foot of the Sultán Tágh, on the great road to Kόniyah, and where the country rises gently, so as to form the versant between the two great lakes of Ebér Gӧl and ‘Akshéhr Gӧl.
(pg. 32) On the plain, five miles east of ‘Akshéhr, there is an ancient mound surmounted by a village, and called Kárá U’yúk, the “black mound,” the same as the Kárá Tepeh, or “black hill” of Niebuhr, and identified by Rennell with Thymbrium. Beyond this, the country alternates between cultivated plains and villages with gardens…till the traveler arrives at ’Arkút Khán, a small town of about two hundred houses, and where is a large khan, in part constructed out of ancient hewn stones, and other fragments of antiquity, which also abound in the burial-ground, and are strewed about in the neighbourhood. This site corresponds by distances both from Thymbrium on the one side, and from Iconium on the other, with Tyriaeum, which Cyrus reached in two days’ march, during which the army made ten parasangs. It was at that time a populous town.
(pg. 35) From Tyriaeum, Cyrus made in three days march twenty parasangs, and came to Iconium , the last city of Phrygia, where he staid three days.
(pg. 39) From Iconium, Cyrus made in five days’ march thirty parasangs through Lycaonia; which being an enemy’s country he gave the Greeks leave to plunder it. From hence he sent Queen Epyaxa into Cilicia the shortest way, and appointed Menon the Thessalian with his soldiers to escort her.
(pg. 40) There are only three passes through Tarsus in these regions. The first leads directly from Laranda to Mút and Selévké (Seleucia), and is the longest and most devious. The second, and this is the pass in question, leads by Kizil Chésmeh and ‘Alan Búzuk, Káráhisár, and Mézetlí, to Soli, or Pompeiopolis, and to Tarsus. This is also the pass by which the route laid down in the Peutinger table led from Iconium to Pompeiopolis , passing by Tetra-pyrgia. Is it the shortest and most direct of the passes, but presents great difficulties to an army, and there are said to many caves and ruins on its course. The third is the celebrated Cilician gate , the 'Tauripylae' of Cicero, and the Gӧlék Bόgház of the Turks.
(pg. 41) Cyrus thus effected several objects by this movement. He put most of the rich cities of Lycaonia under contribution, and thus won favour with his army. He at the same time forwarded a body of troops to Tarsus, the capital of the Cilician king, so as to effect a diversion in his favour, the king being occupied in putting the Cilician gates into a state of defence. He further performed a more polite action, by conducting the queen to the foot of Taurus…. The reason for his returning himself to Tyana, was to allow time for his troops to arrive at Tarsus, and draw Syennesis from the Cilician gates, or, as it afterwards turned out, through the influential interference of his friend Epyaxa, to obtain a free and unopposed passage of his army through those passes, which the necessities of the soil obliged him one way or the other to obtain the command of.
(pg. 44) From Dana he (Cyrus) prepared to penetrate into Cilicia...Cyrus immediately marched up the mountains without opposition...The Gӧlék Bόgház is decidedly one of the most remarkable passes of Taurus...Beyond this pass the army is described as descending into a large and beautiful plain, well watered, and full of all sorts of trees and vines...The plain of Cilicia Campestris is indeed almost everywhere remarkable for its fertility and beauty, but especially in the valleys of the rivers Cydnus, Sarus, and Pyramus.
(pg. 46) Cyrus advanced through the plain, and having made five and twenty parasangs in four days' march, arrived at Tarsus. This evidently refers to the whole of the journey from Tyana to Tarsus, which occupied four days, and not to the march on the plain, which only occupied one day.
(pg. 51) Cyrus made from Tarsus in two days' march ten parasangs to the river Pharus, which was three hundred feet broad. The distance from Tarsus to the bridge of Adanah, where is the actual passage over the river Seïhún is...sixteen geographical miles.
(pg. 52) From Pharus, the army made in one march five parasangs to the river Pyramus, which is one stadium, or 607.62 feet in breadth. The point at which the Pyramus is passed in present times on the road from Adanah to Syria is at Misís - the ancient Mallus and Mopsuestia - and which is from fifteen to sixteen geographic miles from Adanah.
(pg. 53)...from the Pyramus to Issus, recorded to be fifteen parasangs, or forty-five geographic miles, which is quite inconsistent with the supposition of the troops having passed at Mopsuestia, from which, to a point which shall be fifteen geographic miles north of the gates of Cilicia and Syria, or a little north of the Pinarus or Déli-chaï, (which corresponds to the distance given by Xenophon of Issus from the gates)...
(pg. 57) Cyrus staid three days at Issus, which is described as being at that time a large city, rich, and well inhabited, and the last town of Cilicia, situated near the sea.
Cyrus made in one march five parasangs from Issus to the gates of Cilicia and Syria. These were two fortresses, of which the inner, next Cilicia, was possessed by Syennesis, with a guard of Cilicians, and the outer, next to Syria, was said to be defended by the king’s troops.
(pg. 59) Cyrus having carried this pass without opposition, proceeded through Syria, and in on march made five parasangs to Myriandrus, a city near the sea, inhabited by the Phoenicians, and which being a mart-town, where many merchant-ships lay at anchor, they continued there seven days...
Mapped Paul Verhelst and Michelle Terng, University of Pennsylvania, Version 1 (October 2017)