The Anabasis of Alexander/Book VII/Chapter XVII
CHAPTER XVII.
The Advice of the Chaldees Rejected.
But he had a suspicion that the Chaldaeans were trying to prevent his entrance into Babylon at that time with reference rather to their own advantage than to the declaration of the oracle. For in the middle of the city of the Babylonians was the temple of Belus,[1] an edifice very great in size, constructed of baked bricks which
were cemented together with bitumen. This temple had been razed to the ground by Xerxes, when he returned from Greece; as were also all the other sacred buildings of the Babylonians. Some say that Alexander had formed the resolution to rebuild it upon the former foundations ', and for this reason he ordered the Babylonians to carry away the mound. Others say that he intended to build a still larger one than that which formerly existed.[2] But after his departure, the men who had been entrusted with the work prosecuted it without any vigour, so that he determined to employ the whole of his army in completing it. A great quantity of land as well as gold had been dedicated to the god Belus,by the Assyrian kings; and in olden times the temple was kept in repair and sacrifices were offered to the god. But at that time the Chaldaeans were appropriating the property of the god, since nothing existed upon which the revenues could be expended. Alexander suspected that they did not wish him to enter Babylon for this reason^ for fear that in a short time the temple would be finished, and they should be deprived of the gains accruing from the money. And yet, according to Aristobulus, he was willing to yield to their persuasions so far at least as to change the direction of his entry into the city. For this purpose, on the first day he encamped near the river Euphrates; and on the next day he marched along the bank, keeping the river on
his right hand, with the intention of passing beyond the part of the city turned towards the west, and there wheeling round to lead his army towards the east. But on account of the difficulty of the ground he could not march with his army in this direction; because if a man who is entering the city from the west, here changes his direction eastward, he comes upon ground covered with marshes and shoals. Thus, partly by his own will and partly against his will, he disobeyed the god.
- ↑ See p. 171, note 3. Herodotus (i. 181) gives a description of this temple, which he says existed in his time. Strabo (xvi. 1) agrees with Arrian that it was said to have been destroyed by Xerxes. He also says that Alexander employed 10,000 men in clearing away the rubbish of the ruins. Professor Sayoe and others adduce this passage of Arrian to prove that Herodotus is not to be trusted e'^en when he says he had seen the places and things which he describes. The words of Herodotus are is
- ↑ Cf. Arrian, iii. 16 supra.
also quoted by Cicero (De Divin., ii. 5): Est quidam Graecus vulgaris in hauc sententiam versus; bene qui oonjiciet, vatem huno perhibebo optimum."
ἐμὲ τοῦτο ἔτι ἐόν, meaning, not that he had himself seen the temple, but that it existed till his time. In chap. 183 he expressly states that he did not see other things which he is describing, but that he derived his information from the Ohaldaeans. He was about twenty years of age when Xerxes was assassinated. It must not be forgotten that Strabo and Arrian lived five or six hundred years after Xerxes. The veracity of Strabo is never doubted; yet in his description of Babylon this author speaks of the walls and hanging gardens as if they were still in existence, though not expressly saying so.