[423] ἐλινύσας. This is an Ionic word used by Herodotus (viii. 71, etc.), and rarely in Attic poets and later prose writers.
[424] See Arrian, ii. 11 supra.
[425] Curtius (iv. 63) says that 40,000 of the Persians were slain, and that less than 300 Macedonians were killed. Diodorus (xvii. 61) states that more than 90,000 Persians and 500 Macedonians were slain.
[426] September 331 B.C. Cf. Plutarch (Alex., 31).
[427] For this prediction, see iii. 7 supra.
[428] As to the kinsmen and apple-bearers, see iii. 11 supra.
[429] Diodorus (xvii. 63) and Curtius (v. 6) state that from the treasure captured in Babylon, Alexander distributed to each Macedonian horseman about £24, to each of the Grecian horsemen £20, to each of the Macedonian infantry £8, and to the allied infantry two months’ pay.
[430] Belus, or Bel, the supreme deity of the Babylonians, was identical with the Syrian Baal. The signification of the name is mighty. Cf. Herodotus (i. 181); Diodorus (ii. 9); Strabo (xvi. 1).
[431] See i. 17 supra.
[432] The Chaldees appear in Hebrew under the name of Casdim, who seem to have originally dwelt in Carduchia, the northern part of Assyria. The Assyrians transported these rude mountaineers to the plains of Babylonia (Isa. xxiii. 13). The name of Casdim, or Chaldees, was applied to the inhabitants of Mesopotamia (Gen. xi. 28); the inhabitants of the Arabian desert in the vicinity of Edom (Job i. 17); those who dwelt near the river Chaboras (Ezek. i. 3; xi. 24); and the priestly caste who had settled at a very early period in Babylon, as we are informed by Diodorus and Eusebius. Herodotus says that these priests were dedicated to Belus. It is proved by inscriptions that the ancient language was retained as a learned and religious literature. This is probably what is meant in Daniel i. 4 by “the book and tongue of the Casdim.” Cf. Diodorus (ii. 29-31); Ptolemy (v. 20, 3); and Cicero (De Divinatione, i. 1). See Fürst’s Hebrew Lexicon, sub voce כֶּֽשֶׂד.