[15] It is a matter of surprise that Cyrus should have chosen the very middle of summer for his expedition into Babylonia, and still more wonderful that the Greeks, unused to the intense heats of Mesopotamia, and encumbered with their heavy arms and armour, should have been able to brave the climate. No Turkish or Persian commander would in these days venture to undertake a campaign against the Arabs in this season of the year; for, besides the heat, the want of water would be almost an insurmountable obstacle. During their retreat, the Greeks had to encounter all the rigor of an Armenian winter; so that, during the few months they were under arms, they went through the most trying extremes of climate. The expedition of Alexander was also undertaken in the middle of summer. It must, however, be borne in mind, that Mesopotamia was probably then thickly peopled and well cultivated, and that canals and wells of water must have abounded.
[16] Had he seen this large inland sea, he would probably have mentioned it.
[17] In no way, however, would a direct line of march between these two rivers, nor between any other two rivers which can possibly answer to his description, tally with the distances given by Xenophon.
[18] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 112.
[19] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 107.
[20] The long lines of variously armed troops, described in my former work (vol. ii. p. 107), as covering several slabs from top to bottom, form the army of the king marching to this campaign.
[21] It is still the custom in Persia, and was so until lately in Turkey, for soldiers to bring the heads of the slain to their officers after a battle, and to claim a small pecuniary reward.
[22] For an account of these mounds represented in the Assyrian sculptures, and the manner in which they illustrate various passages in Scripture see my Nineveh and its Remains, vol ii. p. 281 and note.
[23] Such is the costume of the women in ships in a bas-relief discovered during my former researches (see Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 116), and which, I have conjectured, may represent the capture of Tyre and Sidon.
[24] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 131, for a description of the discoveries previously made in this mound.