[203] Arrian usually calls the battle of the Granikus an ἱππομαχία (i. 17, 10 and elsewhere).
The battle was fought in the Attic month Thargelion: probably the beginning of May (Plutarch, Camillus, 19).
[204] Æschylus, Pers. 950 seqq.
[205] Arrian, i. 17, 1, 2.
[206] About the almost impregnable fortifications and position of Sardis, see Polybius, vii. 15-18; Herod. i. 84. It held out for nearly two years against Antiochus III. (B. C. 216), and was taken at last only by the extreme carelessness of the defenders; even then, the citadel was still held.
[207] Herodot. vii. 106, 107.
[208] Arrian, i. 17, 5-9; Diodor. xvii. 21.
[209] Arrian, i. 17, 12. Respecting these commotions at Ephesus, which had preceded the expedition of Alexander, we have no information: nor are we told who Heropythus was or under what circumstances he had liberated Ephesus. It would have been interesting to know these facts, as illustrating the condition of the Asiatic Greeks previous to Alexander’s invasion.
[210] Arrian, i. 17, 10-13.
[211] Arrian, i. 18, 5, 6.