Nearchos.—Among all the great men associated with Alexander no one has left a reputation more noble and unsullied than that of Nearchos. The long and difficult voyage in unknown seas which he successfully accomplished ranks as one of the greatest achievements in the annals of navigation. He was free from the mad ambition to rule which gave rise to the deadly feuds between Alexander’s other great generals, and stained the records of their lives with so many dark crimes. He was a native of Crete, but settled at Amphipolis, a Macedonian city near the Thracian border. He held a high position at the court of King Philip, where he attached himself to the party of the young prince, and was banished along with Ptolemy, Harpalos, and others, who had involved themselves in his intrigues. Alexander, on mounting the throne, recalled his former partisans, and did not neglect their interests. Nearchos accompanied him into Asia, where he was appointed governor of Lykia and other provinces south of the Tauros. This post he continued to hold for five years. He rejoined Alexander before he left Baktria to invade India, and in India he was appointed commander of the fleet which was built on the Hydaspês. He conducted it down that river and the Akesinês and the Indus to Patala (now Haidarâbâd), a naval station at the apex of the Indus Delta. He arrived at that place about the time when the south-west monsoon usually sets in. Alexander, on returning to Patala from the excursions he made to the ocean, removed the fleet to Killouta, an island in the western branch of the Indus, which possessed a commodious haven. He then set out on his return to Persia, leaving the fleet with Nearchos, who had relieved Alexander’s mind of a load of anxiety by voluntarily proffering his services to conduct the expedition by sea to the head of the Persian Gulf. When we consider, as Bunbury remarks, the total ignorance of the Greeks at this time concerning the Indian seas, and the imperfect character of their navigation, it is impossible not to admire the noble confidence with which Nearchos ventured to promise that he would bring the ships in safety to the shores of Persia, “if the sea were navigable and the thing feasible for mortal man.” Nearchos wished to defer his departure till the monsoon had quite subsided, but as he was in danger of being attacked by the natives, who were no longer overawed by Alexander’s presence, he set sail on the 21st of September, 325 B.C. He was forced, however, by the violence of the weather, when he had reached the mouth of the Indus, to take refuge in a sheltered bay at a station which he called Alexander’s Haven, and which is now known as Karâchi, the great emporium of the trade of the Indus. After a detention here for twenty-four days, he resumed his voyage on the 23rd of October. Coasting the shore of the Arabies for 80 miles, he reached the mouth of the river Arabis (now the Purali), which divides the Arabies from the Oreitai. The coast of the latter people, which was 100 miles in extent, was navigated in eighteen days. At one of the landing-places the ships were supplied by Leonnatos with stores of corn, which lasted ten days. The navigation of the Mekrân coast which succeeded occupied twenty days, and the distance traversed was 480 miles English, though Nearchos in his journal has set it down at 10,000 stadia or 1250 miles. The expedition in this part of the voyage suffered great distress for want of provisions. The coast was barren, and its savage inhabitants, the Ichthyophagi,[415] had little else to subsist on than fish, which some of them ate raw.[416] The Karmanian coast, which succeeded, was not so distressingly barren, but was even, in certain favoured localities, extremely fertile and beautiful. Its length was 296 miles, and the time taken in its navigation was nineteen days, some of which, however, were spent at the mouth of the river Anamis (now the Mînâb), whence Nearchos made a journey into the interior to apprise Alexander of the safety of his fleet. The coasts of Persis and Sousis were navigated in thirty-one days. Nearchos had intended to sail up the Tigris, but having passed its mouth unawares, continued sailing westward till he reached Diridôtis (Terêdon), an emporium in Babylonia on the Pallocopas branch of the Euphrates. He thence retraced his course to the Tigris, and ascended its stream till he reached a lake through which at that time it flowed and which received the river Pasitigris, the Ulaï of Scripture, and now the Karun. The fleet proceeded up this river till it met the army near a bridge on the highway from Persis to Sousa. It anchored at the bridge on the 24th of February, 324 B.C., so that the whole voyage was performed in 146 days. Nearchos received appropriate rewards for the splendid service he had so successfully performed. Alexander was sending him away on another great maritime expedition when the illness which carried off the great conqueror broke up the enterprise. In the discussions which followed regarding the succession to the throne, Nearchos unsuccessfully advocated the claims of Heraklês, the son of Alexander by Barsinê, who was the daughter of Artabazos and the widow of Memnôn the Rhodian. He acquiesced, however, in the arrangements made by the other generals, and was content with receiving his former government, even though he was to hold it subject to the authority of Antigonos. He accompanied his superior when he marched against Eumenes, and interceded for the life of the latter when he fell into the hands of his enemies. Nothing is known of his history after the year 314 B.C., when he was selected by Antigonos to assist his son Dêmêtrios with his counsels when left for the first time in command of an army.
Nikanor, the son of Parmenion, was commander of the hypaspists or footguards in the Asiatic expedition. He was present in the three great battles against the troops of Darius, and died of disease before the charge of conspiracy was preferred against his brother Philôtas.
Olympias, the mother of Alexander, was a passionate, ambitious, and intriguing woman. She was put to death by order of Kassander, the son of the regent Antipater, in 316 B.C., thus surviving her son seven years.
Omphis.—See [Taxilês].
Onesikritos was a Greek historical writer who accompanied Alexander on his Asiatic expedition. He professed the philosophy of Diogenes the Cynic, and on this account was sent by Alexander to converse with the gymnosophists of Taxila. He was the pilot of Alexander’s ship and of the fleet in sailing down the Indus, and afterwards during the voyage to the head of the Persian Gulf. The history written by Onesikritos, which embraced the whole life of Alexander, fell into discredit owing to the manner in which he intermingled fact with fiction. His work was, however, too much undervalued. He was the first author who mentions the island of Taprobanê (Ceylon). In his later years he attached himself to the fortunes of Lysimachos of Thrace.
Orosius was a Spanish ecclesiastic of the fifth century, who wrote a history of the world from the creation down to the year A.D. 417.
Oxyartes, a Baktrian, the father of Alexander’s queen Roxana, was one of the chiefs who accompanied Bessos on his retreat across the Oxus into Sogdiana. Alexander, after marrying his daughter, appointed him satrap of the land of the Paropamisidai, and his successors allowed him to retain that government. It is not known how long he lived, but it is supposed that he was dead when Seleukos undertook his Indian expedition, as his dominions were among those which were surrendered to Sandrokottos.
Oxykanos, called Portikanos by Strabo and Diodôros, ruled a territory which adjoined that of Mousikanos, but its exact position or boundaries cannot be ascertained.
Panini, the celebrated Indian grammarian, was a native of Salâtura, in Gandhâra. His date is generally referred to the fourth century B.C., but this is still a matter of controversy.
Parmênion was the most experienced and most trusted general who accompanied Alexander into Asia. He commanded the left wing of the Macedonian army in the three great battles against Darius. He was left in command in Media, and so did not accompany the expedition into India. His assassination has left an indelible stain on Alexander’s character.