44 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[February, 



peninsuUi so formed consists of a plain with a mixture of liltle liills, 

 from the coast of Acanthus to that ofTorone. On the mountain and 

 other parts were the towns of Dion, 01ophyxus,Acrothoon,Tiiysus, and 

 Cleone, and on the isthmus stood Sana. The Persians iiaving drawn a 

 line Ijefore the town of Sana, divided the ground among the several 

 nations; and when the trench was considerably sunk, those who were 

 in the bottom stages contrived to dig, and delivered the earth to men 

 standing on ladders, who handed the same again to such ds were placed 

 in a higlier station, till at last others who w aited to receive the burthen 

 at the edge of the canal, carried it away to another ])lace. I3ut by 

 digging in a perpendicular manner, and making the bottom of equal 

 breadth with the top, all tlie workmen, exce))t the Phenicians, drew a 

 double labour upon themselves : because the earth, as it is natural, 

 fell down continually in great quantities from the upper parts. The 

 PhiEnicians alone, continues Herodotus, shewed that ability, on this oc- 

 casion of which they are so much masters at all times ; for they opened 

 the part which was assigned to their care twice as largo as others had 

 done; and sloped the ground gradually till they came to the bottom, 

 they then found the measure, equal with the rest. So much for the 

 mode of cutting pursued two thousand three hundred years ago. 

 We are thus enabled to ascertain the origin of the slope, and the pe- 

 riod at which its recognized introduction into the art took place. The 

 number of workmen employed, says our author, was so great that in a 

 meadow adjoining they had a market funiished with great abundance 

 of com brought even from Asia, and there was also a temporary court 

 of justice formed perhaps on the piepoudre system. Herodotus is by 

 no means disposed to approve of the necessity of the work, for he 

 rather ascribes it to ostentation, being of opinion that it would have 

 been much easier for Xerxes to have had his fleet carried over the 

 land. The canal was of a sufficient breadth to carry two ships sailing 

 in front, and at each end were deep trenches to prevent the sea from 

 filling it up, it was completed by the time the Persian army arrived 

 at Acanthus, in the neighbourhood (about 481 B. C.) — At this time 

 died Artachaeus, one of the engineers, who appears by all accounts to 

 have been one of the greatest men of the day, for he was in stature 

 the tallest of all the Persians, and wanted only the breadth of four 

 fingers to complete the full height of five regal cubits ; his voice also 

 was stronger than that of any other man. By descent he derived his 

 blood from the noble family of AchcEraenes, and was much esteemed 

 by Xerxes, who greatly lamented his death, and caused him to be in- 

 terred with great j)omp. All the army was employed in erecting a 

 monument to his memory ; and the Acanthians, admonished by an ora- 

 cle, honoured him as a hero with sacrifices and invocations. " Such," 

 says Herodotus, " were the demonstration which Xerxes gave of his 

 concern for the loss of Artachaeus ;" and thus did the profession obtain 

 the patronage of a demigod from their own body, to whom if they 

 like they may build temples at this day. — In the meanwhile we sug- 

 gest to our antiquarian friends, whether the Persian engineers swore 

 by Artachaeus, and whether any devout modern would be justified in 

 using the same ancient form. 



The fleet, it seems, according to orders from Xerxes, passed through 

 the canal of Mount Athos, and so into the bay on the other side. Our 

 author further adds, that the people of Acanthus, in consideration of 

 the great attention they paid in making the canal, were rewarded by 

 the king with vests of honour. 



In the Babylonian district, the people were, as in Egypt, well sup- 

 plied with canals, principally for the purposes of irrigation, the water 

 being distributed from them by manual labour, or by hydraulic engines. 

 The largest of these canals,* continued with a south-east course from 

 the Euphrates to that part of the Tigris where Nineveh stands, and 

 was capable of receiving vessels of burthen. These canals and the 

 river were navigated by a peculiar kind of skin boat or coracle, to 

 which Herodotus devotes particular attention. 



PASSAGE OF RIVERS. THE HALYS — THE GYNDES — THE EUPHRATES — 



THE DANUBE — THE STRYMON. 



In the course of the war of the Lydians against the Persians, Craesus 

 found it necessary to cross the river Halys.t when by the advice of 

 Thales, the Milesian it is said, that he caused the river to be divided 

 into two branches, as if he were going to make a bridge — the diversion 

 of streams being a resource well known to the ancient engineers both 

 of the east and the west. He sank a deep trench, which commencing 

 above the camp, from the river, was conducted rounil it in the form of 

 a semicircle, till it again met the ancient bed. It thus became easily 

 fordable on either side. 



Cyrus in his war with the Babylonians made use of a similar expe- 

 dient, with regard to the river Gyndes, but from other motives. The 



* Herodotus, Clio. 

 t Herodotus, Clio. 



Gyndes is described by Herodotus CClio) ;is rising in the mountains 

 of Matiene, and passing through the country of the Darmeans, loses 

 itself in the Tigris. Whilst Cyrus was endeavouring to pass this 

 river, which could not be performed without boats, one of the white 

 consecrated horses boldly entering the stream, in his attempts to cross 

 it, was borne away by the rapidity of the current and totally lost. 

 Cyrus, exasperated by the accicient, made a vow, tliat he would render 

 this stream so very insignificant, that women should hereafter be able 

 to cross it without so much as wetting their knees. He accordinglv 

 put off his designs against Babylon, and divided his forces into two 

 parts : he then marked out with a line on each side of the river, one 

 hundred and eighty trenches ; these were dug according to his orders, 

 and so great a number of men were employed that he accomplished 

 his purpose, but thus wasted the whole of that summer. It is sup- 

 posed however that he was induced to undertake this %vork for the 

 purpose of averting some omen. 



On his arrival at Babylon, however, he had to carry on hydraulic 

 works with a more important end. Finding the city strong and well 

 provided, and that its reduction by force or famine seemeu impracti- 

 cable he had to take other measures. He placed one detachment of 

 his forces where the river first enters the city, and another where it 

 leaves it, directing them to enter the channel and attack the town 

 wherever a passage could be effected. After this disposal of his men, 

 he withdrew with the less eff'ective of his men to a marshy part of the 

 river, near which there was a kind of reservoir, said to have been 

 constructed by Xitocris, Queen of Babylon, not long before. Cyrus 

 here pierced the bank, and introduced tlie river into the lake, by which 

 means the bed of the Euphrates became sufficiently shallow for the 

 object he had in view. The Persians in their station watched the 

 proper moment, and when the stream had so far drawn off as to be no 

 higher than their thighs, they entered Babylon without diflSculty. 



Darius Hystaspes* in his expedition against the Scythians ordered 

 a bridge to be thrown over the Isteror Danube by the lonians. It was 

 placed two days passage from the sea, at that part of the river, where 

 it begins to branch ort', but of its mode of construction nothing is said, 

 although it may be inferred that it was of boats. Darius, when he ar- 

 rived at the Ister, passed the river with his army, he then commanded 

 the lonians to break down the bridge, and to follow him with all the 

 men of their fleet, but by the advice of Goes, a Mytilenian officer, he 

 allowed it to remain, leaving it under the guard of the lonians, with 

 orders if he did not return in sixty days to break it down. The Scy- 

 thians knowing this sent a deputation to the lonians to persuade them 

 to break down the bridge, or to maintain it only for the stipulated time, 

 to which latter proposition they assented. The delay of sixty days 

 having however expired, the lonians by the advice of Histiaeus of 

 Miletus, still maintained the bridge for the Persians, but to prevent the 

 Scythians cutting oft" the retreat, broke that portion near the Scythian 

 shore. Darius arriving in the night with his army, Histiaeus with the 

 fleet restored the bridge. 



Bubaris and Artachfcus, the engineers of the Mount Athos canal, 

 were also charged during the campaign of Xerxes against the Greeks, 

 with the construction of a bridge over the river Strymon in Thrace. 

 For these bridges, says the author so frequently quoted,-!- Xerxes pro- 

 vided cordage made of the bark of the biblos, ancl of white flax. This 

 is all the account we have received of the bridge, except that the 

 army afterwards passed over. 



PASSAGE OF SE.«. — BOSPHORUS — HELLESPOXT GULF OF SALAMIS. 



Darius,J having determined on an expedition against the Scythians, 

 gave orders to throw a bridge over the Thracian Bosphorus, or as it is 

 now called the canal of Constantinople. Thisbridge was placed at Chal- 

 cedon, or as Herodotus conjectors nearly midway between Byzantium 

 and the temple at the entrance of the Euxine, constructed under the 

 direction of Mandrocles, a Saraian, who executed it so much to the 

 satisfaction of Darius, that he made him many valuable presents. 

 With the produce of these presents Mandrocles caused a representa- 

 tion to be made of the Bosphorus with the bridge thrown over it, and 

 the king seated on a throne, reviewing his troops as they passed. This 

 he afterwards consecrated in the temple of Juno, with an inscription 

 paraphrased by Beloe thus — 



Thus was the fishy Bosphonis inclos'd, 

 When Samian Mandrocles his bridge impos'd : 

 \Mio there, obedient to Darius' will, 

 Approv'd his country's fame, and private skill. 



This is perhaps one of the earliest instances of a votive offering, and 

 of an artistical commemoration of an engineering work. 



' Herodotus — Melpomene. 



t Herodotus— Polymnia. 



} Herodotus, Melpomene. 



