128 ALEXANDER'S EASTERN EXPEDITION. [CHAP.
he embarked on shipboard, and sailed along the coast as far as
the lake Mareotis, and the island of Pharos, which had associa-
tions for him owing to its being mentioned by Homer. His visit
to this neighbourhood produced results of far-reaching importance.
Alexander was struck with the suitableness of the site for a great
commercial centre, and he forthwith gave orders for the founda-
tion of the city of Alexandria.
There now remained no obstacle to prevent the Macedonian
monarch from carrying out his original design of
Visit to the
Temple of Zeus subduing Asia. But before turning his face once
Ammon. mofe eastwar^ he was inspjred with a longing to
visit the shrine of Zeus Ammon in the Libyan desert, and there
to obtain a recognition of the divine parentage which he had now
begun to claim for himself. The route by which he arrived at
that place was not the one which led westward from Memphis,
but that by way of the lake Mareotis along the coast of the
Mediterranean as far as the station of Paraetonium, from which
point the Ammonium was reached by a journey of eight days
due southwards across the desert. The difficulties which were
encountered in the course of this march have no doubt been
exaggerated by Alexander's historians; at the same time it was
a considerable feat, requiring much care and precaution, to
conduct a military force along so remote and desolate a track.
The appearance of the oasis in which the temple lay, with its
palm-groves and fountains, its deposits of salt, and the sandy
waste which surrounded it, is well described by Arrian1. The
response of the oracle declared that the god recognised Alexander
as his son, and promised him an unbroken career of victory.
In the spring of 331 B.C. Alexander quitted Egypt, and led
his army through Phoenicia and across the northern
angk of the Arabian desert to Thapsacus, which
was at this time the usual station for the crossing of
the Euphrates. Here during the summer season which had now
been reached the stream was generally fordable, but in order
to facilitate the passage of the forces two bridges had been
previously thrown across by their leader's orders. His way now
:lay through the northern part of Mesopotamia, and when he