136 ALEXANDER'S EASTERN EXPEDITION. [CHAP.
it bifurcated, and that one branch of its divided stream formed
the Tanais, which fell into the Palus Maeotis1. Arrian, indeed,
remarks that the Tanais which Alexander reached could not be
the same river as that which Herodotus designates by this
name8; but this is evidently an after-criticism on his part, and
represents the views of a later age. In this connexion we may
notice another misconception, in respect of which
Caspian. ^e §eography °f tm's Period had retrograded from
that of Herodotus—viz. the opinion that the
Caspian was not an inland sea. This, indeed, was not Aristotle's
view, for he expresses himself with as much confidence as Hero-
dotus in favour of the isolated position of that piece of water3;
but it was certainly that of Alexander and his companions, for we
are told that, when that commander once more reached Ecbatana
at the conclusion of his expedition, he was planning to despatch a
fleet to explore the shores of that sea, in order to discover whether
it communicated with the Euxine or with the outer ocean towards
the east4. This opinion was further confirmed by the authority
of Patrocles, an officer who held a command in that part of Asia
under the Seleucidae (arc. 280 B.C.), and wrote a work, in which
he maintained the possibility of sailing round from the Indian
Ocean into the Caspian. In fact, it was not until the time of
Ptolemy that the true view was restored.
Though Alexander had thus traversed without serious difficulty
the low-lying regions of Bactria and Sogdiana, yet the mountainous
parts of those provinces were so difficult of access, and the hardy
tribes who inhabited them offered so stubborn a resistance to his
arms, that the whole of another year was occupied in subduing
them. Into the details of this campaign, even if the places which
are mentioned in the course of it could be identified with any
certainty, there is no need for us to enter. The spring of
1 Arist. Meteorol. i. 13. 15, 16.
a Arrian, 3. 30. 7—9.
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4 Arrian, 7.16. i, a.