VII.] DEATH OF ALEXANDER. 141
of Alexander at Babylon in June 323 B.C. are not of great import-
ance from a geographical point of view. During this time he once
more visited Susa and Ecbatana, and it was on the occasion of
his progress from the last-named city to Babylon that
he was met by embassies, which had been sent by
the inhabitants of distant countries to congratulate
and to propitiate him. No stronger proof can be found of the
extent to which the fame of his conquests was diffused than the
names which here occur j for among them we find not only the
Carthaginians and some of the tribes of Italy, but the Aethiopians
on the further side of Egypt, the Iberians and Gauls in the far
West, and the Scythians in the north of Europe1. The next enter-
prise on which his mind was set was the circumnavigation and
subjection of Arabia, and with a view to this he had already
ordered a number of ships to be constructed in Phoenicia, and,
after being transported in pieces overland to the Euphrates, to be
sent down the stream of that river to Babylon. But this plan,
and others which he may have been designing.
.... . , o 01 Death of
came to an end with the mastermind which con- Alexander,
ceived them, and the partition of his dominions 323
which followed turned men's thoughts in -other directions.
It remains to speak of the voyage of Nearchus, which was not
the least arduous enterprise connected with Alex-
ander's expedition. The original account of this,
composed by Nearchus himself, has been lost, like
the other narratives of these campaigns, but in this instance there
is the less reason to regret it, because the summary of its contents
which Arrian has given in his Indica is complete and full. The
accuracy of the writer's observation and the faithfulness of his
statements have been thoroughly proved by a comparison of them
with what is known at the present day of the coasts along which
he sailed, and the places at which he touched can in a large
number of instances be identified. As the names of these, whether
ancient or modern, would in most instances be unknown to
ordinary readers, it may suffice for our present purpose to mention
a few of the most conspicuous. Shortly after the fleet had made its
exit from the mouth of the Indus, it was forced to seek for shelter
1 Arrian, 7.15. 4.