Temperatures and things....

[dean]

Hello,
Just curious, anyone got any idea the rough temperature it would have been on the day of the Gaugamela battle?(I mean judging on the usual temperature at the same time of the year now). In stone's movie it looks mighty hot...Living over here in the Canaries the temperatures are sometimes a little too good so I know how the heat can really knock the stuffing out of you...Anyway thanks for your answers in advance.Best wishes,
Dean.

[Paralus]

Given that Erbil (near enough to Gaugamela) lies some 90 km north of Kirkuk, we could reasonably surmise that the two share reasonably similar climes?Not certain if there is any great difference of altitude (relief maps indicate the battlefield is as described: a plain between "the two rivers") so a bold prediction would be the current forecast for Kirkuk: thirty-three degrees centigrade and dry.Climate details for Kurdistan indicate most of its rain falls between SEptember and May, though as none is mentioned in the accounts of the battle, we could assume Stone's hot, dusty version is a reasonable representation.

[dean]

Hello,Just looking- that is around 90 degrees fahrenheit- I think that it really makes you appreciate what extreme conditions the soldiers were fighting with- with armour and weapons as well, not to mention the difference between the numbers in the two seperate armies.Best regards,
Dean

[nickw]

The Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable lists the next data for Bagdad, which is in the area, 100 kms north of Babylon and 400 kms south of Erbil (Arbela).October Bagdad averages:average daily higest temperature: 102 F (39 C)
average daily lowest temperature: 54 F (12 C)
average humidity: 22%
avarge rainfal: 0.1 inches (2.5 mm)Being a little more to the north and towards the mountains, Gaugamela may have slightly lower averages, but this says virtually nothing about the actual wether conditions on a specific day, of course. Not being in the river-area, Gaugamela must have lower humidity figures I guess, making the climate a bit more bearable.I would think that, as the battle started in the early morning, Alexander and his troops must have awaken in a relatively fresh dawn (approx. 12 C), but temperatures would rise quickly until the 39 C maximum would be reached around 2 p.m. (I figure the battle proper would have been over by then, wouldn't it?)Also note that Jona Lendering argues in his book that Alexander's conquests happened during a 'tiny ice age', or indeed a period of some decennia in which the ancient world enjoyed a cooler climate. That would mean that the Bagdad averages would present us with the absolute maximum temperatures; it may have been considerably cooler then than now.Regards ---Nick

[azara]

Basing himself on various clues, Paolo Moreno assumes that the great Pompeian mosaic depicts Gaugamela and not Issus,and analyzes the scene as a faithful representation of the battle. The shadows indicate an angle of the rays of the sun with the ground of about 45-¦, which in early October and at that latitude happens around 1 p.m; the sun is on the left, behind Alexander's back and slightly to his right, which is consistent with the direction of Alexander's charge: with the two armies lined up north-south, he first rides south-east, then makes his famous conversion to north-east and heads for Darius. I found this hypothesis extremely fascinating; it looks like a photo of the battle, heat, sweat, dust and all. All my best Azara

[heinrich]

We have a weather report in the Astronomical Diaries: it was a clouded day.

[dean]

Thankyou.-