The river Lycus and Arbela

[Nicator]

Hello all,I'm having trouble deciding which account to use in the distance from Guagamela to Arbela. Is seventy five miles right, or is it as Fuller states...merely thirty six miles? I have expanded my section on the battle by probably 4 times its original length to incorporate and reconcile Hammond (still think he's the best here), Fuller (tied with Green for 2nd) and Green.

[susan]

If you post what the sources say we can narrow it down. I just emailed you some images.

[Nicator]

Hi Susan,
Thanks for the awesome pics!!!
Arrian provides 600 Stades or 75 miles. Fuller through a modern day field reconassaince pegs it at 36 miles. So I guess the question boils down to how much do we know about the actual site of the battle? How much do know of Arbela's actual location then and now?

[susan]

Curtius has quite a lot of detail. Darius made his base at Arbela - modern-day Erbil. He then marched to the Lycus ( the greater Zab); then he bridged it and moved to the River Boumelus(Curtius)/Bumodus (Arrian), which is 80 stades from the Zab. The battle was fought near here. It was 600 stades from the battle to Arbela. There were two units of stades in the ancient world - the usual was the Olympian, which was 0.185km; the other was the Egyptian which was 0.157 km. Assuming the former is used, this converts to a distance of 69.4 miles from Gaugamela to Arbela. The battlesite was 4 miles from the crest of a ridge.There is another river called the Gomil that joins the Khazir - it would not be surprising if it was somehow connected to the battlesite name.During the Iraq war there were plenty of TV pictures of Erbil, and some from Khazir. It looked quite green. It's in Kurdistan.Susan