Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

1 86 THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
the ark of Noah' on the island' where it lay
Boats like and I made [my boats] like unto it.^ Then I
^ '''
' commanded them to make very thick ropes, and
men rowed over [with them] in boats and crossed
over to the other side of the river. And I ordered
them to build there a great tower, and upon it
[to set up] a large pillar, from [the top of which]
a view over the whole river could be obtained.
And I ordered* them to tie the boats together,
each to the other, and they made means of passage
from one to the other; and when [all of them]
The river were vcry firm I gave the order,^ and my troops
crossed over, and I remained by myself until they
had all passed over. Now many of my Greek
friends^ entreated me to [p. io6] allow them to
settle in that country when they saw the beauty
thereof, and I gave them the permission so to
do; and we left a number of Greeks in that
' The children of Noah were believed to be builders
of ships and navigators; see Zotenberg, Chronique de Jean
Eveqiie de NiMoii, p. 240.
^ Tradition usually asserts that the ark lay on Mount
Kardo, i. e., on Jabal al-Judi of the Arabs, on the left bank
of the Tigris, over against Jazirat Ibn 'Omar.
3 In the Syriac he builds one thousand "Alexandrian
boats" (p. lis).
Read fflJiHliVh •
5 In the MS. htiliY}?*''^' • is written above the column.
* After the Greeks had crossed the river they journeyed
on for two days and arrived in a very rich country, where-
in Alexander built a city; here too he built a temple to Zeus
and another to Rhea (Syriac version, p. ii6j.