Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

THE FOETID SEA. 225
had come to the sea that winds rushed out upon
them from every side of it, and torrents of water
were poured out upon them from the [four] corners
of heaven like great and mighty claps of thunder,
and they were unable to tarry there.' And
Alexander commanded the masons to build a
tower here in the sea, and they continued to
pour lead and molten matter into the water until He buiws a
the building rose above its surface ; then
he built
upon them a tower and a pillar upon which he
carved his own figure having two horns upon his
head and a key in his right hand. And he wrote
above his hand in Greek, saying, "Whosoever hath
"come into this place and would sail over the sea,
"[let him know] that I have shut it up, and behold
"the key is in my hand." And he put the fingers
of his left hand in his mouth to prevent and warn
whosoever would sail over that sea and pass by
the tower, and to show care for him that he
might not die and perish.^
°"^'^'
Now while Alexander and his soldiers were His sowiers
taking those men along and they were marching th^sT^
^^
with them beyond the tower, it came to pass as
had ridden to see what would happen to them and they saw
that they died the moment that they reached the sea. Syriac
version, p. 148.
' On another sea^ similar to the Foetid Sea^ called Ke-
budan i^l->_^, see Mas'udi^ torn. I. p. 97.
^ The Syriac has no equivalent for this passage, and it
would seem as if Alexander had been confounded with Seson-
chosis who set up a pillar by the Red Sea.
FF