10. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

At Myriandrus, Alexander leamt that Darius was behind him. Hetumed back and marched north quickly, to take an advantageous positionagainst Darius in the plain of Issus (Fig.l).When Darius heard that Alexander was marching back he was nearthe Pinarus (Payas) river. He decided to take a defensive position on thenorthern bank of the river and to palisade. Afteıwards, Alexander positionedhis army on the southern bank of the river. Interpretation of all theevents clearly indicates that the battlefield was the location for a changemeeting rather than a planned confrontation.Location ofthe Batılefield According to Different AuthorsThe location of the battlefield has been estimated on three main riversof the plain of Issus by the foliowing scholars:Deliçay; Janke (1910), Judeich (1929), Murison (1971), Hamilton(1973), and Faure (1985).Kuru çay: Kromayer (1914), Stark (1958) and Bosworth (1988).Payas çay: Wilson (1884), Dittberner (1908), Delbrück (1920),Green (1970), Renfroe (1975), Engels (1978), Fox and Lane (1980), Deyine(1980) and Hammond (1980 and 1989).Some authors mentioned only the ancient name Pinarus without indicatingany modem river of the plain of Issus, These scholars are:Wright (1934), Schacherrneyr (1973), Bum (1974), Will (1986) andWilken (1967).Why the Payas River Should be ldentlfied with the Pinarusw:lt must have been fruitful for the few scholars, who, like Hammond,visited the location, to have available the measurements and the descriptionsstated by the ancient sources, along with satisfactory cartographicmaterials. This enabled them to set out more credible argumentsalthough their work has some mistakes, which we will bediscussing towards the end of this paper.(Iü) Although the Payas river has been identified as the Pinarus by recent valuable works, itseems thatthe Iocation of the baulefield İs stili iri doubt. This İs exemplifed by the BBC televisionseries and publication "The Great Coınmanders'' which included n re-enactment ofthe baule of Issus. According to the producer Phil Grabsky: "Deliçay was strongly recommcndedas to the batılefield butwe also shct the riverPayas as an altemative place"(telephonecoııversation withPhil Grabsky on 28.4.1994).158