10. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

Can the distance given by Callisthenes indicate Deliçay or Özerliçay, i. e.. the rivers that might have advanced about 6 and 4 km since thebattle? Ozaner's study of geomorphological changes in the plain duringearlicr times has proven that therıorthern part of the plain of Issus, whichwas occupied by Deliçayand Ozerli çay has expanded little since antiquity(Ozaner, 1994). He explained that Deliçay, the longest river of theplain of Issus was merging into the sea immediately to the south of theKinet Mound which supposed to be ancient Issus- around the ıst centuryBC, then changed its course twice, shifting about 2.5 km towards thesouth (Fig. 2). The first estuaıy of the river was used as the harbour of Issusin Strabo time'>, Due to the continuous change of the river bed, andbecause of an active normal Iault!', which has been controlling straightconfiguration of the coast, a distinct delta could not develop at this seetionof the coastal plain. Ozaner concluded that the Payas river is the onlyriver in the plain of Issus, which has changed its main bed since antiquity.Neither has it been affected by the fault- the fault does not extendthat far- thus, it could have formed a distinct delta at the south of theplain. If we assume that the Payas River, whose present plain measures4.1 kın, is the ancient Pinanıs, whose length was given by Callisthenes as2.6 km-we can estimate that about 1500 m (67 cm in a year) accretion ofthe river delta has taken place since 333 Be. This is very possible in thelight of the explanation mentioned above.There are more measurements between same reference points on theland and the battlefield given by Callisthenes, which indieate Payas asPinanıs and dismiss Deliçay as a claimant. it is not necessary to mentionthem again since they have been interpreted correctly by Devine" The 10­cation of the battlefield of Issus", 1980, p.4, and Hammond Alexanderthe Great. King, Commander and Statesman, 1989, p. 97.Of all the modern writers, Hammond carried out the most detailedstudies on the strategy and tacties of the battle, as well as on the morphologiealaspects of the battlefield. Having visited the area in January 1941,Hammond explained that the measurements fit the Payas River betterthan the Deliçay (N. G. L. Hammond, A History of Greece to 322 BC,Oxford, Clerendon, 1959, p. 609). Then he studied the Payas valley in(12) At present. lssus is an isolated mound about 525 ın from the coast, due to the result of a1­luviation.(13) Due to the effect of this fault, alluvial material brought by the torrents hasbeen sedimentedvertically on the collapsed part of the coast. Therefore the ccastal plain could not be expandedmuch to form a distinct delta.160