10. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

vantageous ground>, On the other hand, ancient historians accused Dariusof being slavish for constructing a palisade along the bank of the river2S • Indeed, Darius' disadvantageous position on the lower bank made ita necessity for him to create a palisade.From the second bridge (an Ottoman single-arch bridge) about 2.2km downstream-ineludiug curves-the river flows in a groove 7-15 mwide, which was confined with vertical banks but is not as coutinuous,and as high as the seetion upstream. In our opinion, only the first 850 mof this seetion existed at the time of the battle in the form of the last partof the Pinarus delta>. Most probably, this part was subjected to an intensecavalry charge between Nabarzanes (Darius'general) and Parmenio(Alexander's general). In the last 500 m, the river runs in a broad bottomwhose channels never rise more than 2 m. Obviously, this seetion did notexist also at the time of the battle.There is no need to discuss the military aspects (grounding positions,tactics and strategy) of the battle in this artiele, since many scholars, especiallyHammond, have given detailed explanations on the subject,mainly based on the ancient sources. However, there is full agreementthat Alexander crossed the river through the right wing of the hills, withhis "Hypaspists" attacked Darius directly and defeated him?".Where didAlexander Cross the Pinarus (Payas) River?When we did our field work, we observed that there was onlyonesuitable track to cross the river. The starting points of this track is locatedon the southern bank, about 250 m from the point where the river emergesfrom the Amanus mountains, or about 485 m east of the first bridge. Atthis point, the steep terrace scarp gradually changes into a gently ineliningslope which is wide enough for horses and carts to go down'"(Fig. 8). The large path on the slope first diverts into the flat bottom of atributary creek (Küncüyeri Dere)", which leads through the flood plain(24) "Persians and Macedonians were now divided by ariver which ran straight across Alexander'spath of advance, flowing from the foot of the mountains into the sea and forminga natural rampart which favoured Darius as İts defender". (Robin Lane Fax, Alexander theGreat, London 1973, p.17!).(25) "It asat this point that those around Alexander realised quiteclearly that Darius was slavishin his ways of thought". Transmitted by Robin LaneFox-Allen Lanep. ı73.(26) Whenthe deltaextended forward, the river incisedthepaleo deltaplain.(27) "Alexander his entourage and the Royal Brigade of Hypaspits could pick their way at therun through the riverbcd andemergc in lineon the farside". (A; 2.8.3)(28) At present,carts alsouse the samepath.(29) We can srate that, at the timeof the battle, thetributary valley was notas deep as tcday's.165