'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎112] (245/458)

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COMMANDER F. JONES.
Prior to these more direct notices * of the great conduit, we have
but collateral testimony of its existence and this I venture to draw from
the “ wears and other impediments, 5 ’ mentioned by Arrian as “ placed
by the Persians across the Tigris to hinder an enemy’s fleet from
invading them that way. f By Arrian and Strabo these impediments
are placed at Opis and Selencia, J up to which town, noticed
* Since the above was written I have found in Polybius, ib. V. cap. 5, that both Dura
and the Katul al Kesrawi are mentioned in the wars of Antiochus the Great, against the
rebels of Media almost under the same forms as they are noted in Mahomedan authors, and
indeed, as they are colloquially named by the better informed of the present day. In the
history of the Seleucidce in Syria, (Pubs. London, by Asborne in 1747 p. 210,) the country is
minutely described between the Lyons, the modem Zab and the ‘ £ King’s Ditch”—the Katul
as unlit for the marching of troops while the latter is pointed out in the speech of Geuxus as
an atestade to success in the event of the Ditch being possessed dy the enemy.
In itself this passage of Polybius will confirm the existence of the Katul al Kesrawi in
connection with Dura so far back as the third century before the Christian era, and the
aspect of the country north of this great conduit will be found from my own description, a
few pages further on, to be in all respects unchanged ; for it is naturally a desert tract in all
ages as noticed by Xenophon from the time the Greeks crossed the Phiskus to their arrival
at the villages of Parysatis near the Zab. Heracliws’s campaigns will also bear witness to the
difficulties of the country and the nature of the excavation; the “ Royal Ditch” opposing
great obstacles to the advance of an enemy. The disasters of Julian’s retreat are all perhaps
referable to the same cause, for immediately his forces crossed the Duras, the desert
was entered, and the enemy possessed ofthe canal continued to harass them whenever they
approached its banks for water which the troops were necessitated to do, for beyond was a
XJarched up waste. On the banks of the conduit, Julian met his death, and at Dur his suc
cessor Sovian signed away the frontier fortress of Rome to the .Persian Monarch.—See
Arniman Marcell, Zosimus, and others.
f Arrian, Book VII., Chapter 7.
$ Strabo, Book XVI. Chap I. Opis when Strabo wrote, appears to have declined in a great
measure, to be succeeded by the city Antiochia, found by Antiochus Soter, the son of Seleueus
Nicator,for he mentions itas a mere village, evidently decaying in the presence of the rival
city, or cities rather, of the Seleucidoe, which were then increasing on the Tigris and sub
sequently known as the Beth Seluki in the Syrian record. Pliny in his 6th Book, Chap. 17,
notices Antiochia which if not actually Opis under a new name, may, perhaps, coincide witu
the position occupied by Tel Dhahab, the remains of an extensive town contiguous to the
mounds of Manjur, and resembling that ancient city in having, as Ilhave mentioned in describ
ing it, an out work at Tel-Aabar on the bank of the ancient Tigris similar to that at 1M
Hyr which, to ah appearance, was connected with Opis or Manjur. After describing Sitaki,
Pliny says, “ Ab occasu autem Antiochia (eadem Appolonia Ptolemcei) inter duo flumina
Tigrinet Tornadotum.” Here it’s position is .noticed distinctly between the Tigris and
the canal and it appears to me that he is equally clear on the position of Apamia, a cotem-
porary town erected by the same monarch now represented, as I imagine, by the modem
name Qadesiyeh—I quote his own words, “ Item Apamia, cui nomen Antiochus matris suae
imposuit, Tigris circumfuncfitur. Hcec dividitur Arehoo”
Considering the context, this specifies the position of Aparniaas also between the Tigris and
the Katul-al-Kesrawi, and environed as it were by the river ; the Archous dividing or
passing through the town itself.—The position of Qadesiyeh answers to the description ex
actly by the Alkaim branch of the Katul cut from the Tigris a little to the Mod. passing
immediately north of the city, while the Tigris itself, sweeping round the steep promontory}
is within a half mile of its walls to the south, a branch ofthe great Katul at the same time
passing the walls to the west, threw off a duct which led through the ramparts into the heart of
the enclosed town, verifying tne writers description of the Archous, and the place in general
in every particular. It affords, indeed, almost conclusive proof of the identity of the Terna*
dotus with the Katul al-Kesiawi, and Qadesiyeh with the Apamia of the Seleucidce.
A full description of Kadesiyeli will be found in the pages of Bens; : Asiat : Soc : Journ : lor
April 1847} where I have detailed the canals and the dimensions of the town. Tne Nahrvvau
there mentioned is a modern but erroneous name in use, for the Katul al Kesrawi ol the
books. I was so much struck with its appearance and iocality as to give a large sketch of
the spot with the paper alluded to, which has not appeared for reasons I am ignorant of. Th®
mi-p. Dr. Ross, however, has made a rough plan of the place accompanying his journal to Optf,