Kitap 1
7.13
Such were the reports brought to Cyrus by those who deserted from the Great King before the battle, and after the battle identical reports were made by the prisoners taken thereafter.
7.14
From there Cyrus marched one stage, three parasangs, with his whole army, Greek and barbarian alike, drawn up in line of battle; for he supposed that on that day the King would come to an engagement; for about midway of this day’s march there was a deep trench, five fathomsὀργυά = the reach of the outstretched arms (cp. ὀρέγω), or, as an exact unit of measurement, 6 Greek feet = 5 ft. 10 in. English measure. in width and three fathoms in depth.
7.15
This trench extended up through the plain for a distance of twelve parasangs, reaching to the wall of Media,Described by Xenophon in Xen. Anab. 2.4.12. It extended from the Euphrates north east to the Tigris, and was built by the Babylonians, apparently in the sixth century B.C., as a defence against the Medes. It is supposed that the southern part of the wall was now in ruins. Such a supposition serves to explain (1) the need of the King’s trench, and (2) the fact that Xenophon does not describe the wall here, but only in Xen. Anab. 2.4.12. [Here also are the canals, which flow from the Tigris river; they are four in number, each a plethrum wide and exceedingly deep, and grain-carrying ships ply in them; they empty into the Euphrates and are a parsang apart, and there are bridges over them.] and alongside the Euphrates there was a narrow passage, not more than about twenty feet in width, between the river and the trench;
7.16
and the trenchIt would seem that the rapid approach of Cyrus had prevented the King from completing the trench. had been constructed by the Great King as a means of defence when he learned that Cyrus was marching against him. Accordingly Cyrus and his army went through by the passage just mentioned, and so found themselves on the inner side of the trench.
