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ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY’S PUBLICATIONS

CONSTABLE’S _Oriental Miscellany_, a series that ... has the strongest claim on popularity.—_Notes and Queries._

_Already published_

Vol. I.

BERNIER’S TRAVELS IN THE MOGUL EMPIRE. An entirely new edition, with illustrations, and reproductions of maps from early editions. By ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, Mem. As. Soc. Bengal, F.S.A.Scot. Cr. 8vo, pp. liv + 500. Price 6s. nett.

The old translation has now been revised and edited in very scholarly fashion.—_The Times._

This is a scholarly volume, and bodes well for the success of the Miscellany.—_The Scotsman._

The New Miscellany ... has been right worthily inaugurated by a reprint of Bernier’s _Travels in India_, which must delight the scholar and lover of books.—_The Bombay Gazette._

An almost perfect instance of careful, painstaking, and judicious editing.—_The Pioneer._

The excellent editing, as well as outward get-up ... are a guarantee that this new venture ... will supply a long-felt want.—_The Times of India._

The student will know how to prize the work, and the general reader will find it very interesting reading.—_The Manchester Guardian._

Since their first appearance in Paris, in 1670, many have been the reprints and translations of Bernier’s _Travels_.... With all this, however, the book itself is not easily accessible. In offering the English Public a new edition of it, Messrs. Archibald Constable and Company have therefore no need to apologise. It is a fact that until this publication no really satisfactory edition has existed. It is now edited not only with great care, but also with a laudable regard to the needs of the general reader.—_The Anti-Jacobin._

The book abounds with curious scenes and anecdotes of native life in India, amusing in themselves and interesting for comparison with the ways, habits, and ideas of modern India.... The running glossary of Indian terms and words is very useful; so are the brief notices of distinguished persons and remarkable places mentioned in the text; there is also a chronicle of Bernier’s life, a bibliography of his works, and an excellent index.—_The Speaker._

The book is of almost indispensable necessity to the reader of history, being accurate and painstaking to a high degree.—_The Academy._

The volume has been admirably edited and illustrated. The numerous allusions in the text to individuals, places, productions of art and industry, etc., are well explained in brief but sufficient notes, which contain the results of careful research in contemporary historians, and of an intimate personal acquaintance with Indian life and industry at the present day.—_The Scottish Geographical Magazine._

Vol. II.

POPULAR READINGS IN SCIENCE. By JOHN GALL, M.A., LL.B., late Professor of Mathematics and Physics, Canning College, Lucknow, and DAVID ROBERTSON, M.A., LL.B., B.Sc. With many Diagrams, a Glossary of Technical Terms, and an Index. Cr. 8vo, pp. 468. Price 5s. nett.

The authors lay no claim to originality, but have exercised a judicious choice in the selection of subject-matter.... The narrative style which has been adopted by the authors will make the book acceptable to general readers who are anxious to make acquaintance with modern science.—_Nature._

It is hardly to be expected that this second volume of Constable’s _Oriental Miscellany_ will meet with such universal acclamation as the first volume, which consisted of Bernier’s _Travels_. But when rightly considered, it equally shows the thoroughness with which the publishers have thrown themselves into the enterprise.—_The Academy._

While the essays are such as would attract and instruct a general reader, they appear to have been written specially with a view to the needs of Indian students approaching the study of science for the first time.... They are well adapted to this end, and cannot fail to create in their readers a desire to push their knowledge further.—_The Scotsman._

The new volume of Constable’s _Oriental Miscellany_ would have delighted Macaulay and the champions of “Occidentalism” in Indian education in Lord William Bentinck’s day.... Messrs. Gall and Robertson ... have prepared a collection of essays which will be at least as acceptable to the general reader as to the student, in which the results of the most modern researches in physical science are brought up to date.... In each case the subject is treated in a clear and interesting way ... it is a most commendable undertaking.—_The Bombay Gazette._

The title sufficiently indicates the lines on which the two collaborators have worked. Theirs is no dry-as-dust text-book; it is rather a collection of scientific facts forming chapters in what has aptly been called the romance of science.... Messrs. Archibald Constable and Company have a particular interest in this country, and their _Oriental Miscellany_ is so well edited, printed, and published, that it is easy to predict for it a wide popularity.—_The Madras Mail._

The second volume of Constable’s _Oriental Miscellany_, just published under the above heading, has been designed to meet an undoubted want, and will hardly yield in usefulness to any in the projected series.... While elementary principles are explained with sufficient clearness to enable the work to be used independently of other text-books, the compilers have devoted much attention and space to many of the results of scientific researches which have mainly distinguished the present century. The Darwinian theory, for instance, is not only admirably summarised in itself, but we are furnished with a useful _précis_ of the arguments _pro et con_, together with an account of the more recent discoveries of paleontologists which have strengthened the doctrine of the evolution of organic beings, and an outline of the views regarding it of the _savants_ of all nations. The book is one which should secure a large number of general readers, who will find in it a vast store of useful information placed before them in a peculiarly readable and acceptable form.—_The Pioneer._

This is a popular treatise covering a very wide range of subjects.... A well-written book like a modernised Lardner, or a _fin-de-siècle_ edition of the _Scientific Information for the People_ of the “Useful Knowledge Series.”—_The Educational Times._

The authors write about what they know, and they write with clearness and precision, and on the topics which they discuss they have spoken with that accuracy which comes from full knowledge.... The value of the book is enhanced by a glossary of technical terms, which will be of the utmost possible use to the beginner, and also of use to those who are somewhat advanced in their studies.—_The Aberdeen Daily Free Press._

Vol. III.

AURENG-ZEBE, a Tragedy, by JOHN DRYDEN, and Book II. of THE CHACE, a Poem, by WILLIAM SOMERVILE. Edited, with Biographical Memoirs and Notes, by KENNETH DEIGHTON, Editor of Select Plays of Shakespeare. With a Portrait of Dryden, and a coloured reproduction of an Indian painting representing the Emperor Akbar deer-stalking. Cr. 8vo, pp. xiii + 222. Price 5s. nett.

An interesting reprint of Dryden’s tragedy.... If any one wishes to realise by an hour’s easy reading the vast gulf which separates our knowledge of India and our conceptions about India, at the close of this 19th century, from the views of our ancestors about India in the last quarter of the 17th century, we recommend this book to his notice. Mr. Deighton’s copious and suggestive footnotes will render the perusal both profitable and pleasant.—_The Times._

The volume, like its predecessors, is admirably got up, and is enriched by a fine portrait of Dryden, and a capital reproduction of a highly curious and interesting Indian picture exhibiting the youthful Akbar at the chase.—_The Scotsman._

Mr. Kenneth Deighton supplies a short biography of Dryden, and a just estimate of his dramatic power, taking due notice of the improvement in the later tone of a poet who was largely made by his surroundings, and had to write to please.... Ample notes, suited to the capacity of the Indian student, are incorporated in the volume.—_The Glasgow Herald._

Vol. IV.

LETTERS FROM A MAHRATTA CAMP. By THOMAS DUER BROUGHTON. A new edition, with an Introduction by the Right Hon. Sir M. E. GRANT DUFF, G.C.S.I., F.R.S., Notes, Coloured and other Illustrations, a very full Index, and a Map. Crown 8vo, pp. xxxii + 274. Price 6s. nett.

_Forthcoming volumes, in active preparation_

LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA. By Mrs. SPEIR. A new edition, revised and edited by Dr. ROST, C.I.E., Librarian, India Office.

RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL. By Major-General Sir W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B. A new edition, edited by VINCENT ARTHUR SMITH, Indian Civil Service.

_Other publications_

STUDIES IN MOHAMMEDANISM, Historical and Doctrinal, with a chapter on Islam in England. By JOHN J. POOL. With a Frontispiece and Index, pp. xvi + 420. Cr. 8vo, full cloth. Price 6s.

An interesting survey—all the more readable, perhaps, on account of its informal and even discursive arrangement—of Mussulman faith, practice, and history.... A conspicuous feature of Mr. Pool’s work is the account of the Moslem propaganda, which Mr. Quilliam, a Liverpool solicitor, is now prosecuting in that city.... It is tinged by no rancour or contempt, and exhibits a conscientious endeavour to appreciate the Mohammedan standpoint. As a “popular text-book,” dealing with some of the most picturesque aspects of Islam, it deserves more than ordinary attention.—_The Times._

Mr. Pool ... has done good service in publishing this popular exposition of the doctrines and real character of Islam. So far as he errs at all, he errs on the side of too much leniency to Mohammedanism.... Mr. Pool’s too favourable account of the Moorish _régime_ in Spain is the only part of his book that is open to serious question. The rest of the volume is both readable and instructive. He has evidently studied Islam with great care, and he states his own views with exemplary moderation.—_The Spectator._

The chapter which gives information on this matter [Islam in Liverpool] is naturally the most interesting in the volume.... As to the other parts of Mr. Pool’s book it is difficult to speak too highly. His account of Mohammed and his system is fair and full, abounding in all kinds of illustrative anecdote.—_The Glasgow Herald._

In the forty-one chapters of this volume the promise of the title is well kept, and every aspect of Islam faith and practice is discussed in a clear, comprehensive, and interesting manner.—_The Liverpool Mercury._

These _Studies in Mohammedanism_ are conspicuously fair. The writer is devotedly attached to Christianity, but he frankly and gladly acknowledges that Mohammed was a man of extraordinary powers and gifts, and that the religion which bears his name has done incalculable service to humanity in keeping the sublime truth of the unity of God before the eyes of the non-Christian world steeped in polytheism.—_The Bradford Observer._

This volume will be found both interesting and useful to the general reader, as supplying in a convenient form a very good outline of the rise and development, with an account of the more salient features, of the Mohammedan religion. There are short chapters also on the Turks, Afghans, Corsairs, crusades, literature, architecture, slavery, etc., which convey much public information in a pleasant style.—_The Scottish Geographical Magazine._

ANCIENT INDIA

ITS INVASION BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT

CATALOGUE OR ORDER SLIPS

[_Entered at Stationers’ Hall_]

It is hoped that these slips, which have been drawn up and printed strictly in accordance with the British Museum Catalogue rules, will prove a convenience to Booksellers, Librarians, Cataloguers, and Bookbuyers generally.

Their _judicious_ acquisition and use may save many a hurried fruitless search for a piece of paper and a pencil, required at times to note down the title of a desirable book seen in the possession of another.

M’CRINDLE (J. W.). The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodôros, Plutarch, Justin, and other classical authors. With an Introduction containing a Life of Alexander, copious Notes, Illustrations, Maps, and Indices. Pp. xii + 432. _Archibald Constable and Co., Westminster_ (London). 1893. 8vo.

ANCIENT INDIA

ITS INVASION BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT

[Illustration: Comment le Roy alixandre ploura de pitie quil ont de son cheual Buciffal qui se mouroit

ALEXANDER THE GREAT MOURNING THE DEATH OF BOUKEPHALOS]

THE INVASION OF INDIA BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT AS DESCRIBED BY ARRIAN, Q. CURTIUS, DIODOROS PLUTARCH AND JUSTIN

Being Translations of such portions of the Works of these and other Classical Authors as describe Alexander’s Campaigns in Afghanistan the Panjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and Karmania

WITH AN INTRODUCTION CONTAINING A LIFE OF ALEXANDER COPIOUS NOTES, ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND INDICES BY J. W. M’CRINDLE, M.A., M.R.A.S., F.R.S.G.S. LATE PRINCIPAL OF THE GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, PATNA, AND FELLOW OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY, MEMBER OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

NEW EDITION Bringing the Work up to Date

Westminster ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY MDCCCXCVI

_All rights reserved_

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xi

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION xxxv

INTRODUCTION, CONTAINING A LIFE OF ALEXANDER 3

ARRIAN 57

Q. CURTIUS RUFUS 183

DIODÔROS 269

PLUTARCH 305

JUSTIN 321

APPENDICES—

NOTES A-L_L_ 331

BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 375

GENERAL INDEX 417

INDEX OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR REFERRED TO 430

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ALEXANDER THE GREAT MOURNING FOR BOUKEPHALOS _Frontispiece_

_By the Autotype Company from a French MS. in the British Museum of the Life of Alexander the Great, written in the fifteenth century._

FIG. PAGE

1. LYSIMACHOS Gold coin of Lysimachos (B.C. 306-281), struck at Lysimachia, in the British Museum 16

2. ARISTOTLE From an intaglio gem, engraved on sard, in the British Museum 16

3. SEAL OF DARIUS From a cylinder of chalcedony, inscribed “I am Darius the great king,” in Persian, Median, and Babylonian, in the Brit. Museum 29

4. ALEXANDER THE GREAT On a silver coin struck in Thrace by Lysimachos, in the Brit. Museum 48

5. DIODOTOS On a gold stater struck in Baktria, in the British Museum 52

6. ANTIOCHOS THE GREAT On a gold coin (B.C. 222-187), in the British Museum 52

7. EUTHYDÊMOS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum 53

8. THE TYRIAN HERAKLÊS On a silver coin struck at Tyre (B.C. 125), in the British Museum 71

9. EUMENÊS Silver coin of Eumenês I. (B.C. 263-241), struck at Pergamos, in the British Museum 120

10. PTOLEMY SÔTÊR On a silver coin (B.C. 306-284), in the British Museum 151

11. INDIAN BOWMAN From a coin of Chandragupta II. (A.D. 395-415), in the Brit. Mus. 210

12. SÔPHYTÊS From a silver coin, in the Brit. Mus. 280

13. GREEK WARSHIP From a silver coin of Sidon, in the British Museum 316

14. SELEUCUS NICATOR Obverse of a silver coin struck in Pergamos, in the British Museum 327

15. EUKRATIDÊS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum 344

16. ANTIMACHOS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum 370

17. AGATHOKLÊS Silver coin of Agathoklês, in the British Museum 371

18. HELIOKLÊS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum 371

19. APOLLODOTOS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum 372

20. AŚÔKA INSCRIPTION Reduced from an impression of the Kalsi Edict by Dr. James Burgess, C.I.E. 373

21. ANTIGONOS GONATAS Silver coin of Antigonos Gonatas (B.C. 277-239), in the Brit. Mus. 376

22. ANTIGONOS DÔSÔN Silver coin of Antigonos Dôsôn (B.C. 229-220), in the British Museum 377

23. ANTIOCHOS II. On a silver coin (B.C. 261-246), in the British Museum 377

24. DEMETRIOS POLIORKÊTÊS Silver coin of Demetrios Poliorkêtês (B.C. 294-288), in the Brit. Mus. 383

25. PTOLEMY III. On a gold coin (B.C. 247-222), in the British Museum 403

MAPS

MAP OF ALEXANDER’S ROUTE IN THE PANJÂB _Facing_ 57

MAP OF THE ROUTE TAKEN BY ALEXANDER IN HIS ASIATIC EXPEDITION 432

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

Since this volume was written, three works have appeared which not only make important additions to our knowledge of Alexander’s campaigns in Turkestan, Lower Sindh, and Makran respectively, but which also serve to correct some current errors with regard to the identification of places which lay in the route of the great conqueror, as he passed through these obscure regions. As the works referred to have been written by scholarly men, who possess an intimate personal knowledge of the localities which they describe, the conclusions to which their investigations have conducted them may be accepted with confidence, and we propose to give here a brief summary of these conclusions so far as they concern our subject. The works are these: 1. _Alexander des Grossen Feldzüge in Turkestan_, von Franz Schwarz, München; 2. _The Indus Delta: a Memoir chiefly on its Ancient History and Geography_, by Major-General M. R. Haig, M.R.A.S., London; 3. _A Lecture on “The Retreat of Alexander the Great from India,”_ by Colonel Holdich, R.E., as reported in the Calcutta _Englishman_.

We begin with Turkestan, by which is here meant the provinces called anciently Baktriana and Sogdiana. Their reduction, as will be seen from our Introduction (pp. 39-44), occupied the arms of Alexander for upwards of two years, from B.C. 329-327. The description of the campaigns by which this conquest was effected has hitherto proved a task of unusual difficulty, due partly to imperfect knowledge of the geography of the seat of war, and partly also to discrepancies in the accounts of these campaigns as given by Arrian and Curtius, who neither drew their facts from the same original sources nor relate them in quite the same order of sequence. It is fortunate therefore that Herr Schwarz, who for fifteen years resided in Turkestan, and had occasion or opportunity during that time to visit all its places of importance, sedulously applied himself to study the antiquities of the country, and was thus able ultimately to identify with certainty, almost all the places in which Alexander is reported, by his historians, to have shown himself. His work is accompanied by an excellent map, in which he has traced the line of the marches and the counter-marches of the Macedonian troops, while operating in the regions of the Oxus and the Jaxartes.

Alexander, in the early spring of 329 B.C., left Kabulistan, and having crossed the Indian Kaukasos, arrived at Drapsaka, and from thence continued his march to Aornos and Baktra. It has never been doubted that Baktra is now Balkh, but opinions have differed with regard to the other two places. Schwarz, on sufficient grounds, identifies Drapsaka with Kunduz, and Aornos with Tash-Kurgan, near which are situated the ruins of Khulm. Alexander, marching from Baktra through a frightful desert, gained the banks of the Oxus, which he crossed with his army in five days. The passage was effected, not from Kizil, as has been hitherto supposed, but from Kilif, higher up the stream—a place which Schwarz thinks was probably the city of the Branchidai, which, with its inhabitants, Alexander so remorselessly destroyed. From the Oxus the expedition advanced by way of Karshi and Jam to Marakanda, the famous city of Samarcand. Near Karshi, at the hill Kungur-tau, occurred the skirmish in which Alexander, on this march, received a wound. Marakanda was situated on the banks of the Polytimêtos, now the Zerafshan or Kohik, which flows westward till its waters are lost in the sands of the Khorasmian Desert. Alexander marched thence to the river Tanais—the Jaxartes or Syr-darya—which formed the eastern boundary of the Persian empire, and separated it from the Skythians. On the Persian side of this river Alexander founded a city, which he called by his own name, Alexandria. It is agreed on all hands that the site of this Alexandria was at or near where Khojent now stands. In this neighbourhood Alexander captured seven towns, which had shown signs of a purpose to revolt. The names of two of these have been recorded, Gaza and Kyropolis. The former Schwarz identifies with Nau, and the latter with Ura-tübe, a considerable city occupying a commanding position, strongly fortified, and distant from Khojent about 40 miles. It had been founded by Cyrus to serve as a bulwark against incursions of the Skythians. Alexander having quelled the attempted revolt of the Sogdians, crossed the Jaxartes, and inflicted a defeat on the Skythians, who had mustered in great force on their own side of the river. He pursued them as far as what Curtius calls the boundary-stones of Father Bacchus, which Schwarz has identified as a pass over Mogul-Tau, near Mursa-rabat, a post-station, 17 miles distant from Khojent.

On the heels of this victory tidings reached Alexander of the terrible defeat and slaughter of his Macedonian troops by Spitamenes in one of the islands of the Polytimêtos, and he immediately started for Marakanda, and reached it after a march of three days. As the distance from Khojent to Samarcand is 172 English miles, this march, made in broiling heat, and through a country without roads, must have tried to the very utmost the powers of endurance of the Macedonian soldiers, some of whom were hoplites, wearing their brazen helmets, carrying their shields, and clad in mail. Spitamenes made his escape into the desert, and Alexander could only sate his vengeance by ravaging with merciless severity the beautiful valley through which the river flowed. Schwarz tells us that he searched in vain to discover the island which was the scene of the disaster, and it probably no longer exists. It must, however, he thinks, have been situated in the neighbourhood of Ziadin and Kermineh. Alexander, pursuing his way down the river, passed Bokhara, the Sogdian capital, and advanced as far as Karakul, beyond which the river disappears in the sands. He then retired for the winter to Zariaspa. Zariaspa has been taken to be another name of Baktra, but Schwarz shows that such an opinion is altogether untenable, and identifies it, for reasons not to be gainsaid, with Charjui, a place some six or seven miles distant from where the Oxus is now spanned by the bridge of the Trans-Caspian Railway.

From Zariaspa Alexander returned to Marakanda, passing on his route by Karakul, Bokhara, Kermineh, and Kata-Kurgan. Koinos meanwhile had difficulty in holding his own against the indomitable Spitamenes, who had collected at Bagai a body of 3000 Skythian horsemen, with a view to invade Sogdiana. Bagai is now Ustuk, a Bokharan frontier fortress, 28 miles below Charjui, but on the opposite side of the Oxus. The hostile forces at length came to an engagement. Koinos was victorious, and Spitamenes, who fled into the desert with his Skythian horsemen, fell a victim to their treachery. They cut off his head, and sent it as a peace-offering to Alexander. After the reduction of Sogdiana, Alexander withdrew to Nautaka, where he spent the winter of 328-327 B.C. This place has been generally identified with Karshi, but Schwarz takes it to be Schaar, which lies 40 miles to the south of Samarcand.