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Ἀλήιον πεδίον, said to derive its name from a town Alae (Steph. Byz.), is a rich plain, inland from Mallus, between the rivers Sarus and Pyramus (Arrian, Anab. ii. 5; Strabo 676). The name at least is Homeric; cf. Il. vi. 201Βελλεροφόντης . . . κὰπ πεδίον τὸ Ἀλήιονοἶος ἀλᾶτο. The military road from the Euphrates through the Cilician gates to Tarsus, used by the younger Cyrus, traversed this plain.

ἐπιταχθείς: ordered the year before (491 B. C.); cf. 48. 2.

Warships for the transport of horses were a novelty at Athens in 430 B. C. (Thuc. ii. 56), so their early use by the Persians is to be noted.

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