THE SPECTRE OF ALEXANDER: CASSIUS DIO AND THE ALEXANDER-MOTIF
October 2017
| Journal article
| Greece and Rome
<jats:p>In the opinion of Cassius Dio, Septimius Severus' capture of Nisibis and annexation of the province of Mesopotamia were not among the emperor's more worthwhile ventures. The costs were great and the yields slight. Our knowledge of the campaign is sketchy, although we do have a narrative outline supplied by Dio's eleventh-century epitomator, John Xiphilinus. Xiphilinus preserves the following anecdote, which takes place after Severus and his army had crossed the Euphrates and were starting to feel the effects of thirst and heat. The epitomator says:<jats:disp-quote><jats:p>κεκμηκόσι γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῆς πορείας καὶ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ κονιορτὸς ἐμπίπτων ἰσχυρῶς ἐλύπησεν, ὥστε μήτε βαδίζειν μήτε λαλεῖν ἔτι δύνασθαι, τοῦτο δὲ μόνον ϕθέγγεσθαι, ‘ὕδωρ ὕδωρ’. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀνεϕάνη μὲν ἰκμάς, ἐξ ἴσου δὲ τῷ μὴ εὑρεθέντι ἀρχὴν ὑπὸ ἀτοπίας ἦν, ὁ Σεουῆρος κύλικά τε ᾔτησε καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος πληρώσας ἁπάντων ὁρώντων ἐξέπιε.</jats:p><jats:attrib>(Dio Cass. 75[75].2.2 [Xiph.])</jats:attrib></jats:disp-quote><jats:disp-quote><jats:p>For when they were already wearied by their march and the hot sun, they encountered a dust-storm that caused them great distress, so that they could no longer march or even talk, but only cry, ‘Water, Water’. And when some little vapour did appear, on account of its strangeness it meant no more to them than if it had not been found at all, until Severus called for a cup, and filling it with the water, drank it in full view of all.</jats:p></jats:disp-quote></jats:p>