Pinarus River

Pinarus River

The Pinarus River is a small mountain spring fed stream famous in antiquity as the site of the First Battle of Issus, near a small coastal village or town which was reported to straddle the stream which by similar sources, was said to run red with blood after Alexander the Great leading his elite Companion cavalry turned the right flank of the Persians, smashed the center and routed the much larger Persian forces personally led by Darius III of Persia, who subsequently fled the field in a panic.

Speculation on the location of the Pinarus has been raging for over 80 years. Older historians believed it to be the Deli Tchai river, but historians N.G.L. Hammond and A.M. Devine have made convincing claims that the Pinarus is actually the Payas river, the latter using eye-witness description of the battle, mainly by the historian of Alexander, Ptolemy, compared with a personal examination of the riverine terrain, which may not have drastically changed since antiquity.


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  • Deli Çay River — The Deli Çay River (English: Crazy River), in southern Anatolia near today s Turkey Syria border, was thought during earlier modern times to be the Pinarus river, where Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia in the First Battle of… …   Wikipedia

  • Payas River — The Payas River, in southern Anatolia near today s Turkey mdash;Syria border, is thought during recent modern times to be the famous Pinarus river of antiquity, where Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia in the First Battle of Issus …   Wikipedia

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  • Issus, Battle of — (333 BC) Battle on the Issus plain near the Gulf of Iskenderun (in present day southern Turkey) in which Alexander the Great, on the offensive, defeated Darius III, last king of the Achaemenian dynasty. The Macedonians were said to have lost only …   Universalium

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