A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

NEARCHUS. NEARCHUS. 1147
obtained a pilot acquainted with the coast, which Antigonus. (Justin. xiii. 4; comp. Droysen,
greatly facilitated his farther progress, and at Hellenismz, vol. i. p. 42.) To the fortunes of the
length on the eightieth day of his voyage (Dec. 9.) latter, whether from motives of private friendship
he anchored at the mouth of the river Anaimis, in or policy, we find him henceforth closely attached:
the fertile district of Harmozia, and had the happi- in B. c. 317 he accompanied Antigonus in his
ness of learning that Alexander himself was march against Eumenes; and generously interceded
encamped at a short distance in the interior. with him in favour of the latter, when he had
Nearchus himself hastened to the king, who re- fallen into his hands as a prisoner. (Diod. xix. 19;
ceived him with every demonstration of joy, and Plut. Eun. 18.) Again, in 314, he was one of
celebrated sacrifices and festivals for the safety of the generals who were selected by Antigonus, on
his fleet, in which the admiral was distinguished account of their mature age and experience in war,
by every kind of honour. He was, however, to assist with their counsels his son Demetrius,
unwilling to expose his friend to any farther dan- left for the first time in command of an army.
gers, and was desirous to transfer to some one else (Diod. xix. 69.) This is the last occasion on which
the task of conducting the fleet up the Persian his name appears in history.
gulf, but Nearchus insisted on being allowed to We learn from many ancient authors that Nearcomplete what he had so successfully begun, and chus left a history or narrative of the voyage by
returned to his camp on the Anamis, from whence which he had earned such great celebrity; and the
he continued his voyage with comparatively little substance of this interesting work has been forof difficulty or danger along the north shore of the tunately preserved to us by Arrian, who has dePersian gulf to the mouth of the Pasitigris, and up rived from it the whole of the latter part of his
that river to Susa. Here he arrived in February " Indica." The strange paradox put forward by
324, shortly after Alexander himself; and in the Dodwell (Dissert. de Arriani Nearcho, ap. Geogr.
brilliant festivities with which the king here cele- Gr. Minores, tom. i., reprinted, together with a
brated the conquest of Asia as well as his own Latin translation of Vincent's refutation by
nuptials with Stateira, Nearchus bore an important Schmieder, in his edition of the Indica of Arrian,
part, being one of those rewarded with crowns of p. 232, &c.), that the work made use of by Arrian
gold for their distinguished services, at the same was not really the production of Nearchus, but the
time that he obtained in marriage a daughter of the forgery of a later age, though adopted by Bohlen
Rhodian Mentor and of Barsine, to whom Alex- (das alte Indien, vol. i. p. 68), has been generally
ander himself had been previously married. (Arr. rejected by later writers, and is sufficiently refuted
Ind. 21-42, Anab. vi. 28, vii. 4. ~ 9, 5. ~ 9; Strab. by Vincent in his elaborate work on " The Comxv. pp. 721, 725, 726; Curt. x. i. ~ 10; Diod. merce and Navigation of the Ancients in the
xvii. 106; Plut. Alex. 68. Concerning the chro- Indian Seas (vol. i. p. 68-77):" but he justly
nology of the voyage, see Vincent, vol. i., and adds: s" The internal evidence of the work speaks
Droysen, Gesch. Alex. pp. 478, 481.) more forcibly for itself than all the arguments
From this time Nearchus appears to have con- which can be adduced in its favour." The accuracy
tinued in close attendance upon Alexander till his of the geographical details contained in it has been
death, as we find him mentioned as dissuading the fully demonstrated by the same author, as well as
king from entering Babylon on account of the by the eminent geographers d'Anville, Gosselin,
predictions of the Chaldaeans, and again during and Ritter, who have also shown that many of the
Alexander's last illness holding a conversation statements regarded by the ancients as marvellous
with him upon naval matters. It appears, in- or incredible have been confirmed by the redeed, that he had been already designated for the searches of modern travellers. In other instances,
chief command of the fleet with which the king although we cannot defend the accuracy of his
was at this time meditating the conquest of Arabia, assertions, it is at least possible to show how the
B. C. 323; and the latter had just given him a error has originated. (See particularly Schmieder,
sumptuous feast previous to his departure, when ad Brr. Iand. 25.) Indeed Strabo himself, while
the illness of Alexander himself put an end to the he censures Nearchus, together with Megasthenes
expedition. (Plut. Alex. 73, 75, 76; Died. xvii. and Onesicritus, for his fabulous tales (ii. p. 70),
112; Arr. Anab. vii. 25.) It was natural -that has, in numerous instances, made use of his authoone who had held so high a place in the confidence rity without scruple (xv. pp. 689, 691, 696, 701,
of the king should take a prominent part in the 705, 706, 716, 717, &c.). On the other hand, it
discussions that ensued after his death: yet it is seems probable that Pliny, on whose authority
remarkable that Curtius is the only writer who Dodwell mainly relied, had not consulted the orimentions his name at all upon that occasion. But ginal work of Nearchus, but had contented himself
the statement of that author (x. 20), that it was with the abridgment of that of Onesicritus, as pubNearchus who put forward the claims of Heracles, lished by Juba. (Plin. H. N. vi. 23; comp. Vinthe son of Barsine, to the throne, is rendered so cent, 1. c., and Geier, Alex. Mayni Hist. Script. p.
probable by his near connexion with the latter, 80, &c.) Suidas, who accuses Nearchus of having
that there can be little doubt of its correctness. falsely pretended to be commander of the whole
But it is probable that his not being a Macedo- fleet, when he was in fact only a pilot or captain
nian by birth operated against Nearchus, and it (KvCepvr'77ss), has by a strange error transferred
would seem that his tranquil and unambitious to him what Arrian, whose very words he copies,
character did not qualify him to take a leading says of Onesicritus. (Suid. s. v. Ne'apXos; Arr.
part in the stormy dissensions that followed: he Anab. vi. 2.)
not only acquiesced in the adoption of arrange- Schmieder and some other writers, relying partly
ments opposed to his advice, but seems to have upon a passage of Suidas (s. v. NdapXos),partly upon
been contented, in the division of the provinces, to some statements quoted by Strabo, which have no
obtain his former government of Lycia and Pain- immediate reference to the voyage, have maintained
phylia, and to hold even these as subordinate to that, besides the IlapdrAhovs, or narrative of his