'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎74r] (152/862)

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
95
Between the Great Zab and the Khazir Su there is open plain,
broken in the north by streams descending from the Aqra Dagh, and
by the hills of Cha Sarda (2,879 ft-) an d Serderiya Tepe. Between
these hills and the Jabal Zirga Bardaresh is an open cultivated plain,
but in the angle between the two rivers the country is again much
scored by stream-beds.
The Khazir Su rises in the Piris Dagh and breaks through the Aqra
Dagh (p. 107). Twelve miles to the west the Rubai Atrush, or Gomel
Su, also breaks through the Kurdish mountains (photo. 37). The
two streams converge across the grassy plain and meet to the east of
Jabal Maqlub. Below the junction the river cuts a winding course
between the hills and through the cultivated plain to the south. Near
Manguba a steel bridge takes the Erbil-Mosul road over the river,
which here flows in a shingle flood-bed 300 yards wide. Its width at
the ford near the bridge has been recorded as 60 yards in October and
30 yards in January, and its depth between 2 and 3 feet in both months:
it is then easily fordable, but after heavy rain it rises rapidly to 8 feet,
covers most of its bed, and becomes impassable.
To the west of the Khazir Su the general level of the plain is broken
by tributaries of the Gomel Su, and by the Jabal Maqlub, Jabal
Bashiqa, and Jabal Ain as Safra. The Jabal Maqlub is steep and rocky
and its spurs are intersected by ravines. It is a prominent landmark
rising 1,500 feet above the plain. High up on its southern flank is the
Christian monastery of Mar Mattai, enclosed within fortress-walls.
The Jabal Bashiqa is lower and forms a more rounded ridge of sand
stone, limestone, and gypsum. The Jabal Ain as Safra receives its
name from a spring of acid yellow water. To the south of it is the level
plain of Keramlais with the rise of Hafar Musa beyond. This plain
has been identified with the battlefield of Gaugemela or Arbela
(331 b.c.), chosen by Darius III because of the ease with which he
could deploy and operate his chariots. The rougher ground to the
south is said to have been used for Alexander’s outflanking attack.
The topographical features fit closely with Arrian’s account of the
battle, and there is reason to connect the mound Tel Gomel, about
2 miles south of Manguba, with the village of Gaugemela. 1
The whole of the plain between the Tigris and the lower Khazir Su
and Great Zab has a rich heavy soil and is well cultivated, though
now entirely dependent on rainfall. It was the granary of the ancient
Assyrians and contains the sites of three of their most famous capital
1 Geographical Journal, vol. c, p. 163. The Great Zab is the Lycus of classical
records.