Book 24
6.1
Then we came to an artificial river, by name Naarmalcha, meaning the kings’ river,Cf. xxiii. 6, 25; xxiv. 2, 7; 6, 1. which at that time was dried up. Here in days gone by Trajan, and after him Severus, had with immense effort caused the accumulated earth to be dug out, and had made a great canal, in order to let in the water from the Euphrates and give boats and ships access to the Tigris.A canal from the Euphrates to the Tigris was made by the earliest Assyrian kings (Hdt. i. 193), and a branch of it was carried to Seleucia by Seleucus Nikator, the founder of that city. According to Cassius Dio., lxviii. 28, Trajan’s attempt was not successful because the bed of the Euphrates was then much higher.
6.2
It seemed to Julian in all respects safest to clean out that same canal, which formerly the Persians, when in fear of a similar invasion, had blocked with a huge dam of stones. As soon as the canal was cleared, the dams were swept away by the great flow of water, and the fleet in safety covered thirty stadia and was carried into the channel of the Tigris. Thereupon bridges were at once made, and the army crossed and pushed on towards Coche.
