This trench extended up through the plain for a distance of twelve
 parasangs, reaching to the wall of Media, Described by Xenophon in Xen. Anab. 2.4.12 . It extended from the Euphrates north east to the
 Tigris , and was
 built by the Babylonians, apparently in the sixth century B.C.,
 as a defence against the Medes. It is supposed that the southern
 part of the wall was now in ruins. Such a supposition serves to
 explain (1) the need of the King’s trench, and (2) the fact that
 Xenophon does not describe the wall here, but only in Xen. Anab. 2.4.12 . [Here
 also are the canals, which flow from the Tigris river; they are four
 in number, each a plethrum wide and exceedingly deep, and
 grain-carrying ships ply in them; they empty into the Euphrates and are a parsang apart,
 and there are bridges over them.] and alongside the Euphrates there was a narrow
 passage, not more than about twenty feet in width, between the river
 and the trench; and the trench It would seem that
 the rapid approach of Cyrus had prevented
 the King from completing the trench. had been constructed
 by the Great King as a means of defence when he learned that
 Cyrus was marching against him. Accordingly
 Cyrus and his army went through by the
 passage just mentioned, and so found themselves on the inner side of
 the trench. Now on that day the King did not offer battle, but tracks of both
 horses and men in retreat were to be seen in great numbers. Then Cyrus summoned Silanus , his Ambraciot soothsayer, and gave him
 three thousand darics; for on the eleventh day before this, while
 sacrificing, he had told Cyrus that the King
 would not fight within ten days, and Cyrus had
 said: Then he will not fight at all, if he will
 not fight within ten days; however, if your prediction proves
 true, I promise you ten talents. Hence 10 (Attic) talents = 3,000 (Persian)
 darics. A talent was 60 minas, and therefore a mina was
 counted equivalent to 5 darics. The discrepancy between this
 result and the values stated previously (see notes on i. 9
 and iv. 13) is explained by the fact that silver was worth
 much more at this time, relatively to gold, than at
 present. So it was this money that he then
 paid over, the ten days having passed. But since the King did not appear at the trench and try to prevent
 the passage of Cyru s’ army, both
 Cyrus and the rest concluded that he had
 given up the idea of fighting. Hence on the following day
 Cyrus proceeded more carelessly;