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Aristobulus records that the Macedonian forces arrived in Patala at the rising of the Dog Star, in mid-July 325 BC. According to Q. Curtius Rufus, “Alexander marched thence into the Patalian territory. Its king was Moeres, but he had abandoned the town and fled for safety to the mountains.” (256)
In Geography by Strabo, Book XV, Chapter I, it is stated that the voyage from Nikaia on the Hydaspes River to Patala took 10 months. The River Indus emptied into the sea through two mouths, forming the island of Patalene. According to Strabo, “In Patalene is Patala, a considerable city, from which the island has its name.” He observed that Patalene resembled the Nile Delta of Egypt. Alexander first established Patala as a military base with a ship station and dockyards to accommodate the existing fleet, leaving Hephaistion in command of the citadel while he explored the principal branches of the Indus delta.
Arrian, in Chapter XVII, describes the ruler of Patala/Potana as follows:
“Then there came to him the ruler of the country of the Patalians, which, as I have stated, consists of the Delta formed by the River Indus, and is larger than the Egyptian Delta. This chief surrendered to him the whole of his land and entrusted both himself and all his possessions to him. Alexander sent him back to his government with orders to make all due preparations for the reception of his expedition. He then sent away Krateros into Karmania by the route through the Arachotians and the Sarangians, leading the brigades of Attalos, Meleager, and Antigenes, along with some of the archers and such of the companions and other Macedonians as he was sending home to Macedonia as unfit for further service. He also sent away the elephants with him. The rest of the army, except that portion which with himself was sailing down to the sea, was placed under the command of Hephaistion. Peithon, who led the horse lancers and the Agrianians, he transported to the opposite bank so that he might not be on that side of the river by which Hephaistion was to advance. Peithon was instructed to put colonists into the cities which had just been fortified, to suppress any insurrection which the Indians might attempt, to introduce settled order among them, and then to join him at Patala.” (160)
“On the third day after Alexander had started on the voyage, he was informed that the Prince of Patala was fleeing from that city, taking with him most of its inhabitants, and leaving the country deserted. He accordingly accelerated his voyage down the river and on reaching Patala found that both the city itself and the cultivated lands which lay around it had been deserted by the inhabitants. But he dispatched his lightest troops in pursuit of the fugitives, and when some of these had been captured sent them on to their countrymen to bid them take courage and return, for they were free to inhabit their city and cultivate their lands as formerly; and so most of them did return.” (161)
How Alexander built grain storage facilities and dug wells around Patala
Arrian recounts, “After directing Hephaistion to construct a citadel in Patala, he sent out men into the adjacent country, which was waterless, to dig wells and make it habitable. Some of the barbarians in the neighbourhood attacked them, and, as they fell upon them quite unexpectedly, killed several of their number, but as the assailants lost many on their own side, they fled to the desert. The men were thus able to complete the work they were sent to execute, especially as Alexander, on learning that they had been attacked by the barbarians, had sent additional troops to take part in the work.” (162)
From Patala, Alexander secured a four-month grain supply for his army and established a ship station at the mouth of the Indus River, presumably for storing and supplying provisions. Additionally, he dug wells to ensure a steady water supply for forces sailing along the coast. Later, he instructed Nearchos to identify cities, safe anchorages, sea ports, water sources, and the manners and customs of the coastal inhabitants. Alexander’s purpose in dispatching this expedition was to explore which lands were fertile and which were arid, ultimately aiming to connect the Indus River to the Persian Gulf for seafaring and maritime trade.
AB Bosworth, in Conquest and Empire: the Reign of Alexander the Great (1988), notes, “There was also a major foundation further south, which Alexander planned as a naval base, at the great confluence of the Indus and the Acesines. In Sind, a similar process began. Alexander fortified some of the major centres in the Indus delta and ordered his officers to resettle them with a new population. The principal native city, Patala, was evacuated in the face of his advance, and the population had to be tempted back by promises of security of tenure. Alexander needed the native producers to keep his army provisioned and in this case was willing to give guarantees securing their interest. That meant that Patala itself could not be refounded with a Greek population. Even so, a garrison occupied the citadel, and the new installations for the fleet may have amounted to a new city in its own right. That was probably the Xylinepolis (wooden city) which Pliny states was Nearchos’ point of departure for his ocean voyage.” (249)
In short, Xylinepolis was a temporary military fortress (phrourion) at the naval base of Patala, founded by Alexander in 325 BC. This city is mentioned by Pliny the Elder, a Roman author who died in AD 79. Alexander’s admiral Nearchos remained there for four months before his voyage from the Indus to Persia and Mesopotamia. Some scholars have identified Xylinepolis with Brahmanabad, 75 kilometres northeast of Hyderabad.
Robin Lane Fox, in Alexander the Great (1973), writes on Patala as follows:
“It was mid-July before the end of the river journey came into view. The army was bivouacked near Patala in the last of the petty kingdoms able to keep them supplied; the locals had largely fled, and while villages were fortified and wells dug in the shale edging the desert, Alexander organised a wall for Patala’s citadel and another dockyard at the head of the Indus estuary. The result, called the Wooden City, was built from timber, the only available material. Once he was satisfied with the work, he boarded the swiftest ships with his companions and set course for the nearby ocean.” (284)
We are further informed:
“The region round Patala was rich in grain and cattle, and a huge stockpile of corn had been plundered: “four months” supplies for the expedition had been duly gathered near the base camp before the men set out for the River Hab, and four months was likely the duration of the desert march through the country of the Oreitans and Gedrosians. The fate of these stores at Patala remains mysterious. Wagons and pack animals did follow the land army into the desert, along with children, women, and traders. Clearly, Alexander did not comprehend the full horrors of Makran and hoped a portion of the stores could be transported through its sands by cart and pack animals.”
Strabo, a Greek geographer and historian, described Hellenistic Sindh during Alexander’s time, noting a climate that led to the abandonment of a thousand cities along an Indus tributary
Eventually, we are told:
“Alexander was now nearing the end of his nightmarish march. Many of the flat-bottomed grain lighters were entrusted to the open waters of the Indian Ocean to carry supplies left at Patala and to distribute the army’s provisions along the shore; several of the fleet were triremes, or three-banked men-of-war, thus unable to store water for more than two days of sailing, meaning they relied on Alexander’s plan to dig wells.”
Where was Patala? Identification, location and meaning
What does Patala mean? According to Srini Kalyanaraman, “Pota” signifies a seafaring vessel in Old Sanskrit. It was also the name of a seaport on the Indus River. “Potala” is used for the Dalai Lama’s palace in Lhasa, China. It may be that “Patala” derives from the Sindhi words Paatan, Paatal, or Patan, meaning a ferry or port, indicating a crossing place. Paatni signifies one who works at such a place; for example, Jhando Paatni was a ferryman.
Where was Patala? Historians of Sindh hold varying views, with some suggesting Patala was located near the present-day sites of Matiari, Brahmanabad, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, or Nasarpur, while others believe it was closer to Thatta or Parinagar. In Sindhi, “Patola” also denotes silk cloth, which may have been traded westward from this port. People called Patoli still live in Tando Allahyar. Once the ancient course of the Indus River flowed through the Golarchi and Khorwah regions of Lower Sindh, known as Patiala, Patihala, or Pateehal dhoro. Additionally, Padala Creek in Kachh District, Gujarat, India, bears a similar name. Near Thatta, on Makli Hills, lies the shrine of Jhando Paatani, revered as a saint of sailors in Sindh. Is there a connection between Alexander’s military and maritime infrastructure at Patala and this shrine?
Survey of the western arm of the Indus by Alexander
Arrian writes, “Near Patala the stream of the Indus is divided into two large rivers, both of which retain the name of the Indus till they enter the sea. Here Alexander set about the construction of a roadstead and dock, and when some satisfactory progress had been made with these undertakings, he resolved to sail down to the mouth of the right arm of the river. To Leonnatos he gave the command of about 1,000 cavalry and 8,000 heavy and light infantry, and dispatched him to move down the island of Patala, holding along the shore in a line with the squadron of ships. He set out himself on a voyage down the right arm of the river, taking with him the fastest vessels with one and a half banks of oars, all the thirty-oared galleys, and several smaller craft.
As the Indians of that region had fled, he had no pilot to direct his course, making the navigation all the more difficult. Then on the second day after he had started, a storm arose, and the gale blowing against the current carved deep furrows in the river, battering the hulls of the vessels so violently that most ships were damaged, while some of the thirty-oared galleys were completely wrecked, though the sailors managed to run them on shore before they went to pieces in the water. Other vessels were constructed; and Alexander, having dispatched the quickest of the light-armed troops some distance inland, captured some Indians, whom he employed in piloting his fleet for the rest of the voyage. But when they reached a point where the river expanded to a vast breadth of 200 stadia, the wind blew strong from the outer sea, and the oars could scarcely be lifted into the swell. They therefore again drew towards the shore, and the fleet was steered by the pilots into the mouth of a canal.” (163)
Greek Monograms on altar at Thariro Hills, Thatta
Thariro Hill, a flat limestone terrace located southwest of Gujjo village in Taluka and District Thatta in Sindh, is 1.5 km long and 0.5 km wide, situated 15 km from Thatta City. Carter, the first explorer to view this site, recorded his observations in Ind. Ant (1932, Page 87). In March 1930, NG Majumdar excavated two new sites, Tharro Hills and Chanhudaro, investigating six pictographic signs along with engravings of a man, horse, and bow and arrow on nearby rocks. The Amri Culture established a fortified settlement on Thariro Hill’s eastern edge during the Neolithic Period. In 2009, further surveys revealed archaeological remains on the hills. Notable sites such as Beri (Boat Hill), Jabal Shah Hussain, Kafir Kot, Budh Jo Takkar, and Makli Hills held Stone Age flint-knapping workshops in the 3rd millennium BC. Some authors assert that at the time of Alexander’s invasion (325 BC), “the sea extended up to the Gujo area.” (Panhwar, 1964). According to HT Lambrick (1996), this site was close to Alexander’s harbour.
Greek and Scythian monograms have been discovered on Thariro Hills, dated to the time of these rulers. Dr Asma Ibrahim, in her article, “The Monograms: An Exciting Discovery at Tharro Hill Fortress” (2000), notes, “During a recent archaeological survey in Sindh, we came across a fascinating discovery of several monograms engraved on a stone easily recognised as an altar, built for sacrifices to deities, commemorating conquests and asserting their authority in the region. Interestingly, these are the exact mint marks used by later Greek rulers and Scythians, who continually vied for control in the area.” She further states, “I believe these monograms were assigned to different legions of the Greek army. We know the Greek army was divided into various legions or medallions, each with its own monogram, struck on coinage wherever they conquered.” (Archaeological Review, 2001, Karachi, 93-108)
25 kilometres from Thatta lies a Muslim shrine and mosque of Pir Patho near a hillock. This historical site is notable for a 45-foot high watchtower or lighthouse reportedly built before the 711 AD Arab conquest of Sindh. Did Alexander build this lighthouse, or was it constructed on the ruins of Minagara, a town on the Indus? The Dravidian word meen (min) means fish or star, and the name Minagara means “The Shining City.”
The Parthian King Gondophares ruled Sindh and Kathiawar with his capital at Minagara from 19 AD to 50 AD. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Roman trade guidebook, mentions Minagara in 71 AD as a trading hub for Sindh, noting imports like figured linen, topaz, coral storax, frankincense, glass vessels, silver, and gold, while exports included indigo, cotton, silk, furs, nard, gum, and perfumes. According to the book, the country of Sindh was called Scythia. In 2015, the Endowment Fund Trust (EFT) conserved this lighthouse. The distance between Thatta and Bhambhore is only 42 km.
Alexander’s fleet damaged by the tide, halts at Killouta in the Indus
Arrian says in Chapter XIX:
“While the fleet was at anchor here, a vicissitude to which the Great Sea is subject occurred, for the tide ebbed, and their ships were left on the dry ground. This phenomenon, of which Alexander and his followers had no previous experience, caused them no little alarm, and greater still was their dismay when, in due course of time, the tide advanced, and the hulls of the vessels were floated aloft. Those vessels which it found settled in the soft mud were uplifted without damage and floated again, none the worse for the strain; but as for those vessels which had been left on a drier part of the beach, and were not firmly embedded, some on the advance of a massive wave fell foul of each other, while others were dashed upon the strand and shattered in pieces. Alexander caused these vessels to be repaired as well as circumstances allowed, and dispatched men in advance down the river in two boats to explore an island where, as the natives informed him, he must anchor en route to the sea. They said that the name of the island was Killouta.” (164)
About 6 miles from Killouta, the fleet anchored at Stura, a creek by the sea. Koreatis was also an important maritime site. Alexander’s Killouta Island has been identified with the Hill of Abhan Shah, a Muslim shrine in Choohar Jamali, Taluka Shah Bandar, District Thatta, Sindh.
Alexander’s sacrifice to the gods, including Ammon and Poseidon
Arrian recounts:
“When Alexander learned that the island had harbours, was extensive, and yielded water, he ordered the rest of the fleet to make its way there, while he himself, with the fastest sailing ships, advanced beyond the island to view the river’s mouth and assess its suitability for passage into the open sea. After proceeding approximately 200 stadia beyond the island, they spotted another island in the sea. They then returned to the island in the river, where Alexander anchored his ships at its extremity and offered sacrifices to the gods whom Ammon had enjoined him to venerate.” (164)
We are told also that Alexander sacrificed bulls to Poseidon and threw gold bowls into the sea.
As per Arrian:
“The next day he sailed to the other island lying in the ocean, approaching close to it and offering further sacrifices to other gods, in a different manner as instructed by Ammon’s oracle. After advancing beyond the mouths of the Indus, he sailed out into the open sea to determine, as he claimed, whether any land lay nearby, but in my view, chiefly so it might be said he had navigated the great outer sea of India. There he sacrificed bulls to Poseidon and threw goblets and bowls of gold into the sea as offerings, imploring the god to guide in safety the naval expedition he planned to dispatch under Nearchos to the Persian Gulf and the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris.” (165)
Founding of Barce and the erection of altars at the sea
Justin, a Latin historian of the Roman Empire from the 3rd century AD, compiled the Epitome of Pompeius Trogus Philippic Histories, translated by Rev. JS Watson in 1853. Describing Alexander’s founding of Barce and the altars he erected, Justin states in Book 12: “And then, like a victor who had triumphantly driven his chariot around the goal, he fixed the frontiers of his empire, having advanced till deserts at the world’s end barred further progress by land, and till seas were no longer navigable. As a memento of his achievements, he founded in those parts the city of Barce. He erected altars also, and upon departing left one of his friends to govern the maritime Indians.” (326)
JWM McCrindle notes that little is known of this city, except that Cunningham thought it might be the Barbari of Ptolemy or the Barbarike Emporium referenced in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Some modern scholars suggest that Bhambhore could be the Barbarikon, Barbaricum, Barbarike, Barbari, or Barce founded by Alexander. Eggermont (1975) identifies Barbarikon/Bhambhore as “Alexander’s Harbour.” In 1987 and 1988, Professor Monique Kervran (CNRS) found red-glazed tiles at Barbarike/Daybal, locally known as Bhambhore, which she dated to 400–300 BC and 950–1000 AD. During surveys and excavations from 1989 to 1995, she uncovered six ports, including Ratokot, Juna Shah Bandar, and Lahari Bandar. Ibn Battuta visited Lahari Bandar in AD 1333, noting an ancient city nearby: “I rode out one day with Ala al Mulk, and we came to a plain called Tarna, 7 miles from Lahari, where I saw innumerable stones shaped like men and animals. Many were disfigured, yet some still had a head or a foot intact. There were also stones shaped like grains of wheat, chickpeas, beans, and lentils, and the remains of city walls and house walls.”
Battuta observed “a house with a chamber of hewn stones, featuring a platform of stones resembling a single block, surmounted by a human figure with an elongated head, mouth on the side, and hands behind its back, like a pinioned captive. This place held pools of stagnant water and an inscription on one wall in Indian script. Ala al Mulk told me historians say this was a great city whose depraved inhabitants were turned to stone. The figure on the terrace in the house is said to be the city’s king.” (186)
Raverty and Henry Cousens identified this ruined city as Damrillah, 6 miles northeast of Lahari Bandar, formerly located between Daybul and Thatta. The Atlas Catalan of AD 1375 indicates a place called Damorela along the Makran and Sindh coasts. Henry Cousens recorded a mosque at this site, which he called Thambhan Wari Masjid, or “The Mosque of the Pillars.” This mosque had been built from materials of a Hindu temple, with Muslim craftsmen chiselling out the images from the pillars’ niches. In the 1920s, Mr GEL Carter, ICS, photographed this mosque, whose style resembles those in Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Finally, in March 2012, French archaeologist Professor Monique Kervran concluded that Damrillah’s mosque was likely built by Jalaluddin Khwarzim Shah after he invaded the Thatta area in AD 1221. Kervran estimates the mosque dates to between the 7th and 13th centuries AD. She has published extensively on the multiple ports at the mouth of the Indus: Barbarike, Deb, Daybul, Lahori Bandar, Diul Sinde, and Sui Miani.
Alexander’s Return to Patala and Exploration of the Eastern Arm of the Indus
Arrian records that upon Alexander’s return to Patala, he found the citadel fortified, with Peithon arriving with his troops after completing his assigned tasks. Hephaistion was then instructed to make preparations for fortifying the harbour and constructing a dockyard, as Alexander intended to leave a significant naval squadron in Patala, where the Indus bifurcates.
Alexander then sailed down the Indus’ eastern arm to the Great Sea, seeking to determine which mouth offered easier access to the ocean. The mouths of the Indus are around 1800 stadia apart. Upon nearing one mouth, he encountered a large lake created by the river’s widening, or possibly by nearby rivers discharging their streams into it, giving it the appearance of a gulf, as saltwater fish were observed, much larger than those in the Mediterranean. Having anchored at a location chosen by his pilots, he left most of the soldiers, under Leonnatos’ command, along with the boats, and continued beyond the mouth with the thirty-oared galleys and other swift vessels. He determined that this route offered easier navigation than the other mouth.
He anchored the fleet near the beach and set out on a three-day exploration along the shore, ordering wells to be dug for seafarers’ use. Returning to the fleet, he journeyed back to Patala. A portion of his army was sent to complete the work of digging wells along the coast, instructed to return to Patala once this task was completed. Sailing again to the lake, he built another harbour and dockyard, stationed a garrison, and stocked food for a four-month supply, along with other preparations for his voyage along the coast. (166) A similar lake was created by an earthquake in 1819 in the Rann of Cutch. The Eastern Branch (Puran) of the Indus discharged into the sea through Koree Creek, forming a freshwater lake near Lakhpat, India.
Aristobulus’ Account of a Thousand Deserted Cities
Strabo (b.64 BC–d.21 AD), a Greek geographer and historian, described Hellenistic Sindh during Alexander’s time, noting a climate that led to the abandonment of a thousand cities along an Indus tributary.
In fact, Strabo records:
“When he (Aristobulus) was sent upon a certain mission, he saw a country of more than a 1000 cities, along with villages, that had been deserted because the Indus had abandoned its proper bed.” (19)
MH Panhwar comments that in September 325 BC, a revolt broke out in Patala after Alexander’s departure. Nearchos avoided conflict to prevent delays in his departure. Around this time, the Indus changed course, leaving over a thousand villages deserted in Southeast Sindh, as Aristobulus reported to Alexander (80).
Alexander’s Journey Home and Nearchos’ Voyage
According to AB Bosworth (1988), Alexander departed Patala with the majority of his land forces, totalling fewer than 30,000 soldiers. Initially, they used wells dug near Patala, then marched along the Khirthar Range to the mouth of the River Arabis. Peithon, son of Agenor, governed as far as the ocean, operating from Patala after Alexander headed west. Alexander marched to Orietai (Las Bela) to subdue an independent tribe, founding the city of Rhambakia. Following this, Hephaistion was left in charge to colonise and govern the Las Bela area.
Andreas P Parpas in The Hellenistic Gulf: Greek Naval Presence in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf (324-64 BC) – published by Oxford University Press in 2008 – writes: “Alexander gave specific instructions to Nearchos, his appointed naval commander, when he sailed from the Indus River mouth to reach Babylonia, to reconnoitre and explore the coast. He selected the most seaworthy ships at the Indus River. The fleet’s size is unspecified in ancient sources but is believed to have been around 150 ships. We assume these included support and cargo vessels, as well as light craft. Arrian records that the Indus fleet comprised approximately 800 ships, including warships, 80 triakontoroi, and merchant ships. Additional triakontoroi were later built, likely to strengthen the fleet and replace damaged vessels. Nearchos was provided with the best equipment available to minimise risks.” (70)
Alexander appointed 33 prominent officers in Nearchos’ fleet. The fleet structure included Nearchos as Commander-in-Chief, Onesikretos as Helmsman of Alexander’s ship and naval commander, and Evagoras from Corinth as Fleet Secretary. Nearchos carried food supplies for 10 days and water for five. In Autumn 326 BC, Nearchos was appointed admiral of the Indus fleet assembled by Alexander at the Hydaspes or Jhelum River.
It took 10 months to sail down to Patala, Sindh. From the eastern branch, Nearchos set sail to Cocala or Crocala, a sandy island inhabited by the Arabean tribe, likely the Abhira or Abra Sindhi tribe (Eggermont 44). The name Crocala evolved in the 16th century AD to Krokala and finally to Kakrala or Kakralo, situated in present-day Taluka Shah Bandar in Thatta District, Sindh.
From Crocala, Nearchos proceeded to Eiron and Cape Monze, anchoring at a large harbour named “Alexander’s Haven.” He continued his journey, pausing for 24 days at Morontobara or the Ladies Pool (Karachi) at the mouth of the Hab River due to monsoon rains. He then sailed past Pagal, Kabana, Kokala, Tomerus River, Malana, Bampur (Gedrosia), and Karmania.
Proceeding from the Indus River, he navigated a fleet of 150 ships to the Persian Gulf’s mouth, where he met Alexander before continuing on to Susa and Babylon.