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Xanthos, the river of Troas.
Elian and Pliny say that Homer called the Scamander “Xanthos” or
the
“Gold-red river,” because it coloured with such a tinge the fleeces
of sheep washed in its waters. Others
maintain that it was so called because a hero named Xanthos defeated
a body of Trojans on its banks, and pushed half of them into the
stream, as in the battle of Blenheim the Duke of Marlborough drove the
French into the Danube.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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