Cappadocia44 has in the interior Archelais,45 a colony founded by Claudius Cæsar, and past which the river Halys flows; also the towns of Comana,46 watered by the Sarus, Neocæsarea,47 by the Lycus,48 and Amasia,49 in the region of Gazacene, washed by the Iris. In Colopene it has Sebastia and Sebastopolis;50 these are insignificant places, but still equal in importance to those just mentioned. In its remaining districts there is Melita,51 founded by Semiramis, and not far from the Euphrates, Diocæsarea,52 Tyana,53 Castabala,54 Magnopolis,55 Zela,56 and at the foot of Mount Argæus57 Mazaca, now called Cæsarea.58 That part of Cappadocia which lies stretched out before the Greater Armenia is called Melitene, before Commagene Cataonia, before Phrygia Garsauritis, Sargarausene,59 and Cammanene, before Galatia Morimene, where their territories are divided by the river Cappadox,60 from which this people have taken their name; they were formerly known as the Leucosyri.61 From Neocæsarea above mentioned, the lesser Armenia is separated by the river Lycus. In the interior also there is the famous river Ceraunus,62 and on the coast beyond the town of Amisus, the town and river of Chadisia,63 and the town of Lycastum,64 after which the region of Themiscyra65 begins.
About This Book
The volume assembles an encyclopedic survey of the known world and its living inhabitants, moving from detailed regional geography and descriptions of seas, rivers, islands, and peoples to extended treatments of humanity, its generation, anatomy, and the origins and inventions of arts. Subsequent books catalog terrestrial animals—their habits, capture, and uses—followed by comprehensive observations on fish and marine creatures, their sizes and behaviors. Accounts mix naturalistic description, reported marvels, medicinal uses derived from animals, and travel and secondhand reports, organized as topical chapters intended as a practical compendium of natural and human phenomena.