479 Forms two bays or gulfs in succession.
480 He gives this name to the whole expanse of sea that lies between Arabia and Africa on the west, and India on the east, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
481 Or Erythrus. In all probability entirely a mythical personage. The sea having been called in Greek ἐρυθραῖα, or “red”—the legend most probably thence took its rise. No very satisfactory reason has yet been given for its being so called. The Hebrew name of it signifies the “Sedgy Sea.”
482 From Azania in Æthiopia, mentioned again in c. 34 of the present Book.
483 The maps appear to make it considerably more.
484 The only feature of resemblance appears to be its comparative narrowness at the neck.
485 Or “turtle-eaters.”
486 Different probably from the Cophis mentioned in c. 25, which was also called Arabius or Arbis, and probably represented by the modern Purali.
487 Of Harmozon, probably the modern Bombareek.
488 Their district is supposed to denote the vicinity of the modern Ormuz, an island off this coast, which is now known as Moghostan.
489 Taking their name probably from the river Arbis, previously mentioned.
490 The “Port of the Macedonians.”
491 Now the Tab, falling into the Persian Gulf.
492 A district of Susiana, extending from the river Eulæus on the west, to the Oratis on the east, deriving its name perhaps from the Elymæi, or Elymi, a warlike people found in the mountains of Greater Media. In the Old Testament this country is called Elam.
493 Ptolemy says that this last bore the name of “Alexander’s Island.”
494 Persis was more properly a portion only or province of the ancient kingdom of Persia. It gave name to the extensive Medo-Persian kingdom under Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, B.C. 559.
495 The Parthi originally inhabited the country south-east of the Caspian, now Khorassan. Under Arsaces and his descendants, Persis and the other provinces of ancient Persia became absorbed in the great Parthian empire. Parthia, with the Chorasmii, Sogdii, and Arii, formed the sixteenth satrapy under the Persian empire. See c. 16 of this Book.
496 The provinces of Parthia have been already mentioned in detail in the preceding Chapters, except Susiana and Elymais, which are mentioned in c. 31.
497 The original Parthia, the modern Khorassan.
499 Or “Wandering Parthians,” lying far to the east.
500 In c. 17 of the present Book.
501 Not to be confounded with the place in Atropatene, mentioned in c. 21 of the present Book.
502 It has been supposed that the modern Damgham corresponds with this place, but that is too near the Portæ Caspiæ. It is considered most probable that the remains of Hecatompylos ought to be sought in the neighbourhood of a place now known as Jah Jirm. It is mentioned in c. 17 and 21 of the present Book.
503 Media occupied the extreme west of the great table-land of the modern Iran. It corresponded very nearly to the modern province of Irak-Ajemi.
504 The Upper and the Lower, as already mentioned.
505 Hardouin suggests that this should be Syrtibolos. His reasons for so thinking will be found alluded to in a note to c. 31. See p. 80, Note 593.
506 Or the “Great Ladder.” The Baron de Bode states, in his Travels in Luristan and Arabistan, that he discovered the remains of a gigantic causeway, in which he had no difficulty in recognizing one of the most ancient and most mysterious monuments of the East. This causeway, which at the present day bears the name of Jaddehi-Atabeg, or the “road of the Atabegs,” was looked upon by several historians as one of the wonders of the world, who gave it the name of the Climax Megale or “Great Ladder.” At the time even of Alexander the Great the name of its constructor was unknown.
507 Which was rebuilt after it was burnt by Alexander, and in the middle ages had the name of Istakhar; it is now called Takhti Jemsheed, the throne of Jemsheed, or Chil-Minar, the Forty Pillars. Its foundation is sometimes ascribed to Cyrus the Great, but more generally to his son, Cambyses. The ruins of this place are very extensive.
508 Its site is unknown; but Dupinet translates it the “city of Lor.”
509 The older of the two capitals of Persia, Persepolis being the later one. It was said to have been founded by Cyrus the Great, on the spot where he gained his victory over Astyages. Its exact site is doubtful, but most modern geographers identify it with Murghab, to the north-east of Persepolis, where there are the remains of a great sepulchral monument of the ancient Persians, probably the tomb of Cyrus. Others place it at Farsa or at Dorab-Gherd, both to the south-east of Persepolis, the direction mentioned by Strabo, but not in other respects answering his description so well as Murghab.
510 It is most probable that he does not allude here to the Ecbatana, mentioned in c. 17 of this Book.
511 There were several mountainous districts called Parætacene in the Persian empire, that being the Greek form of a Persian word signifying “mountainous.”
512 In B. v. c. 21. He returns to the description of Susiana, Elymaïs, and Characene in c. 31 of the present Book.
513 The great seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldæan kingdom. It either occupied the site, it is supposed, or stood in the immediate vicinity of the tower of Babel. In the reign of Labynedus, Nabonnetus, or Belshazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. In the reign of Augustus, a small part only of Babylon was still inhabited, the remainder of the space within the walls being under cultivation. The ruins of Babylon are found to commence a little south of the village of Mohawill, eight miles north of Hillah.
515 On the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of Zeugma; a fortress of considerable importance.
516 Its site is unknown. Dupinet confounds it with the place of this name mentioned in the last Chapter, calling them by the name of Lor.
517 Pliny is wrong in placing Artemita in Mesopotamia. It was a city of Babylonia, in the district of Apolloniatis. The modern Sherbán is supposed to occupy its site.
518 Burnouf, having found the name of these people, as he supposes, in a cuneiform inscription, written “Ayura,” would have them to be called Aroei. The Orei are also mentioned in B. v. c. 20.
519 This Antioch does not appear to have been identified.
520 The mountains of the Gordyæi are mentioned in c. 12.
521 This, as previously mentioned in a Note to c. 16, was the scene of the last great battle between Alexander and Darius, and known as the battle of Arbela. It has been suggested that it may perhaps be represented by a place now called Karnelis. See p. 27.
522 According to Ansart, now called the Lesser Zab, and by the inhabitants the Altun-su, meaning the “Golden river.”
523 According to Parisot, the modern name is Calicala.
524 Strabo speaks of the Aborras, or modern Khabur, as flowing in the vicinity of Anthemusia, the district probably in which the town of Anthermis was situate. According to Isidorus of Charax, it lay between Edessa and the Euphrates. Its site does not appear to have been any further identified. It is called Anthemusia in B. v. c. 21.
525 In B. v. c. 21.
526 In B. v. c. 21.
527 In B. v. c. 21.
528 This canal, leading from the Euphrates to the Tigris, is by some thought, according to Hardouin, to have been the river Chobar, mentioned in Ezekiel, c. i. v. 3.
529 For Arar-Melik, meaning the “River King,” according to Parisot.
530 As to the identity of this, see a Note at the beginning of this Chapter.
531 Meaning Jupiter Uranius, or “Heavenly Jupiter,” according to Parisot, who observes that Eusebius interprets baal, or bel, “heaven.” According to one account, he was the father of king Ninus and son of Nimrod. The Greeks in later times attached to his name many of their legendary fables.
532 The city of Seleucia ad Tigrin, long the capital of Western Asia, until it was eclipsed by Ctesiphon. Its site has been a matter of considerable discussion, but the most probable opinion is, that it stood on the western bank of the Tigris, to the north of its junction with the royal canal (probably the river Chobar above mentioned), opposite to the mouth of the river Delas or Silla (now Diala), and to the spot where Ctesiphon was afterwards built by the Parthians. It stood a little to the south of the modern city of Baghdad; thus commanding the navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the whole plain formed by those two rivers.
533 Ammianus, like Pliny, has ascribed its foundation to the Parthians under Varanes, or Vardanes, of whom, however, nothing is known. It stood in the south of Assyria, on the eastern or left bank of the Tigris. Strabo speaks of it as being the winter residence of the Parthian kings, who lived there at that season, owing to the mildness of the climate. In modern times the site of this place has been identified with that called by the Arabs Al Madain, or the “two cities.”
534 Or Vologeses. This was the name of five kings of Parthia, of the race of the Arsacidæ, Arsaces XXIII., XXVII., XXVIII., XXIX., XXX. It was the first of these monarchs who founded the place here mentioned by Pliny.
535 Or the “City of Vologesus;” certa being the Armenian for “city.”
536 Nothing appears to be known of this place; but Hardouin thinks that it is the same with one called Maarsares by Ptolemy, and situate on the same river Narraga.
537 Parisot says that this river is the one set down in the maps as falling into the Tigris below its junction with the Euphrates, and near the mouths of the two rivers. He says that near the banks of it is marked the town of Nabrahan, the Narraga of Pliny.
538 There is great doubt as to the correct spelling of these names.
539 Against the attacks of robbers dwelling on the opposite side; the Attali, for instance.
540 Or “dwellers in tents,” Bedouins, as we call them.
541 B. v. c. 20 and 21.
542 Towards Mahamedieh.
543 Near Antioch and the Orontes: now Seleukeh, or Kepse, near Suadeiah.
544 See B. v. c. 13.
545 The Mediterranean and the Red Sea; the latter including the modern Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
546 Forbiger is of opinion that this is the same as the Didigua or Didugua of Ptolemy. It was situate below Alpamea. D’Anville takes it to be the modern Corna.
547 The modern Turcomania.
548 Now known as the Plain of Chelat, according to Parisot, extending between Chelat, a city situate on a great lake and the river Rosso, falling into the Caspian Sea.
549 Called Diglith by Josephus. Hardouin states that in his time the name given to the river by the natives was Daghela. This name is also supposed to be another form of the Hiddekel of Scripture. See Genesis ii. 14.
550 According to Bochart, this was a corruption of the Eastern name Deghel, from which were derived the forms Deger, Teger, and ultimately Tigris.
551 Ritter has identified this with the modern lake Nazuk, in Armenia, about thirteen miles in length and five in breadth. The water at the present day is said to be sweet and wholesome.
552 Seneca, however, in his Quæst. Nat. B. vi., represents the Tigris here as gradually drying up and becoming gradually smaller, till it disappears.
553 This spot is considered by Parisot to be the modern city of Betlis.
554 A spot where liquid bitumen or naphtha was found.
555 Or probably Arzarene, a province of the south of Armenia, situate on the left bank of the Tigris. It derived its name from the lake Arsene, or the town Arzen, situate on this lake. It is comprehended in the modern Pashalik of Dyár Bekr.
556 Now called the Myrád-chaï. See B. v. c. 24. Ritter considers it to be the southern arm of the Euphrates.
559 The site of this place seems to be unknown. It has been remarked that it is difficult to explain the meaning of this passage of Pliny, or to determine the probable site of Apamea.
560 Hardouin remarks that this is the right arm of the Tigris, by Stephanus Byzantinus called Delas, and by Eustathius Sylax, which last he prefers.
561 According to Ammianus, one of the names of Seleucia on the Tigris was Coche.
562 A river of Susiana, which, after passing Susa, flowed into the Tigris, below its junction with the Euphrates. The indistinctness of the ancient accounts has caused it to be confused with the Eulæus, which flows nearly parallel with it into the Tigris. It is pretty clear that they were not identical. Pliny here states that they were different rivers, but makes the mistake below, of saying that Susa was situate upon the Eulæus, instead of the Choaspes. These errors may be accounted for, it has been suggested, by the fact that there are two considerable rivers which unite at Bund-i-Kir, a little above Ahwaz, and form the ancient Pasitigris or modern Karun. It is supposed that the Karun represents the ancient Eulæus, and the Kerkhah the Choaspes.
563 In c. 26 of the present Book. The custom of the Persian kings drinking only of the waters of the Eulæus and Choaspes, is mentioned in B. xxxi. c. 21.
564 Or the country “by the river.”
565 Pliny is the only writer who makes mention of this place. Parisot is of opinion that it is represented by the modern Digil-Ab, on the Tigris, and suggests that Digilath may be the correct reading.
566 Mentioned in the last Chapter.
567 Now called the Mountains of Luristan.
568 The name of the district of Chalonitis is supposed to be still preserved in that of the river of Holwan. Pliny is thought, however, to have been mistaken in placing the district on the river Tigris, as it lay to the east of it, and close to the mountains.
569 From Arbela, in Assyria, which bordered on it.
570 A great and populous city of Babylonia, near the Tigris, but not on it, and eight parasangs within the Median wall. The site is that probably now called Eski Baghdad, and marked by a ruin called the Tower of Nimrod. Parisot cautions against confounding it with a place of a similar name, mentioned by Pliny in B. xii. c. 17, a mistake into which, he says, Hardouin has fallen.
571 Now called Felongia, according to Parisot. Hardouin considers it the same as the Sambana of Diodorus Siculus, which Parisot looks upon as the same as Ambar, to the north of Felongia.
572 Of this Antiochia nothing appears to be known. By some it has been supposed to be the same with Apollonia, the chief town of the district of Apolloniatis, to the south of the district of Arbela.
573 Also called the Physcus, the modern Ordoneh, an eastern tributary of the Tigris in Lower Assyria. The town of Opis stood at its junction with the Tigris.
574 D’Anville supposes that this Apamea was at the point where the Dijeil, now dry, branched off from the Tigris, which bifurcation he places near Samurrah. Lynch, however, has shown that the Dijeil branched off near Jibbarah, a little north of 34° North lat., and thinks that the Dijeil once swept the end of the Median wall, and flowed between it and Jebbarah. Possibly this is the Apamea mentioned by Pliny in c. 27.
575 The son of Seleucus Nicator.
576 More to the south, and nearer the sea.
577 Previously mentioned in c. 26.
578 A part of Mount Zagrus, previously mentioned, according to Hardouin.
579 Its site appears to be unknown. According to Stephanus, it was a city of Persia. Forbiger conjectures that it is the same place as Badaca, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, B. xix. c. 19; but that was probably nearer to Susa.
580 The buryer excepted, perhaps.
581 In c. 28 of the present Book.
582 As mentioned in c. 26 of the present Book.
583 A warlike tribe on the borders of Susiana and the Greater Media. In character they are thought to have resembled the Bakhtiara tribes, who now roam over the mountains which they formerly inhabited. It has been suggested that their name may possibly be connected with the modern Khuzistan.
584 Supposed to be the same as the modern Kirmánshah mountains.
585 As mentioned in a previous Note, (67 in p. 77), Pliny mistakes the Eulæus for the Choaspes. In c. 26 he says that Susa is on the river Tigris.
586 Pliny says this in B. xxxi. c. 21 of both the Eulæus and the Choaspes.
587 Most probably the Hedyphon of Strabo, supposed to be the same as that now called the Djerrabi.
588 Parisot thinks that this is the modern Jessed, in the vicinity of the desert of Bealbanet.
589 Previously mentioned in c. 28.
590 The modern Tab.
591 Now called Camata, according to Parisot.
592 The modern Saurac, according to Parisot. The more general reading is “Sosirate.”
593 Our author has nowhere made any such statement as this, for which reason Hardouin thinks that he here refers to the maritime region mentioned in c. 29 of the present Book (p. 69), the name of which Sillig reads as Ciribo. Hardouin would read it as Syrtibolos, and would give it the meaning of the “muddy district of the Syrtes.” It is more likely, however, that Pliny has made a slip, and refers to something which, by inadvertence, he has omitted to mention.
594 Charax Spasinu, or Pasinu, previously mentioned in c. 26 (see p. 62). The name Charax applied to a town, seems to have meant a fortified place.
595 Called “Eudæmon” by Pliny.
596 The Great, the father of Antiochus Epiphanes.
597 Though this passage is probably corrupt, the reading employed by Sillig is inadmissible, as it makes nothing but nonsense. “Et jam Vipsanda porticus habet;” “and even now, Vipsanda has its porticos.”
598 Dionysius of Charax. No particulars of him are known beyond those mentioned by Pliny.
599 Caius, the son of Marcus Agrippa and Julia, the daughter of Augustus. He was the adopted son of Augustus.
600 See B. iii. c. 1, p. 151, in vol. 1.
601 In B. v. c. 21 and 22.
602 Who called himself the King of kings, and was finally conquered by Pompey.
603 The Mediterranean.
604 See B. v. c. 12.
605 Salmasius thinks that this should be written “Nombei;” but Hardouin remarks that the Nombæi were not of Arabian but Jewish extraction, and far distant from Mount Libanus.
606 The only resemblance between them is, that each is a peninsula; that of Arabia being of far greater extent than Italy. It will be remarked that here, contrary to his ordinary practice, Pliny makes a distinction between the Red Sea and the Persian Sea or Gulf.
607 “In eandem etiam cœli partem nulla differentia spectat.” A glance at the map will at once show the fallacy of this assertion.