17. Close, in the neighbourhood (of these islands), is the Little

Syrtis, which is also called the Syrtis Lotophagitis (or the

lotus-eating Syrtis). The circuit of this gulf is 1600, and the breadth

of the entrance 600 stadia; at each of the promontories which form the

entrance and close to the mainland is an island, one of which, just

mentioned, is Cercinna, and the other Meninx;[986] they are nearly equal

in size. Meninx is supposed to be the “land of the lotus-eaters”[987]

mentioned by Homer. Certain tokens (of this) are shown, such as an altar

of Ulysses and the fruit itself. For the tree called the lotus-tree is

found in abundance in the island, and the fruit is very sweet to the

taste. There are many small cities in it, one of which bears the same

name as the island. On the coast of the Syrtis itself are also some

small cities. In the recess (of the Syrtis) is a very considerable mart

for commerce, where a river discharges itself into the gulf. The effects

of the flux and reflux of the tides extend up to this point, and at the

proper moment the neighbouring inhabitants eagerly rush (to the shore)

to capture the fish (thrown up).

18. After the Syrtis, follows the lake Zuchis, 400 stadia (in circuit?),

with a narrow entrance, where is situated a city of the same name,

containing factories for purple dyeing and for salting of all kinds;

then follows another lake much smaller; after this the city

Abrotonon[988] and some others. Close by is Neapolis, which is also

called Leptis.[989] From hence the passage across to the Locri

Epizephyrii[990] is a distance of 3600 stadia. Next is the river

[Cinyps].[991] Afterwards is a walled dam, constructed by the

Carthaginians, who thus bridged over some deep swamps which extend far

into the country. There are some places here without harbours, although

the rest of the coast is provided with them. Next is a lofty wooded

promontory, which is the commencement of the Great Syrtis, and called

Cephalæ (The Heads),[992] from whence to Carthage is a distance of a

little more than 5000 stadia.

19. Above the sea-coast from Carthage to Cephalæ (on the one hand) and

to the territory of the Masæsyli (on the other) lies the territory of

the Libo-Phœnicians, extending (into the interior) to the mountainous

country of the Gætuli, which belongs to Africa Proper. Above the Gætuli

is the country of the Garamantes, lying parallel to the former, and from

whence are brought the Carthaginian pebbles (carbuncles). The Garamantes

are said to be distant from the Ethiopians, who live on the borders of

the ocean, nine or ten days’ journey, and from the temple of Ammon

fifteen days. Between the Gætuli and the coast of our sea (the

Mediterranean) there are many plains and many mountains, great lakes and

rivers, some of which sink into the earth and disappear. The inhabitants

are simple in their mode of life and in their dress; they marry numerous

wives, and have a numerous offspring; in other respects they resemble

the nomade Arabians. The [CAS. 835] necks both of horses and oxen are

longer than in other countries.

The breeding of horses is most carefully attended to by the kings (of

the country); so much so, that the number of colts is yearly calculated

at 100,000. Sheep are fed with milk and flesh, particularly near

Ethiopia. These are the customs of the interior.

20. The circuit of the Great Syrtis is about 3930 stadia,[993] its depth

to the recess is 1500 stadia, and its breadth at the mouth is also

nearly the same. The difficulty of navigating both these and the Lesser

Syrtis [arises from the circumstances of] the soundings in many parts

being soft mud. It sometimes happens, on the ebbing and flowing of the

tide, that vessels are carried upon the shallows, settle down, and are

seldom recovered. Sailors therefore, in coasting, keep at a distance

(from the shore), and are on their guard, lest they should be caught by

a wind unprepared, and driven into these gulfs. Yet the daring

disposition of man induces him to attempt everything, and particularly

the coasting along a shore. On entering the Great Syrtis on the right,

after passing the promontory Cephalæ, is a lake of about 300 stadia in

length, and 70 stadia in breadth, which communicates with the gulf, and

has at its entrance small islands and an anchorage. After the lake

follows a place called Aspis, and a harbour, the best of all in the

Syrtis. Near this place is the tower Euphrantas, the boundary between

the former territory of Carthage and Cyrenaïca under Ptolemy (Soter).

Then another place, called Charax,[994] which the Carthaginians

frequented as a place of commerce, with cargoes of wine, and loaded in

return with silphium and its juice, which they received from merchants

who brought it away clandestinely from Cyrene; then the Altars of the

Philæni;[995] after these Automola, a fortress defended by a garrison,

and situated in the recess of the whole gulf. The parallel passing

through this recess is more to the south than that passing through

Alexandreia by 1000 stadia, and than that passing through Carthage by

less than 2000 stadia; but it would coincide with the parallel passing,

on one side, through Heroopolis, which is situated in the recess[996] of

the Arabian Gulf, and passing, on the other, through the interior of the

territory of the Masæsylii and the Mauretanians. The rest of the

sea-coast, to the city Berenice,[997] is 1500 stadia in length. Above

this length of coast, and extending to the Altars of the Philæni, are

situated an African nation called Nasamones. The intervening distance

(between the recess of the Syrtis and Berenice) contains but few

harbours, and watering-places are rare.

On a promontory called Pseudopenias is situated Berenice, near a lake

Tritonis, in which is to be observed a small island with a temple of

Venus upon it. There also is a lake of the Hesperides, into which flows

a river (called) Lathon. On this side of Berenice is a small promontory

called Boreion[998] (or North Cape), which with Cephalæ forms the

entrance of the Syrtis. Berenice lies opposite to the promontories of

Peloponnesus, namely, those called Ichthys[999] and [Chelonatas],[1000]

and also to the island Zacynthus,[1001] at an interval of 3600 stadia.

Marcus Cato marched from this city, round the Syrtis, in thirty days, at

the head of an army composed of more than 10,000 men, separated into

divisions on account of the watering-places; his course lay through deep

sand, under burning heat. After Berenice is a city Taucheira,[1002]

called also Arsinoë; then Barca,[1003] formerly so called, but now

Ptolemaïs; [CAS. 837] then the promontory Phycus,[1004] which is low,

but extends further to the north than the rest of the African coast; it

is opposite to Tænarum,[1005] in Laconia, at the distance[1006] of 2800

stadia; on it there is also a small town of the same name as the

promontory. Not far from Phycus, at a distance of about 170 stadia, is

Apollonias, the naval arsenal of Cyrene; from Berenice it is distant

1000 stadia, and 80 stadia from Cyrene, a considerable city situated on

a table-land, as I observed it from the sea.

21. Cyrene was founded by the inhabitants of Thera,[1007] a Lacedæmonian

island which was formerly called Calliste, as Callimachus says,

“Calliste once its name, but Thera in later times, the mother

of my home, famed for its steeds.”

The harbour of Cyrene is situated opposite to Criu-Metopon,[1008] the

western cape of Crete, distant 2000 stadia. The passage is made with a

south-south-west wind. Cyrene is said to have been founded by

Battus,[1009] whom Callimachus claims to have been his ancestor. The

city flourished from the excellence of the soil, which is peculiarly

adapted for breeding horses, and the growth of fine crops. It has

produced many men of distinction, who have shown themselves capable of

worthily maintaining the freedom of the place, and firmly resisting the

barbarians of the interior; hence the city was independent in ancient

times, but subsequently[1010] it was attacked [successfully] by the

Macedonians, (who had conquered Egypt, and thus increased their power,)

under the command of Thibron the murderer of Harpalus: having continued

for some time to be governed by kings, it finally came under the power

of the Romans, and with Crete forms a single province. In the

neighbourhood of Cyrene are Apollonia, Barca, Taucheira, Berenice, and

other small towns close by.

22. Bordering upon Cyrenaïca is the district which produces silphium,

and the juice called Cyrenaic, which the silphium discharges from

incisions made in it. The plant was once nearly lost, in consequence of

a spiteful incursion of barbarians, who attempted to destroy all the

roots. The inhabitants of this district are nomades.

Remarkable persons of Cyrene were Aristippus,[1011] the Socratic

philosopher, who established the Cyrenaïc philosophy, and his daughter

named Arete, who succeeded to his school; she again was succeeded by her

son Aristippus, who was called Metrodidactos, (mother-taught,) and

Anniceris, who is supposed to have reformed the Cyrenaïc sect, and to

have introduced in its stead the Anniceric sect. Callimachus and

Eratosthenes[1012] were also of Cyrene, both of whom were held in honour

by the kings of Egypt; the former was both a poet and a zealous

grammarian; the latter followed not only these pursuits, but also

philosophy, and was distinguished above all others for his knowledge of

mathematics. Carneades[1013] also came from [CAS. 838] thence, who by

common consent was the first of the Academic philosophers, and

Apollonius Cronos, the master of Diodorus the Dialectician, who was also

called Cronos, for the epithet of the master was by some transferred to

the scholar.

The rest of the sea-coast of Cyrene from Apollonia to Catabathmus is

2200 stadia in length; it does not throughout afford facilities for

coasting along it; for harbours, anchorage, habitations, and

watering-places are few. The places most in repute along the coast are

the Naustathmus,[1014] and Zephyrium with an anchorage, also another

Zephyrium, and a promontory called Chersonesus,[1015] with a harbour

situated opposite to and to the south of Corycus[1016] in Crete, at the

distance of 2500 stadia; then a temple of Hercules, and above it a

village Paliurus; then a harbour Menelaus, and a low promontory

Ardanixis, (Ardanis,)[1017] with an anchorage; then a great harbour,

which is situated opposite to Chersonesus in Crete, at a distance of

about 3000 (2000?) stadia; for the whole of Crete, which is (a) long and

narrow (island), lies opposite and nearly parallel to this coast. After

the great harbour is another harbour, Plynos, and about it Tetra-pyrgia

(the four towers). The place is called Catabathmus.[1018] Cyrenæa

extends to this point; the remainder (of the coast) to Parætonium,[1019]

and from thence to Alexandreia, we have spoken of in our account of

Egypt.[1020]

23. The country deep in the interior, and above the Syrtis and Cyrenæa,

a very sterile and dry tract, is in the possession of Libyans. First are

the Nasamones, then Psylli, and some Gætuli, then Garamantes; somewhat

more towards the east (than the Nasamones) are the Marmaridæ, who are

situated for the most part on the boundaries of Cyrenæa, and extend to

the temple of Ammon. It is asserted, that persons directing their course

from the recess of the Great Syrtis, (namely,) from about the

neighbourhood of Automala,[1021] in the direction of the winter

sunrise, arrive on the fourth day at Augila.[1022] This place resembles

Ammon, and is productive of palm trees, and is well supplied with water.

It is situated beyond Cyrenæa to the south: for 100 stadia the soil

produces trees; for another 100 stadia the land is only sown, but from

excessive heat does not grow rice.

Above these parts is the district which produces silphium, then follows

the uninhabited tract, and the country of the Garamantes. The district

which produces silphium is narrow, long, and dry, extending in an

easterly direction about 1000 stadia, but in breadth 300 stadia, or

rather more, at least as far as has been ascertained. For we may

conjecture that all countries which lie on the same parallel (of

latitude) have the same climate, and produce the same plants; but since

many deserts intervene, we cannot know every place. In like manner, we

have no information respecting the country beyond (the temple of) Ammon,

nor of the oases, as far as Ethiopia, nor can we state distinctly what

are the boundaries of Ethiopia, nor of Africa, nor even of the country

close upon Egypt, still less of the parts bordering on the ocean.

24. Such, then, is the disposition of the parts of the world which we

inhabit.[1023] But since the Romans have surpassed (in power) all former

rulers of whom we have any record, and possess the choicest and best

known parts of it, it will be suitable to our subject briefly to refer

to their Empire.

It has been already stated[1024] how this people, beginning from [CAS.

839] the single city of Rome, obtained possession of the whole of Italy,

by warfare and prudent administration; and how, afterwards, following

the same wise course, they added the countries all around it to their

dominion.

Of the three continents, they possess nearly the whole of Europe, with

the exception only of the parts beyond the Danube, (to the north,) and

the tracts on the verge of the ocean, comprehended between the Rhine and

the Tanaïs (Don).

Of Africa, the whole sea-coast on the Mediterranean is in their power;

the rest of that country is uninhabited, or the inhabitants only lead a

miserable and nomade life.

Of Asia likewise, the whole sea-coast in our direction (on the west) is

subject to them, unless indeed any account is to be taken of the Achæi,

Zygi, and Heniochi,[1025] who are robbers and nomades, living in

confined and wretched districts. Of the interior, and of the parts far

inland, the Romans possess one portion, and the Parthians, or the

barbarians beyond them, the other; on the east and north are Indians,

Bactrians, and Scythians; then (on the south) Arabians and Ethiopians;

but territory is continually being abstracted from these people by the

Romans.

Of all these countries some are governed by (native) kings, but the rest

are under the immediate authority of Rome, under the title of provinces,

to which are sent governors and collectors of tribute; there are also

some free cities, which from the first sought the friendship of Rome, or

obtained their freedom as a mark of honour. Subject to her also are some

princes, chiefs of tribes, and priests, who (are permitted) to live in

conformity with their national laws.

25. The division into provinces has varied at different periods, but at

present it is that established by Augustus Cæsar; for after the

sovereign power had been conferred upon him by his country for life, and

he had become the arbiter of peace and war, he divided the whole empire

into two parts, one of which he reserved to himself, the other he

assigned to the (Roman) people. The former consisted of such parts as

required military defence, and were barbarian, or bordered upon nations

not as yet subdued, or were barren and uncultivated, which though ill

provided with everything else, were yet well furnished with strongholds,

and might thus dispose the inhabitants to throw off the yoke and rebel.

All the rest, which were peaceable countries, and easily governed

without the assistance of arms, were given over to the (Roman) people.

Each of these parts was subdivided into several provinces, which

received respectively the titles of “provinces of Cæsar” and “provinces

of the People.”

To the former provinces Cæsar appoints governors and administrators, and

divides the (various) countries sometimes in one way, sometimes in

another, directing his political conduct according to circumstances.

But the people appoint commanders and consuls to their own provinces,

which are also subject to divers divisions when expediency requires it.

(Augustus Cæsar) in his first organization of (the Empire) created two

consular governments, namely, (1.) the whole of Africa in possession of

the Romans, excepting that part which was under the authority, first of

Juba, but now of his son Ptolemy; and (2.) Asia within the Halys and

Taurus, except the Galatians and the nations under Amyntas, Bithynia,

and the Propontis. He appointed also ten consular governments in Europe

and in the adjacent islands. Iberia Ulterior (Further Spain) about the

river Bætis[1026] and Celtica Narbonensis[1027] (composed the two

first). The third was Sardinia, with Corsica; the fourth Sicily; the

fifth and sixth Illyria, districts near Epirus, and Macedonia; the

seventh Achaia, extending to Thessaly, the Ætolians, Acarnanians, and

the Epirotic nations who border upon Macedonia; the eighth Crete, with

Cyrenæa; the ninth Cyprus; the tenth Bithynia, with the Propontis and

some parts of Pontus.

Cæsar possesses other provinces, to the government of which he appoints

men of consular rank, commanders of armies, or knights;[1028] and in his

(peculiar) portion (of the empire) there are and ever have been kings,

princes, and (municipal) magistrates.

END OF VOL. III.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Book xii. c. iii. 39. Vol. ii. page 311, 312.

[2] Book xiii. c. iv. § 8. Vol. ii. page 405.

[3] Book x. c. iv. § 10, and book xii. c. iii. § 33. Vol. ii. pp. 197,

307, of this Translation.

[4] Book xiv. c. i. § 48. Vol. iii. p. 26.

[5] Book xiv. c. v. § 4. Vol. iii. p. 53.

[6] Book xii. c. iii. § 16. Vol. ii. p. 296, 380.

[7] c. ii. § 24. Vol. iii. p. 173.

[8] Book ii. c. v. § 10. Vol. i. p. 176, of this Translation.

[9] Chap. i. § 20.

[10] Chap. i. § 13.

[11] Chap. i. § 20.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Book ii. c. 3, § 6. Vol. i. p. 154.

[14] Herodotus iv. 85, 86.

[15] Book i. c. iv. § 6. Vol. i. p. 102, of the Translation.

[16] Book ii. c. i. § 20. Vol. i. p. 119, of the Translation.

[17] Book xiii. c. i. § 54, vol. ii. p. 380.

[18] “A Reply to the Calumnies of the Edinburgh Review against Oxford,”

page 98, by Dr. Copleston, late Bishop of Landaff. Oxford, 1810.

[19] That is, the maritime parts of Asia Minor, from Cape Coloni

opposite Mitilini to Bajas, the ancient Issus. The coast of Ionia

comprehended between Cape Coloni and the Mæander (Bojuk Mender Tschai)

forms part of the modern pachalics, Saruchan and Soghla; Caria and Lycia

are contained in the pachalic, Mentesche; Pamphylia and Lycia in those

of Teke and Itsch-ili. Mount Taurus had its beginning at the promontory

Trogilium, now Cape Samsoun, or Santa Maria opposite Samos.

[20] Jenikoi.

[21] Cape Arbora.

[22] Karadscha-Fokia.

[23] Gedis-Tschai.

[24] Derekoi.

[25] Lebedigli, Lebeditzhissar.

[26] A portion of this poem by Mimnermus is quoted in Athenæus, b. xi.

39, p. 748 of the translation, Bohn’s Class. Library.

[27] Pliny, v. 29, says the distance is 20 stadia.

[28] The Branchidæ were descendants of Branchus, who himself was

descended from Macæreus, who killed Neoptolemus, son of Achilles.

According to Herodotus, the temple was burnt by order of Darius, Herod.

v. 36; vi. 19.

[29] Pliny, v. 29, says that the distance is 180 stadia.

[30] According to Pausanias, vii. 2, a friend of Sarpedon, named

Miletus, conducted the colony from Crete, founded Miletus, and gave his

name to it. Before his arrival the place bore the name of Anactoria, and

more anciently Lelegis.

[31] More than 80, according to Pliny, v. 29.

[32] To be well.

[33] Hence the English weal, the mark of a stripe.

[34] Od. xxiv. 402.

[35] Coraÿ, who is followed by Groskurd, supposes the words “and Cadmus”

to be here omitted. Kramer considers this correction to be very

doubtful; see b. i. c. ii. § 6.

[36] Chandler says that the Tragææ were sand-banks or shallows.

[37] Bafi.

[38] Il. ii. 868.

[39] ἐν ὕψει, according to Groskurd’s emendation, in place of ἐν ὄψει.

[40] Derekoi.

[41] Two other towns, Percote and Palæscepsis, were also given to

Themistocles, the first to supply him with dress, the second with

bed-room furniture.—_Plutarch, Life of Themistocles._

[42] Aineh-Basar.

[43] Samsun.

[44] Samsun Dagh.

[45] Cape Santa Maria.

[46] The Furni islands.

[47] Stapodia.

[48] According to Pliny, it is 716 stadia.

[49] In b. x. ch. ii. § 17, Strabo informs us that Samos was first

called Melamphylus, then Anthemis, and afterwards Parthenia. These names

appear in this passage in a reversed but, as appears from Pliny, b. v.

31, in their true chronological order.

[50] Either an error of our author, or he speaks of its wine in

comparison with that of other islands.

[51] After the death of Pericles.

[52] Among distinguished natives of Samos, Strabo has omitted to mention

Melissus the philosopher, who commanded the fleet of the island, and was

contemporary with Pericles.—_Plutarch, Life of Pericles._

[53] Before called Drepanum.

[54] Ischanli.

[55] Scala Nova.

[56] Pliny and Mela give a different origin and name to this town: by

them it is called Phygela from Φυγὴ, flight or desertion of the sailors,

who, wearied with the voyage, abandoned Agamemnon.

[57] Chersiphron was of Gnossus in Crete. The ground being marshy on

which the temple was to be built, he prepared a foundation for it of

pounded charcoal, at the suggestion of Theodorus, a celebrated statuary

of Samos.

[58] The temple is said to have been burnt the night Alexander the Great

was born.—_Cicero, de Nat. Deo._ ii. 27.

[59] Plutarch says that the artist offered Alexander to make a statue of

Mount Athos, which should hold in the left hand a city, capable of

containing 10,000 inhabitants, and pouring from the right hand a river

falling into the sea.

[60] For the word κρήνη, a fountain, which occurs in the text before

Penelope, and is here unintelligible, Kramer proposes to read κηρίνη.

The translation of the passage, thus corrected, would be, “a figure in

wax of Penelope.” Kramer does not adopt the reading, on the ground that

no figures in wax are mentioned by ancient authors.

[61] ὀνήιστος.

[62] Coraÿ is of opinion that the name of Artemidorus of Ephesus has

been omitted by the copyist in this passage, before the name of

Alexander. Kramer thinks that if the name had existed in the original

manuscript, it would have been accompanied, according to the practice of

Strabo, with some notice of the writings of Artemidorus. The omission of

the name is remarkable, as Artemidorus is one of the geographers most

frequently quoted by Strabo. He flourished about 100 B. C. His geography

in eleven books is lost. An abridgement of this work was made by

Marcianus, of which some portions still exist, relating to the Black Sea

and its southern shore.

[63] It must have been in existence in the time of Strabo.—_Tacit. Ann._

ii. 54.

[64] Another explanation is given to the proverb, from the circumstance

of Colophon having a casting vote in the deliberations of the twelve

cities forming the Panionium.

[65] Lebedigli Lebeditz hissar.

[66] During the season when these actors, dancers, and singers were not

on circuit at festivals.

[67] Budrun.

[68] Ouvriokasli.

[69] Ypsilo Nisi.

[70] Called by Livy, xxvii. 27, Portus Geræsticus.

[71] Which forms the Gulf of Smyrna.

[72] The district called Chalcitis by Pausanias, xii. 5, 12.

[73] Ritri.

[74] Sighadschik.

[75] Koraka, or Kurko.

[76] Called in Thucyd. viii. 34, Arginum.

[77] Karaburun-Dagh.

[78] Karaburun, which has the same meaning.

[79] Groskurd is of opinion that “of the same name” is omitted after

“city.”

[80] Cape Mastico.

[81] Porto Mastico.

[82] This name is doubtful. Coraÿ suggests Elæus; Groskurd, Lainus,

which Kramer does not approve of, although this part of the coast is now

called Lithi. It seems to be near a place called Port Aluntha.

[83] Cape Nicolo.

[84] Psyra.

[85] Ilias.

[86] Ion was a contemporary of Sophocles. Theopompus was the disciple of

Socrates, and the author of an epitome of the history of Herodotus, of a

history of Greece, of a history of Philip, father of Alexander the

Great, and of other works. He was of the aristocratic or Macedonian

party. Theocritus, his contemporary, was a poet, orator, and historian;

he was of the democratic party. To these, among illustrious natives of

Chios, may be added Œnopides the astronomer and mathematician, who was

the discoverer of the obliquity of the ecliptic and the cycle of 59

years, for bringing the lunar and solar years into accordance; Nessus

the philosopher; his disciple Metrodorus (about B. C. 330) the sceptic,

and master of Hippocrates; Scymnus the geographer, and author of a

description of the earth.

[87] The Homeridæ may have been at first descendants of Homer; but in

later times those persons went by the name Homeridæ, or Homeristæ, who

travelled from town to town for the purpose of reciting the poems of

Homer. They did not confine themselves to that poet alone, but recited

the poetry of Hesiod, Archilochus, Mimnermus, and others; and finally

passages from prose writers.—_Athenæus_, b. xiv. c. 13.

[88] Of the 283 vessels sent by the eight cities of Ionia in the war

with Darius, one hundred came from Chios.

[89] Kelisman.

[90] Still to be found in collections of coins.

[91] Leokaes?

[92] B. xiii. c. iv. § 2.

[93] Ak-Hissar.

[94] Karadscha-Fokia.

[95] Marseilles, b. iv. ch. i. § 4.

[96] B. xiii. ch. i. § 2.

[97] Jenidscheh.

[98] Western Africa.

[99] Gumusch-dagh.

[100] According to Suidas, Daphnidas ridiculed oracles, and inquired of

the oracle of Apollo, “Shall I find my horse?” when he had none. The

oracle answered that he would find it. He was afterwards, by the command

of Attalus, king of Pergamum, taken and thrown from a precipice called

the Horse.

[101] The incursions of the Treres, with Cimmerians, into Asia and

Europe followed after the Trojan war. The text is here corrupt. The

translation follows the amendments proposed partly by Coraÿ, and partly

by Kramer, τὸ δ’ ἑξῆς Ἐφεσίους.

[102] These innovations or corruptions were not confined to the

composition of pieces intended for the theatre, but extended also to the

manner of their representation, to music, dancing, and the costume of

the actors. It was an absolute plague, which corrupted taste, and

finally destroyed the Greek theatre. We are not informed of the detail

of these innovations, but from what we are able to judge by comparing

Strabo with what is found in Athenæus, (b. xiv. § 14, p. 990, of Bohn’s

Classical Library,) Simodia was designated by the name of Hilarodia,

(joyous song,) and obtained the name Simodia from one Simus, or Simon,

who excelled in the art. The Lysiodi and Magodi, or Lysodia and Magodia,

were the same thing, according to some writers. Under these systems

decency appears to have been laid aside.

[103] Od. ix. 3.

[104] Aidin-Gusel-Hissar.

[105] The chain of mountains between the Caÿster and the Mæander, the

different eminences of which bear the names of Samsun-dagh,

Gumusch-dagh, Dsehuma-dagh, &c.

[106] Sultan-Hissar.

[107] The Tralli Thracians appear to have acted as mercenary soldiers,

according to Hesychius.

[108] Groskurd supplies the word πρόσκεινται.

[109] Groskurd reads τοιούτων, for τοσούτων in the text. Coraÿ proposes

νοσούντων.

[110] Meineke’s conjecture is followed, λίπα ἀληλιμμένοι, for

ἀπαληλιμμένοι.

[111] Groskurd’s emendation of this corrupt passage is adopted,

ὑπερβᾶσι τὴν Μεσωγίδα ἐπὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸν νότον μέρη Τμώλου τοῦ ὄρους.

[112] Il. ii. 461.

[113] Arpas-Kalessi.

[114] Mastauro.

[115] Adopting Kramer’s correction of Καρίας for

παραλίας.

[116] Cape Arbora.

[117] Schelidan Adassi islands, opposite Cape Chelidonia.

[118] Near Gudschek, at the bottom of the Gulf of Glaucus, now Makri.

[119] The Phœnix (Phinti?) rises above the Gulf of Saradeh.

[120] Alessa, or, according to others, Barbanicolo.

[121] Dalian.

[122] Doloman-Ischai.

[123] Kramer suggests the words ὑπομέλανας καὶ, for the corrupt reading,

ἐπιμελῶς.

[124] Il. vi. 146.

[125] The Caunians were aborigines of Caria, although they affected to

come from Crete.—_Herod._ i. 72.

[126] Castro Marmora. The gulf on which it stands is still called Porto

Fisko.

[127] Chares flourished at the beginning of the third century B. C. The

accounts of the height of the Colossus of Rhodes differ slightly, but

all agree in making it 105 English feet. It was twelve years in

erecting, (B. C. 292-280,) and it cost 300 talents. There is no

authority for the statement that its legs extended over the mouth of the

harbour. It was overthrown 56 years after its erection. The fragments of

the Colossus remained on the ground 923 years, until they were sold by

Moawiyeh, the general of the Caliph Othman IV., to a Jew of Emessa, who

carried them away on 900 camels, A. D. 672. Hence Scaliger calculated

the weight of the bronze at 700,000 pounds.—_Smith’s Dict. of Biog. and

Mythology._

[128] Protogenes occupied seven years in painting the Jalysus, which was

afterwards transferred to the Temple of Peace at Rome. The Satyr was

represented playing on a flute, and was entitled, The Satyr

Reposing.—_Plutarch, Demetr._; _Pliny_, xxxv. 10.

[129] ὀψωνιασμοῦ, Kramer’s proposed correction, is adopted for

ὀψωνιαζόμενοι.

[130] Marseilles and Artaki.

[131] Bodrum.

[132] Il. ii. 662.

[133] Il. ii. 656.

[134] Il. ii. 678.

[135] Formerly, says Pliny, it was called Ophiussa, Asteria, Æthræa,

Trinacria, Corymbia, Pœeessa, Atabyria, from a king of that name; then

Macaria and Oloëssa. B. v. 31. To these names may be added Lindus and

Pelagia. Meineke, however, suspects the name Stadia in this passage to

be a corruption for Asteria.

[136] That is, Children of the Sun. They were seven in number,

Cercaphus, Actis, Macareus, Tenages, Triopes, Phaethon, and Ochimus,

born of the Sun and of a nymph, or, according to others, of a heroine

named Rhodus.

[137] Il. ii. 656.

[138] Hippodamus of Miletus.

[139] Naples.

[140] Majorca.

[141] Negropont.

[142] Called light-armed probably from the use of the sling, common

among the Rhodians, as it was also among the Cretans. The use of the

sling tends to prove the Rhodian origin of the inhabitants of the

Balearic islands. The Athenian expedition to Sicily (Thucyd. vi. 43) was

accompanied by 700 slingers from Rhodes.

[143] Strabo here omits to mention the Rhodian origin of Agrigentum and

Gela in Sicily.

[144] Il. ii. 668.

[145] Ol. vii. 61.

[146] Lindo.

[147] According to Strabo, Alexandria and Rhodes were upon the same

meridian.

[148] Camiro.

[149] Lanathi?

[150] Abatro.

[151] B. x. c. v. § 14.

[152] The original, which is a play upon words, cannot be rendered in

English.

[153] Called before, Eleussa, c. ii. § 2.

[154] The Sea of Marmora.

[155] Capo Volpe, or Alepo Kavo, meaning the same thing.

[156] Isle of Symi.

[157] Crio.

[158] Indschirli, or Nisari.

[159] Keramo.

[160] The word ἔργον, “a work,” suggests that there is some omission in

the text. Coraÿ supposes that the name of the architect or architects is

wanting. Groskurd would supply the words Σκόπα καὶ ἄλλων τεχνιτῶν, “the

work of Scopas and other artificers.” See Pliny, N. H. xxxvi., and

Vitruvius Præf. b. vii.

[161] Coronata.

[162] Mela says, of Argives. B. i. c. xvi. § 19.

[163] Petera, or Petra Termera.

[164] Cape Kephala.

[165] Pascha-Liman.

[166] Assem-Kalessi.

[167] Cape Arbore.

[168] Mylassa, or Marmora.

[169] Eski-hissar.

[170] Arab-hissar.

[171] This is a parody on a passage in Aristophanes. Lysis. v. 1038.

[172] Of the golden rays (around the head).

[173] Cicero. _Brut._, c. 91.

[174] Il. ii. 867, in which the reading is Νάστης, but Μέσθλης in Il.

ii. 864.

[175] Od. i. 344.

[176] Il. xv. 80.

[177] Il. v. 222.

[178] βατταρίζειν, τραυλίζειν, ψελλίζειν.

[179] κελαρύζειν, κλαγγὴ, ψόφος, βοὴ, κρότος.

[180] Chelidoniæ, in this passage, is probably an error. Groskurd adopts

the name Philomelium.

[181] Ilgun.

[182] At the base of Sultan-dagh.

[183] Ak-Schehr.

[184] Sultan Chan.

[185] Ak-Sera.

[186] Kaiserieh.

[187] Called Herpa, b. xii. ch. ii. § 6, pages 281, 283.

[188] Μετὰ τὴν Ῥοδίων Περαίαν, or, “After the Peræa of Rhodes.” Peræa

was the name of the coast of Caria opposite to Rhodes, which for several

centuries formed a dependency of that opulent republic. In the time of

Scylax, the Rhodians possessed only the peninsula immediately in face of

their island. As a reward for their assistance in the Antiochian war,

the Romans gave them a part of Lycia, and all Caria as far as the

Mæander. By having adopted a less prudent policy in the second Macedonic

war, they lost it all, including Caunus, the chief town of Peræa. It was

not long, however, before it was restored to them, together with the

small islands near Rhodes; and from this time Peræa retained the limits

which Strabo has described, namely, Dædala on the east and Mount Loryma

on the west, both included. Vespasian finally reduced Rhodes itself into

the provincial form, and joined it to Caria.—_Leake._

[189] Samsun.

[190] Eski Adalia, Old Attaleia; but the Greeks gave the name παλαιὰ

Ἀττάλεια, Old Attaleia, to Perge.—_Leake._

[191] Gunik.

[192] Patera.

[193] Minara.

[194] Duvar.

[195] Gillies, in his translation of Aristotle, makes use of this

example of the Lycians to prove that representative government was not

unknown to the ancients. The deputies sent from the twenty-three cities

formed a parliament. The taxes and public charges imposed on the several

towns were in proportion to the number of representatives sent from each

city.—_Gillies_, vol. ii. p. 64, &c.

[196] Makri.

[197] Site unknown.

[198] Efta Kavi, the Seven Capes.

[199] Od. xix. 518.

[200] Kodscha.

[201] The passage in the original, in which all manuscripts agree, and

which is the subject of much doubt, is—

ὧν καὶ μεγίστη νῆσος καὶ πόλις ὁμώνυμος, ἡ Κισθήνη.

Groskurd would read καὶ before ἡ, and translates,—“Among others is

Megiste an island, and a city of the same name, and Cisthene.”

Later writers, says Leake, make no mention of Cisthene; and Ptolemy,

Pliny, Stephanus, agree in showing that Megiste and Dolichiste were the

two principal islands on the coast of Lycia: the former word Megiste,

_greatest_, well describing the island Kasteloryzo or Castel Rosso, as

the latter word (longest) does that of Kakava. Nor is Scylax less

precise in pointing out Kasteloryzo as Megiste, which name is found in

an inscription copied by M. Cockerell from a rock at Castel Rosso. It

would seem, therefore, that this island was anciently known by both

names, (Megiste and Cisthene,) but in later times perhaps chiefly by

that of Megiste.

[202] Cape Chelidonia.

[203] Aboukir, nearly under the same meridian.

[204] Tschariklar.

[205] Garabasa.

[206] Tschiraly. Deliktasch.—_Leake._

[207] Ianartasch.

[208] Tirikowa.

[209] Solyma-dagh.

[210] Gulik-Chan?

[211] Il. vi. 184.

[212] Duden-su.

[213] Adalia.

[214] Ernatia.

[215] Ak-su.

[216] Murtana.

[217] Tekeh.

[218] Kopru-su.

[219] Balkesu.

[220] Kislidscha-koi.

[221] Menavgat-su.

[222] Alara.

[223] Alaja, or Castel Ubaldo.

[224] Herod. vii. 91. According to this passage, therefore, the name

Pamphylians is derived from πᾶν, “all,” and φῦλον, “nation.”

[225] Alaja.

[226] Syedra probably shared with Coraresium (Alaja), a fertile plain

which here borders on the coast. But Syedra is Tzschucke’s emendation of

Arsinoë in the text.

[227] Not mentioned by any other author.

[228] Selindi.

[229] Charadran.

[230] Kara-Gedik.

[231] Inamur.

[232] Cape Kormakiti.

[233] Mesetlii.

[234] Softa-Kalessi.

[235] Mandane?

[236] Kilandria, or Gulnar.

[237] According to Pliny, Cilicia anciently commenced at the river

Melas, which Strabo has just said belongs to Pamphylia. Ptolemy fixes

upon Coracesium as the first place in Cilicia, which, according to Mela,

was separated from Pamphylia by Cape Anemurium, which was near Nagidus.

[238] Nahr-el-Asy.

[239] B. xvi. c. ii. § 33.

[240] Selefke.

[241] Cape Lissan.

[242] Gok-su.

[243] Cape Cavaliere.

[244] Eurip. Hec. 1.

[245] Its distance (40 stadia) from the Calycadnus, if correct, will

place it about Pershendi, at the north-eastern angle of the sandy plain

of the Calycadnus.

[246] Anamur.

[247] Ianartasch; but, according to Leake, it still preserves its name.

[248] A sandy plain now connects Elæussa with the coast.—_Leake._

[249] Lamas-su, of which Lamuzo-soui is an Italian corruption.

[250] Lamas.

[251] Tschirlay, or Porto Venetico.

[252] Mesetlii.

[253] Cape Zafra.

[254] What better inscription, said Aristotle, could you have for the

tomb, not a king, but of an ox? Cicero, Tusc. Quæs. iii. 35.

[255] Mesarlyk-tschai.

[256] Strabo means to say, that the coast, from the part opposite

Rhodes, runs E. in a straight line to Tarsus, and then inclines to the

S.E.; that afterwards it inclines to the S., to Gaza, and continues in a

westerly direction to the Straits of Gibraltar.

[257] The translation follows the reading proposed by Groskurd,

παχυνευροῦσι καὶ ῥοïζομένοις καὶ ποδαγριζομένοις, who quotes Vitruv.

viii. 3, and Pliny xxxi. 8.

[258] Kramer does not approve of the corrections proposed in this

passage by Groskurd. The translation follows the proposed emendation of

Falconer, which Kramer considers the least objectionable.

[259] Augustus.

[260] Groskurd, with some probability, supposes the name of Achilles to

be here omitted.

[261] Il. iii. 235.

[262] Dschehan-tschai.

[263] Chun.

[264] Ajas.

[265] Demir-Kapu.

[266] The ridge extending N. E., the parts of which bear various names,

Missis, Durdan-dagh, &c.

[267] Deli-tschai.

[268] Arsus.

[269] Iskenderun.

[270] Its name under the Byzantine empire was corrupted to Mampsysta, or

Mamista; of which names the modern Mensis appears to be a further

corruption.—_Leake._

[271] The passage is defended by the fortress of Merkes.

[272] Suveidijeh.

[273] Nahr-el-Asy.

[274] Groskurd is desirous of reading Tarsus for Issus. See above, c. v.

§ 11. But Strabo is here considering the two opinions held respecting

the isthmus.

[275] Scymnus of Chios counts fifteen nations who occupied this

peninsula, namely, three Greek and twelve barbarian. The latter were

Cilicians, Lycians, Carians, Maryandini, Paphlagonians, Pamphylians,

Chalybes, Cappadocians, Pisidians, Lydians, Mysians, and Phrygians. In

this list the Bithynians, Trojans, and Milyæ are not mentioned; but in

it are found the Cappadocians and Lydians—two nations whom, according to

Strabo, Ephorus has not mentioned. This discrepancy is the more

remarkable as Scymnus must have taken the list from Ephorus himself.

[276] Od. xi. 122.

[277] Apollodorus, like Scymnus, had probably found the Lydians

mentioned in the list of Ephorus, as also the Cappadocians.

[278] Kramer says that he is unable to decide how this corrupt passage

should be restored. The translation follows the conjectures of Coray.

[279] Il. ii. 862.

[280] Il. iii. 187.

[281] Isnik.

[282] Euphorion acquired celebrity as a voluminous writer. Vossius, i.

16, gives a catalogue of his works. According to Suidas, he was born in

Chalcis, in Negropont, at the time Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was defeated

by the Romans. He acquired a considerable fortune by his writings and by

his connexion with persons of eminent rank. He was invited to the court

of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, who intrusted him with the care

of his library. According to Sallust, (Life of Tiberius,) he was one of

the poets whom Tiberius took as his model in writing Greek verse. Fecit

et Græca poemata, imitatus Euphorionem, et Rhianum et Parthenium.

[283] The Clides, off Cape Andrea.

[284] Cape Arnauti.

[285] Dschehan-Tschai.

[286] Kormakiti.

[287] Lapito.

[288] Near Artemisi.

[289] To the north of Tamagousta.

[290] Carpas.

[291] Lissan el Cape, in Cilicia.

[292] Near the present Larnaka.

[293] Limasol.

[294] Cape Gata.

[295] Cape Grego.

[296] Piscopia.

[297] Capo Bianco.

[298] Bisur.

[299] Point Zephyro.

[300] Jeroskipo.

[301] Solea.

[302] The Indian Ocean.

[303] Behul or Jelum.

[304] Beas.

[305] The island Cos, or Stanco, one of the earlier names of which was

Meropis.

[306] ἢ κατ’ ἄλλους for καὶ ἄλλου.—_Groskurd._

[307] See ch. i. § 73.

[308] Mekran.

[309] It is evident that the name Pillars misled Megasthenes or the

writers from whom he borrowed the facts; for it is impossible to suppose

that Tearcho, who reigned in Arabia, or that Nabuchodonosor, who reigned

at Babylon, ever conducted an army across the desert and through the

whole breadth of Africa to the Straits of Gibraltar, to which place

nothing invited them, and the existence of which, as well as that of the

neighbouring countries, must have been unknown. The Egyptians, Arabians,

and Babylonians directed their invasions towards the north, to

Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Iberia, and Colchis. This was

the line of march followed by Sesostris.

Ptolemy indicates the existence of “Pillars,” which he calls “the

Pillars of Alexander,” above Albania and Iberia, at the commencement of

the Asiatic Sarmatia. But as it is known that Alexander never penetrated

into these regions, it is clear that the title “of Alexander” was added

by the Greeks to the names of mountains, which separated a country

partly civilized from that entirely occupied by hordes of savages.

Everything therefore seems to show, that these Pillars near Iberia in

Asia, and not the Pillars of Hercules in Europe, formed the boundary of

the expeditions of Sesostris, Tearcho, and Nabuchodonosor.—_Gossellin._

[310] As the Oxydraci are here meant, Groskurd adopts this name in the

text. They were settled in Sagur and Outch, of the province of Lahore.

[311] Eurip. Bacchæ, v. 13.—_Wodehull._

[312] Many cities and mountains bore the name of Nysa; but it is

impossible to confound the mountain Nysa, spoken of by Sophocles, with

the Nysa of India, which became known to the Greeks by the expedition

only of Alexander, more than a century after the death of the poet.

[313] Probably interpolated.

[314] Il. vi. 132. Nysa in India was unknown to Homer, who here refers

to Mount Nysa in Thrace.

[315] Strabo takes for the source of the Indus the place where it passes

through the mountains to enter the Punjab. The site of Aornos seems to

correspond with Renas.—_Gossellin_.

[316] The Sibæ, according to Quintus Curtius, who gives them the name of

Sobii, occupied the confluent of the Hydaspes and the Acesines.

This people appear to have been driven towards the east by one of those

revolutions so frequent in all Asia. At least, to the north of Delhi,

and in the neighbourhood of Hardouar, a district is found bearing the

name of Siba.

[317] That is, the Macedonians transferred the name of the Caucasus,

situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian, to the mountains of

India. The origin of their mistake arose from the Indians giving, as at

present, the name of Kho, which signifies “white,” to the great chain of

mountains covered with snow, from whence the Indus, and the greater part

of the rivers which feed it, descend.

[318] This people occupied the Paropamisus, where the mountains now

separate Candahar from Gaour.

[319] Book ii. c. i. 2.

[320] Under the name of Ariana, the ancients comprehended almost all the

countries situated between the Indus and the meridian of the Caspian

Gates. This large space was afterwards divided by them according to the

position of the different nations which occupied it.—_Gossellin._ There

can be no doubt the modern Iran represents the ancient Ariana. See

_Smith_, art. Ariana, and b. ii. c. v. § 32, vol. i. p. 196, note^{903}.

[321] Eratosthenes and Strabo believed that the eastern parts of Asia

terminated at the mouth of the Ganges, and that, consequently, this

river discharged itself into the Eastern Ocean at the place where

terminated the long chain of Taurus.

[322] According to Major Rennell, Emodus and Imaus are only variations

of the same name, derived from the Sanscrit word Himmaleh, which

signifies “covered with snow.”

[323] In some MSS. the following diagram is to be found.

[Illustration: The River Indus.]

[324] The extremity of India, of which Eratosthenes speaks, is Cape

Comorin, which he placed farther to the east than the mouth of the

Ganges.

[325] Patelputer or Pataliputra near Patna, see b. ii. ch. i. §9.

[326] The reading is σχοινίοις, which Coraÿ changes σχοίνοις, Schœni:

see Herod. i. 66. The Schœnus was 40 stadia. B. xii. ch. ii. §12.

[327] Athenæus (b. xi. ch. 103, page 800, Bohn’s Classical Library)

speaks of Amyntas as the author of a work on the Stations of Asia. The

Stathmus, or distance from station to station, was not strictly a

measure of distance, and depended on the nature of the country and the

capability of the beasts of burthen.

[328] The reading Coliaci in place of Coniaci has been proposed by

various critics, and Kramer, without altering the text, considers it the

true form of the name. The Coliaci occupied the extreme southern part of

India. Cape Comorin is not precisely the promontory Colis, or Coliacum,

which seems to answer to Panban, opposite the island Ramanan Kor.

[329] The Indian Caucasus.

[330] Book ii. ch. i. § 3.

[331] λίνον, probably the λίνον τὸ ἀπὸ δενδρέων, or cotton, of Arrian.

[332] βόσμορον. § 18.

[333] Ceylon.

[334] The voyage from the Ganges to Ceylon, in the time of Eratosthenes,

occupied seven days, whence he concluded that Ceylon was seven days’

sail from the continent.

[335] Groskurd reads 5000 stadia. B. ii. c. i. § 14.

[336] εἰδοποιήσουσι. _Coraÿ._

[337] The text is, as Coraÿ observes, obscure, if not corrupt. The

proposed emendations of Coraÿ and Kramer are followed.

[338] Herod. ii. 5.

[339] At the beginning of autumn.

[340] At the beginning of winter.

[341] Taxila seems to have been situated at some distance to the east of

Attock.

[342] At the delta formed by the Indus.

[343] Towards the end of summer.

[344] The Chenab.

[345] The district between Moultan and the mountains.

[346] Herod. ii. 86. Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres? Virg.

Geor. ii. 121.

[347] Cloth of silk.

[348] The sugar-cane.

[349] C. i. § 33.

[350] The Banyan tree.

[351] Probably the Caroubba (Lotus Zizyphus), but it does not produce

the effect here mentioned.

[352] The Ravee.

[353] Arist. Hist. An. vii. 4, who speaks however of five only.

[354] πεπλησμένως. _Coraÿ._

[355] Od. ii. 157.

[356] That is to say, he crossed the Paropamisus, or Mount Ghergistan,

from the western frontier of Cabul, by the pass of Bamian, to enter the

district of Balk.

[357] The Attock.

[358] The river of Cabul.

[359] The Gandaræ were a widely extended people of Indian or Arianian

origin, who occupied a district extending more or less from the upper

part of the Punjab to the neighbourhood of Candahar, and variously

called Gandaris and Gandaritis. See Prof. Wilson’s _Ariana Antiqua_.

[360] Aspasii. _Coraÿ._

[361] Peucela, in Arrian iv. 22. Rennell supposes it to be Puckholi, or

Pehkely.

[362] Abisarus was king of the mountainous part of India, and, according

to the conjecture of Vincent, which is not without some probability, his

territory extended to Cashmir.

[363] India is bordered to the north, from Ariana to the Eastern Sea, by

the extremities of Taurus, to which the aboriginal inhabitants give the

different names of Paropamisus, Emodon, Imaon, and others, while the

Macedonians call them Caucasus. The Emodi mountains were the Western

Himalaya. See _Smith_, art. Emodi Montes.

[364] The name of the modern city Lahore, anciently Lo-pore, recalls

that of Porus. It is situated on the Hyarotis or Hydraotes (Ravee),

which does not contradict our author; for, as Vincent observes, the

modern Lahore represents the capital of the second Porus, whom Strabo

will mention immediately; and the Lahore situate between the Hydaspes

(the Behut or Jelum) and the Acesines (the Chenab), the exact position

of which is unknown, was that of the first Porus. Probably these two

districts, in which the two cities were situated, formed a single

district only, one part of which was occupied and governed by Porus the

uncle, and the other by Porus the nephew. It is probable, also, that

these two princes took their name from the country itself, Lahore, as

the prince of Taxila was called Taxiles, and the prince of Palibothra,

Palibothrus.

[365] Strabo’s Bucephalia was on the Hydaspes, between Beherat and

Turkpoor, not far from Rotas. _Groskurd._ The exact site is not

ascertained, but the probabilities seem to be in favour of Jelum, at

which place is the ordinary passage of the river, or of Jellapoor, about

16 miles lower down. _Smith._

[366] Ox-headed.

[367] Cercopitheces.

[368] Hence the Cathay of the Chinese and Modern Europe.

[369] So also Arrian, who takes the number from Megasthenes. Pliny says

that nineteen rivers unite with the Indus.

[370] Probably an interpolation.

[371] The island Cos.

[372] B. xv. c. i. § 7.

[373] The Malli occupied a part of Moultan.

[374] The Sambus of Arrian. Porticanus is the Oxycanus of Arrian. Both

Porticanus and Musicanus were chiefs of the cicar of Sehwan. _Vincent’s

Voyage of Nearchus_, p. 133.

[375] This number is too large. There is probably an error in the text.

Groskurd reads 20; but Kramer refers to Arrian’s expedition of

Alexander, v. 20, and suggests that we may here read 100 (ρ) instead of

200 (σ).

[376] The Seres are here meant, whose country and capital still preserve

the name of Serhend. It was the Serica India of the middle ages, and to

this country Justinian sent to procure silkworms’ eggs, for the purpose

of introducing them into Europe. Strabo was not acquainted with the

Seres of Scythia, whose territory is now called Serinagar, from whence

the ancients procured the wool and fine fabrics which are now obtained

from Cashmir; nor was he acquainted with the Seres who inhabited the

peninsula of India, and whose territory and capital have retained the

name of Sera. Pliny is the only ancient author who seems to have spoken

of these latter Seres. _Gossellin._ The passage in brackets is supposed

by Groskurd to be an interpolation. Meineke would retain it, by reading

καί τοι for καὶ γὰρ.

[377] The passage is corrupt, and for κήτη, “whales or cetaceous

animals,” Groskurd proposes λέγει. The whole would therefore thus be

translated, “and speaks of what he saw on it, of its magnitude,” &c.

[378] The exaggeration of Megasthenes is nothing in comparison of Ælian,

who gives to the Ganges a breadth of 400 stadia. Modern observations

attribute to the Ganges a breadth of about three quarters of a

geographical mile, or 30 stadia.

[379] About 120 feet.

[380] Hiranjavahu.

[381] B. ii. c. i. § 9.

[382] B. xvi. c. i. § 28.

[383] Herodotus iii. 102. The marmot?

[384] The passage is corrupt. Groskurd proposes to add the word ὥς

before καὶ καμήλους, “as camels.” Coraÿ changes the last word to

ἀχαλίνους, which is adopted in the translation. See below, § 53.

[385] θρίσσα.

[386] κεστρεύς.

[387] καρίδες.

[388] In the text, μέχρι ὄρους, “to a mountain.” Coraÿ changes the last

word to the name of a people, Οὔρων, but Strabo does not appear to have

been acquainted with them; Groskurd, to ὀρῶν. The translation adopts

this correction, with the addition of the article, which, as Kramer

observes, is wanting if we follow Groskurd.

[389] Groskurd proposes τειχῶν, “walls,” in place of, τιμῶν, “prices.”

[390] Κώδων, “a bell,” or gong, or trumpet?

[391] The orguia was equal to four cubits, or six feet one inch.

[392] Men who slept on their ears. See b. i. c. ii. § 35.

[393] The Brahmins.

[394] Sarmanes, Clem. Alex. Strom. i. 305.

[395] Meineke’s conjecture, ἐσθητοὺς φλοιῷ δενδρείῳ.

[396] According to Diodorus Siculus, xix. 33, an exception was made for

women with child, or with a family; but otherwise, if she did not comply

with this custom, she was compelled to remain a widow during the rest of

her life, and to take no part in sacrifices or other rites, as being an

impious person.

[397] By Arrian and Plutarch he is called Dandamis.

[398] By φιμοῖς, probably here is meant a circular segment, or band of

iron, furnished with slightly raised points in the inside; it passes

over the bone of the nose, and is fastened below by a cord which is

continued as a bridle. Such a contrivance is still in use for mules and

asses in the East.

[399] Coraÿ reads πόθος instead of κόρος in the text. The translation

would then be, “who required nothing;” but ἐκείνου here refers to

Alexander.

[400] On the day of his birth, Herod. ix. 109.

[401] Of Armenia.

[402] About 6 feet.

[403] The text is corrupt. Tzschucke’s emendation is adopted, viz.

βόνασοι. Groskurd translates the word by “hump-backed oxen,” or zebus.

[404] Ælian de Nat. Animal. xvii. 21.

[405] Bird of paradise?

[406] Not far from the present Anopschir on the Ganges, south-east from

Delhi. _Groskurd._

[407] Patalputer, b. ii. c. i. § 9.

[408] Probably the Iomanes.

[409] A subordinate town in the pachalic of Aleppo, and its modern name

is still Antakieh. It was anciently distinguished as Antioch by the

Orontes, because it was situated on the left bank of that river, where

its course turns abruptly to the west, after running northwards between

the ranges of Lebanon and Antilebanon, and also Antioch by Daphne,

because of the celebrated grove of Daphne which was consecrated to

Apollo, in the immediate neighbourhood.

[410] In Dion Cassius, liv. ix. he is called Zarmanus, a variation

probably of Garmanus, see above, § 60. Chegas, or Sheik, seems to be the

Tartar title Chan or Khan, which may be detected also in the names

Musi-canus, Porti-canus, Oxy-canus, Assa-canus, _Vincent, Voyage of

Nearchus_, p. 129. Groskurd writes Zarmanos Chanes.

[411] Bargosa is probably a corruption of Barygaza mentioned in Arrian’s

Periplus of the Red Sea. It was a large mart on the north of the river

Nerbudda, now Baroatsch or Barutsch. _Groskurd._

[412] “Beyond,” as Strabo has just been speaking of India, with

reference to which Ariana is to the west of the Indus.

[413] To the south of the great chain bearing that name, extending from

west to east of Asia.

[414] The exact place corresponding with the Caspiæ Pylæ is probably a

spot between Hark-a-Koh and Siah-Koh, about 6 parasangs from Rey, the

name of the entrance of which is called Dereh. _Smith_, art. Caspiæ

Pylæ.

[415] An extensive province of Asia along the northern side of the

Persian Gulf, extending from Carpella (either C. Bombareek or C. Isack)

on the E. to the river Bagradas (Nabend) on the W. According to Marcian

the distance between these points was 4250 stadia. It appears to have

comprehended the coast-line of the modern Laristan, Kirman, and

Moghostan. It was bounded on the N. by Parthia and Ariana; on the E. by

Drangiana and Gedrosia; on the S. by the Persian Gulf, and on the W. by

Persis. _Smith_, art. Carmania.

[416] The Purali.

[417] Mekran.

[418] By the achronical rising of the Pleiades is meant the rising of

this constellation, or its first becoming visible, after sunset.

Vincent (Voyage of Nearchus) fixes on the 23rd October, 327 B. C., as

the date of the departure of Alexander from Nicæa; August, 326 B. C., as

the date of his arrival at Pattala; and the 2nd of October, 326 B. C.,

as the date of the departure of the fleet from the Indus.

[419] The pith in the young head-shoot of the palm-tree.

[420] Called Pura by Arrian.

[421] The Oritæ are no doubt here meant.

[422] By the line drawn from the Caspian Gates to Carmania.

[423] See above, c. i. § 12.

[424] Herat.

[425] Candahar.

[426] See b. xi. c. viii. § 9.

[427] The text is corrupt: ἐκ μέρους is probably taken from some other

part of the text and here inserted.

[428] The same as Zarangæ; they probably dwelt on the lake Zarah, which

undoubtedly retains its Zend name. _Wilson’s_ Ariana.

[429] Corresponding nearly with the present Hamadan.

[430] None is said to be found there at the present day.

[431] They were called Ariaspi; Cyrus, son of Cambyses, gave them the

name Euergetæ, “benefactors,” in consideration of the services which

they had rendered in his expedition against the Scythians.

[432] At the beginning of winter.

[433] The text is corrupt; the words between brackets are supplied by

Kramer’s conjecture. See b. xi. c. xi. § 2.

[434] Theophrastus, iv. 5. The Pistatia-nut tree.

[435] Bamian, see b. xi. c. xi. § 2.

[436] In the text 19,000. Kramer’s proposed reading is adopted of

separating the amount.

[437] Ariana in the text. Groskurd proposes to read Carmania; Kramer,

Bactriana.

[438] About 140 feet. Arrian says twenty-five orguiæ, or about 150 feet.

[439] Groskurd proposes to supply after “Sea” words which he thinks are

here omitted; upon insufficient grounds, however, according to Kramer.

[440] The Arosis of Arrian, now the Tab.

[441] This passage is very corrupt, and many words, according to Kramer,

appear to be omitted. See b. ii. c i. § 26. We read with Groskurd

“Media” for “Caspian Gates” in the text: and insert “9000 stadia,” here

from b. ii. c. i. § 26, and, following the same authority, 3000 for 2000

stadia in the text below.

[442] Persæ, v. 17 and 118.

[443] Pasa or Fesa.

[444] Taug or Taüog, on the river Grâ.

[445] The Uxii occupied the district of Asciac.

[446] There seems little doubt that the Karun represents the ancient

Eulæus (on which some authors state Susa to have been situated), and the

Kerkhah the old Choaspes. See _Smith_, art. Choaspes.

[447] Groskurd adds 1000 stadia to this amount.

[448] Quin. Curtius, v. 10. Diod. Sic. xvii. 67.

[449] Ab-Zal.

[450] Hollow Persis.

[451] Bendamir.

[452] The capital of Parætacene is Ispahan.

[453] Probably the Ab-Kuren.

[454] Pasa or Fesa.

[455] Orxines, Quint. Cur. x. c. 1.

[456] For sacrifice to Cyrus. Arrian, vi. c. 29.

[457] Arrian adds, “Son of Cambyses.”

[458] Groskurd reads, ἅλλεσθαι, hops or jumps up.

[459] Founded probably by the Macedonians.

[460] The Elymæi reached to the Persian Gulf. Ptolem. vi. 1. They appear

to have left vestiges of their name in that of a gulf, and a port called

Delem.

[461] The account of the Persians is taken from Herodotus, i. 131, &c.

[462] According to Herodotus, the priest who sacrificed was crowned.

[463]

Roused the sacred fire, as the law bids,

Touching the god with consecrated wand.

_Athenæus_ xii. 40, p. 850. Bohn’s Classical Library.

[464] i. e. “who kindle fire.”

[465] i. e. places where fire is kindled.

[466] B. xi. c. viii. § 4.

[467] Not the same plant as mentioned above, c. i. § 10, but the

pistacia terebinthus.

[468] An interpolation. The Cardaces were not Persians, but foreign

soldiers. “Barbari milites quos Persæ Cardacas appellant,” (Cornel.

Nepos.) without doubt were Assyrian and Armenian Carduci. See b. xvi. c.

i. § 24, and Xenoph. Anab. iv. 3. Later Gordyæi or Gordyeni, now the

Kurds. _Groskurd._

[469] Cardamum is probably the “lepidum perfoliatum” of Linnæus, or the

“nasturtium orientale” of Tournefort. Xenophon also, Expedit. Cyr. iii.

5 and vii. 8, speaks of the great use made of this plant by the

Persians.

[470] The length of the arms and the surname “Longhand” here given to

Darius are assigned by others to Artaxerxes. It was in fact the latter

to whom this surname was given, according to Plutarch, in consequence of

the right arm being longer than the left. Therefore Falconer considers

this passage an interpolation. _Coraÿ._

[471] This, says Gossellin, may account for the rarity of the Persian

Darius, badly struck, and coined long before the time of Alexander, and

appearing to belong to a period anterior to the reign of Darius

Hystaspes.

[472] Chalybon was the name of the modern Aleppo, but the wine of

Damascus must have possessed the same qualities, and had the same name.

“The Chalybonian wine, Posidonius says, is made in Damascus in Syria,

from vines which were planted there by the Persians.” _Athenæus_, b. i.

page 46, Bohn’s Classical Library.

[473] In the text “ten or eleven years,” which reading is contrary to

all other authorities, and is rejected by Kramer.

[474] This is only an approximation. From the conquest of the Medes by

Cyrus to the death of Darius Codomanus, last king of Persia, is a period

of 225 years.

[475] According to Dion Cassius, xviii. § 26, Aturia is synonymous with

Assyria, and only differs from it by a barbarous pronunciation; which

shows that the name Assyria belonged peculiarly to the territory of

Nineveh.

[476] Aiaghi-dagh.

[477] It is to be remarked that the people bordering upon the Gordyæi

are the only people of Mesopotamia here mentioned, for the whole of

Mesopotamia, properly so called, is comprised under the name of Assyria.

[478] The bridge or passage at the foot of the modern fortress

Roum-Kala.

[479] B. xii. c. iii. § 5; Herod. i. 6 and 72.

[480] Al. Lucan. b. xi. c. xii. § 4; b. xiv. c. v. § 18; b. xvi. c. ii.

§ 8.

[481] Probably walls built for the protection of certain districts. Such

was the διατείχισμα Σεμιράμιδος, constructed between the Euphrates and

the Tigris, and intended, together with canals brought from those

rivers, to protect Babylon from the incursions of the Arabian Scenitæ or

Medes. B. ii.

[482] κλίμακες, roads of steep ascent, with steps such as may be seen in

the Alps of Europe; the word differs from ὁδοὶ, roads below, inasmuch as

the former roads are only practicable for travellers on foot and beasts

of burthen, the latter for carriages also.

[483] The union of these two names, says Kramer, is remarkable, and

still more so is the insertion of the article τῆς before them: he,

therefore, but with some hesitation, suggests that the word μάχης has

been omitted in the text by the copyist.

[484] Assyrians.

[485] Erbil.

[486] Called also Zabus, Zabatus, and Zerbes, now the Great Zab.

[487] Adopting Kramer’s reading, καὶ ἃ.

[488] Probably a branch of the Karadgeh-dagh.

[489] The Little Zab, or Or.

[490] As the name Artacene occurs nowhere else, Groskurd, following

Cellarius (v. Geogr. Ant. i. 771), suspects that here we ought to read

Arbelene, and would understand by it the same district which is called

Arbelitis by Ptolemy, vi. 1, and by Pliny, H. N. vi. 13, § 16, but as

this form of the national name is nowhere to be found, it would appear

improper to introduce it into the text. It is more probable, continues

Kramer, that Strabo wrote Adiabene, of which Arbelitis was a part,

according to Pliny, loco citato.

[491] The same, no doubt, as the goddess Anaïtis. B. xi. c. viii. § 4,

and b. xv. c. iii. § 15.

[492] All manuscripts agree in giving this number, but critics agree

also in its being an error for 365. The number of stadia in the wall,

according to ancient authors, corresponded with the number of days in

the year.

[493] That is, at a short distance from the Persian Gulf, a little more

to the south than the modern town Basra.

[494] Some extensive ruins near the angle formed by the Adhem (the

ancient Physcus) and the Tigris, and the remains of the Nahr-awan canal,

are said to mark the site of Opis.

[495] The name Cœle-Syria, or Hollow Syria, which was properly applied

to the district between Libanus and Antilibanus, was extended also to

that part of Syria which borders upon Egypt and Arabia; and it is in

this latter sense that Strabo here speaks of Cœle-Syria. So also

Diodorus Siculus, i. § 30, speaks of “Joppa in Cœle-Syria;” and

Polybius, v. 80, § 2, of “Rhinocolura, the first of the cities in

Cœle-Syria;” and Josephus, Ant. Jud. xiii. 13, § 2, “of Scythopolis of

Cœle-Syria.”

[496] El-Arish.

[497] El-Kas near Sebakit-Bardoil, the ancient lake Serbonis.

[498] Barathra.

[499] Strabo has misunderstood the meaning of Eratosthenes, who had said

that the excess of the waters of the Euphrates sunk into the ground and

reappeared under the form of torrents, which became visible near

“Rhinocolura in Cœle-Syria and Mt. Casius,” the Casius near Egypt. Our

author properly observes that the length and nature of the course

contradicts this hypothesis: but, misled by the names Cœle-Syria and

Casius, he forgets that the Casius of Egypt and the district bordering

upon Egypt, improperly called Cœle-Syria, are here in question; he

transfers the first name to Cœle-Syria of Libanus, and the second to Mt.

Casius near Seleucia and Antioch, and adds that, according to the notion

of Eratosthenes, the waters of the Euphrates would have to traverse

Libanus, Antilibanus, and the Casius (of Syria), whilst Eratosthenes has

not, and could not, say any such thing. The hypothesis of Eratosthenes

could not, indeed, be maintained, but Strabo renders it absurd. The

error of our author is the more remarkable, as the name of the city

Rhinocolura ought necessarily to have suggested to him the sense in

which the words Casius and Cœle-Syria should be understood.

[500] καὶ οὕτως πλημμυρεῖν. These words are, as Kramer proposes,

transferred from below. There can be no meaning given to them as they

stand in the text, which is here corrupt.

[501] Herod. i. 193.

[502] Herod. i. 194.

[503] Al-Madain.

[504] Strabo probably here refers to Hecatompylos, which, in b. xi. c.

ix. § 1, he calls “the royal seat of the Parthians,” and which shared

with Ecbatana the honour of being a residence of the Parthian kings. The

name Hyrcania has here a wide meaning; the proper name would have been

Parthia.

[505] Cicero de Nat. Deor. i. § 5.

[506] Descura. _D’Anville._

[507] Sus.

[508] Asciac part of Khosistan.

[509] Kerman.

[510] Groskurd here supposes an omission by the copyist of the words

ἑσπέραν καὶ πρὸς before ἄρκτον.

[511] Parætacene, Cossæa, and Elymaïs occupied the mountainous parts of

Irak Adjami.

[512] Aiaghi-dagh.

[513] Media extended partly into Irak Adjami, and partly into Kurdistan.

[514] ὕστερον in the text must be omitted, or altered to πρότερον,

unless, as Kramer proposes, the words καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας be introduced

into the text. Strabo frequently mentions together the three successive

governments of Persians, Macedonians, and Parthians. B. xi. c. xiii. §

4, and c. xiv. § 15.

[515] Mithridates I., son of Phraates, 163 B. C., and 124 years after

the expedition of Antiochus.

[516] Probably the Djerrahi.

[517] On comparing this passage with others, (b. xi. c. xiv. § 12, and

b. xvi. c. i. § 1, and c. i. § 8,) in which Strabo speaks of Adiabene,

we perceive that he understood it to be a part of the country below the

mountains of Armenia, and to the north of Nineveh, on both banks of the

Tigris. Other authors have given a more extended meaning to the name,

and applied it to the country on the north of the two rivers Zab, from

whence (Amm. Marcel. xxiii. 5, 6) the name Adiabene appears to be

derived. In this sense Adiabene may be considered the same as Assyria

Proper.

[518] B. xi. c. xiv. § 15.

[519] Groskurd proposes reading Saulopodes, delicate walkers, in place

of Saccopodes, sack-footed.

[520] Herod. i. 198. Almost all the details concerning the Babylonian

customs are taken from Herodotus, who sets them forth with greater

clearness; there are, however, some differences, as, for example, the

disposal of young women in marriage, and the different tribunals, which

prove that Strabo had other sources of information.

[521] Groskurd here suspects a corruption of the text, and for τούτου

reads τοῦ πρώτου, “of the first,” and for ἄλλου, “of another,” δευτέρου,

“of the second.”

[522] Merkan.

[523] El-der.

[524] The Van. B. xi. c. xiv. § 8.

[525] In b. xi. c. xiv. § 8, Strabo says that this lake contains one

kind of fish only.

[526] Now Roumkala, from the fortress which defends the passage of the

river.

[527] Nisibin.

[528] Kara-dagh.

[529] Sered.

[530] Haran.

[531] Racca.

[532] B. C. 51.

[533] Gordyæa was the most northerly part of Assyria, or Kurdistan, near

the lake Van. From Carduchi, the name of the inhabitants, is derived the

modern name Kurds.

[534] Pliny, x. c. iii. and xxxvi. c. xix., calls it “Gagates lapis;” a

name derived, according to Dioscorides, from a river Gagas in Lycia.

[535] Herod. vi. 199.

[536] These appear to be the rivers found in the neighbourhood of Roha

or Orfa, the ancient Edessa. One of these rivers bears the name of

Beles, and is perhaps the Basileios of Strabo. Chabur is the Aborrhas.

[537] Probably an interpolation.

[538] The passage of the Euphrates here in question was effected at the

Zeugma of Commagene, called by Strabo the present passage. On passing

the river you entered Anthemusia, a province which appears to have

received, later on, the name of Osroene. It extended considerably

towards the north, for in it the Aborrhas, according to Strabo, had its

source; but it is doubtful whether it extended to the north of Mount

Masius, where the latitudes, as given by Ptolemy, would place it. I do

not exactly know whether Strabo intends to speak of a city or a

province, for the position of the city is unknown; we only learn from a

passage in Pliny, vi. c. xxvi., that it was not on the Euphrates. The

word τόπος is not, I think, so applicable to a province as to a city,

and in this last sense I have understood it, giving also to κατὰ the

meaning of latitude, in which it is so often applied by Strabo; strictly

speaking, the sense of “vis-à-vis,” “opposite to,” might be given to

it.—_Letronne._

[539] This is an error of the author or of the copyist. Edessa (now

Orfa) is not to be confounded with Bambyce (Kara-Bambuche, or Buguk

Munbedj) of Cyrrhestica in Syria, which obtained its Hellenic name from

Seleucus Nicator.

[540] B. C. 54.

[541] The Parthians became masters of Syria under Pacorus, and of Asia

Minor under Labienus. B. C. 38.

[542] Artavasdes, king of the Armenians. B. xi. c. xiii. § 4.

[543] The text would lead us to suppose that Phraates succeeded Pacorus,

whereas below, § 8, Pacorus, the eldest son of the Parthian king, died

before his father, Orodes. Letronne, therefore, and Groskurd suppose

that the words, “the son of Orodes,” are omitted after “Pacorus” above,

and “his” in the translation would then refer to Orodes.

[544] See b. vi. c. iv. § 2, in which the motives for getting rid of

these members of his family are not mentioned.

[545] Judging from Arrian (Anab. v. § 25; vii. § 9; iii. § 8), the

historians of Alexander, as well as more ancient authors, gave the name

of Syria to all the country comprehended between the Tigris and the

Mediterranean. The part to the east of the Euphrates, afterwards named

Mesopotamia, was called “Syria between the rivers;” that to the west was

called by the general name Cœle-Syria, and although Phœnicia and

Palestine were sometimes separated from it, yet it often comprehended

the whole country as far as Egypt. Strabo below, c. ii. § 21, refers to

this ancient division, when he says that the name Cœle-Syria extends to

the whole country as far as Egypt and Arabia, although in its peculiar

acceptation it applied only to the valley between Libanus and

Antilibanus.

[546] B. C. 70.

[547] Antakieh.

[548] Modern conjecture has identified it with Shogh and Divertigi.

[549] Kulat-el-Mudik.

[550] Ladikiyeh.

[551] Mesopotamia in the text is no doubt an error of the copyist. We

ought probably to read Commagene. Groskurd proposes to read “Commagene,

like Mesopotamia, consisted of one satrapy.” Groskurd’s emendation of

the text is followed, although not approved of, by Kramer.

[552] These four portions were no doubt formed by the four hills

contained within the circuit of Antioch. The circuit wall existed in the

time of Pococke. The detailed and exact description given of it by this

learned traveller, as also his plan of Antioch, agree with Strabo’s

account. _Pococke, Descrip. of the East_, ii. p. 190.

[553] C. i. § 25.

[554] Mount Soldin.

[555] Orontes, or Nahr-el-Asy.

[556] Beit-el-Ma.

[557] B. xii. c. viii. § 19; b. xiii. c. iv. § 6.

[558] Also Hierapolis, the modern Kara Bambuche.

[559] Berœa owes its name to Seleucus Nicator, and continued to be so

called till the conquest of the Arabs under Abu Obeidah, A. D. 638, when

it resumed its ancient name of Chaleb, or Chalybon.

[560] The territory subject to the town Cyrrhus, now Coro.

[561] Baghras.

[562] The modern names of the Arceuthus and Labotas are unknown.

[563] The Afreen.

[564] B. C. 145.

[565] A table.

[566] Called Phraates by Pseudo-Appian, in Parthicis, p. 72.

[567] Selefkeh.

[568] Posidi, on the southern side of the bay, which receives the

Orontes.

[569] On Cape Ziaret.

[570] B. C. 40.

[571] The text is corrupt. The translation follows the proposed

corrections of Letronne and Kramer.

[572] Shizar, on the Orontes.

[573] Cæcilius Bassus was besieged twice in Apameia, first by C.

Antistius, afterwards by Marcus Crispus and Lucius Statius Marcius.

Cassius succeeded in dispersing the troops of this rebel without much

difficulty, according to Dion Cassius, xlvii. 27.

[574] Arethusa, now Restan, was founded by Seleucus Nicator. According

to Appian, Pompey subdued Sampsiceramus, who was king of Arethusa. On

this account Cicero, in his letters to Atticus (ii. 14, 16, 17, 23),

calls Pompey in derision Sampsiceramus. Antony put Iamblicus, son of

Sampsiceramus, to death; but Augustus restored the small state of

Arethusa to another Iamblicus, son of the former.

[575] The people of Emesa, now Hems.

[576] Balbek and Kalkos.

[577] This Ptolemy, son of Mennæus, was master chiefly of Chalcis, at

the foot of Libanus, from whence he made incursions on the territory of

Damascus. Pompey was inclined to suppress his robberies, but Ptolemy

softened his anger by a present of 1000 talents, which the Roman general

applied to the payment of his troops. He remained in possession of his

dominion until his death, and was succeeded by his son Lysanias, whom

Cleopatra put to death, on the pretext that he had induced the Parthians

to come into the country. _Josephus, Bell. Jud._

[578] One of the branches of Antilibanus.

[579] This Alchædamnus is constantly called Alchaudonius, by Dion

Cassius, whom he calls the “Arabian dynast.” Falconer therefore inferred

that here we ought to read Ἀράβων instead of Ῥαμβαίων, but Letronne does

not adopt this reading, and supposes the Rhambæi may have been a tribe

of the Arabians.

[580] The text is here corrupt, and the passage, according to Kramer,

probably introduced into the text from a marginal note.

[581] παραλία, but this is a correction for παλαιά, which Letronne

proposes to correct for περαία, which is supported in § 13, below. The

part of the continent opposite, and belonging to an island, was properly

called Peræa, of which there are many examples. That part of Asia Minor

which is opposite Rhodes was so called, b. xiv. c. v. § 11, as also the

coast opposite Tenedos, b. xiii. c. i. § 46. Peræa was also adopted as a

proper name. Livy, xxxiii. 18.

[582] Pococke places Paltus at Boldo; Shaw, at the ruins at the mouth of

the Melleck, six miles from Jebilee, the ancient Gabala.

[583] Carnoon.

[584] Ain-el-Hiyeh.

[585] According to Pococke, the ruins of Aradus (Ruad) are half a mile

to the north of Tortosa (Antaradus). It is remarkable that Strabo makes

no mention of Antaradus, situated on the continent opposite Aradus;

Pliny is the first author who speaks of it. Probably the place only

became of note subsequent to the time of Strabo, and acquired power at

the expense of some of the small towns here mentioned. Antaradus,

reëstablished by Constantine, assumed the name of Constantia.

[586] Sumrah.

[587] Ortosa.

[588] Carnus.

[589] The resistance of the sea water to the ascent of the fresh water

is cut off by this ingenious contrivance, and the fresh water rises

above the level of the sea through the pipe, by natural causes, the head

or source of the spring being in the upper ground of the mainland. This

fountain is now known by the name of Ain Ibrahim, Abraham’s fountain.

[590] B. xiv. c. v. § 2.

[591] Greego.

[592] If the words of the text, φέρει δὲ καὶ, “it produces also,” refer

to the lake, our author would contradict himself; for below, § 41, he

says that Jericho alone produces it. They must therefore be referred to

“a hollow plain” above; and the fact that they do so arises from the

remarkable error of Strabo, in placing Judæa in the valley formed by

Libanus and Antilibanus. From the manner in which he expresses himself,

it is evident that he supposed the Jordan to flow, and the Lake

Gennesaret to be situated, between these two mountains. As to the Lycus

(the Nahr el Kelb), Strabo, if he had visited the country, would never

have said that the Arabians transported upon it their merchandise. It is

evident that he has confused the geography of all these districts, by

transferring Judæa, with its lakes and rivers, to Cœle-Syria Proper; and

here probably we may find the result of his first error in confounding

Cœle-Syria Proper with Cœle-Syria understood in a wider meaning. See

above, c. i. § 12.

[593] Nahr-el-Kelb.

[594] Iouschiah.

[595] Gebail.

[596] Beyrout.

[597] Nahr-Ibrahim.

[598] Josephus, i. 1.

[599] Above, c. ii. § 3.

[600] Ortosa.

[601] Tineh.

[602] Above, c. i. § 12, 15.

[603] Nahr-Damur.

[604] Sour.

[605] Tyre—daughter of Zidon. Isaiah xxiii. 12.

[606] In B. v. c. iii. § 7, Strabo tells us that Augustus prohibited

houses being erected of more than 70 Roman feet in height.

[607] Josephus (Antiq. Jud. xv. 4, § 1) states, that Mark Antony gave

Cleopatra all the coast of Phœnicia, from Eleutheria to Egypt, with the

exception of Tyre and Sidon, which he left in the enjoyment of their

ancient independence. But according to Dion Cassius (liv., 7), Augustus

arrived in the East in the spring of the year 734, B. C., or eighteen

years before the Christian era, and deprived the Tyrians and Sidonians

of their liberty, in consequence of their seditious conduct. It follows

therefore, that if Strabo had travelled in Phœnicia, he must have

visited Tyre before the above date, because his account refers to a

state of things anterior to the arrival of Augustus in Syria; and in

this case the information he gives respecting the state of the

neighbouring cities must belong to the same date; but he speaks above (§

19) of the order reëstablished by Agrippa at Beyrout, which was effected

four years after the coming of Augustus into Syria. We must conclude,

therefore, that Strabo speaks only by hearsay of the Phœnician cities,

and that he had never seen the country itself. _Letronne._

[608] Il. xxiii. 743.

[609] Probably under Zenarchus of Seleucia, the Peripatetic philosopher

whose lectures he attended. B. xiv. c. v. § 4.

[610] Nahr-Quasmieh.

[611] Vestiges of the ancient city still remain. Here was the celebrated

temple of the Phœnician Hercules, founded according to Herodotus, ii.

44, before 2700 B. C.

[612] Acre.

[613] Letronne estimates this at a penny.

[614] Athenæus, p. 742, Bohn’s Class. Library.

[615] The Tower of Strato was an ancient city almost in ruins, which was

repaired, enlarged, and embellished by Herod with magnificent buildings;

for he found there excellent anchorage, the value of which was increased

by the fact of its being almost the only one on that dangerous coast. He

gave it the name of Cæsarea, in honour of Augustus, and raised it to the

rank of a city of the first order. The repairs of the ancient city, the

Tower of Strato, or rather the creation of the new city Cæsarea, took

place about eight or nine years B. C.; so that this passage of Strabo

refers to an earlier period.

[616] Josephus (Ant. Jud. xiv. 13, § 3) calls a district near Mount

Carmel Drumos, employing the word Δρυμός, a forest, as a proper name.

[617] Jaffa.

[618] Van Egmont (Travels, vol. i. p. 297) considers it impossible, from

the character of the intervening country, to see Jerusalem from Joppa.

Pococke, on the contrary, says, that it would not be surprising to see

from the heights of Joppa, in fine weather, the summit of one of the

high towers of Jerusalem; and this is not so unlikely, for according to

Josephus the sea was visible from the tower of Psephina at Jerusalem.

[619] Jebna.

[620] Ras-el-Kasaroun.

[621] Esdod.

[622] Asculan.

[623] Akaba or Akaba-Ila.

[624] Near Suez.

[625] Refah.

[626] B. C. 218.

[627] El Arish.

[628] Sebaki-Bardoil.

[629] The passage through which the lake discharged itself into the sea.

[630] El-Cas.

[631] It appears that in the time of Strabo and Josephus the temple of

Jupiter only remained; at a later period a town was built there, of

which Steph. Byzant., Ammianus Marcellinus, and others speak, and which

became the seat of a bishopric.

[632] B. xvi. c. iii. §3.

[633] B. xiv. c. v. §3.

[634] Arabia Petræa. Petra, now called Karac, was the capital.

[635] Josephus, Ant. Jud. xiii. 9. 1.

[636] §27, above.

[637] Jaffa.

[638] Rabbath-Ammon, or Amma.

[639] Herod rebuilt Samaria, and surrounded it with a vast enclosure.

There also he erected a magnificent temple, and gave to the city the

surname of Sebaste, in honour of Augustus.

[640] In b. xiii. c. ii. §5, our author again says that the Jews were

originally Egyptians. So also Josephus, xiv. 7. 2.

[641] “Judæi mente solâ, unumque numen intelligunt, summum illud et

eternum, neque mutabile, neque interiturum.” Tacitus, Hist. v. c. 5.

[642] Strabo here attributes to Moses the opinions of the Stoics.

[643] Strabo appears to have had little acquaintance with the Jewish

history previous to the return from captivity, nor any exact knowledge

until the arrival of the Romans in Judæa. Of the Bible he does not seem

to have had any knowledge.

[644] Probably Strabo copies from accounts when the country was not well

cultivated.

[645] αἱ γυναῖκες Ἰουδαïκῶς ἐκτετμημέναι, below, c. iv. Section 9.

[646] Od. xix. 494.

[647] Diviners by the dead.

[648] Diviners by a dish into which water was poured and little waxen

images made to float.

[649] Diviners by water.

[650] ὡροσκόποι is the reading of the text, which Groskurd supposes to

be a corruption of the Latin word Haruspex. I adopt the reading

οἰωνοσκόποι, approved by Kramer, although he has not introduced it into

the text.

[651] According to Josephus, Johannes Hyrcanus dying, B. C. 107, was

succeeded by Aristobulus, who took the title of king, this being the

first instance of the assumption of that name among the Jews since the

Babylonish captivity. Aristobulus, was succeeded by Alexander Jannæus,

whose two sons were Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus II., successively kings

of Judæa, B. C. 67, 68.

[652] B. C. 63.

[653] Solomon’s conduit was constructed on the hydraulic principle, that

water rises to its own level. The Romans subsequently, being ignorant of

this principle, constructed an aqueduct.

[654] Balsamodendron Giliadense. Pliny xii. 25.

[655] Medicago arborea.

[656] The pistachia, b. xv. c. ii. § 10.

[657] In. b. xvi. c. ii. § 16, our author says that it is found on the

borders of the Lake Gennesareth.

[658] It yields, during the hot season, an immense quantity of toddy or

palm wine.

[659] Obtained by boiling the branches of the balsamodendron in water,

and skimming off the resin.

[660] Strabo here commits the singular error of confounding the Lake

Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea, with the Lake Sirbonis. Letronne attempts

to explain the origin of the error. According to Josephus, the Peræa, or

that part of Judæa which is on the eastern side of the Jordan, between

the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, contained a district (the exact

position of which is not well known, but which, according to Josephus,

could not be far from the Lake Asphaltites) called Silbonitis. The

resemblance of this name to Sirbonis probably misled our author.

[661] Specific gravity 1·211, a degree of density scarcely to be met

with in any other natural water. Marcet’s Analysis. Philos. Trans. part

ii. page 298. 1807.

[662] By chrysocolla of the ancients is generally understood borax,

which cannot however be meant in this passage. It may probably here mean

uric acid, the colour of which is golden.

[663] A place near the Lake Asphaltites, called Masada by Josephus, de

B. Jud. iv. 24, v. 3.

[664] Genesis xiv. and Wisdom x. 6: “the fire which fell down on the

five cities.”

[665] In this quotation from Eratosthenes we are probably to understand

the Lake Sirbonis, and not the Dead Sea; a continuation, in fact, of

Strabo’s first error. The translator adopts Kramer’s suggestion of

Θετταλίαν for θάλατταν in the text.

[666] “The salting station,” on the lake of Gennesareth.

[667] It has been a subject of dispute whether Herod was of Jewish or

Idumæan origin.

[668] Herod went to Rome B. C. 38, and obtained from the senate the

title of king. In the dispute between Octavius and Antony, he espoused

the cause of the latter. Octavius not only pardoned him and confirmed

him in his title, but also added other cities to his dominions. B. C.

18.

[669] The chief promoters of the crimes of Herod were Salome his sister,

who desired to gratify her hatred; and Antipater, who aimed at the

throne. Herod, influenced by their misrepresentations, put to death

Mariamne his wife, Aristobulus her brother, and Alexandra her mother;

also his sons Aristobulus and Alexander, besides Antipater, a third son,

who had conspired against his life.

[670] Augustus conferred on Archelaus the half of the kingdom of Herod

with the title of ethnarch, promising to grant the title of king, should

he prove worthy of it. The other half of the kingdom was separated into

two tetrarchies, and divided between Philip and Antipas, two other sons

of Herod.

[671] Augustus not only confirmed to Salome the legacy made to her by

Herod, of the towns Jamneia, Azoth, and Phasaëlis, but granted to her

also the royal palace and domains of Ascalon.

[672] This was Archelaus, whose tyranny was insupportable. He was

accused by the chief Jews and Samaritans before Augustus, who exiled him

to Vienne, to the south of Lyons, where he died the following year, A.

D. 7.

[673] This refers to the journey of Philip and Antipas to Rome. At the

death of Herod, Archelaus went to Rome, A. D. 2, to solicit the

confirmation of his father’s will, in which he had been named king. The

two brothers, Antipas and Philip, also went there, and the kingdom of

Herod was divided as above stated. After the exile of Archelaus, his

dominions were administered by his two brothers.

Strabo does not appear to have been acquainted with the history of the

two brothers after their return to Judæa; for otherwise he would not

have omitted to mention the exile of Antipas. This tetrarch, it is

known, went to Rome A. D. 38, to intrigue against his brother, of whom

he was jealous; but he was himself accused by Agrippa of having

intelligence with the Parthians, and was exiled to Lyons, A. D. 39.

[674] C. i. § 21.

[675] C. i. § 6.

[676] C. iii. § 4.

[677] The name Erythræan, or Red Sea, was extended to the whole of the

Arabian Gulf, to the sea which surrounds Arabia to the south, and to a

great part of the Persian Gulf.

[678] The cape Harmozi, or Harmozon, is the cape Kuhestek of Carmania,

Kerman, situated opposite to the promontory Maceta, so called from the

Macæ, an Arabian tribe living in the neighbourhood. This last promontory

is now called Mocandon, and is the “Asaborum promontorium” of Ptolemy.

[679] For a long period the Euphrates has ceased to discharge itself

directly into the Persian Gulf, and now unites with the Tigris above 100

miles from the sea.

[680] The reading followed, but not introduced into the text, by Kramer

is that suggested by the corrections of Letronne and Groskurd, καὶ τὴν

Ἀράβων παραλίαν παραπλεύσαντα καθ’ αὑτόν.

[681] Peludje, at the entrance of the Gulf of Gran.

[682] Heeren (Comment. Gotting. 1793. Vol. xi. pp. 66, 67) supposes that

this city was founded by Chaldæans solely for the purpose of a depôt for

the transit of goods to Babylon, the trade having for a long time been

in the hands of the Phœnicians. He also conjectures that the most

flourishing period of the town was when the Persians, for political

reasons, destroyed the commerce of Babylon, and Gerrha then became the

sole depôt for the maritime commerce of India.

[683] El-Der.

[684] The island Ormus, which before the year 1302 was called Turun or

Gerun, from which the Greeks formed the names Tyros, Tyrine, Gyris,

Gyrine, Ogyris, and Organa. _Gossellin._

[685] Arek.

[686] Besides the islands Tyre and Aradus, there existed even in the

time of Alexander, and near the present Cape Gherd, a city called Sidon

or Sidodona, which was visited by Nearchus, as may be seen in his

Periplus. The Phœnician inhabitants of these places appear to have

afterwards removed to the western side of the Persian Gulf, and to the

islands Bahraïn, to which they gave the names Tylos, or Tyre, and

Aradus. The latter name still exists; it was from this place that the

Phœnicians moved, to establish themselves on the shores of the

Mediterranean, and transferred the name of Sidon, their ancient capital,

and those of Tyre and Aradus, to the new cities which they there

founded. _Gossellin._

[687] As Nearchus in his voyage kept along the coast, this distance must

not be understood as so much to the south of Carmania in the open sea,

but as the distance from Cape Jask, the commencement of Carmania.

[688] In Ptolemy, this island is called Vorochtha, now Vroct, or Kismis,

or Dschisme.

[689] ἡ καυσία, a broad-brimmed Macedonian hat.

[690] Pliny, v. 21, mentions a place which he calls Massica, situated on

the Euphrates, near the mouth of a canal which communicated with the

Tigris near Seleucia. It is now called Masseib-khan, and is at a short

distance above Babylon, on the borders of the desert. I do not know

whether this is the Mæcene of Strabo. _Gossellin._

[691] Strabo here refers to the marsh lakes now called Mesdjed Hosaïn,

Rahémah, Hour, &c. The Chaldæans whom he mentions occupied the country

along the banks of the Euphrates to the coast of the Persian Gulf.

[692] In Cashmir melons are now grown in the same manner. Humboldt

remarks that the same contrivance is adopted in Mexico for the

cultivation of vegetables.

[693] Letronne here proposes to read Erythræan or Ethiopian Sea.

[694] Mimosa Nilotica.

[695] This is remarkable.

[696] Carn Almanazil.

[697] Mariaba was not the name of a city, but the title of a city

acquired by the residence of their sovereigns. “Mariana oppidum,” says

Pliny, vi. 32, “significat dominos omnium.” The capital was called Saba,

now Sabbea; and the country in which it is situated is called Sabieh.

[698] Yemen.

[699] The people of Hadramaüt.

[700] The extent was six times as large as the Delta.

[701] Ailah, or Hœle, or Acaba-Ila.

[702] C. ii. § 30.

[703] The ruins are still visible at Abu-Keyschid.

[704] Deire, or the “neck,” so called from its position on a headland of

the same name, was a town situated on the African shore of the straits

of Bab-el-Mandeb, at their narrowest part.

[705] The Troglodytica extended along the western side of the Arabian

Gulf, from about the 19th degree of latitude to beyond the strait.

According to Pliny, vi. c. 34, Sesostris conducted his army as far as

the promontory Mossylicus, which I think is Cape Mète of the modern

kingdom of Adel. _Gossellin._

[706] The 60 and 200 stadia assigned to the straits refer to the two

passages there to be found. The 60 stadia agree with the distance of the

eastern cape of Bab-el-Mandeb, the ancient Palindromos, to the island

Mehun; and the 200 stadia to the distance of this island from the coast

of Africa. In this last interval are the six islands of which Strabo

speaks.

[707] This passage has sometimes been mistaken to mean, that the region

producing myrrh and cinnamon refers to the southern coast of Arabia. Our

author here speaks of the coast of Africa, which extends from the Strait

of Bab-el-Mandeb to Cape Guardafui. This space in following the coast is

160 or 165 leagues, which are equivalent to 5000 olympic stadia.

_Gossellin._

[708] The long and interesting passage from § 5 to the end of § 20 is

taken from Artemidorus, with the exception of a very few facts, which

our author has taken from other sources, accompanied by observations of

his own. On comparing this fragment of Artemidorus with the extracts of

Agatharchides preserved by Photius, and the description of Arabia and

Troglodytica which Diodorus Siculus (b. iii. 31) says he derived from

Agatharchides, we find an identity, not only in almost all the details,

but also in a great number of the expressions. It is, therefore, evident

that Artemidorus, for this part of his work, scarcely did anything more

than copy Agatharchides. Agatharchides, in his youth, held the situation

of secretary or reader to Heraclides Lembus, who (according to Suidas)

lived in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor. This king died B. C. 146. He

wrote a work on Asia in 10 books, and one on Europe in 49 books; a

geographical work on the Erythræan Sea in 5 books; a treatise on the

Troglodytæ in 5 books; and other works. He wrote in the Attic dialect.

His style, according to Photius, was dignified and perspicuous, and

abounded in sententious passages, which inspired a favourable opinion of

his judgment. In the composition of his speeches he was an imitator of

Thucydides, whom he equalled in dignity, and excelled in clearness. His

rhetorical talents also are highly praised by Photius. He was acquainted

with the language of the Ethiopians, and appears to have been the first

who discovered the true cause of the inundations of the Nile. See Smith,

art. Agatharchides.

[709] Ghela.

[710] Kosseir.

[711] Mouse Harbour, or Harbour of Venus.

[712] Meleagrides.

[713] Bender-el-Kebir.

[714] Zemorget or Zamargat. The “Agathonis Insula” of Ptolemy.

[715] Ptolemy Philadelphus.

[716] About 12 feet.

[717] The whole of this description is so vague that it would be

difficult to recognise the position of the places mentioned by Strabo

without the assistance of scattered notices by other authors. The result

of many comparisons leads me to fix upon 16° 58´ as about the latitude

of Ptolemaïs Epitheras. Mount Taurus was 22 leagues higher up, and the

harbour of the goddess Soteira 12 leagues beyond. _Gossellin._

[718] Letronne translates Πτολεμαῒς πρὸς τῇ θήρᾳ as Ptolemaïs Epitheras;

see c. iv. § 4.

[719] Tacazze, which however does not appear to have such a branch.

[720] These islands are to the north of Arkiko.

[721] Gulf of Matzua.

[722] From the position here assigned to the fortress of Suchus, it is

impossible to place it at Suachem, as is commonly done. _Gossellin._

[723] An island Stratioton is mentioned in Pliny vi. 29, as though he

had read in our author the word Στρατιωτῶν, “the island of soldiers.” As

the island of Strato is named only in this extract from Artemidorus, we

might be tempted to correct the text of Strabo by the text of Pliny. But

as it is not certain that the two authors speak of one and the same

island, it is more prudent to make no change. _Du Theil._

[724] I am not acquainted with this place. The ancients speak only of

one town of the name of Saba (c. iv. § 19). Was there a town Saba which

gave its name to the Sabaïtic Gulf? but the one in question does not

appear to have been situated there. _Gossellin._

[725] B. C. 658.

[726] The modern Senaar corresponds with the territory of the Sembritæ.

See also b. xvii. c. i. § 2. Herodotus, b. ii. 30.

[727] Tacazze.

[728] The Blue Nile.

[729] ἀκροδρύων is expressed in the Periplus of Agatharchides by the

words τὸν καρπὸν π ί π τ ο ν τ α ἀ π ὸ τῶν δένδρων, “the fruit falling

from the trees.” The Periplus adds another tribe, the Hylophagi,

“wood-eaters,” who subsisted on the tender branches of certain trees.

Strabo refers to them, b. xvii. c. ii. § 2, but without giving their

name. The pods of the Lotus Zizyphus are eatable, and may here be meant.

[730] Gymnetæ. Between the Spermophagi and the Creophagi, Agatharchides

places another people called Cynegetæ. Strabo and Pliny do not mention

them; but the sort of life the Gymnetæ, of which they both speak, lead

resembles that of the Cynegetæ or Cynegi of Agatharchides and Diodorus

Siculus (iii. 25). It seems therefore that these two authors, as well as

Strabo and Pliny, meant here to speak of one and the same tribe of

Ethiopian Gymnetæ, which might have been distinguished by the particular

name of Cynegetæ, or Cynegi. _Du Theil._

[731] Above, c. ii. § 37.

[732] Milkers of bitches.

[733] This Berenice was also surnamed Epi Dire, because it was nearer

the promontory Dire than the other cities of the same name. It is

probably Bailul, about 12 leagues to the north-west of Assab.

[734] Assab or As-Sab.

[735] Below, Artemidorus calls it the harbour of Eumenes, § 13.

[736] Agatharchides, as quoted by Diodorus Sic. iii. 27, says expressly

that this bird is the ostrich. May it be the cassowary?

[737] Groskurd supposes the name of this nation has been omitted in the

text, and proposes Acridophagi, or Locust-eaters.

[738] According to Agatharchides and Diodorus Sic. iii. 28, the habit of

living on locusts produced a kind of winged louse in the interior of the

body; but this is denied by Niebuhr.

[739] Above, § 4.

[740] Pliny, xiii. 17; xv. 13.

[741] Perhaps Zeila. Strabo is here describing the coast of the modern

kingdom of Adel.

[742] The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea indicates on this coast a place

called Niloptolemæum, which appears to correspond with the mouth of the

river Pedra. _Gossellin._

[743] Phleus schæoris. _Linn._

[744] Daphnus Parvus of the Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.

[745] Now Fellis or Fel, which signifies Elephant in Arabic.

[746] I think that there is something here omitted and wanting in the

text of Strabo, as he seems to make Artemidorus say, that a little after

Mount Elephas we find the Horn, or the Cape of the South; for this last

appellation appears to have been applied to Cape Guardafui. But this

cape, from the time of Philadelphus, and consequently before the period

in which Artemidorus wrote, was known by the name of the Promontory of

the Aromatics; this author therefore could not have confounded it with

the Southern Horn. I have already come to the conclusion that the

Southern Horn corresponds with the Southern Cape of Bandel-caus, where

commences the desert coast of Ajan, the ancient Azania, respecting which

Artemidorus confesses that he was unable to procure any information. It

therefore appears to me, that the description which this author must

have given of the coast of Africa, from Mount Elephas to the Southern

Horn, and which Strabo should have copied, is now wanting in the text.

This omission seems to have been noticed by some copyist, who thought to

supply it by naming again, to the south of Mount Elephas, the altars of

Pytholaus, Lichas, Pythangelus, and Leon, which Artemidorus had already

spoken of, and which navigators meet with on the west, and before

arriving at Mount Elephas. _Gossellin._

[747] The text of this paragraph is corrupt; but the reading followed is

that suggested in a note by Kramer.

[748] λέων μύρμηξ. Agatharchides calls them μυρμηκολέων, and Ælian

simply μύρμηξ. What animal is intended by the name is uncertain. In b.

xv. c. i. §44, the marmot seems to be described.

[749] What the words ἐπὶ σειρὰν mean is doubtful. Casaubon supposes that

some words are wanting in the text; Groskurd proposes to read ἀπὸ

κεφαλῆς ἐπὶ οὐρὰν, “from the head to the tail.”

[750] The passage is corrupt, and some words are wanting to complete the

sense. Groskurd proposes, “a span less.”

[751] Pliny, viii. 29.

[752] Ancient authors, under the name of Sphinx, generally describe the

ape, _Simia troglodyte_ of Gmelin. _Du Theil._

[753] Simia innuus.

[754] Simia cepus.

[755] The spotted hyæna.

[756] See b. xv. c. 1, §45.

[757] The juice of the berries is a strong purge.

[758] Above, § 5.

[759] The bay of Heroopolis is the modern bay of Suez. In the text

“Ælanitic bay,” which is an error of the author or of the copyist.

[760] An altar to Poseidon (Neptune), which was erected by Aristo, whom

one of the Ptolemies had sent to explore the Arabian Gulf.

[761] Φοινικών, a grove of palm trees, is taken as a proper name by

Diodorus Siculus, b. iii. 41.

[762] Sheduan. The “Saspirene insula” of Ptolemy.

[763] Ras Mahomet, which terminates the south of the peninsula formed by

the two bays, the Ælanitic running up to Petra, and that of Heroopolis

running up to Suez. The meaning of Strabo seems to be, that this cape is

in a direction due south of Petra and Palestine.

[764] There is a wide difference of opinion among geographers with

regard to the position of this important tribe in the modern map of

Arabia. See Smith, art. Minæi.

[765] The Maraneitæ appear to me to be the same people whom other

geographers call Pharanitæ, and who received their name from their

proximity to Cape Pharan, now Ras Mahomet. _Gossellin._

[766] Diodorus Siculus, iii. § 41, following Agatharchides, narrates the

fact with greater precision. The Garindæi took advantage of the absence

of the greater part of the Maraneitæ, and put to death those that

remained. They then laid in wait for and massacred all those who were

returning from the festival.

[767] Gulf of Akaba.

[768] “Light vessels.” Diodorus Sic.

[769] Thamud, formerly occupied by the ancient Thamudeni.

[770] Shaur and Iobab?

[771] Gibel Seik, Gibel el Hawene, and Gibel Hester.

[772] The harbour of Charmothas seems to be the ancient Iambo, the

“Iambia” of Ptolemy, which now, from the accumulation of soil, is more

than a day’s journey into the interior of the country. It is in a

fertile territory. The Arabs call it Iambo el Nakel, or Iambo of Palm

Trees, to distinguish it from the new Iambo situated on an arid soil on

the sea-coast. Al Charm, in Arabic, signifies a fissure or opening in

the mountains. It seems as if the Greeks had formed the name Charmothas

from this word, mistaking the epithet given to the narrow entrance of

the harbour of Iambo for the name of the town itself. _Gossellin._

[773] The Debæ occupied Sockia. The river which flows through the

country is called Bætius by Ptolemy.

[774] τὰ πλείω is Kramer’s correction for παλαιὰ.

[775] Some are called by Diodorus Siculus, iii. 44, and Agatharchides,

Asilæi and Casandres or Gasandres.

[776] Instead of εὔομβρος, Groskurd reads πάμφορος, “produces

everything,” following the fragments the Agatharchides and Diodorus Sic.

b. iii 44.

[777] Groskurd’s correction, σιδήρου for ἀργύρου, in the text, is

adopted. But the passage is probably corrupt, and after σιδήρου we may

read καὶ δεκαπλάσιον τοῦ ἀργύρου, “for ten times the quantity of

silver,” according to Bochart, and approved by Kramer.

[778] The precise boundaries of Sabæa it is impossible to ascertain. The

area we have presumed is comprised within the _Arabian Sea_ W., the

_Persian Gulf_ E., the _Indian Ocean_ S., and an irregular line skirting

the desert, and running up in a narrow point to Idumæa N. See Smith,

Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography, art. Saba.

Milton appears to have been acquainted with the following passage from

Diodorus Siculus, b. iii. 46, descriptive of Sabæa: “It is impossible to

enumerate the peculiarities and nature of all these trees and plants, on

account of the surpassing variety and body of perfume which fall upon

and excite the senses, in a manner divine and beyond description. The

mariner, as he sails even at a distance along the coast, has his share

of enjoyment; for when the breezes of spring blow from off the land, the

fragrance of the trees and shrubs is carried down to the shore; nor is

it of the kind with which we are acquainted, proceeding from old and

stored aromatics, but fresh and in full perfection from new-blown

flowers, striking the inmost sense.”

[779] The same as Saba; see c. iv. § 2.

[780] The above details derived from Artemidorus, and by him from

Agatharchides, would not be found in Eratosthenes, who lived before the

time of Agatharchides.

[781] We must not confound this measure with the 5000 stadia mentioned

in c. iv. § 4. The distance here in question is that taken along the

southern coast of Arabia from the straits to Kesem, the ancient Cane,

through which passes now, as in former times, the greater part of the

perfumes collected in Hadramaut and Seger. But this harbour is about the

middle, and not at the extremity of the cinnamon-bearing country.

_Gossellin._

[782] Cardinal Noris places these facts in the year of Rome 730, and

quotes, besides Strabo, the historian Josephus. In following the last

author, the Cardinal places the death of Obodas in the prefecture of C.

Sentius Saturninus, about the year of Rome 740. After the death of

Obodas, Æneas, afterwards called Aretas, took possession of the kingdom

of the Nabatæans. Upon this Syllæus, the late king’s minister, went to

Rome, and declared before Augustus that Æneas, or Aretas, had no right

to the kingdom. How this corrupt minister was punished by Augustus may

be seen in Nicolas of Damascus and in Josephus. This Aretas must have

reigned for a long time, to at least the last years of Tiberius. _Du

Theil._ “The interest attaching to this expedition, which promises so

much for the elucidation of the classical geography of Arabia, has

hitherto served only still further to perplex it.” The author of the

article Marsyabæ in _Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography_, where

the subject is discussed at some length.

[783] Called also Arsinoë, b. xvii. c. i. § 25. It was near Heroopolis,

or Suez.

[784] Koft.

[785] This name is variously written in manuscripts. If Negra be

adopted, as by Letronne, it is not the same town as the city of the

Negrani above mentioned, which was in the interior; but, as Kramer

observes, “Mire corrupta est hæc ultima libri pars.”

[786] B. xvi. c. iv. § 2.

[787] See above, § 2.

[788] This reminds us of the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist.

[789] Od. iv. 84.

[790] This subject was discussed in b. i. c. ii. § 34.

[791] B. xvi. c. iv, § 2 and § 14.

[792] Genadil.

[793] Assouan.

[794] Thus Eratosthenes calculated, in following the windings of the

Nile, 12,900 stadia, which is 7900 stadia more than he calculated in a

straight line, as he made the distance between the same points (Meroë

and Syene, b. ii. c. v. § 7) to be 5000 stadia. M. Falconer suspects

that there is an error in the text; but the error lies further off. I

believe that it is attributable to Eratosthenes himself, and that that

geographer did nothing more than convert the days’ marches into stadia.

According to Pliny, Timosthenes, commander of the fleet of Ptolemy

Philadelphus, and consequently anterior to Eratosthenes, said that from

Syene to Meroë was a march of 60 days; and this statement agrees

tolerably well with that of Herodotus, who calculated 56 days’ march

between Elephantina and Meroë, besides a small distance the extent of

which he does not state.

Procopius, a learned writer, estimates a day’s march at 210 stadia; and

employment of this value, in the whole course of his history, proves

that it was generally adopted. Now, if we multiply 60 by 210, we shall

have 12,600 stadia, and dividing 12,900 by 60, we have 215 stadia, or

nearly the amount of a day’s march according to Procopius. I am

therefore of opinion that Eratosthenes did nothing more than multiply

210 or 215 by the number of 60 days, furnished by Timosthenes; and as

the excessive length of 12,900 stadia could not agree with the 5000

stadia, which he had calculated in a straight line for the same

interval, he imagined this great difference arose from the excessive

winding course of the Nile; consequently he supposed the Nile to change

frequently the direction of its course.

This opinion had its influence in the construction of Ptolemy’s map,

which presents to us nearly all the inflexions which Eratosthenes

imagined; in calculating the intervals of positions assigned by Ptolemy

along the river, we find a total of 1260 minutes; and adding about 1/6

for the small windings, we have a total of 1470 minutes, which are equal

to 12,400 stadia of the module (700 to the degree) adopted by that

geographer.

According to this hypothesis, the distance in Strabo will be thus

divided: Setting out from Meroë, the Nile runs,

days.

1. 2700 stadia to the north 12·8

2. 3700 to the S. and S. W. 17·6

3. 5300 to the N. 1/4 E. 25

4. 1200 to the N. 5·7

—————

61·1

which nearly corresponds with the account of Timosthenes. The number of

days corresponds tolerably well with the distance given by the explorers

sent by Nero for the discovery of Meroë: they reported the distance to

be 873 miles. If we divide this number by 60, we shall have for the

day’s mean march 14·55 Roman miles, or 11·64 geographical miles, which

is in fact the day’s mean march, according to Major Rennell. _Letronne._

In carefully measuring, upon a large map of Egypt in 47 sheets, the

course of the Nile through all its windings, and with the compass opened

to 1000 metres, I find—

metres.

From the middle of Syene to Luxor in the ancient territory

of Thebes 218,900

From Luxor to Becous situated at the point of the Delta 727,500

From Becous following the Damietta branch to that city 234,000

—————————

1,180,400

This measure reduced to mean degrees of the earth equals 637° 25´, and

represents 5312 stadia of 500 (to the degree). I certainly did not

expect to find such an agreement between the new and the ancient

measures. The periodic rising of the Nile, I think, must have produced,

since the time of Eratosthenes, some partial changes in the windings of

the river; but we must acknowledge that these changes, for greater or

for less, compensate one another on the whole.

We observe, moreover, as I have already often observed, that the use of

the stadium of 500 to the degree is anterior to the Alexandrine school;

for at the time of Eratosthenes the stadium of 700 was more particularly

made use of in Egypt. _Gossellin._

[795] Although generally described as an island, it was, like

Mesopotamia, a district included between rivers: the city Meroë was

situated in lat. 16° 44´.

[796] Tacazze.

[797] Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue river.

[798] See b. xvi. c. iv. § 8, and Herod. ii. 30, who calls the Sembritæ,

Automoloi, that is, persons who had voluntarily quitted their abode.

[799] The Nile valley was parcelled out into a number of cantons,

varying in size and number. Each of these cantons was called a nome

(νομὸς) by the Greeks, “præfectura oppidorum” by the Romans. Each had

its civil governor, the Nomarch, who collected the crown revenues, and

presided in the local capital and chief court of justice. Each nome too

had its separate priesthood, its temple, chief and inferior towns, its

magistrates, registration and peculiar creed, ceremonies and customs;

and each was apparently independent of every other nome. At certain

seasons, delegates from the various cantons met in the palace of the

Labyrinth, for consultation on public affairs (b. xvii. c. i. § 37).

According to Diodorus, the nomes date from Sesostris. But they did not

originate from that monarch, but emanated probably from the distinctions

of animal worship; and the extent of the local worship probably

determined the boundary of the nome. Thus in the nome of Thebaïs, where

the ram-headed deity was worshipped, the sheep was sacred, the goat was

eaten and sacrificed: in that of Mendes, where the goat was worshipped,

the sheep was a victim and an article of food. Again, in the nome of

Ombos, divine honours were paid to the crocodile: in that of Tentyra, it

was hunted and abominated: and between Ombos and Tentyra there existed

an internecine feud.

Ardet adhuc Ombos et Tentyra: summus utrinque

Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum

Odit uterque locus, cum solos credat habendos

Esse deos, quos ipse colit.

Juv. xv. 35.

The extent and number of the nomes cannot be ascertained. They probably

varied with the political state of Egypt. See _Smith_, art. Ægyptus.

[800] See b. xvi. c. ii. § 24.

[801] In the text ὀστράκινα πορθμεῖα “earthenware ferry boats.” The

translation is not literal, but a paraphrase.

Hac sævit rabie imbelle et inutile vulgus

Parvula fictilibus solitum dare vela phaselis,

Et brevibus pictæ remis incumbere testæ.

Juv. xv. 126.

[802] In the text κειρίᾳ ψυχομένῃ ἐπὶ μῆκος, which is evidently corrupt.

Kramer proposes to read ἀναπτυσσομένῃ or ἀνεπτυγμένῃ, and Groskurd reads

αὐξομένῃ for ψυχομένῃ “lengthened out.” Alii alia proposuerunt,

infelicia omnia.

[803] The Mediterranean.

[804] Od. iv. 581.

[805] ἐγὼ γοῦν ἀπορούμενος ἀντιγράφων εἰς τὴν ἀντιβολὴν ἐκ θατέρου

θάτερον ἀντέβαλον. Casaubon, who narrates a similar circumstance which

occurred to himself, thus explains the passage: Our author, being in

want of codices to correct imperfections in his own, and to form a

complete copy, availed himself of another author whose account was

identical, being either, as he says, the original or a transcript from

the first.

[806] The words “Sostratus of Cnidus, son of Dexiphanes, to the gods

preservers,” are rejected by Kramer as being introduced from the margin.

[807] Od. xvii. 266.

[808] Some word, such as κατοικίαι, seems here to be wanting; ὁδοὶ,

which some commentators suppose to be here understood, would be

unsuitable to the passage, nor would it convey a proper meaning.

_Kramer._

[809] The word ἐραστής must be here understood, and not υἱὸς.

_Groskurd._

[810] The celebrated general of Mithridates.

[811] See b. xii. c. i. § 2.

[812] He was prevented from carrying on this war by the senate. See b.

xii. c. iii. § 34.

[813] The elder sister of Cleopatra.

[814] Six months after.

[815] About B. C. 49.

[816] B. ix. c. v. § 6.

[817] I have adopted the reading, ἀπολιτικὸν, “not understanding or

ill-adapted for the duties of citizens,” suggested by Kramer.

[818] Od. iv. 481.

[819] No longer existing.

[820] Akabet el Kebira or Marsa Sollom.

[821] Baretoun, or Berek-Marsa. “Alexander, after passing 1600 stadia

through that part of the desert where water was to be found to

Parætonium, then turned inland to visit the oracle of Ammon.” _Arrian_,

b. iii. § 3.

[822] “Wines which have been very carefully prepared with sea-water

never cause head-aches.” _Athenæus_, b. i. c. i. 59, p. 54. Bohn’s

Classical Library.

[823] Cape Deras.

[824] The exact site is not ascertained, but it was not far from

Aboukir.

[825] “Hellanicus says that the vine was first discovered in Plinthine,

a city of Egypt,” and that for those “who, on account of their poverty,

could not get wine, there was introduced a custom of drinking beer made

of barley.” _Athenæus_, b. i. c. i. 61, p. 56. Bohn’s Classical Library.

[826] “The Mareotic wine is erroneously stated by Athenæus (p. 55.

Bohn’s Classical Library) to have obtained its name from a fountain

called Marea. The fountain and town derived their name from Maro, who

was one of the companions of Bacchus.” The wine is praised by Horace,

Odes I. xxxvii. 14:

Mentemque lymphatam Mareotico

Redegit in veros timores.

Virgil, Geor. ii. 91, calls a vine by this name:

Sunt Thasiæ vites, sunt et Mareotides albæ.

[827] The Papyrus.

[828] “There is also the ciborium. Hegesander the Delphian says that

Euphorion the poet, when supping with Prytanis, his host, exhibited to

him some ciboria, which appeared to be made in a most exquisite and

costly manner. Didymus says that it is a kind of drinking-cup, and

perhaps it may be the same as that which is called scyphium, which

derives its name from being contracted to a narrow space at the bottom,

like the Egyptian ciboria.” _Athenæus_, b. xi. § 54, p. 761. Bohn’s

Classical Library.

[829] The two kinds known at present are the Egyptian and the Syracusan,

which, according to Professor Parlatori, have the same general

appearance, but differ in the number of flower-lobes.

[830] That is, the juice was extracted for its sugar; see b. xvi. c. ii.

§ 41, and Pliny, xiii. 12.

[831] Od. iv. 228.

[832] The Canobic mouth was situated in the bay of Aboukir; the

Bolbitine is the Rosetta mouth; the Sebennytic is the Burlos mouth; the

Phatnitic, the Damietta mouth; the Mendesian is that at Dibeh; the

Tanitic, that at Omm. Faregeh; the Pelusiac, that at Terraneh.

[833] The watch-tower of Perseus was at the western end of the Delta,

according to Herodotus, ii. 15.

[834] The horned Pan.

[835] The people of Busiris worshipped Isis, and at one epoch, according

to Hellenic tradition, sacrificed red men, who came over the sea, i. e.

the nomades of Syria and Arabia.

[836] Od. iv. 481.

[837] In this nome tradition affirmed that the Hebrew legislator was

born and educated.

[838] καὶ is omitted in the translation, as Groskurd proposes.

[839] Memphis was the residence of the Pharaohs, who succeeded

Psammitichus, B. C. 616. The Memphite Nome rose into importance on the

decline of the kingdom of Thebaïs, and was itself in turn eclipsed by

the Hellenic kingdom of Alexandria. The village of Mitranieh, half

concealed in a grove of palm trees, about ten miles south of Gizeh,

marks the site of the ancient Memphis. The successive conquerors of the

land, indeed, have used its ruins as a stone quarry, so that its exact

situation has been a subject of dispute. Major Rennell, however, brings

incontestable evidence of the correspondence of Mitranieh with Memphis.

Its remains extend over many hundred acres of ground, which are covered

with blocks of granite, broken obelisks, columns, and colossal statues.

The principal mound corresponds probably with the area of the great

temple of Ptah. _Smith._

[840] The Egyptians say that the ox Mneyis is sacred to the sun, and

that Apis is dedicated to the moon. Ælian de Nat. Animal. ii. 11.

[841] Saïs stood in lat. 30° 4′ N., on the right bank of the Canopic arm

of the Nile. The site of the ancient city is determined not only by the

appellation of the modern town Sa-el-Hadjar, which occupies a portion of

its area, but also by mounds of ruin corresponding in extent to the

importance of Saïs, at least, under the later Pharaohs. The city was

artificially raised high above the level of the Delta to be out of the

reach of the inundations of the Nile, and served as a landmark to all

who ascended the arms of the river, from the Mediterranean to Memphis.

Its ruins have been very imperfectly explored, yet traces have been

found of the lake on which the mysteries of Isis were performed, as well

as of the temple of Neith (Athene) and the necropolis of the Saïte

kings. The wall of unburnt brick which surrounded the principal

buildings of the city was 70 feet thick, and probably, therefore, at

least 100 feet high. It enclosed an area 2325 feet in length by 1960 in

breadth. Beyond this enclosure were also two large cemeteries, one for

the citizens generally, and the other reserved for the nobles and

priests of the higher orders.

Saïs was one of the sacred cities of Egypt: its principal deities were

Neith, who gave oracles there, and Isis. The mysteries of the latter

were celebrated with unusual pomp on the evening of the Feast of Lamps.

Herodotus (ii. 59) terms this festival the third of the great feasts in

the Egyptian calendar. It was held by night; and every one intending to

be present at the sacrifices was required to light a number of lamps in

the open air around his house. At what season of the year the feast of

burning lamps was celebrated, Herodotus knew, but deemed it wrong to

tell (ii. 62); it was, however, probably at either the vernal or

autumnal equinox, since it apparently had reference to one of the

capital revolutions in the solar course. An inscription, in the temple

of Neith, declared her to be the Mother of the Sun. It ran thus, “I am

the things that have been, and that are, and that will be; no one has

uncovered my skirts; the fruit which I brought forth became the Sun.” It

is probable, accordingly, that the kindling of the lamps referred to

Neith, as the author of light. On the same night, apparently, were

performed what the Egyptians designated as the “Mysteries of Isis.” Saïs

was one of the supposed places of interment of Osiris, for that is

evidently the deity whom Herodotus will not name (ii. 171), when he says

that there is a burial-place of _him_ at Saïs in the temple of Athene.

The mysteries were symbolical representations of the sufferings of

Osiris, especially his dismemberment by Typhon. They were exhibited on

the lake behind the temple of Neith. Portions of the lake may be still

discerned near the hamlet Sa-el-Hadjar. _Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman

Geography, Art._ Saïs.

[842] The evil or destroying genius.

[843] Suez.

[844] Pharaoh Necho, under whom and in the execution of the work 120,000

labourers perished. Herod. ii. 158.

[845] κλειστὸν ἐποίησαν τὸν Εὔριπον, “closed the Euripus.” Diodorus

Siculus, i. 33, thus speaks of this same work. “Darius the Persian left

the canal unfinished, as he was informed by some persons, that by

cutting through the isthmus he would be the cause of inundating Egypt;

for they pointed out to him that the Red Sea was higher than the level

of Egypt. The second Ptolemy afterwards completed the canal, and in the

most convenient part constructed an artfully contrived barrier,

(διάφραγμα,) which he could open when he liked for the passage of

vessels, and quickly close again, the operation being easily performed.”

The immediate communication therefore between the sea and the canal was

cut off by a lock; and as there must have been two, there would be a

flux and reflux of water between them on the passage of vessels. This

probably suggested to our author the word Euripus, and is to be

understood as applying to that portion of the canal included between the

locks. By the word Euripus is generally understood the channel between

Negropont and the mainland, which is subject to an ebb and flow of the

sea. The storing up of water, and the distribution of it for the

purposes of irrigation, was no doubt well known to the Egyptians.

Diodorus, b. i. 19, ascribes to Osiris the invention. “Osiris confined

the Nile by embankments on both sides, so that at the period of its

rising it might not inconveniently spread over the country, but that, by

gates (διὰ θυρῶν) adapted for the purpose, the stream might be gently

discharged as occasion required.

[846] B. i. c. i. § 20.

[847] Bubastis or Artemis, Diana. Herod. ii. 59, 67, 137.

[848] Among those no doubt now at Rome.

[849] This description is illustrated by the remains of the great temple

at Philæ, dedicated to Ammon Osiris.

[850] οὐδὲ γραφικόν. These words have been understood by some writers as

signifying that there were no paintings, but Letronne has clearly shown

that they do not convey this meaning.

[851] George (Syncellus, or companion of the Patriarch), a writer of the

eighth century, and who had the reputation of being well versed in

history, says that “Ptolemy Philadelphus collected all the writings of

Greeks, Chaldæans, Egyptians, and Romans, and had such of them as were

not Greek translated into that language, and deposited 100,000 volumes

at Alexandria. M. Letronne is disposed to think that Hipparchus,

Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, and others borrowed from these sources.

[852] “Sesoosis (Sesostris) raised two obelisks of hard stone, 120

cubits in height, on which were inscribed the greatness of his power,

the amount of his revenue, and the number of the nations which he had

conquered. At Memphis, in the temple of Vulcan, he erected monolithe

images of himself and his wife, 30 cubits in height, and images of his

sons, 20 cubits in height,” in memory of his escape from fire when his

brother Armais attempted to burn him with his wife and children. Diod.

Sic. i. 57.

[853] Probably the statue of Venus bore a crescent on the forehead.

[854] We have reason to be surprised that Strabo, who had seen the

pyramids, has said so little concerning them. Herodotus and Diodorus

Siculus enter into more particulars, and in general are more exact. Some

idea of the immense labour required may be obtained from considerations

such as follow:—

The base and height being given, we find for the solid contents—

cubic yards.

1. of the great pyramid 2,864,000

2. of Chephren 2,056,000

3. of Mycerinus 211,000

So that if a wall of (three metres) about 9-1/4 feet in height, and a

foot in thickness, were built with the materials of these pyramids, we

should have a wall—

miles.

1. from the great pyramid in length 1626

2. from Chephren or Cheops 1167

3. from Mycerinus 117

The stones, therefore, of the three pyramids would form such a wall 2910

miles in length, or one sufficient to reach from Alexandreia to the

coast of Guinea. _Letronne._

[855] This is a palpable error, and greater than that of Herodotus, who

makes the base equal to the height. The ratio of the height to the base

in the great pyramid was as 0·627 to 1; and in the second, as 0·640 to

1. Diodorus approaches nearest of all to the truth, as he makes this

ratio to be as 6 to 7 or as 0·817 to 1. Strabo should rather have said,

“the sides are rather greater than the height;” but all that he says

respecting the pyramids is vague and inexact.

[856] ἐν ὕψει μέσως πως μιᾶς τῶν πλευρῶν· μιᾶς is adopted, although not

introduced into the text, by Kramer; μέσως πως is connected with ἐν

ὕψει, and not with τῶν πλευρῶν, in the sense of “moderately,” in which

it is also used in b. xi. c. ii. § 18. “The kings who succeeded to the

possession of the country, (μέσως ἔπραττον) were moderately successful.”

The moveable stone has been taken away, and the aperture is at most at

about one-twelfth the whole height of the pyramid from its base.

[857] Chembes the Memphite built the largest of the three pyramids,

which are reckoned among the seven most remarkable works in the world.

They are situated by the side of Libya, distant 120 stadia from Memphis,

and 45 from the Nile. These works, by their size and by the artifice and

labour employed in their construction, strike the beholder with

astonishment and wonder. The base of the largest, the plan of which is

quadrilateral, is seven plethra on each side; the height is more than

six plethra; the pyramid gradually contracts towards the top, of which

each side measures six cubits, and the whole is built of hard stone. Its

construction must have been accompanied with great difficulty, but its

permanence will be eternal; for although, it is said, not less than a

thousand years have passed away to our day (some even say more than 3400

years) since they were built, yet the stones still remain, preserving

their original position, and their whole arrangement uninjured by time.

The stone is said to have come from a great distance in Arabia, and the

process of building was carried on by raising mounds of earth; for at

that period no machines had been invented. But it is most marvellous

that although such an immense undertaking has been completed, and the

whole country around is composed of sand, not a single trace remains of

the mounds raised, nor of the fragments of stone broken off by the

workmen: indeed the pyramids do not seem to have been raised by the

gradual labour of man, but to have been placed by some divine hand in a

mass, perfectly formed, down upon the surrounding sands. Some Egyptians

undertake to narrate wondrous stories respecting them, such, for

instance, that the mounds above-mentioned were composed of salt and

nitre, which melted away upon the rising of the river, and completely

disappeared without the intervention of human labour. But this cannot be

true, for the same number of hands which constructed the mounds would be

able to reduce them again to their former state; and 360,000 men, it is

said, were employed in the undertaking. The whole was completed in a

little less than twenty years.

On the death of this king, he was succeeded by his brother Chephren, who

reigned 56 years. According to some writers, it was not a brother, but a

son, named Chabryis, who was his successor. But all agree that the

successor, whoever he was, desired to imitate his predecessor’s

conception, and built the second pyramid, which resembled the first in

its artificial construction, but was inferior to it in size, the sides

of the base being a stadium each in length.

On the greater pyramid is an inscription which states the amount

expended on herbs and radishes for the workmen, and it informs us that

1600 talents were paid for this purpose.

The lesser pyramid bears no inscription, and it has an ascent formed in

it through an opening in one of the sides. But although the kings built

these pyramids for their own tombs, yet it has so happened that none of

them have ever been buried in them. For the population, in consequence

of the misery to which these works exposed them, and of the cruelty and

tyranny of the kings, were incensed against them as the causes of their

sufferings; and moreover threatened to tear their bodies in pieces, and

to cast them out with insult from their place of burial. Every king

therefore, on the approach of death, enjoined his relations to bury his

body secretly in a place undistinguished by marks.

These were succeeded by king Mycerinus, (whom some call Mecherinus,) son

of the king who built the first pyramid. He designed to build a third,

but died before he accomplished it. Each side of the base of this

pyramid was three plethra in length, and fifteen tiers of the building

were raised of black stone like the Thebaic stone, but the rest was

filled up with a stone resembling that of the other pyramids. This work

is inferior to the two former in size, but far surpasses them in

artificial construction and in the expensiveness of the stone. On its

northern side the name of Mycerinus is inscribed, as the person who

caused it to be built. He is said to have held in abhorrence the cruelty

of his predecessors, and to have been ambitious of leading a just life,

and beneficial to his subjects. He performed many actions by which he

called forth the affection of his people towards him; and among others

he expended a great sum of money in public causes, rewarding the judges

who delivered upright judgments, which was not commonly the case.

There are three other pyramids, the sides of which are two plethra in

length; in workmanship they entirely resemble the others, except in

magnitude. These pyramids, it is said, were built by the three

before-mentioned kings in honour of their own wives. These works by

universal consent are the most remarkable in Egypt, not only in their

ponderous construction, but also in the art displayed. We ought, we are

told, to admire more the architects than the kings, who supplied the

means, for the architects brought their designs to completion by force

of mind and the influence of an honourable ambition, but the kings by

the power of that wealth which was their portion, or by injuries

inflicted on others. There is no agreement whatever, either between the

natives of the country or between authors, respecting the pyramids; for

some assert that the kings before mentioned built them, others that they

were not the builders, but that Armæus built the first and largest;

Amasis, the second; and Inaro, the third: but this last is said by some

to be the burial-place of Rhodopis, a courtesan, whose lovers were

certain governors of nomes, who from affection towards her undertook

this great work, and completed at their common charge. Diodorus Siculus,

b. i. 63, 64.

[858] Niebuhr says, that in these stones are found small petrified

substances in the form of lentils, which appear to be of the same kind

of shell of which he collected several at Bushir. Clarke also says, that

at the base of the pyramids a variety of calcareous stone is found in

detached masses, exactly such as Strabo has described, and appear to be

the petrified remains of some unknown animal. Forskal calls them

“testacea fossilia kakiensia.” Diodorus, as quoted above, says that

there are no vestiges of fragments.

[859] The translation follows Letronne’s correction, ἐπέοικε for ἀπέοικε.

[860] In the text λίθου πωρείας, Groskurd reads πωρίνου, which word

occurs in Herod. v. 62, and translates it “tufstein.”

[861] No passage is to be found in his Geography to this effect, it has

either been lost from the text, or existed in his other works.

[862] “It is said that the captives from Babylon revolted from the king

(Sesostris), being unable to endure the sufferings to which they were

exposed in the public works. They seized upon a strong place on the

banks of the river, and maintained for some time a contest with the

Egyptians, destroying the neighbouring district. At last, having

obtained security from molestation, they made a regular settlement of

the place, and called it Babylon, after their native city. Under similar

circumstances, it is said, a place received the name of Troy which still

exists on the banks of the Nile. For Menelaus, on his return from Troy

with captives, came to Egypt. The Trojan captives revolted, took up a

position, and carried on a war, until having obtained safety for

themselves by treaty, they founded a city bearing the name of their

native place.” I am aware that Ctesias gives a different account of

these cities, and says that some of the soldiers who accompanied

Semiramis in her invasion of Egypt founded these cities, and gave to

them the names of their native cities. Diod. Sic. i. 56.

[863] This passage presents great difficulties. Kramer expresses himself

dissatisfied with any explanation hitherto given. Und so dass der Kanal

zwei Mündungen hat, zwischen welche ein Theil der Insel seitwärts

anfält. _Groskurd._

[864] Book i. c. iii. § 4.

[865] Herod. ii. 148; Diod. i. 66. See below, § 42.

[866] The translator adopts Kramer’s suggestion, of reading εἰσβλέποντα

for ἐκπίπτοντα.

[867] The founder, according to Diodorus Siculus, was Mendes or Marrus.

B. i. 61.

[868] Bekneseh.

[869] This fish, a species of sturgeon, received its name from the shape

of the head (sharp-pointed), and was said to have been produced from the

blood of the wounded Osiris. Ælian. Hist. Animal. x. 46.

[870] Eshmoon.

[871] Babout.

[872] The ruins are supposed to be at the modern hamlet of Mensieh.

[873] ὁλόλιθον, probably an interpolation. _Kramer._

[874] Il. i. 528.

[875] Hu.

[876] Dendera.

[877] Keft.

[878] The ruins are situated lat. 23° 56’ N., and about 35° 34’ E.

[879] After σταθμοὺς, in the text, follows ὥσπερ τοὶς ἐμπορίοις ὁδεύμασι

καὶ διὰ τῶν καμήλων, which Kramer considers to be an interpolation.

Groskurd corrects, and reads σταθμοὺς προσφόρους τοῖς ἐμπόροις ὁδεύουσι

καὶ πεζῇ καὶ διὰ τῶν καμήλων, “stations for the service of travellers on

foot and on camels.”

[880] Near old Kosseir; the “Veneris Portus” of Pliny. It was founded by

Ptolemy Philadelphus, B. C. 274. The Greek name may signify, “Harbour of

the Mouse,” but more probably it means the “Harbour of the Mussel,”

(μύειν, to close, e. g. the shell,) since on the neighbouring coast the

pearl-mussel is collected in large quantities. It is uncertain whether

the ruins at the village of Abuschaar, represent the site of the ancient

Myos Hormus. See Smith’s Dict., art. _Myos Hormus_.

[881] Il. ix. 383.

[882] Il. ix. 381.

[883] For θήκαις, “tombs,” in the text, Kramer is of opinion that we

should read Θήβαις, Thebes, which is also the translation of the passage

by Guarini.

[884] The meaning of the passage is clear, and can be understood, as

critics have already explained, only as implying the intercalation of a

366th day every fourth year. Some have asserted that Julius Cæsar

adopted this method of intercalating a day from the civil practice of

the Alexandrines; others, on the contrary, appear disposed to believe

that J. Cæsar was the first to give an idea of it, according to the

advice of Sosigenes. There is truth and error in both these opinions.

On the one hand, it is certain that Strabo, who visited Egypt a short

time after the conquest of the country by the Romans, would not have

omitted to attribute to them the institution of this year, if it really

belonged to them. So far from doing so, he says (above, § 29)

distinctly, that this method of intercalation was known and practised by

the priests of Heliopolis and Thebes. Diodorus Siculus, who visited

Egypt just at the time of the first arrival of the Romans, gives the

same account as Strabo. Can we therefore believe that the Egyptians

before this period were ignorant of the bissextile intercalation?

On the other hand, it is not less certain that this method of

intercalation was only introduced into civil use at Alexandria from the

time of Julius Cæsar: before this period, the incomplete year of 365

days was adopted throughout the whole of Egypt, as is attested by a host

of authorities, and confirmed by the date of the Rosetta stone, which

only applies to this method of reckoning. Hence we see (I.) that Julius

Cæsar really obtained the idea of a fixed year of 365-1/4 days from the

Egyptians, where it was employed for scientific or religious purposes

only, whilst the incomplete year was the vulgar and common year; (II.)

that he made this fixed year the common year, both among the Romans and

Alexandrines, who were a people most readily disposed to adopt foreign

innovations. It is, however, probable that the rest of Egypt preserved

the ancient use of the incomplete year.

[885] Strabo, I think, is the only author who places Crocodilopolis and

Aphroditopolis in this part of Egypt. _Letronne._

[886] For καὶ τῶν ἡμερῶν of the text, Casaubon reads τεκμηρίων, “signs.”

Coray proposes καὶ μέτρων, “measures.” The expression in the text is

obscure, and the translation is a conjecture of the meaning.

[887] This was the general opinion of antiquity, and was reproduced by

Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and others; in short, by all the

Alexandrine school.

At the time of Eratosthenes, the obliquity of the ecliptic was 23° 45’

17”. Syene was therefore 20’ 6” from being exactly under the tropic; for

24° 5’ 23” (latitude of Syene)—23° 45’ 17” = 20’ 6”. This would be the

distance of the centre of the sun from the zenith of Syene; whence it

follows that the northern limb of the sun was about 5’ from it.

In the time of Strabo, the obliquity was only 23° 42’ 22”; the

difference between the zenith of Syene and the northern limb of the sun

was about 8’.

Lastly, about 140 of the vulgar era, the obliquity was reduced to 23°

41’ 7”. Syene was then 24’ 16” from the tropic, and its zenith was about

10’ from the northern limb of the sun; when the shadows of gnomons of

any tolerable size must have been perceptible, and Syene could not have

been any longer considered as lying under the tropic.

As regards the well which served to ascertain the instant of the

solstice, Pliny and Arrian both mention it. The formation of it no doubt

belonged to a very remote period. In the time of Strabo, the rays of the

sun could not have reached entirely to the bottom, but the shadow was so

small that it was not sufficient to shake the ancient opinion. In fact,

the angle being about 8’, and supposing the depth to have been 50 feet,

the northern side would have projected a shadow of about 18 lines; the

rest would have remained in full light, and the reflexion would have

caused the whole circumference of the well to appear illuminated.

_Letronne._

[888] Kramer considers the passage between brackets to be an

interpolation, as the same sense is conveyed in the passage which

immediately follows.

[889] The number here given is nearly twice too great. Kramer quotes G.

Parthey (de Philis insula) for correcting the error to 50 stadia, and

for perceiving that it arose from the very frequent substitution in

manuscripts of the letter P (100) for N (50).

[890] Unhewn stones, with a head of Mercury upon them.

[891] Herod. ii. 28, who, however, seems to doubt the veracity of his

informant.

[892] Above, § 8.

[893] B. C. 28.

[894] B. xvi. c. 4, § 23.

[895] The modern hamlet of Dakkeh occupies a portion of the site of

ancient Pselchis.

[896] Called Primis by Ptolemy and Pliny. It is placed by the former

beyond Napata, and just above Meroë. Hence it is identified with Ibrim.

[897] There is great difficulty in determining the true position of

Napata, as our author places it much farther north than Pliny; and there

is reason for supposing that it is the designation of a royal residence,

which might be moveable, rather than of a fixed locality. Ritter brings

Napata as far north as Primis and the ruins at Ipsambul, while Mannert,

Ukert, and other geographers, believe it to have been Merawe, on the

farthest northern point of the region of Meroë. It is, however,

generally placed at the east extremity of that great bend of the Nile

which skirts the desert of Bahiouda, and near Mount Birkel.

Among the ruins which probably cover the site of the ancient Napata are

two lions of red granite, one bearing the name of Amuneph III., the

other Amuntuonch. They were brought to England by Lord Prudhoe, and now

stand at the entrance of the Gallery of Antiquities in the British

Museum. See Smith’s Dict., art. _Napata_.

[898] The inhabitants of Biscay. See b. iii. c. iii. § 8.

[899] This name was common to the queens of Ethiopia. Acts viii. 27.

[900] B. xvi. c. iv. § 8 et seqq.

[901] Groskurd corrects the text, and translates, “the inhabitants also

are small.”

[902] The translation follows the proposed correction of the text by

Kramer.

[903] ταῖς συμβολαῖς. The passage presents a great difficulty, because

Strabo has before asserted that Meroë is surrounded by these rivers, and

that their union takes place below, that is, to the north, and not to

the south of the city and island; and this notion corresponds with all

the ancients have said on the subject. I declare, without hesitation,

that I do not understand my author. _Letronne._ Groskurd attempts to

avoid the difficulty by translating, “is within the compass of.”

[904] The Tacazze.

[905] Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue River.

[906] Reading διαπλεκομένων ἢ πλίνθων for διαπλεκόμεναι τοίχων ἢ

πλίνθων.

[907] The trees called persiai (or perseai) produce a fruit of great

sweetness, which was introduced from Ethiopia by the Persians, when

Cambyses conquered that country. Diod. Sic. i. 34.

[908] Tsana.

[909] According to Diod. Sic. iii. 9, this was Jupiter.

[910] Above, c. i. § 15.

[911] The sturgeon.

[912] Cyprinus bynni.

[913] Perea Nilotica. _Cuvier_, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, xii. 5.

[914] Silurus anguillaris. _Linn._