[3215] A Greek author, of whom nothing is known, except that Pliny, and

after him Solinus, refer to him as the authority for the statement that

Eubœa was originally called Chalcis, from the fact of (χαλκὸς) copper

being first discovered there.

[3216] Probably Menæchmus of Sicyon, who wrote a book on Actors, a

History of Alexander the Great, and a book on Sicyon. Suidas says that

he flourished in the time of the successors of Alexander.

[3217] When he flourished is unknown. He is said by Hyginus to have

written a History of the Island of Naxos.

[3218] He lived after the time of Alexander the Great; but his age is

unknown. He wrote a book, περὶ νόστων, on the returns of the Greeks

from their various expeditions, an account of Delos, a History of

Alexander the Great, and other works, all of which have perished.

[3219] Of Heraclæa, in Pontus. He was a pupil of Plato, and, after him,

of Aristotle. His works upon philosophy, history, mathematics, and

other subjects, were very numerous; but, unfortunately, they are nearly

all of them lost. He wrote a Treatise upon Islands, and another upon

the Origin of Cities.

[3220] A geographical writer, of whom nothing further is known.

[3221] The Greek historian, the disciple of Socrates, deservedly

styled the “Attic Bee.” His principal works are the Anabasis, or the

History of the Expedition of the younger Cyrus and the Retreat of the

Ten Thousand; the Hellenica, or History of Greece, from the time when

that of Thucydides ends to the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 362; and the

Cyropædia, or Education of Cyrus. The greater portion of his works is

now lost.

[3222] See end of B. ii.

[3223] See end of B. ii.

[3224] There were two physicians of this name, one of Catana, in

Sicily, the other of Dyrrhachium, in Illyricum, who, like his namesake,

was the author of numerous works. It is doubtful, however, whether

Pliny here refers to either of those authors.

[3225] A Greek historian, quoted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. If

the same person as the father of the historian Nymphis, he must have

lived in the early part of the second century B.C. He wrote a work on

Islands, and another entitled Χρόνοι, or Chronicles.

[3226] A Greek geographer, who seems to have written an account of

Cyprus.

[3227] He is quoted by Strabo, Athenæus, and the Scholiasts; but all

that is known of him is, that he wrote a work on Thessaly, Æolia,

Attica, and Arcadia.

[3228] He wrote a work relative to Miletus; but nothing further is

known of him.

[3229] See end of B. ii.

[3230] Probably a writer on geography, of whom no particulars are known.

[3231] See end of B. ii.

[3232] Not reckoning under that appellation the country of Egypt,

which was more generally looked upon as forming part of Asia. Josephus

informs us that Africa received its name from Ophir, great-grandson of

Abraham and his second wife, Keturah.

[3233] ‘Castella,’ fortified places, erected for the purpose of

defence; not towns formed for the reception of social communities.

[3234] The Emperor Caligula, who, in the year 41 A.D., reduced the two

Mauritanias to Roman provinces, and had King Ptolemy, the son of Juba,

put to death.

[3235] Now Cape Spartel. By Scylax it is called Hermæum, and by Ptolemy

and Strabo Cote, or Coteis. Pliny means “extreme,” with reference to

the sea-line of the Mediterranean, in a direction due west.

[3236] Mentioned again by Pliny in B. xxxii. c. 6. Lissa was so called,

according to Bochart, from the Hebrew or Phœnician word _liss_, ‘a

lion.’ At the present day there is in this vicinity a headland called

the ‘Cape of the Lion.’ Bochart thinks that the name ‘Cotta,’ or

‘Cotte,’ was derived from the Hebrew _quothef_, a ‘vine-dresser.’

[3237] The modern Tangier occupies its site. It was said to have

derived its name from Tinge, the wife of Antæus, the giant, who was

slain by Hercules. His tomb, which formed a hill, in the shape of a man

stretched out at full length, was shown near the town of Tingis to a

late period. It was also believed, that whenever a portion of the earth

covering the body was taken away, it rained until the hole was filled

up again. Sertorius is said to have dug away a portion of the hill;

but, on discovering a skeleton sixty cubits in length, he was struck

with horror, and had it immediately covered again. Procopius says, that

the fortress of this place was built by the Canaanites, who were driven

by the Jews out of Palestine.

[3238] It has been supposed by Salmasius and others of the learned,

that Pliny by mistake here attributes to Claudius the formation of a

colony which was really established by either Julius Cæsar or Augustus.

It is more probable, however, that Claudius, at a later period, ordered

it to be called “Traducta Julia,” or “the removed Colony of Julia,” in

remembrance of a colony having proceeded thence to Spain in the time of

Julius Cæsar. Claudius himself, as stated in the text, established a

colony here.

[3239] Its ruins are to be seen at Belonia, or Bolonia, three Spanish

miles west of the modern Tarifa.

[3240] At this point Pliny begins his description of the western side

of Africa.

[3241] Now Arzilla, in the territory of Fez. Ptolemy places it at the

mouth of the river Zileia. It is also mentioned by Strabo and Antoninus.

[3242] Now El Araiche, or Larache, on the river Lucos.

[3243] Mentioned again in B. ix. c. 4 and c. 5 of the present Book,

where Pliny speaks of them as situate elsewhere. The story of Antæus is

further enlarged upon by Solinus, B. xxiv.; Lucan, B. iv. l. 589, _et

seq._; and Martianus Capella, B. vi.

[3244] Now the Lucos.

[3245] Hardouin is of opinion, that he here has a hit at Gabinius, a

Roman author, who, in his Annals of Mauritania, as we learn from Strabo

(B. xvii.), inserted numerous marvellous and incredible stories.

[3246] When we find Pliny accusing other writers of credulity, we are

strongly reminded of the proverb, ‘Clodius accusat mœchos.’

[3247] Or the “Julian Colony on the Plains.” Marcus suggests that

the word _Babba_ may possibly have been derived from the Hebrew

or Phœnician word _beab_ or _beaba_, “situate in a thick forest.”

Poinsinet takes Babba to be the Beni-Tuedi of modern times. D’Anville

thinks that it is Naranja.

[3248] There is considerable difficulty about the site of Banasa.

Moletius thinks that it is the modern Fanfara, or Pefenfia as Marmol

calls it. D’Anville suggests that it may be Old Mahmora, on the coast;

but, on the other hand, Ptolemy places it among the _inland_ cities,

assigning to it a longitude at some distance from the sea. Pliny

also appears to make it inland, and makes its distance from Lixos

seventy-five miles, while he makes the mouth of the Subur to be fifty

miles from the same place.

[3249] From both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. According to

Poinsinet, Volubilis was the synonym of the African name _Fez_,

signifying a ‘band,’ or ‘swathe.’ Mannert conjectures that it is the

same as the modern Walili, or Qualili. D’Anville calls it Guulili, and

says that there are some remains of antiquity there.

[3250] The modern Subu, or Sebou. D’Anville is of opinion that this

river has changed a part of its course since the time of Pliny.

[3251] Most probably the modern Sallee stands on its site.

[3252] Not in reference to the fact of its existence, but the wonderful

stories which were told respecting it.

[3253] Like others of the ancient writers, Pliny falls into the error

of considering Atlas, not as an extensive chain of mountains, but as an

isolated mountain, surrounded by sands. With reference to its height,

the whole range declines considerably from west to east; the highest

summits in Morocco reaching near 13,000 feet, in Tunis not 5000.

[3254] Or “Goat-Pans;” probably another name for the Fauni, or Fauns.

More usually, there is but one Ægipan mentioned,—the son, according to

Hyginus, of Zeus or Jupiter, and a goat,—or of Zeus and Æga, the wife

of Pan. As a foundation for one part of the stories here mentioned,

Brotier suggests the fact, that as the Kabyles, or mountain tribes,

are in the habit of retiring to their dwellings and reposing during

the heat of the day, it would not, consequently, be improbable that

they would devote the night to their amusements, lighting up fires, and

dancing to the music of drums and cymbals.

[3255] Under his name we still possess a “Periplus,” or account of

a voyage round a part of Libya. The work was originally written in

Punic, but what has come down to us is a Greek translation. We fail,

however, to discover any means by which to identify him with any one of

the many Carthaginians of the same name. Some writers call him king,

and others _dux_, or _imperator_ of the Carthaginians; from which we

may infer, that he held the office of _suffetes_. This expedition has

by some been placed as far back as the time of the Trojan war, or of

Hesiod, while others again place it as late as the reign of Agathocles.

Falconer, Bougainville, and Gail, place the time of Hanno at about B.C.

570, while other critics identify him with Hanno, the father or son of

Hamilcar, who was killed at Himera, B.C. 480. Pliny often makes mention

of him; more particularly see B. viii. c. 21.

[3256] M. Gosselin thinks that the spot here indicated was at the

south-western extremity of the Atlas range, and upon the northern

frontier of the Desert of Zahara.

[3257] Supposed by some geographers to be the same as that now called

the Ommirabih, or the Om-Rabya. This is also thought by some to have

been the same river as is called by Pliny, in p. 381, by the name of

Asana; but the distances do not agree.

[3258] Supposed by Gosselin to be the present bay of Al-cazar, on the

African coast, in the Straits of Cadiz; though Hardouin takes it to be

the κόλπος ἐμπορικὸς, or “Gulf of Commerce,” of Strabo and Ptolemy.

By first quoting from one, and then at a tangent from another, Pliny

involves this subject in almost inextricable confusion.

[3259] Probably the place called Thymiaterion in the Periplus of Hanno.

[3260] The present Subu, and the river probably of Sallce, previously

mentioned.

[3261] The modern Mazagan, according to Gosselin.

[3262] Cape Cantin, according to Gosselin; Cape Blanco, according to

Marcus.

[3263] Probably the Safi, Asafi, or Saffee of the present day.

[3264] The river Tensift, which runs close to the city of Morocco, in

the interior.

[3265] The river Mogador of the present day.

[3266] The modern river Sus, or Sous.

[3267] The learned Gosselin has aptly remarked, that this cannot be

other than an error, and that “ninety-six” is the correct reading, the

Gulf of Sainte-Croix being evidently the one here referred to.

[3268] Mount Barce seems to be here a name for the Atlas, or Daran

chain.

[3269] Supposed by Gosselin to be the present Cape Ger.

[3270] The river Assa, according to Gosselin. There is also a river

Suse placed here in the maps.

[3271] These two tribes probably dwelt between the modern Capes Ger and

Non.

[3272] Marcus believes these to have been the ancestors of the present

race of the Touaricks, while the Melanogætuli were the progenitors of

the Tibbos, of a darker complexion, and more nearly resembling the

negroes in bodily conformation.

[3273] Supposed by Gosselin to be the present river Nun, or Non.

According to Bochart, this river received its name from the Hebrew or

Phœnician word _behemoth_ or _bamoth_, the name by which Job (xl. 15)

calls the crocodile [or rather the hippopotamus]. Bochart, however,

with Mannert, Bougainville, De Rennet, and De Heeren, is of opinion,

that by this name the modern river Senegal is meant. Marcus is of

opinion that it is either the Non or the modern Sobi.

[3274] Marcus here observes, that from Cape Alfach, below Cape Non,

there are no mountains, but continual wastes of sand, bordering on the

sea-shore. Indeed there is no headland, of any considerable height,

between Cape Sobi and Cape Bajador.

[3275] “The Chariot of the Gods.” Marcus is of opinion that it is the

modern Cape Verde; while, on the other hand, Gosselin takes it to be

Cape Non. Brotier calls it Cape Ledo.

[3276] In B. vi. c. 36, Pliny speaks of this promontory as the

“Hesperian Horn,” and says that it is but four days’ sail from the

Theon Ochema. Brotier identifies this promontory with the modern Cape

Roxo. Marcus is of opinion that it was the same as Cape Non; but there

is considerable difficulty in determining its identity.

[3277] Alluding to Polybius; though, according to the reading which

Sillig has adopted a few lines previously, Agrippa is the last author

mentioned. Pliny has here mistaken the meaning of Polybius, who has

placed Atlas midway between Carthage, from which he had set out, and

the Promontory of Theon Ochema, which he reached.

[3278] Ptolemy the son of Juba II. and Cleopatra, was summoned to Rome

in the year A.D. 40, by Caligula, and shortly after put to death by

him, his riches having excited the emperor’s cupidity. Previously to

this, he had been on terms of strict alliance with the Roman people,

who had decreed him a _toga picta_ and a sceptre, as a mark of their

friendship.

[3279] Ivory and citron-wood, or cedar, were used for the making and

inlaying of the tables used by the Roman nobility. See B. xiii. c. 23.

[3280] Supposed by some geographers to be the modern Wadi-Tensift. It

has been also confounded with the Anatis (see note [3171], p. 369);

while others again identify it with the Anidus. It is more commonly

spelt ‘Asama.’

[3281] Or Phuth. It does not appear to have been identified.

[3282] The range is still called by the name of Daran.

[3283] The same general who afterwards conquered the Britons under

Boadicea or Bonduca. While Proprætor in Mauritania under the Emperor

Claudius, in the year A.D. 42, he defeated the Mauri who had risen in

revolt, and advanced, as Pliny here states, as far as Mount Atlas. It

is not known from what point Paulinus made his advance towards the

Atlas range. Mannert and Marcus are of opinion that he set out from

Sala, the modern Sallee, while Latreille, Malte Brun, and Walkenaer

think that his point of departure was the mouth of the river Lixos.

Sala was the most southerly town on the western coast of Africa that in

the time of Pliny had submitted to the Roman arms.

[3284] Some of the editions read ‘Niger’ here. Marcus suggests that

that river may have been called ‘Niger’ by the Phœnician or Punic

colonists of the western Mauritania, and ‘Ger’ or ‘Gar’ in another

quarter. The same writer also suggests that the Sigilmessa was the

river to which Paulinus penetrated on his march beyond Atlas.

[3285] The Sigilmessa, according to Marmol, flows between several

mountains which appear to be of a blackish hue.

[3286] Bocchus however, the kinsman of Massinissa, had previously for

some time reigned over both the Mauritanias, consisting of Mauritania

Tingitana and Mauritania Cæsariana.

[3287] See B. xxv. c. 7. 12, and B. xxvi. c. 8.

[3288] Extending from the sea to the river Moluga, now called the

Molucha and Molochath, or Malva and Malvana.

[3289] From whom the Moors of the present day take their name. Marcus

observes here, that though Pliny distinguishes the Mauri from the

Gætuli, they essentially belonged to the same race and spoke the same

language, the so-called Berber, and its dialects, the Schellou and the

Schoviah.

[3290] ‘Maurusii’ was the Greek name, ‘Mauri’ the Latin, for this

people. Marcus suggests that Mauri was a synonym only for the Greek

word _nomades_, ‘wanderers.’

[3291] As Marcus observes, Pliny is here greatly in error. On the

inroads of Paulinus, the Mauri had retreated into the interior and

taken refuge in the deserts of Zahara, whence they had again emerged in

the time of the geographer Ptolemy.

[3292] From the time of the second Punic War this people had remained

in undisputed possession of the country situate between the rivers

Molochath or Moluga and Ampsaga, which formed the Cæsarian Mauritania.

Ptolemy speaks of finding some remains of them at Siga, a town situate

on a river of the same name, and at which King Syphax had formerly

resided.

[3293] While Pomponius Mela does not make any difference between the

Mauri and the Gætuli, Pliny here speaks of them as being essentially

different.

[3294] Derived, according to Marcus, from the Arabic compound

_bani-our_, ‘child of nakedness,’ as equivalent to the Greek word

_gymnetes_, by which name Pliny and other ancient writers designate the

wandering naked races of Western Africa.

[3295] The Autololes or, as Ptolemy calls them, the Autololæ, dwelt, it

is supposed, on the western coast of Africa, between Cape Cantin and

Cape Ger. Their city of Autolala or Autolalæ is one of Ptolemy’s points

of astronomical observation, having the longest day thirteen hours

and a half, being distant three hours and a half west of Alexandria,

and having the sun vertical once a year, at the time of the winter

solstice. Reichard takes it for the modern Agulon or Aquilon.

[3296] The Æthiopian Daratitæ, Marcus says.

[3297] The present Ceuta.

[3298] They were so called from the circumstance, Marcus says, of their

peaks being so numerous, and so strongly resembling each other. They

are now called, according to D’Anville, ‘Gebel Mousa,’ which means “the

Mountain of Apes,” an animal by which they are now much frequented,

instead of by elephants as in Pliny’s time.

[3299] Or Mediterranean.

[3300] The modern Bedia, according to Olivarius, the Tasanel, according

to Dupinet, and the Alamos or Kerkal, according to Ansart. Marcus says

that it is called the Setuan, and is the largest stream on the northern

shores of Western Africa.

[3301] The modern Gomera according to Hardouin, the Nocor according to

Mannert.

[3302] The modern Melilla most probably.

[3303] The modern Maluia. Antoninus calls it Malva, and Ptolemy Maloua.

[3304] Its site is occupied by the modern Aresgol, according to

Mariana, Guardia or Sereni according to Dupinet, Ned-Roma according

to Mannert and D’Anville, and Tachumbrit according to Shaw. Marcus is

inclined to be of the same opinion as the last-mentioned geographer.

[3305] Now the city of Malaga.

[3306] Mauritania Cæsariensis, or Cæsarian Mauritania, now forming the

French province of Algiers.

[3307] “Bogudiana;” from Bogud or Bogoas. The last king Bogud was

deprived of his kingdom by Bocchus, king of Mauritania Cæsariensis, a

warm partisan of Cæsar.

[3308] Or the “Great Harbour,” now Arzeu according to D’Anville, and

Mars-el-Kebir according to Marcus.

[3309] The same river probably as the Malva or Malvana previously

mentioned, the word _mulucha_ or _malacha_ coming from the Greek

μολόχη, “a marsh mallow,” which _malva_, as a Latin word, also

signifies. See p. 383.

[3310] From the Greek word ξένος, “a stranger.” Pomponius Mela and

Antoninus call this place Guiza, and Ptolemy Quisa. D’Anville places it

on the right side of the river Malvana or Mulucha, and Shaw says that

it was situate in the vicinity of the modern town of Oran.

[3311] Now Marz-Agolet, or situate in its vicinity, according to

Hardouin and Ansart, and the present Arzen, according to Marcus, where

numerous remains of antiquity are found.

[3312] Now Tenez, according to D’Anville, and Mesgraïm, according to

Mannert; with which last opinion Marcus agrees.

[3313] Ptolemy and Antoninus place this colony to the east of the

Promontory of Apollo, and not the west as Pliny does.

[3314] The present Cape Mestagan.

[3315] According to Dupinet and Mannert, the modern Tenez occupies

its site, Zershell according to Hardouin and Shaw, Vacur according to

D’Anville and Ansart, and Algiers according to others. It is suggested

by Marcus that the name Iol is derived from the Arabic verb _galla_,

“to be noble” or “famous.” There is no doubt that the magnificent ruins

at Zershell are those of Iol, and that its name is an abbreviation of

Cæsarea Iol.

[3316] Or New Town.

[3317] Scylax calls it Thapsus; Ammianus Marcellinus, Tiposa. According

to Mannert it was situate in the vicinity of the modern Damas.

[3318] Or Icosium. It has been identified by inscriptions discovered

by the French as standing on the same site as the modern Algiers.

D’Anville, Mannert and others identify it with Scherchell or Zershell,

thus placing it too far west. Mannert was evidently misled by an error

in the Antonine Itinerary, whereby all the places along this coast are,

for a considerable distance, thrown too far to the west; the researches

however which followed the French conquest of the country have revealed

inscriptions which completely set the question at rest.

[3319] According to Mannert, this was situate on the modern Cape

Arbatel. Marcus thinks that the Hebrew _ros_, or Arab _ras_, “a rock,”

enters into the composition of the word.

[3320] Now Hur according to D’Anville, Colcah according to Mannert.

[3321] The modern Acor, according to Marcus.

[3322] The modern Pedeles or Delys, according to Ortellius and Mannert,

Tedles according to D’Anville.

[3323] The modern Jigeli or Gigeri. It was probably in ancient times

the emporium of the surrounding country.

[3324] Destroyed, according to Hardouin, and probably by the incursions

of the sea. At the mouth of the Ampsaga (now called the Wad-El-Kebir

or Sufjimar, and higher up the Wadi Roumel) there is situate a small

sea-port called Marsa Zeitoun.

[3325] Near the present Mazuaa, according to Mannert.

[3326] The modern Burgh, according to D’Anville and Mannert, but more

probably considerably to the east of that place.

[3327] The modern El-Herba, according to Mannert.

[3328] Marcus suggests that this is the Chinalaph of Ptolemy, and

probably the modern Schellif.

[3329] The same that is called Savis by Ptolemy, who places Icosium on

its banks.

[3330] By Mela called the Vabar. Marcus supposes it to be the same as

the modern Giffer.

[3331] By Ptolemy called the Sisar; the Ajebbi of modern geographers,

which falls into the Mediterranean, near the city of Budja.

[3332] Brotier says that this reading is incorrect, and that 222 is the

proper one, that being the true distance between the river Ampsaga or

Wad-el-Kebir and the city of Cæsarea, the modern Zershell.

[3333] It was not only Numidia that bore this name, but all the

northern coast of Africa from the frontiers of the kingdom of Carthage

near Hippo Regius to the Columns of Hercules. It was thus called

from the Greek _metagonos_, a “descendant” or “successor;” as the

Carthaginians established a number of small towns and villages on the

coast, which were thus posterior in their origin to the large cities

already founded there.

[3334] Hardouin says that the Moors in the interior still follow the

same usage, carrying their houses from pasture to pasture on waggons.

[3335] Now Chollum or Collo.

[3336] The modern Sgigada or Stora, according to Mannert, D’Anville,

and Shaw.

[3337] The modern Constantina occupies its site. Numerous remains of

the ancient town are still discovered. Sitius was an officer who served

under Cæsar, and obtained a grant of this place after the defeat of

Juba.

[3338] Called Urbs, or Kaff, according to D’Anville and Shaw; the

latter of whom found an inscription there with the words _Ordo

Siccensium_.

[3339] Or ‘Royal Bulla’; which epithet shows that it was either a

residence or a foundation of the kings of Numidia, and distinguishes

it from a small place called Bulla Mensa, south of Carthage. Bulla

Regia was four days’ journey south-west of Carthage, on a tributary of

the river Bagrada, the valley of which is still called Wad-el-Boul.

This place was one of the points of Ptolemy’s recorded astronomical

observations, having its longest day fourteen hours and one-eighth, and

being distant from Alexandria two hours to the west.

[3340] The modern Tamseh, according to Shaw and Mannert, and Tagodet,

according to D’Anville.

[3341] Its ruins are south of the modern Bona. It received the name of

_Regius_ or ‘Royal’ from being the residence of the Numidian kings. It

was also famed as being the see of St. Augustine. It was a colony of

Tyre, and stood on the bay now forming the Gulf of Bona. It was one

of the most flourishing cities of Africa till it was destroyed by the

Vandals A.D. 430.

[3342] Now the Mafragg, according to Mannert.

[3343] Still called Tabarca, according to Hardouin.

[3344] Now the Zaina, according to Marcus.

[3345] For the character of the Numidian marble, see Pliny, B. xxxvi.

c. 7.

[3346] Extending from the river Tusca, or Zaina, to the northern

frontiers of Byzacium. It corresponds with the Turkish province or

beylik of Tunis.

[3347] He says this not only to distinguish it from Africa, considered

as one-third of the globe, but also in contradistinction to the

proconsular province of the Roman empire of the same name, which

contained not only the province of Zeugitana, but also those of

Numidia, Byzacium, and Tripolis.

[3348] Candidum: now Ras-el-Abiad.

[3349] The references to this headland identify it with Cape Farina, or

Ras Sidi Ali-al-Mekhi, and not, as some have thought, the more westerly

Cape Zibeeb or Ras Sidi Bou-Shoushe. Shaw however applies the name of

Zibeeb to the former.

[3350] Now Cape Bon, or Ras-Addar.

[3351] More properly called Hippo Diarrhytus or Zaritus, a Tyrian

colony, situate on a large lake which communicated with the sea, and

received the waters of another lake. Its situation exposed it to

frequent inundations, whence, as the Greeks used to state, the epithet

διάῤῥυτος. It seems more probable however that this is the remnant of

some Phœnician title, as the ancients were not agreed on the true form

of the name, and of this uncertainty we have a further proof in the

_Hippo Dirutus_ of our author.

[3352] This is placed by Ptolemy to the south-east of Hippo, and near

the southern extremity of Lake Sisar.

[3353] This important city stood on the north part of the Carthaginian

Gulf, west of the mouth of the Bagrada, and twenty-seven Roman miles

N.W. of Carthage; but the site of its ruins at the modern Bou-Shater

is now inland, in consequence of the changes made by the Bagrada

in the coast-line. In the Third Punic war Utica took part with the

Romans against Carthage, and was rewarded with the greater part of the

Carthaginian territory.

[3354] Now called the Mejerdah, and though of very inconsiderable

size, the chief river of the Carthaginian territory. The main stream

is formed by the union of two branches, the southern of which, the

ancient Bagrada, is now called the Mellig, and in its upper course the

Meskianah. The other branch is called the Hamiz.

[3355] Or the “Cornelian Camp.” The spot where Cornelius Scipio

Africanus the Elder first encamped, on landing in Africa, B.C. 204.

Cæsar describes this spot, in his description of Curio’s operations

against Utica, B. C. b. ii. c. 24, 25. This spot is now called Ghellah.

[3356] This colony was first established by Caius Gracchus, who sent

6000 settlers to found on the site of Carthage the new city of Junonia.

The Roman senate afterwards annulled this with the other acts of

Gracchus. Under Augustus however the new city of Carthage was founded,

which, when Strabo wrote, was as prosperous as any city in Africa. It

was made, in place of Utica, which had favoured the Pompeian party,

the seat of the proconsul of Old Africa. It stood on the peninsula

terminated by Ras-Sidi-Bou-Said, Cape Carthage or Carthagena. As Gibbon

has remarked, “The place might be unknown if some broken arches of an

aqueduct did not guide the footsteps of the inquisitive traveller.”

[3357] The original city of Carthage was called ‘Carthago Magna’ to

distinguish it from New Carthage and Old Carthage, colonies in Spain.

[3358] Now Rhades, according to Marcus.

[3359] Marcus identifies it with the modern Gurtos.

[3360] By the Greeks called ‘Aspis.’ It derived its Greek and Roman

names from its site on a hill of a shield-like shape. It was built by

Agathocles, the Sicilian, B.C. 310. In the first Punic war it was the

landing-place of Manlius and Regulus, whose first action was to take

it, B.C. 256. Its site is still known as Kalebiah, and its ruins are

peculiarly interesting. The site of Misua is occupied by Sidi-Doud,

according to Shaw and D’Anville.

[3361] Shaw informs us that an inscription found on the spot designates

this place as a colony, not a free city or town. Its present name is

Kurbah.

[3362] The present Nabal, according to D’Anville.

[3363] Zeugitana extended from the river Tusca to Horrea-Cælia, and

Byzacium from this last place to Thenæ.

[3364] As sprung partly from the Phœnician immigrants, and partly from

the native Libyans or Africans.

[3365] Pliny says, B. xvii. c. 3, “A hundred and fifty fold.” From Shaw

we learn that this fertility no longer exists, the fields producing not

more than eight- or at most twelve-fold.

[3366] The modern Lempta occupies its site.

[3367] Originally a Phœnician colony, older than Carthage. It was the

capital of Byzacium, and stood within the southern extremity of the

Sinus Neapolitanus or Gulf of Hammamet. Trajan made it a colony, under

the high-sounding name, as we gather from inscriptions, of _Colonia

Concordia Ulpia Trajana Augusta Frugifera Hadrumetana_, or, as set

forth on coins, _Colonia Concordia Julia Hadrumetana Pia_. The epithet

_Frugifera_ refers to the fact that it was one of the chief sea-ports

for the corn-producing country of Byzacium. It was destroyed by the

Vandals, but restored by the Emperor Justinian under the name of

Justiniana or Justinianopolis. The modern Sousa stands on its site; and

but slight traces of the ancient city are to be found.

[3368] Situate in the vicinity of the modern Monastir.

[3369] Shaw discovered its ruins at the modern town of Demas.

[3370] Now Taineh, according to D’Anville. This place formed the

boundary between the proconsular province of Africa and the territory

of the Numidian king Masinissa and his descendants.

[3371] The present Mahometa, according to Marcus, El Mahres according

to D’Anville.

[3372] Now Cabès, according to D’Anville, giving name to the Gulf of

Cabès. Marcus calls it Gaps.

[3373] Now Tripoli Vecchio; also called Sabart according to D’Anville.

[3374] Scipio Æmilianus, the son-in-law of Æmilius Paulus.

[3375] Micipsa, the son of Masinissa, and his two legitimate brethren.

Scipio having been left by Masinissa executor of his will, the

sovereign power was divided by him between Micipsa and his two brethren

Gulussa and Mastanabal. On this occasion also he separated Numidia from

Zeugitana and Byzacium, by a long dyke drawn from Thenæ, due south,

to the borders of the Great Desert, and thence in a north-westerly

direction to the river Tusca.

[3376] The Syrtes or ‘Quicksands’ are now called, the Lesser Syrtes the

Gulf of Cabès, and the Greater the Gulf of Sydra. The country situate

between the two Syrtes is called Tripoli, formerly Tripolis, a name

which, according to Solinus, it owed to its three cities, Sabrata,

Leptis, and Œa.

[3377] Marcus observes with reference to this passage, that both

Hardouin and Poinsinet have mistaken its meaning. They evidently think

that Pliny is speaking here of a route to the Syrtes leading from the

interior of Africa, whereas it is pretty clear that he is speaking

of the dangers which attend those who approach it by the line of the

sea-coast, as Cato did, on his march to Utica, so beautifully described

by Lucan in his Ninth Book. This is no doubt the same route which was

taken by the caravans on their passage from Lebida, the ancient Leptis,

to Berenice in Cyrenaica.

[3378] Those which we find at the middle of the coast bordering upon

the Greater Syrtis, and which separate the mountains of Fezzan and

Atlas from Cyrenaica and Barca.

[3379] In its widest sense this name is applied to all the Libyan

tribes inhabiting the Oases on the eastern part of the Great Desert,

as the Gætulians inhabited its western part, the boundary between the

two nations being drawn at the sources of the Bagrada and the mountain

Usargala. In the stricter sense however, and in which the term must be

here understood, the name ‘Garamantes’ denoted the people of Phazania,

the modern Fezzan, which forms by far the largest oasis in the Grand

Desert of Zahara.

[3380] Augylæ, now Aujelah, was an oasis in the desert of Barca, in the

region of Cyrenaica, about 3-1/2° south of Cyrene. It has been remarked

that Pliny, here and in the Eighth Chapter of the present Book, in

abridging the account given by Herodotus of the tribes of Northern

Africa, has transferred to the Augylæ what that author really says

of the Nasamones. This oasis forms one of the chief stations on the

caravan route from Cairo to Fezzan. It is placed by Rennell in 30° 3′

North Lat. and 22° 46′ East Long., 180 miles south-east of Barca, 180

west by north of Siwah, the ancient Ammonium, and 426 east by north of

Mourzouk. Later authorities, however, place the village of Aujelah in

29° 15′ North Lat. and 21° 55′ East Long.

[3381] For an account of the Psylli see B. vii. c. 2. They probably

dwelt in the vicinity of the modern Cape Mesurata.

[3382] Now Lake Lynxama, according to Marcus.

[3383] Marcus observes that in order properly to understand this

passage we must remember that the ancients considered Africa as

terminating north of the Equator, and imagined that from the Straits of

Hercules the western coast of Africa ran, not towards the south-west,

but slanted in a south-easterly direction to the Straits of Babelmandel.

[3384] The modern Tripoli.

[3385] A flourishing city with a mixed population of Libyans and

Sicilians. It was at this place that Apuleius made his eloquent and

ingenious defence against the charge of sorcery brought against him by

his step-sons. According to some writers the modern Tripoli is built on

its site, while other accounts make it to have been situate six leagues

from that city.

[3386] Now called the Wady-el-Quaham.

[3387] Mannert is of opinion that this was only another name for the

city of Leptis Magna or the “Greater Leptis” here mentioned by Pliny.

There is little doubt that his supposition is correct.

[3388] The more common reading is Taphra or Taphara. D’Anville

identifies it with the town of Sfakes.

[3389] Scylax identifies it with Neapolis or Leptis, and it is

generally looked upon as being the same place as Sabrata or Old Tripoli.

[3390] Now called Lebida. It was the birth-place of the Emperor

Septimius Severus. It was almost destroyed by an attack from a Libyan

tribe A.D. 366, and its ruin was completed by the invasion of the

Arabs. Its ruins are considerable.

[3391] “Men of sea complexion,” is the meaning of this Greek name.

According to Marcus they dwelt between the Greater Leptis and the Lake

Tritonis, at the present day called Schibkah-el-Loudeah. For a further

account of the Lotophagi, see B. xiii. c. 32.

[3392] Two brothers, citizens of Carthage, who in a dispute as to

their respective territories with the people of Cyrene, submitted to

be buried alive in the sand, at the boundary-line between the two

countries. Sallust (Jugurthine War) is the main authority for the

story. It is also related by Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 7, and Valerius

Maximus, B. v. c. 6, but from the Greek name of the brothers, meaning

“lovers of praise,” it is doubtful whether the story is not of spurious

origin.

[3393] The Lake Tritonis mentioned in note [3391], p. 393.

[3394] Now called El Hammah, according to Shaw.

[3395] According to some accounts the goddess Pallas or Minerva was

born on the banks of Lake Tritonis.

[3396] The modern Cape of Tajuni.

[3397] Now called Udina, according to Marcus.

[3398] Now called Tabersole, according to Marcus.

[3399] In the north of Byzacium, near the Bagrada and the confines

of Numidia. It was the station of a Roman garrison, and considerable

remains of it are still visible near the modern Zanfour.

[3400] Called Cannopissæ by Ptolemy, who places it to the east of

Tabraca.

[3401] There is great doubt as to the correct orthography of these

places, most of which can be no longer identified.

[3402] According to Marcus the present Porto Tarina.

[3403] Also called Achilla and Achulla, the ruins of which are to be

seen at the modern El Aliah. It stood on the sea-coast of Byzacium,

a little above the northern extremity of the Lesser Syrtis. It was a

colony from the island of Melita, now Malta.

[3404] Now called El-Jemma, according to Marcus.

[3405] From it modern Tunis takes its name.

[3406] The birth-place of St. Augustin. It was to the north-west of

Hippo Regius.

[3407] In the vicinity of this place, if it is the same as the Tigisis

mentioned by Procopius, there were two columns to be seen in his day,

upon which was written in the Phœnician language, “We fled from before

the robber, Joshua the son of Nun.”

[3408] There were two towns of this name in the proconsular province

of Africa. The first was situate in the country of Zeugitana, five

days’ journey west of Carthage, and it was here that Scipio defeated

Hannibal. The other bore the surname of _Regia_ or Royal, from being

the frequent residence of the Numidian kings. It lay in the interior,

and at the present day its site bears the name of ‘Zowarin’ or

‘Zewarin.’

[3409] The ruins of Capsa still bear the name of Cafsa or Ghafsah.

It was an important city in the extreme south of Numidia, situate in

an oasis, in the midst of an arid desert abounding in serpents. In

the Jugurthine war it was the treasury of Jugurtha, and was taken and

destroyed by Marius; but was afterwards rebuilt and made a colony.

[3410] They dwelt between the river Ampsaga or Wady-El-Kebir and the

Tusca or Wady-Zain, the western boundary of the Carthaginian territory.

[3411] Dwelling to the east of the mountain Zalycus, now known as the

Wanashrise, according to Shaw.

[3412] The ancients called by the name of ‘Gætulians’ all the people of

Africa who dwelt south of the Mauritanias and Numidia, as far as the

line which, according to their ideas, separated Africa from Æthiopia.

[3413] The Quorra most probably of modern geographers.

[3414] So called, as mentioned below, from its five principal cities.

[3415] Where Jupiter Ammon or Hammon was worshiped under the form of

a ram, the form he was said to have assumed when the deities were

dispersed in the war with the Giants. Ancient Ammonium is the present

oasis of Siwah in the Libyan Desert.

[3416] The same that has been already mentioned in B. ii. c. 106. It is

mentioned by Herodotus and Pomponius Mela.

[3417] Previously called Hesperis or Hesperides. It was the most

westerly city of Cyrenaica, and stood just beyond the eastern extremity

of the Greater Syrtis, on a promontory called Pseudopenias, and near

the river Lethon. Its historical importance only dates from the times

of the Ptolemies, when it was named Berenice, after the wife of Ptolemy

III. or Euergetes. Having been greatly reduced, it was fortified anew

by the Emperor Justinian. Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Ben

Ghazi.

[3418] So called from Arsinoë, the sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Its earlier name was Taucheira or Teucheira, which name, according to

Marcus, it still retains.

[3419] Its ruins may still be seen at Tolmeita or Tolometa. It was

situate on the N.W. coast of Cyrenaica, and originally bore the name of

Barca. From which of the Ptolemies it took its name is not known. Its

splendid ruins are not less than four miles in circumference.

[3420] Its ruins are still to be seen, bespeaking its former splendour,

at the modern Marsa Sousah. It was originally only the port of Cyrene,

but under the Ptolemies it flourished to such an extent as to eclipse

that city. It is pretty certain that it was the Sozusa of the later

Greek writers. Eratosthenes was a native of this place.

[3421] The chief city of Cyrenaica, and the most important Hellenic

colony in Africa, the early settlers having extensively intermarried

with wives of Libyan parentage. In its most prosperous times it

maintained an extensive commerce with Greece and Egypt, especially in

silphium or assafœtida, the plantations of which, as mentioned in the

present chapter, extended for miles in its vicinity. Great quantities

of this plant were also exported to Capua in Southern Italy, where it

was extensively employed in the manufacture of perfumes. The scene of

the ‘Rudens,’ the most picturesque (if we may use the term) of the

plays of Plautus, is laid in the vicinity of Cyrene, and frequent

reference is made in it to the extensive cultivation of silphium;

a head of which plant also appears on the coins of the place. The

philosophers Aristippus and Carneades were born here, as also the poet

Callimachus. Its ruins, at the modern Ghrennah, are very extensive, and

are indicative of its former splendour.

[3422] In C. 1 of the present Book. It was only the poetical fancy

of the Greeks that found the fabled gardens of the Hesperides in the

fertile regions of Cyrenaica. Scylax distinctly mentions the gardens

and the lake of the Hesperides in this vicinity, where we also find

a people called Hesperidæ, or, as Herodotus names them, Euesperidæ.

It was probably in consequence of this similarity of name, in a great

degree, that the gardens of the Hesperides were assigned to this

locality.

[3423] Now called Ras-Sem or Ras-El-Kazat. It is situate a little to

the west of Apollonia and N.W. of Cyrene.

[3424] According to Ansart, 264 miles is the real distance between

Capes Ras-Sem and Tænarum or Matapan

[3425] As already mentioned, Apollonia formed the harbour of Cyrene.

[3426] This was called the Chersonesus Magna, being so named in

contradistinction to the Chersonesus Parva, on the coast of Egypt,

about thirty-five miles west of Alexandria. It is now called

Ras-El-Tin, or more commonly Raxatin.

[3427] So called from the peculiar features of the locality, the Greek

word καταβαθμὸς, signifying “a descent.” A deep valley, bounded east

and west by ranges of high hills, runs from this spot to the frontiers

of Egypt. It is again mentioned by Pliny at the end of the present

Chapter. The spot is still known by a similar name, being called Marsa

Sollern, or the “Port of the Ladder.” In earlier times the Egyptian

territory ended at the Gulf of Plinthinethes, now Lago Segio, and did

not extend so far as Catabathmos.

[3428] This name was unknown to Herodotus. As Marcus observes, it was

probably of Phœnician origin, signifying “leading a wandering life,”

like the term “nomad,” derived from the Greek.

[3429] Now called El Bareton or Marsa-Labeit. This city was of

considerable importance, and belonged properly to Marmaria, but was

included politically in the Nomos Libya of Egypt. It stood near the

promontory of Artos or Pythis, now Ras-El-Hazeit.

[3430] So called from the words _Matâ-Ammon_, “the tribe of Ammon,”

according to Bochart. The Nasamones were a powerful but savage people

of Libya, who dwelt originally on the shores of the Greater Syrtis, but

were driven inland by the Greek settlers of Cyrenaica, and afterwards

by the Romans.

[3431] From μεσὸς “the middle,” and ἄμμος “sand.”

[3432] See note [3421] in p. 396.

[3433] Herodotus places this nation to the west of the Nasamones and on

the river Cinyps, now called the Wadi-Quaham.

[3434] In most of the editions they are called ‘Hammanientes.’ It has

been suggested that they were so called from the Greek word ἄμμος

“sand.”

[3435] This story he borrows from Herodotus, B. iv. c. 158.

[3436] From the Greek word τρωγλοδύται, “dwellers in caves.” Pliny has

used the term already (B. iv. c. 25) in reference to the nations on

the banks of the Danube. It was a general name applied by the Greek

geographers to various uncivilized races who had no abodes but caves,

and more especially to the inhabitants of the western coasts of the Red

Sea, along the shores of Upper Egypt and Æthiopia.

[3437] At the beginning of C. 4.

[3438] Which gives name to the modern Fezzan.

[3439] Now called Tanet-Mellulen, or the station of Mellulen, on the

route from Gadamez to Oserona.

[3440] Zaouila or Zala, half way between Augyla and Mourzouk.

[3441] Now Gadamez, which, according to Marcus, is situate almost under

the same meridian as Old Tripoli, the ancient Sabrata.

[3442] According to Marcus this range still bears the name of

Gibel-Assoud, which in the Arabic language means the “Black Mountain.”

[3443] In a southerly direction. He alludes probably to the Desert of

Bildulgerid.

[3444] This spring is also mentioned by Pliny in B. ii. c. 106. Marcus

suggests that the Debris of Pliny is the same as the Bedir of Ptolemy.

He also remarks that the English traveller Oudney discovered caverns

hewn out of the sides of the hills, evidently for the purposes of

habitation, but of which the use is not known by the present people.

These he considers to have been the abodes of the ancient Troglodytæ or

“cave-dwellers.” In the Tibesti range of mountains, however, we find a

race called the Rock Tibboos, from the circumstance of their dwelling

in caves.

[3445] Cornelius Balbus Gaditanus the Younger, who, upon his victories

over the Garamantes, obtained a triumph in the year B.C. 19.

[3446] L. Cornelius Balbus the Elder, also a native of Gades. He

obtained the consulship in B.C. 40, the first instance, as we find

mentioned by Pliny, B. vii. c. 44, in which this honour had been

conferred upon one who was not a Roman citizen.

[3447] On the occasion of a triumph by a Roman general, boards were

carried aloft on “fercula,” on which were painted in large letters

the names of vanquished nations and countries. Here too models were

exhibited in ivory or wood of the cities and forts captured, and

pictures of the mountains, rivers, and other great natural features

of the subjugated region, with appropriate inscriptions. Marcus is of

opinion that the names of the places here mentioned do not succeed

in any geographical order, but solely according to their presumed

importance as forming part of the conquest of Balbus. He also thinks

that Balbus did not penetrate beyond the fifteenth degree of north

latitude, and that his conquests did not extend so far south as the

banks of Lake Tchad.

[3448] The site of Garama still bears the name of ‘Gherma,’ and

presents very considerable remains of antiquity. It is four days’

journey north of Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan.

[3449] Now Tibesti, according to Marcus.

[3450] Marcus suggests that this is probably the Febabo of modern

geographers, to the N.E. of Belma and Tibesti.

[3451] Discera was the Im-Zerah of modern travellers, on the road from

Sockna to Mourzouk, according to Marcus, who is of opinion that the

places which follow were situate at the east and north-east of Thuben

and the Black Mountain.

[3452] Om-El-Abid, to the N.W. of Garama or Gherma, according to

Marcus, and Oudney the traveller.

[3453] The same, Marcus thinks, as the modern Tessava in Fezzan.

[3454] Marcus suggests that this may be the modern Sana.

[3455] The town of Winega mentioned by Oudney, was probably the ancient

Pega, according to Marcus.

[3456] The modern Missolat, according to Marcus, on the route from

Tripoli to Murmuck.

[3457] According to Marcus, this was the Mount Goriano of the English

travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, where, confirming the

statement here made by Pliny, they found quartz, jasper, onyx, agates,

and cornelians.

[3458] Mentioned by Tacitus, B. iv. c. 50. The town of Œa has been

alluded to by Pliny in C. 4.

[3459] “Past the head of the rock.” Marcus suggests that this is the

Gibel-Gelat or Rock of Gelat spoken of by the English travellers

Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, forming a portion of the chain of

Guriano or Gyr. He says, that at the foot of this mountain travellers

have to pass from Old and New Tripoli on their road to Missolat, the

Maxala of Pliny, and thence to Gerama or Gherma, the ancient capital of

Fezzan.

[3460] As Marcus observes, this would not make it to extend so far

south as the sixteenth degree of north latitude.

[3461] The Mareotis of the time of the Ptolemies extended from

Alexandria to the Gulf of Plinthinethes; and Libya was properly that

portion of territory which extended from that Gulf to Catabathmos.

Pliny is in error here in confounding the two appellations, or rather,

blending them into one. It includes the eastern portion of the modern

Barca, and the western division of Lower Egypt. It most probably

received its name from the Lake Mareotis, and not the lake from it.

[3462] This was a seaport town on the northern coast of Africa,

probably about eleven or twelve miles west of Parætonium, sometimes

spoken of as belonging to Egypt, sometimes to Marmorica. Scylax places

it at the western boundary of Egypt, on the frontier of the Marmaridæ.

Ptolemy, like Pliny, speaks of it as being in the Libyan Nomos. The

distances given in the MSS. of Pliny of this place from Parætonium are

seventy-two, sixty-two, and twelve miles; the latter is probably the

correct reading, as Strabo, B. xvii., makes the distance 100 stadia. It

is extremely doubtful whether the Apis mentioned by Herodotus, B. ii.

c. 18, can be the same place: but there is little doubt, from the words

of Pliny here, that it was dedicated to the worship of the Egyptian god

Apis, who was represented under the form of a bull.

[3463] Now called Zerbi and Jerba, derived from the name of Girba,

which even in the time of Aurelius Victor, had supplanted that of

Meninx. It is situate in the Gulf of Cabes. According to Solinus, C.

Marius lay in concealment here for some time. It was famous for its

purple. See B. ix. c. 60.

[3464] Now called Kerkéni, Karkenah, or Ramlah.

[3465] Now Gherba. It was reckoned as a mere appendage to Cercina, to

which it was joined by a mole, and which is found often mentioned in

history.

[3466] Still called Lampedusa, off the coast of Tunis. This island,

with Gaulos and Galata, has been already mentioned among the islands

off Sicily; see B. iii. c. 14.

[3467] Now Pantellaria. See B. iii. c. 14.

[3468] A lofty island surrounded by dangerous cliffs, now called

Zowamour or Zembra.

[3469] In the former editions the word “Aræ” is taken to refer to the

Ægimuri, as meaning the same islands. Sillig is however of opinion that

totally distinct groups are meant, and punctuates accordingly. The

“Aræ” were probably mere rocks lying out at sea, which received their

name from their fancied resemblance to altars. They are mentioned by

Virgil in the Æneid, B. i. l. 113, upon which lines Servius says, that

they were so called because there the Romans and the people of Africa

on one occasion made a treaty.

[3470] The greater portion of this Chapter is extracted almost

verbatim from the account given by Mela. Ptolemy seems to place the

Liby-Egyptians to the south of the Greater and Lesser Oasis, on the

route thence to Darfour.

[3471] Or “White Æthiopians,” men though of dark complexion, not

negroes. Marcus is of opinion that the words “intervenientibus

desertis” refer to the tract of desert country lying between the

Leucæthiopians and the Liby-Egyptians, and not to that between the

Gætulians on the one hand and the Liby-Egyptians and the Leucæthiopians

on the other.

[3472] Meaning to the south and the south-east of these three nations,

according to Marcus. Rennel takes the Leucæthiopians to be the present

Mandingos of higher Senegambia: Marcus however thinks that they are the

Azanaghis, who dwell on the edge of the Great Desert, and are not of so

black a complexion as the Mandingos.

[3473] Probably the people of the present Nigritia or Soudan.

[3474] Marcus is of opinion that Pliny does not here refer to the

Joliba of Park and other travellers, as other commentators have

supposed; but that he speaks of the river called Zis by the modern

geographers, and which Jackson speaks of as flowing from the south-east

towards north-west. The whole subject of the Niger is however enwrapped

in almost impenetrable obscurity, and as the most recent inquirers have

not come to any conclusion on the subject, it would be little more than

a waste of time and space to enter upon an investigation of the notions

which Pliny and Mela entertained on the subject.

[3475] From γυμνὸς, “naked.”

[3476] Mentioned in C. 1 of the present Book.

[3477] He refers to the words in the Odyssey, B. i. l. 23, 24.—

Αἰθίοπας τοὶ δίχθα δεδαιάται, ἔσχατοι ἄνδρων·

Οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, οἱ δ’ ἀνιόντος.

“The Æthiopians, the most remote of mankind, are divided into two

parts, the one at the setting of Hyperion, the other at his rising.”

[3478] A tribe of Æthiopia, whose position varied considerably at

different epochs of history. Their predatory and savage habits caused

the most extraordinary reports to be spread of their appearance and

ferocity. The more ancient geographers bring them as far westward as

the region beyond the Libyan Desert, and into the vicinity of the

Oases. In the time however of the Antonines, when Ptolemy was composing

his description of Africa, they appear to the south and east of Egypt,

in the wide and almost unknown tract which lay between the rivers

Astapus and Astobores.

[3479] Mela speaks of this race as situate farthest to the west. The

description of them here given is from Herodotus, B. iv. c. 183-185,

who speaks of them under the name of “Atarantes.”

[3480] The people who are visited by no dreams, are called Atlantes by

Herodotus, the same name by which Pliny calls them. He says that their

territory is ten days’ journey from that of the Atarantes.

[3481] This also is borrowed from Herodotus. As some confirmation of

this account, it is worthy of remark, that the Rock Tibboos of the

present day, who, like the ancient Troglodytæ, dwell in caves, have so

peculiar a kind of speech, that it is compared by the people of Aujelah

to nothing but the whistling of birds. The Troglodytæ of Fezzan are

here referred to, not those of the coasts of the Red Sea.

[3482] Mela says that they look upon the Manes or spirits of the

departed as their only deities.

[3483] This is said, in almost the same words, of the Garamantes,

by Herodotus. The mistake was probably made by Mela in copying from

Herodotus, and continued by Pliny when borrowing from him.

[3484] So called from their supposed resemblance in form to the Satyrs

of the ancient mythology, who were represented as little hairy men with

horns, long ears, and tails. They were probably monkeys, which had been

mistaken for men.

[3485] Half goat, half man. See the Note [3254] relative to Ægipan, in C. 1 of

the present Book, p. 378.

[3486] Evidently intended to be derived from the Greek ἱμὰς “a thong,”

and πόδες “the feet.” It is most probable that the name of a savage

people in the interior bore a fancied resemblance to this word, upon

which the marvellous story here stated was coined for the purpose

of tallying with the name. From a statement in the Æthiopica of

Heliodorus, B. x., Marcus suggests that the story as to the Blemmyæ

having no heads arose from the circumstance, that on the invasion of

the Persians they were in the habit of falling on one knee and bowing

the head to the breast, by which means, without injury to themselves,

they afforded a passage to the horses of the enemy.

[3487] It must be remembered, as already mentioned, that the ancients

looked upon Egypt as forming part of Asia, not of Africa. It seems

impossible to say how this supposition arose, when the Red Sea and the

Isthmus of Suez form so natural and so palpable a frontier between Asia

and Africa.

[3488] It is not improbable that these numbers are incorrectly stated

in the MSS. of our author.

[3489] Parisot remarks that Pliny is in error in this statement. A

considerable part of Lower Egypt lay both on the right and left of

the Delta or island formed by the branches of the Nile. It must be

remembered, however, that our author has already included a portion of

what was strictly Egypt, in his description of Libya Mareotis.

[3490] By reason of its triangular form, Δ.

[3491] The Ombite nome worshipped the crocodile as the emblem of Sebak.

Its capital was Ombos.

[3492] This nome destroyed the crocodile and worshipped the sun. Its

capital was Apollinopolis Magna.

[3493] It worshipped Osiris and his son Orus. The chief town was

Thermonthis.

[3494] Probably the original kingdom of Menes of This, the founder of

the Egyptian monarchy. It worshipped Osiris. Its capital was This,

afterwards called Abydos.

[3495] The nome of Thebes, which was its chief town.

[3496] Its capital was Coptos.

[3497] Its chief town was Tentyra. This nome worshipped Athor or Venus,

Isis, and Typhon. It destroyed the crocodile.

[3498] Perhaps the same as the Panopolite or Chemmite nome, which had

for its chief town Chemmis or Panopolis. It paid divine honours to a

deified hero.

[3499] It probably worshipped Typhon. Its capital was Antæopolis.

[3500] Probably an offshoot from a nome in the Heptanomis of similar

name.

[3501] Dedicated to the worship of the wolf. Its chief town was

Lycopolis. It should be remarked that these names do not appear to be

given by Pliny in their proper geographical order.

[3502] Some of these nomes were inconsiderable and of little

importance. The Bubastite nome worshipped Bubastis, Artemis, or Diana,

of whom it contained a fine temple.

[3503] Its chief town was Tanis. In this nome, according to tradition,

Moses was born.

[3504] Its capital was Athribis, where the shrew-mouse and crocodile

were worshipped.

[3505] The seat of the worship of the dog-headed deity Anubis.

Its capital was Cynopolis; which is to be distinguished from the

Deltic city and other places of that name, as this was a nome of the

Heptanomis or Middle Egypt, to which also the Hammonian nome belonged.

[3506] The border nome of Upper and Middle Egypt.

[3507] Its capital was Pachnamunis. It worshipped a goddess

corresponding to the Greek Leto, or the Latona of the Romans.

[3508] Its capital was Busiris. It worshipped Isis, and at one period

was said to have sacrificed the nomad tribes of Syria and Arabia.

[3509] Its chief town was Onuphis.

[3510] Its chief city was Sais, and it worshipped Neith or Athene, and

contained the tomb and a sanctuary of Osiris.

[3511] Its capital was Tava.

[3512] Its chief town was Naucratis on the coast, the birth-place of

Athenæus, the Deipnosophist. By some authors it is made part of the

Saitic nome. The names given by Pliny vary very considerably from those

found in others of the ancient writers.

[3513] The capital of this nome was Heracleopolis, ‘The city of

Hercules,’ as Pliny calls it, situate, as he says, on an island, at the

entrance of the nome of Arsinoïtes, formed by the Nile and a canal.

After Memphis and Heliopolis, it was probably the most important city

south of the Thebaid. Its ruins are inconsiderable; a portion of them

are to be seen at the modern hamlet of Amasieh.

[3514] He probably means Arsinoë or Arsinoïtis, the chief town of the

nome of that name, and the city so called at the northern extremity

of the Heroöpolite Gulf in the Red Sea. The former is denoted by the

modern district of El-Fayoom, the most fertile of ancient Egypt. At

this place the crocodile was worshipped. The Labyrinth and Lake Mœris

were in this nome. Extensive ruins at Medinet-el-Fayoom, or El-Fares,

represent its site. The modern Ardscherud, a village near Suez,

corresponds to Arsinoë on the Red Sea. There is some little doubt

however whether this last Arsinoë is the one here meant by Pliny.

[3515] Memphis was the chief city of this nome, which was situate

in Middle Egypt, and was the capital of the whole country, and the

residence of the Pharaohs, who succeeded Psammetichus, B.C. 616. This

nome rose in importance on the decline of the kingdom of Thebais,

but was afterwards eclipsed by the progress of Alexandria under the

successors of Alexander the Great.

[3516] At which Middle Egypt terminates.

[3517] They are more generally looked upon as forming one nome only,

and included under the name of Hammonium.

[3518] Its chief town was Heroöpolis, a principal seat of the worship

of Typhon, the evil or destroying genius.

[3519] The same as the nome of Arsinoïtes, the capital of which,

Arsinoë, was originally called Crocodilopolis.

[3520] Now known as Birket-el-Keroum. This was a vast lake on the

western side of the Nile in Middle Egypt, used for the reception and

subsequent distribution of a part of the overflow of the Nile. The

supposition that it was formed by artificial means is now pretty

generally exploded, and it is regarded as of natural formation. It was

situate in the nome of Arsinoïtes or Crocodilopolites. Its length seems

to be overstated by our author, as at the present day it is only thirty

miles in length and five in breadth at the widest part.

[3521] And it is generally supposed that they are so up to the present

day. The ethnographer Jablonski is of opinion that this river derives

its name from the Coptish word _tneialei_ “to rise at stated times.”

Servius, the commentator on Virgil, says that it is derived from the

two Greek words νέα ἰλὺς “fresh mud,” in allusion to the fresh mud

or slime which it leaves after each inundation. Singularly enough,

Champollion prefers this silly etymology to that suggested by Jablonski.

[3522] An interesting disquisition on the probable sources of the Nile,

as viewed by the ancients, is to be found in the Ninth Book of Lucan’s

Pharsalia. The Indian word “_nilas_,” “black,” has also been suggested

as its possible origin.

[3523] What spot is meant under this name, if indeed it is anything

more than the creation of fancy, it is impossible to ascertain with

any degree of precision. It is possible however that the ancients may

have had some knowledge of Lake Tchad, and the Mountains of the Moon,

or Djebel-Kumri, though at the same time it is more than doubtful that

the Nile has its source in either of those localities, the former

especially.

[3524] Perhaps a kind of river lamprey. As to the Coracinus, see B.

ix. c. 24, 32, and B. xxxii. c. 19, 24, 34, 44, and 53; and as to the

Silurus, B. ix. c. 17, 25, and B. xxxii. c. 31, 36, 40, 43, 44, &c.

[3525] The modern Vacur in Northern Africa.

[3526] A district which in reality was at least 1200 or 1500 miles

distant from any part of the Nile, and probably near 3000 from its real

source.

[3527] “Spargit.” It is doubtful whether this word means here “waters,”

or “divides.” Probably however the latter is its meaning.

[3528] This is the third or eastern branch of the river, now known as

the Tacazze. It rises in the highlands of Abyssinia, in about 11° 40′

north lat. and 39° 40′ east long., and joins the main stream of the

Nile, formed by the union of the Abiad and the Azrek, in 17° 45′ north

lat. and about 34° 5′ east long.; the point of junction being the apex

of the island of Meroë, here mentioned by Pliny.

[3529] Possibly by this name he designates the Bahr-el-Abied, or White

River, the main stream of the Nile, the sources of which have not

been hitherto satisfactorily ascertained. The Astapus is supposed to

have been really the name of the Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue River, the

third branch of the Nile, the sources of which are in the highlands of

Abyssinia, in about 11° 40′ north lat. and 39° 40′ east long.

[3530] Or “side of the water that issues from the shades.” As Hardouin

says, this does not appear to be a very satisfactory explanation.

[3531] Said by Tzetzes to have been derived from the Greek τρίτος,

“the third,” because it had three times changed its name: having been

called, first, the Ocean; secondly, Aëtus, or the Eagle; and thirdly,

Ægyptus.

[3532] Or the “Cataracts,” for which it is the Greek name. The most

northerly of these cataracts, called the First Cataract, is, and always

has been, the southern boundary of Egypt. According to the most recent

accounts, these Cataracts are devoid of any stupendous features, such

as characterize the Falls of Niagara.

[3533] The one now called the First Cataract.

[3534] Seven mouths in ancient times, which have now dwindled down to

two of any importance, the Damietta mouth on the east, and the Rosetta

on the west.

[3535] The Etesians are periodical winds, which blow steadily from one

quarter for forty days each year, during the season of the Dog-days.

The opinion here stated was that promulgated by Thales the philosopher.

Seneca refutes it in B. iv. c. 2. of his Quæst. Nat.

[3536] This was the opinion of Democritus of Abdera, and of

Agatharchidas of Cnidos. It is combated by Diodorus Siculus, B. i., but

it is the opinion most generally received at the present day. See the

disquisition on the subject introduced in the Ninth book of Lucan’s

Pharsalia.

[3537] And that the high tide or inundation would be consequently

continuous as well.

[3538] The principal well for this purpose was called the “Nilometer,”

or “Gauge for the Nile.”

[3539] On this subject see Pliny, B. xviii. c. 47, and B. xxxvi. c. 11.

[3540] Seneca says that the Nile did not rise as usual in the tenth and

eleventh years of the reign of Cleopatra, and that the circumstance was

said to bode ruin to her and Antony.—Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c. 2.

[3541] He means dense clouds, productive of rain, not thin mists. See

what is said of the Borysthenes by our author, B. xxxi. c. 30.

[3542] Syene was a city of Upper Egypt, on the eastern bank of the Nile

just below the First Cataract, and was looked upon as the southern

frontier city of Egypt against Æthiopia. It was an important point in

the geography and astronomy of the ancients; for, lying just under the

tropic of Cancer, it was chosen as the place through which they drew

their chief parallel of latitude. The sun was vertical to Syene at the

time of the summer solstice, and a well was shown there where the face

of the sun was seen at noon at that time. Its present name is Assouan

or Ossouan.

[3543] If this word means the “Camp,” it does not appear to be known

what camp is meant. Most editions have “Cerastæ,” in which case it

would mean that at Syene the Cerastes or horned serpent is found.

[3544] One of these (if indeed Philæ did consist of more than a single

island, which seems doubtful) is now known as Djeziret-el-Birbe, the

“Island of the Temple.”

[3545] This island was seated just below the Lesser Cataract, opposite

Syene, and near the western bank of the Nile. At this point the river

becomes navigable downward to its mouths, and the traveller from

Meroë or Æthiopia enters Egypt Proper. The original name of this

island was “Ebo,” Eb being in the language of hieroglyphics the symbol

of the elephant and ivory. It was remarkable for its fertility and

verdure, and the Arabs of the present day designate the island as

Djesiret-el-Sag, or “the Blooming.”

[3546] This is a mistake of Pliny’s, for it was opposite to Syene.

Brotier thinks that Pliny intended to write ‘Philæ,’ but by mistake

inserted Syene.

[3547] Artemidorus, Juba, and Aristocreon.

[3548] They were probably made of papyrus, or else of hides, like the

British coracles.

[3549] The last king of the line of Psammetichus, B.C. 569. He

succeeded Apries, whom the Egyptians put to death. He died just before

the invasion by Cambyses, having displayed great abilities as a ruler.

[3550] There was the Greater Apollinopolis, the modern Edfoo, in the

Thebaid, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 25° north, about

thirteen miles below the lesser Cataract: its inhabitants were enemies

of the crocodile and its worshippers. The remains of two temples there

are considered second only to the temple of Denderah as specimens of

the sacred structures of Egypt. A Lesser Apollinopolis was in Upper

Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° north. Another

Lesser Apollinopolis was a town of the Thebaid in the Coptite Nome, in

lat. 26° north, situate between Thebes and Coptos. It was situate at

the present Kuss.

[3551] Its site is unknown. Hardouin suggests that it is the Eilethuia

of Ptolemy, the modern El-Kab.

[3552] “City of Jupiter,” the Greek name for Thebes, the No or No Ammon

of Scripture. It stood in the centre of the Thebaid, on both banks of

the Nile, above Coptos, and in the Nomos Coptites. Its ruins, which are

the most magnificent in the world, enclose within their site the four

villages of Carnac, Luxor, Medinet Abou, and Gournou.

[3553] Its hieroglyphical name was Kobto, and its site is now occupied

by the modern town of Kouft or Keft. It was situate in lat. 26°

north, on the right bank of the Nile, about a mile from its banks.

As a halting place or rather watering-place for the caravans, it was

enriched by the commerce between Libya and Egypt on the one hand, and

Arabia and India and Egypt on the other, the latter being carried

on through the port of Berenice on the Red Sea, founded by Ptolemy

Philadelphus, B.C. 266. In the seventh century of the Christian era, it

bore for some time the name of Justinianopolis. There are a few remains

of Roman buildings to be seen on its site.

[3554] Also called Aphrodite or Aphroditopolis. Of this name there

were several towns or cities in ancient Egypt. In Lower Egypt there

was Atarbechis, thus named, and a town mentioned by Strabo in the

nome of Leontopolites. In the Heptanomis or Middle Egypt there was

the place, the ruins of which are called Aftyeh, on the east side of

the Nile, and the capital of the nome of Aphroditopolites. In Upper

Egypt or the Thebais there was the present Tachta, on the west side of

the Nile, between Ptolemais and Panopolis, capital of another nome of

Aphroditopolites, and that one the ruins of which are now called Deir,

on the west bank of the Nile, higher up than the former, and, like it,

some distance from the river. It was situate in the nome Hermonthites.

[3555] Another Diospolis. Great Diospolis is mentioned in the preceding

page.

[3556] Or Tentyra. The modern Dendera of the Arabs, called Dendôri or

Hidendôri by the ancient Egyptians.

[3557] In ancient times called This, and in Coptic Ebôt, the ruins of

which are now known as Arábat-el-Matfoon. It was the chief town of the

Nomos Thinites, and was situate in lat. 26° 10′ north and long. 32° 3′

east. In the Thebaid it ranked next to Thebes itself. Here according to

general belief was the burial-place of Osiris. In the time of Strabo it

had sunk into a mere village. Its ruins, though nearly buried in the

sand, are very extensive. There is, however, some uncertainty as to the

exact identity of This with Abydus.

[3558] The ruins of these places are still to be seen at Abydus.

[3559] He calls the whole of the country on the western bank of the

Nile by this name.

[3560] Called Absou or Absaï by the Arabs, and Psoë by the ancient

Egyptians. It has been suggested that it was the same place as This,

more generally identified with Abydus.

[3561] Its site is now called Ekhmin or Akhmin by the Arabs, Khmim

being its ancient Egyptian name. It was the chief town of the nome of

Panopolites, and the deity Phthah was worshipped there under the form

of Priapus.

[3562] Another Aphroditopolis, the present Tachta, mentioned above, in

Note[3554] in the last page. Pliny distinguishes it from that now called

Deir, mentioned above.

[3563] Now known as Es-Siout.

[3564] Or Hermopolis—the modern Esh-moon or Ash-mounion, on the eastern

bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° 54′ north. It was the capital of the

Hermopolite nome in the Heptanomis. It was a place of great opulence

and densely populated. The deities Typhon and Thoth were principally

worshipped at this place. The latter, the inventor of the pen and

letters, nearly corresponded with the Hermes of the Greeks (the Mercury

of the Romans), from which the Hellenized name of the place. Its ruins

are very extensive.

[3565] This town was no doubt connected with the alabaster quarries

of Mount Alabasternus, now Mount St. Anthony, and the hill of

Alabastrites, now the Côteau Hessan.

[3566] Or Cynopolis, the chief place of the Cynopolite nome. The

Dog-headed deity Anubis was worshipped here. The modern Samallus

occupies its site. This place was in the Heptanomis, but there were

several other towns of the same name, one of which was situate in the

Delta or Lower Egypt.

[3567] In C. 9, when speaking of the nome of Heracleopolites; of which

nome, this place, called Heracleopolis, was the capital. It was situate

at the entrance of the valley of the Fayoum, on an island formed by

the Nile and a canal. After Memphis and Heliopolis it was probably the

most important city north of the Thebaid. It furnished two dynasties of

kings to Egypt. The ichneumon was worshipped here, from which it may be

inferred that the people were hostile to the crocodile. Its ruins are

inconsiderable; the village of Anasieh covers part of them.

[3568] The capital of the nome of Arsinoïtes, seated on the western

bank of the Nile, between the river and Lake Mœris, south-west of

Memphis, in lat. 29° north. It was called under the Pharaohs, “the City

of Crocodiles,” from the reverence paid by the people to that animal.

Its ruins are to be seen at Medinet-el-Fayoom or El-Fares.

[3569] Its magnificent ruins, known by the name of Menf and Metrabenny,

are to be seen about ten miles above the pyramids of Gizeh.

[3570] This lay beyond Lake Mœris, or Birket-el-Keroun, at a short

distance from the city of Arsinoë. It had 3000 apartments, 1500 of

which were underground. The accounts given by modern travellers of its

supposed ruins do not agree with what we have learned from the ancients

respecting its architecture and site. The purposes for which it was

built are unknown. Its supposed site is called Havara.

[3571] If this is not an abbreviation or corruption for Crocodilon, as

Hardouin suggests, it may probably mean the “town of Rams,” from the

worship perhaps of that animal there.

[3572] Heliopolis or Rameses. In Scripture it is called by the names of

On and No—Gen. xli. 45 and Ezek. xxx. 15. It stood on the eastern side

of the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, near the right bank of the Great Canal

which connected the river with the Red Sea, and close adjoining to

the present overland route for travellers to India. It was one of the

most ancient of the Egyptian cities; here the father-in-law of Joseph

exercised the office of high-priest, and here the prophet Jeremiah is

supposed to have written his Book of Lamentations. Its priests were the

great depositaries of the theological and historical learning of Egypt.

Solon, Thales, and Plato were reputed each to have visited its schools.

According to Macrobius, Baalbec, the Syrian City of the Sun, was a

colony from this place. It was the capital of the nome Heliopolites,

and paid worship to the sun and the bull Mnevis, the rival of Apis.

From Josephus we learn that after the dispersion and fall of the tribes

of Judah and Israel, great numbers of the Jews took refuge at this

place, forming almost one-half of its population. The ruins, which

were extremely magnificent, occupied in the twelfth century an area

nearly three miles in extent. Pliny speaks of the great obelisk there,

which is still standing. (See B. xxxvi. c. 9.) The village of Matarieh

occupies a part of its site, and besides the obelisk of red granite,

there are a few remains of the Temple of the Sun.

[3573] Now called Birk-el-Mariout.

[3574] Or Dinocrates. He was the architect of the new temple of Diana

at Ephesus, which was built after the destruction of the former one

by Herostratus. It was this architect who formed a design for cutting

Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander, with a city in the right hand

and a reservoir of the mountain streams in the left.

[3575] Holland seems to think that the word “laxitate” applies to

chlamys.

[3576] The _chlamys_ was a scarf or cloak worn over the shoulders, and

especially used by military persons of high rank. It did not reach

lower than the knees, and was open in front, covering only the neck,

back, and shoulders.

[3577] Its real dimensions were something less than 300 stadia, or

thirty geographical miles long, and rather more than 150 stadia wide.

[3578] Or “Pseudostomata.” These were crossed in small boats, as they

were not navigable for ships of burden.

[3579] In the Pharaonic times Canopus was the capital of the nome of

Menelaïtes, and the principal harbour of the Delta. It probably owed

its name to the god Canobus, a pitcher full of holes, with a human

head, which was worshipped here with peculiar pomp. It was remarkable

for the number of its festivals and the general dissoluteness of its

morals. Traces of its ruins are to be seen about three miles from the

modern Aboukir.

[3580] Corresponding to the modern Raschid or Rosetta. It is supposed

that this place was noted for its manufactory of chariots.

[3581] The town of Sebennys or Sebennytum, now Samannoud, gave name to

one of the nomes, and the Sebennytic Mouth of the Nile.

[3582] Or the Pathinetic or Bucolic Mouth, said to be the same as the

modern Damietta Mouth.

[3583] The capital of the Mendesian nome, called by the Arabs Ochmoun.

This mouth is now known as the Deibeh Mouth.

[3584] Now called Szan or Tzan. The Tanitic Mouth, which is sometimes

called the Saitic, is at the present day called Omm-Faredjé.

[3585] Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Tineh. This city in early

times had the name of Abaris. It was situate on the eastern side of

the most easterly mouth of the Nile, which, after it, was called the

Pelusiac Mouth, about two miles from the sea, in the midst of morasses.

Being the frontier city towards Syria and Arabia it was strongly

fortified. It was the birth-place of Ptolemy the geographer.

[3586] Butos or Buto stood on the Sebennytic arm of the Nile near its

mouth, on the southern shores of the Butic Lake. It was the chief seat

of the worship of the goddess Buto, whom the Greeks identified with

Leto or Latona. The modern Kem Kasir occupies its site.

[3587] Called Harbait by the Arabs, and Farbait by the ancient

Egyptians.

[3588] In the Delta. It was the capital of the nome of Leontopolites,

and probably of late foundation, as no writer previous to Pliny

mentions it. Its site is uncertain, but Thall-Essabouah, the “Hill of

the Lion,” has been suggested.

[3589] The chief town of the Athribitic nome in Lower Egypt. It

stood on the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile. This

nome and town derived their name from the goddess Thriphis, whom the

inscriptions there and at Panopolis designate as the “most great

goddess.” The ruins at Atrieb or Trieb, at the spot where the modern

canal of Moueys turns off from the Nile, represent the ancient

Athribis. They are very extensive, and among them are considerable

remains of the Roman era.

[3590] This was situate near the city or town of Busiris in the Delta.

The modern village of Bahbeyt is supposed to cover the ruins of the

temple of Isis.

[3591] The modern Busyr or Abousir, where considerable ruins of the

ancient city are still to be seen. It was the chief town of the nome of

Busirites, and stood south of Sais, near the Phatnitic mouth, on the

western bank of the Nile. This was also the name of a town in Middle

Egypt, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, and represented by another

village of the name of Abousir. Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 16, speaks of the

Catacombs in its vicinity.

[3592] The place of that name in the Delta is here meant.

[3593] Probably the town of that name, otherwise called Aphroditopolis,

in the nome of Leontopolites.

[3594] The ruins of which are now called Sa-el-Hajjar. It was situate

in the Delta, on the east side of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It

was the ancient capital of Lower Egypt and contained the palace and

burial-place of the Pharaohs. It was the chief seat of the worship of

the Egyptian goddess Neith, also known as Sais. It gave its name to the

nome of Saïtes.

[3595] It was situate in the Delta of Egypt and in the nome of Saïtes,

on the eastern bank of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was a colony

of the Milesians, founded probably in the reign of Amasis, about B.C.

550, and remained a pure Greek city. It was the only place in Egypt in

which, in the time of the later Pharaohs, foreigners were permitted

to settle and trade. In later times it was famous for the worship of

Aphrodite or Venus, and rivalled Canopus in the dissoluteness of its

manners.

[3596] Ptolemy the geographer does this.

[3597] Arabia Petræa; that part of Arabia which immediately joins up to

Egypt.

[3598] Called Arabia Felix to the present day.

[3599] The part of Arabia which joins up to Egypt, Arabia Petræa namely.

[3600] Strabo places this people as far south as the mouth of the Red

Sea, _i. e._ on the east of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Forster (in

his ‘Arabia,’ vol. ii.) takes this name to be merely an inversion of

Beni Kahtan, the great tribe which mainly peoples, at the present day,

central and southern Arabia.

[3601] Probably the people of Esebon, the Heshbon of Scripture, spoken

of by Jerome as being the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites.

[3602] The “tent-people,” from the Greek σκηνὴ, “a tent.” This seems

to have been a name common to the nomadic tribes of Arabia. Ammianus

Marcellinus speaks of them as being the same as the Saraceni or

Saracens.

[3603] The modern El Katieh or El Kas; which is the summit of a lofty

range of sandstone hills on the borders of Egypt and Arabia Petræa,

immediately south of the Sirbonian Lake and the Mediterranean Sea. On

its western side was the tomb of Pompey the Great.

[3604] The same as the Amalekites of Scripture, according to Hardouin.

Bochart thinks that they are the same as the Chavilæi, who are

mentioned as dwelling in the vicinity of Babylon.

[3605] The position which Pliny assigns to this nation would correspond

with the northern part of the modern district of the Hedjaz. Forster

identifies them with the Cauraitæ, or Cadraitæ of Arrian, and the Darræ

of Ptolemy, tracing their origin to the Cedar or Kedar, the son of

Ishmael, mentioned in Genesis xxv. 13, and represented by the modern

Harb nation and the modern town of Kedeyre. See Psalm cxx. 5: “Woe is

me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!”

[3606] An Arabian people, said to have descended from the eldest son

of Ishmael, who had their original abodes in the north-western part

of the Arabian peninsula, east and south-east of the Moabites and

Edomites. Extending their territory, we find the Nabatæi of Greek and

Roman history occupying nearly the whole of Arabia Petræa, along the

north-east coast of the Red Sea, on both sides of the Ælanitic Gulf,

and on the Idumæan mountains, where they had their capital, Petra, hewn

out of the rock.

[3607] Now the Bahr-el-Soueys, or Gulf of Suez.

[3608] The Bahr-el-Akabah, or Gulf of Akabah.

[3609] Now Akabah, an Idumæan town of Arabia Petræa, situate at the

head of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, which was called after this

town “Ælaniticus Sinus.” It was annexed to the kingdom of Judah, with

the other cities of Idumæa, by David, 2 Sam. viii. 14, and was one of

the harbours on the Red Sea from which the ships of Solomon sailed for

Ophir. See 1 Kings ix. 26 and 2 Chron. viii. 17. It was a place of

commercial importance under the Romans and the head-quarters of the

Tenth Legion. A fortress now occupies its site.

[3610] Its site is now known as Guzzah. It was the last city on the

south-west frontier of Palestine, and from the earliest times was a

strongly fortified place. It was taken from the Philistines by the Jews

more than once, but as often retaken. It was also taken by Cyrus the

Great and Alexander, and afterwards by Ptolemy Lagus, who destroyed it.

It afterwards recovered, and was again destroyed by Alexander Jannæus,

B.C. 96, after which, it was rebuilt by Gabinius and ultimately united

to the Roman province of Syria. In A.D. 65 it was again destroyed, but

was rebuilt, and finally fell into the hands of the Arabs, in A.D. 634.

[3611] Meaning the Mediterranean.

[3612] The present Suez. See B. vi. c. 33.

[3613] Or the “Hollow” Syria. This was properly the name given, after

the Macedonian conquest, to the great valley between the two great

ranges of Mount Lebanon, in the south of Syria, bordering upon Phœnicia

on the west, and Palestine on the south. In the wars between the

Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ, the name was applied to the whole of the

southern portion of Syria, which became subject for some time to the

kings of Egypt; but under the Romans, it was confined to Cœlesyria

proper with the district east of Anti-Libanus, about Damascus, and a

portion of Palestine east of Jordan.

[3614] Or Ostracine, the northern point of Arabia.

[3615] This was a great fortress of Syria founded by Seleucus B.C. 300,

at the foot of Mount Pieria and overhanging the Mediterranean, four

miles north of the Orontes and twelve miles west of Antioch. It had

fallen entirely to decay in the sixth century of our era. There are

considerable ruins of its harbour and mole, its walls and necropolis.

They bear the name of Seleukeh or Kepse.

[3616] From the Greek ζεῦγμα, “a junction;” built by Seleucus Nicator

on the borders of Commagene and Cyrrhestice, on the west bank of the

Euphrates, where the river had been crossed by a bridge of boats

constructed by Alexander the Great. The modern Rumkaleh is supposed to

occupy its site.

[3617] On this subject see B. vii. c. 57. The invention of letters and

the first cultivation of the science of astronomy have been claimed for

the Egyptians and other nations. The Tyrians were probably the first

who applied the science of astronomy to the purposes of navigation.

There is little doubt that warfare must have been studied as an art

long before the existence of the Phœnician nation.

[3618] Strabo places this between Mount Casius and Pelusium.

[3619] See C. 12 of the present Book. Chabrias the Athenian aided

Nectanebus II. against his revolted subjects.

[3620] Its ruins are to be seen on the present Ras Straki.

[3621] Now called the Sabakat Bardowal. It lay on the coast of Egypt,

east of Mount Casius, and it is not improbable that the boundary-line

between Egypt and Palæstina or Idumæa ran through the middle of its

waters. It was strongly impregnated with asphaltus. A connection

formerly existed between it and the Mediterranean, but this being

stopped up, it gradually grew smaller by evaporation and is now nearly

dry.

[3622] The present Kulat-el-Arich or El Arish, situate at the mouth

of the brook El-Arish, called by the Scriptures the “river of Egypt.”

Its name signifies in Greek, “cutting off of noses,” and is probably

derived from the fact of its having been the place of exile for

criminals who had been so mutilated, under the Æthiopian kings of

Egypt. Poinsinet suggests however that the name means the “town of the

circumcised.”

[3623] The place on its site is still called Refah, but it was really

situate on the coast. Gaza has been already mentioned in a Note [3610]

to C. 12, p. 423.

[3624] Anthedon was on the coast of Palestine, although Pliny says to

the contrary. It was situate about three miles to the south-west of

Gaza, and was destroyed by Alexander Jannæus. In the time of Julian it

was addicted to the worship of Astarte, the Syrian Venus. According to

Dupinet the present name of its site is Daron.

[3625] Brotier says that this is the same as the Mount Gerizim of

Scripture, but that was situate in Samaria, a considerable distance

from the southern coast of Palæstina. Pliny is the only author that

mentions it.

[3626] The Ascalon of Scripture, one of the five cities of the

Philistines, situate on the coast of the Mediterranean, between Gaza

and Jamnia. In early times it was the seat of the worship of Derceto,

a fish with a woman’s head. The ruins, which still bear the name of

Askulân, are very extensive, and indicative of great strength. The

shalot or scallion was originally a native of this place, and thence

derived its name.

[3627] The Ashdod of Scripture. It was one of the five cities of the

Philistines and the chief seat of the worship of Dagon. Herodotus

states that it stood a siege of twenty-nine years from Psammetichus,

king of Egypt. It was afterwards taken and retaken several times. It

was situate between Ascalon and Jamnia, and its site is indicated by

the modern village of Esdad, but no ruins of the ancient city are

visible.

[3628] One of these was a city of the Philistines, assigned to the

tribe of Judah in the fifteenth Chapter of Joshua, 45, according to the

Septuagint version, but omitted in the Hebrew, which only mentions it

in 2 Chron. xxvi. 6 (where it is called Jabneh in the English version),

as one of the cities of the Philistines taken and destroyed by King

Uzziah. The place of this name that lay in the interior, is probably

the one spoken of by Josephus as in that part of the tribe of Judah

occupied by the children of Dan, as also in the 1 Maccabees, x. 69-71.

The one was probably the port of the other. The ruins of the port still

retain the name of Yebora, and are situate on an eminence about an

hour’s distance from the sea, on the banks of the river Rûbin.

[3629] Or Joppa of Scripture, now called Yâfa or Jaffa. The timber

from Lebanon intended for both the first and second Temples was landed

here. It was taken and retaken more than once during the wars of the

Maccabees, and was finally annexed by Pompey to the Roman province of

Syria. It is mentioned several times in the New Testament in connection

with Saint Peter. In the Jewish war, having become a refuge for

pirates, it was taken by Cestius and destroyed, and even the very ruins

were demolished by Vespasian. It was afterwards rebuilt, and in the

time of the Crusades was alternately in the hands of the Christians and

the Moslems.

[3630] To be devoured by the sea monster, from which she was delivered

by Perseus, who had borrowed for the occasion the _talaria_ or winged

shoes of Mercury. In B. ix. c. 4, Pliny states that the skeleton of the

monster was exhibited at Rome by M. Æmilius Scaurus, when he was Curule

Ædile.

[3631] Probably the same as Derceto or Atargatis, the fish-goddess with

a woman’s head, of the Syrians.

[3632] Situate between Cæsarea and Joppa. It is probable that it owed

its name to the Macedonian kings of either Egypt or Syria. Arsûf, a

deserted village, but which itself was of considerable importance in

the time of the Crusades, represents the ancient Apollonia.

[3633] The site of the Turris Stratonis was afterwards occupied by

Cæsarea, a city on the coast, founded by Herod the Great, and named

Cæsarea in honour of Augustus Cæsar. It was renowned for the extent

and magnificence of its harbour, which was secured by a breakwater of

stupendous construction. For some time it was considered the principal

city of Palestine and the chief seat of the Roman government. Although

it again changed its name, as Pliny states, it still retained its name

of Cæsarea as the Metropolitan See of the First Palestine. It was also

of considerable importance during the occupation of the Holy Land by

the Crusaders. Its ruins are still visible, but have served as a quarry

for many generations, and Jaffa, Sidon, Acre and Beyrout have been

supplied with stones from this site. Massive remains of its mole or

breakwater and its towers still exist.

[3634] Or Phœnicia.

[3635] By some regarded as the Scriptural town of Sichem, but by others

as a distinct place, though in its immediate vicinity. Its present

name is Naplous or Nabolos, situate between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim.

Its proper name under the Romans was Flavia Neapolis. It was the

birth-place of Justin Martyr.

[3636] The city of Samaria, so called from Shemer, the owner of the

hill which Omri, King of Israel, purchased, about B.C. 922, for its

site. Herod greatly renovated this city, which he called Sebaste, in

honour of his patron Augustus, in Greek “Sebastos.” Its site is now

occupied by a poor village, which bears the name of Sebustieh.

[3637] A town of Palæstina, frequently mentioned by Josephus as

remarkable for the strength of its fortifications, and situate on the

Lake Tiberias, opposite to Tarichæa. After a spirited defence, it was

taken by Vespasian, who slaughtered 4000 of the survivors, upon which

5000 threw themselves from the walls, and were dashed to pieces below.

The site had been forgotten for nearly eighteen centuries, when Lord

Lindsay discovered it on a lofty hill on the east of Lake Tiberias, and

nearly opposite the town of that name. It is now called El-Hossn, and

the ruins of the fortifications are very extensive.

[3638] Antiochian Syria.

[3639] Peræa was the general name of that part of Palæstina which lay

east of the river Jordan; but more usually, in a restricted sense, it

signified a part only of that region, namely the district between the

rivers Hieromax on the north, and Arnon on the south.

[3640] Jericho, so often mentioned in Scripture. It was celebrated for

its palm-grove, which was presented by Antony to Cleopatra. A Bedouin

encampment called Riha is all that now occupies its site.

[3641] A city eight or ten miles from the village Emmaüs of the New

Testament. It was called Nicopolis, in commemoration, it has been

suggested, of the destruction of Jerusalem. Its site is still marked by

a village called Ammious, on the road from Jerusalem to Jaffa.

[3642] So often mentioned in the New Testament. This town lay to the

S.E. of Joppa, and N.W. of Jerusalem, at the junction of several roads

which lead from the sea-coast. It was destroyed by the Romans in the

Jewish war, but was soon after rebuilt, and called Diospolis. A village

called Lud occupies its site.

[3643] So called from Acrabbim, its chief town, situate nine miles from

Nicopolis. The toparchy of Acrabbim, which formerly formed part of

Samaria, was the most northerly of those of Judæa.

[3644] Situate in the country of Benjamin. Josephus reckons it second

in importance only to Jerusalem, from which, according to Eusebius,

it was distant fifteen miles, on the road to the modern Nablous. That

author also identifies it with the Eshcol of Scripture. Its site is

marked by a small Christian village, called by the natives Jufna.

[3645] Like the two preceding ones, this toparchy for a long time

belonged to Samaria. Thamna, or Thamnis, was the Timnath-Serah in Mount

Ephraim, mentioned in Joshua xix. 50, and xxiv. 30, as the place where

Joshua was buried.

[3646] The toparchy of Bethleptepha of other authors. It appears to

have been situate in the south of Judæa, and in that part which is by

Josephus commonly called Idumæa. Reland has remarked, that the name

resembles Beth-lebaoth, a city of the tribe of Simeon, mentioned in

Joshua xix. 6.

[3647] From the Greek, meaning the “mountain district,” or the “hill

country,” as mentioned in Luke i. 39.

[3648] Or “Sacred Solyma.”

[3649] A fortress of Palæstina, erected by Herod the Great, at a

distance of about sixty stadia from Jerusalem, and not far from Tekoa.

Its site has been identified by modern travellers with El-Furedis,

or the Paradise; probably the same as the spot called the “Frank

Mountain,” on the top of which the ruined walls of the fortress are

still to be seen.

[3650] Called by the Arabs Bahr-el-Arden.

[3651] Situate on Mount Panias, or Paneas, on the range of Anti-Libanus.

[3652] In C. 16 of the present Book.

[3653] On the contrary, as Parisot observes, the Jordan runs in a

straight line almost into the Dead Sea.

[3654] The Lake of Sodom, or the Dead Sea, in which the Cities of the

Plain were swallowed up.

[3655] In Scripture also called the Lake Tiberias, and the Sea of

Gennesareth, or Chinnereth. It is now called the Sea of Tabariah, or

Tabarieh.

[3656] The one of the two Bethsaidas, which was situate on the north

of the Sea of Tiberias. It was enlarged by Philip the Tetrarch, who

greatly beautified it, and changed its name to Julias, in honour of the

daughter of Augustus, the wife of Tiberius. It is generally supposed by

the learned world, that this was not the Bethsaida mentioned so often

in the New Testament. Its ruins are probably those now seen on a hill

called Et-Tell, on the north-western extremity of the lake.

[3657] On the east of the lake. From it the district of Hippene took

its name.

[3658] Its ruins are to be seen at El-Kereh, on the south side of the

lake. It was strongly fortified, and made a vigorous resistance against

the Romans in the Jewish War. It received its name from the great

quantities of fish which were salted there, τάριχοι.

[3659] Now Tabariah, or Tabarieh, a miserable village. It was built by

Herod Antipas, in honour of the Emperor Tiberius. After the destruction

of Jerusalem, it became the seat of the Jewish Sanhedrin.

[3660] These hot springs are by Josephus called Emmaüs, probably a form

of the Hebrew name Hammath. Dr. Robinson, in his Biblical Researches,

identifies this with the town of Hammath, of the tribe of Naphthali,

mentioned in Joshua xix. 35.

[3661] From the Greek ἄσφαλτος.

[3662] This is an exaggeration, though it is the fact that many heavy

substances, which in ordinary water would sink immediately, will float

on the surface of this lake. It has been suggested, that the story

here mentioned arose from the circumstance of the name of ‘bulls,’ or

‘cows,’ having been applied by the ancient Nabatæi to the large masses

of asphaltum which floated on its surface.

[3663] The country of the Arabian Scenitæ, or “tent people.”

[3664] It lay on the east of the Dead Sea, and not the south, as here

mentioned by Pliny, being a border fortress in the south of Peræa, and

on the confines of the Nabatæi. There was a tradition that it was at

this place that John the Baptist was beheaded. The city now bears the

name of Mascra.

[3665] A Greek name, signifying the “Fine Stream.” These were warm

springs, situate on the eastern side of Jordan, to which Herod

the Great resorted during his last illness, by the advice of his

physicians. The valley of Callirhoë was visited by Captains Irby and

Mangles in 1818, and an interesting account of it is to be found in

their ‘Travels,’ pp. 467-469. The waters are sulphureous to the taste.

[3666] The Essenes, or Hessenes. These properly formed one of the

great sects into which the Jews were divided in the time of Christ.

They are not mentioned by name in the New Testament, but it has been

conjectured that they are alluded to in Matt. xix. 12, and Col. ii.

18, 23. As stated here by Pliny, they generally lived at a distance

from large towns, in communities which bore a great resemblance to the

monkish societies of later times. They sent gifts to the Temple at

Jerusalem, but never offered sacrifices there. They were divided into

four classes, according to the time of their initiation. Their origin

is uncertain. Some writers look upon them as the same as the Assidians,

or Chasidim, mentioned in 1 Maccabees, ii. 42, vii. 13. Their principal

society was probably the one mentioned by Pliny, and from this other

smaller ones proceeded, and spread over Palestine, Syria, and Egypt.

The Essenes of Egypt were divided into two sects; the _practical_

Essenes, whose mode of life was the same as those of Palestine; and

the _contemplative_ Essenes, who were called _Therapeutæ_. Both sects

maintained the same doctrines; but the latter were distinguished by a

more rigid mode of life. It has been suggested by Taylor, the editor of

‘Calmet’s Dictionary of the Bible,’ that John the Baptist belonged to

this sect.

[3667] Or Engedi. Its ancient name was Hazezon-Tamar, when it was

inhabited by the Amorites. See Gen. xiv. 7; 2 Chron. xx. 2. According

to Josephus, it gave name to one of the fifteen toparchies of Judæa. It

still retains its name, Ain-Jedey, or “Fountain of the Goats,” and was

so called from a spring which issued out of the limestone rock at the

base of a lofty cliff.

[3668] Its site is now known as Sebbeh, on the south-west of the Dead

Sea.

[3669] Δεκὰ πολεῖς, the “Ten Cities.” He alludes to the circumstance,

that the number of cities varied from time to time in this district;

one being destroyed in warfare, and others suddenly rising from its

foundation.

[3670] The capital city of Syria, both in ancient and modern times.

It is now called Es-Sham. The only epithet given to it by the ancient

poets is that of “ventosa,” or “windy,” found in the Pharsalia of

Lucan, B. iii. l. 215, which, it has been remarked, is anything but

appropriately chosen.

[3671] Or the “Golden River.” It is uncertain whether this was the

Abana or Pharpar, mentioned in 2 Kings v. 12. Strabo remarks, that the

waters of the Chrysorroös “are almost entirely consumed in irrigation,

as it waters a large extent of deep soil.”

[3672] The ancient Rabbath Ammon, a city of the Ammonites. It was

afterwards called Astarte, and then Philadelphia, in honour of Ptolemy

Philadelphus. According to D’Anville, the present name of its site is

Amman.

[3673] Thirty-three miles from Apamea. Its ruins are probably those

mentioned by Abulfeda under the name of Rafaniat. William of Tyre says,

that it was taken in the year 1125 by the Count of Tripoli.

[3674] Previously called Beth-shan. It was the next city of the

Decapolis in magnitude after Damascus. It was situate in the land of

the tribe of Issachar, though it belonged to the Manasites. At this

place the bodies of Saul and his sons were hung up by the Philistines;

see 1 Sam. xxxi. 10-12. Reland suggests that it received the name of

Scythopolis, not from a Scythian colony, but from the Succoth of Gen.

xxxiii. 17, which appears to have been in its vicinity. Its ruins,

which still bear the name of Baisan, are very extensive.

[3675] Called by Josephus the capital of Peræa, and the chief place of

the district of the Gadarenes of the Evangelists. Its ruins, about six

miles south-east of the Sea of Galilee, are very extensive.

[3676] Still called the Yarmak, evidently from its ancient name. Hippo

has been mentioned in the last Chapter.

[3677] Or Dium, between Pella and Gadara. In later times, this place

was included in Roman Arabia.

[3678] Also called Butis. It was the most southerly of the ten cities

which comprised the Decapolis, standing about five miles south of

Scythopolis, or Beth-shan. Its exact site seems not to have been

ascertained; but it has been suggested that it is the modern El-Bujeh.

From the expression used by Pliny, it would appear to have had mineral

waters in its vicinity.

[3679] Of this place nothing is known; but it is most probable that

the _Gerasa_ of Ptolemy and Josephus is meant. According to the former

writer, it was thirty-five miles from Pella. Its site is marked by

extensive ruins, thirty-five miles east of the Jordan, known by the

name of Gerash, and on the borders of the Great Desert of the Hauvan.

According to Dr. Keith, the ruins bear extensive marks of splendour.

[3680] Ptolemy mentions a city of this name in Cœlesyria.

[3681] So called from having been originally groups of four

principalities, held by princes who were vassals to the Roman emperors,

or the kings of Syria.

[3682] Containing the northern district of Palestine, beyond the

Jordan, between Antilibanus and the mountains of Arabia. It was bounded

on the north by the territory of Damascus, on the east by Auranitis, on

the south by Ituræa, and on the west by Gaulanitis. It was so called

from its ranges of rocky mountains, or τραχῶνες, the caves in which

gave refuge to numerous bands of robbers.

[3683] So called from the mountain of that name. Cæsarea Philippi also

bore the name of Panias. It was situate at the south of Mount Hermon,

on the Jordan, just below its source. It was built by Philip the

Tetrarch, B.C. 3. King Agrippa called it Neronias; but it soon lost

that name.

[3684] In C. xiv. of the present Book, as that in which the Jordan

takes its rise.

[3685] A place of great strength in Cœle-Syria, now known as Nebi Abel,

situate between Heliopolis and Damascus.

[3686] Situate between Tripolis and Antaradus, at the north-west foot

of Mount Libanus. It lay within a short distance of the sea, and

was famous for the worship paid by its inhabitants to Astarte, the

Syrian Aphrodite. A temple was erected here to Alexander the Great,

in which Alexander Severus, the Roman Emperor, was born, his parents

having resorted thither to celebrate a festival, A.D. 205. From this

circumstance, its name was changed to Cæsarea. Burckhardt fixes its

site at a hill called Tel-Arka.

[3687] Of this place, which probably took its name from its numerous

vines, nothing whatever is known.

[3688] Called by Pliny, in B. xii. c. 41, Gabba. It was situate at the

foot of Mount Carmel between Cæsarea and Ptolemais, sixteen miles from

the former. No remains of it are to be seen. It must not be confounded

with Gabala, in Galilee, fortified by Herod the Great.

[3689] The town was situate between Cæsarea and Ptolemais. The river

has been identified with the modern Nahi-el-Zerka, in which, according

to Pococke, crocodiles have been found.

[3690] Called Dor, before the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites.

See Joshua xvii. 11, and Judges i. 27. It afterwards belonged to the

half-tribe of Manasseh. Its site is now called Tortura.

[3691] Its site is now called Atlik, according to D’Anville. Parisot

suggests that it is the modern Keufah; others that it is Hepha, near

Mount Carmel.

[3692] Insignificant in height and extent, but celebrated in Scripture

history. It still bears the name of Cape Carmel.

[3693] It is not improbable that he means the town of Porphyrium, now

Khaifa, at the foot of the mountain.

[3694] Probably the Gitta of Polybius. Of it and Jeba, nothing is known.

[3695] The Nahr-Naman, or Abou, on which Ptolemais was situate.

[3696] Employed in the extensive manufacture of that article at Tyre

and Sidon, to the north of this district.

[3697] A corruption of Acco, the native name; from which the English

name Acre, and the French St. Jean d’Acre. The earliest mention of it

is in the Book of Judges, i. 31. It is supposed that it was Ptolemy I.,

the son of Lagus, who enlarged it and gave it the name of Ptolemais.

Its citadel, however, still retained the name of Ace. Under the Romans,

Ptolemais, as mentioned by Pliny, was a colony, and belonged to

Galilee. The modern city of Acre occupies its site.

[3698] The Ach-Zib of Scripture, mentioned in Joshua xix. 29, and

Judges i. 31. Its ruins are to be seen near the sea-shore, about three

hours’ journey north of Acre. The spot is still called Es-Zib.

[3699] Still called the Ras-el-Abiad, or White Promontory.

[3700] A colony of the Sidonians: its scanty ruins are still to be seen

at the poor village of Sur. The wars of the Crusades completed its

downfall. The island is still joined to the mainland by the mole which

was erected by Alexander the Great during the siege of the place; or,

according to some, by the Syrians themselves.

[3701] Carthage is supposed to have been colonized _immediately_ by the

people of Utica.

[3702] From which was made the famous Tyrian purple.

[3703] Or “ancient Tyre,” which was built on the mainland.

[3704] The Zarephath of 1 Kings xvii. 9, 10, whither Elijah was sent to

the widow, whose son he afterwards raised from the dead. Its site is

now known as Sarfand.

[3705] Probably meaning “City of the Birds,” perhaps from the

quantities of game in its vicinity. Its site now bears the name of

Adlan.

[3706] Its site is now called Saïda. In the time of David and Solomon,

it was probably subject to the kings of Tyre.

[3707] Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, was said to have been the son of

its king Agenor.

[3708] The Lebanon of Scripture. This intervening space, the ancient

Cœle-Syria, is now inhabited by the Druses.

[3709] Perhaps the modern Nahr-el-Damur.

[3710] Now Beyrout. By some it has been identified with the Berotha,

or Berothai, of the Hebrew Scriptures. Its full name as a Roman colony

was, “Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus.” It was colonized by the

veterans of the Fifth, or Macedonian, and the Eighth, or Augustan,

Legions. Beyrout, or Berut, is now, in a commercial point of view, the

most important place in Syria.

[3711] Nothing is known of this place. The name seems to mean, the

“Town of the Lion.”

[3712] Now the Nahr-el-Kelb, or “Dog’s River.”

[3713] The site of this place seems not to be known.

[3714] Now the Nahr-el-Ibrahim.

[3715] The modern town which stands on its site is called Jebeil. It

is situate at the foot of Lebanon. The ancient name seems to have been

Gebal, and the Geblites are mentioned in Joshua, xiii. 5; 1 Kings,

v. 18; and Ezek. xxvii. 9. The ruins of the ancient city are very

extensive. Astarte and Isis seem to have been worshipped here.

[3716] Now Batrun, a small town about twelve miles north of Byblus,

said to have been founded by Ithobal, king of Tyre.

[3717] Now Gazir, according to D’Anville.

[3718] Twelve miles from Tripolis. Its name would seem to bear

reference to a trireme, or galley. It has been said that this is the

place referred to in the Book of Daniel, xi. 30.

[3719] Polybius speaks of this place as being burnt by Antiochus. Its

site still bears the name of Calamon, according to D’Anville.

[3720] This properly consisted of three distinct cities, 600 feet

apart, each with its own walls, but all connected in a common

constitution; having one place of assembly, and forming in reality one

city only. They were colonies, as here suggested by Pliny, of Tyre,

Sidon, and Arados respectively. It is still a considerable place,

called Tarabolos, or Tarablis, by the Turks.

[3721] Its site is still known as Ortosa, or Tortosa.

[3722] Probably the same as the Nahr-el-Kebir, or “Great River,” to the

north of Tripolis. It may have derived its Greek name, which signifies

“free,” from its similarity to that given to it by the people of the

country.

[3723] This was an important city, near Antarados. Its ruins are spoken

of as very extensive. Simyra is still called Sumira.

[3724] Now called Ruad; an island off the northern coast of Phœnicia,

at a distance of twenty stadia from the mainland, Pliny falling short

here in his measurement. The city of Arados was very populous, though

built on a mere rock; and, contrary to Eastern custom, the houses

contained many stories. It is spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel under

the name of Arvad: see c. xxvii. 8, 11. In importance, it ranked next

to the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

[3725] Its modern name does not appear to be known.

[3726] Also called Antarados, as lying nearly opposite to the city of

Arados. According to Strabo, the port of Antarados was called Carne,

or Carnos. In the time of the Crusades, it was known under the name of

Tortosa. Its present name is Tartus.

[3727] Now Banias. It was situate twenty-four miles north of Antarados.

Its name is supposed to have originated in the baths in its vicinity.

The site is deserted; but a few ruins of the ancient town are still to

be seen.

[3728] Eight miles from Balanea. Its ruins are known by the name of

Boldo.

[3729] Its site is now known as Djebeleh, a small village in the

vicinity of Laodicea, or Latakia. The sun was probably worshipped here,

and hence the Emperor Heliogabalus derived his name.

[3730] About fifty miles south of Antioch, now called Ladikiyeh, or

Latakia, noted for the excellence of its tobacco, which has an European

reputation. It was built by Seleucus I., on the site of an earlier

city, called Ramitha. It was afterwards greatly favoured by Julius

Cæsar. Herod the Great built an aqueduct here, the ruins of which are

still in existence. It is now a poor Turkish village; but there are

considerable remains of the ancient city to be seen in its vicinity.

[3731] It has been suggested, that Pliny means the city of Lydda, in

the tribe of Benjamin, which of course would be very much to the south,

and quite out of the order in which he is proceeding. If that is not

the place meant, this Diospolis is utterly unknown.

[3732] At some miles’ distance to the north of Laodicea. Pococke found

some traces of its site at a spot called Minta Baurdeleh, or the Bay of

the Tower.

[3733] Pliny is in error here most probably, and is speaking of a place

as being in Syria which in reality was in Cilicia, between Platanus and

Cragus. The name implies its situation near a mountain torrent.

[3734] On a small bay, some miles north of Heraclea.

[3735] Or Antioch, the capital of the Greek kings of Syria, and the

most famous of the sixteen cities built by Seleucus Nicator, and called

after the name of his father, (or son, as some say,) Antiochus. It was

built on the Orontes, and formed one of the most beautiful and pleasant

cities of the ancient world. The modern Antakieh is a poor town, built

on the north-western part of the site of the ancient city, by the

river. The walls, built by Justinian, may still be traced for a circuit

of four miles. Here the followers of our Saviour first obtained the

name of “Christians.”

[3736] That is, “Near Daphne,” there being a celebrated grove of that

name, consecrated to Apollo, in its immediate vicinity.

[3737] Now called the Nahr-el-Asy.

[3738] Now Seleuca, or Kepse, at the foot of Mount Pieria. It has been

referred to in a previous note.

[3739] Now known as Djebel-el-Akra.

[3740] In the extreme north-east of Egypt. See pp. 422 and 424.

[3741] The beginning of the fourth watch was three o’clock in the

morning. The height of this mountain does not in reality appear to be

anything remarkable, and has been ascertained to be but 5318 feet.

There is probably no foundation for the marvellous story here told

by Pliny; nevertheless, we are told by Spartianus, that the Emperor

Adrian passed a night upon the mountain, for the purpose of seeing

this extraordinary sight; but a storm arising, it prevented the

gratification of his curiosity. It lay near Nymphæum and Seleucia, and

its base was washed by the waters of the Orontes.

[3742] Or Baalbec, in the interior of Syria.

[3743] According to Ansart, it still retains that name.

[3744] Now called Bylan. This was the name of the narrow pass between a

portion of Mount Taurus and the Rock of Rossicum. According to Ansart,

the spot is called at the present day Saggal Doutan.

[3745] This was a Phœnician colony, on the eastern side of the Gulf of

Issus; it is said by Ansart still to retain its ancient name.

[3746] Now called Alma-Dagh, a branch of Mount Taurus, running from

the head of the Gulf of Issus, north-east, to the principal chain, and

dividing Syria from Cilicia and Cappadocia. There were two passes in

it, the Syrian Gates and the Amanian Gates. It is often spoken of by

Cicero, who was the Roman governor of Cilicia.

[3747] The locality of this place is unknown, as Pliny is the only

author who mentions it.

[3748] Now Kulat-el-Mudik, situate in the valley of the Orontes, and

capital of the province of Apamene. It was fortified and enlarged

by Seleucus Nicator, who gave it its name, after his wife Apama. It

also bore the Macedonian name of Pella. It was situate on a hill, and

was so far surrounded by the windings of the Orontes, as to become a

peninsula, whence its name of Chersonesus. Very extensive ruins of this

place still exist.

[3749] It is suggested, that these are the Phylarchi Arabes of Strabo,

now called the Nosairis, who were situate to the east of Apamea. The

river Marsyas here mentioned was a small tributary of the Orontes, into

which it falls on the east side, near Apamea.

[3750] This was situate in Cyrrhestica, in Syria, on the high road

from Antioch to Mesopotamia, twenty-four miles to the west of the

Euphrates, and thirty-six to the south-west of Zeugma; two and a half

days’ journey from Berœa, and five from Antioch. It obtained its Greek

name of the “Sacred City” from Seleucus Nicator, owing to its being the

chief seat of the worship of the Syrian goddess Astarte. Its ruins were

first discovered by Maundrell.

[3751] In the former editions it is “Magog;” but Sillig’s reading of

“Mabog” is correct, and corresponds with the Oriental forms of Munbedj,

Manbesja, Manbesjun, Menba, Manba, Manbegj, and the modern name, Kara

Bambuche, or Buguk Munbedj.

[3752] Astarte, the semi-fish goddess.

[3753] This Chalcis is supposed to have been situate somewhere in the

district of the Buckaa, probably south of Heliopolis, or Baalbec. It

has been suggested, that its site may have been at, or near Zahle; in

the vicinity of which, at the village of Heusn Nieba, are to be seen

some remarkable remains. Or else, possibly, at Majdel Anjar, where

Abulfeda speaks of great ruins of hewn stone.

[3754] Ansart suggests, that Belus is here the name of a mountain, and

that it may be the same that is now called Djebel-il-Semmaq.

[3755] To the north of Chalcidene, a town of Syria, on the slopes of

the Taurus, eighty miles to the north-cast of Antioch. In the Roman

times, it was the head-quarters of the Tenth Legion. The ruins near the

modern village of Corus represent the ancient Cyrrhus. Of the Gazatæ

and Gindareni, nothing is known.

[3756] Possibly meaning the “Burghers of Granum.” Nothing is known of

these people.

[3757] The people of Emesa, a city in the district of Apamene, on

the right, or eastern bank of the Orontes, to which, in C. 26 of the

present Book, Pliny assigns a desert district beyond Palmyra. It was

celebrated in ancient times for its magnificent temple of the sun,

and the appointment of its priest, Bassianus, or Heliogabalus, to the

imperial dignity, in his fourteenth year. It was made a colony, with

the _jus Italicum_, by Caracalla, and afterwards became the capital of

Phœnicia Libanesia. The present name of its site is Hems.

[3758] The Hylatæ are totally unknown. Ituræa was situate in the

north-east of Palestine, and, with Trachonitis, belonged to the

tetrarchy of Philip. Its boundaries cannot be precisely determined; but

it may probably be traversed by a line drawn from the Lake of Tiberias

to Damascus.

[3759] According to Ptolemy, the people of Mariama, some miles to the

west of Emesa.

[3760] In the district of Laodicea, according to Ptolemy.

[3761] Near the Portæ Amani, or “Passes of Amanus.”

[3762] Pinara was near Pagræ, in Pieria, last mentioned.

[3763] Probably Seleucia, in Mesopotamia, now called Bir, on the left

bank of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of Zeugma, a fortress of

considerable importance.

[3764] Its site is doubtful. Sebj d’Aboulgazi has been suggested.