All those animals that are viviparous produce their young with the head

first, the young animal about the time of yeaning turning itself round

in the womb, where at other times it lies extended at full length.

Quadrupeds during the time of gestation have the legs extended, and

lying close to the belly; while, on the other hand, man is gathered up

into a ball, with the nose between the knees. With reference to moles,

of which we have previously[3121] spoken, it is supposed that they are

produced when a female has conceived, not by a male, but of herself

only. Hence it is that there is no vitality in this false conception,

because it does not proceed from the conjunction of the two sexes; and

it has only that sort of vegetative existence in itself which we see in

plants and trees.

(65.) Of all those which produce their young in a perfect state, the

swine is the only one that bears them in considerable numbers as well;

and, indeed, several times in the year—a thing that is contrary to the

usual nature of animals with a solid or cloven hoof.

CHAP. 85.—ANIMALS WHOSE ORIGIN IS STILL UNKNOWN.

But it is mice that surpass all the other animals in fecundity; and

it is not without some hesitation that I speak of them, although I

have Aristotle and some of the officers of Alexander the Great for

my authority. It is said that these animals generate by licking one

another, and not by copulation. They have related cases where a single

female has given birth to one hundred and twenty young ones, and in

Persia some were found, even pregnant themselves,[3122] while yet in

the womb of the parent. It is believed also that these animals will

become pregnant on tasting salt. Hence we find that we have no longer

any reason to wonder how such vast multitudes of field-mice devastate

the standing corn; though it is still a mystery, with reference to

them, in what way it is that such multitudes die so suddenly; for

their dead bodies are never to be found, and there is not a person in

existence that has ever dug up a mouse in a field during the winter.

Multitudes of these animals visit Troas, and before this they have

driven away the inhabitants in consequence of their vast numbers.

They multiply greatly during times of drought; it is said also that

when they are about to die, a little worm grows in their head. The mice

of Egypt have hard hairs, just like those of the hedge-hog. They walk

on their hind feet, as also do those of the Alps. When two animals

couple of different kinds, the union is only prolific if the time of

gestation is the same in both. Among the oviparous quadrupeds, it is

generally believed that the lizard brings forth by the mouth, though

Aristotle denies the fact. These animals, too, do not sit upon their

eggs, as they forget in what place they have laid them, being utterly

destitute of memory; hence it is that the young ones are hatched

spontaneously.

CHAP. 86. (66.)—SALAMANDERS.

We find it stated by many authors,[3123] that a serpent is produced

from the spinal marrow of a man. Many creatures, in fact, among the

quadrupeds even, have a secret and mysterious origin.

(67) Thus, for instance, the salamander, an animal like a lizard in

shape, and with a body starred all over, never comes out except during

heavy showers, and disappears the moment it becomes fine. This animal

is so intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same

way as ice does. It spits forth a milky matter from its mouth; and

whatever part of the human body is touched with this, all the hair

falls off, and the part assumes the appearance of leprosy.

CHAP. 87. (68.)—ANIMALS WHICH ARE BORN OF BEINGS THAT HAVE NOT

BEEN BORN THEMSELVES—ANIMALS WHICH ARE BORN THEMSELVES BUT ARE NOT

REPRODUCTIVE—ANIMALS WHICH ARE OF NEITHER SEX.

Some animals, again, are engendered of beings that are not engendered

themselves, and have no such origin as those above mentioned, which are

produced in the spring, or at some stated period of the year. Some of

these are non-productive, the salamander, for instance, which is of no

sex, either male or female; a distinction also, which does not exist in

the eel and the other kinds that are neither viviparous nor oviparous.

The oyster also, as well as the other shell-fish that adhere to the

bottom of the sea or to rocks, are of neither sex. Again, as to those

animals which are able to engender of themselves, if they are looked

upon as divided into male and female, they do engender something, it is

true, by coupling, but the produce is imperfect, quite dissimilar to

the animal itself, and one from which nothing else is reproduced; this

we find to be the case with flies, when they give birth to maggots.

This fact is better illustrated by the nature of those animals which

are known as insects; a subject, indeed, very difficult of explanation,

and one which requires to be treated of in a Book[3124] by itself. We

will, therefore, proceed for the present with our remarks upon the

instincts of the animals that have been previously mentioned.

CHAP. 88. (69.)—THE SENSES OF ANIMALS—THAT ALL HAVE THE SENSES OF TOUCH

AND TASTE—THOSE WHICH ARE MORE REMARKABLE FOR THEIR SIGHT, SMELL, OR

HEARING—MOLES—WHETHER OYSTERS HAVE THE SENSE OF HEARING.

Man excels more especially in his sense of touch, and next, in that

of taste. In other respects, he is surpassed by many of the animals.

Eagles can see more clearly than any other animals, while vultures

have the better smell; moles hear more distinctly than others,

although buried in the earth, so dense and sluggish an element as

it is; and what is even more, although every sound has a tendency

upwards, they can hear the words that are spoken; and, it is said,

they can even understand it if you talk about them, and will take to

flight immediately. Among men, a person who has not enjoyed the sense

of hearing in his infancy, is deprived of the powers of speech as

well; and there are none deaf from their birth who are not dumb also.

Among the marine animals, it is not probable that oysters enjoy the

sense of hearing, but it is said that immediately a noise is made the

solen[3125] will sink to the bottom; it is for this reason, too, that

silence is observed by persons while fishing at sea.

CHAP. 89. (70.)—WHICH FISHES HAVE THE BEST HEARING.

Fishes have neither organs of hearing, nor yet the exterior orifice.

And yet, it is quite certain that they do hear; for it is a well-known

fact, that in some fish-ponds they are in the habit of being assembled

to be fed by the clapping of the hands. In the fish-ponds, too, that

belong to the Emperor, the fish are in the habit of coming, each

kind as it bears its name.[3126] So too, it is said, the mullet, the

wolf-fish, the salpa, and the chromis, have a very exquisite sense of

hearing, and that it is for this reason that they frequent shallow

water.

CHAP. 90.—WHICH FISHES HAVE THE FINEST SENSE OF SMELL.

It is quite manifest that fishes have the sense of smell also; for they

are not all to be taken with the same bait, and are seen to smell at

it before they seize it. Some, too, that are concealed in the bottom

of holes, are driven out by the fisherman, by the aid of the smell of

salted fish; with this he rubs the entrance of their retreat in the

rock, immediately upon which they take to flight from the spot, just as

though they had recognized the dead carcases of those of their kind.

Then, again, they will rise to the surface at the smell of certain

odours, such, for instance as roasted sæpia and polypus; and hence it

is that these baits are placed in the osier kipes used for taking fish.

They immediately take to flight upon smelling the bilge water in a

ship’s hold, and more especially upon scenting the blood of fish.

The polypus cannot possibly be torn away from the rock to which it

clings; but upon the herb cunila[3127] being applied, the instant it

smells it the fish quits its hold. Purples also are taken by means of

fetid substances. And then, too, as to the other kinds of animals,

who is there that can feel any doubt? Serpents are driven away by the

smell of harts’ horns, and more particularly by that of storax. Ants,

too, are killed by the odours of origanum, lime, or sulphur. Gnats are

attracted by acids, but not by anything sweet.

(71.) All animals have the sense of touch, those even which have no

other sense; for even in the oyster, and, among land animals, in the

worm, this sense is found.

CHAP. 91.—DIVERSITIES IN THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS.

I am strongly inclined to believe, too, that the sense of taste exists

in all animals; for why else should one seek one kind of food, and

another another? And it is in this more especially that is to be seen

the wondrous power of Nature, the framer of all things. Some animals

seize their prey with their teeth, others, again, with their claws;

some tear it to pieces with their hooked beak; others, that have a

broad bill, wabble in their food; others, with a sharp nib, work holes

into it; others suck at their food; others, again, lick it, others

sup it in, others chew it, and others bolt it whole. And no less a

diversity is there in the uses they make of their feet, for the purpose

of carrying, tearing asunder, holding, squeezing, suspending[3128]

their bodies, or incessantly scratching the ground.

CHAP. 92. (72.)—ANIMALS WHICH LIVE ON POISONS.

Roe-bucks and quails[3129] grow fat on poisons, as we have already

mentioned, being themselves the most harmless of animals. Serpents

will feed on eggs, and the address displayed by the dragon is quite

remarkable.—For it will either swallow the egg whole, if its jaws will

allow of it, and roll over and over so as to break it within, and then

by coughing eject the shells: or else, if it is too young to be able to

do so, it will gradually encircle the egg with its coils, and hold it

so tight as to break it at the end, just, in fact, as though a piece

had been cut out with a knife; then holding the remaining part in its

folds, it will suck the contents. In the same manner, too, when it has

swallowed a bird whole, it will make a violent effort, and vomit the

feathers.

CHAP. 93.—ANIMALS WHICH LIVE ON EARTH—ANIMALS WHICH WILL NOT DIE OF

HUNGER OR THIRST.

Scorpions live on earth. Serpents, when an opportunity presents itself,

show an especial liking for wine, although in other respects they need

but very little drink. These animals, also, when kept shut up, require

but little aliment, hardly any at all, in fact. The same is the case

also with spiders, which at other times live by suction. Hence it is,

that no venomous animal will die of hunger or thirst; it being the fact

that they have neither heat, blood, nor sweat; all which humours, from

their natural saltness, increase the animal’s voracity. In this class

of animals all those are the most deadly, which have eaten some of

their own kind just before they inflict the wound. The sphingium and

the satyr[3130] stow away food in the pouches of their cheeks, after

which they will take it out piece by piece with their hands and eat it;

and thus they do for a day or an hour what the ant usually does[3131]

for the whole year.

(73.) The only animal with toes upon the feet that feeds upon grass is

the hare, which will eat corn as well; while the solid-hoofed animals,

and the swine among the cloven-footed ones, will eat all kinds of

food, as well as roots. To roll over and over is a peculiarity of the

animals with a solid hoof. All those which have serrated teeth are

carnivorous. Bears live also upon corn, leaves, grapes, fruit, bees,

crabs even, and ants; wolves, as we have already[3132] stated, will eat

earth even when they are famishing. Cattle grow fat by drinking; hence

it is that salt agrees with them so well; the same is also the case

with beasts of burden, although they live on corn as well as grass; but

they eat just in proportion to what they drink. In addition to those

already spoken of, among the wild animals, stags ruminate, when reared

in a domesticated state. All animals ruminate lying in preference to

standing, and more in winter than in summer, mostly for seven months

in the year. The Pontic mouse[3133] also ruminates in a similar manner.

CHAP. 94.—DIVERSITIES IN THE DRINKING OF ANIMALS.

In drinking, those animals which have serrated[3134] teeth, lap; and

common mice do the same, although they belong to another class. Those

which have the teeth continuous, horses and oxen, for instance, sup;

bears do neither the one nor the other, but seem to bite at the water,

and so devour it. In Africa, the greater part of the wild beasts do

not drink in summer, through the want of rain; for which reason it

is that the mice of Libya, when caught, will die if they drink. The

ever-thirsting plains of Africa produce the oryx,[3135] an animal

which, in consequence of the nature of its native locality, never

drinks, and which, in a remarkable manner, affords a remedy against

drought: for the Gætulian bandits by its aid fortify themselves

against thirst, by finding in its body certain vesicles filled with a

most wholesome liquid. In this same Africa, also, the pards conceal

themselves in the thick foliage of the trees, and then spring down from

the branches on any creature that may happen to be passing by, thus

occupying what are ordinarily the haunts of the birds. Cats too, with

what silent stealthiness, with what light steps do they creep towards

a bird! How slily they will sit and watch, and then dart out upon a

mouse! These animals scratch up the earth and bury their ordure, being

well aware that the smell of it would betray their presence.

CHAP. 95. (74.)—ANTIPATHIES OF ANIMALS. PROOFS THAT THEY ARE SENSIBLE

OF FRIENDSHIP AND OTHER AFFECTIONS.

Hence there will be no difficulty in perceiving that animals are

possessed of other instincts besides those previously mentioned. In

fact, there are certain antipathies and sympathies among them, which

give rise to various affections besides those which we have mentioned

in relation to each species in its appropriate place. The swan and the

eagle are always at variance, and the raven and the chloreus[3136]

seek each other’s eggs by night. In a similar manner, also, the raven

and the kite are perpetually at war with one another, the one carrying

off the other’s food. So, too, there are antipathies between the crow

and the owl, the eagle and the trochilus;[3137]—between the last two,

if we are to believe the story, because the latter has received the

title of the “king of the birds:” the same, again, with the owlet and

all the smaller birds.

Again, in relation to the terrestrial animals, the weasel is at enmity

with the crow, the turtle-dove with the pyrallis,[3138] the ichneumon

with the wasp, and the phalangium with other spiders. Among aquatic

animals, there is enmity between the duck and the sea-mew, the falcon

known as the “harpe,” and the hawk called the “triorchis.” In a similar

manner, too, the shrew-mouse and the heron are ever on the watch for

each other’s young; and the ægithus,[3139] so small a bird as it is,

has an antipathy to the ass; for the latter, when scratching itself,

rubs its body against the brambles, and so crushes the bird’s nest;

a thing of which it stands in such dread, that if it only hears the

voice of the ass when it brays, it will throw its eggs out of the

nest, and the young ones themselves will sometimes fall to the ground

in their fright; hence it is that it will fly at the ass, and peck at

its sores with its beak. The fox, too, is at war with the nisus,[3140]

and serpents with weasels and swine. Æsalon[3141] is the name given

to a small bird that breaks the eggs of the raven, and the young of

which are anxiously sought by the fox; while in its turn it will peck

at the young of the fox, and even the parent itself. As soon as the

ravens espy this, they come to its assistance, as though against a

common enemy. The acanthis, too, lives among the brambles; hence it

is that it also has an antipathy to the ass, because it devours the

bramble blossoms. The ægithus and the anthus,[3142] too, are at such

mortal enmity with each other, that it is the common belief that their

blood will not mingle; and it is for this reason that they have the bad

repute of being employed in many magical incantations. The thos and

the lion are at war with each other; and, indeed, the smallest objects

and the greatest just as much. Caterpillars will avoid a tree that is

infested with ants. The spider, poised in its web, will throw itself

on the head of a serpent as it lies stretched beneath the shade of the

tree where it has built, and with its bite pierce its brain; such is

the shock, that the creature will hiss from time to time, and then,

seized with vertigo, coil round and round, while it finds itself unable

to take to flight, or so much as to break the web of the spider, as it

hangs suspended above; this scene only ends with its death.

CHAP. 96.—INSTANCES OF AFFECTION SHOWN BY SERPENTS.

On the other hand, there is a strict friendship existing between the

peacock and the pigeon, the turtle-dove and the parrot, the blackbird

and the turtle, the crow and the heron, all of which join in a common

enmity against the fox. The harpe also, and the kite, unite against the

triorchis.

And then, besides, have we not seen instances of affection in the

serpent even, that most ferocious of all animals? We have already[3143]

related the story that is told of a man in Arcadia, who was saved by a

dragon which had belonged to him, and of his voice being recognized by

the animal. We must also make mention here of another marvellous story

that is related by Phylarchus about the asp. He tells us, that in Egypt

one of these animals, after having received its daily nourishment at

the table of a certain person, brought forth, and that it so happened

that the son of its entertainer was killed by one of its young ones;

upon which, returning to its food as usual, and becoming sensible of

the crime, it immediately killed the young one, and returned to the

house no more.

CHAP. 97. (75.)—THE SLEEP OF ANIMALS.

The question as to their sleep, is one that is by no means difficult

to solve. In the land animals, it is quite evident that all that have

eyelids sleep. With reference to aquatic animals, it is admitted that

they also sleep, though only for short periods, even by those writers

who entertain doubts as to the other animals; and they come to this

conclusion, not from any appearance of the eyes, for they have no

eyelids, indeed, to close, but because they are to be seen buried in

deep repose, and to all appearance fast asleep, betraying no motion in

any part of the body except the tail, and by starting when they happen

to hear a noise. With regard to the thunny, it is stated with still

greater confidence that it sleeps; indeed, it is often found in that

state near the shore, or among the rocks. Flat fish are also found fast

asleep in shallow water, and are often taken in that state with the

hand: and, as to the dolphin and the balæna, they are even heard to

snore.

It is quite evident, also, that insects sleep, from the silent

stillness which they preserve; and even if a light is put close to

them, they will not be awoke thereby.

CHAP. 98.—WHAT ANIMALS ARE SUBJECT TO DREAMS.

Man, just after his birth, is hard pressed by sleep for several months,

after which he becomes more and more wakeful, day by day. The infant

dreams[3144] from the very first, for it will suddenly awake with every

symptom of alarm, and while asleep will imitate the action of sucking.

There are some persons, however, who never dream; indeed, we find

instances stated where it has been a fatal sign for a person to dream,

who has never done so before. Here we find ourselves invited by a grand

field of investigation, and one that is full of alleged proofs on both

sides of the question, whether, when the mind is at rest in sleep, it

has any foreknowledge of the future, and if so, by what process this

is brought about, or whether this is not altogether a matter quite

fortuitous, as most other things are? If we were to attempt to decide

the question by instances quoted, we should find as many on the one

side as on the other.

It is pretty generally agreed, that dreams, immediately after we have

taken wine and food, or when we have just fallen asleep again after

waking, have no signification whatever. Indeed, sleep is nothing else

than the retiring[3145] of the mind into itself. It is quite evident

that, besides man, horses, dogs, oxen, sheep, and goats have dreams;

consequently, the same is supposed to be the case with all animals that

are viviparous. As to those which are oviparous, it is a matter of

uncertainty, though it is equally certain that they do sleep. But we

must now pass on to a description of the insects.

* * * * *

Summary.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, seven hundred

and ninety-three.

* * * * *

Roman authors quoted.—Manilius,[3146] Cornelius Valerianus,[3147]

the Acta Triumphorum,[3148] Umbricius Melior,[3149] Massurius

Sabinus,[3150] Antistius Labeo,[3151] Trogus,[3152] Cremutius,[3153]

M. Varro,[3154] Macer Æmilius,[3155] Melissus,[3156] Mucianus,[3157]

Nepos,[3158] Fabius Pictor,[3159] T. Lucretius,[3160] Cornelius

Celsus,[3161] Horace,[3162] Deculo,[3163] Hyginus,[3164] the

Sasernæ,[3165] Nigidius,[3166] Mamilius Sura.[3167]

* * * * *

Foreign authors quoted.—Homer, Phemonoë,[3168] Philemon,[3169]

Bœus[3170] who wrote the Ornithogonia, Hylas[3171] who wrote an

augury, Aristotle,[3172] Theophrastus,[3173] Callimachus,[3174]

Æschylus,[3175] King Hiero,[3176] King Philometor,[3177] Archytas[3178]

of Tarentum, Amphilochus[3179] of Athens, Anaxipolis[3180] of

Thasos, Apollodorus[3181] of Lemnos, Aristophanes[3182] of Miletus,

Antigonus[3183] of Cymæ, Agathocles[3184] of Chios, Apollonius[3185]

of Pergamus, Aristander[3186] of Athens, Bacchius[3187] of Miletus,

Bion[3188] of Soli, Chæreas[3189] of Athens, Diodorus[3190] of Priene,

Dion[3191] of Colophon, Democritus,[3192] Diophanes[3193] of Nicæa,

Epigenes[3194] of Rhodes, Euagon[3195] of Thasos, Euphronius[3196]

of Athens, Juba,[3197] Androtion[3198] who wrote on Agriculture,

Æschrion[3199] who wrote on Agriculture, Lysimachus[3200] who wrote

on Agriculture, Dionysius[3201] who translated Mago, Diophanes[3202]

who made an Epitome of Dionysius, Nicander,[3203] Onesicritus,[3204]

Phylarchus,[3205] Hesiod.[3206]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Or the “Hospitable” Sea, now the Black Sea.

[2] Or the “Inhospitable.”

[3] The streams which discharge their waters into the Palus Mæotis, or

Sea of Azof.

[4] Straits of the Dardanelles or of Gallipoli, spoken of in B. iv. c.

18, as seven stadia in width.

[5] The Thracian Bosporus, now the Channel or Straits of

Constantinople, and the Cimmerian Bosporus or Straits of Kaffa, or Yeni

Kale.

[6] From βοῦς, an ox, and πορός, “a passage.” According to the legend,

it was at the Thracian Bosporus that the cow Io made her passage from

one continent to the other, and hence the name, in all probability,

celebrated alike in the fables and the history of antiquity. The

Cimmerian Bosporus not improbably borrowed its name from the Thracian.

See Æsch. Prom. Vinc. l. 733.

[7] This sentence seems to bear reference to the one that follows, and

not, as punctuated in the Latin, to the one immediately preceding it.

[8] It is not probable that this is the case at the Straits of Kaffa,

which are nearly four miles in width at the narrowest part.

[9] Now the Riva, a river of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, falling into the

Euxine north-east of Chalcedon.

[10] Probably an obscure town.

[11] On the river Calpas or Calpe, in Bithynia. Xenophon, in the

Anabasis, describes it as about half way between Byzantium and

Heraclea. The spot is identified in some of the maps as Kirpeh Limán,

and the promontory as Cape Kirpeh.

[12] Still known as the Sakaria.

[13] Now called the Sursak, according to Parisot.

[14] Now the Lef-ke. See the end of c. 42 of the last Book.

[15] The modern Gulf of Sakaria. Of the Mariandyni, who gave the

ancient name to it, little or nothing is known.

[16] Its site is now known as Harakli or Eregli. By Strabo it is

erroneously called a colony of Miletus. It was situate a few miles to

the north of the river Lycus.

[17] Now called the Kilij.

[18] Stephanus Byzantinus speaks of this place as producing whetstones,

or ἀκοναὶ, as well as the plant aconite.

[19] This name was given to the cavern in common with several other

lakes or caverns in various parts of the world, which, like the various

rivers of the name of Acheron, were at some time supposed to be

connected with the lower world.

[20] Now called Falios (or more properly Filiyos), according to

D’Anville, from the river of that name in its vicinity, supposed by

him and other geographers to be the same as the ancient Billis, here

mentioned by Pliny. By others of the ancient writers it is called

Billæus.

[21] Paphlagonia was bounded by Bithynia on the west, and by Pontus

on the east, being separated from the last by the river Halys; on the

south it was divided by the chain of Mount Olympus from Phrygia in the

earlier times, from Galatia at a later period; and on the north it

bordered on the Euxine.

[22] In the Homeric catalogue we find Pylæmenes leading the

Paphlagonians as allies of the Trojans; from this Pylæmenes the later

princes of Paphlagonia claimed their descent, and the country was

sometimes from them called Pylæmenia.

[23] Suspected by Hardouin to have been the same as the Moson or Moston

mentioned by Ptolemy as in Galatia.

[24] It is mentioned by Homer, Il. ii. 855, as situate on the coast of

Paphlagonia.

[25] Strabo also, in B. xii., says that these people afterwards

established themselves in Thrace, and that gradually moving to the

west, they finally settled in the Italian Venetia, which from them

took its name. But in his Fourth Book he says that the Veneti of Italy

owe their origin to the Gallic Veneti, who came from the neighbourhood

known as the modern Vannes.

[26] This city, ninety stadia east of the river Parthenius, occupied a

peninsula, and on each side of the isthmus was a harbour. The original

city, as here mentioned, seems to have had the name of Sesamus or

Sesamum, and it is spoken of by that name in Homer, Il. ii. 853, in

conjunction with Cytorus. The territory of Amastris was famous for its

growth of the best box-wood, which grew on Mount Cytorus. The present

Amasra or Hanasserah occupies its site.

[27] See the last Note.

[28] Otherwise called “Cinolis.” There is a place called Kinla or

Kinoglu in the maps, about half-way between Kerempeh and Sinope, which

is the Kinuli of Abulfeda, and probably the Cirolis or Cimolis of the

Greek geographers.

[29] The modern Estefan or Stefanos.

[30] Now known by the name of Bartin, a corruption of its ancient

appellation.

[31] It still retains its ancient appellation in its name of Cape

Kerempeh: of the ancient town nothing is known.

[32] Now called Sinope, or Sinoub. Some ruins of it are still to be

seen. The modern town is but a poor place, and has probably greatly

declined since the recent attack upon it by the Russian fleet.

Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher, was a native of ancient Sinope.

[33] The boundary, according to Stephanus Byzantinus, also of the

nations of Paphlagonia and Cappadocia. As Parisot remarks, this is an

error, arising from the circumstance of a small tribe bearing the name

of Cappadocians, having settled on its banks, between whom and the

Paphlagonians it served as a limit.

[34] On the river Iris. It was the ancient residence of the kings of

Pontus, but in Strabo’s time it was deserted. It has been suggested

that the modern Azurnis occupies its site.

[35] In the north-west of Pontus, in a fertile plain between the rivers

Halys and Amisus. It is also called Gadilon by Strabo. D’Anville makes

it the modern Aladgiam; while he calls Gaziura by the name of Guedes.

[36] Now called the Kisil Irmak, or Red River. It has been remarked

that Pliny, in making this river to come down from Mount Taurus and

flow at once from south to north, appears to confound the Halys with

one of its tributaries, now known as the Izchel Irmak.

[37] Its site is now called Kiengareh, Kangreh, or Changeri. This was

a town of Paphlagonia, to the south of Mount Olgasys, at a distance of

thirty-five miles from Pompeiopolis.

[38] A commercial place to the south of Sinope. Its site is the modern

Gherseh on the coast.

[39] Now called Eski Samsun; on the west side of the bay or gulf,

anciently called Sinus Amisenus. According to Strabo, it was only 900

stadia from Sinope, or 112-1/2 Roman miles. The walls of the ancient

city are to be seen on a promontory about a mile and a half from the

modern town.

[40] He means the numerous indentations which run southward into the

coast, from the headland of Sinope to a distance of about one degree to

the south.

[41] On examining the map, we shall find that the distance is at least

300 miles across to the gulf of Issus or Iskenderoon.

[42] Not speaking the Greek language.

[43] A part of it only was added to Eupatoria; and it was separated

from the rest by a wall, and probably contained a different population

from that of Amisus. This new quarter contained the residence of the

king, Mithridates Eupator, who built Eupatoria.

[44] The boundaries of Cappadocia varied under the dominion of the

Persians, after the Macedonian conquest, and as a Roman province under

the emperors.

[45] Founded by Archelaüs, the last king of Cappadocia. In Hamilton’s

_Researches_, the site has been assumed to be the modern Ak-serai,

but that place is not on the river Halys, as Leake supposes. It is,

however, considered that Ak-serai agrees very well with the position of

Archelais as laid down in the Itineraries, and that Pliny may have been

misled in supposing that the stream on which it stood was the Halys.

[46] Also called by the name of Chryse, or “Golden,” to distinguish it

from another place of the same name in Pontus. It is generally supposed

that the town of Al-Bostan, on the Sihoon or Sarus, is on or near the

site of this Comana.

[47] Now called Niksar, according to D’Anville, though Hardouin says

that it is Tocat. Parisot remarks, that this place belonged rather to

Pontus than to Cappadocia.

[48] A small tributary of the Iris, or Yeshil-Irmak, mentioned in the

next Chapter.

[49] Still called Amasia, or Amasiyeh, and situate on the river Iris,

or Yeshil Ermak. It was at one time the residence of the princes of

Pontus, and the birth-place of the geographer Strabo. The remains of

antiquity here are very considerable, and extremely interesting.

[50] Both to the west of Neo-Cæsarea. According to Tavernier, as quoted

by Hardouin, the modern name of Sebastia is Sivas.

[51] Which gave name to the district of Melitene, mentioned in c. 20 of

the last Book.

[52] Near Nazianzus, in Cappadocia, the birth-place of Gregory

Nazianzen. The traveller Ainsworth, on his road from Ak-Serai to Kara

Hissar, came to a place called Kaisar Koi, and he has remarked that

by its name and position it might be identified with Diocæsarea. Some

geographers, indeed, look upon Diocæsarea and Nazianzus as the same

place.

[53] Its ruins are still to be seen at Kiz Hisar. It stood in the south

of Cappadocia, at the northern foot of Mount Taurus. Tyana was the

native place of Apollonius, the supposed worker of miracles, whom the

enemies of Christianity have not scrupled to place on a par with Jesus

Christ.

[54] Some ruins, nineteen geographical miles from Ayas, are supposed to

denote the site of ancient Castabala or Castabulum.

[55] This place was first called Eupatoria, but not the same which

Mithridates united with a part of Amisus. D’Anville supposes that the

modern town of Tchenikeb occupies its site.

[56] Or Ziela, now known as Zillah, not far south of Amasia. It was

here that Julius Cæsar conquered Pharnaces, on the occasion on which he

wrote his dispatch to Rome, “Veni, vidi, vici.”

[57] Still known by the name of Ardgeh-Dagh.

[58] Its site is still called Kaisiriyeh. It was a city of the district

Cilicia, in Cappadocia, at the base of the mountain Argæus. It was

first called Mazaca, and after that, Eusebeia. There are considerable

remains of the ancient city.

[59] Hardouin remarks, that the district of Sargarausene was not

situate in front of Phrygia, but lay between Morimene and Colopenene,

in the vicinity of Pontus.

[60] Now known as the Konax, a tributary of the Halys, rising in Mount

Littarus, in the chain of Paryadres.

[61] Or “White Syrians.” Strabo says that in his time both the

Cappadocian peoples, those situate above the Taurus and those on the

Euxine, were called Leucosyri, or _White_ Syrians, as there were some

Syrians who were black, and who dwelt to the east of the Amanus.

[62] It is doubtful whether this is the name of a river or a town.

Notwithstanding its alleged celebrity, nothing is known of it.

[63] Hecatæus, as quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus, speaks of Chadisia

as a city of the Leucosyri, or Cappadocians. Neither the river nor the

town appears to have been identified.

[64] Probably on the river of that name, which has been identified with

the Mers Imak, a river two or three miles east of the Acropolis of

Amisus.

[65] The extensive plain on the coast of Pontus, extending east of

the river Iris beyond the Thermodon, and celebrated as the country

of the Amazons. At the mouth of the Thermodon was a city of the same

name, which had been destroyed by the time of Augustus. It is doubtful

whether the modern Thermeh occupies its site.

[66] The same place apparently as is mentioned in the last Chapter

under the name of Zela.

[67] Valerius Triarius, one of the legates of Lucullus, in the war

against Mithridates. Plutarch tells us that Lucullus was obliged to

conceal Triarius from the fury of his troops.

[68] Over Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates.

[69] Now called the Thermea.

[70] Still called Mason-Dagh.

[71] He alludes to Comana, in Pontus, the site of which is now called

Gumenek, near to which, on the Tocat-su, the modern name of the Iris,

Hamilton found some remains of a Roman town, and part of a bridge

apparently of Roman construction. The language of Pliny seems to imply

that it had become in his day nothing beyond a _manteium_ or seat of an

oracle.

[72] Strabo speaks of a promontory called Genetes; and Stephanus

Byzantinus mentions a river and port of the same name.

[73] Strabo places the Chaldei, who, he says, were originally called

Chalybes, in that part of the country which lies above Pharnacia (the

modern Kerasunt).

[74] Or Cotyora. According to Xenophon, this was a colony of Sinope

which furnished supplies for the Ten Thousand in their retreat.

The place was on a bay called after the town. Hamilton, in his

_Researches_, &c., Vol. i., is of opinion that Cotyorum may have stood

on the site of Ordou, where some remains of an ancient port, cut out

of the solid rock are still visible. He remarks, however, that some

writers suppose that Cotyora was the modern bay of Pershembah, which is

more sheltered than Ordou. Cotyora was the place of embarkation of the

Ten Thousand.

[75] Similar to what we call tatooing. Parisot suggests that these

people may have been the ancestors of the Mongol tribes who still dwell

in tents similar to those mentioned by Mela as used by the Mossyni.

[76] Or the “long-headed people.”

[77] Its site is not improbably that of the modern Kheresoun, on the

coast of Asia Minor, and west of Trebizond. Lucullus is said to have

brought thence the first cherry-trees planted in Europe.

[78] It has been remarked, that Pliny’s enumeration of names often

rather confuses than helps, and that it is difficult to say where he

intends to place the Bechires. We may perhaps infer from Mela that they

were west of Trapezus and east of the Thermodon.

[79] Now the Kara Su, or Black River, still retaining its ancient

appellation. It rises in Cappadocia, in the chain of Mount Argæus.

[80] Still called by the same name, according to Parisot, though

sometimes it is called the river of Vatisa. More recent authorities,

however, call it Poleman Chai.

[81] On the coast of Pontus, built by king Polemon, perhaps the Second,

on the site of the older city of Side, at the mouth of the Sidenus.

[82] Probably near the promontory of Jasonium, 130 stadia to the

north-east of Polemonium. It was believed to have received its name

from Jason the Argonaut having landed there. It still bears the name of

Jasoon, though more commonly called Bona or Vona.

[83] Sixty stadia, according to Arrian, from the town of Cotyora.

[84] Supposed to have stood on almost the same site as the modern

Kheresoun or Kerasunda. It was built near, or, as some think, on the

site of Cerasus.

[85] Still known by the name of Tireboli, on a river of the same name,

the Tireboli Su.

[86] Now called Tarabosan, Trabezun, or Trebizond. This place was

originally a colony of Sinope, after the loss of whose independence

Trapezus belonged, first to Lesser Armenia, and afterwards to the

kingdom of Pontus. In the middle ages it was the seat of the so-called

empire of Trebizond. It is now the second commercial port of the Black

Sea, ranking next after Odessa.

[87] The “Chalybes of Armenia.” See p. 21.

[88] Theodoret says that the Sanni, and the Lazi, subsequently

mentioned, although subdued by the Roman arms, were never obedient to

the Roman laws. The Heniochi were probably of Grecian origin, as they

were said to have been descended from the charioteers of the Argonauts,

who had been wrecked upon these coasts.

[89] Or Apsarus, or Absarum. Several geographers have placed the

site of this town near the modern one known as Gonieh. Its name was

connected with the myth of Medea and her brother Absyrtus. It is not

improbable that the names Acampsis and Absarus have been given to the

same river by different writers, and that they both apply to the modern

Joruk.

[90] It is suggested by Hardouin that these are the same as the Zydretæ

mentioned in the Periplus of Arrian, and by him placed between the

Heniochi and the Lazi.

[91] See note [89].

[92] Supposed to be the same as the modern Tshorok.

[93] Or “Deep” River. This stream may possibly be identified by

observing that Pliny places only one river between it and the Phasis.

[94] Probably the Madia of Ptolemy, who places it in the interior.

[95] At the present day called Eraklia, according to Parisot.

[96] Now called the Faz or Rhioni.

[97] Still called El Faz or Poti.

[98] This place was in reality thirty-seven miles and a half from the

sea. It was said to have been the native place of the enchantresses

Circe and Medea.

[99] The rivers Hippos and Cyaneos do not appear to have been

identified.

[100] In the previous page.

[101] Now called the Tchorocsu.

[102] It is doubtful whether this is the same river as that mentioned

by Strabo under the name of Chares. D’Anville says that its modern name

is Enguri.

[103] Or “Feeders on Lice;” so called, according to Strabo, from the

extreme filthiness of their habits.

[104] There is a nation in this vicinity still called by a similar

name. Professor Pallas, who visited them, says that nothing can equal

their dishonesty, rapacity, and voracity. Parisot suggests that they

are probably the descendants of the Phthirophagi of Pliny.

[105] Now called the Khalira, according to D’Anville.

[106] Now called the Hati-Scari, according to D’Anville.

[107] Now the Okhum, according to D’Anville.

[108] Now the Mosti-Skari, according to D’Anville.

[109] Still called Savastopoli, according to Hardouin.

[110] This must not be confounded with the other place of the same name

mentioned in the present Chapter. See p. 10.

[111] Hermoläus suggests Pityus as the correct reading.

[112] The Sanni Heniochi; one of these nations has been already

mentioned in the last page.

[113] Inhabited anciently by the Coli, and constituting the northern

portion of ancient Colchis.

[114] In B. v. c. 27.

[115] Or nation “with the black cloaks,” from some peculiarity in their

dress.

[116] This was the great trading-place of the wild tribes in the

interior; and so numerous were they, that the Greeks asserted that

there were seventy different languages spoken in the market of

Dioscurias.

[117] Whence the appellation _Heniochi_, from the Greek ἡνιοχὸς.

[118] There were two places called Heracleium on this coast, one north

and the other south of the river Achæus: probably the latter is here

meant.

[119] Said to have been descended from the Achæans or Greeks who

accompanied Jason in the Argonautic Expedition, or, according to

Ammianus, who resorted thither after the conclusion of the Trojan war.

[120] Probably meaning the “martial people,” or the “people of Mars.”

This was the title, not of a single nation, but of a number of peoples

distinguished for their predatory habits.

[121] This people occupied the N.E. shore of the Euxine, between the

Cimmerian Bosporus and the frontier of Colchis. Their name is still

in existence, and is applied to the whole western district of the

Caucasus, in the forms of Tcherkas, as applied to the people, and

Tcherkeskaia or Circassia, to the country.

[122] Hardouin suggests that these ought to be read as forming one

name, the “Cerri Cephalatomi,” and suggests that they were so called

from their habit of cutting off the heads of their slain enemies.

[123] Meaning, nearly in the extreme corner of Pontus.

[124] In the time of Strabo this was a considerable sea-port, and after

its destruction by the Heniochi, it was restored, and served as an

important frontier fortress of the Roman empire against the Scythians.

[125] This was Mithridates, king of Bosporus, which sovereignty he

obtained by the favour of the emperor Claudius, in A.D. 41. The

circumstances are unknown which led to his subsequent expulsion by the

Romans, who placed his younger brother Cotys on the throne in his stead.

[126] Hardouin thinks that the Thalli inhabited the present country of

Astrakan.

[127] It was the ancient opinion, to which we shall find frequent

reference made in the present Book, that the northern portion of the

Caspian communicated with the Scythian or Septentrional ocean.

[128] Mentioned only by Pliny. It is supposed to answer to the present

Ukrash river; and the town and river of Hierus are probably identical

with the Hieros Portus of Arrian, which has been identified with the

modern Sunjuk-Kala.

[129] Inhabited by the Sindi, a people of Asiatic Sarmatia. They

probably dwelt in and about the modern peninsula of Taman, between the

Sea of Azof and the Black Sea, to the south of the river Hypanis, the

modern Kouban. The site of their capital, Sindos, or Sinda, is supposed

to have been the modern Anapa. Parisot conjectures that this place was

one of the ancient settlements of the Zigeunes, the modern Bohemians or

Gypsies. He seems to found his opinion upon some observations of Malte

Brun (_Précis de Geographie_, vol. vi.) upon the origin of the Gypsy

race, which will amply repay the perusal.

[130] The peninsula on which Taman or Timoutarakan is situate.

[131] The _jugerum_ was 100 Grecian or 104 Roman feet in length.

[132] Signifying in Greek the “sea-shore.”

[133] Lying between Singa and Phanagoria. Rennell fixes it at the

opening of the lake into which the Kouban flows.

[134] Or the “gardens,” from the Greek κῆποι. A town of the Cimmerian

Bosporus, founded by the Milesians. Dr. Clarke identifies the modern

Sienna with it, and the curious Milesian sculptures found there confirm

the supposition.

[135] Its ruins are supposed to be those near Taman, on the eastern

side of the Straits of Kaffa. It was the great emporium for all the

traffic between the coasts of the Palus Mæotis and the countries on the

south of the Caucasus, and was chosen by the kings of Bosporus as their

capital in Asia.

[136] A town of the Sindæ; it possessed, like Phanagoria, a celebrated

temple of Aphrodite Apaturos, or Venus “the Deceiver,” whence probably

its name.

[137] Clarke identifies it with the modern Temruk, but Forbiger with

Eskikrimm.

[138] See B. iv. c. 24.

[139] That lying on the east of the Sea of Azof. It seems impossible to

identify the spot inhabited by each of these savage tribes. Hardouin

says that the modern name of that inhabited by the Mæotici is Coumania.

[140] Parisot suggests that this tribe afterwards emigrated to the

west, and after establishing themselves in Macedonia, finally gave its

name to modern Servia. He remarks, that most of these names appear to

have been greatly mutilated, through the ignorance or carelessness of

the transcribers, no two of the manuscripts agreeing as to the mode in

which they should be spelt.

[141] Or Don. It flows into the Sea of Azof by two larger mouths and

several smaller ones. Strabo says that the distance between the two

larger mouths is sixty stadia.

[142] From the Greek γυναικοκρατουμενοὶ, “ruled over by women.” It is

not improbable that this name was given by some geographer to these

Sarmatian tribes on finding them, at the period of his visit, in

subjection to the rule of a queen. Parisot remarks, that this passage

affords an instance of the little care bestowed by Pliny upon procuring

the best and most correct information, for that the Roman writers had

long repudiated the use of the term “Sauromatæ.” He also takes Pliny to

task for his allusion to these tribes as coupling with the Amazons, the

existence of such a people being in his time generally disbelieved.

[143] Hardouin suggests from εὐάζω, “to celebrate the orgies of

Bacchus.”

[144] Perhaps from κοίτη, a “den” or “cavern,” their habitation.

[145] Parisot suggests that they may have been a Caucasian or

Circassian tribe, because in the Circassian language the word _zig_

has the meaning of “man.” He also suggests that they were probably a

distinct race from the Zingi previously mentioned, whom he identifies

with the ancestors of the Zingari or Bohemians, the modern Gypsies.

[146] The more common reading is “Turcæ,” a tribe also mentioned by

Mela, and which gave name to modern Turkistan.

[147] The Argippæi of Herodotus and other ancient authors. These people

were bald, flat-nosed, and long-chinned. They are again mentioned

by Pliny in C. 14, who calls them a race not unlike the Hyperborei,

and then, like Mela, abridges the description given by Herodotus. By

different writers these people have been identified with the Chinese,

the Brahmins or Lamas, and the Calmucks. The last is thought to be

the most probable opinion, or else that the description of Herodotus,

borrowed by other writers, may be applied to the Mongols in general.

The mountains, at the foot of which they have been placed, are

identified with either the Ural, the western extremity of the Altaï

chain, or the eastern part of the Altaï.

[148] Generally regarded as the western branch of the Ural Mountains.

[149] The former editions mostly have “there _was_,” implying that in

the time of Pliny it no longer existed. The name of this place was

Tanais; its ruins are still to be seen in the vicinity of Kassatchei.

It was founded by a colony from Miletus, and became a flourishing seat

of trade. The modern town of Azof is supposed to occupy nearly its site.

[150] The people of Panticapæum, on the opposite side of the Palus

Mæotis, occupying the site of the present Kertch. It was founded by

the Milesians B.C. 541, and took its name from the neighbouring river

Panticapes.

[151] The Ceraunian mountains were a range belonging to the Caucasian

chain, and situate at its eastern extremity; the relation of this range

to the chain has been variously stated by the different writers.

[152] He may possibly allude to a range of mountains in the Punjaub and

the vicinity of the modern Lahore, by his reference to the Cathæi, who

are supposed to have been the ancient inhabitants of that district. The

localities of the various races here mentioned are involved in great

obscurity.

[153] Or Mediterranean.

[154] See Vol. i. p. 497.

[155] He includes under the term “Cappadocia,” the northern part

originally called “Cappadocia ad Pontum,” and in later times simply

Pontus, and the southern part, originally called “Cappadocia ad

Taurum,” and more recently simply Cappadocia.

[156] Running from the shores of the Euxine to the borders of Syria.

[157] _I. e._ on the eastern side.

[158] Meaning that part of Asia which we now call Asia Minor.

[159] This ill agrees with what he has said in c. 2, that the distance

across from Sinope to the Gulf of Issus is but 200 miles.

[160] Greater Armenia, now known as Erzeroum, Kars, Van, and Erivan,

was bounded on the north-east and north by the river Cyrus, or Kur of

the present day; on the north-west and west by the Moschian mountains,

the prolongation of the chain of the Anti-Taurus, and the Euphrates,

or Frat of the present day; and on the south and south-east by the

mountains called Masius, Niphates, and Gordiæi (the prolongation of the

Taurus), and the lower course of the Araxes. On the east the country

comes to a point at the confluence of the Syrus and Araxes.

[161] Now known as the Kara-bel-Dagh, or Kut-Tagh, a mountain chain

running south-west and north-east from the east of Asia Minor into the

centre of Armenia, and forming the chief connecting link between the

Taurus and the mountains of Armenia.

[162] In B. v. c. 20.

[163] He means, where the river Euphrates runs the farthest to the west.

[164] Littré suggests that the reading should be “Aroei.”

[165] The modern Eraskh or Aras.

[166] The modern Kur.

[167] This district was bounded on the east by the Euphrates, on

the north and north-west by the mountains Scodises, Paryadres, and

Anti-Taurus, and on the south by the Taurus.

[168] This river is said by Ammianus to have taken its name from Cyrus.

It appears, however, to have been a not uncommon name of the rivers of

Persia.

[169] It is probable that these rivers take their rise near each other,

but it is not improbable that the intervening distance mentioned in the

present passage is much too small.

[170] Hardouin thinks that this is Neo-Cæsarea, mentioned as having

been built on the banks of the Euphrates.

[171] Now called Ezaz, according to D’Anville. Parisot suggests that

it ought to be Gaza or Gazaca, probably a colony of Median Gaza, now

Tauris.

[172] Originally called Tephrice. It stood on the river Lycus, and not

far from the sources of the Halys, having been founded by Pompey, where

he gained his first victory over Mithridates, whence its name, the

“City of Victory.” The modern Enderez or Devrigni, probably marks its

site.

[173] Ritter places it in Sophene, the modern Kharpat, and considers

that it may be represented by the modern Sert, the Tigranocerta of

D’Anville.

[174] The capital of Sophene, one of the districts of Armenia. St.

Martin thinks that this was the ancient heathen name of the city of

Martyropolis, but Ritter shows that such cannot be the case. It was

called by the Syrians Kortbest; its present name is Kharput.

[175] Generally supposed, by D’Anville and other modern geographers, to

be represented by the ruins seen at Sert. It was the later capital of

Armenia, built by Tigranes.

[176] The ancient capital of Armenia. Hannibal, who took refuge at

the court of Artaxias when Antiochus was no longer able to afford

him protection, superintended the building of it. Some ruins, called

Takt Tiridate, or Throne of Tiridates, near the junction of the Aras

and the Zengue, were formerly supposed to represent Artaxata, but

Colonel Monteith has fixed the site at a bend in the river lower down,

at the bottom of which were the ruins of a bridge of Greek or Roman

architecture.

[177] A fortress in Lesser Armenia, upon the Euphrates, seventy-five

miles from Zimara, as mentioned in B. v. c. 20. It has been identified

with the modern ferry and lead mines of Kebban Ma’den, the points where

the Kara Su is joined by the Murad Chaï, 270 miles from its source.

[178] Justin makes it only 1100, and that estimate appears to be

several hundreds too much.

[179] A country lying to the north of Armenia.

[180] We find in Strabo the names of some of them mentioned, such

as Sophene, Acilisene, Gorgodylene, Sacassene, Gorgarene, Phanene,

Comisene Orchestene, Chorsene, Cambysene, Odomantis, &c.

[181] The Ceraunian Mountains. Parisot remarks that in this

description, Pliny, notwithstanding his previous professions, does not

appear to have made any very great use of the list drawn up by Corbulo.

[182] That is, looking towards the south.

[183] The Septentrional Ocean, with which the ancients imagined that

the northern part of the Caspian Sea is connected. See c. 15.

[184] According to Strabo, Albania was bounded on the east by the

Caspian, and on the north by the Caucasus. On the west it joined

Iberia, while on the south it was divided from the Greater Armenia by

the river Cyrus. By later writers, the northern and western boundaries

are differently given. It was found to be the fact that the Albani

occupied the country on both sides of the Caucasus, and accordingly

Pliny, in c. 15, carries the country further north, as far as the river

Casius, while in this Chapter he makes the river Alazon, the modern

Alasan, the western boundary towards Iberia.

[185] To the west of Albania.

[186] Iberia lay south of the great chain of the Caucasus, forming

an extensive tract bounded on the west by Colchis, on the east by

Albania, and on the south by Armenia, and watered by the river Cyrus.

It corresponded very nearly with modern Georgia.

[187] The modern Alasan.

[188] Now called Kablas-Var, according to Parisot.

[189] Parisot says that this can be no other than Harmoza on the river

Cyrus, in the vicinity of the modern Akhalzik.

[190] Probably meaning “of the same name.”

[191] To the west.

[192] “The Armenian workers in iron,” or “Chalybes of Armenia.” See p.

9.

[193] There are two chief passes over the chain of the Caucasus, both

of which were known to the ancients. The first is between the eastern

extremity of its chief north-eastern spur and the Caspian sea, near

the modern Derbend. This was called “Albaniæ,” and sometimes, “Caspiæ

Pylæ,” the “Albanian” or “Caspian Gates.” The other, which was nearly

in the centre of the Caspian range, was called “Caucasiæ” or “Sarmaticæ

Pylæ,” being the same as the modern pass of Dariyel, and probably the

one here referred to.

[194] Probably the same as the present fortress of Dariyel.

[195] The first instance was that of the narrow isthmus to which the

continent of Asia is reduced from Sinope across to the Gulf of Issus,

as mentioned in c. 2.

[196] The shortest distance across, in a straight line, is in reality

little less than 600 miles.

[197] The ancestor of the Seleucidæ, kings of Syria, treacherously

slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus, brother of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

[198] Already mentioned in B. iv. c. 27.

[199] Mentioned in c. 44 of the last Book.

[200] The one lying at the mouth of the Danube, and mentioned in B. iv.

c. 27.

[201] Mentioned in c. 4 of the present Book. See p. 9.

[202] Or “Mars’ Island,” also called Aretias; at this island, in the

south of the Euxine, the two queens of the Amazons, Otrere and Antiope,

built a temple in honour of Ares or Mars. It is thought to be the rocky

islet called by the Turks Kerasunt Ada, between three and four miles

from Kerasunt, the ancient Pharnacea.

[203] It is difficult to say what chain of mountains, if indeed any

in particular, he would designate by this name. Parisot remarks that

these mountains would seem to belong rather to the region of poetry and

fable than of fact, and states that it is pretty clear that the Balkan

chain, the districts in which the Danube takes its rise, the Alps, the

Pyrenees, the Hercynian mountains, and even the chain of Taurus and

Caucasus, have at different times been described or mentioned under

the name of Riphæan Mountains. It was evidently Pliny’s belief that

the great Northern or Scythian Ocean skirted the northern shores of

Asia, a little above the latitude perhaps of the northern extremity

of the Caspian. In B. iv. c. 26, we find him crossing these, perhaps

imaginary, mountains, and then proceeding to the left, along, as he

supposes, the extreme northern shores of Europe; here he seems to start

from the same point, but turns to the right, and proceeds along the

northern, eastern, and southern shores of Asia.

[204] North-east.

[205] _I. e._ more to the west.

[206] See B. iv. c. 26.

[207] The extremity of the supposed shores of the Hyperborei.

[208] D’Anville supposes that he means the headland called Cande-Noss

or Kanin-Noss, in the White Sea. Parisot, who thinks that Pliny had no

idea of the regions which lie in those high latitudes, supposes that

he refers to Domnes-Ness in the Baltic, and that by the Carambucis he

means the river Niemen.

[209] Ansart thinks that he means the Dwina, which falls into the Gulf

of Archangel.

[210] Previously mentioned in c. 7.

[211] For a full description of them, see B. iv. c. 26.

[212] See the Note to c. 7, p. 15. This description is borrowed from

that given by Herodotus. Their sacred character has been explained as

referring to the class or caste of priests among this Eastern people,

whoever they may have been.

[213] Ansart thinks that the Cicianthi, the Georgi, and the Amazons,

inhabited the modern governments of Archangel and Vologda. It seems

almost akin to rashness to hazard a conjecture.

[214] It has been already stated that the Caspian Sea was, in one

portion of it, so called, and in another the Hyrcanian Sea.

[215] His meaning is, that the Scythian ocean communicates on the

northern shores of Asia with the Caspian Sea. Hardouin remarks, that

Patrocles, the commander of the Macedonian fleet, was the first to

promulgate this notion, he having taken the mouth of the river Volga

for a narrow passage, by means of which the Scythian or Northern Ocean

made its way into the Caspian Sea.

[216] The country of the Cadusii, in the mountainous district of Media

Atropatene, on the south-west shores of the Caspian Sea, between

the parallels of 390 and 370 north latitude. This district probably

corresponds with the modern district of Gilan.

[217] Now the Syr-Daria or Yellow River, and watering the barren

steppes of the Kirghiz-Cossacks. It really discharges itself into the

Sea of Aral, and not the Caspian.

[218] The supposed Eastern Ocean of the ancients.

[219] The imaginary passage by which it was supposed to communicate

with the Scythian Ocean.

[220] This being in reality the mouth of the Rha or Volga, as mentioned

in Note 18, p. 24.

[221] On the eastern side.

[222] Across the mouths of the Volga.

[223] On a promontory, on the right or eastern side of the mouth of the

river Volga.

[224] He here means the western shores of the Caspian, after leaving

the mouth of the Volga.

[225] In c. 11.

[226] See the end of c. 14.

[227] The Cæsius of Ptolemy, and the Koisou of modern times.

[228] Probably the modern river Samour.

[229] It is difficult to determine the exact locality of this river,

but it would seem to have been near the Amardus, the modern Sefid-Rúd.

[230] In c. 10.

[231] See the beginning of c. 12, and the Note, p. 21.

[232] See c. 10.

[233] He alludes to the town of Arbela, where, as it is generally

said, the army of Darius was defeated by Alexander the Great; by which

engagement the conflict was terminated. It was the fact, however, that

Darius left his baggage and treasures at Arbela, while the battle

really took place near the village of Gaugamela, about twenty miles to

the north-west of Arbela. This place still retains its name of Arbil.

[234] A district in the east of Macedonia, bordering on the Thermaic

gulf and the Chalcidic peninsula.

[235] Nothing is known of this place. Hardouin suggests that it may

have been built on the spot where Alexander defeated Darius.

[236] Also known as Antiochia Mygdoniæ, the capital of Mygdonia. Its

ruins are still to be seen near a place called Nisibin. It stood on the

river Mygdonius, now the Nahral Huali.

[237] Or Nineveh, the capital of the great Assyrian monarchy, destroyed

by the Medes and Babylonians about B.C. 606.

[238] There is great difficulty in ascertaining, from the accounts

given by the ancient writers, the exact limits of this district, but it

is supposed to have included a considerable portion of the province now

known by the name of Azerbaijan. It derived its name from Atropates or

Atropes, who was governor of this district under the last Darius.

[239] Most probably the place now known as Gazæa, the royal residence

of the Parthian kings, and, as its name would imply, their treasure

city. Colonel Rawlinson thinks that this place underwent many changes

of name according to the rulers who successively occupied it; among

other names, it appears to have borne that of Ecbatana.

[240] A city of great magnitude, pleasantly situate near the foot of

Mount Orontes, in the northern part of Greater Media. Its original

foundation was attributed by Diodorus Siculus to Semiramis, and by

Herodotus to Deioces. It was the capital of the Median kingdom, and

afterwards the summer residence of the Persian and Parthian kings. The

genuine orthography of the name seems to be Agbatana. The ruins seen

at the modern Hamadan are generally supposed to represent those of the

ancient Ecbatana; but it is most probable that at different times, if

not contemporaneously, there were several cities of this name in Media.

[241] Pliny in this statement, as also in the distances which he here

assigns to Ecbatana, is supposed to have confounded Ecbatana with

Europus, now Veramin, rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator.

[242] This was a city in the vicinity of Rhagæ, which was distant about

500 stadia from the Caspian Gates. It was built by the Greeks after the

Macedonian conquest of Asia. The other places here mentioned do not

appear to have been identified.

[243] See the beginning of c. 12, p. 21.

[244] This was the name of the wild tribes which occupied the high

mountainous district between the great upland of Persia and the low

plains of Mesopotamia. In addition to the name mentioned by Pliny, they

were called Gordyæ, Cardaces, and Curtii. The present Kurds, inhabiting

Kurdistan, are supposed to be descended from them.

[245] The Greek παρ’ ὁδὸν, “on the road”—meaning, probably, to the

Caspian Gates. Hardouin says that the Pratitæ were so called from the

Greek πρατῖται, “merchants.”

[246] Although dwelling at a considerable distance, the custody of

these gates was delivered to them, Hardouin says, by the kings of Media.

[247] To the south-east of them.

[248] Mentioned in c. 29 of the present Book.

[249] Or Choarene.

[250] Its site is unknown; but it is mentioned by Appian as one of the

many towns erected by Seleucus.

[251] By the use of the word “quondam,” he implies that in his time it

was in ruins.

[252] A place of considerable importance, which seems to have derived

its name from its “hundred gates.” It was one of the capitals of the

Arsacidan princes; but, extensive though it may have been, there is

great doubt where it was situate, the distance recorded by ancient

writers not corresponding with any known ruins.

[253] In a northern direction, along the western shores of the Caspian.

[254] According to Hardouin, Eratosthenes, as quoted by Strabo,

makes the distance 5060 stadia, or about 633 miles. He has, however,

mis-translated the passage, which gives 5600 stadia, or 700 miles

exactly, as stated by Pliny.

[255] Or 1960 miles.

[256] Bactra, Bactrum, or Bactrium, was one of the chief cities, if

not the capital, of the province of Bactriana. It was one of the most

ancient cities in the world, and the modern Balkh is generally supposed

to occupy its site. Strabo, as well as Pliny, evidently considers that

Bactra and Zareispa were the same place, while Appian distinguishes

between the two, though he does not clearly state their relative

positions.

[257] The modern Syr-Daria, mentioned in c. 15. See p. 25.

[258] By some writers called Apavareticene, in the south-eastern part

of Parthia. Ansart says that it is now known as Asterabad and Ghilan.

[259] Or Dara. A strongly fortified place, built by Arsaces I., and

situate on the mountains of the Zapaorteni.

[260] According to Ansart, the district now known as Tabaristan, or

Mazanderan, derives the first of those names from the Tapyri.

[261] D’Anville remarks that this river still retains its “starry”

name, being the modern Aster or Ester, on which Asterabad is situate.

[262] This district occupied the southern part of modern Khiva, the

south-western part of Bokhara, and the north-eastern part of Khorassan.

This province of the ancient Persian empire received its name from the

river Margus, now the Moorghab. It first became known to the Greeks by

the expeditions of Alexander and Antiochus I.

[263] Antiochus Soter, the son of Seleucus Nicator.

[264] The meaning of this, which has caused great diversity of opinion

among the Commentators, seems to be, that on rebuilding it, he

preferred giving it a name borne by several cities in Syria, and given

to them in honour of kings of that country. To this he appears to have

been prompted by a supposed resemblance which its site on the Margus

bore to that of Antiochia on the Orontes.

[265] The modern Moorghab; it loses itself in the sands of Khiva.

[266] Its remains are supposed to be those of an ancient city, still to

be seen at a spot called Merv, on the river Moorghab.

[267] The people of modern Bokhara.

[268] This appears to mean the nations of “Chariot horse-breeders.”

[269] In former editions, called the ‘Gridinus.’ It is impossible to

identify many of these nations and rivers, as the spelling varies

considerably in the respective MSS.

[270] An extensive tribe of Sogdiana, now represented by the district

of Khawarezm, in the desert country of Khiva.

[271] A tribe in the north-western part of Sogdiana. They appear to

have been situate to the east of the district of Khawarezm. It has been

suggested that they derived their name from the Sanscrit Gandharas, a

tribe beyond the Indus.

[272] The chief seat of the Aorsi, who appear to have been a numerous

and powerful people both of Europe and Asia, was in the country between

the Tanais, the Euxine, the Caspian, and the Caucasus. It seems

doubtful, however, whether it is these people who are alluded to in the

present passage.

[273] These would almost seem to be a different people from those

mentioned in c. 15 of the present Book, as dwelling in Atropatene. The

present appears to have been a tribe of Sogdiana.

[274] Strabo mentions a town of this name, which he places, together

with Apamea, in the direction of Rhagæ. If Pliny has observed anything

like order in his recital of nations and places, the Heraclea here

mentioned cannot be that spoken of by Strabo, but must have been

distant nearly 1000 miles from it.

[275] This was a tribe, apparently of Scythian origin, settled

in Margiana, on the left bank of the Oxus. Strabo says that they

worshipped the earth, and forbore to sacrifice or slay any female;

but that they put to death their fellow-creatures as soon as they had

passed their seventieth year, it being the privilege of the next of kin

to eat the flesh of the deceased person. The aged women, however, they

used to strangle, and then consign them to the earth.

[276] The modern Jihoun or Amou. It now flows into the Sea of Aral, but

the ancients universally speak of it as running into the Caspian; and

there are still existing distinct traces of a channel extending in a

south-westerly direction from the sea of Aral to the Caspian, by which

at least a portion, and probably the whole of the waters of the Oxus

found their way into the Caspian; and not improbably the Sea of Aral

itself was connected with the Caspian by this channel.

[277] Most probably under this name he means the Sea of Aral.

[278] The Bactrus. This river is supposed to be represented by the

modern Dakash. Hardouin says that Ptolemy, B. vi. c. 11, calls this

river the Zariaspis, or Zariaspes. See the Note at the end of c. 17, p.

30.

[279] Now known as the Hindoo-Koosh; a part of the great mountain-chain

which runs from west to east through the centre of the southern portion

of the highlands of Central Asia, and so divides the part of the

continent which slopes down to the Indian ocean from the great central

table-land of Tartary and Thibet. The native term, Hindoo-Koosh, is

only a form of the ancient name “Indicus Caucasus,” which was sometimes

given to this chain. The ancient name was derived probably from the

Persian word _paru_, a “mountain.”

[280] Flowing from the north side of the Paropanisus. According to

Pliny and Ptolemy, this river flowed through Bactria into the Oxus;

but according to Strabo, through Hyrcania into the Caspian Sea. Some

suppose it to have been only another name for the Oxus. Ansart suggests

that it may have been the river now known as the Bash.

[281] D’Anville says that there is still the valley of Al Sogd, in

Tartary, beyond the Oxus. The district called Sogdiana was probably

composed of parts of modern Turkistan and Bokhara. The site of Panda

does not appear to be known.

[282] It was built on the Jaxartes, to mark the furthest point reached

by Alexander in his Scythian expedition. It has been suggested that the

modern Kokend may possibly occupy its site.

[283] The “twin,” of the same birth with Diana.

[284] The Sacæ probably formed one of the most numerous and most

powerful of the Scythian Nomad tribes, and dwelt to the east and

north-east of the Massagetæ, as far as Servia, in the steppes of

Central Asia, which are now peopled by the Kirghiz Cossacks, in whose

name that of their ancestors, the Sacæ, is traced by some geographers.

[285] Meaning the “Great Getæ.” They dwelt beyond the Jaxartes and the

Sea of Aral, and their country corresponds to that of the Khirghiz

Tartars in the north of Independent Tartary.

[286] The Dahæ were a numerous and warlike Nomad tribe, who wandered

over the vast steppes lying to the east of the Caspian Sea. Strabo has

grouped them with the Sacæ and Massagetæ, as the great Scythian tribes

of Inner Asia, to the north of Bactriana.

[287] See also B. iv. c. 20, and B. vi. c. 7. The position of the

Essedones, or perhaps more correctly, the Issedones, may probably be

assigned to the east of Ichim, in the steppes of the central border of

the Kirghiz, in the immediate vicinity of the Arimaspi, who dwelt on

the northern declivity of the Altaï chain. A communication is supposed

to have been carried on between these two peoples for the exchange of

the gold that was the produce of those mountain districts.

[288] They dwelt, according to Ptolemy, along the southern banks of the

Jaxartes.

[289] Or the Mardi, a warlike Asiatic tribe. Stephanus Byzantinus,

following Strabo, places the Amardi near the Hyrcani, and adds, “There

are also Persian Mardi, without the _a_;” and, speaking of the Mardi,

he mentions them as an Hyrcanian tribe, of predatory habits, and

skilled in archery.

[290] D’Anville supposes that the Euchatæ may have dwelt at the modern

Koten, in Little Bukharia. It is suggested, however, by Parisot, that

they may have possibly occupied a valley of the Himalaya, in the midst

of a country known as “Cathai,” or the “desert.”

[291] The first extant notice of them is in Herodotus; but before him

there was the poem of Aristeas of Proconnesus, of which the title

was ‘Arimaspea;’ and it is mainly upon the statements in it that the

stories told relative to this people rest—such as their being one-eyed,

and as to their stealing the gold from the Gryphes, or Griffins, under

whose custody it was placed. Their locality is by some supposed to have

been on the left bank of the Middle Volga, in the governments of Kasan,

Simbirsk, and Saratov: a locality which is sufficiently near the gold

districts of the Uralian chain to account for the legends connecting

them with the Gryphes, or guardians of the gold.

[292] The former reading was, “The Napæi are said to have perished as

well as the Apellæi.” Sillig has, however, in all probability, restored

the correct one. “Finding,” he says, “in the work of Diodorus Siculus,

that two peoples of Scythia were called, from their two kings, who

were brothers, the Napi and the Pali, we have followed close upon the

footsteps of certain MSS. of Pliny, and have come to the conclusion

that some disputes arose between these peoples, which ultimately led to

the destruction of one of them”.

[293] Of the Caspian Sea.

[294] Said on the supposition that it is a bay or gulf of the Scythian

or Septentrional Ocean.

[295] Ansart suggests that this is the modern Rocsha.

[296] From the Oxus.

[297] Ansart suggests that this island is that now called Idak, one of

the Ogurtchinski group.

[298] This would apply to the north-eastern coasts of Siberia, if Pliny

had had any idea of land situate in such high latitudes; but, on the

contrary, as already remarked, he appears to have supposed that the

continent of Asia terminated a little above the northern extremity of

the Caspian. It would be a loss of time to guess what locality is meant

by the Scythian Promontory.

[299] Or “man-eaters.”

[300] This, it would appear, he looks upon as the extreme north-eastern

point of Asia. Parisot suggests that the word Tabis is allied to the

Mongol Daba, which signifies “mountain;” or else that it may have some

affinity with “Thibet.”

[301] The people of Serica, which country with Ptolemy corresponds to

the north-western part of China, and the adjacent portions of Thibet

and Chinese Tartary. The capital, Sera, is by most supposed to be

Singan, on the Hoang-ho, but by some Peking. Pliny evidently refers to

the same people, and has some notion of the locality of their country.

[302] This is generally supposed to bear reference to the cloths

exported by the Seres, as _Serica_, and corresponding to our silks.

On examination, however, it will appear that he rather refers to some

textures of cotton, such as calicos or muslins; it being not unknown

to Pliny that silks or _bombycina_ were the produce of the bombyx or

silk-worm; see B. xi. c. 22. The use of the word “canities” points

strongly to cotton as being the substance meant.

[303] Whether it is silk or cotton that is here referred to, Pliny

seems in this passage to allude to some peculiarity in the texture,

which was perhaps so close, that when brought to the Western world

it was the custom to draw out a portion of the threads. In such case

it perhaps strongly resembled the Chinese crapes of the present day.

Speaking of Cleopatra in B. x. 141, of the Pharsalia, Lucan says, “Her

white breasts are resplendent through the Sidonian fabric, which,

wrought in close texture by the sley of the Seres, the needle of

the workman of the Nile has separated, and has loosened the warp by

stretching out the web.”

[304] He either refers to dresses consisting of nothing but open work,

or what we may call fine lace, and made from the closely woven material

imported from China, or else to the ‘Coan vestments’ which were so

much worn by the Roman women, especially those of light character,

in the Augustan age. This Coan tissue was remarkable for its extreme

transparency. It has been supposed that these dresses were made of

silk, as in the island of Cos silk was spun and woven at an early

period, so much so as to obtain a high celebrity for the manufactures

of that island. Seneca, B. vii. De Benef. severely censures the

practice of wearing these thin garments. For further information on

this subject, see B. xi. c. 26, 27, and B. xii. c. 22.

[305] Meaning that they do not actively seek intercourse with the rest

of the world, but do not refuse to trade with those who will take the

trouble of resorting to them. This coincides wonderfully with the

character of the Chinese even at the present day.

[306] Ptolemy speaks of it as the Œchordas.

[307] The headland of Malacca, in the Aurea Chersonnesus, was also

called by this name, but it is hardly probable that that is the place

here meant.

[308] See B. iv. c. 18.

[309] The Emodi Montes (so called probably from the Indian _hemâdri_,

or the “golden”) are supposed to have formed that portion of the great

lateral branch of the Indian Caucasus, the range of the Himalaya, which

extends along Nepaul, and probably as far as Bhotan.

[310] In c. 14 of the present Book.

[311] The whole of this passage seems very intricate, and it is

difficult to make sense of it. His meaning, however, is probably this:

that the coast of India, running from extreme north-east to south-east,

relatively to Greece, the country of Eratosthenes, is exactly

opposite to the coast of Gaul, running from extreme north-west to

south-west—India thus lying due west of Gaul, without any intervening

land. This, it will be remembered, was the notion of Columbus, when

contemplating the possibility of a western passage to India.

[312] This appears also to be somewhat obscure. It is clear that if

India lies to the west of Gaul, it cannot be Pliny’s meaning that it

is refreshed by the _west_ wind blowing _to_ it _from_ Gaul. He may

possibly mean that the west wind, which is so refreshing to the west

of Europe, and Gaul in particular, first sweeps over India, and thus

becomes productive of that salubrity which Posidonius seems to have

discovered in India, but for which we look in vain at the present

day. Amid, however, such multiplied chances of a corrupt text, it is

impossible to assume any very definite position as to his probable

meaning. The French translators offer no assistance in solving the

difficulty, and Holland renders it, “This west wind which _from behind_

Gaul bloweth upon India, is very healthsome,” &c.

[313] As to the Etesian winds, see B. ii. c. 48.

[314] In the geographical work which Patrocles seems to have published,

he is supposed to have given some account of the countries bordering

on the Caspian Sea, and there is little doubt that, like other writers

of that period, he regarded that sea as a gulf or inlet of the

Septentrional Ocean, and probably maintained the possibility of sailing

thither by sea from the Indian Ocean. This statement, however, seems to

have been strangely misinterpreted by Pliny in his present assertion,

that Patrocles had himself accomplished this circumnavigation.

[315] Sec B. v. c. 36.

[316] Or Bacchus.

[317] Or seventy-five miles.

[318] This is the statement of Arrian.

[319] Among the lost works of that philosopher.

[320] In c. 17 of the present Book.

[321] See c. 25 of the present Book.

[322] See c. 25 of the present Book.

[323] See c. 25 of the present Book.

[324] A town placed by Strabo on the confines of Bactriana, and by

Ptolemy in the county of the Paropanisidæ.

[325] See c. 25 of the present Book.

[326] See c. 24 of the present Book.

[327] The present Attok, according to D’Anville.

[328] One of the principal rivers of that part of India known as the

Punjaub. It rises in the north-western Himalayah mountains in Kashmere,

and after flowing nearly south, falls into the Acesines or Chenab. Its

present most usual name is the Jhelum.

[329] The most eastern, and most important of the five rivers which

water the country of the Punjaub. Rising in the western Himalaya, it

flows in two principal branches, in a course nearly south-west (under

the names respectively of Vipasa and Satadru), which it retains till it

falls into the Indus at Mittimkote. It is best known, however, by its

modern name of Sutlej, probably a corrupt form of the Sanscrit Satadru.

[330] See c. 18 of the present Book. The altars there spoken of, as

consecrated by Alexander the Great, appear to have been erected in

Sogdiana, whereas those here mentioned were dedicated in the Indian

territory.

[331] It does not appear that this river has been identified. In most

of the editions it is called Hesidrus; but, as Sillig observes, there

was a town of India, near the Indus, called Sydros, which probably

received its name from this river.

[332] It has been suggested that this place is the modern Kanouge, on

the Ganges.

[333] The modern Jumna. It must be borne in mind by the reader, that

the numbers given in this Chapter vary considerably in the different

MSS.

[334] See the next Chapter.

[335] The Sanscrit for “snowy” is “_himarat_.” The name of Emodus,

combined with Imaüs, seems here to be a description of the knot of

mountains formed by the intersections of the Himalaya, the Hindoo

Koosh, and the Bolor range; the latter having been for many ages the

boundary between the empires of China and Turkistan. It is pretty

clear, that, like Ptolemy, Pliny imagined that the Imaüs ran from south

to north; but it seems hardly necessary, in this instance at least,

to give to the word “promontorium” the meaning attached to our word

“promontory,” and to suppose that he implies that the range of the

Imaüs runs down to the verge of the eastern ocean.

[336] A name evidently given to numerous tribes of India, from the

circumstance that Alexander and his followers found it borne by the

Brahmins or priestly caste of the Hindoos.

[337] Still called the Cane, a navigable river of India within the

Ganges, falling into the Ganges, according to Arrian as well as Pliny,

though in reality it falls into the Jumna.

[338] The Calingæ, who are further mentioned in the next Chapter,

probably dwelt in the vicinity of the promontory of Calingon, upon

which was the town of Dandaguda, mentioned in c. 23 of the present

Book. This promontory and city are usually identified with those of

Calinapatnam, about half-way between the rivers Mahanuddy and Godavery;

and the territory of the Calingæ seems to correspond pretty nearly to

the district of Circars, lying along the coast of Orissa.

[339] By the Malli, Parisot is of opinion that the people of Moultan

are meant.

[340] So much so, indeed, that its sources were unknown to the learned

world till the beginning of the present century, although the Chinese

emperor Tang-Hi on one occasion sent a body of Llamas for the purpose

of inquiring into the subject. It is now ascertained that the river

Ganges is the result of the confluence of three separate streams, which

bear the respective names of the Gannavi, the Bhagirathi, and the

Alakananda. The second is of the most sacred character, and is the one

to which the largest concourse of pilgrims resort. The ancients held

various opinions as to the sources of the river.

[341] The Cainas and the Jomanes, mentioned in the last Chapter.

[342] The modern Gandaki or Gundûk is generally supposed to be

represented by the Condochates.

[343] Represented as flowing into the Ganges at Palimbothra, the modern

Patna. There has been considerable discussion among the learned as to

what river is indicated by this name. It has, however, been considered

most probable that it is the same as the Sonus of Pliny, the modern

Soane, though both that author, as well as Arrian, speaks of two

rivers, which they call respectively Erannoboas and Sonus. The name was

probably derived from the Sanscrit Hyranyavahas, the poetical name of

the Sonus.

[344] Supposed to be the same as the river Cosi or Coravaha.

[345] The wide diffusion of the Calingæ, and their close connection

with the Gangaridæ, are shown by the fact that Pliny here calls them

“Calingæ Gangarides,” and mentions the Modogalingæ on a large island in

the Ganges, and the Maccocalingæ on the upper course of that river. See

note [338], p. 42.

[346] Called Parthalis in most of the editions.

[347] Or _castes_, as we call them. These institutions prevail equally

at the present day, and the divisions of the duties of the respective

castes are pretty much as Pliny states them to be, except that the

husbandmen and merchants form one class, called the Vaisya, the

Brahmins being the ministers of religion, the Kshatriya forming the

warlike class, the Sudra constituting the menial or servant class.

Pliny here represents the rulers and councillors as forming a distinct

class. Such, however, does not appear to be the fact; for we find that

the sovereign is chosen from the Kshatriya or military class, while

from the Brahmins are selected the royal councillors, judges, and

magistrates of the country.

[348] He alludes to the Brahmins, who seem to have been called by the

Greek writers “Gymnosophists,” or “naked wise men.” The Brahmin Calanus

is a memorable example of this kind of self-immolation.

[349] It is extremely doubtful if, even in his own day, Pliny was

correct in venturing upon so sweeping an assertion.

[350] The Sudra or menial caste.

[351] He is incorrect here; these duties devolve on the Vaisya class.

[352] Inhabited, probably, by a branch of the Calingæ previously

mentioned.

[353] Ansart suggests that this may be the modern kingdom of Pegu. He

thinks also that the preceding kingdom may be that now called Arracan.

[354] These may possibly be the Daradræ of Ptolemy, but it seems

impossible to guess their locality.

[355] Probably the present Patna. D’Anville, however, identifies it

with Allahabad, while Welford and Wahl are inclined to think it the

same as Radjeurah, formerly called Balipoutra or Bengala. The Prasii

are probably the race of people mentioned in the ancient Sanscrit

books under the name of the “Pragi” or the Eastern Empire, while

the Gangarides are mentioned in the same works under the name of

“Gandaressa” or Kingdom of the Ganges.

[356] Hardouin is of opinion that these nations dwelt in the localities

occupied by the districts of Gwalior and Agra.

[357] The Septentriones or “Seven Trions,” in the original. Parisot

is of opinion that under this name of Mount Maleus he alludes to the

Western Ghauts, and that the name still survives in the word Malabar.

He also remarks that this statement of Pliny is not greatly exaggerated.

[358] Ansart says that this is the same as the modern town of Muttra or

Matra upon the Jumna, and to the north of Agra.

[359] Or Clisobora, according to Hardouin. It does not appear to have

been identified.

[360] In the Indian Peninsula, constituting more especially the

presidency of Madras.

[361] It is clear that he looks upon the countries of the Indus as

lying to the south of the Ganges.

[362] Or Hindoo Koosh. In this statement he is supported by Arrian,

Strabo, Mela, and Quintus Curtius. It rises, however, a considerable

distance on the north-east side of the Himalaya.

[363] The modern Jhelum.

[364] Some writers suppose that this must be the same as the Hydraotes,

or modern Ravi, because the latter is not otherwise found mentioned

in the list given by Pliny. The name, however, leaves but little

doubt that Pliny had heard of the Acesines under its Indian name of

Chandabragha, and out of it has made another river.

[365] The modern Sutlej.

[366] Probably in the vicinity of the modern Calingapatam; none of the

other places seem to be identified.

[367] Ansart suggests that the Cesi may be the same race as the modern

Sikhs.

[368] Perhaps the people of modern Ajmere.

[369] These peoples are supposed by Hardouin to have occupied the

southern parts of the peninsula now known as Bisnagar, Calicut, and the

Deccan, with the Malabar and Coromandel coasts.

[370] Hardouin suggests that this people dwelt on the present peninsula

of Guzerat.

[371] None of these appear to have been identified; indeed, it appears

to be next to impossible, owing to the corrupt state in which they have

come down to us.

[372] Built on the Hydaspes by Alexander after his victory over Porus,

B.C. 326, at the spot where he had crossed the river before the battle,

and in memory of his celebrated charger Bucephalus, who had expired

during the battle from fatigue and old age, or from wounds. The exact

site of this place is not known, but the probabilities appear in favour

of Jhelum, at which place is the usual passage of the river, or else of

Jellapoor, about sixteen miles lower down.

[373] Probably the same that is mentioned in c. 21 of the present Book.

[374] Parisot supposes that these were the inhabitants of the district

which now bears the name of Pekheli.

[375] Gedrosia comprehended probably the same district as is now known

by the name of Mekran, or, according to some, the whole of modern

Beloochistan.

[376] The people of the city and district of Arachotus, the capital of

Arachosia. M. Court has identified some ruins on the Argasan river,

near Kandahar, on the road to Shikarpur, with those of Arachotus; but

Professor Wilson considers them to be too much to the south-east.

Colonel Rawlinson thinks they are those to be seen at a place called

Ulan Robat. He states that the most ancient name of the city, Cophen,

(mentioned by Pliny in c. 25 of the present Book), has given rise to

the territorial designation. See p. 57.

[377] The people of Aria, consisting of the eastern part of Khorassan,

and the western and north-western part of Afghanistan. This was one of

the most important of the eastern provinces or satrapies of the Persian

empire.

[378] This was the collective name of several peoples dwelling on the

southern slopes of the Hindoo Koosh, and of the country which they

inhabited, which was not known by any other name. It corresponded to

the eastern part of modern Afghanistan and the portion of the Punjaub

lying to the west of the Indus.

[379] It is supposed that the Cophes is represented by the modern river

of Kabul.

[380] The place here alluded to was in the district of Goryæa, at

the north-western corner of the Punjaub, near the confluence of the

rivers Cophen and Choaspes, being probably the same place as Nagara or

Dionysopolis, the modern Nagar or Naggar.

[381] The word μήρος, in Greek, signifying a “thigh.”

[382] Supposed by some to have been Lower Scinde, and the vicinity of

Kurrachee, with its capital Potala.

[383] Ansart suggests that these may be the Laccadives. Their name

means the “gold” and “silver” islands.

[384] Probably an island near the mouths of the Indus.

[385] Probably the same as the Bibacta of Arrian. The present name of

it is Chilney Isle.

[386] Although Poinsinet will not admit its identity, it is now

universally agreed among the learned that the island of Taprobana is

the modern Ceylon. As Gosselin observes, in the accounts said to have

been given of Ceylon by the ambassadors to Claudius, great allowance

must be made for the wrong interpretation which, owing to their

ignorance of the language, the Romans must have given to much of their

narrative.

[387] From ἀντὶ, “opposite,” and χθών, “the earth.” Its people being

supposed to be the _antipodes_ of those of Europe.

[388] “The ancient race.” As Ansart observes, the island contains a

mountain, the name of which is “Adam’s” Peak.

[389] Ælian makes the villages to be 750 in number.

[390] A general term probably, as already stated, for the great

peninsula of India, below the Ganges.

[391] This expression has been relied upon by those who do not admit

that Ceylon is identical with the ancient Taprobana. But it is not

improbable that the passage here referred to is from Cape Comorin

to Ceylon, and not from Cape Ramanan Cor, the nearest part of the

continent. In such case, the distance would be sixty-five or sixty-six

leagues, and we can easily conceive that Greek vessels, sailing from

nine to ten leagues per day, might occupy seven days in making the

passage from Cape Comorin, past Ramanan Cor, to the coasts of Ceylon.

[392] The amphora, as a measure, contained eight congii, or forty-eight

sextarii.

[393] Or “Septentrio;” “the Seven Trions,” which was more especially

employed by the nations of Europe for the purposes of navigation.

[394] Parisot suggests that the word “Radijah,” or “Rajah,” denoting

the rank which he held, may have been here taken by Pliny for his name.

[395] Ptolemy says that the ancient name of the island was Simundi, or

Palæsimundi, but speaks of no such city as the one here mentioned, nor

indeed of any other of the localities described by Pliny.

[396] It is difficult to say whether by this name is meant the modern

Cape Comorin, or that known as Ramanan Cor, which is in reality the

nearest point to the coast of Ceylon. Perhaps the latter is meant; in

which case it is not improbable that the Island of the Sun will be

represented by the islet called Rameserum in the maps, or else the one

adjoining called Manaar. It must not be confounded with the Island of

the Sun, mentioned in c. 26. See p. 60.

[397] It is not improbable that he alludes to coral reefs.

[398] This assertion Gosselin would either reject as a fabulous

falsehood, or as having originated in some misconception on the part

of the Romans; for, as he remarks, it is quite impossible that the

Pleiades should be a constellation unknown at that time to the people

of Ceylon; but, on the other hand, it would be equally true that the

Greater Bear was concealed from them.

[399] This was also a fable, or else originated in misapprehension of

their language on the part of the Romans.

[400] Gosselin remarks that their story may have been that for about

seven months in the year the shadows fell to the north, and during the

remaining five to the south, which would not have been inconsistent

with the truth.

[401] This also is classed by Gosselin under the head either of

fabulous stories or misapprehensions.

[402] “Seras—ab ipsis aspici.” It is difficult to say whether this does

not mean that they were in sight of the coast of the Seræ. Under any

circumstances, the Seræ here spoken of must not be taken for the Seres

or supposed Chinese. Gosselin remarks that under this name the people

of a district called Sera are probably referred to, and that in fact

such is the name of a city and a whole province at the present day,

situate on the opposite coast, beyond the mountains which terminate the

plains of the Carnatic. It is equally impossible that under the name

of “Emodi” Pliny can allude to the Himalaya chain, distant more than

2000 miles. The mountains, on the verge of the plains of the Carnatic,

are not improbably those here referred to, and it is not impossible

that they may be discerned from the shores of Ceylon. Gosselin is of

opinion that the name of the ancient Seræ may still be traced in that

of Seringapatam, and of the city of Seringham, situate on the river

Godavery.

[403] Relative to the Seræ, or inhabitants of the opposite shores.

[404] Or “Bacchus.” This means that he wears a long robe with a train;

much like the dress, in fact, which was worn on the stage by tragic

actors.

[405] “Festa venatione absumi, gratissimam eam tigribus elephantisque

constare.” Holland gives this sentence quite a different meaning,

fancying that it bears reference to the mode in which the guilty king

comes to his end, which, indeed, otherwise does not appear to be

stated. “But to doe him to death in the end, they appoint a solemne

day of hunting, right pleasant and agreable unto tigres and elephants,

before which beasts they expose their king, and so he is presently by

them devoured.” It is difficult to say, however, where he finds all

this.

[406] It is much more probable that they used the shells for the

purpose of making roofs for their habitations.

[407] Mentioned already, towards the conclusion of c. 23 of the present

Book. See p. 51.

[408] This place was included in the district of the Paropanisus or

Hindoo Koosh. It is doubtful whether Pliny is correct in saying that

it was destroyed by Cyrus, as we have no reason for supposing that he

ever advanced so far to the north-east. It is supposed by some that

Capisene represents the valley of the Kabul river, and Capisa the town

on the Indus, now known as Peshawar. Lassen, in his researches, has

found in the Chinese annals a kingdom called Kiapiche, in the valley of

Ghurbend, to the east of Bamian. It is not improbable that Capisa and

Kiapiche were different forms of the same name.

[409] See the Notes in p. 50.

[410] The principal river of Drangiana, which rises in the lower range

of the Paropanisus or Hindoo Koosh, and enters Lake Zarah. Its present

name is Ilmend or Helmend. Burnouf has supposed it to be the same as

the Arachotus; but Professor Wilson is of opinion that the Arachotus

was one of the tributaries of the Erymanthus or Erymandrus, and

probably the modern Arkand-Ab.

[411] Parisot takes the meaning of this word to be “valley,” and is of

opinion that it is the modern Chabul; not to be confounded, however,

with the country of Cabul, to the east of which it is situate.

[412] Now called Birusen, according to Parisot, and not the city of

Cabul, as supposed by Hardouin.

[413] Or the “four-cornered city.”

[414] This place has not been identified. It has been suggested that

it is the same as the modern city of Candahar; but that was really

Alexandria of the Paropanisadæ, quite a different place.

[415] Inhabiting the district now called Arassen, according to Parisot.

[416] Inhabiting the modern Danra, according to Parisot.

[417] Inhabitants of the modern Parasan, according to Parisot.

[418] The modern Candahar is generally supposed to occupy its site.

[419] Pliny is thought to have here confounded the extensive district

of Ariana with the smaller province of Aria, which only formed a

portion of it. Ariana comprehended nearly the whole of what had been

previously ancient Persia.

[420] The river known in modern times as the Ilincut, according to

Parisot.

[421] This is supposed by Forbiger to be the modern Arghasan, one of

the tributaries of the Helmend. Parisot says that it was the same as

the modern Sat.

[422] Supposed to be the same as the “Aria civitas,” or “city of Aria”

of other authors, which, however, is most probably represented by

Alexandria, the modern Herat, situate on the small stream now called

the Heri-Rud. At all events, Artacoana (proved by M. Court to be a

word of Persian origin—Arde Koun) was, if not the same place, at a

very small distance from it. M. Barbie de Bocage is of opinion that it

occupied the site of Fushing, a town on the Heri river, one stage from

Herat; and by M. Court it is thought to have been at Obeh, near the

same place.

[423] Now called the Heri-Rud, which runs to the west of Herat.

[424] It is said that, judging from a traditional verse still current

among the people of Herat, that town is believed to unite the claims

of the ancient capital built by Alexander the Great, or indeed,

more properly, repaired by him, as he was but a short time in Aria.

The distance also from the Caspian Gates to Alexandria favours its

identification with the modern Herat.

[425] This place does not appear to have been identified.

[426] Ansart suggests that the river Pharnacotis is the same as the

modern Ferrichround, and the Ophradus probably the Kouchround.

[427] Ansart suggests that the modern name is Zarang. Parisot says that

it is Corcharistan.

[428] The inhabitants of Drangiana, a district at the eastern end of

the modern kingdom of Persia, and comprehending part of the present

Sejestan or Seistan.

[429] They gave its name to the modern Eudras, according to Parisot.

[430] It is doubtful whether these are the same as the Gedrosi,

mentioned by Pliny in c. 23, 24. Parisot censures Hardouin for

confounding them, and says that these inhabited the modern Bassar. In

Dr. Smith’s _Dictionary_, they are looked upon as the same people.

[431] Parisot says that this is the desert region now known as

Eremaier, to the east of Mount Maugracot.

[432] As Parisot remarks, our author is now approaching the sea-shore;

these places, however, do not appear to have been identified.

[433] Not the same as the river Cophen or Cophes mentioned in c. 24,

the modern Kabul. Hardouin takes it to be the same as the Arbis or

Arabius of Ptolemy, the modern Hilmend or Ilmend.

[434] Parisot seems to think that the modern names of these rivers are

the Sal, the Ghir, and the Ilmentel, which, according to him, flow into

the Ilmend.

[435] Situate, according to Ptolemy, in the eastern parts of Media.

[436] For this measurement see c. 21.

[437] Meaning the “Fish-eating Mountaineers.” According to Parisot they

occupied the site of the modern Dulcidan, and Goadel, which are bounded

by mountains, whence the name.

[438] Not only the Oritæ, but all those mentioned in the following

Chapter. For further particulars as to the Ichthyophagi, see B. vii. c.

2.

[439] See the Notes at the end of this Book.

[440] By descending the Indus, and going up the Persian Gulf.

[441] Near the mouth of the Indus, Hardouin says.

[442] One of Alexander’s most distinguished officers, and a native of

Pella. He commanded the division of cavalry and light-armed troops

which accompanied the fleet of Alexander down the Indus, along the

right bank of the river. The Alexandria here mentioned does not appear

to have been identified. It is not to be confounded with Alexandria

in Arachosia, nor yet with a place of the same name in Carmania, the

modern Kerman.

[443] A river Tomerus is spoken of by Arrian as lying between the Indus

and the river Arabis or Arbis.

[444] They seem to have dwelt along the shores of the modern Mukran,

south of Beloochistan, and probably part of Kerman.

[445] Called Nosala by Arrian. Ansart suggests that it is the island

now known by the name of Sengadip. It lay probably off the promontory

or headland of the Sun, on the eastern coast of Arabia.

[446] Mela suggests the reason, but gives to the island a different

locality—“over against the mouth of the Indus.” He says that the air of

the island is of such a nature as to take away life instantaneously,

and appears to imply that the heat is the cause.

[447] Possibly that now known as the Rud Shur.

[448] Properly the “Seven Trions.”

[449] The Persian kings, descendants of Achæmenes. He was said to have

been reared by an eagle.

[450] Called the Promontory of Harmozon by Strabo, Hardouin says that

the modern name is Cape Jash, but recent writers suggest that it is

represented by the modern Cape Bombaruk, nearly opposite Cape Mussendom.

[451] Perhaps the modern Kishon, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf;

or that may be one of the four islands next mentioned.

[452] The story of Pontoppidan’s Kraken or Korven, the serpent of the

Norwegian Seas, is as old as Pliny, we find, and _he_ derived his

information from older works.

[453] Forbiger has suggested that this may be the same as the modern

Djayrah.

[454] Mentioned again in c. 29 of the present Book. Its modern name is

Pasa or Fasa-Kuri, according to Parisot.

[455] Supposed to be the stream called by D’Anville and Thevenot the

Boschavir, the river of Abushir or Busheer.

[456] A river of ancient Susiana, the present name of which is Karun.

Pliny states, in c. 31 of the present Book, that the Eulæus flowed

round the citadel of Susa; he mistakes it, however, for the Coprates,

or, more strictly speaking, for a small stream now called the Shapúr

river, the ancient name of which has not been preserved. He is also

in error, most probably, in making the river Eulæus flow through

Messabatene, it being most likely the present Mah-Sabaden, in Laristan,

which is drained by the Kerkbah, the ancient Choaspes, and not by the

Eulæus.

[457] Called, for the sake of distinction, Charax Spasinu, originally

founded by Alexander the Great. It was afterwards destroyed by a flood,

and rebuilt by Antiochus Epiphanes, under the name of Antiochia. It is

mentioned in c. 31.

[458] The Shushan of Scripture, now called Shu. It was the winter

residence of the kings of Persia, and stood in the district Cersia of

the province Susiana, on the eastern bank of the river Choaspes. The

site of Susa is now marked by extensive mounds.

[459] The island of Patala or Patale, previously mentioned in c. 23.

[460] Most probably the Cape Ras-el-Bad, the most easterly peninsula of

Arabia.

[461] 35,000,000 francs, according to Ansart, which would amount to

£1,400,000 of our money.

[462] Pliny is the only writer that mentions this place among the

towns of Lower Egypt. Some suppose it to have been Nicopolis, or the

City of Victory, founded by Augustus B.C. 29, partly to commemorate

the reduction of Egypt to a Roman province, and partly to punish the

Alexandrians for their adhesion to the cause of Antony and Cleopatra.

Mannert, however, looks upon it as having been merely that suburb of

Alexandria which Strabo (B. xvii.) calls Eleusis.

[463] From the Greek ὕδρευμα, a “watering-place.”

[464] From Coptos, the modern Kouft or Keft. Ptolemy Philadelphus, when

he constructed the port of Berenice, erected several caravansaries or

watering-places between the new city and Coptos. Coptos was greatly

enriched by the commerce between Lybia and Egypt on the one hand, and

Arabia and India on the other.

[465] Belzoni found traces of several of the stations here mentioned.

The site of Berenice, as ascertained by Moresby and Carless, 1830-3,

was nearly at the bottom of the inlet known as the Sinus Immundus, or

Foul Bay. Its ruins still exist.

[466] Now called Gehla, a harbour and emporium at the south-western

point of Arabia Felix.

[467] An emporium or promontory on the southern coast of Arabia, in the

country of the Adramitæ, and, as Arrian says, the chief port of the

incense-bearing country. It has been identified by D’Anville with Cava

Canim Bay, near a mountain called Hissan Ghorab, at the base of which

there are ruins to be seen.

[468] Probably the modern Mosch, north of Mokha, near the southern

extremity of Arabia Felix.

[469] Its ruins are now known as Dhafar. It was one of the chief cities

of Arabia, standing near the southern coast of Arabia Felix, opposite

the modern Cape Guardafui.

[470] Or Favonius, the west wind, previously mentioned in the present

Chapter.

[471] The modern Mangalore, according to Du Bocage.

[472] Or canoes.

[473] The Cottiara of Ptolemy, who makes it the chief city of the Æi, a

tribe who occupied the lower part of the peninsula of Hindostan. It has

been supposed to be represented by the modern Calicut or Travancore.

Cochin, however, appears to be the most likely.

[474] Marcus observes that we may conclude that either Pliny or the

author from whom he transcribed, wrote this between the years of the

Christian era 48 and 51; for that the coincidence of the 6th of the

month Mechir with the Ides of January, could not have taken place

in any other year than those on which the first day of Thoth or the

beginning of the year fell on the 11th of August, which happened in the

years 48, 49, 50, and 51 of the Christian era.

[475] An extensive province of Asia, along the northern shores of the

Persian Gulf, supposed to have comprehended the coast-line of the

modern Laristan, Kirman, and Moghostan.

[476] Ptolemy mentions an inland town of Carmania of the same name.

[477] Supposed to be that known now as the Ibrahim Rud, which falls

into the Persian Gulf.

[478] These sites are unknown.

[479] Forms two bays or gulfs in succession.

[480] He gives this name to the whole expanse of sea that lies between

Arabia and Africa on the west, and India on the east, including the Red

Sea and the Persian Gulf.

[481] Or Erythrus. In all probability entirely a mythical personage.

The sea having been called in Greek ἐρυθραῖα, or “red”—the legend most

probably thence took its rise. No very satisfactory reason has yet been

given for its being so called. The Hebrew name of it signifies the

“Sedgy Sea.”

[482] From Azania in Æthiopia, mentioned again in c. 34 of the present

Book.

[483] The maps appear to make it considerably more.

[484] The only feature of resemblance appears to be its comparative

narrowness at the neck.

[485] Or “turtle-eaters.”

[486] Different probably from the Cophis mentioned in c. 25, which was

also called Arabius or Arbis, and probably represented by the modern

Purali.

[487] Of Harmozon, probably the modern Bombareek.

[488] Their district is supposed to denote the vicinity of the modern

Ormuz, an island off this coast, which is now known as Moghostan.

[489] Taking their name probably from the river Arbis, previously

mentioned.

[490] The “Port of the Macedonians.”

[491] Now the Tab, falling into the Persian Gulf.

[492] A district of Susiana, extending from the river Eulæus on the

west, to the Oratis on the east, deriving its name perhaps from the

Elymæi, or Elymi, a warlike people found in the mountains of Greater

Media. In the Old Testament this country is called Elam.

[493] Ptolemy says that this last bore the name of “Alexander’s Island.”

[494] Persis was more properly a portion only or province of the

ancient kingdom of Persia. It gave name to the extensive Medo-Persian

kingdom under Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, B.C. 559.

[495] The Parthi originally inhabited the country south-east of the

Caspian, now Khorassan. Under Arsaces and his descendants, Persis and

the other provinces of ancient Persia became absorbed in the great

Parthian empire. Parthia, with the Chorasmii, Sogdii, and Arii, formed

the sixteenth satrapy under the Persian empire. See c. 16 of this Book.

[496] The provinces of Parthia have been already mentioned in detail in

the preceding Chapters, except Susiana and Elymais, which are mentioned

in c. 31.

[497] The original Parthia, the modern Khorassan.

[498] The so-called Caucasian chain. See c. 16 of the present Book.

[499] Or “Wandering Parthians,” lying far to the east.

[500] In c. 17 of the present Book.

[501] Not to be confounded with the place in Atropatene, mentioned in

c. 21 of the present Book.

[502] It has been supposed that the modern Damgham corresponds with

this place, but that is too near the Portæ Caspiæ. It is considered

most probable that the remains of Hecatompylos ought to be sought in

the neighbourhood of a place now known as Jah Jirm. It is mentioned in

c. 17 and 21 of the present Book.

[503] Media occupied the extreme west of the great table-land of the

modern Iran. It corresponded very nearly to the modern province of

Irak-Ajemi.

[504] The Upper and the Lower, as already mentioned.

[505] Hardouin suggests that this should be Syrtibolos. His reasons for

so thinking will be found alluded to in a note to c. 31. See p. 80,

Note [593].

[506] Or the “Great Ladder.” The Baron de Bode states, in his _Travels

in Luristan and Arabistan_, that he discovered the remains of a

gigantic causeway, in which he had no difficulty in recognizing one

of the most ancient and most mysterious monuments of the East. This

causeway, which at the present day bears the name of Jaddehi-Atabeg, or

the “road of the Atabegs,” was looked upon by several historians as one

of the wonders of the world, who gave it the name of the Climax Megale

or “Great Ladder.” At the time even of Alexander the Great the name of

its constructor was unknown.

[507] Which was rebuilt after it was burnt by Alexander, and in

the middle ages had the name of Istakhar; it is now called Takhti

Jemsheed, the throne of Jemsheed, or Chil-Minar, the Forty Pillars. Its

foundation is sometimes ascribed to Cyrus the Great, but more generally

to his son, Cambyses. The ruins of this place are very extensive.

[508] Its site is unknown; but Dupinet translates it the “city of Lor.”

[509] The older of the two capitals of Persia, Persepolis being the

later one. It was said to have been founded by Cyrus the Great, on

the spot where he gained his victory over Astyages. Its exact site

is doubtful, but most modern geographers identify it with Murghab,

to the north-east of Persepolis, where there are the remains of a

great sepulchral monument of the ancient Persians, probably the tomb

of Cyrus. Others place it at Farsa or at Dorab-Gherd, both to the

south-east of Persepolis, the direction mentioned by Strabo, but not in

other respects answering his description so well as Murghab.

[510] It is most probable that he does not allude here to the Ecbatana,

mentioned in c. 17 of this Book.

[511] There were several mountainous districts called Parætacene in the

Persian empire, that being the Greek form of a Persian word signifying

“mountainous.”

[512] In B. v. c. 21. He returns to the description of Susiana,

Elymaïs, and Characene in c. 31 of the present Book.

[513] The great seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldæan kingdom. It

either occupied the site, it is supposed, or stood in the immediate

vicinity of the tower of Babel. In the reign of Labynedus, Nabonnetus,

or Belshazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. In the reign of Augustus, a

small part only of Babylon was still inhabited, the remainder of the

space within the walls being under cultivation. The ruins of Babylon

are found to commence a little south of the village of Mohawill, eight

miles north of Hillah.

[514] Nineveh. See c. 16 of the present Book.

[515] On the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of

Zeugma; a fortress of considerable importance.