Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 234

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And now as to the remaining places on this coast. On the road from Cios into the interior is Prusa4330, in Bithynia, founded by Hannibal at the foot of Olympus, at a distance of twenty-five miles from Nicæa, Lake Ascanius4331 lying between them. We then come to Nicæa4332, formerly called Olbia, and situate at the bottom of the Ascanian Gulf; as also a second place called Prusa4333, at the foot of Mount Hypius. Pythopolis, Parthenopolis, and Coryphanta are no longer in existence. Along the coast we find the rivers Æsius, Bryazon, Plataneus, Areus, Æsyros, Geodos, also called Chrysorroas4334, and the promontory4335 upon which once stood the town of Megarice. The gulf that here runs inland received the name of Craspedites from the circumstance of that town lying, as it were, upon its skirt4336. Astacum4337, also, formerly stood here, from which the same gulf has received the name of the ‘Astacenian’: the town of Libyssa4338 formerly stood at the spot where we now see nothing but the tomb of Hannibal. At the bottom of the gulf lies Nicomedia4339, a famous city of Bithynia; then comes the Promontory of Leucatas4340, by which the Astacenian Gulf is bounded, and thirty-seven miles distant from Nicomedia; and then, the land again approaching the other side, the straits4341 which extend as far as the Thracian Bosporus. Upon these are situate Chalcedon4342, a free town, sixty-two miles from Nicomedia, formerly called Procerastis4343, then Colpusa, and after that the “City of the Blind,” from the circumstance that its founders did not know where to build their city, Byzantium being only seven stadia distant, a site which is preferable in every respect.

In the interior of Bithynia are the colony of Apamea4344, the Agrippenses, the Juliopolitæ, and Bithynion4345; the rivers Syrium, Laphias, Pharnacias, Alces, Serinis, Lilæus, Scopius, and Hieras4346, which separates Bithynia from Galatia. Beyond Chalcedon formerly stood Chrysopolis4347, and then Nicopolis, of which the gulf, upon which stands the Port of Amycus4348, still retains the name; then the Promontory of Naulochum, and Estiæ4349, a temple of Neptune4350. We then come to the Bosporus, which again separates Asia from Europe, the distance across being half a mile; it is distant twelve miles and a half from Chalcedon. The first entrance of this strait is eight miles and three-quarters wide, at the place where the town of Spiropolis4351 formerly stood. The Thyni occupy the whole of the coast, the Bithyni the interior. This is the termination of Asia, and of the 282 peoples, that are to be found between the Gulf of Lycia4352 and this spot. We have already4353 mentioned the length of the Hellespont and Propontis to the Thracian Bosporus as being 239 miles; from Chalcedon to Sigeum, Isidorus makes the distance 322¹⁄₂.