Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 267

3773 Probably the district where the goddess Anais was worshipped, who is mentioned by Pliny in B. xxxiii. c. 24.

3774 From the place of confluence where the two mountain streams forming the Euphrates unite. This spot is now known as Kebban Ma’den.

3775 A fortress upon the river Euphrates, in Lesser Armenia. It has been identified with the ferry and lead-mines of Kebban Ma’den, the points where the Kara Su is joined by the Myrad-Chaï, at a distance of 270 miles from its source; the two streams forming, by their confluence, the Euphrates.

3776 Other readings have “Pastona” here, said by D’Anville to be the modern Pastek.

3777 Called the metropolis of Lesser Armenia by Procopius. It was situate between Anti-Taurus and the Euphrates, and celebrated for its fertility, more especially in fruit-trees, oil, and wine. The site of the city Melitene is now called Malatiyah, on a tributary of the Euphrates, and near that river itself.

3778 It is generally supposed that “twenty-four” would be the correct reading here.

3779 There were two places of this name. The one here spoken of was a town of Lesser Armenia, on the right bank of the Euphrates, at the first, or principal curve, which takes place before the river enters Mount Taurus. It is represented by the modern Iz Oghlu.

3780 No other writer is found to make mention of the Lycus, which flows into the Euphrates, though there is a river formerly so called, which flows into the Tigris below Larissa, the modern Nimroud. D’Anville is of opinion, that it is formed from the numerous springs, called by the people of the district Bing-gheul, or the “Thousand Springs.”

3781 Now called the Myrad-Chaï. Ritter considers it to be the south arm of the Euphrates. The Arsanus is mentioned by no writer except Pliny.

3782 The defile at this place is now called the Cataract of Nachour, according to Parisot.

3783 The more general reading here is “Omira.” Hardouin is of opinion, that this is the district referred to in the Book of Judith, ii. 24. In the Vulgate, it appears to be twice called the river Mambre; but in our version it is called Arbonaï.

3784 Burnouf has concluded, from a cuneiform inscription which he deciphered, that the name of this people was Ayurâ, and that Hardouin is wrong in conjecturing that it was a name derived from the Greek ὄρος, “a mountain,” and designating the people as a mountain tribe. If Burnouf is right, the proper reading here would seem to be Arœi, or Arrhœi.

3785 The length of the schœnus has been mentioned by our author in C. 11 of the present Book. M. Saigey makes the Persian parasang to be very nearly the same length as the schœnus of Pliny.

3786 Commagene was a district in the north of Syria, bounded by the Euphrates on the east, by Cilicia on the west, and by Amanus on the north. Its capital was Samosata.

3787 The place here spoken of by Pliny is probably the same mentioned by Ptolemy as in Cataonia, one of the provinces of Cappadocia. According to Parisot, the site of the place is called at the present day ‘Ra Claudie.’

3788 Salmasius has confounded these cataracts with those of Nachour, or Elegia, previously mentioned. It is evident, however, that they are not the same.

3789 Now called Someisat. In literary history, it is celebrated as being the birth-place of the satirist Lucian. Nothing remains of it but a heap of ruins, on an artificial mound.

3790 In the district of Osrhoëne, in the northern part of Mesopotamia. It was situate on the Syrtus, now the Daisan, a small tributary of the Euphrates. Pliny speaks rather loosely when he places it in Arabia. It is supposed that it bore the name of Antiochia during the reign of the Syrian king, Antiochus IV. The modern town of Orfahor Unfah is supposed to represent its site.

3791 “The beautiful stream.” It is generally supposed that this was another name of Edessa.

3792 Supposed to be the Haran, or Charan, of the Old Testament. It was here, as alluded to by Pliny, that Crassus was defeated and slain by the Parthian general, Surena. It was situate in Osroëne, in Mesopotamia, and not far from Edessa. According to Stephanus, it had its name from Carrha, a river of Syria, and was celebrated in ancient times for its temple of Luna, or Lunus.

3793 According to Strabo, the Aborras, now the Khabur, flowed round this town. By Tacitus it is called Anthemusias. According to Isidorus of Charax, it lay between Edessa and the Euphrates.

3794 Now Rakkah, a fortified town of Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates, near the mouth of the river Bilecha. It was built by order of Alexander the Great, and completed probably by Seleucus. It is supposed to have been the same place as Callinicum, the fortifications of which were repaired by Justinian. Its name was changed in later times to Leontopolis by the Emperor Leo.

3795 Now called Sinjar, according to Brotier. Some writers imagine that this was the site of “the plain in the land of Shinar,” on which the Tower of Babel was built, mentioned in the Book of Genesis, xi. 2.

3796 Mentioned in C. 17 of the present Book.

3797 Probably not that in the district of Cassiotis, and on the western bank of the Orontes, mentioned in C. 19 of the present Book. Of this locality nothing seems to be known, except that Dupinet states that it is now called Adelphe by the Turks.

3798 Probably the “Antiochia ad Taurum” mentioned by the geographer Stephanus, and by Ptolemy. Some writers place it at the modern Aintab, seventy-five miles north-east of Aleppo.

3799 Now called Roum-Cala, or the “Roman Castle.” For Zeugma see p. 424.

3800 In the north-east of the district of Astropatene, originally called Rhaga. It was rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator, and by him called Europus. Colonel Rawlinson has identified it with the present Veramin, at no great distance from the ancient Rhages.

3801 Its ruins are to be seen at the ford of El Hamman, near the modern Rakkah. It stood on the banks of the Euphrates; and here was the usual, and, for a long time, the only ford of the Euphrates. It is supposed to have derived its name from the Aramean word “Thiphsach,” signifying “a ford.”

3802 Or “Dwellers in Tents.” See p. 422.

3803 According to Ortelius and Hardouin, this is the place called Sura by Pliny, in C. 26 of the present Book; but Parisot differs from that opinion. Bochart suggests, that “Ur, of the Chaldees,” is the place referred to under this name; but, as Hardouin observes, that place lay at a considerable distance to the south.

3804 So called from the circumstance that Palmyra stood in the midst of them. It was built by King Solomon, in an oasis of the Desert, in the midst of palm groves, from which it received its Greek name, which was a translation also of the Hebrew “Tadmor,” “the city of palm-trees.” It lay at a considerable distance from the Euphrates. Its site presents considerable ruins; but they are all of the Roman period, and greatly inferior to those of Baalbec or Heliopolis.

3805 The rock fortress of the Idumæans in Arabia Petræa, now called Wady-Musa, half-way between the head of the Gulf of Akabah and the Dead Sea.

3806 Which it continued to do until it was conquered under its queen, Zenobia, by the Emperor Aurelian, in A.D. 270. It was partially destroyed by him, but was afterwards fortified by Justinian; though it never recovered its former greatness.

3807 See B. vi. c. 30.

3808 Pliny is the only author that makes mention of Stelendene.

3809 In C. 19 of the present Book.

3810 Previously mentioned by Pliny. See p. 439. Of Elatium nothing is known.

3811 The same place that is also mentioned in history as Flavia Firma Sura. The site of Philiscum is totally unknown.

3812 Nothing is known of this place.

3813 Parisot remarks, that it is true that the Euphrates increases periodically, much in the same manner as the Nile; but that its increase does not arise from similar causes, nor are the same results produced by it, seeing that the river does not convey the same volume of water as the Nile, and that the country in the vicinity of its bed does not, like Egypt, form a valley pent up between two ranges of hills.

3814 So called probably from the Greek διαφανὴς, “transparent.” It has not been identified, but it was no doubt a small stream falling into the Gulf of Issus.

3815 Or “Passes.” As to Mount Amanus, see C. 18 of the present Book.

3816 Parisot suggests that this is the Chersos of Xenophon, the modern Kermes.

3817 The Deli-Su of modern times according to D’Anville, the Maher-Su according to Pococke.

3818 Pliny is the only writer that mentions this river Lycus.

3819 The Gulf of Issos is now called the Gulf of Scanderoon or Iskenderun, from the town of that name, the former Alexandria ad Issum, mentioned here by Pliny. In the vicinity of Issus, Alexander defeated the army of Darius. The exact site of the town appears not to have been ascertained.

3820 Which still preserves its name in Iskenderun, on the east side of the Gulf. It probably received its name in honour of Alexander the Great.

3821 Or the “Green” River. Its identity is unknown.

3822 Now called Ayas Kala or Kalassy. It was a place, in the Roman period, of some importance.

3823 The modern river Jihan.

3824 Or “Passes” of Cilicia, through the range of Taurus.

3825 Called Mallo in modern times, according to Hardouin and Dupinet.

3826 At the mouth of the Pyramus, according to Tzetzes.

3827 Famous as the birth-place of St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles. Its ruins still bear the name of Tersus. During the civil war it took part with Julius Cæsar, and from him received the name of Juliopolis.

3828 They lie between the rivers Djihoun and Syhoun, according to Ansart.

3829 Now called Messis, according to D’Anville and Mannert. The site of Cassipolis, or Cassiopolis according to some readings, is unknown.

3830 The sites of Thynos and Zephyrium appear to be unknown. Anchiale was situate on the coast, upon the river Anchialeus, according to the geographer Stephanus. Aristobulus, quoted by Strabo, says that at this place was the tomb of Sardanapalus, and on it a relief in stone representing a man snapping the fingers of the right hand. He adds, “It is said that there is an Assyrian inscription also, recording that Sardanapalus built Anchiale and Tarsus in one day, and exhorting the reader to eat, drink, &c., as everything else is not worth That, the meaning of which was shown by the attitude of the figure.” Athenæus however cites Amyntas as his authority for stating that the tomb of Sardanapalus was at Nineveh. Leake is of opinion that a mound on the banks of the river beyond the modern villages of Kazalu and Karaduar forms the remains of Anchiale.

3831 The modern Syhou, according to Ansart.

3832 Now called the Tersoos Chai. It is remarkable for the coldness of its waters, and it was here that Alexander the Great nearly met with his death from bathing when heated, in the stream.

3833 Now Chelendreh. It was a strong place on the coast, situate on a high rock nearly surrounded by the sea. None of its ruins seem older than the early period of the Roman empire. The Turks call it Gulnare.

3834 Probably so called from a temple to the Sea Nymphs there.

3835 To distinguish it from Solæ or Soli of Cyprus. It was situate between the rivers Cydnus and Lamus, and was said to have been colonized by Argives and Lydians from Rhodes. Alexander mulcted its inhabitants of 200 talents, for their adhesion to the Persians. It was celebrated as the birth-place of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus, the comic poet Philemon, and the poet and astronomer Aratus. Its name is perpetuated in the word Solecism, which is said to have been first applied to the corrupt dialect of Greek spoken by the inhabitants of this city, or as some say, of Soli in Cyprus.

3836 It still retains its ancient name, and is situate on the western side of the Sarus, now the Syhoun or Syhan. Pompey settled here some of the Cilician pirates whom he had conquered.

3837 Leake, in his ‘Asia Minor,’ p. 196, says, “The vestiges of Cibyra are probably those observed by Captain Beaufort upon a height which rises from the right bank of a considerable river about eight miles to the eastward of the Melas, about four miles to the west of Cape Karáburnu, and nearly two miles from the shore.” Ptolemy mentions Cibyra as an inland town of Cilicia Trachea, but Scylax places it on the coast.

3838 Its ruins are still called Pinara or Minara. It was an inland city of Lycia, some distance west of the river Xanthus, and at the foot of Mount Cragus.

3839 Or perhaps ‘Podalie.’ Of it nothing seems to be known.

3840 Or Selinuntum, now Selenti, on the coast of Cilicia. In consequence of the death here of the Emperor Trajan, it received the name of Trajanopolis. Of Ale, if that is the correct reading, nothing whatever is known.

3841 On the coast of Cilicia; mentioned by Strabo as having a port. Leake places it at or near the ruined castle called Sokhta Kalesi, below which is a port, and a peninsula on the east side of the harbour covered with ruins.

3842 In the district of Selenitis. It has been identified with the site of the modern fortress of Lambardo. It is also suggested that it may have been the same place as Laerte, the native city of Diogenes Laertius. Of Doron nothing seems to be known.

3843 Its ruins are supposed to be those seen by Leake near the island of Crambusa. Here the walls of an ancient city may still be traced, and a mole of unhewn rocks projects from one angle of the fortress about 100 yards across the bay.

3844 Strabo describes this cave as a vast hollow of circular form, surrounded by a margin of rock on all sides of considerable height; on descending it, the ground was found full of shrubs, both evergreens and cultivated, and in some parts the best saffron was grown. He also says that there was a cave which contained a large spring, from which arose a river of clear water which immediately afterwards sank into the earth and flowed underground into the sea. It was called the Bitter Water. This cave, so famed in ancient times, does not appear to have been examined by any modern traveller. It was said to have been the bed of the giant Typhon or Typhœus.

3845 Now known as the Ghiuk-Su.

3846 Supposed to be the same as the modern Lessan-el-Kahpeh.

3847 Or Holmi, on the coast of Cilicia Tracheia, a little to the south-west of Seleucia. Leake thinks that the modern town of Aghaliman occupies the site of Holmœ.

3848 Probably the same place as the Aphrodisias mentioned by Livy, Diodorus Siculus, and Ptolemy.

3849 On the headland now called Cape Anemour, the most southerly part of Asia Minor. Beaufort discovered on the point indications of a considerable ancient town.

3850 Its site is now called Alaya or Alanieh. This spot was Strabo’s boundary-line between Pamphylia and Cilicia. Some slight remains of the ancient town were seen here by Beaufort, but no inscriptions were found.

3851 Identified by Beaufort with the modern Manaugat-Su.

3852 So called, either from an adjacent mountain of that name, or its founder, Anazarbus. Its later name was Cæsarea ad Anazarbum. Its site is called Anawasy or Amnasy, and is said to display considerable remains of the ancient town. Of Augusta nothing is known: Ptolemy places it in a district called Bryelice.

3853 Identified by Ainsworth with the ruins seen at Kara Kaya in Cilicia.

3854 Pompey settled some of the Cilician pirates here after his defeat of them. It was thirty miles east of Anazarbus, but its site does not appear to have been identified.

3855 An island off the shore of Cilicia, also called Sebaste.

3856 Some of the MSS. read “Riconium” here.

3857 Its ruins are called Selefkeh. This was an important city of Seleucia Aspera, built by Seleucus I. on the western bank of the river Calycadnus. It had an oracle of Apollo, and annual games in honour of Zeus Olympius. It was a free city under the Romans. It was here that Frederick Barbarossa, the emperor of Germany, died. Its ruins are picturesque and extensive.

3858 Meaning that the inhabitants of Holmia were removed by Seleucus to his new city of Seleucia.

3859 Said by Vitruvius to have had the property of anointing those who bathed in its waters. If so, it probably had its name from the Greek word λιπαρὸς, “fat.” It flowed past the town of Soloë. Bombos and Paradisus are rivers which do not appear to have been identified.

3860 A branch of the Taurus range.

3861 It bordered in the east on Lycaonia, in the north on Phrygia, in the west on Pisidia, and in the south on Cilicia and Pamphylia.

3862 A well-fortified city at the foot of Mount Taurus. It was twice destroyed, first by its inhabitants when besieged by Perdiccas, and again by the Roman general Servilius Isauricus. Strabo says that Amyntas of Galatea built a new city in its vicinity out of the ruins of the old one. D’Anville and others have identified the site of Old Isauria with the modern Bei Sheher, and they are of opinion that Seidi Sheher occupies the site of New Isaura, but Hamilton thinks that the ruins on a hill near the village of Olou Bounar mark the site of New Isaura. Of the two next places nothing seems to be known at the present day.

3863 In the last Chapter.

3864 In Pisidia, at the southern extremity of Lake Caralitis. Tacitus, Annals, iii. 48, says that this people possessed forty-four fortresses: whereas Strabo speaks of them as the most barbarous of all the Pisidian tribes, dwelling only in caves. They were conquered by the consul Quirinius in the time of Augustus.

3865 Pisidia was a mountainous region formed by that part of the main chain of Mount Taurus which sweeps round in a semicircle parallel to the shore of the Pamphylian Gulf; the shore itself at the foot of the mountains forming the district of Pamphylia. On the south-east it was bounded by Cilicia, on the east and north-east by Lycaonia and Isauria, and by Phrygia Parorios on the north, where its boundaries greatly varied at different times.

3866 Generally called “Antioch of Pisidia,” was situate on the south side of the mountain boundary between Phrygia and Pisidia. The modern Yalobatch is supposed to occupy its site. The remains of the ancient town are numerous. Its title of Cæsarea was probably given to it on its becoming a Roman colony early in the imperial period.

3867 D’Anville suggests that the modern Haviran occupies its site, and that Sadjakla stands on that of Sagalessos.

3868 This country was bounded on the north by Galatia, on the east by Cappadocia, on the south by Cilicia Aspera, on the south-west by Isauria and Phrygia Parorios, and on the north-west by Great Phrygia. It was assigned under the Persian empire to the satrapy of Cappadocia, but considered by the Greek and Roman geographers the south-east part of Phrygia.

3869 Phrygia, or the western part of Asia, the first part of the Asiatic continent that received the name of Asia. Sec Chapters 28 & 29 of the present Book.

3870 D’Anville thinks that the place called Il-Goun occupies the site of Philomela.

3871 Hardouin suggests that the reading here is “Tibriani,” the people of Tibrias. Ansart is of opinion that Thymbrium is meant, the place at which Cyrus defeated the army of Crœsus.

3872 Its site is unknown. It was probably so called from the quarries of white stone or marble in its vicinity. Pelta and Tyrium are also equally unknown.

3873 Iconium was regarded in the time of Xenophon as the easternmost town of Phrygia, while all the later authorities described it as the principal city of Lycaonia. In the Acts of the Apostles it is described as a very populous city, inhabited by Greeks and Jews. Its site is now called Kunjah or Koniyeh.

3874 It has been suggested that this may be the Tarbassus of Artemidorus, quoted by Strabo. Hyde was in later times one of the episcopal cities of Lycaonia.

3875 Their district is called Melyas by Herodotus, B. i. c. 173. The city of Arycanda is unknown.

3876 United with Cilicia it now forms the province of Caramania or Kermanieh. It was a narrow strip of the southern coast of Asia Minor, extending in an arch along the Pamphylian Gulf between Lycia on the west, Cilicia on the east, and on the north bordering on Pisidia.

3877 Tradition ascribed the first Greek settlements in this country to Mopsus, son of Apollo (or of Rhacius), after the Trojan war.

3878 Now called the Gulf of Adalia, lying between Cape Khelidonia and Cape Anemour.

3879 Now called Candeloro, according to D’Anville and Beaufort.

3880 Or Aspendus, an Argeian colony on the river Eurymedon. The “mountain” of Pliny is nothing but a hill or piece of elevated ground. It is supposed that it still retains its ancient name. In B. xxxi. c. 7, Pliny mentions a salt lake in its vicinity.

3881 Hardouin suggests that the correct reading is ‘Petnelessum.’

3882 A city of remarkable splendour, between the rivers Catarrhactes and Cestrus, sixty stadia from the mouth of the former. It was a celebrated seat of the worship of Artemis or Diana. In the later Roman empire it was the capital of Pamphylia Secunda. It was the first place visited by St. Paul in Asia Minor. See Acts, xiii. 13 and xiv. 25. Its splendid ruins are still to be seen at Murtana, sixteen miles north-east of Adalia.

3883 Now known as the Kapri-Su.

3884 Now called Duden-Su. It descends the mountains of Taurus in a great broken waterfall, whence its name.

3885 Probably occupying the site of the modern Atalieh or Satalieh.

3886 On the borders of Lycia and Pamphylia, at the foot of Mount Solyma. Its ruins now bear the name of Tekrova.

3887 It was inclosed by Caria and Pamphylia on the west and east, and on the north by the district of Cibyrates in Phrygia.

3888 The Gulf of Satalieh or Adalia.

3889 Still known as Cape Khelidonia or Cameroso.

3890 Parisot remarks here, “Pliny describes on this occasion, with an exactness very remarkable for his time, the chain of mountains which runs through the part of Asia known to the ancients, although it is evident that he confines the extent of them within much too small a compass.”

3891 The Caspian and the Hyrcanian Seas are generally looked upon as identical, but we find them again distinguished by Pliny in B. vi. c. 13, where he says that this inland sea commences to be called the Caspian after you have passed the river Cyrus (or Kúr), and that the Caspii live near it; and in C. 16, that it is called the Hyrcanian Sea, from the Hyrcani who live along its shores. The western side would therefore in strictness be called the Caspian, and the eastern the Hyrcanian Sea.

3892 “The name of Imaüs was, in the first instance, applied by the Greek geographers to the Hindú-Kúsh and to the chain parallel to the equator, to which the name of Himâlaya is usually given at the present day. The name was gradually extended to the intersection running north and south, the meridian axis of Central Asia, or the Bolor range. The divisions of Asia into ‘intra et extra Imaum,’ were unknown to Strabo and Pliny, though the latter describes the knot of mountains formed by the intersections of the Himâlaya, the Hindú-Kúsh, and Bolor, by the expression ‘quorum (Montes Emodi) promontorium Imaüs vocatur.’ The Bolor chain has been for ages, with one or two exceptions, the boundary between the empires of China and Turkestan.”—Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Ancient Geography.

3893 The Gates of Armenia are spoken of in B. vi. c. 12, the Gates of the Caspian in C. 16 of the same Book, and the Gates of Cilicia in C. 22 of the present Book.