FOOTNOTES:
[1] Book xii. c. iii. 39. Vol. ii. page 311, 312.
[2] Book xiii. c. iv. § 8. Vol. ii. page 405.
[3] Book x. c. iv. § 10, and book xii. c. iii. § 33. Vol. ii. pp. 197, 307, of this Translation.
[4] Book xiv. c. i. § 48. Vol. iii. p. 26.
[5] Book xiv. c. v. § 4. Vol. iii. p. 53.
[6] Book xii. c. iii. § 16. Vol. ii. p. 296, 380.
[7] c. ii. § 24. Vol. iii. p. 173.
[8] Book ii. c. v. § 10. Vol. i. p. 176, of this Translation.
[13] Book ii. c. 3, § 6. Vol. i. p. 154.
[14] Herodotus iv. 85, 86.
[15] Book i. c. iv. § 6. Vol. i. p. 102, of the Translation.
[16] Book ii. c. i. § 20. Vol. i. p. 119, of the Translation.
[17] Book xiii. c. i. § 54, vol. ii. p. 380.
[18] “A Reply to the Calumnies of the Edinburgh Review against Oxford,” page 98, by Dr. Copleston, late Bishop of Landaff. Oxford, 1810.
[19] That is, the maritime parts of Asia Minor, from Cape Coloni opposite Mitilini to Bajas, the ancient Issus. The coast of Ionia comprehended between Cape Coloni and the Mæander (Bojuk Mender Tschai) forms part of the modern pachalics, Saruchan and Soghla; Caria and Lycia are contained in the pachalic, Mentesche; Pamphylia and Lycia in those of Teke and Itsch-ili. Mount Taurus had its beginning at the promontory Trogilium, now Cape Samsoun, or Santa Maria opposite Samos.
[20] Jenikoi.
[21] Cape Arbora.
[22] Karadscha-Fokia.
[23] Gedis-Tschai.
[24] Derekoi.
[25] Lebedigli, Lebeditzhissar.
[26] A portion of this poem by Mimnermus is quoted in Athenæus, b. xi. 39, p. 748 of the translation, Bohn’s Class. Library.
[27] Pliny, v. 29, says the distance is 20 stadia.
[28] The Branchidæ were descendants of Branchus, who himself was descended from Macæreus, who killed Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. According to Herodotus, the temple was burnt by order of Darius, Herod. v. 36; vi. 19.
[29] Pliny, v. 29, says that the distance is 180 stadia.
[30] According to Pausanias, vii. 2, a friend of Sarpedon, named Miletus, conducted the colony from Crete, founded Miletus, and gave his name to it. Before his arrival the place bore the name of Anactoria, and more anciently Lelegis.
[31] More than 80, according to Pliny, v. 29.
[32] To be well.
[33] Hence the English weal, the mark of a stripe.
[34] Od. xxiv. 402.
[35] Coraÿ, who is followed by Groskurd, supposes the words “and Cadmus” to be here omitted. Kramer considers this correction to be very doubtful; see b. i. c. ii. § 6.
[36] Chandler says that the Tragææ were sand-banks or shallows.
[37] Bafi.
[38] Il. ii. 868.
[39] ἐν ὕψει, according to Groskurd’s emendation, in place of ἐν ὄψει.
[40] Derekoi.
[41] Two other towns, Percote and Palæscepsis, were also given to Themistocles, the first to supply him with dress, the second with bed-room furniture.—Plutarch, Life of Themistocles.
[42] Aineh-Basar.
[43] Samsun.
[44] Samsun Dagh.
[45] Cape Santa Maria.
[46] The Furni islands.
[47] Stapodia.
[48] According to Pliny, it is 716 stadia.
[49] In b. x. ch. ii. § 17, Strabo informs us that Samos was first called Melamphylus, then Anthemis, and afterwards Parthenia. These names appear in this passage in a reversed but, as appears from Pliny, b. v. 31, in their true chronological order.
[50] Either an error of our author, or he speaks of its wine in comparison with that of other islands.
[51] After the death of Pericles.
[52] Among distinguished natives of Samos, Strabo has omitted to mention Melissus the philosopher, who commanded the fleet of the island, and was contemporary with Pericles.—Plutarch, Life of Pericles.
[53] Before called Drepanum.
[54] Ischanli.
[55] Scala Nova.
[56] Pliny and Mela give a different origin and name to this town: by them it is called Phygela from Φυγὴ, flight or desertion of the sailors, who, wearied with the voyage, abandoned Agamemnon.
[57] Chersiphron was of Gnossus in Crete. The ground being marshy on which the temple was to be built, he prepared a foundation for it of pounded charcoal, at the suggestion of Theodorus, a celebrated statuary of Samos.
[58] The temple is said to have been burnt the night Alexander the Great was born.—Cicero, de Nat. Deo. ii. 27.
[59] Plutarch says that the artist offered Alexander to make a statue of Mount Athos, which should hold in the left hand a city, capable of containing 10,000 inhabitants, and pouring from the right hand a river falling into the sea.
[60] For the word κρήνη, a fountain, which occurs in the text before Penelope, and is here unintelligible, Kramer proposes to read κηρίνη. The translation of the passage, thus corrected, would be, “a figure in wax of Penelope.” Kramer does not adopt the reading, on the ground that no figures in wax are mentioned by ancient authors.
[61] ὀνήιστος.
[62] Coraÿ is of opinion that the name of Artemidorus of Ephesus has been omitted by the copyist in this passage, before the name of Alexander. Kramer thinks that if the name had existed in the original manuscript, it would have been accompanied, according to the practice of Strabo, with some notice of the writings of Artemidorus. The omission of the name is remarkable, as Artemidorus is one of the geographers most frequently quoted by Strabo. He flourished about 100 B. C. His geography in eleven books is lost. An abridgement of this work was made by Marcianus, of which some portions still exist, relating to the Black Sea and its southern shore.
[63] It must have been in existence in the time of Strabo.—Tacit. Ann. ii. 54.
[64] Another explanation is given to the proverb, from the circumstance of Colophon having a casting vote in the deliberations of the twelve cities forming the Panionium.
[65] Lebedigli Lebeditz hissar.
[66] During the season when these actors, dancers, and singers were not on circuit at festivals.
[67] Budrun.
[68] Ouvriokasli.
[69] Ypsilo Nisi.
[70] Called by Livy, xxvii. 27, Portus Geræsticus.
[71] Which forms the Gulf of Smyrna.
[72] The district called Chalcitis by Pausanias, xii. 5, 12.
[73] Ritri.
[74] Sighadschik.
[75] Koraka, or Kurko.
[76] Called in Thucyd. viii. 34, Arginum.
[77] Karaburun-Dagh.
[78] Karaburun, which has the same meaning.
[79] Groskurd is of opinion that “of the same name” is omitted after “city.”
[80] Cape Mastico.
[81] Porto Mastico.
[82] This name is doubtful. Coraÿ suggests Elæus; Groskurd, Lainus, which Kramer does not approve of, although this part of the coast is now called Lithi. It seems to be near a place called Port Aluntha.
[83] Cape Nicolo.
[84] Psyra.
[85] Ilias.
[86] Ion was a contemporary of Sophocles. Theopompus was the disciple of Socrates, and the author of an epitome of the history of Herodotus, of a history of Greece, of a history of Philip, father of Alexander the Great, and of other works. He was of the aristocratic or Macedonian party. Theocritus, his contemporary, was a poet, orator, and historian; he was of the democratic party. To these, among illustrious natives of Chios, may be added Œnopides the astronomer and mathematician, who was the discoverer of the obliquity of the ecliptic and the cycle of 59 years, for bringing the lunar and solar years into accordance; Nessus the philosopher; his disciple Metrodorus (about B. C. 330) the sceptic, and master of Hippocrates; Scymnus the geographer, and author of a description of the earth.
[87] The Homeridæ may have been at first descendants of Homer; but in later times those persons went by the name Homeridæ, or Homeristæ, who travelled from town to town for the purpose of reciting the poems of Homer. They did not confine themselves to that poet alone, but recited the poetry of Hesiod, Archilochus, Mimnermus, and others; and finally passages from prose writers.—Athenæus, b. xiv. c. 13.
[88] Of the 283 vessels sent by the eight cities of Ionia in the war with Darius, one hundred came from Chios.
[89] Kelisman.
[90] Still to be found in collections of coins.
[91] Leokaes?
[93] Ak-Hissar.
[94] Karadscha-Fokia.
[95] Marseilles, b. iv. ch. i. § 4.
[97] Jenidscheh.
[98] Western Africa.
[99] Gumusch-dagh.
[100] According to Suidas, Daphnidas ridiculed oracles, and inquired of the oracle of Apollo, “Shall I find my horse?” when he had none. The oracle answered that he would find it. He was afterwards, by the command of Attalus, king of Pergamum, taken and thrown from a precipice called the Horse.
[101] The incursions of the Treres, with Cimmerians, into Asia and Europe followed after the Trojan war. The text is here corrupt. The translation follows the amendments proposed partly by Coraÿ, and partly by Kramer, τὸ δ’ ἑξῆς Ἐφεσίους.
[102] These innovations or corruptions were not confined to the composition of pieces intended for the theatre, but extended also to the manner of their representation, to music, dancing, and the costume of the actors. It was an absolute plague, which corrupted taste, and finally destroyed the Greek theatre. We are not informed of the detail of these innovations, but from what we are able to judge by comparing Strabo with what is found in Athenæus, (b. xiv. § 14, p. 990, of Bohn’s Classical Library,) Simodia was designated by the name of Hilarodia, (joyous song,) and obtained the name Simodia from one Simus, or Simon, who excelled in the art. The Lysiodi and Magodi, or Lysodia and Magodia, were the same thing, according to some writers. Under these systems decency appears to have been laid aside.
[103] Od. ix. 3.
[104] Aidin-Gusel-Hissar.
[105] The chain of mountains between the Caÿster and the Mæander, the different eminences of which bear the names of Samsun-dagh, Gumusch-dagh, Dsehuma-dagh, &c.
[106] Sultan-Hissar.
[107] The Tralli Thracians appear to have acted as mercenary soldiers, according to Hesychius.
[108] Groskurd supplies the word πρόσκεινται.
[109] Groskurd reads τοιούτων, for τοσούτων in the text. Coraÿ proposes νοσούντων.
[110] Meineke’s conjecture is followed, λίπα ἀληλιμμένοι, for ἀπαληλιμμένοι.
[111] Groskurd’s emendation of this corrupt passage is adopted, ὑπερβᾶσι τὴν Μεσωγίδα ἐπὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸν νότον μέρη Τμώλου τοῦ ὄρους.
[112] Il. ii. 461.
[113] Arpas-Kalessi.
[114] Mastauro.
[115] Adopting Kramer’s correction of Καρίας for παραλίας.
[116] Cape Arbora.
[117] Schelidan Adassi islands, opposite Cape Chelidonia.
[118] Near Gudschek, at the bottom of the Gulf of Glaucus, now Makri.
[119] The Phœnix (Phinti?) rises above the Gulf of Saradeh.
[120] Alessa, or, according to others, Barbanicolo.
[121] Dalian.
[122] Doloman-Ischai.
[123] Kramer suggests the words ὑπομέλανας καὶ, for the corrupt reading, ἐπιμελῶς.
[124] Il. vi. 146.
[125] The Caunians were aborigines of Caria, although they affected to come from Crete.—Herod. i. 72.
[126] Castro Marmora. The gulf on which it stands is still called Porto Fisko.
[127] Chares flourished at the beginning of the third century B. C. The accounts of the height of the Colossus of Rhodes differ slightly, but all agree in making it 105 English feet. It was twelve years in erecting, (B. C. 292-280,) and it cost 300 talents. There is no authority for the statement that its legs extended over the mouth of the harbour. It was overthrown 56 years after its erection. The fragments of the Colossus remained on the ground 923 years, until they were sold by Moawiyeh, the general of the Caliph Othman IV., to a Jew of Emessa, who carried them away on 900 camels, A. D. 672. Hence Scaliger calculated the weight of the bronze at 700,000 pounds.—Smith’s Dict. of Biog. and Mythology.
[128] Protogenes occupied seven years in painting the Jalysus, which was afterwards transferred to the Temple of Peace at Rome. The Satyr was represented playing on a flute, and was entitled, The Satyr Reposing.—Plutarch, Demetr.; Pliny, xxxv. 10.
[129] ὀψωνιασμοῦ, Kramer’s proposed correction, is adopted for ὀψωνιαζόμενοι.
[130] Marseilles and Artaki.
[131] Bodrum.
[132] Il. ii. 662.
[133] Il. ii. 656.
[134] Il. ii. 678.
[135] Formerly, says Pliny, it was called Ophiussa, Asteria, Æthræa, Trinacria, Corymbia, Pœeessa, Atabyria, from a king of that name; then Macaria and Oloëssa. B. v. 31. To these names may be added Lindus and Pelagia. Meineke, however, suspects the name Stadia in this passage to be a corruption for Asteria.
[136] That is, Children of the Sun. They were seven in number, Cercaphus, Actis, Macareus, Tenages, Triopes, Phaethon, and Ochimus, born of the Sun and of a nymph, or, according to others, of a heroine named Rhodus.
[137] Il. ii. 656.
[138] Hippodamus of Miletus.
[139] Naples.
[140] Majorca.
[141] Negropont.
[142] Called light-armed probably from the use of the sling, common among the Rhodians, as it was also among the Cretans. The use of the sling tends to prove the Rhodian origin of the inhabitants of the Balearic islands. The Athenian expedition to Sicily (Thucyd. vi. 43) was accompanied by 700 slingers from Rhodes.
[143] Strabo here omits to mention the Rhodian origin of Agrigentum and Gela in Sicily.
[144] Il. ii. 668.
[145] Od. vii. 61.
[146] Lindo.
[147] According to Strabo, Alexandria and Rhodes were upon the same meridian.
[148] Camiro.
[149] Lanathi?
[150] Abatro.
[152] The original, which is a play upon words, cannot be rendered in English.
[153] Called before, Eleussa, c. ii. § 2.
[154] The Sea of Marmora.
[155] Capo Volpe, or Alepo Kavo, meaning the same thing.
[156] Isle of Symi.
[157] Crio.
[158] Indschirli, or Nisari.
[159] Keramo.
[160] The word ἔργον, “a work,” suggests that there is some omission in the text. Coraÿ supposes that the name of the architect or architects is wanting. Groskurd would supply the words Σκόπα καὶ ἄλλων τεχνιτῶν, “the work of Scopas and other artificers.” See Pliny, N. H. xxxvi., and Vitruvius Præf. b. vii.
[161] Coronata.
[162] Mela says, of Argives. B. i. c. xvi. § 19.
[163] Petera, or Petra Termera.
[164] Cape Kephala.
[165] Pascha-Liman.
[166] Assem-Kalessi.
[167] Cape Arbore.
[168] Mylassa, or Marmora.
[169] Eski-hissar.
[170] Arab-hissar.
[171] This is a parody on a passage in Aristophanes. Lysis. v. 1038.
[172] Of the golden rays (around the head).
[173] Cicero. Brut., c. 91.
[174] Il. ii. 867, in which the reading is Νάστης, but Μέσθλης in Il. ii. 864.
[175] Od. i. 344.
[176] Il. xv. 80.
[177] Il. v. 222.
[178] βατταρίζειν, τραυλίζειν, ψελλίζειν.
[179] κελαρύζειν, κλαγγὴ, ψόφος, βοὴ, κρότος.
[180] Chelidoniæ, in this passage, is probably an error. Groskurd adopts the name Philomelium.
[181] Ilgun.
[182] At the base of Sultan-dagh.
[183] Ak-Schehr.
[184] Sultan Chan.
[185] Ak-Sera.
[186] Kaiserieh.
[187] Called Herpa, b. xii. ch. ii. § 6, pages 281, 283.
[188] Μετὰ τὴν Ῥοδίων Περαίαν, or, “After the Peræa of Rhodes.” Peræa was the name of the coast of Caria opposite to Rhodes, which for several centuries formed a dependency of that opulent republic. In the time of Scylax, the Rhodians possessed only the peninsula immediately in face of their island. As a reward for their assistance in the Antiochian war, the Romans gave them a part of Lycia, and all Caria as far as the Mæander. By having adopted a less prudent policy in the second Macedonic war, they lost it all, including Caunus, the chief town of Peræa. It was not long, however, before it was restored to them, together with the small islands near Rhodes; and from this time Peræa retained the limits which Strabo has described, namely, Dædala on the east and Mount Loryma on the west, both included. Vespasian finally reduced Rhodes itself into the provincial form, and joined it to Caria.—Leake.
[189] Samsun.
[190] Eski Adalia, Old Attaleia; but the Greeks gave the name παλαιὰ Ἀττάλεια, Old Attaleia, to Perge.—Leake.
[191] Gunik.
[192] Patera.
[193] Minara.
[194] Duvar.
[195] Gillies, in his translation of Aristotle, makes use of this example of the Lycians to prove that representative government was not unknown to the ancients. The deputies sent from the twenty-three cities formed a parliament. The taxes and public charges imposed on the several towns were in proportion to the number of representatives sent from each city.—Gillies, vol. ii. p. 64, &c.
[196] Makri.
[197] Site unknown.
[198] Efta Kavi, the Seven Capes.
[199] Od. xix. 518.
[200] Kodscha.
[201] The passage in the original, in which all manuscripts agree, and which is the subject of much doubt, is—
ὧν καὶ μεγίστη νῆσος καὶ πόλις ὁμώνυμος, ἡ Κισθήνη. Groskurd would read καὶ before ἡ, and translates,—“Among others is Megiste an island, and a city of the same name, and Cisthene.” Later writers, says Leake, make no mention of Cisthene; and Ptolemy, Pliny, Stephanus, agree in showing that Megiste and Dolichiste were the two principal islands on the coast of Lycia: the former word Megiste, greatest, well describing the island Kasteloryzo or Castel Rosso, as the latter word (longest) does that of Kakava. Nor is Scylax less precise in pointing out Kasteloryzo as Megiste, which name is found in an inscription copied by M. Cockerell from a rock at Castel Rosso. It would seem, therefore, that this island was anciently known by both names, (Megiste and Cisthene,) but in later times perhaps chiefly by that of Megiste.
[202] Cape Chelidonia.
[203] Aboukir, nearly under the same meridian.
[204] Tschariklar.
[205] Garabasa.
[206] Tschiraly. Deliktasch.—Leake.
[207] Ianartasch.
[208] Tirikowa.
[209] Solyma-dagh.
[210] Gulik-Chan?
[211] Il. vi. 184.
[212] Duden-su.
[213] Adalia.
[214] Ernatia.
[215] Ak-su.
[216] Murtana.
[217] Tekeh.
[218] Kopru-su.
[219] Balkesu.
[220] Kislidscha-koi.
[221] Menavgat-su.
[222] Alara.
[223] Alaja, or Castel Ubaldo.
[224] Herod. vii. 91. According to this passage, therefore, the name Pamphylians is derived from πᾶν, “all,” and φῦλον, “nation.”
[225] Alaja.
[226] Syedra probably shared with Coraresium (Alaja), a fertile plain which here borders on the coast. But Syedra is Tzschucke’s emendation of Arsinoë in the text.
[227] Not mentioned by any other author.
[228] Selindi.
[229] Charadran.
[230] Kara-Gedik.
[231] Inamur.
[232] Cape Kormakiti.
[233] Mesetlii.
[234] Softa-Kalessi.
[235] Mandane?
[236] Kilandria, or Gulnar.
[237] According to Pliny, Cilicia anciently commenced at the river Melas, which Strabo has just said belongs to Pamphylia. Ptolemy fixes upon Coracesium as the first place in Cilicia, which, according to Mela, was separated from Pamphylia by Cape Anemurium, which was near Nagidus.
[238] Nahr-el-Asy.
[240] Selefke.
[241] Cape Lissan.
[242] Gok-su.
[243] Cape Cavaliere.
[244] Eurip. Hec. 1.
[245] Its distance (40 stadia) from the Calycadnus, if correct, will place it about Pershendi, at the north-eastern angle of the sandy plain of the Calycadnus.
[246] Anamur.
[247] Ianartasch; but, according to Leake, it still preserves its name.
[248] A sandy plain now connects Elæussa with the coast.—Leake.
[249] Lamas-su, of which Lamuzo-soui is an Italian corruption.
[250] Lamas.
[251] Tschirlay, or Porto Venetico.
[252] Mesetlii.
[253] Cape Zafra.
[254] What better inscription, said Aristotle, could you have for the tomb, not a king, but of an ox? Cicero, Tusc. Quæs. iii. 35.
[255] Mesarlyk-tschai.
[256] Strabo means to say, that the coast, from the part opposite Rhodes, runs E. in a straight line to Tarsus, and then inclines to the S.E.; that afterwards it inclines to the S., to Gaza, and continues in a westerly direction to the Straits of Gibraltar.
[257] The translation follows the reading proposed by Groskurd, παχυνευροῦσι καὶ ῥοïζομένοις καὶ ποδαγριζομένοις, who quotes Vitruv. viii. 3, and Pliny xxxi. 8.
[258] Kramer does not approve of the corrections proposed in this passage by Groskurd. The translation follows the proposed emendation of Falconer, which Kramer considers the least objectionable.
[259] Augustus.
[260] Groskurd, with some probability, supposes the name of Achilles to be here omitted.
[261] Il. iii. 235.
[262] Dschehan-tschai.
[263] Chun.
[264] Ajas.
[265] Demir-Kapu.
[266] The ridge extending N. E., the parts of which bear various names, Missis, Durdan-dagh, &c.
[267] Deli-tschai.
[268] Arsus.
[269] Iskenderun.
[270] Its name under the Byzantine empire was corrupted to Mampsysta, or Mamista; of which names the modern Mensis appears to be a further corruption.—Leake.
[271] The passage is defended by the fortress of Merkes.
[272] Suveidijeh.
[273] Nahr-el-Asy.
[274] Groskurd is desirous of reading Tarsus for Issus. See above, c. v. § 11. But Strabo is here considering the two opinions held respecting the isthmus.
[275] Scymnus of Chios counts fifteen nations who occupied this peninsula, namely, three Greek and twelve barbarian. The latter were Cilicians, Lycians, Carians, Maryandini, Paphlagonians, Pamphylians, Chalybes, Cappadocians, Pisidians, Lydians, Mysians, and Phrygians. In this list the Bithynians, Trojans, and Milyæ are not mentioned; but in it are found the Cappadocians and Lydians—two nations whom, according to Strabo, Ephorus has not mentioned. This discrepancy is the more remarkable as Scymnus must have taken the list from Ephorus himself.
[276] Od. xi. 122.
[277] Apollodorus, like Scymnus, had probably found the Lydians mentioned in the list of Ephorus, as also the Cappadocians.
[278] Kramer says that he is unable to decide how this corrupt passage should be restored. The translation follows the conjectures of Coray.
[279] Il. ii. 862.
[280] Il. iii. 187.
[281] Isnik.
[282] Euphorion acquired celebrity as a voluminous writer. Vossius, i. 16, gives a catalogue of his works. According to Suidas, he was born in Chalcis, in Negropont, at the time Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was defeated by the Romans. He acquired a considerable fortune by his writings and by his connexion with persons of eminent rank. He was invited to the court of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, who intrusted him with the care of his library. According to Sallust, (Life of Tiberius,) he was one of the poets whom Tiberius took as his model in writing Greek verse. Fecit et Græca poemata, imitatus Euphorionem, et Rhianum et Parthenium.
[283] The Clides, off Cape Andrea.
[284] Cape Arnauti.
[285] Dschehan-Tschai.
[286] Kormakiti.
[287] Lapito.
[288] Near Artemisi.
[289] To the north of Tamagousta.
[290] Carpas.
[291] Lissan el Cape, in Cilicia.
[292] Near the present Larnaka.
[293] Limasol.
[294] Cape Gata.
[295] Cape Grego.
[296] Piscopia.
[297] Capo Bianco.
[298] Bisur.
[299] Point Zephyro.
[300] Jeroskipo.
[301] Solea.
[302] The Indian Ocean.
[303] Behul or Jelum.
[304] Beas.
[305] The island Cos, or Stanco, one of the earlier names of which was Meropis.
[306] ἢ κατ’ ἄλλους for καὶ ἄλλου.—Groskurd.
[308] Mekran.
[309] It is evident that the name Pillars misled Megasthenes or the writers from whom he borrowed the facts; for it is impossible to suppose that Tearcho, who reigned in Arabia, or that Nabuchodonosor, who reigned at Babylon, ever conducted an army across the desert and through the whole breadth of Africa to the Straits of Gibraltar, to which place nothing invited them, and the existence of which, as well as that of the neighbouring countries, must have been unknown. The Egyptians, Arabians, and Babylonians directed their invasions towards the north, to Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Iberia, and Colchis. This was the line of march followed by Sesostris.
Ptolemy indicates the existence of “Pillars,” which he calls “the Pillars of Alexander,” above Albania and Iberia, at the commencement of the Asiatic Sarmatia. But as it is known that Alexander never penetrated into these regions, it is clear that the title “of Alexander” was added by the Greeks to the names of mountains, which separated a country partly civilized from that entirely occupied by hordes of savages. Everything therefore seems to show, that these Pillars near Iberia in Asia, and not the Pillars of Hercules in Europe, formed the boundary of the expeditions of Sesostris, Tearcho, and Nabuchodonosor.—Gossellin.
[310] As the Oxydraci are here meant, Groskurd adopts this name in the text. They were settled in Sagur and Outch, of the province of Lahore.
[311] Eurip. Bacchæ, v. 13.—Wodehull.
[312] Many cities and mountains bore the name of Nysa; but it is impossible to confound the mountain Nysa, spoken of by Sophocles, with the Nysa of India, which became known to the Greeks by the expedition only of Alexander, more than a century after the death of the poet.
[313] Probably interpolated.
[314] Il. vi. 132. Nysa in India was unknown to Homer, who here refers to Mount Nysa in Thrace.
[315] Strabo takes for the source of the Indus the place where it passes through the mountains to enter the Punjab. The site of Aornos seems to correspond with Renas.—Gossellin.
[316] The Sibæ, according to Quintus Curtius, who gives them the name of Sobii, occupied the confluent of the Hydaspes and the Acesines. This people appear to have been driven towards the east by one of those revolutions so frequent in all Asia. At least, to the north of Delhi, and in the neighbourhood of Hardouar, a district is found bearing the name of Siba.
[317] That is, the Macedonians transferred the name of the Caucasus, situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian, to the mountains of India. The origin of their mistake arose from the Indians giving, as at present, the name of Kho, which signifies “white,” to the great chain of mountains covered with snow, from whence the Indus, and the greater part of the rivers which feed it, descend.
[318] This people occupied the Paropamisus, where the mountains now separate Candahar from Gaour.
[320] Under the name of Ariana, the ancients comprehended almost all the countries situated between the Indus and the meridian of the Caspian Gates. This large space was afterwards divided by them according to the position of the different nations which occupied it.—Gossellin. There can be no doubt the modern Iran represents the ancient Ariana. See Smith, art. Ariana, and b. ii. c. v. § 32, vol. i. p. 196, note903.
[321] Eratosthenes and Strabo believed that the eastern parts of Asia terminated at the mouth of the Ganges, and that, consequently, this river discharged itself into the Eastern Ocean at the place where terminated the long chain of Taurus.
[322] According to Major Rennell, Emodus and Imaus are only variations of the same name, derived from the Sanscrit word Himmaleh, which signifies “covered with snow.”
[323] In some MSS. the following diagram is to be found.
| The River Indus. |
|
[324] The extremity of India, of which Eratosthenes speaks, is Cape Comorin, which he placed farther to the east than the mouth of the Ganges.
[325] Patelputer or Pataliputra near Patna, see b. ii. ch. i. §9.
[326] The reading is σχοινίοις, which Coraÿ changes to σχοίνοις, Schœni: see Herod. i. 66. The Schœnus was 40 stadia. B. xii. ch. ii. §12.
[327] Athenæus (b. xi. ch. 103, page 800, Bohn’s Classical Library) speaks of Amyntas as the author of a work on the Stations of Asia. The Stathmus, or distance from station to station, was not strictly a measure of distance, and depended on the nature of the country and the capability of the beasts of burthen.
[328] The reading Coliaci in place of Coniaci has been proposed by various critics, and Kramer, without altering the text, considers it the true form of the name. The Coliaci occupied the extreme southern part of India. Cape Comorin is not precisely the promontory Colis, or Coliacum, which seems to answer to Panban, opposite the island Ramanan Kor.
[329] The Indian Caucasus.
[331] λίνον, probably the λίνον τὸ ἀπὸ δενδρέων, or cotton, of Arrian.
[333] Ceylon.
[334] The voyage from the Ganges to Ceylon, in the time of Eratosthenes, occupied seven days, whence he concluded that Ceylon was seven days’ sail from the continent.
[335] Groskurd reads 5000 stadia. B. ii. c. i. § 14.
[336] εἰδοποιήσουσι. Coraÿ.
[337] The text is, as Coraÿ observes, obscure, if not corrupt. The proposed emendations of Coraÿ and Kramer are followed.
[338] Herod. ii. 5.
[339] At the beginning of autumn.
[340] At the beginning of winter.
[341] Taxila seems to have been situated at some distance to the east of Attock.
[342] At the delta formed by the Indus.
[343] Towards the end of summer.
[344] The Chenab.
[345] The district between Moultan and the mountains.
[346] Herod. ii. 86. Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres? Virg. Geor. ii. 121.
[347] Cloth of silk.
[348] The sugar-cane.
[350] The Banyan tree.
[351] Probably the Caroubba (Lotus Zizyphus), but it does not produce the effect here mentioned.
[352] The Ravee.
[353] Arist. Hist. An. vii. 4, who speaks however of five only.
[354] πεπλησμένως. Coraÿ.
[355] Od. ii. 157.
[356] That is to say, he crossed the Paropamisus, or Mount Ghergistan, from the western frontier of Cabul, by the pass of Bamian, to enter the district of Balk.
[357] The Attock.
[358] The river of Cabul.
[359] The Gandaræ were a widely extended people of Indian or Arianian origin, who occupied a district extending more or less from the upper part of the Punjab to the neighbourhood of Candahar, and variously called Gandaris and Gandaritis. See Prof. Wilson’s Ariana Antiqua.
[360] Aspasii. Coraÿ.
[361] Peucela, in Arrian iv. 22. Rennell supposes it to be Puckholi, or Pehkely.
[362] Abisarus was king of the mountainous part of India, and, according to the conjecture of Vincent, which is not without some probability, his territory extended to Cashmir.
[363] India is bordered to the north, from Ariana to the Eastern Sea, by the extremities of Taurus, to which the aboriginal inhabitants give the different names of Paropamisus, Emodon, Imaon, and others, while the Macedonians call them Caucasus. The Emodi mountains were the Western Himalaya. See Smith, art. Emodi Montes.
[364] The name of the modern city Lahore, anciently Lo-pore, recalls that of Porus. It is situated on the Hyarotis or Hydraotes (Ravee), which does not contradict our author; for, as Vincent observes, the modern Lahore represents the capital of the second Porus, whom Strabo will mention immediately; and the Lahore situate between the Hydaspes (the Behut or Jelum) and the Acesines (the Chenab), the exact position of which is unknown, was that of the first Porus. Probably these two districts, in which the two cities were situated, formed a single district only, one part of which was occupied and governed by Porus the uncle, and the other by Porus the nephew. It is probable, also, that these two princes took their name from the country itself, Lahore, as the prince of Taxila was called Taxiles, and the prince of Palibothra, Palibothrus.
[365] Strabo’s Bucephalia was on the Hydaspes, between Beherat and Turkpoor, not far from Rotas. Groskurd. The exact site is not ascertained, but the probabilities seem to be in favour of Jelum, at which place is the ordinary passage of the river, or of Jellapoor, about 16 miles lower down. Smith.
[366] Ox-headed.
[367] Cercopitheces.
[368] Hence the Cathay of the Chinese and Modern Europe.
[369] So also Arrian, who takes the number from Megasthenes. Pliny says that nineteen rivers unite with the Indus.
[370] Probably an interpolation.
[371] The island Cos.
[373] The Malli occupied a part of Moultan.
[374] The Sambus of Arrian. Porticanus is the Oxycanus of Arrian. Both Porticanus and Musicanus were chiefs of the cicar of Sehwan. Vincent’s Voyage of Nearchus, p. 133.
[375] This number is too large. There is probably an error in the text. Groskurd reads 20; but Kramer refers to Arrian’s expedition of Alexander, v. 20, and suggests that we may here read 100 (ρ) instead of 200 (σ).
[376] The Seres are here meant, whose country and capital still preserve the name of Serhend. It was the Serica India of the middle ages, and to this country Justinian sent to procure silkworms’ eggs, for the purpose of introducing them into Europe. Strabo was not acquainted with the Seres of Scythia, whose territory is now called Serinagar, from whence the ancients procured the wool and fine fabrics which are now obtained from Cashmir; nor was he acquainted with the Seres who inhabited the peninsula of India, and whose territory and capital have retained the name of Sera. Pliny is the only ancient author who seems to have spoken of these latter Seres. Gossellin. The passage in brackets is supposed by Groskurd to be an interpolation. Meineke would retain it, by reading καί τοι for καὶ γὰρ.
[377] The passage is corrupt, and for κήτη, “whales or cetaceous animals,” Groskurd proposes λέγει. The whole would therefore thus be translated, “and speaks of what he saw on it, of its magnitude,” &c.
[378] The exaggeration of Megasthenes is nothing in comparison of Ælian, who gives to the Ganges a breadth of 400 stadia. Modern observations attribute to the Ganges a breadth of about three quarters of a geographical mile, or 30 stadia.
[379] About 120 feet.
[380] Hiranjavahu.
[383] Herodotus iii. 102. The marmot?
[384] The passage is corrupt. Groskurd proposes to add the word ὥς before καὶ καμήλους, “as camels.” Coraÿ changes the last word to ἀχαλίνους, which is adopted in the translation. See below, § 53.
[385] θρίσσα.
[386] κεστρεύς.
[387] καρίδες.
[388] In the text, μέχρι ὄρους, “to a mountain.” Coraÿ changes the last word to the name of a people, Οὔρων, but Strabo does not appear to have been acquainted with them; Groskurd, to ὀρῶν. The translation adopts this correction, with the addition of the article, which, as Kramer observes, is wanting if we follow Groskurd.
[389] Groskurd proposes τειχῶν, “walls,” in place of, τιμῶν, “prices.”
[390] Κώδων, “a bell,” or gong, or trumpet?
[391] The orguia was equal to four cubits, or six feet one inch.
[392] Men who slept on their ears. See b. i. c. ii. § 35.
[396] According to Diodorus Siculus, xix. 33, an exception was made for women with child, or with a family; but otherwise, if she did not comply with this custom, she was compelled to remain a widow during the rest of her life, and to take no part in sacrifices or other rites, as being an impious person.
[397] By Arrian and Plutarch he is called Dandamis.
[398] By φιμοῖς, probably here is meant a circular segment, or band of iron, furnished with slightly raised points in the inside; it passes over the bone of the nose, and is fastened below by a cord which is continued as a bridle. Such a contrivance is still in use for mules and asses in the East.
[399] Coraÿ reads πόθος instead of κόρος in the text. The translation would then be, “who required nothing;” but ἐκείνου here refers to Alexander.
[400] On the day of his birth, Herod. ix. 109.
[401] Of Armenia.
[402] About 6 feet.
[403] The text is corrupt. Tzschucke’s emendation is adopted, viz. βόνασοι. Groskurd translates the word by “hump-backed oxen,” or zebus.
[404] Ælian de Nat. Animal. xvii. 21.
[405] Bird of paradise?
[406] Not far from the present Anopschir on the Ganges, south-east from Delhi. Groskurd.
[407] Patalputer, b. ii. c. i. § 9.
[408] Probably the Iomanes.
[409] A subordinate town in the pachalic of Aleppo, and its modern name is still Antakieh. It was anciently distinguished as Antioch by the Orontes, because it was situated on the left bank of that river, where its course turns abruptly to the west, after running northwards between the ranges of Lebanon and Antilebanon, and also Antioch by Daphne, because of the celebrated grove of Daphne which was consecrated to Apollo, in the immediate neighbourhood.
[410] In Dion Cassius, liv. ix. he is called Zarmanus, a variation probably of Garmanus, see above, § 60. Chegas, or Sheik, seems to be the Tartar title Chan or Khan, which may be detected also in the names Musi-canus, Porti-canus, Oxy-canus, Assa-canus. Vincent, Voyage of Nearchus, p. 129. Groskurd writes Zarmanos Chanes.
[411] Bargosa is probably a corruption of Barygaza mentioned in Arrian’s Periplus of the Red Sea. It was a large mart on the north of the river Nerbudda, now Baroatsch or Barutsch. Groskurd.
[412] “Beyond,” as Strabo has just been speaking of India, with reference to which Ariana is to the west of the Indus.
[413] To the south of the great chain bearing that name, extending from west to east of Asia.
[414] The exact place corresponding with the Caspiæ Pylæ is probably a spot between Hark-a-Koh and Siah-Koh, about 6 parasangs from Rey, the name of the entrance of which is called Dereh. Smith, art. Caspiæ Pylæ.
[415] An extensive province of Asia along the northern side of the Persian Gulf, extending from Carpella (either C. Bombareek or C. Isack) on the E. to the river Bagradas (Nabend) on the W. According to Marcian the distance between these points was 4250 stadia. It appears to have comprehended the coast-line of the modern Laristan, Kirman, and Moghostan. It was bounded on the N. by Parthia and Ariana; on the E. by Drangiana and Gedrosia; on the S. by the Persian Gulf, and on the W. by Persis. Smith, art. Carmania.
[416] The Purali.
[417] Mekran.
[418] By the achronical rising of the Pleiades is meant the rising of this constellation, or its first becoming visible, after sunset. Vincent (Voyage of Nearchus) fixes on the 23rd October, 327 B. C., as the date of the departure of Alexander from Nicæa; August, 326 B. C., as the date of his arrival at Pattala; and the 2nd of October, 326 B. C., as the date of the departure of the fleet from the Indus.
[419] The pith in the young head-shoot of the palm-tree.
[420] Called Pura by Arrian.
[421] The Oritæ are no doubt here meant.
[422] By the line drawn from the Caspian Gates to Carmania.
[424] Herat.
[425] Candahar.
[426] See b. xi. c. viii. § 9.
[427] The text is corrupt: ἐκ μέρους is probably taken from some other part of the text and here inserted.
[428] The same as Zarangæ; they probably dwelt on the lake Zarah, which undoubtedly retains its Zend name. Wilson’s Ariana.
[429] Corresponding nearly with the present Hamadan.
[430] None is said to be found there at the present day.
[431] They were called Ariaspi; Cyrus, son of Cambyses, gave them the name Euergetæ, “benefactors,” in consideration of the services which they had rendered in his expedition against the Scythians.
[432] At the beginning of winter.
[433] The text is corrupt; the words between brackets are supplied by Kramer’s conjecture. See b. xi. c. xi. § 2.
[434] Theophrastus, iv. 5. The Pistatia-nut tree.
[435] Bamian, see b. xi. c. xi. § 2.
[436] In the text 19,000. Kramer’s proposed reading is adopted of separating the amount.
[437] Ariana in the text. Groskurd proposes to read Carmania; Kramer, Bactriana.
[438] About 140 feet. Arrian says twenty-five orguiæ, or about 150 feet.
[439] Groskurd proposes to supply after “Sea” words which he thinks are here omitted; upon insufficient grounds, however, according to Kramer.
[440] The Arosis of Arrian, now the Tab.
[441] This passage is very corrupt, and many words, according to Kramer, appear to be omitted. See b. ii. c i. § 26. We read with Groskurd “Media” for “Caspian Gates” in the text: and insert “9000 stadia,” here from b. ii. c. i. § 26, and, following the same authority, 3000 for 2000 stadia in the text below.
[442] Persæ, v. 17 and 118.
[443] Pasa or Fesa.
[444] Taug or Taüog, on the river Grâ.
[445] The Uxii occupied the district of Asciac.
[446] There seems little doubt that the Karun represents the ancient Eulæus (on which some authors state Susa to have been situated), and the Kerkhah the old Choaspes. See Smith, art. Choaspes.
[447] Groskurd adds 1000 stadia to this amount.
[448] Quin. Curtius, v. 10. Diod. Sic. xvii. 67.
[449] Ab-Zal.
[450] Hollow Persis.
[451] Bendamir.
[452] The capital of Parætacene is Ispahan.
[453] Probably the Ab-Kuren.
[454] Pasa or Fesa.
[455] Orxines, Quint. Cur. x. c. 1.
[456] For sacrifice to Cyrus. Arrian, vi. c. 29.
[457] Arrian adds, “Son of Cambyses.”
[458] Groskurd reads, ἅλλεσθαι, hops or jumps up.
[459] Founded probably by the Macedonians.
[460] The Elymæi reached to the Persian Gulf. Ptolem. vi. 1. They appear to have left vestiges of their name in that of a gulf, and a port called Delem.
[461] The account of the Persians is taken from Herodotus, i. 131, &c.
[462] According to Herodotus, the priest who sacrificed was crowned.
Roused the sacred fire, as the law bids,
Touching the god with consecrated wand.
Athenæus xii. 40, p. 850. Bohn’s Classical Library.
[464] i. e. “who kindle fire.”
[465] i. e. places where fire is kindled.
[467] Not the same plant as mentioned above, c. i. § 10, but the pistacia terebinthus.
[468] An interpolation. The Cardaces were not Persians, but foreign soldiers. “Barbari milites quos Persæ Cardacas appellant,” (Cornel. Nepos.) without doubt were Assyrian and Armenian Carduci. See b. xvi. c. i. § 24, and Xenoph. Anab. iv. 3. Later Gordyæi or Gordyeni, now the Kurds. Groskurd.
[469] Cardamum is probably the “lepidum perfoliatum” of Linnæus, or the “nasturtium orientale” of Tournefort. Xenophon also, Expedit. Cyr. iii. 5 and vii. 8, speaks of the great use made of this plant by the Persians.
[470] The length of the arms and the surname “Longhand” here given to Darius are assigned by others to Artaxerxes. It was in fact the latter to whom this surname was given, according to Plutarch, in consequence of the right arm being longer than the left. Therefore Falconer considers this passage an interpolation. Coraÿ.
[471] This, says Gossellin, may account for the rarity of the Persian Darius, badly struck, and coined long before the time of Alexander, and appearing to belong to a period anterior to the reign of Darius Hystaspes.
[472] Chalybon was the name of the modern Aleppo, but the wine of Damascus must have possessed the same qualities, and had the same name. “The Chalybonian wine, Posidonius says, is made in Damascus in Syria, from vines which were planted there by the Persians.” Athenæus, b. i. page 46, Bohn’s Classical Library.
[473] In the text “ten or eleven years,” which reading is contrary to all other authorities, and is rejected by Kramer.
[474] This is only an approximation. From the conquest of the Medes by Cyrus to the death of Darius Codomanus, last king of Persia, is a period of 225 years.
[475] According to Dion Cassius, xviii. § 26, Aturia is synonymous with Assyria, and only differs from it by a barbarous pronunciation; which shows that the name Assyria belonged peculiarly to the territory of Nineveh.
[476] Aiaghi-dagh.
[477] It is to be remarked that the people bordering upon the Gordyæi are the only people of Mesopotamia here mentioned, for the whole of Mesopotamia, properly so called, is comprised under the name of Assyria.
[478] The bridge or passage at the foot of the modern fortress Roum-Kala.
[479] B. xii. c. iii. § 5; Herod. i. 6 and 72.
[480] Al. Lucan. b. xi. c. xii. § 4; b. xiv. c. v. § 18; b. xvi. c. ii. § 8.
[481] Probably walls built for the protection of certain districts. Such was the διατείχισμα Σεμιράμιδος, constructed between the Euphrates and the Tigris, and intended, together with canals brought from those rivers, to protect Babylon from the incursions of the Arabian Scenitæ or Medes. B. ii.
[482] κλίμακες, roads of steep ascent, with steps such as may be seen in the Alps of Europe; the word differs from ὁδοὶ, roads below, inasmuch as the former roads are only practicable for travellers on foot and beasts of burthen, the latter for carriages also.
[483] The union of these two names, says Kramer, is remarkable, and still more so is the insertion of the article τῆς before them: he, therefore, but with some hesitation, suggests that the word μάχης has been omitted in the text by the copyist.
[484] Assyrians.
[485] Erbil.
[486] Called also Zabus, Zabatus, and Zerbes, now the Great Zab.
[487] Adopting Kramer’s reading, καὶ ἃ.
[488] Probably a branch of the Karadgeh-dagh.
[489] The Little Zab, or Or.
[490] As the name Artacene occurs nowhere else, Groskurd, following Cellarius (v. Geogr. Ant. i. 771), suspects that here we ought to read Arbelene, and would understand by it the same district which is called Arbelitis by Ptolemy, vi. 1, and by Pliny, H. N. vi. 13, § 16, but as this form of the national name is nowhere to be found, it would appear improper to introduce it into the text. It is more probable, continues Kramer, that Strabo wrote Adiabene, of which Arbelitis was a part, according to Pliny, loco citato.
[491] The same, no doubt, as the goddess Anaïtis. B. xi. c. viii. § 4, and b. xv. c. iii. § 15.
[492] All manuscripts agree in giving this number, but critics agree also in its being an error for 365. The number of stadia in the wall, according to ancient authors, corresponded with the number of days in the year.
[493] That is, at a short distance from the Persian Gulf, a little more to the south than the modern town Basra.
[494] Some extensive ruins near the angle formed by the Adhem (the ancient Physcus) and the Tigris, and the remains of the Nahr-awan canal, are said to mark the site of Opis.
[495] The name Cœle-Syria, or Hollow Syria, which was properly applied to the district between Libanus and Antilibanus, was extended also to that part of Syria which borders upon Egypt and Arabia; and it is in this latter sense that Strabo here speaks of Cœle-Syria. So also Diodorus Siculus, i. § 30, speaks of “Joppa in Cœle-Syria;” and Polybius, v. 80, § 2, of “Rhinocolura, the first of the cities in Cœle-Syria;” and Josephus, Ant. Jud. xiii. 13, § 2, “of Scythopolis of Cœle-Syria.”
[496] El-Arish.
[497] El-Kas near Sebakit-Bardoil, the ancient lake Serbonis.
[498] Barathra.
[499] Strabo has misunderstood the meaning of Eratosthenes, who had said that the excess of the waters of the Euphrates sunk into the ground and reappeared under the form of torrents, which became visible near “Rhinocolura in Cœle-Syria and Mt. Casius,” the Casius near Egypt. Our author properly observes that the length and nature of the course contradicts this hypothesis: but, misled by the names Cœle-Syria and Casius, he forgets that the Casius of Egypt and the district bordering upon Egypt, improperly called Cœle-Syria, are here in question; he transfers the first name to Cœle-Syria of Libanus, and the second to Mt. Casius near Seleucia and Antioch, and adds that, according to the notion of Eratosthenes, the waters of the Euphrates would have to traverse Libanus, Antilibanus, and the Casius (of Syria), whilst Eratosthenes has not, and could not, say any such thing. The hypothesis of Eratosthenes could not, indeed, be maintained, but Strabo renders it absurd. The error of our author is the more remarkable, as the name of the city Rhinocolura ought necessarily to have suggested to him the sense in which the words Casius and Cœle-Syria should be understood.
[500] καὶ οὕτως πλημμυρεῖν. These words are, as Kramer proposes, transferred from below. There can be no meaning given to them as they stand in the text, which is here corrupt.
[501] Herod. i. 193.
[502] Herod. i. 194.
[503] Al-Madain.
[504] Strabo probably here refers to Hecatompylos, which, in b. xi. c. ix. § 1, he calls “the royal seat of the Parthians,” and which shared with Ecbatana the honour of being a residence of the Parthian kings. The name Hyrcania has here a wide meaning; the proper name would have been Parthia.
[505] Cicero de Nat. Deor. i. § 5.
[506] Descura. D’Anville.
[507] Sus.
[508] Asciac part of Khosistan.
[509] Kerman.
[510] Groskurd here supposes an omission by the copyist of the words ἑσπέραν καὶ πρὸς before ἄρκτον.
[511] Parætacene, Cossæa, and Elymaïs occupied the mountainous parts of Irak Adjami.
[512] Aiaghi-dagh.
[513] Media extended partly into Irak Adjami, and partly into Kurdistan.
[514] ὕστερον in the text must be omitted, or altered to πρότερον, unless, as Kramer proposes, the words καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας be introduced into the text. Strabo frequently mentions together the three successive governments of Persians, Macedonians, and Parthians. B. xi. c. xiii. § 4, and c. xiv. § 15.
[515] Mithridates I., son of Phraates, 163 B. C., and 124 years after the expedition of Antiochus.
[516] Probably the Djerrahi.
[517] On comparing this passage with others, (b. xi. c. xiv. § 12, and b. xvi. c. i. § 1, and c. i. § 8,) in which Strabo speaks of Adiabene, we perceive that he understood it to be a part of the country below the mountains of Armenia, and to the north of Nineveh, on both banks of the Tigris. Other authors have given a more extended meaning to the name, and applied it to the country on the north of the two rivers Zab, from whence (Amm. Marcel. xxiii. 5, 6) the name Adiabene appears to be derived. In this sense Adiabene may be considered the same as Assyria Proper.
[519] Groskurd proposes reading Saulopodes, delicate walkers, in place of Saccopodes, sack-footed.
[520] Herod. i. 198. Almost all the details concerning the Babylonian customs are taken from Herodotus, who sets them forth with greater clearness; there are, however, some differences, as, for example, the disposal of young women in marriage, and the different tribunals, which prove that Strabo had other sources of information.
[521] Groskurd here suspects a corruption of the text, and for τούτου reads τοῦ πρώτου, “of the first,” and for ἄλλου, “of another,” δευτέρου, “of the second.”
[522] Merkan.
[523] El-der.
[524] The Van. B. xi. c. xiv. § 8.
[525] In b. xi. c. xiv. § 8, Strabo says that this lake contains one kind of fish only.
[526] Now Roumkala, from the fortress which defends the passage of the river.
[527] Nisibin.
[528] Kara-dagh.
[529] Sered.
[530] Haran.
[531] Racca.
[532] B. C. 51.
[533] Gordyæa was the most northerly part of Assyria, or Kurdistan, near the lake Van. From Carduchi, the name of the inhabitants, is derived the modern name Kurds.
[534] Pliny, x. c. iii. and xxxvi. c. xix., calls it “Gagates lapis;” a name derived, according to Dioscorides, from a river Gagas in Lycia.
[535] Herod. vi. 199.
[536] These appear to be the rivers found in the neighbourhood of Roha or Orfa, the ancient Edessa. One of these rivers bears the name of Beles, and is perhaps the Basileios of Strabo. Chabur is the Aborrhas.
[537] Probably an interpolation.
[538] The passage of the Euphrates here in question was effected at the Zeugma of Commagene, called by Strabo the present passage. On passing the river you entered Anthemusia, a province which appears to have received, later on, the name of Osroene. It extended considerably towards the north, for in it the Aborrhas, according to Strabo, had its source; but it is doubtful whether it extended to the north of Mount Masius, where the latitudes, as given by Ptolemy, would place it. I do not exactly know whether Strabo intends to speak of a city or a province, for the position of the city is unknown; we only learn from a passage in Pliny, vi. c. xxvi., that it was not on the Euphrates. The word τόπος is not, I think, so applicable to a province as to a city, and in this last sense I have understood it, giving also to κατὰ the meaning of latitude, in which it is so often applied by Strabo; strictly speaking, the sense of “vis-à-vis,” “opposite to,” might be given to it.—Letronne.
[539] This is an error of the author or of the copyist. Edessa (now Orfa) is not to be confounded with Bambyce (Kara-Bambuche, or Buguk Munbedj) of Cyrrhestica in Syria, which obtained its Hellenic name from Seleucus Nicator.
[540] B. C. 54.
[541] The Parthians became masters of Syria under Pacorus, and of Asia Minor under Labienus. B. C. 38.
[542] Artavasdes, king of the Armenians. B. xi. c. xiii. § 4.
[543] The text would lead us to suppose that Phraates succeeded Pacorus, whereas below, § 8, Pacorus, the eldest son of the Parthian king, died before his father, Orodes. Letronne, therefore, and Groskurd suppose that the words, “the son of Orodes,” are omitted after “Pacorus” above, and “his” in the translation would then refer to Orodes.
[544] See b. vi. c. iv. § 2, in which the motives for getting rid of these members of his family are not mentioned.
[545] Judging from Arrian (Anab. v. § 25; vii. § 9; iii. § 8), the historians of Alexander, as well as more ancient authors, gave the name of Syria to all the country comprehended between the Tigris and the Mediterranean. The part to the east of the Euphrates, afterwards named Mesopotamia, was called “Syria between the rivers;” that to the west was called by the general name Cœle-Syria, and although Phœnicia and Palestine were sometimes separated from it, yet it often comprehended the whole country as far as Egypt. Strabo below, c. ii. § 21, refers to this ancient division, when he says that the name Cœle-Syria extends to the whole country as far as Egypt and Arabia, although in its peculiar acceptation it applied only to the valley between Libanus and Antilibanus.
[546] B. C. 70.
[547] Antakieh.
[548] Modern conjecture has identified it with Shogh and Divertigi.
[549] Kulat-el-Mudik.
[550] Ladikiyeh.
[551] Mesopotamia in the text is no doubt an error of the copyist. We ought probably to read Commagene. Groskurd proposes to read “Commagene, like Mesopotamia, consisted of one satrapy.” Groskurd’s emendation of the text is followed, although not approved of, by Kramer.
[552] These four portions were no doubt formed by the four hills contained within the circuit of Antioch. The circuit wall existed in the time of Pococke. The detailed and exact description given of it by this learned traveller, as also his plan of Antioch, agree with Strabo’s account. Pococke, Descrip. of the East, ii. p. 190.
[554] Mount Soldin.
[555] Orontes, or Nahr-el-Asy.
[556] Beit-el-ma.
[557] B. xii. c. viii. § 19; b. xiii. c. iv. § 6.
[558] Also Hierapolis, the modern Kara Bambuche.
[559] Berœa owes its name to Seleucus Nicator, and continued to be so called till the conquest of the Arabs under Abu Obeidah, A. D. 638, when it resumed its ancient name of Chaleb, or Chalybon.
[560] The territory subject to the town Cyrrhus, now Coro.
[561] Baghras.
[562] The modern names of the Arceuthus and Labotas are unknown.
[563] The Afreen.
[564] B. C. 145.
[565] A table.
[566] Called Phraates by Pseudo-Appian, in Parthicis, p. 72.
[567] Selefkeh.
[568] Posidi, on the southern side of the bay, which receives the Orontes.
[569] On Cape Ziaret.
[570] B. C. 40.
[571] The text is corrupt. The translation follows the proposed corrections of Letronne and Kramer.
[572] Shizar, on the Orontes.
[573] Cæcilius Bassus was besieged twice in Apameia, first by C. Antistius, afterwards by Marcus Crispus and Lucius Statius Marcius. Cassius succeeded in dispersing the troops of this rebel without much difficulty, according to Dion Cassius, xlvii. 27.
[574] Arethusa, now Restan, was founded by Seleucus Nicator. According to Appian, Pompey subdued Sampsiceramus, who was king of Arethusa. On this account Cicero, in his letters to Atticus (ii. 14, 16, 17, 23), calls Pompey in derision Sampsiceramus. Antony put Iamblicus, son of Sampsiceramus, to death; but Augustus restored the small state of Arethusa to another Iamblicus, son of the former.
[575] The people of Emesa, now Hems.
[576] Balbek and Kalkos.
[577] This Ptolemy, son of Mennæus, was master chiefly of Chalcis, at the foot of Libanus, from whence he made incursions on the territory of Damascus. Pompey was inclined to suppress his robberies, but Ptolemy softened his anger by a present of 1000 talents, which the Roman general applied to the payment of his troops. He remained in possession of his dominion until his death, and was succeeded by his son Lysanias, whom Cleopatra put to death, on the pretext that he had induced the Parthians to come into the country. Josephus, Bell. Jud.
[578] One of the branches of Antilibanus.
[579] This Alchædamnus is constantly called Alchaudonius by Dion Cassius, whom he calls the “Arabian dynast.” Falconer therefore inferred that here we ought to read Ἀράβων instead of Ῥαμβαίων, but Letronne does not adopt this reading, and supposes the Rhambæi may have been a tribe of the Arabians.
[580] The text is here corrupt, and the passage, according to Kramer, probably introduced into the text from a marginal note.
[581] παραλία, but this is a correction for παλαιά, which Letronne proposes to correct for περαία, which is supported in § 13, below. The part of the continent opposite, and belonging to an island, was properly called Peræa, of which there are many examples. That part of Asia Minor which is opposite Rhodes was so called, b. xiv. c. v. § 11, as also the coast opposite Tenedos, b. xiii. c. i. § 46. Peræa was also adopted as a proper name. Livy, xxxiii. 18.
[582] Pococke places Paltus at Boldo; Shaw, at the ruins at the mouth of the Melleck, six miles from Jebilee, the ancient Gabala.
[583] Carnoon.
[584] Ain-el-Hiyeh.
[585] According to Pococke, the ruins of Aradus (Ruad) are half a mile to the north of Tortosa (Antaradus). It is remarkable that Strabo makes no mention of Antaradus, situated on the continent opposite Aradus; Pliny is the first author who speaks of it. Probably the place only became of note subsequent to the time of Strabo, and acquired power at the expense of some of the small towns here mentioned. Antaradus, reëstablished by Constantine, assumed the name of Constantia.
[586] Sumrah.
[587] Ortosa.
[588] Carnus.
[589] The resistance of the sea water to the ascent of the fresh water is cut off by this ingenious contrivance, and the fresh water rises above the level of the sea through the pipe, by natural causes, the head or source of the spring being in the upper ground of the mainland. This fountain is now known by the name of Ain Ibrahim, Abraham’s fountain.
[591] Greego.
[592] If the words of the text, φέρει δὲ καὶ, “it produces also,” refer to the lake, our author would contradict himself; for below, § 41, he says that Jericho alone produces it. They must therefore be referred to “a hollow plain” above; and the fact that they do so arises from the remarkable error of Strabo, in placing Judæa in the valley formed by Libanus and Antilibanus. From the manner in which he expresses himself, it is evident that he supposed the Jordan to flow, and the Lake Gennesaret to be situated, between these two mountains. As to the Lycus (the Nahr el Kelb), Strabo, if he had visited the country, would never have said that the Arabians transported upon it their merchandise. It is evident that he has confused the geography of all these districts, by transferring Judæa, with its lakes and rivers, to Cœle-Syria Proper; and here probably we may find the result of his first error in confounding Cœle-Syria Proper with Cœle-Syria understood in a wider meaning. See above, c. i. § 12.
[593] Nahr-el-Kelb.
[594] Iouschiah.
[595] Gebail.
[596] Beyrout.
[597] Nahr-Ibrahim.
[598] Josephus, i. 1.
[600] Ortosa.
[601] Tineh.
[603] Nahr-Damur.
[604] Sour.
[605] Tyre—daughter of Zidon. Isaiah xxiii. 12.
[606] In B. v. c. iii. § 7, Strabo tells us that Augustus prohibited houses being erected of more than 70 Roman feet in height.
[607] Josephus (Antiq. Jud. xv. 4, § 1) states, that Mark Antony gave Cleopatra all the coast of Phœnicia, from Eleutheria to Egypt, with the exception of Tyre and Sidon, which he left in the enjoyment of their ancient independence. But according to Dion Cassius (liv., 7), Augustus arrived in the East in the spring of the year 734, B. C., or eighteen years before the Christian era, and deprived the Tyrians and Sidonians of their liberty, in consequence of their seditious conduct. It follows therefore, that if Strabo had travelled in Phœnicia, he must have visited Tyre before the above date, because his account refers to a state of things anterior to the arrival of Augustus in Syria; and in this case the information he gives respecting the state of the neighbouring cities must belong to the same date; but he speaks above (§ 19) of the order reëstablished by Agrippa at Beyrout, which was effected four years after the coming of Augustus into Syria. We must conclude, therefore, that Strabo speaks only by hearsay of the Phœnician cities, and that he had never seen the country itself. Letronne.
[608] Il. xxiii. 743.
[609] Probably under Zenarchus of Seleucia, the Peripatetic philosopher whose lectures he attended. B. xiv. c. v. § 4.
[610] Nahr-Quasmieh.
[611] Vestiges of the ancient city still remain. Here was the celebrated temple of the Phœnician Hercules, founded according to Herodotus, ii. 44, before 2700 B. C.
[612] Acre.
[613] Letronne estimates this at a penny.
[614] Athenæus, p. 742, Bohn’s Class. Library.
[615] The Tower of Strato was an ancient city almost in ruins, which was repaired, enlarged, and embellished by Herod with magnificent buildings; for he found there excellent anchorage, the value of which was increased by the fact of its being almost the only one on that dangerous coast. He gave it the name of Cæsarea, in honour of Augustus, and raised it to the rank of a city of the first order. The repairs of the ancient city, the Tower of Strato, or rather the creation of the new city Cæsarea, took place about eight or nine years B. C.; so that this passage of Strabo refers to an earlier period.
[616] Josephus (Ant. Jud. xiv. 13, § 3) calls a district near Mount Carmel Drumos, employing the word Δρυμός, a forest, as a proper name.
[617] Jaffa.
[618] Van Egmont (Travels, vol. i. p. 297) considers it impossible, from the character of the intervening country, to see Jerusalem from Joppa. Pococke, on the contrary, says, that it would not be surprising to see from the heights of Joppa, in fine weather, the summit of one of the high towers of Jerusalem; and this is not so unlikely, for according to Josephus the sea was visible from the tower of Psephina at Jerusalem.
[619] Jebna.
[620] Ras-el-Kasaroun.
[621] Esdod.
[622] Asculan.
[623] Akaba or Akaba-Ila.
[624] Near Suez.
[625] Refah.
[626] B. C. 218.
[627] El Arish.
[628] Sebaki-Bardoil.
[629] The passage through which the lake discharged itself into the sea.
[630] El-Cas.
[631] It appears that in the time of Strabo and Josephus the temple of Jupiter only remained; at a later period a town was built there, of which Steph. Byzant., Ammianus Marcellinus, and others speak, and which became the seat of a bishopric.
[634] Arabia Petræa. Petra, now called Karac, was the capital.
[635] Josephus, Ant. Jud. xiii. 9. 1.
[637] Jaffa.
[638] Rabbath-Ammon, or Amma.
[639] Herod rebuilt Samaria, and surrounded it with a vast enclosure. There also he erected a magnificent temple, and gave to the city the surname of Sebaste, in honour of Augustus.
[640] In b. xvii. c. ii. § 5, our author again says that the Jews were originally Egyptians. So also Josephus, xiv. 7. 2.
[641] “Judæi mente solâ, unumque numen intelligunt, summum illud et eternum, neque mutabile, neque interiturum.” Tacitus, Hist. v. c. 5.
[642] Strabo here attributes to Moses the opinions of the Stoics.
[643] Strabo appears to have had little acquaintance with the Jewish history previous to the return from captivity, nor any exact knowledge until the arrival of the Romans in Judæa. Of the Bible he does not seem to have had any knowledge.
[644] Probably Strabo copies from accounts when the country was not well cultivated.
[645] αἱ γυναῖκες Ἰουδαïκῶς ἐκτετμημέναι, below, c. iv. Section 9.
[646] Od. xix. 494.
[647] Diviners by the dead.
[648] Diviners by a dish into which water was poured and little waxen images made to float.
[649] Diviners by water.
[650] ὡροσκόποι is the reading of the text, which Groskurd supposes to be a corruption of the Latin word Haruspex. I adopt the reading οἰωνοσκόποι, approved by Kramer, although he has not introduced it into the text.
[651] According to Josephus, Johannes Hyrcanus dying, B. C. 107, was succeeded by Aristobulus, who took the title of king, this being the first instance of the assumption of that name among the Jews since the Babylonish captivity. Aristobulus, was succeeded by Alexander Jannæus, whose two sons were Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus II., successively kings of Judæa, B. C. 67, 68.
[652] B. C. 63.
[653] Solomon’s conduit was constructed on the hydraulic principle, that water rises to its own level. The Romans subsequently, being ignorant of this principle, constructed an aqueduct.
[654] Balsamodendron Giliadense. Pliny xii. 25.
[655] Medicago arborea.
[656] The pistachia, b. xv. c. ii. § 10.
[657] In. b. xvi. c. ii. § 16, our author says that it is found on the borders of the Lake Gennesareth.
[658] It yields, during the hot season, an immense quantity of toddy or palm wine.
[659] Obtained by boiling the branches of the balsamodendron in water, and skimming off the resin.
[660] Strabo here commits the singular error of confounding the Lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea, with the Lake Sirbonis. Letronne attempts to explain the origin of the error. According to Josephus, the Peræa, or that part of Judæa which is on the eastern side of the Jordan, between the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, contained a district (the exact position of which is not well known, but which, according to Josephus, could not be far from the Lake Asphaltites) called Silbonitis. The resemblance of this name to Sirbonis probably misled our author.
[661] Specific gravity 1·211, a degree of density scarcely to be met with in any other natural water. Marcet’s Analysis. Philos. Trans. part ii. page 298. 1807.
[662] By chrysocolla of the ancients is generally understood borax, which cannot however be meant in this passage. It may probably here mean uric acid, the colour of which is golden.
[663] A place near the Lake Asphaltites, called Masada by Josephus, de B. Jud. iv. 24, v. 3.
[664] Genesis xiv. and Wisdom x. 6: “the fire which fell down on the five cities.”
[665] In this quotation from Eratosthenes we are probably to understand the Lake Sirbonis, and not the Dead Sea; a continuation, in fact, of Strabo’s first error. The translator adopts Kramer’s suggestion of Θετταλίαν for θάλατταν in the text.
[666] “The salting station,” on the lake of Gennesareth.
[667] It has been a subject of dispute whether Herod was of Jewish or Idumæan origin.
[668] Herod went to Rome B. C. 38, and obtained from the senate the title of king. In the dispute between Octavius and Antony, he espoused the cause of the latter. Octavius not only pardoned him and confirmed him in his title, but also added other cities to his dominions. B. C. 18.
[669] The chief promoters of the crimes of Herod were Salome his sister, who desired to gratify her hatred; and Antipater, who aimed at the throne. Herod, influenced by their misrepresentations, put to death Mariamne his wife, Aristobulus her brother, and Alexandra her mother; also his sons Aristobulus and Alexander, besides Antipater, a third son, who had conspired against his life.
[670] Augustus conferred on Archelaus the half of the kingdom of Herod with the title of ethnarch, promising to grant the title of king, should he prove worthy of it. The other half of the kingdom was separated into two tetrarchies, and divided between Philip and Antipas, two other sons of Herod.
[671] Augustus not only confirmed to Salome the legacy made to her by Herod, of the towns Jamneia, Azoth, and Phasaëlis, but granted to her also the royal palace and domains of Ascalon.
[672] This was Archelaus, whose tyranny was insupportable. He was accused by the chief Jews and Samaritans before Augustus, who exiled him to Vienne, to the south of Lyons, where he died the following year, A. D. 7.
[673] This refers to the journey of Philip and Antipas to Rome. At the death of Herod, Archelaus went to Rome, A. D. 2, to solicit the confirmation of his father’s will, in which he had been named king. The two brothers, Antipas and Philip, also went there, and the kingdom of Herod was divided as above stated. After the exile of Archelaus, his dominions were administered by his two brothers. Strabo does not appear to have been acquainted with the history of the two brothers after their return to Judæa; for otherwise he would not have omitted to mention the exile of Antipas. This tetrarch, it is known, went to Rome A. D. 38, to intrigue against his brother, of whom he was jealous; but he was himself accused by Agrippa of having intelligence with the Parthians, and was exiled to Lyons, A. D. 39.
[677] The name Erythræan, or Red Sea, was extended to the whole of the Arabian Gulf, to the sea which surrounds Arabia to the south, and to a great part of the Persian Gulf.
[678] The cape Harmozi, or Harmozon, is the cape Kuhestek of Carmania, Kerman, situated opposite to the promontory Maceta, so called from the Macæ, an Arabian tribe living in the neighbourhood. This last promontory is now called Mocandon, and is the “Asaborum promontorium” of Ptolemy.
[679] For a long period the Euphrates has ceased to discharge itself directly into the Persian Gulf, and now unites with the Tigris above 100 miles from the sea.
[680] The reading followed, but not introduced into the text, by Kramer is that suggested by the corrections of Letronne and Groskurd, καὶ τὴν Ἀράβων παραλίαν παραπλεύσαντα καθ’ αὑτόν.
[681] Peludje, at the entrance of the Gulf of Gran.
[682] Heeren (Comment. Gotting. 1793. Vol. xi. pp. 66, 67) supposes that this city was founded by Chaldæans solely for the purpose of a depôt for the transit of goods to Babylon, the trade having for a long time been in the hands of the Phœnicians. He also conjectures that the most flourishing period of the town was when the Persians, for political reasons, destroyed the commerce of Babylon, and Gerrha then became the sole depôt for the maritime commerce of India.
[683] El-Der.
[684] The island Ormus, which before the year 1302 was called Turun or Gerun, from which the Greeks formed the names Tyros, Tyrine, Gyris, Gyrine, Ogyris, and Organa. Gossellin.
[685] Arek.
[686] Besides the islands Tyre and Aradus, there existed even in the time of Alexander, and near the present Cape Gherd, a city called Sidon or Sidodona, which was visited by Nearchus, as may be seen in his Periplus. The Phœnician inhabitants of these places appear to have afterwards removed to the western side of the Persian Gulf, and to the islands Bahraïn, to which they gave the names Tylos, or Tyre, and Aradus. The latter name still exists; it was from this place that the Phœnicians moved, to establish themselves on the shores of the Mediterranean, and transferred the name of Sidon, their ancient capital, and those of Tyre and Aradus, to the new cities which they there founded. Gossellin.
[687] As Nearchus in his voyage kept along the coast, this distance must not be understood as so much to the south of Carmania in the open sea, but as the distance from Cape Jask, the commencement of Carmania.
[688] In Ptolemy, this island is called Vorochtha, now Vroct, or Kismis, or Dschisme.
[689] ἡ καυσία, a broad-brimmed Macedonian hat.
[690] Pliny, v. 21, mentions a place which he calls Massica, situated on the Euphrates, near the mouth of a canal which communicated with the Tigris near Seleucia. It is now called Masseib-khan, and is at a short distance above Babylon, on the borders of the desert. I do not know whether this is the Mæcene of Strabo. Gossellin.
[691] Strabo here refers to the marsh lakes now called Mesdjed Hosaïn, Rahémah, Hour, &c. The Chaldæans whom he mentions occupied the country along the banks of the Euphrates to the coast of the Persian Gulf.
[692] In Cashmir melons are now grown in the same manner. Humboldt remarks that the same contrivance is adopted in Mexico for the cultivation of vegetables.
[693] Letronne here proposes to read Erythræan or Ethiopian Sea.
[694] Mimosa Nilotica.
[695] This is remarkable.
[696] Carn Almanazil.
[697] Mariaba was not the name of a city, but the title of a city acquired by the residence of their sovereigns. “Mariana oppidum,” says Pliny, vi. 32, “significat dominos omnium.” The capital was called Saba, now Sabbea; and the country in which it is situated is called Sabieh.
[698] Yemen.
[699] The people of Hadramaüt.
[700] The extent was six times as large as the Delta.
[701] Ailah, or Hœle, or Acaba-Ila.
[703] The ruins are still visible at Abu-Keyschid.
[704] Deire, or the “neck,” so called from its position on a headland of the same name, was a town situated on the African shore of the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, at their narrowest part.
[705] The Troglodytica extended along the western side of the Arabian Gulf, from about the 19th degree of latitude to beyond the strait. According to Pliny, vi. c. 34, Sesostris conducted his army as far as the promontory Mossylicus, which I think is Cape Mète of the modern kingdom of Adel. Gossellin.
[706] The 60 and 200 stadia assigned to the straits refer to the two passages there to be found. The 60 stadia agree with the distance of the eastern cape of Babelmandeb, the ancient Palindromos, to the island Mehun; and the 200 stadia to the distance of this island from the coast of Africa. In this last interval are the six islands of which Strabo speaks.
[707] This passage has sometimes been mistaken to mean, that the region producing myrrh and cinnamon refers to the southern coast of Arabia. Our author here speaks of the coast of Africa, which extends from the Strait of Babelmandeb to Cape Guardafui. This space in following the coast is 160 or 165 leagues, which are equivalent to 5000 olympic stadia. Gossellin.
[708] The long and interesting passage from § 5 to the end of § 20 is taken from Artemidorus, with the exception of a very few facts, which our author has taken from other sources, accompanied by observations of his own. On comparing this fragment of Artemidorus with the extracts of Agatharchides preserved by Photius, and the description of Arabia and Troglodytica which Diodorus Siculus (b. iii. 31) says he derived from Agatharchides, we find an identity, not only in almost all the details, but also in a great number of the expressions. It is, therefore, evident that Artemidorus, for this part of his work, scarcely did anything more than copy Agatharchides. Agatharchides, in his youth, held the situation of secretary or reader to Heraclides Lembus, who (according to Suidas) lived in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor. This king died B. C. 146. He wrote a work on Asia in 10 books, and one on Europe in 49 books; a geographical work on the Erythræan Sea in 5 books; a treatise on the Troglodytæ in 5 books; and other works. He wrote in the Attic dialect. His style, according to Photius, was dignified and perspicuous, and abounded in sententious passages, which inspired a favourable opinion of his judgment. In the composition of his speeches he was an imitator of Thucydides, whom he equalled in dignity, and excelled in clearness. His rhetorical talents also are highly praised by Photius. He was acquainted with the language of the Ethiopians, and appears to have been the first who discovered the true cause of the inundations of the Nile. See Smith, art. Agatharchides.
[709] Ghela.
[710] Kosseir.
[711] Mouse Harbour, or Harbour of Venus.
[712] Meleagrides.
[713] Bender-el-Kebir.
[714] Zemorget or Zamargat. The “Agathonis Insula” of Ptolemy.
[715] Ptolemy Philadelphus.
[716] About 12 feet.
[717] The whole of this description is so vague that it would be difficult to recognise the position of the places mentioned by Strabo without the assistance of scattered notices by other authors. The result of many comparisons leads me to fix upon 16° 58´ as about the latitude of Ptolemaïs Epitheras. Mount Taurus was 22 leagues higher up, and the harbour of the goddess Soteira 12 leagues beyond. Gossellin.
[718] Letronne translates Πτολεμαῒς πρὸς τῇ θήρᾳ as Ptolemaïs Epitheras; see c. iv. § 4.
[719] Tacazze, which however does not appear to have such a branch.
[720] These islands are to the north of Arkiko.
[721] Gulf of Matzua.
[722] From the position here assigned to the fortress of Suchus, it is impossible to place it at Suachem, as is commonly done. Gossellin.
[723] An island Stratioton is mentioned in Pliny vi. 29, as though he had read in our author the word Στρατιωτῶν, “the island of soldiers.” As the island of Strato is named only in this extract from Artemidorus, we might be tempted to correct the text of Strabo by the text of Pliny. But as it is not certain that the two authors speak of one and the same island, it is more prudent to make no change. Du Theil.
[724] I am not acquainted with this place. The ancients speak only of one town of the name of Saba (c. iv. § 19). Was there a town Saba which gave its name to the Sabaïtic Gulf? but the one in question does not appear to have been situated there. Gossellin.
[725] B. C. 658.
[726] The modern Senaar corresponds with the territory of the Sembritæ. See also b. xvii. c. i. § 2. Herodotus, b. ii. 30.
[727] Tacazze.
[728] The Blue Nile.
[729] ἀκροδρύων is expressed in the Periplus of Agatharchides by the words τὸν καρπὸν π ί π τ ο ν τ α ἀ π ὸ τῶν δένδρων, “the fruit falling from the trees.” The Periplus adds another tribe, the Hylophagi, “wood-eaters,” who subsisted on the tender branches of certain trees. Strabo refers to them, b. xvii. c. ii. § 2, but without giving their name. The pods of the Lotus Zizyphus are eatable, and may here be meant.
[730] Gymnetæ. Between the Spermophagi and the Creophagi, Agatharchides places another people called Cynegetæ. Strabo and Pliny do not mention them; but the sort of life the Gymnetæ, of which they both speak, lead resembles that of the Cynegetæ or Cynegi of Agatharchides and Diodorus Siculus (iii. 25). It seems therefore that these two authors, as well as Strabo and Pliny, meant here to speak of one and the same tribe of Ethiopian Gymnetæ, which might have been distinguished by the particular name of Cynegetæ, or Cynegi. Du Theil.
[732] Milkers of bitches.
[733] This Berenice was also surnamed Epi Dire, because it was nearer the promontory Dire than the other cities of the same name. It is probably Bailul, about 12 leagues to the north-west of Assab.
[734] Assab or As-Sab.
[735] Below, Artemidorus calls it the harbour of Eumenes, § 13.
[736] Agatharchides, as quoted by Diodorus Sic. iii. 27, says expressly that this bird is the ostrich. May it be the cassowary?
[737] Groskurd supposes the name of this nation has been omitted in the text, and proposes Acridophagi, or Locust-eaters.
[738] According to Agatharchides and Diodorus Sic. iii. 28, the habit of living on locusts produced a kind of winged louse in the interior of the body; but this is denied by Niebuhr.
[740] Pliny, xiii. 17; xv. 13.
[741] Perhaps Zeila. Strabo is here describing the coast of the modern kingdom of Adel.
[742] The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea indicates on this coast a place called Niloptolemæum, which appears to correspond with the mouth of the river Pedra. Gossellin.
[743] Phleus schæoris. Linn.
[744] Daphnus Parvus of the Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.
[745] Now Fellis or Fel, which signifies Elephant in Arabic.
[746] I think that there is something here omitted and wanting in the text of Strabo, as he seems to make Artemidorus say, that a little after Mount Elephas we find the Horn, or the Cape of the South; for this last appellation appears to have been applied to Cape Guardafui. But this cape, from the time of Philadelphus, and consequently before the period in which Artemidorus wrote, was known by the name of the Promontory of the Aromatics; this author therefore could not have confounded it with the Southern Horn. I have already come to the conclusion that the Southern Horn corresponds with the Southern Cape of Bandel-caus, where commences the desert coast of Ajan, the ancient Azania, respecting which Artemidorus confesses that he was unable to procure any information. It therefore appears to me, that the description which this author must have given of the coast of Africa, from Mount Elephas to the Southern Horn, and which Strabo should have copied, is now wanting in the text. This omission seems to have been noticed by some copyist, who thought to supply it by naming again, to the south of Mount Elephas, the altars of Pytholaus, Lichas, Pythangelus, and Leon, which Artemidorus had already spoken of, and which navigators meet with on the west, and before arriving at Mount Elephas. Gossellin.
[747] The text of this paragraph is corrupt; but the reading followed is that suggested in a note by Kramer.
[748] λέων μύρμηξ. Agatharchides calls them μυρμηκολέων, and Ælian simply μύρμηξ. What animal is intended by the name is uncertain. In b. xv. c. i. §44, the marmot seems to be described.
[749] What the words ἐπὶ σειρὰν mean is doubtful. Casaubon supposes that some words are wanting in the text; Groskurd proposes to read ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἐπὶ οὐρὰν, “from the head to the tail.”
[750] The passage is corrupt, and some words are wanting to complete the sense. Groskurd proposes, “a span less.”
[751] Pliny, viii. 29.
[752] Ancient authors, under the name of Sphinx, generally describe the ape, Simia troglodyte of Gmelin. Du Theil.
[753] Simia innuus.
[754] Simia cepus.
[755] The spotted hyæna.
[757] The juice of the berries is a strong purge.
[759] The bay of Heroopolis is the modern bay of Suez. In the text “Ælanitic bay,” which is an error of the author or of the copyist.
[760] An altar to Poseidon (Neptune), which was erected by Aristo, whom one of the Ptolemies had sent to explore the Arabian Gulf.
[761] Φοινικών, a grove of palm trees, is taken as a proper name by Diodorus Siculus, b. iii. 41.
[762] Sheduan. The “Saspirene insula” of Ptolemy.
[763] Ras Mahomet, which terminates the south of the peninsula formed by the two bays, the Ælanitic running up to Petra, and that of Heroopolis running up to Suez. The meaning of Strabo seems to be, that this cape is in a direction due south of Petra and Palestine.
[764] There is a wide difference of opinion among geographers with regard to the position of this important tribe in the modern map of Arabia. See Smith, art. Minæi.
[765] The Maraneitæ appear to me to be the same people whom other geographers call Pharanitæ, and who received their name from their proximity to Cape Pharan, now Ras Mahomet. Gossellin.
[766] Diodorus Siculus, iii. § 41, following Agatharchides, narrates the fact with greater precision. The Garindæi took advantage of the absence of the greater part of the Maraneitæ, and put to death those that remained. They then laid in wait for and massacred all those who were returning from the festival.
[767] Gulf of Akaba.
[768] “Light vessels.” Diodorus Sic.
[769] Thamud, formerly occupied by the ancient Thamudeni.
[770] Shaur and Iobab?
[771] Gibel Seik, Gibel el Hawene, and Gibel Hester.
[772] The harbour of Charmothas seems to be the ancient Iambo, the “Iambia” of Ptolemy, which now, from the accumulation of soil, is more than a day’s journey into the interior of the country. It is in a fertile territory. The Arabs call it Iambo el Nakel, or Iambo of Palm Trees, to distinguish it from the new Iambo situated on an arid soil on the sea-coast. Al Charm, in Arabic, signifies a fissure or opening in the mountains. It seems as if the Greeks had formed the name Charmothas from this word, mistaking the epithet given to the narrow entrance of the harbour of Iambo for the name of the town itself. Gossellin.
[773] The Debæ occupied Sockia. The river which flows through the country is called Bætius by Ptolemy.
[774] τὰ πλείω is Kramer’s correction for παλαιὰ .
[775] Some are called by Diodorus Siculus, iii. 44, and Agatharchides, Asilæi and Casandres or Gasandres.
[776] Instead of εὔομβρος, Groskurd reads πάμφορος, “produces everything,” following the fragments the Agatharchides and Diodorus Sic. b. iii 44.
[777] Groskurd’s correction, σιδήρου for ἀργύρου, in the text, is adopted. But the passage is probably corrupt, and after σιδήρου we may read καὶ δεκαπλάσιον τοῦ ἀργύρου, “for ten times the quantity of silver,” according to Bochart, and approved by Kramer.
[778] The precise boundaries of Sabæa it is impossible to ascertain. The area we have presumed is comprised within the Arabian Sea W., the Persian Gulf E., the Indian Ocean S., and an irregular line skirting the desert, and running up in a narrow point to Idumæa N. See Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography, art. Saba. Milton appears to have been acquainted with the following passage from Diodorus Siculus, b. iii. 46, descriptive of Sabæa: “It is impossible to enumerate the peculiarities and nature of all these trees and plants, on account of the surpassing variety and body of perfume which fall upon and excite the senses, in a manner divine and beyond description. The mariner, as he sails even at a distance along the coast, has his share of enjoyment; for when the breezes of spring blow from off the land, the fragrance of the trees and shrubs is carried down to the shore; nor is it of the kind with which we are acquainted, proceeding from old and stored aromatics, but fresh and in full perfection from new-blown flowers, striking the inmost sense.”
[779] The same as Saba; see c. iv. § 2.
[780] The above details derived from Artemidorus, and by him from Agatharchides, would not be found in Eratosthenes, who lived before the time of Agatharchides.
[781] We must not confound this measure with the 5000 stadia mentioned in c. iv. § 4. The distance here in question is that taken along the southern coast of Arabia from the straits to Kesem, the ancient Cane, through which passes now, as in former times, the greater part of the perfumes collected in Hadramaut and Seger. But this harbour is about the middle, and not at the extremity of the cinnamon-bearing country. Gossellin.
[788] This reminds us of the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist.
[789] Od. iv. 84.
[790] This subject was discussed in b. i. c. ii. § 34.
[791] B. xvi. c. iv, § 2 and § 14.
[792] Genadil.
[793] Assouan.
[794] Thus Eratosthenes calculated, in following the windings of the Nile, 12,900 stadia, which is 7900 stadia more than he calculated in a straight line, as he made the distance between the same points (Meroë and Syene, b. ii. c. v. § 7) to be 5000 stadia. M. Falconer suspects that there is an error in the text; but the error lies further off. I believe that it is attributable to Eratosthenes himself, and that that geographer did nothing more than convert the days’ marches into stadia. According to Pliny, Timosthenes, commander of the fleet of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and consequently anterior to Eratosthenes, said that from Syene to Meroë was a march of 60 days; and this statement agrees tolerably well with that of Herodotus, who calculated 56 days’ march between Elephantina and Meroë, besides a small distance the extent of which he does not state.
Procopius, a learned writer, estimates a day’s march at 210 stadia; and employment of this value, in the whole course of his history, proves that it was generally adopted. Now, if we multiply 60 by 210, we shall have 12,600 stadia, and dividing 12,900 by 60, we have 215 stadia, or nearly the amount of a day’s march according to Procopius. I am therefore of opinion that Eratosthenes did nothing more than multiply 210 or 215 by the number of 60 days, furnished by Timosthenes; and as the excessive length of 12,900 stadia could not agree with the 5000 stadia, which he had calculated in a straight line for the same interval, he imagined this great difference arose from the excessive winding course of the Nile; consequently he supposed the Nile to change frequently the direction of its course.
This opinion had its influence in the construction of Ptolemy’s map, which presents to us nearly all the inflexions which Eratosthenes imagined; in calculating the intervals of positions assigned by Ptolemy along the river, we find a total of 1260 minutes; and adding about 1/6 for the small windings, we have a total of 1470 minutes, which are equal to 12,400 stadia of the module (700 to the degree) adopted by that geographer.
According to this hypothesis, the distance in Strabo will be thus divided: Setting out from Meroë, the Nile runs,
| days. | |
|
1. 2700 stadia to the north |
12·8 |
|
2. 3700 to the S. and S. W. |
17·6 |
|
3. 5300 to the N. 1/4 E. |
25·0 |
|
4. 1200 to the N. |
5·7 |
| ———— | |
| 61·1 |
which nearly corresponds with the account of Timosthenes. The number of days corresponds tolerably well with the distance given by the explorers sent by Nero for the discovery of Meroë: they reported the distance to be 873 miles. If we divide this number by 60, we shall have for the day’s mean march 14·55 Roman miles, or 11·64 geographical miles, which is in fact the day’s mean march, according to Major Rennell. Letronne.
In carefully measuring, upon a large map of Egypt in 47 sheets, the course of the Nile through all its windings, and with the compass opened to 1000 metres, I find—
| metres. | |
| From the middle of Syene to Luxor in the ancient territory of Thebes | 218,900 |
| From Luxor to Becous situated at the point of the Delta | 727,500 |
| From Becous following the Damietta branch to that city | 234,000 |
| ————— | |
| 1,180,400 |
This measure reduced to mean degrees of the earth equals 637° 25´, and represents 5312 stadia of 500 (to the degree). I certainly did not expect to find such an agreement between the new and the ancient measures. The periodic rising of the Nile, I think, must have produced, since the time of Eratosthenes, some partial changes in the windings of the river; but we must acknowledge that these changes, for greater or for less, compensate one another on the whole.
We observe, moreover, as I have already often observed, that the use of the stadium of 500 to the degree is anterior to the Alexandrine school; for at the time of Eratosthenes the stadium of 700 was more particularly made use of in Egypt. Gossellin.
[795] Although generally described as an island, it was, like Mesopotamia, a district included between rivers: the city Meroë was situated in lat. 16° 44´.
[796] Tacazze.
[797] Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue river.
[798] See b. xvi. c. iv. § 8, and Herod. ii. 30, who calls the Sembritæ, Automoloi, that is, persons who had voluntarily quitted their abode.
[799] The Nile valley was parcelled out into a number of cantons, varying in size and number. Each of these cantons was called a nome (νομὸς) by the Greeks, “præfectura oppidorum” by the Romans. Each had its civil governor, the Nomarch, who collected the crown revenues, and presided in the local capital and chief court of justice. Each nome too had its separate priesthood, its temple, chief and inferior towns, its magistrates, registration and peculiar creed, ceremonies and customs; and each was apparently independent of every other nome. At certain seasons, delegates from the various cantons met in the palace of the Labyrinth, for consultation on public affairs (b. xvii. c. i. § 37). According to Diodorus, the nomes date from Sesostris. But they did not originate from that monarch, but emanated probably from the distinctions of animal worship; and the extent of the local worship probably determined the boundary of the nome. Thus in the nome of Thebaïs, where the ram-headed deity was worshipped, the sheep was sacred, the goat was eaten and sacrificed: in that of Mendes, where the goat was worshipped, the sheep was a victim and an article of food. Again, in the nome of Ombos, divine honours were paid to the crocodile: in that of Tentyra, it was hunted and abominated: and between Ombos and Tentyra there existed an internecine feud.
Ardet adhuc Ombos et Tentyra: summus utrinque Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum Odit uterque locus, cum solos credat habendos Esse deos, quos ipse colit. Juv. xv. 35. The extent and number of the nomes cannot be ascertained. They probably varied with the political state of Egypt. See Smith, art. Ægyptus.
[800] See b. xvi. c. ii. § 24.
[801] In the text ὀστράκινα πορθμεῖα “earthen-ware ferry boats.” The translation is not literal, but a paraphrase.
Hac sævit rabie imbelle et inutile vulgus
Parvula fictilibus solitum dare vela phaselis,
Et brevibus pictæ remis incumbere testæ.
Juv. xv. 126.
[802] In the text κειρίᾳ ψυχομένῃ ἐπὶ μῆκος, which is evidently corrupt. Kramer proposes to read ἀναπτυσσομένῃ or ἀνεπτυγμένῃ, and Groskurd reads αὐξομένῃ for ψυχομένῃ “lengthened out.” Alii alia proposuerunt, infelicia omnia.
[803] The Mediterranean.
[804] Od. iv. 581.
[805] ἐγὼ γοῦν ἀπορούμενος ἀντιγράφων εἰς τὴν ἀντιβολὴν ἐκ θατέρου θάτερον ἀντέβαλον. Casaubon, who narrates a similar circumstance which occurred to himself, thus explains the passage: Our author, being in want of codices to correct imperfections in his own, and to form a complete copy, availed himself of another author whose account was identical, being either, as he says, the original or a transcript from the first.
[806] The words “Sostratus of Cnidus, son of Dexiphanes, to the gods preservers,” are rejected by Kramer as being introduced from the margin.
[807] Od. xvii. 266.
[808] Some word, such as κατοικίαι, seems here to be wanting; ὁδοὶ, which some commentators suppose to be here understood, would be unsuitable to the passage, nor would it convey a proper meaning. Kramer.
[809] The word ἐραστής must be here understood, and not υἱὸς. Groskurd.
[810] The celebrated general of Mithridates.
[812] He was prevented from carrying on this war by the senate. See b. xii. c. iii. § 34.
[813] The elder sister of Cleopatra.
[814] Six months after.
[815] About B. C. 49.
[817] I have adopted the reading, ἀπολιτικὸν, “not understanding or ill-adapted for the duties of citizens,” suggested by Kramer.
[818] Od. iv. 481.
[819] No longer existing.
[820] Akabet el Kebira or Marsa Sollom.
[821] Baretoun, or Berek-Marsa. “Alexander, after passing 1600 stadia through that part of the desert where water was to be found to Parætonium, then turned inland to visit the oracle of Ammon.” Arrian, b. iii. § 3.
[822] “Wines which have been very carefully prepared with sea-water never cause head-aches.” Athenæus, b. i. c. i. 59, p. 54. Bohn’s Classical Library.
[823] Cape Deras.
[824] The exact site is not ascertained, but it was not far from Aboukir.
[825] “Hellanicus says that the vine was first discovered in Plinthine, a city of Egypt,” and that for those “who, on account of their poverty, could not get wine, there was introduced a custom of drinking beer made of barley.” Athenæus, b. i. c. i. 61, p. 56. Bohn’s Classical Library.
[826] “The Mareotic wine is erroneously stated by Athenæus (p. 55. Bohn’s Classical Library) to have obtained its name from a fountain called Marea. The fountain and town derived their name from Maro, who was one of the companions of Bacchus.” The wine is praised by Horace, Odes I. xxxvii. 14:
Mentemque lymphatam Mareotico Redegit in veros timores. Virgil, Geor. ii. 91, calls a vine by this name:
Sunt Thasiæ vites, sunt et Mareotides albæ.
[827] The Papyrus.
[828] “There is also the ciborium. Hegesander the Delphian says that Euphorion the poet, when supping with Prytanis, his host, exhibited to him some ciboria, which appeared to be made in a most exquisite and costly manner. Didymus says that it is a kind of drinking-cup, and perhaps it may be the same as that which is called scyphium, which derives its name from being contracted to a narrow space at the bottom, like the Egyptian ciboria.” Athenæus, b. xi. § 54, p. 761. Bohn’s Classical Library.
[829] The two kinds known at present are the Egyptian and the Syracusan, which, according to Professor Parlatori, have the same general appearance, but differ in the number of flower-lobes.
[830] That is, the juice was extracted for its sugar; see b. xvi. c. ii. § 41, and Pliny, xiii. 12.
[831] Od. iv. 228.
[832] The Canobic mouth was situated in the bay of Aboukir; the Bolbitine is the Rosetta mouth; the Sebennytic is the Burlos mouth; the Phatnitic, the Damietta mouth; the Mendesian is that at Dibeh; the Tanitic, that at Omm. Faregeh; the Pelusiac, that at Terraneh.
[833] The watch-tower of Perseus was at the western end of the Delta, according to Herodotus, ii. 15.
[834] The horned Pan.
[835] The people of Busiris worshipped Isis, and at one epoch, according to Hellenic tradition, sacrificed red men, who came over the sea, i. e. the nomades of Syria and Arabia.
[836] Od. iv. 481.
[837] In this nome tradition affirmed that the Hebrew legislator was born and educated.
[838] καὶ is omitted in the translation, as Groskurd proposes.
[839] Memphis was the residence of the Pharaohs, who succeeded Psammitichus, B. C. 616. The Memphite Nome rose into importance on the decline of the kingdom of Thebaïs, and was itself in turn eclipsed by the Hellenic kingdom of Alexandria. The village of Mitranieh, half concealed in a grove of palm trees, about ten miles south of Gizeh, marks the site of the ancient Memphis. The successive conquerors of the land, indeed, have used its ruins as a stone quarry, so that its exact situation has been a subject of dispute. Major Rennell, however, brings incontestable evidence of the correspondence of Mitranieh with Memphis. Its remains extend over many hundred acres of ground, which are covered with blocks of granite, broken obelisks, columns, and colossal statues. The principal mound corresponds probably with the area of the great temple of Ptah. Smith.
[840] The Egyptians say that the ox Mneyis is sacred to the sun, and that Apis is dedicated to the moon. Ælian de Nat. Animal. ii. 11.
[841] Saïs stood in lat. 30° 4’ N., on the right bank of the Canopic arm of the Nile. The site of the ancient city is determined not only by the appellation of the modern town Sa-el-Hadjar, which occupies a portion of its area, but also by mounds of ruin corresponding in extent to the importance of Saïs, at least, under the later Pharaohs. The city was artificially raised high above the level of the Delta to be out of the reach of the inundations of the Nile, and served as a landmark to all who ascended the arms of the river, from the Mediterranean to Memphis. Its ruins have been very imperfectly explored, yet traces have been found of the lake on which the mysteries of Isis were performed, as well as of the temple of Neith (Athene) and the necropolis of the Saïte kings. The wall of unburnt brick which surrounded the principal buildings of the city was 70 feet thick, and probably, therefore, at least 100 feet high. It enclosed an area 2325 feet in length by 1960 in breadth. Beyond this enclosure were also two large cemeteries, one for the citizens generally, and the other reserved for the nobles and priests of the higher orders. Saïs was one of the sacred cities of Egypt: its principal deities were Neith, who gave oracles there, and Isis. The mysteries of the latter were celebrated with unusual pomp on the evening of the Feast of Lamps. Herodotus (ii. 59) terms this festival the third of the great feasts in the Egyptian calendar. It was held by night; and every one intending to be present at the sacrifices was required to light a number of lamps in the open air around his house. At what season of the year the feast of burning lamps was celebrated, Herodotus knew, but deemed it wrong to tell (ii. 62); it was, however, probably at either the vernal or autumnal equinox, since it apparently had reference to one of the capital revolutions in the solar course. An inscription, in the temple of Neith, declared her to be the Mother of the Sun. It ran thus, “I am the things that have been, and that are, and that will be; no one has uncovered my skirts; the fruit which I brought forth became the Sun.” It is probable, accordingly, that the kindling of the lamps referred to Neith, as the author of light. On the same night, apparently, were performed what the Egyptians designated as the “Mysteries of Isis.” Saïs was one of the supposed places of interment of Osiris, for that is evidently the deity whom Herodotus will not name (ii. 171), when he says that there is a burial-place of him at Saïs in the temple of Athene. The mysteries were symbolical representations of the sufferings of Osiris, especially his dismemberment by Typhon. They were exhibited on the lake behind the temple of Neith. Portions of the lake may be still discerned near the hamlet Sa-el-Hadjar. Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography, Art. Saïs.
[842] The evil or destroying genius.
[843] Suez.
[844] Pharaoh Necho, under whom and in the execution of the work 120,000 labourers perished. Herod. ii. 158.
[845] κλειστὸν ἐποίησαν τὸν Εὔριπον, “closed the Euripus.” Diodorus Siculus, i. 33, thus speaks of this same work. “Darius the Persian left the canal unfinished, as he was informed by some persons, that by cutting through the isthmus he would be the cause of inundating Egypt; for they pointed out to him that the Red Sea was higher than the level of Egypt. The second Ptolemy afterwards completed the canal, and in the most convenient part constructed an artfully contrived barrier, (διάφραγμα,) which he could open when he liked for the passage of vessels, and quickly close again, the operation being easily performed.” The immediate communication therefore between the sea and the canal was cut off by a lock; and as there must have been two, there would be a flux and reflux of water between them on the passage of vessels. This probably suggested to our author the word Euripus, and is to be understood as applying to that portion of the canal included between the locks. By the word Euripus is generally understood the channel between Negropont and the mainland, which is subject to an ebb and flow of the sea. The storing up of water, and the distribution of it for the purposes of irrigation, was no doubt well known to the Egyptians. Diodorus, b. i. 19, ascribes to Osiris the invention. “Osiris confined the Nile by embankments on both sides, so that at the period of its rising it might not inconveniently spread over the country, but that, by gates (διὰ θυρῶν) adapted for the purpose, the stream might be gently discharged as occasion required.
[847] Bubastis or Artemis, Diana. Herod. ii. 59, 67, 137.
[848] Among those no doubt now at Rome.
[849] This description is illustrated by the remains of the great temple at Philæ, dedicated to Ammon Osiris.
[850] οὐδὲ γραφικόν. These words have been understood by some writers as signifying that there were no paintings, but Letronne has clearly shown that they do not convey this meaning.
[851] George (Syncellus, or companion of the Patriarch), a writer of the eighth century, and who had the reputation of being well versed in history, says that “Ptolemy Philadelphus collected all the writings of Greeks, Chaldæans, Egyptians, and Romans, and had such of them as were not Greek translated into that language, and deposited 100,000 volumes at Alexandria. M. Letronne is disposed to think that Hipparchus, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, and others borrowed from these sources.
[852] “Sesoosis (Sesostris) raised two obelisks of hard stone, 120 cubits in height, on which were inscribed the greatness of his power, the amount of his revenue, and the number of the nations which he had conquered. At Memphis, in the temple of Vulcan, he erected monolithe images of himself and his wife, 30 cubits in height, and images of his sons, 20 cubits in height,” in memory of his escape from fire when his brother Armais attempted to burn him with his wife and children. Diod. Sic. i. 57.
[853] Probably the statue of Venus bore a crescent on the forehead.
[854] We have reason to be surprised that Strabo, who had seen the pyramids, has said so little concerning them. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus enter into more particulars, and in general are more exact. Some idea of the immense labour required may be obtained from considerations such as follow:—
The base and height being given, we find for the solid contents—
| cubic yards. | |
|
1. of the great pyramid |
2,864,000 |
|
2. of Chephren |
2,056,000 |
|
3. of Mycerinus |
211,000 |
So that if a wall of (three metres) about 9-1/4 feet in height, and a foot in thickness, were built with the materials of these pyramids, we should have a wall—
| miles. | |
|
1. from the great pyramid in length |
1626 |
|
2. from Chephren or Cheops |
1167 |
|
3. from Mycerinus |
117 |
The stones, therefore, of the three pyramids would form such a wall 2910 miles in length, or one sufficient to reach from Alexandreia to the coast of Guinea. Letronne.
[855] This is a palpable error, and greater than that of Herodotus, who makes the base equal to the height. The ratio of the height to the base in the great pyramid was as 0·627 to 1; and in the second, as 0·640 to 1. Diodorus approaches nearest of all to the truth, as he makes this ratio to be as 6 to 7 or as 0·817 to 1. Strabo should rather have said, “the sides are rather greater than the height;” but all that he says respecting the pyramids is vague and inexact.
[856] ἐν ὕψει μέσως πως μιᾶς τῶν πλευρῶν· μιᾶς is adopted, although not introduced into the text, by Kramer; μέσως πως is connected with ἐν ὕψει, and not with τῶν πλευρῶν, in the sense of “moderately,” in which it is also used in b. xi. c. ii. § 18. “The kings who succeeded to the possession of the country, (μέσως ἔπραττον) were moderately successful.” The moveable stone has been taken away, and the aperture is at most at about one-twelfth the whole height of the pyramid from its base.
[857] Chembes the Memphite built the largest of the three pyramids, which are reckoned among the seven most remarkable works in the world. They are situated by the side of Libya, distant 120 stadia from Memphis, and 45 from the Nile. These works, by their size and by the artifice and labour employed in their construction, strike the beholder with astonishment and wonder. The base of the largest, the plan of which is quadrilateral, is seven plethra on each side; the height is more than six plethra; the pyramid gradually contracts towards the top, of which each side measures six cubits, and the whole is built of hard stone. Its construction must have been accompanied with great difficulty, but its permanence will be eternal; for although, it is said, not less than a thousand years have passed away to our day (some even say more than 3400 years) since they were built, yet the stones still remain, preserving their original position, and their whole arrangement uninjured by time. The stone is said to have come from a great distance in Arabia, and the process of building was carried on by raising mounds of earth; for at that period no machines had been invented. But it is most marvellous that although such an immense undertaking has been completed, and the whole country around is composed of sand, not a single trace remains of the mounds raised, nor of the fragments of stone broken off by the workmen: indeed the pyramids do not seem to have been raised by the gradual labour of man, but to have been placed by some divine hand in a mass, perfectly formed, down upon the surrounding sands. Some Egyptians undertake to narrate wondrous stories respecting them, such, for instance, that the mounds above-mentioned were composed of salt and nitre, which melted away upon the rising of the river, and completely disappeared without the intervention of human labour. But this cannot be true, for the same number of hands which constructed the mounds would be able to reduce them again to their former state; and 360,000 men, it is said, were employed in the undertaking. The whole was completed in a little less than twenty years. On the death of this king, he was succeeded by his brother Chephren, who reigned 56 years. According to some writers, it was not a brother, but a son, named Chabryis, who was his successor. But all agree that the successor, whoever he was, desired to imitate his predecessor’s conception, and built the second pyramid, which resembled the first in its artificial construction, but was inferior to it in size, the sides of the base being a stadium each in length. On the greater pyramid is an inscription which states the amount expended on herbs and radishes for the workmen, and it informs us that 1600 talents were paid for this purpose. The lesser pyramid bears no inscription, and it has an ascent formed in it through an opening in one of the sides. But although the kings built these pyramids for their own tombs, yet it has so happened that none of them have ever been buried in them. For the population, in consequence of the misery to which these works exposed them, and of the cruelty and tyranny of the kings, were incensed against them as the causes of their sufferings; and moreover threatened to tear their bodies in pieces, and to cast them out with insult from their place of burial. Every king therefore, on the approach of death, enjoined his relations to bury his body secretly in a place undistinguished by marks. These were succeeded by king Mycerinus, (whom some call Mecherinus,) son of the king who built the first pyramid. He designed to build a third, but died before he accomplished it. Each side of the base of this pyramid was three plethra in length, and fifteen tiers of the building were raised of black stone like the Thebaic stone, but the rest was filled up with a stone resembling that of the other pyramids. This work is inferior to the two former in size, but far surpasses them in artificial construction and in the expensiveness of the stone. On its northern side the name of Mycerinus is inscribed, as the person who caused it to be built. He is said to have held in abhorrence the cruelty of his predecessors, and to have been ambitious of leading a just life, and beneficial to his subjects. He performed many actions by which he called forth the affection of his people towards him; and among others he expended a great sum of money in public causes, rewarding the judges who delivered upright judgments, which was not commonly the case. There are three other pyramids, the sides of which are two plethra in length; in workmanship they entirely resemble the others, except in magnitude. These pyramids, it is said, were built by the three before-mentioned kings in honour of their own wives. These works by universal consent are the most remarkable in Egypt, not only in their ponderous construction, but also in the art displayed. We ought, we are told, to admire more the architects than the kings, who supplied the means, for the architects brought their designs to completion by force of mind and the influence of an honourable ambition, but the kings by the power of that wealth which was their portion, or by injuries inflicted on others. There is no agreement whatever, either between the natives of the country or between authors, respecting the pyramids; for some assert that the kings before mentioned built them, others that they were not the builders, but that Armæus built the first and largest; Amasis, the second; and Inaro, the third: but this last is said by some to be the burial-place of Rhodopis, a courtesan, whose lovers were certain governors of nomes, who from affection towards her undertook this great work, and completed at their common charge. Diodorus Siculus, b. i. 63, 64.
[858] Niebuhr says, that in these stones are found small petrified substances in the form of lentils, which appear to be of the same kind of shell of which he collected several at Bushir. Clarke also says, that at the base of the pyramids a variety of calcareous stone is found in detached masses, exactly such as Strabo has described, and appear to be the petrified remains of some unknown animal. Forskal calls them “testacea fossilia kakiensia.” Diodorus, as quoted above, says that there are no vestiges of fragments.
[859] The translation follows Letronne’s correction, ἐπέοικε for ἀπέοικε.
[860] In the text λίθου πωρείας, Groskurd reads πωρίνου, which word occurs in Herod. v. 62, and translates it “tufstein.”
[861] No passage is to be found in his Geography to this effect, it has either been lost from the text, or existed in his other works.
[862] “It is said that the captives from Babylon revolted from the king (Sesostris), being unable to endure the sufferings to which they were exposed in the public works. They seized upon a strong place on the banks of the river, and maintained for some time a contest with the Egyptians, destroying the neighbouring district. At last, having obtained security from molestation, they made a regular settlement of the place, and called it Babylon, after their native city. Under similar circumstances, it is said, a place received the name of Troy which still exists on the banks of the Nile. For Menelaus, on his return from Troy with captives, came to Egypt. The Trojan captives revolted, took up a position, and carried on a war, until having obtained safety for themselves by treaty, they founded a city bearing the name of their native place.” I am aware that Ctesias gives a different account of these cities, and says that some of the soldiers who accompanied Semiramis in her invasion of Egypt founded these cities, and gave to them the names of their native cities. Diod. Sic. i. 56.
[863] This passage presents great difficulties. Kramer expresses himself dissatisfied with any explanation hitherto given. Und so dass der Kanal zwei Mündungen hat, zwischen welche ein Theil der Insel seitwärts anfält. Groskurd.
[865] Herod. ii. 148; Diod. i. 66. See below, § 42.
[866] The translator adopts Kramer’s suggestion, of reading εἰσβλέποντα for ἐκπίπτοντα.
[867] The founder, according to Diodorus Siculus, was Mendes or Marrus. B. i. 61.
[868] Bekneseh.
[869] This fish, a species of sturgeon, received its name from the shape of the head (sharp-pointed), and was said to have been produced from the blood of the wounded Osiris. Ælian. Hist. Animal. x. 46.
[870] Eshmoon.
[871] Babout.
[872] The ruins are supposed to be at the modern hamlet of Mensieh.
[873] ὁλόλιθον, probably an interpolation. Kramer.
[874] Il. i. 528.
[875] Hu.
[876] Dendera.
[877] Keft.
[878] The ruins are situated lat. 23° 56’ N., and about 35° 34’ E.
[879] After σταθμοὺς, in the text, follows ὥσπερ τοὶς ἐμπορίοις ὁδεύμασι καὶ διὰ τῶν καμήλων, which Kramer considers to be an interpolation. Groskurd corrects, and reads σταθμοὺς προσφόρους τοῖς ἐμπόροις ὁδεύουσι καὶ πεζῇ καὶ διὰ τῶν καμήλων, “stations for the service of travellers on foot and on camels.”
[880] Near old Kosseir; the “Veneris Portus” of Pliny. It was founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, B. C. 274. The Greek name may signify, “Harbour of the Mouse,” but more probably it means the “Harbour of the Mussel,” (μύειν, to close, e. g. the shell,) since on the neighbouring coast the pearl-mussel is collected in large quantities. It is uncertain whether the ruins at the village of Abuschaar, represent the site of the ancient Myos Hormus. See Smith’s Dict., art. Myos Hormus
[881] Il. ix. 383.
[882] Il. ix. 381.
[883] For θήκαις, “tombs,” in the text, Kramer is of opinion that we should read Θήβαις, Thebes, which is also the translation of the passage by Guarini.
[884] The meaning of the passage is clear, and can be understood, as critics have already explained, only as implying the intercalation of a 366th day every fourth year. Some have asserted that Julius Cæsar adopted this method of intercalating a day from the civil practice of the Alexandrines; others, on the contrary, appear disposed to believe that J. Cæsar was the first to give an idea of it, according to the advice of Sosigenes. There is truth and error in both these opinions. On the one hand, it is certain that Strabo, who visited Egypt a short time after the conquest of the country by the Romans, would not have omitted to attribute to them the institution of this year, if it really belonged to them. So far from doing so, he says (above, § 29) distinctly, that this method of intercalation was known and practised by the priests of Heliopolis and Thebes. Diodorus Siculus, who visited Egypt just at the time of the first arrival of the Romans, gives the same account as Strabo. Can we therefore believe that the Egyptians before this period were ignorant of the bissextile intercalation? On the other hand, it is not less certain that this method of intercalation was only introduced into civil use at Alexandria from the time of Julius Cæsar: before this period, the incomplete year of 365 days was adopted throughout the whole of Egypt, as is attested by a host of authorities, and confirmed by the date of the Rosetta stone, which only applies to this method of reckoning. Hence we see (I.) that Julius Cæsar really obtained the idea of a fixed year of 365-1/4 days from the Egyptians, where it was employed for scientific or religious purposes only, whilst the incomplete year was the vulgar and common year; (II.) that he made this fixed year the common year, both among the Romans and Alexandrines, who were a people most readily disposed to adopt foreign innovations. It is, however, probable that the rest of Egypt preserved the ancient use of the incomplete year.
[885] Strabo, I think, is the only author who places Crocodilopolis and Aphroditopolis in this part of Egypt. Letronne.
[886] For καὶ τῶν ἡμερῶν of the text, Casaubon reads τεκμηρίων, “signs.” Coray proposes καὶ μέτρων, “measures.” The expression in the text is obscure, and the translation is a conjecture of the meaning.
[887] This was the general opinion of antiquity, and was reproduced by Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and others; in short, by all the Alexandrine school. At the time of Eratosthenes, the obliquity of the ecliptic was 23° 45’ 17”. Syene was therefore 20’ 6” from being exactly under the tropic; for 24° 5’ 23” (latitude of Syene)—23° 45’ 17” = 20’ 6”. This would be the distance of the centre of the sun from the zenith of Syene; whence it follows that the northern limb of the sun was about 5’ from it. In the time of Strabo, the obliquity was only 23° 42’ 22”; the difference between the zenith of Syene and the northern limb of the sun was about 8’. Lastly, about 140 of the vulgar era, the obliquity was reduced to 23° 41’ 7”. Syene was then 24’ 16” from the tropic, and its zenith was about 10’ from the northern limb of the sun; when the shadows of gnomons of any tolerable size must have been perceptible, and Syene could not have been any longer considered as lying under the tropic. As regards the well which served to ascertain the instant of the solstice, Pliny and Arrian both mention it. The formation of it no doubt belonged to a very remote period. In the time of Strabo, the rays of the sun could not have reached entirely to the bottom, but the shadow was so small that it was not sufficient to shake the ancient opinion. In fact, the angle being about 8’, and supposing the depth to have been 50 feet, the northern side would have projected a shadow of about 18 lines; the rest would have remained in full light, and the reflexion would have caused the whole circumference of the well to appear illuminated. Letronne.
[888] Kramer considers the passage between brackets to be an interpolation, as the same sense is conveyed in the passage which immediately follows.
[889] The number here given is nearly twice too great. Kramer quotes G. Parthey (de Philis insula) for correcting the error to 50 stadia, and for perceiving that it arose from the very frequent substitution in manuscripts of the letter P (100) for N (50).
[890] Unhewn stones, with a head of Mercury upon them.
[891] Herod. ii. 28, who, however, seems to doubt the veracity of his informant.
[893] B. C. 28.
[895] The modern hamlet of Dakkeh occupies a portion of the site of ancient Pselchis.
[896] Called Primis by Ptolemy and Pliny. It is placed by the former beyond Napata, and just above Meroë. Hence it is identified with Ibrim.
[897] There is great difficulty in determining the true position of Napata, as our author places it much farther north than Pliny; and there is reason for supposing that it is the designation of a royal residence, which might be moveable, rather than of a fixed locality. Ritter brings Napata as far north as Primis and the ruins at Ipsambul, while Mannert, Ukert, and other geographers, believe it to have been Merawe, on the farthest northern point of the region of Meroë. It is, however, generally placed at the east extremity of that great bend of the Nile which skirts the desert of Bahiouda, and near Mount Birkel. Among the ruins which probably cover the site of the ancient Napata are two lions of red granite, one bearing the name of Amuneph III., the other Amuntuonch. They were brought to England by Lord Prudhoe, and now stand at the entrance of the Gallery of Antiquities in the British Museum. See Smith’s Dict., art. Napata.
[898] The inhabitants of Biscay. See b. iii. c. iii. § 8.
[899] This name was common to the queens of Ethiopia. Acts viii. 27.
[900] B. xvi. c. iv. § 8 et seqq.
[901] Groskurd corrects the text, and translates, “the inhabitants also are small.”
[902] The translation follows the proposed correction of the text by Kramer.
[903] ταῖς συμβολαῖς. The passage presents a great difficulty, because Strabo has before asserted that Meroë is surrounded by these rivers, and that their union takes place below, that is, to the north, and not to the south of the city and island; and this notion corresponds with all the ancients have said on the subject. I declare, without hesitation, that I do not understand my author. Letronne. Groskurd attempts to avoid the difficulty by translating, “is within the compass of.”
[904] The Tacazze.
[905] Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue River.
[906] Reading διαπλεκομένων ἢ πλίνθων for διαπλεκόμεναι τοίχων ἢ πλίνθων.
[907] The trees called persiai (or perseai) produce a fruit of great sweetness, which was introduced from Ethiopia by the Persians, when Cambyses conquered that country. Diod. Sic. i. 34.
[908] Tsana.
[909] According to Diod. Sic. iii. 9, this was Jupiter.
[910] Above, c. i. § 15.
[911] The sturgeon.
[912] Cyprinus bynni.
[913] Perea Nilotica. Cuvier, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, xii. 5.
[914] Silurus anguillaris. Linn.
[915] Pliny, xxxii. 5. Coracini pisces Nilo quidem peculiares sunt. Athenæus, b. vii. c. 83, p. 484. Bohn’s Classical Library.
[916] Called by the Arabs gamor-el-Lelleh, or star of the night. Cuvier.
[917] The shad.
[918] The mullet.
[919] About six feet. Nicander is the author of two Greek poems that are still extant, and of several others that have been lost. He may be supposed to have been in reputation for about fifty years, cir. B. C. 185-135. The longest of his poems that remains is named Theriaca. It treats (as the name implies) of venomous animals, and the wounds inflicted by them, and contains some curious and interesting zoological passages, together with numerous absurd fables. The other treats of poisons and their antidotes. His works are only consulted by those who are interested in points of zoological and medical antiquities. He is frequently quoted by Athenæus. See Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography, art. Nicander.
[920] Herod. ii. 36.
[921] Strabo does not appear to have been acquainted with the plant from which these tissues were made. Their true name seems to have been cucina, and were made from a palm-tree (the Doum palm), called by Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 4, 2) κουκιοφόρον, and by Pliny “cuci” (b. xiii. 9): “At e diverso, cuci in magno honore, palmæ similis, quando et ejus foliis utuntur ad textilia.”
[923] B. ii. c. 3, § 4; and c. 4, § 3.
[925] Cape Spartel, or Espartel. Ampelusia, vine-clad, was the Greek name,—a translation of the native name.
[926] Groskurd reads Tinx, and also with Letronne observes that our author has mistaken two places for one. Tinx, or Trinx=Tangiers. Lixus = Al-Harâtch, or Laraiche.
[927] Cadiz.
[928] Situated between the town Sala (Salee) and Lixus (El-Harâch).
[929] Tyrwhitt reads Apellas, for Ophellas of the text. Apellas was a Cyrenæan navigator, whose Periplus is mentioned by Marcianus of Heracleia. There was an Ophellas of Cyrene, who advanced at the head of an army along the coast, to unite himself to Agathocles, who was then besieging Carthage, B. C. 310. He was put to death by Agathocles soon after his arrival, and no Periplus of his said to have existed; his course also to Carthage was by land.
[930] A people on the west coast of N. Africa, about the situation of whom Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy are in perfect agreement with one another, if the thirty days’ journey of Strabo between them and Lixus on the west coast of Morocco, to the south of Cape Spartel, be set aside, as an error either of his information or of the text; which latter is not improbable, as numbers in MSS. are so often corrupt. Nor is this mere conjecture, because Strabo contradicts himself, by asserting in another place (b. xvii. c. 3. § 7) that the Pharusii had a great desert between them and Mauretania. When Ezekiel prophesies the fall of Tyre, it is said, (xxvii. 10,) “The men of Pheres (the common version reads Persia) and Lud and Phut were in thine armies.” These Pheres thus joined with Phut, or Mauretanians, and the Ludim, who were nomads of Africa (the Septuagint and the Vulgate understand the Lydians), may be reasonably supposed to belong to the same region. Without the vowel points, the name will represent the powerful and warlike tribe whom the Greeks call Pharusii. Smith, art. Pharusii.
[931] Arum esculentum (snake-weed), and arum dracunculus.
[932] Parsnip (?).
[933] Fennel.
[934] Artichoke.
[935] Groskurd reads Hypsicrates.
[936] The rhinoceros.
[937] About six quarts, according to the lowest value of the (chœnix).
[938] Arzila.
[939] Tiga in the text.
[940] The Septem-Fratres of Pliny.
[941] Jebel-el-Mina, or Ximiera, near Ceuta (a corruption of ἑπτὰ, or septem?).
[942] Ape mountain.
[943] The Muluwi, which now forms the frontier between Morocco and Algeria, as it did anciently between the Mauretanians and Numidians.
[944] Cape Hone, or Ras-el-Harsbak. Groskurd corrects the text, and translates: “Near the river is a large promontory, and a neighbouring settlement called Metagonium.” Kramer’s proposed correction is followed.
[945] Numidia is the central tract of country on the north coast of Africa, which forms the largest portion of the country now occupied by the French, and called Algeria, or Algérie. The continuous system of highlands which extends along the coast of the Mediterranean was in the earliest period occupied by a race of people consisting of many tribes, of whom the Berbers of the Algerine territories, or the Kabyles or Quabaily, as they are called by the inhabitants of the cities, are the representatives. These people, speaking a language which was once spoken from the Fortunate Islands in the west to the cataracts of the Nile, and which still explains many names in ancient African topography, and embracing tribes of quite different characters, whites as well as blacks (though not negroes), were called by the Romans Numidæ; not a proper name, but a common denomination from the Greek form, νομάδες. Afterwards Numida and Numidia became the name of the nation and the country. Sometimes they were called Maurusii Numidæ, while the later writers always speak of them under the general name of Mauri. The most powerful among these tribes were the Massyli, whose territories extended from the river Ampsaga to Tretum promontory; and the Massæsyli, occupying the country to the west, as far as the river Mulucha. Smith, Dict. art. Numidia.
[946] Cartagena.
[947] Marseilles.
[948] The words περιτραχήλια ξύλινα offer some difficulty. Paul Louis Courier, who is of authority on this subject, says that Strabo, having little experience in horses, has mistaken the first word for another, and intended to speak of the horse’s nose, and not his neck. Letronne and Groskurd both agree that ξύλινα is rightly to be translated, “of cotton.”
[949] Constantine.
[950] The Pharusii, and not the Mauretanians, came with Hercules from the East, according to Pliny, Mela, and Sallust; hence Letronne conjectures that we should read here Pharusii.
[951] A. D. 18 or 19 at latest, but the exact date is uncertain.
[952] Groskurd corrects the text, and translates, “there existed in the Bay Emporicus very many Phœnician cities.”
[953] Plutarch. Sertorius.
[954] Ebba-Ras.
[955] Probably Tafna.
[956] Jama.
[957] According to Shaw, who however did visit the place, its ruins are still to be seen by the present Tucumbrit; others identify it with Areschkul of the Arabs, at the mouth of the Tafna near Rasgun.
[958] In the text μεγέθει δὲ ἑπτασπονδύλων, scorpions “of seven joints” in the tail; the correction of Letronne, which Kramer supports, is adopted. Groskurd however retains the text, and reads μεγέθει δὲ [ὑπερβαλλόντων καὶ ἐσθ’ ὅτε ἑπτασπονδύλων, “of enormous size, and sometimes of seven joints.”
[959] Cherchell, a corruption of Cæsarea-Iol.
[960] Ebba Ras (the seven capes) or Bougaron.
[961] Bougie.
[962] Shaw has the merit of having first pointed out the true situation of this celebrated city. Before his time it was sought sometimes at Biserta, sometimes at Farina, but he fixed it near the little miserable “Douar,” which has a holy tomb called Boushatter, and with this view many writers have agreed. Adherbal, however, was besieged and captured in Cirta (Constantine), B. C. 109.
[963] An unknown name. Letronne supposes Thisica to be meant, mentioned by Ptolemy, iv. 3.
[964] Vaga or Vacca, now Bayjah.
[965] Shaw takes Ferreanah to have been the ancient Thala or Telepte, but Lapie seeks it at Haouch-el-Khima.
[966] Cafsa.
[967] Jama.
[968] Probably near the ruins of Leptis Parva.
[969] El Aliah.
[970] Karkenah or Ramlah.
[971] Hippo Regius, Bonah; and Hippo Zaritus, Bizerta.
[972] Wady Mejerdah.
[973] Letronne corrects this reading to 2000, which is the number given by Polybius and Arrian.
[974] By the Romans, Numidæ.
[975] Pantellaria.
[976] Marsala.
[977] Kramer is of opinion that this passage from the beginning of the section is an interpolation. Cossura (the island Pantellaria) is nowhere else spelt Corsura; Cossuros is the spelling observed immediately below. Its distance from Aspis is differently stated in b. vi. c. ii. § 11, to be 88 miles from Aspis. Ægimurus is the small island Zembra, near Cape Bon; near it is also another small low rocky island. From the shape and appearance of the former, more especially in some positions, we may attribute the name Aræ (altars), given to them, as in Pliny: “Ægimuræ Aræ, scopuli verius quam insulæ;” and they are the “Aræ” of Virgil, Æn. i. 108.
[978] i. e. sacred to Mercury. Cape Bon.
[979] Cape Aclibia, from the Latin Clypea. B. vi. c. 2, § 11.
[980] Malta.
[981] Sousah.
[982] Demass.
[983] Lampedusa.
[984] Kramer’s proposed emendation is followed.
[985] Gulf of Cabes.
[986] Jerba or Zerbi. It produced the “lotus-zizyphus” or the carob, now common in the islands of the Mediterranean and on the continent.
[987] Od. ix. 84.
[988] Sabrata?
[989] Lebida.
[990] Gerace. See b. vi. c. i. § 7, 8.
[991] The Cinifo or Wadi-Quasam.
[992] Cape Canan or Mesrata.
[994] Its position, like that of so many places on the Great Syrtis, can hardly be determined with certainty. A full discussion of these localities will be found in Barth’s Wanderungen.
[995] About the middle of the fourth century, B. C., according to a story in Sallust, these monuments commemorated the patriotic sacrifice of two Philæni, Carthaginian envoys.
[996] Gulf of Suez.
[997] Ben Ghazi. Berenice previously bore the name Hesperides, which name seems to have been derived from the fancy which found the fabled Gardens of the Hesperides in the fertile terraces of Cyrenaïca.
[998] Ras-Teyonas.
[999] Cape Catacolo.
[1000] Groskurd justly supposes that the name Chelonatas (Cape Tornese) is here wanting in the text.
[1001] Zante.
[1002] Tochira.
[1003] The name has survived to the present day in that of the district of which it was the capital, the province of Barca, in the regency of Tripoli. The position of Barca is accurately described by Scylax, who places its harbour 500 stadia from Cyrene, and 620 from Hesperides, and the city itself 100 stadia from the sea. It stood on the summit of the terraces which overlook the west coast of the Greater Syrtis, in a plain now called El-Merjeh; and the same name is often given to the ruins which mark the site of Barca, but the Arabs call them El-Medinah. See Smith, art. Barca.
[1004] Ras-al-Razat or Ras Sem. Scylax here placed the gardens and lake of the Hesperides.
[1005] Cape Matapan, which is more than a degree and a half more to the east than Phycus.
[1006] In b. viii. c. v. § 1, it is stated to be 3000.
[1007] Santorin.
[1008] Kavo Krio.
[1009] B. C. 631.
[1010] B. C. 330.
[1011] Flourished about B. C. 366. The Cyrenaïc system resembles in most points those of Heracleitus and Protagoras, as given in Plato’s Theætetus. The doctrines that a subject only knows objects through the prism of the impression which he receives, and that man is the measure of all things, are stated or implied in the Cyrenaïc system, and lead at once to the consequence, that what we call reality is appearance; so that the whole fabric of human knowledge becomes a fantastic picture. The principle on which it rests, viz. that knowledge is sensation, is the foundation of Locke’s Modern Ideology, though he did not perceive its connexion with the consequences to which it led the Cyrenaïcs. To revive these was reserved for Hume. Smith’s Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
[1012] This great astronomer and learned man, whose name so frequently occurs in the course of this work, was born about B. C. 276. He was placed, by Ptolemy Euergetes, over the library of Alexandria. His greatest work, and that which must always make his name conspicuous in scientific history, is the attempt which he made to measure the magnitude of the earth, in which he brought forward and used the method which is employed to this day. See vol. i. page 9, of this translation, note42.
[1013] Carneades was born about B. C. 213. In the year B. C. 155, when he was fifty-eight years old, he was chosen with Diogenes the Stoic, and Critolaus the Peripatetic, to go as ambassador to Rome, to deprecate the fine of 500 talents, which had been imposed on the Athenians, for the destruction of Oropus. During his stay at Rome, he attracted great notice from his eloquent declamations on philosophical subjects, and it was here that, in the presence of Cato the Elder, he delivered his famous orations on Justice. The first oration was in commendation of virtue; in the second justice was proved not to be a virtue, but a mere matter of compact, for the maintenance of civil society. The honest mind of Cato was shocked at this, and he moved the senate to send the philosopher home to his school, and save the Roman youth from his demoralizing doctrines. He left no writings, and all that is known of his lectures is derived from his intimate friend and pupil, Cleitomachus. See Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography.
[1014] Marsa-al-Halal or Al Natroun.
[1015] Ras-al-Tyn.
[1016] Grabusa.
[1017] Ras-el-Milhr.
[1018] Marsa Sollom, or Akabet-el-Kebira, the present boundary of Tripoli and Egypt.
[1019] Baretoun or Berek Marsa.
[1020] Kramer’s reading of this passage is followed.
[1021] Groskurd has a long note on this passage, and reads τοὺς κατ’ αὐτὸν Νασαμῶνας. The words in the original text, τοὺς κατ’ αὐτὸ μαλακῶς, present the great difficulty; but Kramer reads τοῦ for τοὺς, and has adopted in the text Falconer’s proposed correction, κατ’ Αὐτόμαλά πως. The name Augila is wanting in the text; it is supplied by Groskurd, and approved by Kramer, who refers to Herod. iv. 172, 182.
[1022] Aujela, an oasis in the desert of Barca; it still retains its ancient name, and forms one of the chief stations on the caravan route from Cairo to Fezzan.
[1023] Τῆς καθ’ ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης, Groskurd translates as inhabited to our time; but Strabo refers to the then known world, having before, b. i. c. iv. § 6, in a remarkable manner conjectured the existence of other habitable worlds (such as America) in the latitude of Athens. “We call that (part of the temperate zone) the habitable earth (οἰκουμένην) in which we dwell, and with which we are acquainted; but it is possible, that in the same temperate zone there may be two or even more habitable earths, especially near the circle of latitude drawn through Athens and the Atlantic Ocean.” The latitudes of Athens and Washington do not differ by one degree.
[1026] Guadalquiver (Wad-el-Kebir, the Great River).
