The Romans and the chiefs of the Arabian tribes occupy
the parts on this side the Euphrates as far as Babylonia.
the parts on this side the Euphrates as far as Babylonia.
Strabo
Borsippa is a city sacred to Diana and Apollo.
Here is a large linen
manufactory. Bats of much larger size than those in other parts abound
in it. They are caught and salted for food.
8. The country of the Babylonians is surrounded on the east by the
Susans, Elymæi, and Parætaceni; on the south by the Persian Gulf, and
the Chaldæans as far as the Arabian Meseni; on the west by the Arabian
Scenitæ as far as Adiabene and Gordyæa; on the north by the Armenians
and Medes as far as the Zagrus, and the nations about that river.
9. The country is intersected by many rivers, the largest of which are
the Euphrates and the Tigris: next to the Indian rivers, the rivers in
the southern parts of Asia are said to hold the second place. The Tigris
is navigable upwards from its mouth to Opis,[494] and to the present
Seleuceia. Opis is a village and a mart for the surrounding places. The
Euphrates also is navigable up to Babylon, a distance of more than 3000
stadia. The Persians, through fear of incursions from without, and for
the purpose of preventing vessels from ascending these rivers,
constructed artificial cataracts. Alexander, on arriving there,
destroyed as many of them as he could, those particularly [on the Tigris
from the sea] to Opis. But he bestowed great care upon the canals; for
the Euphrates, at the commencement of summer, overflows. It begins fill
in the spring, when the snow in Armenia melts: the ploughed land,
therefore, would be covered with water and be submerged, unless the
overflow of the superabundant water were diverted by trenches and
canals, as in Egypt the water of the Nile is diverted. Hence the origin
of canals. Great labour is requisite for their maintenance, for the soil
is deep, soft, and yielding, so that it would easily be swept away by
the stream; the fields would be laid bare, the canals filled, and the
accumulation of mud would soon obstruct their mouths. Then, again, the
excess of water discharging itself into the plains near the sea forms
lakes, and marshes, and reed-grounds, supplying the reeds with which all
kinds of platted vessels are woven; some of these vessels are capable of
holding water, when covered over with asphaltus; others are used with
the material in its natural state. Sails are also made of reeds; these
resemble mats or hurdles.
10. It is not, perhaps, possible to prevent inundations of this kind
altogether, but it is the duty of good princes to afford all possible
assistance. The assistance required is to prevent excessive overflow by
the construction of dams, and to obviate the filling of rivers, produced
by the accumulation of mud, by cleansing the canals, and removing
stoppages at their mouths. The cleansing of the canals is easily
performed, but the construction of dams requires the labour of numerous
workmen. For the earth being soft and yielding, does not support the
superincumbent mass, which sinks, and is itself carried away, and thus a
difficulty arises in making dams at the mouth. Expedition is necessary
in closing the canals to prevent all the water flowing out. When the
canals dry up in the summer time, they cause the river to dry up also;
and if the river is low (before the canals are closed), it cannot supply
the canals in time with water, of which the country, burnt up and
scorched, requires a very large quantity; [CAS. 740] for there is no
difference, whether the crops are flooded by an excess or perish by
drought and a failure of water. The navigation up the rivers (a source
of many advantages) is continually obstructed by both the
above-mentioned causes, and it is not possible to remedy this unless the
mouths of the canals were quickly opened and quickly closed, and the
canals were made to contain and preserve a mean between excess and
deficiency of water.
11. Aristobulus relates that Alexander himself, when he was sailing up
the river, and directing the course of the boat, inspected the canals,
and ordered them to be cleared by his multitude of followers; he
likewise stopped up some of the mouths, and opened others. He observed
that one of these canals, which took a direction more immediately to the
marshes, and to the lakes in front of Arabia, had a mouth very difficult
to be dealt with, and which could not be easily closed on account of the
soft and yielding nature of the soil; he (therefore) opened a new mouth
at the distance of 30 stadia, selecting a place with a rocky bottom, and
to this the current was diverted. But in doing this he was taking
precautions that Arabia should not become entirely inaccessible in
consequence of the lakes and marshes, as it was already almost an island
from the quantity of water (which surrounded it). For he contemplated
making himself master of this country; and he had already provided a
fleet and places of rendezvous; and had built vessels in Phœnicia and at
Cyprus, some of which were in separate pieces, others were in parts,
fastened together by bolts. These, after being conveyed to Thapsacus in
seven distances of a day’s march, were then to be transported down the
river to Babylon. He constructed other boats in Babylonia, from cypress
trees in the groves and parks, for there is a scarcity of timber in
Babylonia. Among the Cossæi, and some other tribes, the supply of timber
is not great.
The pretext for the war, says Aristobulus, was that the Arabians were
the only people who did not send their ambassadors to Alexander; but the
true reason was his ambition to be lord of all.
When he was informed that they worshipped two deities only, Jupiter and
Bacchus, who supply what is most requisite for the subsistence of
mankind, he supposed that, after his conquests, they would worship him
as a third, if he permitted them to enjoy their former national
independence. Thus was Alexander employed in clearing the canals, and in
examining minutely the sepulchres of the kings, most of which are
situated among the lakes.
12. Eratosthenes, when he is speaking of the lakes near Arabia, says,
that the water, when it cannot find an outlet, opens passages
under-ground, and is conveyed through these as far as the
Cœle-Syrians,[495] it is also compressed and forced into the parts near
Rhinocolura[496] and Mount Casius,[497] and there forms lakes and deep
pits. [498] But I know not whether this is probable. For the overflowings
of the water of the Euphrates, which form the lakes and marshes near
Arabia, are near the Persian Sea. But the isthmus which separates them
is neither large nor rocky, so that it was more probable that the water
forced its way in this direction into the sea, either under the ground,
or across the surface, than that it traversed so dry and parched a soil
for more than 6000 stadia; particularly, when we observe, situated
midway in this course, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Mount Casius. [499]
[CAS. 742] Such, then, are the accounts of Eratosthenes and
Aristobulus.
13. But Polycleitus says, that the Euphrates does not overflow its
banks, because its course is through large plains; that of the mountains
(from which it is supplied), some are distant 2000, and the Cossæan
mountains scarcely 1000 stadia, that they are not very high, nor covered
with snow to a great depth, and therefore do not occasion the snow to
melt in great masses, for the most elevated mountains are in the
northern parts above Ecbatana; towards the south they are divided,
spread out, and are much lower; the Tigris also receives the greater
part of the water [which comes down from them], and thus overflows its
banks. [500]
The last assertion is evidently absurd, because the Tigris descends into
the same plains (as the Euphrates); and the above-mentioned mountains
are not of the same height, the northern being more elevated, the
southern extending in breadth, but are of a lower altitude. The quantity
of snow is not, however, to be estimated by altitude only, but by
aspect. The same mountain has more snow on the northern than on the
southern side, and the snow continues longer on the former than on the
latter. As the Tigris therefore receives from the most southern parts of
Armenia, which are near Babylon, the water of the melted snow, of which
there is no great quantity, since it comes from the southern side, it
should overflow in a less degree than the Euphrates, which receives the
water from both parts (northern and southern); and not from a single
mountain only, but from many, as I have mentioned in the description of
Armenia. To this we must add the length of the river, the large tract of
country which it traverses in the Greater and in the Lesser Armenia, the
large space it takes in its course in passing out of the Lesser Armenia
and Cappadocia, after issuing out of the Taurus in its way to Thapsacus
(forming the boundary between Syria below and Mesopotamia), and the
large remaining portion of country as far as Babylon and to its mouth, a
course in all of 36,000 stadia.
This, then, on the subject of the canals (of Babylonia).
14. Babylonia produces barley in larger quantity than any other[501]
country, for a produce of three hundred-fold is spoken of. The palm tree
furnishes everything else, bread, wine, vinegar, and meal; all kinds of
woven articles are also procured from it. Braziers use the stones of the
fruit instead of charcoal. When softened by being soaked in water, they
are food for fattening oxen and sheep.
It is said that there is a Persian song in which are reckoned up 360
useful properties of the palm.
They employ for the most part the oil of sesamum, a plant which is rare
in other places.
15. Asphaltus is found in great abundance in Babylonia. Eratosthenes
describes it as follows.
The liquid asphaltus, which is called naphtha, is found in Susiana; the
dry kind, which can be made solid, in Babylonia. There is a spring of it
near the Euphrates. When this river overflows at the time of the melting
of the snow, the spring also of asphaltus is filled, and overflows into
the river, where large clods are consolidated, fit for buildings
constructed of baked bricks. Others say that the liquid kind also is
found in Babylonia. With respect to the solid kind, I have described its
great utility in the construction of buildings. They say that boats (of
reeds) are woven,[502] which, when besmeared with asphaltus, are firmly
compacted. The liquid kind, called naphtha, is of a singular nature.
When it is brought near the fire, the fire catches it; and if a body
smeared over with it is brought near the fire, it burns with a flame,
which it is impossible to extinguish, except with a large quantity of
water; with a small quantity it burns more violently, but it may be
smothered and extinguished by mud, vinegar, alum, and glue. It is said
that Alexander, as an experiment, ordered naphtha to be poured over a
boy in a bath, and a lamp to be brought near his body. The boy became
enveloped in flames, and would have perished if the bystanders had not
mastered the fire by pouring upon him a great quantity of water, and
thus saved his life.
Poseidonius says that there are springs of naphtha in Babylonia, some of
which produce white, others black, naphtha; the first of these, I mean
the white naphtha, which attracts flame, [CAS. 743] is liquid sulphur;
the second, or black naphtha, is liquid asphaltus, and is burnt in lamps
instead of oil.
16. In former times the capital of Assyria was Babylon; it is now called
Seleuceia upon the Tigris. Near it is a large village called Ctesiphon.
This the Parthian kings usually made their winter residence, with a view
to spare the Seleucians the burden of furnishing quarters for the
Scythian soldiery. In consequence of the power of Parthia,
Ctesiphon[503] may be considered as a city rather than a village; from
its size it is capable of lodging a great multitude of people; it has
been adorned with public buildings by the Parthians, and has furnished
merchandise, and given rise to arts profitable to its masters.
The kings usually passed the winter there, on account of the salubrity
of the air, and the summer at Ecbatana and in Hyrcania,[504] induced by
the ancient renown of these places.
As we call the country Babylonia, so we call the people Babylonians, not
from the name of the city, but of the country; the case is not precisely
the same, however, as regards even natives of Seleuceia, as, for
instance, Diogenes, the stoic philosopher [who had the appellation of
the Babylonian, and not the Seleucian]. [505]
17. At the distance of 500 stadia from Seleuceia is Artemita, a
considerable city, situated nearly directly to the east, which is the
position also of Sitacene. [506] This extensive and fertile tract of
country lies between Babylon and Susiana, so that the whole road in
travelling from Babylon to Susa passes through Sitacene. The road from
Susa[507] into the interior of Persis, through the territory of the
Uxii,[508] and from Persis into the middle of Carmania,[509] leads also
towards the east.
Persis, which is a large country, encompasses Carmania on the
[west][510] and north. Close to it adjoin Parætacene,[511] and the
Cossæan territory as far as the Caspian Gates, inhabited by mountainous
and predatory tribes. Contiguous to Susiana is Elymaïs, a great part of
which is rugged, and inhabited by robbers. To Elymaïs adjoin the country
about the Zagrus[512] and Media. [513]
18. The Cossæi, like the neighbouring mountaineers, are for the most
part archers, and are always out on foraging parties. For as they occupy
a country of small extent, and barren, they are compelled by necessity
to live at the expense of others. They are also necessarily powerful,
for they are all fighting men. When the Elymæi were at war with the
Babylonians and Susians, they supplied the Elymæi with thirteen thousand
auxiliaries.
The Parætaceni attend to the cultivation of the ground more than the
Cossæi, but even these people do not abstain from robbery.
The Elymæi occupy a country larger in extent, and more varied, than that
of the Parætaceni. The fertile part of it is inhabited by husbandmen.
The mountainous tract is a nursery for soldiers, the greatest part of
whom are archers. As it is of considerable extent, it can furnish a
great military force; their king, who possesses great power, refuses to
be subject, like others, to the king of Parthia. The country was
similarly independent in the time of the Persians, and afterwards[514]
in the time of the Macedonians, who governed Syria. When Antiochus the
Great attempted to plunder the temple of Belus, the neighbouring
barbarians, unassisted, attacked and put him to death. In after-times
the king of Parthia[515] heard that the temples in their country
contained great wealth, but knowing that the people would not submit,
and admonished by the fate of Antiochus, he invaded their country with a
large army; he took the temple of Minerva, and that of Diana, called
Azara, and carried away treasure to the amount of 10,000 [CAS. 744]
talents. Seleuceia also, a large city on the river Hedyphon,[516] was
taken. It was formerly called Soloce.
There are three convenient entrances into this country; one from Media
and the places about the Zagrus, through Massabatice; a second from
Susis, through the district Gabiane. Both Gabiane and Massabatice are
provinces of Elymæa. A third passage is that from Persis. Corbiane also
is a province of Elymaïs.
Sagapeni and Silaceni, small principalities, border upon Elymaïs.
Such, then, is the number and the character of the nations situated
above Babylonia towards the east.
We have said that Media and Armenia lie to the north, and Adiabene and
Mesopotamia to the west of Babylonia.
19. The greatest part of Adiabene consists of plains, and, although it
is a portion of Babylon, has its own prince. In some places it is
contiguous to Armenia. [517] For the Medes, Armenians, and Babylonians,
the three greatest nations in these parts, were from the first in the
practice, on convenient opportunities, of waging continual war with each
other, and then making peace, which state of things continued till the
establishment of the Parthian empire.
The Parthians subdued the Medes and Babylonians, but never at any time
conquered the Armenians. They made frequent inroads into their country,
but the people were not subdued, and Tigranes, as I have mentioned in
the description of Armenia,[518] opposed them with great vigour and
success.
Such is the nature of Adiabene. The Adiabeni are also called
Saccopodes. [519]
We shall describe Mesopotamia and the nations towards the south, after
premising a short account of the customs of the Assyrians.
20. Their other customs are like those of the Persians, but this is
peculiar to themselves: three discreet persons, chiefs of each tribe,
are appointed, who present publicly young women who are marriageable,
and give notice by the crier, beginning with those most in estimation,
of a sale of them to men intending to become husbands. In this manner
marriages are contracted.
As often as the parties have sexual intercourse with one another, they
rise, each apart from the other, to burn perfumes. In the morning they
wash, before touching any household vessel. For as ablution is customary
after touching a dead body, so it is practised after sexual
intercourse. [520] There is a custom prescribed by an oracle for all the
Babylonian women to have intercourse with strangers. The women repair to
a temple of Venus, accompanied by numerous attendants and a crowd of
people. Each woman has a cord round her head. The man approaches a
woman, and places on her lap as much money as he thinks proper; he then
leads her away to a distance from the sacred grove, and has intercourse
with her. The money is considered as consecrated to Venus.
There are three tribunals, one consisting of persons who are past
military service, another of nobles, and a third of old men, besides
another appointed by the king. It is the business of the latter[521] to
dispose of the virgins in marriage, and to determine causes respecting
adultery; of another to decide those relative to theft; and of the
third, those of assault and violence.
The sick are brought out of their houses into the highways, and inquiry
is made of passengers whether any of them can give information of a
remedy for the disease. There is no one so ill-disposed as not to accost
the sick person, and acquaint [CAS. 745] him with anything that he
considers may conduce to his recovery.
Their dress is a tunic reaching to the feet, an upper garment of wool,
[and] a white cloak. The hair is long. They wear a shoe resembling a
buskin. They wear also a seal, and carry a staff not plain, but with a
figure upon the top of it, as an apple, a rose, a lily, or something of
the kind. They anoint themselves with oil of sesamum. They bewail the
dead, like the Egyptians and many other nations. They bury the body in
honey, first besmearing it with wax.
There are three communities which have no corn. They live in the
marshes, and subsist on fish. Their mode of life is like that of the
inhabitants of Gedrosia. [522]
21. Mesopotamia has its name from an accidental circumstance. We have
said that it is situated between the Euphrates and the Tigris, that the
Tigris washes its eastern side only, and the Euphrates its western and
southern sides. To the north is the Taurus, which separates Armenia from
Mesopotamia. The greatest distance by which they are separated from each
other is that towards the mountains. This distance may be the same which
Eratosthenes mentions, and is reckoned from Thapsacus,[523] where there
was the (Zeugma) old bridge of the Euphrates, to the (Zeugma) passage
over the Tigris, where Alexander crossed it, a distance, that is, of
2400 stadia. The least distance between them is somewhere about
Seleuceia and Babylon, and is a little more than 200 stadia.
The Tigris flows through the middle of the lake called Thopitis[524] in
the direction of its breadth, and after traversing it to the opposite
bank, sinks under ground with a loud noise and rushing of air. Its
course is for a long space invisible, but it rises again to the surface
not far from Gordyæa. According to Eratosthenes, it traverses the lake
with such rapidity, that although the lake is saline and without
fish,[525] yet in this part it is fresh, has a current, and abounds with
fish.
22. The contracted shape of Mesopotamia extends far in length, and
somewhat resembles a ship. The Euphrates forms the larger part of its
boundary. The distance from Thapsacus to Babylon, according to
Eratosthenes, is 4800 stadia, and from the (Zeugma)[526] bridge in
Commagene, where Mesopotamia begins, to Thapsacus, is not less than 2000
stadia.
23. The country lying at the foot of the mountains is very fertile. The
people, called by the Macedonians Mygdones, occupy the parts towards the
Euphrates, and both Zeugmata, that is, the Zeugma in Commagene, and the
ancient Zeugma at Thapsacus. In their territory is Nisibis,[527] which
they called also Antioch in Mygdonia, situated below Mount Masius,[528]
and Tigranocerta,[529] and the places about Carrhæ, Nicephorium,[530]
Chordiraza,[531] and Sinnaca, where Crassus was taken prisoner by
stratagem, and put to death by Surena, the Parthian general. [532]
24. Near the Tigris are the places belonging to the Gordyæi,[533] whom
the ancients called Carduchi; their cities are Sareisa, Satalca, and
Pinaca, a very strong fortress with three citadels, each enclosed by its
own wall, so that it is as it were a triple city. It was, however,
subject to the king of Armenia; the Romans also took it by storm,
although the Gordyæi had the reputation of excelling in the art of
building, and to be skilful in the construction of siege engines. It was
for this reason Tigranes took them into his service. The rest of
Mesopotamia (Gordyæa? ) was subject to the Romans. Pompey assigned to
Tigranes the largest and best portion of the country; for it has fine
pastures, is rich in plants, and produces evergreens and an aromatic,
the amomum. It breeds lions also. It furnishes naphtha, and the stone
called Gangitis,[534] which drives away reptiles.
25. Gordys, the son of Triptolemus, is related to have colonized
Gordyene. The Eretrians[535] afterwards, who were carried away by force
by the Persians, settled here. We shall soon speak of Triptolemus in our
description of Syria.
26. The parts of Mesopotamia inclining to the south, and [CAS. 747] at
a distance from the mountains, are an arid and barren district, occupied
by the Arabian Scenitæ, a tribe of robbers and shepherds, who readily
move from place to place, whenever pasture or booty begin to be
exhausted. The country lying at the foot of the mountains is harassed
both by these people and by the Armenians. They are situated above, and
keep them in subjection by force. It is at last subject for the most
part to these people, or to the Parthians, who are situated at their
side, and possess both Media and Babylonia.
27. Between the Tigris and the Euphrates flows a river called Basileios
(or the Royal river), and about Anthemusia another called the
Aborrhas. [536] The road for merchants going from Syria to Seleuceia and
Babylon lies through the country of the (Arabian) Scenitæ, [now called
Malii,][537] and through the desert belonging to their territory. The
Euphrates is crossed in the latitude of Anthemusia, a place in
Mesopotamia. [538] Above the river, at the distance of four schœni, is
Bambyce, which is called by the names of Edessa and Hierapolis,[539]
where the Syrian goddess Atargatis is worshipped. After crossing the
river, the road lies through a desert country on the borders of
Babylonia to Scenæ, a considerable city, situated on the banks of a
canal. From the passage across the river to Scenæ is a journey of five
and twenty days. There are (on the road) owners of camels, who keep
resting-places, which are well supplied with water from cisterns, or
transported from a distance.
The Scenitæ exact a moderate tribute from merchants, but [otherwise] do
not molest them: the merchants, therefore, avoid the country on the
banks of the river, and risk a journey through the desert, leaving the
river on the right hand at a distance of nearly three days’ march. For
the chiefs of the tribes living on both banks of the river, who occupy
not indeed a fertile territory, yet one less sterile than the rest (of
the country), are settled in the midst of their own peculiar domains,
and each exacts a tribute of no moderate amount for himself. And it is
difficult among so large a body of people, and of such daring habits, to
establish any common standard of tribute advantageous to the merchant.
Scenæ is distant from Seleuceia 18 schœni.
28. The Euphrates and its eastern banks are the boundaries of the
Parthian empire.
The Romans and the chiefs of the Arabian tribes occupy
the parts on this side the Euphrates as far as Babylonia. Some of the
chiefs attach themselves in preference to the Parthians, others to the
Romans, to whom they adjoin. The Scenitæ nomades, who live near the
river, are less friendly to the Romans than those tribes who are
situated at a distance near Arabia Felix. The Parthians were once
solicitous of conciliating the friendship of the Romans, but having
repulsed Crassus,[540] who began the war with them, they suffered
reprisals, when they themselves commenced hostilities, and sent Pacorus
into Asia. [541] But Antony, following the advice of the Armenian,[542]
was betrayed, and was unsuccessful (against them). Phraates, his[543]
successor, was so anxious to obtain the friendship of Augustus Cæsar,
that he even sent the trophies, which the Parthians had set up as
memorials of [CAS. 748] the defeat of the Romans. He also invited Titius
to a conference, who was at that time præfect of Syria, and delivered
into his hands, as hostages, four of his legitimate sons, Seraspadanes,
Rhodaspes, Phraates, and Bonones, with two of their wives and four of
their sons; for he was apprehensive of conspiracy and attempts on his
life. [544] He knew that no one could prevail against him, unless he was
opposed by one of the Arsacian family, to which race the Parthians were
strongly attached. He therefore removed the sons out of his way, with a
view of annihilating the hopes of the disaffected.
The surviving sons, who live at Rome, are entertained as princes at the
public expense. The other kings (his successors) have continued to send
ambassadors (to Rome), and to hold conferences (with the Roman
præfects).
CHAPTER II.
1. Syria is bounded on the north by Cilicia and the mountain Amanus;
from the sea to the bridge on the Euphrates (that is, from the Issic Bay
to the Zeugma in Commagene) is a distance of 1400 stadia, and forms the
above-mentioned (northern) boundary; on the east it is bounded by the
Euphrates and the Arabian Scenitæ, who live on this side the Euphrates;
on the south, by Arabia Felix and Egypt; on the west, by the Egyptian
and Syrian Seas as far as Issus.
2. Beginning from Cilicia and Mount Amanus, we set down as parts of
Syria, Commagene, and the Seleucis of Syria, as it is called, then
Cœle-Syria, lastly, on the coast, Phœnicia, and in the interior, Judæa.
Some writers divide the whole of Syria into Cœlo-Syrians, Syrians, and
Phœnicians, and say that there are intermixed with these four other
nations, Jews, Idumæans, Gazæans, and Azotii, some of whom are
husbandmen, as the Syrians and Cœlo-Syrians, and others merchants, as
the Phœnicians.
3. This is the general description [of Syria]. [545]
In describing it in detail, we say that Commagene is rather a small
district. It contains a strong city, Samosata, in which was the seat of
the kings. At present it is a (Roman) province. A very fertile but small
territory lies around it. Here is now the Zeugma, or bridge, of the
Euphrates, and near it is situated Seleuceia, a fortress of Mesopotamia,
assigned by Pompey to the Commageneans. Here Tigranes confined in prison
for some time and put to death Selene, surnamed Cleopatra, after she was
dispossessed of Syria. [546]
4. Seleucis is the best of the above-mentioned portions of Syria. It is
called and is a Tetrapolis, and derives its name from the four
distinguished cities which it contains; for there are more than four
cities, but the four largest are Antioch Epidaphne,[547] Seleuceia in
Pieria,[548] Apameia,[549] and Laodiceia. [550] They were called Sisters
from the concord which existed between them. They were founded by
Seleucus Nicator. The largest bore the name of his father, and the
strongest his own. Of the others, Apameia had its name from his wife
Apama, and Laodiceia from his mother.
In conformity with its character of Tetrapolis, Seleucis, according to
Poseidonius, was divided into four satrapies; Cœle-Syria into the same
number, but [Commagene, like] Mesopotamia, consisted of one. [551]
Antioch also is a Tetrapolis, consisting (as the name implies) [CAS.
750] of four portions, each of which has its own, and all of them a
common wall. [552]
[Seleucus] Nicator founded the first of these portions, transferring
thither settlers from Antigonia, which a short time before Antigonus,
son of Philip, had built near it. The second was built by the general
body of settlers; the third by Seleucus, the son of Callinicus; the
fourth by Antiochus, the son of Epiphanes.
5. Antioch is the metropolis of Syria. A palace was constructed there
for the princes of the country. It is not much inferior in riches and
magnitude to Seleuceia on the Tigris and Alexandreia in Egypt.
[Seleucus] Nicator settled here the descendants of Triptolemus, whom we
have mentioned a little before. [553] On this account the people of
Antioch regard him as a hero, and celebrate a festival to his honour on
Mount Casius[554] near Seleuceia. They say that when he was sent by the
Argives in search of Io, who first disappeared at Tyre, he wandered
through Cilicia; that some of his Argive companions separated from him
and founded Tarsus; that the rest attended him along the sea-coast, and,
relinquishing their search, settled with him on the banks of the
Orontes;[555] that Gordys the son of Triptolemus, with some of those who
had accompanied his father, founded a colony in Gordyæa, and that the
descendants of the rest became settlers among the inhabitants of
Antioch.
6. Daphne,[556] a town of moderate size, is situated above Antioch at
the distance of 40 stadia. Here is a large forest, with a thick covert
of shade and springs of water flowing through it. In the midst of the
forest is a sacred grove, which is a sanctuary, and a temple of Apollo
and Diana. It is the custom for the inhabitants of Antioch and the
neighbouring people to assemble here to celebrate public festivals. The
forest is 80 stadia in circumference.
7. The river Orontes flows near the city. Its source is in Cœle-Syria.
Having taken its course under-ground, it reäppears, traverses the
territory of Apameia to Antioch, approaching the latter city, and then
descends to the sea at Seleuceia. The name of the river was formerly
Typhon, but was changed to Orontes, from the name of the person who
constructed the bridge over it.
According to the fable, it was somewhere here that Typhon was struck
with lightning, and here also was the scene of the fable of the Arimi,
whom we have before mentioned. [557] Typhon was a serpent, it is said,
and being struck by lightning, endeavoured to make its escape, and
sought refuge in the ground; it deeply furrowed the earth, and (as it
moved along) formed the bed of the river; having descended under-ground,
it caused a spring to break out, and from Typhon the river had its name.
On the west the sea, into which the Orontes discharges itself, is
situated below Antioch in Seleuceia, which is distant from the mouth of
the river 40, and from Antioch 120 stadia. The ascent by the river to
Antioch is performed in one day.
To the east of Antioch are the Euphrates, Bambyce,[558] Berœa,[559] and
Heracleia, small towns formerly under the government of Dionysius, the
son of Heracleon. Heracleia is distant 20 stadia from the temple of
Diana Cyrrhestis.
8. Then follows the district of Cyrrhestica,[560] which extends as far
as that of Antioch. On the north near it are Mount Amanus and Commagene.
Cyrrhestica extends as far as these places, and touches them. Here is
situated a city, Gindarus, the acropolis of Cyrrhestica, and a
convenient resort for robbers, and near it a place called Heracleium. It
was near these places that Pacorus, the eldest of the sons of the
Parthian king, who had invaded Syria, was defeated by Ventidius, and
killed.
Pagræ,[561] in the district of Antioch, is close to Gindarus. It [CAS.
751] is a strong fortress situated on the pass over the Amanus, which
leads from the gates of the Amanus into Syria. Below Pagræ lies the
plain of Antioch, through which flow the rivers Arceuthus, Orontes, and
Labotas. [562] In this plain is also the trench of Meleagrus, and the
river Œnoparas,[563] on the banks of which Ptolemy Philometor, after
having defeated Alexander Balas, died of his wounds. [564]
Above these places is a hill called Trapezon from its form,[565] and
upon it Ventidius engaged Phranicates[566] the Parthian general.
After these places, near the sea, are Seleuceia[567] and Pieria, a
mountain continuous with the Amanus and Rhosus, situated between Issus
and Seleuceia.
Seleuceia formerly had the name of Hydatopotami (rivers of water). It is
a considerable fortress, and may defy all attacks; wherefore Pompey,
having excluded from it Tigranes, declared it a free city.
To the south of Antioch is Apameia, situated in the interior, and to the
south of Seleuceia, the mountains Casius and Anti-Casius.
Still further on from Seleuceia are the mouths of the Orontes, then the
Nymphæum, a kind of sacred cave, next Casium, then follows
Poseidium[568] a small city, and Heracleia. [569]
9. Then follows Laodiceia, situated on the sea; it is a very well-built
city, with a good harbour; the territory, besides its fertility in other
respects, abounds with wine, of which the greatest part is exported to
Alexandreia. The whole mountain overhanging the city is planted almost
to its summit with vines. The summit of the mountain is at a great
distance from Laodiceia, sloping gently and by degrees upwards from the
city; but it rises perpendicularly over Apameia.
Laodiceia suffered severely when Dolabella took refuge there. Being
besieged by Cassius, he defended it until his death, but he involved in
his own ruin the destruction of many parts of the city. [570]
10. In the district of Apameia is a city well fortified in almost every
part. For it consists of a well-fortified hill, situated in a hollow
plain, and almost surrounded by the Orontes, which, passing by a large
lake in the neighbourhood, flows through wide-spread marshes and meadows
of vast extent, affording pasture for cattle and horses. [571] The city
is thus securely situated, and received the name Cherrhonesus (or the
peninsula) from the nature of its position. It is well supplied from a
very large fertile tract of country, through which the Orontes flows
with numerous windings. Seleucus Nicator, and succeeding kings, kept
there five hundred elephants, and the greater part of their army.
It was formerly called Pella by the first Macedonians, because most of
the soldiers of the Macedonian army had settled there; for Pella, the
native place of Philip and Alexander, was held to be the metropolis of
the Macedonians. Here also the soldiers were mustered, and the breed of
horses kept up. There were in the royal stud more than thirty thousand
brood mares and three hundred stallions. Here were employed
colt-breakers, instructors in the method of fighting in heavy armour,
and all who were paid to teach the arts of war.
The power Trypho, surnamed Diodotus, acquired is a proof of the
influence of this place; for when he aimed at the empire of Syria, he
made Apameia the centre of his operations. He was born at Casiana, a
strong fortress in the Apameian district, and educated in Apameia; he
was a favourite of the king and the persons about the court. When he
attempted to effect a revolution in the state, he obtained his supplies
from Apameia and from the neighbouring cities, Larisa,[572] Casiana,
Megara, Apollonia, and others like them, all of which were reckoned to
belong to the district of Apameia. He was proclaimed king of this
country, and maintained his sovereignty for a long time. Cæcilius
Bassus, at the head of two legions, caused Apameia to revolt, and was
besieged by two large Roman armies, but his resistance was so vigorous
and long that he only surrendered voluntarily and on his own
conditions. [573] For the country supplied his army with provisions,
[CAS. 753] and a great many of the chiefs of the neighbouring tribes
were his allies, who possessed strongholds, among which was Lysias,
situated above the lake, near Apameia, Arethusa,[574] belonging to
Sampsiceramus and Iamblichus his son, chiefs of the tribe of the
Emeseni. [575] At no great distance were Heliopolis and Chalcis,[576]
which were subject to Ptolemy, son of Mennæus,[577] who possessed the
Massyas[578] and the mountainous country of the Ituræans. Among the
auxiliaries of Bassus was Alchædamnus,[579] king of the Rhambæi, a tribe
of the Nomades on this side of the Euphrates. He was a friend of the
Romans, but, considering himself as having been unjustly treated by
their governors, he retired to Mesopotamia, and then became a tributary
of Bassus. Poseidonius the Stoic was a native of this place, a man of
the most extensive learning among the philosophers of our times.
11. The tract called Parapotamia, belonging to the Arab chiefs, and
Chalcidica, extending from the Massyas, border upon the district of
Apameia on the east; and nearly all the country further to the south of
Apameia belongs to the Scenitæ, who resemble the Nomades of Mesopotamia.
In proportion as the nations approach the Syrians they become more
civilized, while the Arabians and Scenitæ are less so. Their
governments are better constituted [as that of Arethusa under
Sampsiceramus, that of Themella under Gambarus, and other states of this
kind]. [580]
12. Such is the nature of the interior parts of the district of
Seleuceia.
The remainder of the navigation along the coast from Laodiceia is such
as I shall now describe.
Near Laodiceia are the small cities, Poseidium, Heracleium, and Gabala.
Then follows the maritime tract[581] of the Aradii, where are
Paltus,[582] Balanæa, and Carnus,[583] the arsenal of Aradus, which has
a small harbour; then Enydra,[584] and Marathus, an ancient city of the
Phœnicians in ruins. The Aradii[585] divided the territory by lot. Then
follows the district Simyra. [586] Continuous with these places is
Orthosia,[587] then the river Eleutherus, which some make the boundary
of Seleucis towards Phœnicia and Cœle-Syria.
13. Aradus is in front of a rocky coast without harbours, and situated
nearly between its arsenal[588] and Marathus. It is distant from the
land 20 stadia. It is a rock, surrounded by the sea, of about seven
stadia in circuit, and covered with dwellings. The population even at
present is so large that the houses have many stories. It was colonized,
it is said, by fugitives from Sidon. The inhabitants are supplied with
water partly from cisterns containing rain water, and partly [CAS. 754]
from the opposite coast. In war time they obtain water a little in front
of the city, from the channel (between the island and the mainland), in
which there is an abundant spring. The water is obtained by letting down
from a boat, which serves for the purpose, and inverting over the spring
(at the bottom of the sea), a wide-mouthed funnel of lead, the end of
which is contracted to a moderate-sized opening; round this is fastened
a (long) leathern pipe, which we may call the neck, and which receives
the water, forced up from the spring through the funnel. The water first
forced up is sea water, but the boatmen wait for the flow of pure and
potable water, which is received into vessels ready for the purpose, in
as large a quantity as may be required, and carry it to the city. [589]
14. The Aradii were anciently governed by their own kings in the same
manner as all the other Phœnician cities. Afterwards the Persians,
Macedonians, and now the Romans have changed the government to its
present state.
The Aradii, together with the other Phœnicians, consented to become
allies of the Syrian kings; but upon the dissension of the two brothers,
Callinicus Seleucus and Antiochus Hierax, as he was called, they
espoused the party of Callinicus; they entered into a treaty, by which
they were allowed to receive persons who quitted the king’s dominions,
and took refuge among them, and were not obliged to deliver them up
against their will. They were not, however, to suffer them to embark and
quit the island without the king’s permission. From this they derived
great advantages; for those who took refuge there were not ordinary
people, but persons who had held the highest trusts, and apprehended the
worst consequences (when they fled). They regarded those who received
them with hospitality as their benefactors; they acknowledged their
preservers, and remembered with gratitude the kindness which they had
received, particularly after their return to their own country. It was
thus that the Aradii acquired possession of a large part of the opposite
continent, most of which they possess even at present, and were
otherwise successful. To this good fortune they added prudence and
industry in the conduct of their maritime affairs; when they saw their
neighbours, the Cilicians, engaged in piratical adventures, they never
on any occasion took part with them in such (a disgraceful)
occupation. [590]
15. After Orthosia and the river Eleutherus is Tripolis, which has its
designation from the fact of its consisting of three cities, Tyre,
Sidon, and Aradus. Contiguous to Tripolis is Theoprosopon,[591] where
the mountain Libanus terminates. Between them lies a small place called
Trieres.
16. There are two mountains, which form Cœle-Syria, as it is called,
lying nearly parallel to each other; the commencement of the ascent of
both these mountains, Libanus and Antilibanus, is a little way from the
sea; Libanus rises above the sea near Tripolis and Theoprosopon, and
Antilibanus, above the sea near Sidon. They terminate somewhere near the
Arabian mountains, which are above the district of Damascus and the
Trachones as they are there called, where they form fruitful hills. A
hollow plain lies between them, the breadth of which towards the sea is
200 stadia, and the length from the sea to the interior is about twice
that number of stadia. Rivers flow through it, the largest of which is
the Jordan, which water a country fertile and productive of all things.
It contains also a lake, which produces the aromatic rush and reed. In
it are also marshes. The name of the lake is Gennesaritis. It produces
also balsamum. [592]
Among the rivers is the Chrysorrhoas, which commences [CAS. 755] from
the city and territory of Damascus, and is almost entirely drained by
water-courses; for it supplies with water a large tract of country, with
a very deep soil.
The Lycus[593] and the Jordan are navigated upwards chiefly by the
Aradii, with vessels of burden.
17. Of the plains, the first reckoning from the sea is called Macras and
Macra-pedium. Here Poseidonius says there was seen a serpent lying dead,
which was nearly a plethrum in length, and of such a bulk and thickness
that men on horseback standing on each side of its body could not see
one another; the jaws when opened could take in a man on horseback, and
the scales of the skin were larger than a shield.
18. Next to the plain of Macras is that of Massyas, which also contains
some mountainous parts, among which is Chalcis, the acropolis, as it
were, of the Massyas. The commencement of this plain is at
Laodiceia,[594] near Libanus. The Ituræans and Arabians, all of whom are
freebooters, occupy the whole of the mountainous tracts. The husbandmen
live in the plains, and when harassed by the freebooters, they require
protection of various kinds. The robbers have strongholds from which
they issue forth; those, for example, who occupy Libanus have high up on
the mountain the fortresses Sinna, Borrhama, and some others like them;
lower down, Botrys and Gigartus, caves also near the sea, and the castle
on the promontory Theoprosopon. Pompey destroyed these fastnesses, from
whence the robbers overran Byblus,[595] and Berytus[596] situated next
to it, and which lie between Sidon and Theoprosopon.
Byblus, the royal seat of Cinyrus, is sacred to Adonis. Pompey delivered
this place from the tyranny of Cinyrus, by striking off his head. It is
situated upon an eminence at a little distance from the sea.
19. After Byblus is the river Adonis,[597] and the mountain Climax, and
Palæ-Byblus, then the river Lycus, and Berytus. This latter place was
razed by Tryphon, but now the Romans have restored it, and two legions
were stationed there by Agrippa, who also added to it a large portion of
the territory of Massyas, as far as the sources of the Orontes. These
sources are near Libanus, the Paradeisus, and the Egyptian
Fort near the district of Apameia. These places lie near the sea.
20. Above the Massyas is the Royal Valley, as it is called, and the
territory of Damascus, so highly extolled. Damascus is a considerable
city, and in the time of the Persian empire was nearly the most
distinguished place in that country.
Above Damascus are the two (hills) called Trachones; then, towards the
parts occupied by Arabians and Ituræans promiscuously, are mountains of
difficult access, in which were caves extending to a great depth. One of
these caves was capable of containing four thousand robbers, when the
territory of Damascus was subject to incursions from various quarters.
The Barbarians used to rob the merchants most generally on the side of
Arabia Felix,[598] but this happens less frequently since the
destruction of the bands of the robbers under Zenodorus, by the good
government of the Romans, and in consequence of the security afforded by
the soldiers stationed and maintained in Syria.
21. The whole country[599] above Seleucis, extending towards Egypt and
Arabia, is called Cœle-Syria, but peculiarly the tract bounded by
Libanus and Antilibanus, of the remainder one part is the coast
extending from Orthosia[600] as far as Pelusium,[601] and is called
Phœnicia, a narrow strip of land along the sea; the other, situated
above Phœnicia in the interior between Gaza and Antilibanus, and
extending to the Arabians, called Judæa.
22. Having described Cœle-Syria properly so called, we pass on to
Phœnicia, of which we have already described[602] the part extending
from Orthosia to Berytus.
Next to Berytus is Sidon, at the distance of 400 stadia. Between these
places is the river Tamyras,[603] and the grove of Asclepius and
Leontopolis.
Next to Sidon is Tyre,[604] the largest and most ancient city of the
Phœnicians. This city is the rival of Sidon in magnitude, fame, and
antiquity, as recorded in many fables. For although poets have
celebrated Sidon more than Tyre (Homer, however, does not even mention
Tyre), yet the colonies sent into Africa and Spain, as far as, and
beyond the Pillars, extol [CAS. 756] much more the glory of Tyre. Both
however were formerly, and are at present, distinguished and illustrious
cities, but which of the two should be called the capital of Phœnicia is
a subject of dispute among the inhabitants. [605] Sidon is situated upon
a fine naturally-formed harbour on the mainland.
23. Tyre is wholly an island, built nearly in the same manner as Aradus.
It is joined to the continent by a mound, which Alexander raised, when
he was besieging it. It has two harbours, one close, the other open,
which is called the Egyptian harbour. The houses here, it is said,
consist of many stories, of more even than at Rome; on the occurrence,
therefore, of an earthquake, the city was nearly demolished. [606] It
sustained great injury when it was taken by siege by Alexander, but it
rose above these misfortunes, and recovered itself both by the skill of
the people in the art of navigation, in which the Phœnicians in general
have always excelled all nations, and by (the export of) purple-dyed
manufactures, the Tyrian purple being in the highest estimation. The
shell-fish from which it is procured is caught near the coast, and the
Tyrians have in great abundance other requisites for dyeing. The great
number of dyeing works renders the city unpleasant as a place of
residence, but the superior skill of the people in the practice of this
art is the source of its wealth. Their independence was secured to them
at a small expense to themselves, not only by the kings of Syria, but
also by the Romans, who confirmed what the former had conceded. [607]
They pay extravagant honours to Hercules.
The great number and magnitude of their colonies and cities are proofs
of their maritime skill and power.
manufactory. Bats of much larger size than those in other parts abound
in it. They are caught and salted for food.
8. The country of the Babylonians is surrounded on the east by the
Susans, Elymæi, and Parætaceni; on the south by the Persian Gulf, and
the Chaldæans as far as the Arabian Meseni; on the west by the Arabian
Scenitæ as far as Adiabene and Gordyæa; on the north by the Armenians
and Medes as far as the Zagrus, and the nations about that river.
9. The country is intersected by many rivers, the largest of which are
the Euphrates and the Tigris: next to the Indian rivers, the rivers in
the southern parts of Asia are said to hold the second place. The Tigris
is navigable upwards from its mouth to Opis,[494] and to the present
Seleuceia. Opis is a village and a mart for the surrounding places. The
Euphrates also is navigable up to Babylon, a distance of more than 3000
stadia. The Persians, through fear of incursions from without, and for
the purpose of preventing vessels from ascending these rivers,
constructed artificial cataracts. Alexander, on arriving there,
destroyed as many of them as he could, those particularly [on the Tigris
from the sea] to Opis. But he bestowed great care upon the canals; for
the Euphrates, at the commencement of summer, overflows. It begins fill
in the spring, when the snow in Armenia melts: the ploughed land,
therefore, would be covered with water and be submerged, unless the
overflow of the superabundant water were diverted by trenches and
canals, as in Egypt the water of the Nile is diverted. Hence the origin
of canals. Great labour is requisite for their maintenance, for the soil
is deep, soft, and yielding, so that it would easily be swept away by
the stream; the fields would be laid bare, the canals filled, and the
accumulation of mud would soon obstruct their mouths. Then, again, the
excess of water discharging itself into the plains near the sea forms
lakes, and marshes, and reed-grounds, supplying the reeds with which all
kinds of platted vessels are woven; some of these vessels are capable of
holding water, when covered over with asphaltus; others are used with
the material in its natural state. Sails are also made of reeds; these
resemble mats or hurdles.
10. It is not, perhaps, possible to prevent inundations of this kind
altogether, but it is the duty of good princes to afford all possible
assistance. The assistance required is to prevent excessive overflow by
the construction of dams, and to obviate the filling of rivers, produced
by the accumulation of mud, by cleansing the canals, and removing
stoppages at their mouths. The cleansing of the canals is easily
performed, but the construction of dams requires the labour of numerous
workmen. For the earth being soft and yielding, does not support the
superincumbent mass, which sinks, and is itself carried away, and thus a
difficulty arises in making dams at the mouth. Expedition is necessary
in closing the canals to prevent all the water flowing out. When the
canals dry up in the summer time, they cause the river to dry up also;
and if the river is low (before the canals are closed), it cannot supply
the canals in time with water, of which the country, burnt up and
scorched, requires a very large quantity; [CAS. 740] for there is no
difference, whether the crops are flooded by an excess or perish by
drought and a failure of water. The navigation up the rivers (a source
of many advantages) is continually obstructed by both the
above-mentioned causes, and it is not possible to remedy this unless the
mouths of the canals were quickly opened and quickly closed, and the
canals were made to contain and preserve a mean between excess and
deficiency of water.
11. Aristobulus relates that Alexander himself, when he was sailing up
the river, and directing the course of the boat, inspected the canals,
and ordered them to be cleared by his multitude of followers; he
likewise stopped up some of the mouths, and opened others. He observed
that one of these canals, which took a direction more immediately to the
marshes, and to the lakes in front of Arabia, had a mouth very difficult
to be dealt with, and which could not be easily closed on account of the
soft and yielding nature of the soil; he (therefore) opened a new mouth
at the distance of 30 stadia, selecting a place with a rocky bottom, and
to this the current was diverted. But in doing this he was taking
precautions that Arabia should not become entirely inaccessible in
consequence of the lakes and marshes, as it was already almost an island
from the quantity of water (which surrounded it). For he contemplated
making himself master of this country; and he had already provided a
fleet and places of rendezvous; and had built vessels in Phœnicia and at
Cyprus, some of which were in separate pieces, others were in parts,
fastened together by bolts. These, after being conveyed to Thapsacus in
seven distances of a day’s march, were then to be transported down the
river to Babylon. He constructed other boats in Babylonia, from cypress
trees in the groves and parks, for there is a scarcity of timber in
Babylonia. Among the Cossæi, and some other tribes, the supply of timber
is not great.
The pretext for the war, says Aristobulus, was that the Arabians were
the only people who did not send their ambassadors to Alexander; but the
true reason was his ambition to be lord of all.
When he was informed that they worshipped two deities only, Jupiter and
Bacchus, who supply what is most requisite for the subsistence of
mankind, he supposed that, after his conquests, they would worship him
as a third, if he permitted them to enjoy their former national
independence. Thus was Alexander employed in clearing the canals, and in
examining minutely the sepulchres of the kings, most of which are
situated among the lakes.
12. Eratosthenes, when he is speaking of the lakes near Arabia, says,
that the water, when it cannot find an outlet, opens passages
under-ground, and is conveyed through these as far as the
Cœle-Syrians,[495] it is also compressed and forced into the parts near
Rhinocolura[496] and Mount Casius,[497] and there forms lakes and deep
pits. [498] But I know not whether this is probable. For the overflowings
of the water of the Euphrates, which form the lakes and marshes near
Arabia, are near the Persian Sea. But the isthmus which separates them
is neither large nor rocky, so that it was more probable that the water
forced its way in this direction into the sea, either under the ground,
or across the surface, than that it traversed so dry and parched a soil
for more than 6000 stadia; particularly, when we observe, situated
midway in this course, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Mount Casius. [499]
[CAS. 742] Such, then, are the accounts of Eratosthenes and
Aristobulus.
13. But Polycleitus says, that the Euphrates does not overflow its
banks, because its course is through large plains; that of the mountains
(from which it is supplied), some are distant 2000, and the Cossæan
mountains scarcely 1000 stadia, that they are not very high, nor covered
with snow to a great depth, and therefore do not occasion the snow to
melt in great masses, for the most elevated mountains are in the
northern parts above Ecbatana; towards the south they are divided,
spread out, and are much lower; the Tigris also receives the greater
part of the water [which comes down from them], and thus overflows its
banks. [500]
The last assertion is evidently absurd, because the Tigris descends into
the same plains (as the Euphrates); and the above-mentioned mountains
are not of the same height, the northern being more elevated, the
southern extending in breadth, but are of a lower altitude. The quantity
of snow is not, however, to be estimated by altitude only, but by
aspect. The same mountain has more snow on the northern than on the
southern side, and the snow continues longer on the former than on the
latter. As the Tigris therefore receives from the most southern parts of
Armenia, which are near Babylon, the water of the melted snow, of which
there is no great quantity, since it comes from the southern side, it
should overflow in a less degree than the Euphrates, which receives the
water from both parts (northern and southern); and not from a single
mountain only, but from many, as I have mentioned in the description of
Armenia. To this we must add the length of the river, the large tract of
country which it traverses in the Greater and in the Lesser Armenia, the
large space it takes in its course in passing out of the Lesser Armenia
and Cappadocia, after issuing out of the Taurus in its way to Thapsacus
(forming the boundary between Syria below and Mesopotamia), and the
large remaining portion of country as far as Babylon and to its mouth, a
course in all of 36,000 stadia.
This, then, on the subject of the canals (of Babylonia).
14. Babylonia produces barley in larger quantity than any other[501]
country, for a produce of three hundred-fold is spoken of. The palm tree
furnishes everything else, bread, wine, vinegar, and meal; all kinds of
woven articles are also procured from it. Braziers use the stones of the
fruit instead of charcoal. When softened by being soaked in water, they
are food for fattening oxen and sheep.
It is said that there is a Persian song in which are reckoned up 360
useful properties of the palm.
They employ for the most part the oil of sesamum, a plant which is rare
in other places.
15. Asphaltus is found in great abundance in Babylonia. Eratosthenes
describes it as follows.
The liquid asphaltus, which is called naphtha, is found in Susiana; the
dry kind, which can be made solid, in Babylonia. There is a spring of it
near the Euphrates. When this river overflows at the time of the melting
of the snow, the spring also of asphaltus is filled, and overflows into
the river, where large clods are consolidated, fit for buildings
constructed of baked bricks. Others say that the liquid kind also is
found in Babylonia. With respect to the solid kind, I have described its
great utility in the construction of buildings. They say that boats (of
reeds) are woven,[502] which, when besmeared with asphaltus, are firmly
compacted. The liquid kind, called naphtha, is of a singular nature.
When it is brought near the fire, the fire catches it; and if a body
smeared over with it is brought near the fire, it burns with a flame,
which it is impossible to extinguish, except with a large quantity of
water; with a small quantity it burns more violently, but it may be
smothered and extinguished by mud, vinegar, alum, and glue. It is said
that Alexander, as an experiment, ordered naphtha to be poured over a
boy in a bath, and a lamp to be brought near his body. The boy became
enveloped in flames, and would have perished if the bystanders had not
mastered the fire by pouring upon him a great quantity of water, and
thus saved his life.
Poseidonius says that there are springs of naphtha in Babylonia, some of
which produce white, others black, naphtha; the first of these, I mean
the white naphtha, which attracts flame, [CAS. 743] is liquid sulphur;
the second, or black naphtha, is liquid asphaltus, and is burnt in lamps
instead of oil.
16. In former times the capital of Assyria was Babylon; it is now called
Seleuceia upon the Tigris. Near it is a large village called Ctesiphon.
This the Parthian kings usually made their winter residence, with a view
to spare the Seleucians the burden of furnishing quarters for the
Scythian soldiery. In consequence of the power of Parthia,
Ctesiphon[503] may be considered as a city rather than a village; from
its size it is capable of lodging a great multitude of people; it has
been adorned with public buildings by the Parthians, and has furnished
merchandise, and given rise to arts profitable to its masters.
The kings usually passed the winter there, on account of the salubrity
of the air, and the summer at Ecbatana and in Hyrcania,[504] induced by
the ancient renown of these places.
As we call the country Babylonia, so we call the people Babylonians, not
from the name of the city, but of the country; the case is not precisely
the same, however, as regards even natives of Seleuceia, as, for
instance, Diogenes, the stoic philosopher [who had the appellation of
the Babylonian, and not the Seleucian]. [505]
17. At the distance of 500 stadia from Seleuceia is Artemita, a
considerable city, situated nearly directly to the east, which is the
position also of Sitacene. [506] This extensive and fertile tract of
country lies between Babylon and Susiana, so that the whole road in
travelling from Babylon to Susa passes through Sitacene. The road from
Susa[507] into the interior of Persis, through the territory of the
Uxii,[508] and from Persis into the middle of Carmania,[509] leads also
towards the east.
Persis, which is a large country, encompasses Carmania on the
[west][510] and north. Close to it adjoin Parætacene,[511] and the
Cossæan territory as far as the Caspian Gates, inhabited by mountainous
and predatory tribes. Contiguous to Susiana is Elymaïs, a great part of
which is rugged, and inhabited by robbers. To Elymaïs adjoin the country
about the Zagrus[512] and Media. [513]
18. The Cossæi, like the neighbouring mountaineers, are for the most
part archers, and are always out on foraging parties. For as they occupy
a country of small extent, and barren, they are compelled by necessity
to live at the expense of others. They are also necessarily powerful,
for they are all fighting men. When the Elymæi were at war with the
Babylonians and Susians, they supplied the Elymæi with thirteen thousand
auxiliaries.
The Parætaceni attend to the cultivation of the ground more than the
Cossæi, but even these people do not abstain from robbery.
The Elymæi occupy a country larger in extent, and more varied, than that
of the Parætaceni. The fertile part of it is inhabited by husbandmen.
The mountainous tract is a nursery for soldiers, the greatest part of
whom are archers. As it is of considerable extent, it can furnish a
great military force; their king, who possesses great power, refuses to
be subject, like others, to the king of Parthia. The country was
similarly independent in the time of the Persians, and afterwards[514]
in the time of the Macedonians, who governed Syria. When Antiochus the
Great attempted to plunder the temple of Belus, the neighbouring
barbarians, unassisted, attacked and put him to death. In after-times
the king of Parthia[515] heard that the temples in their country
contained great wealth, but knowing that the people would not submit,
and admonished by the fate of Antiochus, he invaded their country with a
large army; he took the temple of Minerva, and that of Diana, called
Azara, and carried away treasure to the amount of 10,000 [CAS. 744]
talents. Seleuceia also, a large city on the river Hedyphon,[516] was
taken. It was formerly called Soloce.
There are three convenient entrances into this country; one from Media
and the places about the Zagrus, through Massabatice; a second from
Susis, through the district Gabiane. Both Gabiane and Massabatice are
provinces of Elymæa. A third passage is that from Persis. Corbiane also
is a province of Elymaïs.
Sagapeni and Silaceni, small principalities, border upon Elymaïs.
Such, then, is the number and the character of the nations situated
above Babylonia towards the east.
We have said that Media and Armenia lie to the north, and Adiabene and
Mesopotamia to the west of Babylonia.
19. The greatest part of Adiabene consists of plains, and, although it
is a portion of Babylon, has its own prince. In some places it is
contiguous to Armenia. [517] For the Medes, Armenians, and Babylonians,
the three greatest nations in these parts, were from the first in the
practice, on convenient opportunities, of waging continual war with each
other, and then making peace, which state of things continued till the
establishment of the Parthian empire.
The Parthians subdued the Medes and Babylonians, but never at any time
conquered the Armenians. They made frequent inroads into their country,
but the people were not subdued, and Tigranes, as I have mentioned in
the description of Armenia,[518] opposed them with great vigour and
success.
Such is the nature of Adiabene. The Adiabeni are also called
Saccopodes. [519]
We shall describe Mesopotamia and the nations towards the south, after
premising a short account of the customs of the Assyrians.
20. Their other customs are like those of the Persians, but this is
peculiar to themselves: three discreet persons, chiefs of each tribe,
are appointed, who present publicly young women who are marriageable,
and give notice by the crier, beginning with those most in estimation,
of a sale of them to men intending to become husbands. In this manner
marriages are contracted.
As often as the parties have sexual intercourse with one another, they
rise, each apart from the other, to burn perfumes. In the morning they
wash, before touching any household vessel. For as ablution is customary
after touching a dead body, so it is practised after sexual
intercourse. [520] There is a custom prescribed by an oracle for all the
Babylonian women to have intercourse with strangers. The women repair to
a temple of Venus, accompanied by numerous attendants and a crowd of
people. Each woman has a cord round her head. The man approaches a
woman, and places on her lap as much money as he thinks proper; he then
leads her away to a distance from the sacred grove, and has intercourse
with her. The money is considered as consecrated to Venus.
There are three tribunals, one consisting of persons who are past
military service, another of nobles, and a third of old men, besides
another appointed by the king. It is the business of the latter[521] to
dispose of the virgins in marriage, and to determine causes respecting
adultery; of another to decide those relative to theft; and of the
third, those of assault and violence.
The sick are brought out of their houses into the highways, and inquiry
is made of passengers whether any of them can give information of a
remedy for the disease. There is no one so ill-disposed as not to accost
the sick person, and acquaint [CAS. 745] him with anything that he
considers may conduce to his recovery.
Their dress is a tunic reaching to the feet, an upper garment of wool,
[and] a white cloak. The hair is long. They wear a shoe resembling a
buskin. They wear also a seal, and carry a staff not plain, but with a
figure upon the top of it, as an apple, a rose, a lily, or something of
the kind. They anoint themselves with oil of sesamum. They bewail the
dead, like the Egyptians and many other nations. They bury the body in
honey, first besmearing it with wax.
There are three communities which have no corn. They live in the
marshes, and subsist on fish. Their mode of life is like that of the
inhabitants of Gedrosia. [522]
21. Mesopotamia has its name from an accidental circumstance. We have
said that it is situated between the Euphrates and the Tigris, that the
Tigris washes its eastern side only, and the Euphrates its western and
southern sides. To the north is the Taurus, which separates Armenia from
Mesopotamia. The greatest distance by which they are separated from each
other is that towards the mountains. This distance may be the same which
Eratosthenes mentions, and is reckoned from Thapsacus,[523] where there
was the (Zeugma) old bridge of the Euphrates, to the (Zeugma) passage
over the Tigris, where Alexander crossed it, a distance, that is, of
2400 stadia. The least distance between them is somewhere about
Seleuceia and Babylon, and is a little more than 200 stadia.
The Tigris flows through the middle of the lake called Thopitis[524] in
the direction of its breadth, and after traversing it to the opposite
bank, sinks under ground with a loud noise and rushing of air. Its
course is for a long space invisible, but it rises again to the surface
not far from Gordyæa. According to Eratosthenes, it traverses the lake
with such rapidity, that although the lake is saline and without
fish,[525] yet in this part it is fresh, has a current, and abounds with
fish.
22. The contracted shape of Mesopotamia extends far in length, and
somewhat resembles a ship. The Euphrates forms the larger part of its
boundary. The distance from Thapsacus to Babylon, according to
Eratosthenes, is 4800 stadia, and from the (Zeugma)[526] bridge in
Commagene, where Mesopotamia begins, to Thapsacus, is not less than 2000
stadia.
23. The country lying at the foot of the mountains is very fertile. The
people, called by the Macedonians Mygdones, occupy the parts towards the
Euphrates, and both Zeugmata, that is, the Zeugma in Commagene, and the
ancient Zeugma at Thapsacus. In their territory is Nisibis,[527] which
they called also Antioch in Mygdonia, situated below Mount Masius,[528]
and Tigranocerta,[529] and the places about Carrhæ, Nicephorium,[530]
Chordiraza,[531] and Sinnaca, where Crassus was taken prisoner by
stratagem, and put to death by Surena, the Parthian general. [532]
24. Near the Tigris are the places belonging to the Gordyæi,[533] whom
the ancients called Carduchi; their cities are Sareisa, Satalca, and
Pinaca, a very strong fortress with three citadels, each enclosed by its
own wall, so that it is as it were a triple city. It was, however,
subject to the king of Armenia; the Romans also took it by storm,
although the Gordyæi had the reputation of excelling in the art of
building, and to be skilful in the construction of siege engines. It was
for this reason Tigranes took them into his service. The rest of
Mesopotamia (Gordyæa? ) was subject to the Romans. Pompey assigned to
Tigranes the largest and best portion of the country; for it has fine
pastures, is rich in plants, and produces evergreens and an aromatic,
the amomum. It breeds lions also. It furnishes naphtha, and the stone
called Gangitis,[534] which drives away reptiles.
25. Gordys, the son of Triptolemus, is related to have colonized
Gordyene. The Eretrians[535] afterwards, who were carried away by force
by the Persians, settled here. We shall soon speak of Triptolemus in our
description of Syria.
26. The parts of Mesopotamia inclining to the south, and [CAS. 747] at
a distance from the mountains, are an arid and barren district, occupied
by the Arabian Scenitæ, a tribe of robbers and shepherds, who readily
move from place to place, whenever pasture or booty begin to be
exhausted. The country lying at the foot of the mountains is harassed
both by these people and by the Armenians. They are situated above, and
keep them in subjection by force. It is at last subject for the most
part to these people, or to the Parthians, who are situated at their
side, and possess both Media and Babylonia.
27. Between the Tigris and the Euphrates flows a river called Basileios
(or the Royal river), and about Anthemusia another called the
Aborrhas. [536] The road for merchants going from Syria to Seleuceia and
Babylon lies through the country of the (Arabian) Scenitæ, [now called
Malii,][537] and through the desert belonging to their territory. The
Euphrates is crossed in the latitude of Anthemusia, a place in
Mesopotamia. [538] Above the river, at the distance of four schœni, is
Bambyce, which is called by the names of Edessa and Hierapolis,[539]
where the Syrian goddess Atargatis is worshipped. After crossing the
river, the road lies through a desert country on the borders of
Babylonia to Scenæ, a considerable city, situated on the banks of a
canal. From the passage across the river to Scenæ is a journey of five
and twenty days. There are (on the road) owners of camels, who keep
resting-places, which are well supplied with water from cisterns, or
transported from a distance.
The Scenitæ exact a moderate tribute from merchants, but [otherwise] do
not molest them: the merchants, therefore, avoid the country on the
banks of the river, and risk a journey through the desert, leaving the
river on the right hand at a distance of nearly three days’ march. For
the chiefs of the tribes living on both banks of the river, who occupy
not indeed a fertile territory, yet one less sterile than the rest (of
the country), are settled in the midst of their own peculiar domains,
and each exacts a tribute of no moderate amount for himself. And it is
difficult among so large a body of people, and of such daring habits, to
establish any common standard of tribute advantageous to the merchant.
Scenæ is distant from Seleuceia 18 schœni.
28. The Euphrates and its eastern banks are the boundaries of the
Parthian empire.
The Romans and the chiefs of the Arabian tribes occupy
the parts on this side the Euphrates as far as Babylonia. Some of the
chiefs attach themselves in preference to the Parthians, others to the
Romans, to whom they adjoin. The Scenitæ nomades, who live near the
river, are less friendly to the Romans than those tribes who are
situated at a distance near Arabia Felix. The Parthians were once
solicitous of conciliating the friendship of the Romans, but having
repulsed Crassus,[540] who began the war with them, they suffered
reprisals, when they themselves commenced hostilities, and sent Pacorus
into Asia. [541] But Antony, following the advice of the Armenian,[542]
was betrayed, and was unsuccessful (against them). Phraates, his[543]
successor, was so anxious to obtain the friendship of Augustus Cæsar,
that he even sent the trophies, which the Parthians had set up as
memorials of [CAS. 748] the defeat of the Romans. He also invited Titius
to a conference, who was at that time præfect of Syria, and delivered
into his hands, as hostages, four of his legitimate sons, Seraspadanes,
Rhodaspes, Phraates, and Bonones, with two of their wives and four of
their sons; for he was apprehensive of conspiracy and attempts on his
life. [544] He knew that no one could prevail against him, unless he was
opposed by one of the Arsacian family, to which race the Parthians were
strongly attached. He therefore removed the sons out of his way, with a
view of annihilating the hopes of the disaffected.
The surviving sons, who live at Rome, are entertained as princes at the
public expense. The other kings (his successors) have continued to send
ambassadors (to Rome), and to hold conferences (with the Roman
præfects).
CHAPTER II.
1. Syria is bounded on the north by Cilicia and the mountain Amanus;
from the sea to the bridge on the Euphrates (that is, from the Issic Bay
to the Zeugma in Commagene) is a distance of 1400 stadia, and forms the
above-mentioned (northern) boundary; on the east it is bounded by the
Euphrates and the Arabian Scenitæ, who live on this side the Euphrates;
on the south, by Arabia Felix and Egypt; on the west, by the Egyptian
and Syrian Seas as far as Issus.
2. Beginning from Cilicia and Mount Amanus, we set down as parts of
Syria, Commagene, and the Seleucis of Syria, as it is called, then
Cœle-Syria, lastly, on the coast, Phœnicia, and in the interior, Judæa.
Some writers divide the whole of Syria into Cœlo-Syrians, Syrians, and
Phœnicians, and say that there are intermixed with these four other
nations, Jews, Idumæans, Gazæans, and Azotii, some of whom are
husbandmen, as the Syrians and Cœlo-Syrians, and others merchants, as
the Phœnicians.
3. This is the general description [of Syria]. [545]
In describing it in detail, we say that Commagene is rather a small
district. It contains a strong city, Samosata, in which was the seat of
the kings. At present it is a (Roman) province. A very fertile but small
territory lies around it. Here is now the Zeugma, or bridge, of the
Euphrates, and near it is situated Seleuceia, a fortress of Mesopotamia,
assigned by Pompey to the Commageneans. Here Tigranes confined in prison
for some time and put to death Selene, surnamed Cleopatra, after she was
dispossessed of Syria. [546]
4. Seleucis is the best of the above-mentioned portions of Syria. It is
called and is a Tetrapolis, and derives its name from the four
distinguished cities which it contains; for there are more than four
cities, but the four largest are Antioch Epidaphne,[547] Seleuceia in
Pieria,[548] Apameia,[549] and Laodiceia. [550] They were called Sisters
from the concord which existed between them. They were founded by
Seleucus Nicator. The largest bore the name of his father, and the
strongest his own. Of the others, Apameia had its name from his wife
Apama, and Laodiceia from his mother.
In conformity with its character of Tetrapolis, Seleucis, according to
Poseidonius, was divided into four satrapies; Cœle-Syria into the same
number, but [Commagene, like] Mesopotamia, consisted of one. [551]
Antioch also is a Tetrapolis, consisting (as the name implies) [CAS.
750] of four portions, each of which has its own, and all of them a
common wall. [552]
[Seleucus] Nicator founded the first of these portions, transferring
thither settlers from Antigonia, which a short time before Antigonus,
son of Philip, had built near it. The second was built by the general
body of settlers; the third by Seleucus, the son of Callinicus; the
fourth by Antiochus, the son of Epiphanes.
5. Antioch is the metropolis of Syria. A palace was constructed there
for the princes of the country. It is not much inferior in riches and
magnitude to Seleuceia on the Tigris and Alexandreia in Egypt.
[Seleucus] Nicator settled here the descendants of Triptolemus, whom we
have mentioned a little before. [553] On this account the people of
Antioch regard him as a hero, and celebrate a festival to his honour on
Mount Casius[554] near Seleuceia. They say that when he was sent by the
Argives in search of Io, who first disappeared at Tyre, he wandered
through Cilicia; that some of his Argive companions separated from him
and founded Tarsus; that the rest attended him along the sea-coast, and,
relinquishing their search, settled with him on the banks of the
Orontes;[555] that Gordys the son of Triptolemus, with some of those who
had accompanied his father, founded a colony in Gordyæa, and that the
descendants of the rest became settlers among the inhabitants of
Antioch.
6. Daphne,[556] a town of moderate size, is situated above Antioch at
the distance of 40 stadia. Here is a large forest, with a thick covert
of shade and springs of water flowing through it. In the midst of the
forest is a sacred grove, which is a sanctuary, and a temple of Apollo
and Diana. It is the custom for the inhabitants of Antioch and the
neighbouring people to assemble here to celebrate public festivals. The
forest is 80 stadia in circumference.
7. The river Orontes flows near the city. Its source is in Cœle-Syria.
Having taken its course under-ground, it reäppears, traverses the
territory of Apameia to Antioch, approaching the latter city, and then
descends to the sea at Seleuceia. The name of the river was formerly
Typhon, but was changed to Orontes, from the name of the person who
constructed the bridge over it.
According to the fable, it was somewhere here that Typhon was struck
with lightning, and here also was the scene of the fable of the Arimi,
whom we have before mentioned. [557] Typhon was a serpent, it is said,
and being struck by lightning, endeavoured to make its escape, and
sought refuge in the ground; it deeply furrowed the earth, and (as it
moved along) formed the bed of the river; having descended under-ground,
it caused a spring to break out, and from Typhon the river had its name.
On the west the sea, into which the Orontes discharges itself, is
situated below Antioch in Seleuceia, which is distant from the mouth of
the river 40, and from Antioch 120 stadia. The ascent by the river to
Antioch is performed in one day.
To the east of Antioch are the Euphrates, Bambyce,[558] Berœa,[559] and
Heracleia, small towns formerly under the government of Dionysius, the
son of Heracleon. Heracleia is distant 20 stadia from the temple of
Diana Cyrrhestis.
8. Then follows the district of Cyrrhestica,[560] which extends as far
as that of Antioch. On the north near it are Mount Amanus and Commagene.
Cyrrhestica extends as far as these places, and touches them. Here is
situated a city, Gindarus, the acropolis of Cyrrhestica, and a
convenient resort for robbers, and near it a place called Heracleium. It
was near these places that Pacorus, the eldest of the sons of the
Parthian king, who had invaded Syria, was defeated by Ventidius, and
killed.
Pagræ,[561] in the district of Antioch, is close to Gindarus. It [CAS.
751] is a strong fortress situated on the pass over the Amanus, which
leads from the gates of the Amanus into Syria. Below Pagræ lies the
plain of Antioch, through which flow the rivers Arceuthus, Orontes, and
Labotas. [562] In this plain is also the trench of Meleagrus, and the
river Œnoparas,[563] on the banks of which Ptolemy Philometor, after
having defeated Alexander Balas, died of his wounds. [564]
Above these places is a hill called Trapezon from its form,[565] and
upon it Ventidius engaged Phranicates[566] the Parthian general.
After these places, near the sea, are Seleuceia[567] and Pieria, a
mountain continuous with the Amanus and Rhosus, situated between Issus
and Seleuceia.
Seleuceia formerly had the name of Hydatopotami (rivers of water). It is
a considerable fortress, and may defy all attacks; wherefore Pompey,
having excluded from it Tigranes, declared it a free city.
To the south of Antioch is Apameia, situated in the interior, and to the
south of Seleuceia, the mountains Casius and Anti-Casius.
Still further on from Seleuceia are the mouths of the Orontes, then the
Nymphæum, a kind of sacred cave, next Casium, then follows
Poseidium[568] a small city, and Heracleia. [569]
9. Then follows Laodiceia, situated on the sea; it is a very well-built
city, with a good harbour; the territory, besides its fertility in other
respects, abounds with wine, of which the greatest part is exported to
Alexandreia. The whole mountain overhanging the city is planted almost
to its summit with vines. The summit of the mountain is at a great
distance from Laodiceia, sloping gently and by degrees upwards from the
city; but it rises perpendicularly over Apameia.
Laodiceia suffered severely when Dolabella took refuge there. Being
besieged by Cassius, he defended it until his death, but he involved in
his own ruin the destruction of many parts of the city. [570]
10. In the district of Apameia is a city well fortified in almost every
part. For it consists of a well-fortified hill, situated in a hollow
plain, and almost surrounded by the Orontes, which, passing by a large
lake in the neighbourhood, flows through wide-spread marshes and meadows
of vast extent, affording pasture for cattle and horses. [571] The city
is thus securely situated, and received the name Cherrhonesus (or the
peninsula) from the nature of its position. It is well supplied from a
very large fertile tract of country, through which the Orontes flows
with numerous windings. Seleucus Nicator, and succeeding kings, kept
there five hundred elephants, and the greater part of their army.
It was formerly called Pella by the first Macedonians, because most of
the soldiers of the Macedonian army had settled there; for Pella, the
native place of Philip and Alexander, was held to be the metropolis of
the Macedonians. Here also the soldiers were mustered, and the breed of
horses kept up. There were in the royal stud more than thirty thousand
brood mares and three hundred stallions. Here were employed
colt-breakers, instructors in the method of fighting in heavy armour,
and all who were paid to teach the arts of war.
The power Trypho, surnamed Diodotus, acquired is a proof of the
influence of this place; for when he aimed at the empire of Syria, he
made Apameia the centre of his operations. He was born at Casiana, a
strong fortress in the Apameian district, and educated in Apameia; he
was a favourite of the king and the persons about the court. When he
attempted to effect a revolution in the state, he obtained his supplies
from Apameia and from the neighbouring cities, Larisa,[572] Casiana,
Megara, Apollonia, and others like them, all of which were reckoned to
belong to the district of Apameia. He was proclaimed king of this
country, and maintained his sovereignty for a long time. Cæcilius
Bassus, at the head of two legions, caused Apameia to revolt, and was
besieged by two large Roman armies, but his resistance was so vigorous
and long that he only surrendered voluntarily and on his own
conditions. [573] For the country supplied his army with provisions,
[CAS. 753] and a great many of the chiefs of the neighbouring tribes
were his allies, who possessed strongholds, among which was Lysias,
situated above the lake, near Apameia, Arethusa,[574] belonging to
Sampsiceramus and Iamblichus his son, chiefs of the tribe of the
Emeseni. [575] At no great distance were Heliopolis and Chalcis,[576]
which were subject to Ptolemy, son of Mennæus,[577] who possessed the
Massyas[578] and the mountainous country of the Ituræans. Among the
auxiliaries of Bassus was Alchædamnus,[579] king of the Rhambæi, a tribe
of the Nomades on this side of the Euphrates. He was a friend of the
Romans, but, considering himself as having been unjustly treated by
their governors, he retired to Mesopotamia, and then became a tributary
of Bassus. Poseidonius the Stoic was a native of this place, a man of
the most extensive learning among the philosophers of our times.
11. The tract called Parapotamia, belonging to the Arab chiefs, and
Chalcidica, extending from the Massyas, border upon the district of
Apameia on the east; and nearly all the country further to the south of
Apameia belongs to the Scenitæ, who resemble the Nomades of Mesopotamia.
In proportion as the nations approach the Syrians they become more
civilized, while the Arabians and Scenitæ are less so. Their
governments are better constituted [as that of Arethusa under
Sampsiceramus, that of Themella under Gambarus, and other states of this
kind]. [580]
12. Such is the nature of the interior parts of the district of
Seleuceia.
The remainder of the navigation along the coast from Laodiceia is such
as I shall now describe.
Near Laodiceia are the small cities, Poseidium, Heracleium, and Gabala.
Then follows the maritime tract[581] of the Aradii, where are
Paltus,[582] Balanæa, and Carnus,[583] the arsenal of Aradus, which has
a small harbour; then Enydra,[584] and Marathus, an ancient city of the
Phœnicians in ruins. The Aradii[585] divided the territory by lot. Then
follows the district Simyra. [586] Continuous with these places is
Orthosia,[587] then the river Eleutherus, which some make the boundary
of Seleucis towards Phœnicia and Cœle-Syria.
13. Aradus is in front of a rocky coast without harbours, and situated
nearly between its arsenal[588] and Marathus. It is distant from the
land 20 stadia. It is a rock, surrounded by the sea, of about seven
stadia in circuit, and covered with dwellings. The population even at
present is so large that the houses have many stories. It was colonized,
it is said, by fugitives from Sidon. The inhabitants are supplied with
water partly from cisterns containing rain water, and partly [CAS. 754]
from the opposite coast. In war time they obtain water a little in front
of the city, from the channel (between the island and the mainland), in
which there is an abundant spring. The water is obtained by letting down
from a boat, which serves for the purpose, and inverting over the spring
(at the bottom of the sea), a wide-mouthed funnel of lead, the end of
which is contracted to a moderate-sized opening; round this is fastened
a (long) leathern pipe, which we may call the neck, and which receives
the water, forced up from the spring through the funnel. The water first
forced up is sea water, but the boatmen wait for the flow of pure and
potable water, which is received into vessels ready for the purpose, in
as large a quantity as may be required, and carry it to the city. [589]
14. The Aradii were anciently governed by their own kings in the same
manner as all the other Phœnician cities. Afterwards the Persians,
Macedonians, and now the Romans have changed the government to its
present state.
The Aradii, together with the other Phœnicians, consented to become
allies of the Syrian kings; but upon the dissension of the two brothers,
Callinicus Seleucus and Antiochus Hierax, as he was called, they
espoused the party of Callinicus; they entered into a treaty, by which
they were allowed to receive persons who quitted the king’s dominions,
and took refuge among them, and were not obliged to deliver them up
against their will. They were not, however, to suffer them to embark and
quit the island without the king’s permission. From this they derived
great advantages; for those who took refuge there were not ordinary
people, but persons who had held the highest trusts, and apprehended the
worst consequences (when they fled). They regarded those who received
them with hospitality as their benefactors; they acknowledged their
preservers, and remembered with gratitude the kindness which they had
received, particularly after their return to their own country. It was
thus that the Aradii acquired possession of a large part of the opposite
continent, most of which they possess even at present, and were
otherwise successful. To this good fortune they added prudence and
industry in the conduct of their maritime affairs; when they saw their
neighbours, the Cilicians, engaged in piratical adventures, they never
on any occasion took part with them in such (a disgraceful)
occupation. [590]
15. After Orthosia and the river Eleutherus is Tripolis, which has its
designation from the fact of its consisting of three cities, Tyre,
Sidon, and Aradus. Contiguous to Tripolis is Theoprosopon,[591] where
the mountain Libanus terminates. Between them lies a small place called
Trieres.
16. There are two mountains, which form Cœle-Syria, as it is called,
lying nearly parallel to each other; the commencement of the ascent of
both these mountains, Libanus and Antilibanus, is a little way from the
sea; Libanus rises above the sea near Tripolis and Theoprosopon, and
Antilibanus, above the sea near Sidon. They terminate somewhere near the
Arabian mountains, which are above the district of Damascus and the
Trachones as they are there called, where they form fruitful hills. A
hollow plain lies between them, the breadth of which towards the sea is
200 stadia, and the length from the sea to the interior is about twice
that number of stadia. Rivers flow through it, the largest of which is
the Jordan, which water a country fertile and productive of all things.
It contains also a lake, which produces the aromatic rush and reed. In
it are also marshes. The name of the lake is Gennesaritis. It produces
also balsamum. [592]
Among the rivers is the Chrysorrhoas, which commences [CAS. 755] from
the city and territory of Damascus, and is almost entirely drained by
water-courses; for it supplies with water a large tract of country, with
a very deep soil.
The Lycus[593] and the Jordan are navigated upwards chiefly by the
Aradii, with vessels of burden.
17. Of the plains, the first reckoning from the sea is called Macras and
Macra-pedium. Here Poseidonius says there was seen a serpent lying dead,
which was nearly a plethrum in length, and of such a bulk and thickness
that men on horseback standing on each side of its body could not see
one another; the jaws when opened could take in a man on horseback, and
the scales of the skin were larger than a shield.
18. Next to the plain of Macras is that of Massyas, which also contains
some mountainous parts, among which is Chalcis, the acropolis, as it
were, of the Massyas. The commencement of this plain is at
Laodiceia,[594] near Libanus. The Ituræans and Arabians, all of whom are
freebooters, occupy the whole of the mountainous tracts. The husbandmen
live in the plains, and when harassed by the freebooters, they require
protection of various kinds. The robbers have strongholds from which
they issue forth; those, for example, who occupy Libanus have high up on
the mountain the fortresses Sinna, Borrhama, and some others like them;
lower down, Botrys and Gigartus, caves also near the sea, and the castle
on the promontory Theoprosopon. Pompey destroyed these fastnesses, from
whence the robbers overran Byblus,[595] and Berytus[596] situated next
to it, and which lie between Sidon and Theoprosopon.
Byblus, the royal seat of Cinyrus, is sacred to Adonis. Pompey delivered
this place from the tyranny of Cinyrus, by striking off his head. It is
situated upon an eminence at a little distance from the sea.
19. After Byblus is the river Adonis,[597] and the mountain Climax, and
Palæ-Byblus, then the river Lycus, and Berytus. This latter place was
razed by Tryphon, but now the Romans have restored it, and two legions
were stationed there by Agrippa, who also added to it a large portion of
the territory of Massyas, as far as the sources of the Orontes. These
sources are near Libanus, the Paradeisus, and the Egyptian
Fort near the district of Apameia. These places lie near the sea.
20. Above the Massyas is the Royal Valley, as it is called, and the
territory of Damascus, so highly extolled. Damascus is a considerable
city, and in the time of the Persian empire was nearly the most
distinguished place in that country.
Above Damascus are the two (hills) called Trachones; then, towards the
parts occupied by Arabians and Ituræans promiscuously, are mountains of
difficult access, in which were caves extending to a great depth. One of
these caves was capable of containing four thousand robbers, when the
territory of Damascus was subject to incursions from various quarters.
The Barbarians used to rob the merchants most generally on the side of
Arabia Felix,[598] but this happens less frequently since the
destruction of the bands of the robbers under Zenodorus, by the good
government of the Romans, and in consequence of the security afforded by
the soldiers stationed and maintained in Syria.
21. The whole country[599] above Seleucis, extending towards Egypt and
Arabia, is called Cœle-Syria, but peculiarly the tract bounded by
Libanus and Antilibanus, of the remainder one part is the coast
extending from Orthosia[600] as far as Pelusium,[601] and is called
Phœnicia, a narrow strip of land along the sea; the other, situated
above Phœnicia in the interior between Gaza and Antilibanus, and
extending to the Arabians, called Judæa.
22. Having described Cœle-Syria properly so called, we pass on to
Phœnicia, of which we have already described[602] the part extending
from Orthosia to Berytus.
Next to Berytus is Sidon, at the distance of 400 stadia. Between these
places is the river Tamyras,[603] and the grove of Asclepius and
Leontopolis.
Next to Sidon is Tyre,[604] the largest and most ancient city of the
Phœnicians. This city is the rival of Sidon in magnitude, fame, and
antiquity, as recorded in many fables. For although poets have
celebrated Sidon more than Tyre (Homer, however, does not even mention
Tyre), yet the colonies sent into Africa and Spain, as far as, and
beyond the Pillars, extol [CAS. 756] much more the glory of Tyre. Both
however were formerly, and are at present, distinguished and illustrious
cities, but which of the two should be called the capital of Phœnicia is
a subject of dispute among the inhabitants. [605] Sidon is situated upon
a fine naturally-formed harbour on the mainland.
23. Tyre is wholly an island, built nearly in the same manner as Aradus.
It is joined to the continent by a mound, which Alexander raised, when
he was besieging it. It has two harbours, one close, the other open,
which is called the Egyptian harbour. The houses here, it is said,
consist of many stories, of more even than at Rome; on the occurrence,
therefore, of an earthquake, the city was nearly demolished. [606] It
sustained great injury when it was taken by siege by Alexander, but it
rose above these misfortunes, and recovered itself both by the skill of
the people in the art of navigation, in which the Phœnicians in general
have always excelled all nations, and by (the export of) purple-dyed
manufactures, the Tyrian purple being in the highest estimation. The
shell-fish from which it is procured is caught near the coast, and the
Tyrians have in great abundance other requisites for dyeing. The great
number of dyeing works renders the city unpleasant as a place of
residence, but the superior skill of the people in the practice of this
art is the source of its wealth. Their independence was secured to them
at a small expense to themselves, not only by the kings of Syria, but
also by the Romans, who confirmed what the former had conceded. [607]
They pay extravagant honours to Hercules.
The great number and magnitude of their colonies and cities are proofs
of their maritime skill and power.
