Chapter 374

129Inhabited by the Sindi, a people of Asiatic Sarmatia. They probably dwelt in and about the modern peninsula of Taman, between the Sea of Azof and the Black Sea, to the south of the river Hypanis, the modern Kouban. The site of their capital, Sindos, or Sinda, is supposed to have been the modern Anapa. Parisot conjectures that this place was one of the ancient settlements of the Zigeunes, the modern Bohemians or Gypsies. He seems to found his opinion upon some observations of Malte Brun (Précis de Geographie, vol. vi.) upon the origin of the Gypsy race, which will amply repay the perusal.

130The peninsula on which Taman or Timoutarakan is situate.

131Thejugerumwas 100 Grecian or 104 Roman feet in length.

132Signifying in Greek the “sea-shore.”

133Lying between Singa and Phanagoria. Rennell fixes it at the opening of the lake into which the Kouban flows.

134Or the “gardens,” from the Greekκῆποι. A town of the Cimmerian Bosporus, founded by the Milesians. Dr. Clarke identifies the modern Sienna with it, and the curious Milesian sculptures found there confirm the supposition.

135Its ruins are supposed to be those near Taman, on the eastern side of the Straits of Kaffa. It was the great emporium for all the traffic between the coasts of the Palus Mæotis and the countries on the south of the Caucasus, and was chosen by the kings of Bosporus as their capital in Asia.

136A town of the Sindæ; it possessed, like Phanagoria, a celebrated temple of Aphrodite Apaturos, or Venus “the Deceiver,” whence probably its name.

137Clarke identifies it with the modern Temruk, but Forbiger with Eskikrimm.

138See B. iv. c. 24.

139That lying on the east of the Sea of Azof. It seems impossible to identify the spot inhabited by each of these savage tribes. Hardouin says that the modern name of that inhabited by the Mæotici is Coumania.

140Parisot suggests that this tribe afterwards emigrated to the west, and after establishing themselves in Macedonia, finally gave its name to modern Servia. He remarks, that most of these names appear to have been greatly mutilated, through the ignorance or carelessness of the transcribers, no two of the manuscripts agreeing as to the mode in which they should be spelt.

141Or Don. It flows into the Sea of Azof by two larger mouths and several smaller ones. Strabo says that the distance between the two larger mouths is sixty stadia.

142From the Greekγυναικοκρατουμενοὶ, “ruled over by women.” It is not improbable that this name was given by some geographer to these Sarmatian tribes on finding them, at the period of his visit, in subjection to the rule of a queen. Parisot remarks, that this passage affords an instance of the little care bestowed by Pliny upon procuring the best and most correct information, for that the Roman writers had long repudiated the use of the term “Sauromatæ.” He also takes Pliny to task for his allusion to these tribes as coupling with the Amazons, the existence of such a people being in his time generally disbelieved.

143Hardouin suggests fromεὐάζω, “to celebrate the orgies of Bacchus.”

144Perhaps fromκοίτη, a “den” or “cavern,” their habitation.

145Parisot suggests that they may have been a Caucasian or Circassian tribe, because in the Circassian language the wordzighas the meaning of “man.” He also suggests that they were probably a distinct race from the Zingi previously mentioned, whom he identifies with the ancestors of the Zingari or Bohemians, the modern Gypsies.

146The more common reading is “Turcæ,” a tribe also mentioned by Mela, and which gave name to modern Turkistan.

147The Argippæi of Herodotus and other ancient authors. These people were bald, flat-nosed, and long-chinned. They are again mentioned by Pliny in C. 14, who calls them a race not unlike the Hyperborei, and then, like Mela, abridges the description given by Herodotus. By different writers these people have been identified with the Chinese, the Brahmins or Lamas, and the Calmucks. The last is thought to be the most probable opinion, or else that the description of Herodotus, borrowed by other writers, may be applied to the Mongols in general. The mountains, at the foot of which they have been placed, are identified with either the Ural, the western extremity of the Altaï chain, or the eastern part of the Altaï.

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

149The former editions mostly have “therewas,” implying that in the time of Pliny it no longer existed. The name of this place was Tanais; its ruins are still to be seen in the vicinity of Kassatchei. It was founded by a colony from Miletus, and became a flourishing seat of trade. The modern town of Azof is supposed to occupy nearly its site.

150The people of Panticapæum, on the opposite side of the Palus Mæotis, occupying the site of the present Kertch. It was founded by the MilesiansB.C.541, and took its name from the neighbouring river Panticapes.

151The Ceraunian mountains were a range belonging to the Caucasian chain, and situate at its eastern extremity; the relation of this range to the chain has been variously stated by the different writers.

152He may possibly allude to a range of mountains in the Punjaub and the vicinity of the modern Lahore, by his reference to the Cathæi, who are supposed to have been the ancient inhabitants of that district. The localities of the various races here mentioned are involved in great obscurity.

153Or Mediterranean.

154See Vol. i. p. 497.

155He includes under the term “Cappadocia,” the northern part originally called “Cappadocia ad Pontum,” and in later times simply Pontus, and the southern part, originally called “Cappadocia ad Taurum,” and more recently simply Cappadocia.

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

157I. e.on the eastern side.

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

159This ill agrees with what he has said in c. 2, that the distance across from Sinope to the Gulf of Issus is but 200 miles.

160Greater Armenia, now known as Erzeroum, Kars, Van, and Erivan, was bounded on the north-east and north by the river Cyrus, or Kur of the present day; on the north-west and west by the Moschian mountains, the prolongation of the chain of the Anti-Taurus, and the Euphrates, or Frat of the present day; and on the south and south-east by the mountains called Masius, Niphates, and Gordiæi (the prolongation of the Taurus), and the lower course of the Araxes. On the east the country comes to a point at the confluence of the Syrus and Araxes.

161Now known as the Kara-bel-Dagh, or Kut-Tagh, a mountain chain running south-west and north-east from the east of Asia Minor into the centre of Armenia, and forming the chief connecting link between the Taurus and the mountains of Armenia.

162In B. v. c. 20.

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

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

165The modern Eraskh or Aras.

166The modern Kur.

167This district was bounded on the east by the Euphrates, on the north and north-west by the mountains Scodises, Paryadres, and Anti-Taurus, and on the south by the Taurus.

168This river is said by Ammianus to have taken its name from Cyrus. It appears, however, to have been a not uncommon name of the rivers of Persia.

169It is probable that these rivers take their rise near each other, but it is not improbable that the intervening distance mentioned in the present passage is much too small.

170Hardouin thinks that this is Neo-Cæsarea, mentioned as having been built on the banks of the Euphrates.

171Now called Ezaz, according to D’Anville. Parisot suggests that it ought to be Gaza or Gazaca, probably a colony of Median Gaza, now Tauris.

172Originally called Tephrice. It stood on the river Lycus, and not far from the sources of the Halys, having been founded by Pompey, where he gained his first victory over Mithridates, whence its name, the “City of Victory.” The modern Enderez or Devrigni, probably marks its site.

173Ritter places it in Sophene, the modern Kharpat, and considers that it may be represented by the modern Sert, the Tigranocerta of D’Anville.

174The capital of Sophene, one of the districts of Armenia. St. Martin thinks that this was the ancient heathen name of the city of Martyropolis, but Ritter shows that such cannot be the case. It was called by the Syrians Kortbest; its present name is Kharput.

175Generally supposed, by D’Anville and other modern geographers, to be represented by the ruins seen at Sert. It was the later capital of Armenia, built by Tigranes.

176The ancient capital of Armenia. Hannibal, who took refuge at the court of Artaxias when Antiochus was no longer able to afford him protection, superintended the building of it. Some ruins, called Takt Tiridate, or Throne of Tiridates, near the junction of the Aras and the Zengue, were formerly supposed to represent Artaxata, but Colonel Monteith has fixed the site at a bend in the river lower down, at the bottom of which were the ruins of a bridge of Greek or Roman architecture.

177A fortress in Lesser Armenia, upon the Euphrates, seventy-five miles from Zimara, as mentioned in B. v. c. 20. It has been identified with the modern ferry and lead mines of Kebban Ma’den, the points where the Kara Su is joined by the Murad Chaï, 270 miles from its source.

178Justin makes it only 1100, and that estimate appears to be several hundreds too much.

179A country lying to the north of Armenia.

180We find in Strabo the names of some of them mentioned, such as Sophene, Acilisene, Gorgodylene, Sacassene, Gorgarene, Phanene, Comisene Orchestene, Chorsene, Cambysene, Odomantis, &c.

181The Ceraunian Mountains. Parisot remarks that in this description, Pliny, notwithstanding his previous professions, does not appear to have made any very great use of the list drawn up by Corbulo.

182That is, looking towards the south.

183The Septentrional Ocean, with which the ancients imagined that the northern part of the Caspian Sea is connected. See c.15.

184According to Strabo, Albania was bounded on the east by the Caspian, and on the north by the Caucasus. On the west it joined Iberia, while on the south it was divided from the Greater Armenia by the river Cyrus. By later writers, the northern and western boundaries are differently given. It was found to be the fact that the Albani occupied the country on both sides of the Caucasus, and accordingly Pliny, in c. 15, carries the country further north, as far as the river Casius, while in this Chapter he makes the river Alazon, the modern Alasan, the western boundary towards Iberia.

185To the west of Albania.

186Iberia lay south of the great chain of the Caucasus, forming an extensive tract bounded on the west by Colchis, on the east by Albania, and on the south by Armenia, and watered by the river Cyrus. It corresponded very nearly with modern Georgia.

187The modern Alasan.

188Now called Kablas-Var, according to Parisot.

189Parisot says that this can be no other than Harmoza on the river Cyrus, in the vicinity of the modern Akhalzik.

190Probably meaning “of the same name.”

191To the west.

192“The Armenian workers in iron,” or “Chalybes of Armenia.” See p.9.

193There are two chief passes over the chain of the Caucasus, both of which were known to the ancients. The first is between the eastern extremity of its chief north-eastern spur and the Caspian sea, near the modern Derbend. This was called “Albaniæ,” and sometimes, “Caspiæ Pylæ,” the “Albanian” or “Caspian Gates.” The other, which was nearly in the centre of the Caspian range, was called “Caucasiæ” or “Sarmaticæ Pylæ,” being the same as the modern pass of Dariyel, and probably the one here referred to.

194Probably the same as the present fortress of Dariyel.

195The first instance was that of the narrow isthmus to which the continent of Asia is reduced from Sinope across to the Gulf of Issus, as mentioned in c. 2.

196The shortest distance across, in a straight line, is in reality little less than 600 miles.

197The ancestor of the Seleucidæ, kings of Syria, treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus, brother of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

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

199Mentioned in c. 44 of the last Book.

200The one lying at the mouth of the Danube, and mentioned in B. iv. c. 27.

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

202Or “Mars’ Island,” also called Aretias; at this island, in the south of the Euxine, the two queens of the Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a temple in honour of Ares or Mars. It is thought to be the rocky islet called by the Turks Kerasunt Ada, between three and four miles from Kerasunt, the ancient Pharnacea.

203It is difficult to say what chain of mountains, if indeed any in particular, he would designate by this name. Parisot remarks that these mountains would seem to belong rather to the region of poetry and fable than of fact, and states that it is pretty clear that the Balkan chain, the districts in which the Danube takes its rise, the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Hercynian mountains, and even the chain of Taurus and Caucasus, have at different times been described or mentioned under the name of Riphæan Mountains. It was evidently Pliny’s belief that the great Northern or Scythian Ocean skirted the northern shores of Asia, a little above the latitude perhaps of the northern extremity of the Caspian. In B. iv. c. 26, we find him crossing these, perhaps imaginary, mountains, and then proceeding to the left, along, as he supposes, the extreme northern shores of Europe; here he seems to start from the same point, but turns to the right, and proceeds along the northern, eastern, and southern shores of Asia.

204North-east.

205I. e.more to the west.

206See B. iv. c. 26.

207The extremity of the supposed shores of the Hyperborei.

208D’Anville supposes that he means the headland called Cande-Noss or Kanin-Noss, in the White Sea. Parisot, who thinks that Pliny had no idea of the regions which lie in those high latitudes, supposes that he refers to Domnes-Ness in the Baltic, and that by the Carambucis he means the river Niemen.

209Ansart thinks that he means the Dwina, which falls into the Gulf of Archangel.

210Previously mentioned in c.7.

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

212See the Note to c.7, p. 15. This description is borrowed from that given by Herodotus. Their sacred character has been explained as referring to the class or caste of priests among this Eastern people, whoever they may have been.

213Ansart thinks that the Cicianthi, the Georgi, and the Amazons, inhabited the modern governments of Archangel and Vologda. It seems almost akin to rashness to hazard a conjecture.

214It has been already stated that the Caspian Sea was, in one portion of it, so called, and in another the Hyrcanian Sea.

215His meaning is, that the Scythian ocean communicates on the northern shores of Asia with the Caspian Sea. Hardouin remarks, that Patrocles, the commander of the Macedonian fleet, was the first to promulgate this notion, he having taken the mouth of the river Volga for a narrow passage, by means of which the Scythian or Northern Ocean made its way into the Caspian Sea.

216The country of the Cadusii, in the mountainous district of Media Atropatene, on the south-west shores of the Caspian Sea, between the parallels of 390 and 370 north latitude. This district probably corresponds with the modern district of Gilan.

217Now the Syr-Daria or Yellow River, and watering the barren steppes of the Kirghiz-Cossacks. It really discharges itself into the Sea of Aral, and not the Caspian.

218The supposed Eastern Ocean of the ancients.

219The imaginary passage by which it was supposed to communicate with the Scythian Ocean.

220This being in reality the mouth of the Rha or Volga, as mentioned in Note 18, p. 24.

221On the eastern side.

222Across the mouths of the Volga.

223On a promontory, on the right or eastern side of the mouth of the river Volga.

224He here means the western shores of the Caspian, after leaving the mouth of the Volga.

225In c. 11.

226See the end of c.14.

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

228Probably the modern river Samour.

229It is difficult to determine the exact locality of this river, but it would seem to have been near the Amardus, the modern Sefid-Rúd.

230In c.10.

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

232See c.10.

233He alludes to the town of Arbela, where, as it is generally said, the army of Darius was defeated by Alexander the Great; by which engagement the conflict was terminated. It was the fact, however, that Darius left his baggage and treasures at Arbela, while the battle really took place near the village of Gaugamela, about twenty miles to the north-west of Arbela. This place still retains its name of Arbil.

234A district in the east of Macedonia, bordering on the Thermaic gulf and the Chalcidic peninsula.

235Nothing is known of this place. Hardouin suggests that it may have been built on the spot where Alexander defeated Darius.

236Also known as Antiochia Mygdoniæ, the capital of Mygdonia. Its ruins are still to be seen near a place called Nisibin. It stood on the river Mygdonius, now the Nahral Huali.

237Or Nineveh, the capital of the great Assyrian monarchy, destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians aboutB.C.606.

238There is great difficulty in ascertaining, from the accounts given by the ancient writers, the exact limits of this district, but it is supposed to have included a considerable portion of the province now known by the name of Azerbaijan. It derived its name from Atropates or Atropes, who was governor of this district under the last Darius.

239Most probably the place now known as Gazæa, the royal residence of the Parthian kings, and, as its name would imply, their treasure city. Colonel Rawlinson thinks that this place underwent many changes of name according to the rulers who successively occupied it; among other names, it appears to have borne that of Ecbatana.

240A city of great magnitude, pleasantly situate near the foot of Mount Orontes, in the northern part of Greater Media. Its original foundation was attributed by Diodorus Siculus to Semiramis, and by Herodotus to Deioces. It was the capital of the Median kingdom, and afterwards the summer residence of the Persian and Parthian kings. The genuine orthography of the name seems to be Agbatana. The ruins seen at the modern Hamadan are generally supposed to represent those of the ancient Ecbatana; but it is most probable that at different times, if not contemporaneously, there were several cities of this name in Media.

241Pliny in this statement, as also in the distances which he here assigns to Ecbatana, is supposed to have confounded Ecbatana with Europus, now Veramin, rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator.

242This was a city in the vicinity of Rhagæ, which was distant about 500 stadia from the Caspian Gates. It was built by the Greeks after the Macedonian conquest of Asia. The other places here mentioned do not appear to have been identified.

243See the beginning of c.12, p. 21.

244This was the name of the wild tribes which occupied the high mountainous district between the great upland of Persia and the low plains of Mesopotamia. In addition to the name mentioned by Pliny, they were called Gordyæ, Cardaces, and Curtii. The present Kurds, inhabiting Kurdistan, are supposed to be descended from them.

245The Greekπαρ’ ὁδὸν, “on the road”—meaning, probably, to the Caspian Gates. Hardouin says that the Pratitæ were so called from the Greekπρατῖται, “merchants.”

246Although dwelling at a considerable distance, the custody of these gates was delivered to them, Hardouin says, by the kings of Media.

247To the south-east of them.

248Mentioned in c. 29 of the present Book.

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