[369] The position of Kabeira is uncertain. Strabo (p. 556) says that it is about 150 stadia south of the Paryadres range; but he does not say that it is on the Lykus. It may be collected from the following chapter of Plutarch that it was near the Lykus. Pompeius made Kabeira a city and named it Diopolis. A woman named Pythodoris added to it and called it Sebaste, that is, in Latin, Augusta, and it was her royal residence at the time when Strabo wrote.
[370] The reign of Tigranes in Armenia began about B.C. 96. Little is known of his early history. He become King of Syria about B.C. 83, and thus he supplanted the kings, the descendants of Seleukus. He lost Syria after his defeat by Lucullus, B.C. 69; and he was finally reduced to the limits of his native kingdom by Pompeius, B.C. 66. (See the Life of Pompeius, c. 23.)
[371] Some writers read Dardarii. The Dandarii are mentioned by Strabo (p. 495) as one of the tribes on the Mæotis or Sea of Azoff. Mithridates held the parts on the Bosporus. Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 79) has this story of Olthakus, whom he names Olkades, but he calls him a Scythian.
[372] The strange panic that seized Mithridates is also described by Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 81). He fled to Comana and thence to Tigranes.
[373] Phernakia or Pharnakia, as it is generally read, is a town in Pontus on the coast of the Black Sea. It is generally assumed that Pharnakia was the same as Kerasus mentioned by Xenophon in the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, and the place being now called Kerasunt seems to establish this. Arrian in his Periplus of the Euxine states that it was originally named Kerasus. A difficulty is raised on this point because Xenophon says that the Greeks reached Kerasus in three days from Trebizond, and the country is difficult. Hamilton observes (i. 250): "Considering the distance and the difficult nature of the ground, over a great part of which the army must have marched in single file, Xenophon and his 10,000 men would hardly have arrived there in ten days." But it is more probable that there is an error in the "three" days, either an error of Xenophon or of the MSS., than that the site of Phernakia should have got the name of Kerasunt though Kerasus was not there. "The town of Kerasunt, which represents the Pharnakia of antiquity, is situated on the extremity of a rocky promontory connected with the main by a low wooded isthmus of a pleasing and picturesque appearance.—The Hellenic walls are constructed in the best isodomous style. Commencing near the beach on the west, they continue in an easterly direction over the hill, forming the limits of the present town. Near the gateway they are upwards of twenty feet high, and form the foundation of the Agha's konak; a small mosque has also been raised upon the ruins of a square tower; the blocks of stone, a dark green volcanic breccia, are of gigantic size." (Hamilton, Researches, &c. i. 262, &c.)
[374] Appian (c. 82) calls him Bacchus; he tells the same story. These Greek women of western Asia were much in request among the Asiatic kings. (Compare Life of Crassus, c. 32). Cyrus the younger had two Greek women with him when he fell at Cunaxa, and one of them was a Milesian. (Xenophon, Anab. i. 10.)
[375] I have kept the Greek word. The description shows what it was. The diadem was a mark of royal rank among the Asiatic nations. Aurelian is said to have been the first Roman Emperor who adopted the diadem, which appears on some of his coins. (Rasche, Lex. Rei Numariæ.)
[376] The site of this place is unknown. Mithridates (Appian, Mithridat. War, c. 115) kept his valuables here.
[377] See the Life of Sulla, c. 14. L. Mummius after defeating the army of the Achæan confederation totally destroyed Corinth B.C. 146.
[378] Strabo (p. 547) quotes Theopompus, who says that the Milesians were the original founders of Amisus, and that after the Athenian colonization it was called Peiræus. King Mithridates Eupator (the opponent of Lucullus) added to the city. It was a flourishing place when Strabo was writing his Geography.