[541] The Parthians became masters of Syria under Pacorus, and of Asia Minor under Labienus. B. C. 38.
[542] Artavasdes, king of the Armenians. B. xi. c. xiii. § 4.
[543] The text would lead us to suppose that Phraates succeeded Pacorus, whereas below, § 8, Pacorus, the eldest son of the Parthian king, died before his father, Orodes. Letronne, therefore, and Groskurd suppose that the words, “the son of Orodes,” are omitted after “Pacorus” above, and “his” in the translation would then refer to Orodes.
[544] See b. vi. c. iv. § [2], in which the motives for getting rid of these members of his family are not mentioned.
[545] Judging from Arrian (Anab. v. § 25; vii. § 9; iii. § 8), the historians of Alexander, as well as more ancient authors, gave the name of Syria to all the country comprehended between the Tigris and the Mediterranean. The part to the east of the Euphrates, afterwards named Mesopotamia, was called “Syria between the rivers;” that to the west was called by the general name Cœle-Syria, and although Phœnicia and Palestine were sometimes separated from it, yet it often comprehended the whole country as far as Egypt. Strabo below, c. ii. § 21, refers to this ancient division, when he says that the name Cœle-Syria extends to the whole country as far as Egypt and Arabia, although in its peculiar acceptation it applied only to the valley between Libanus and Antilibanus.
[546] B. C. 70.
[547] Antakieh.
[548] Modern conjecture has identified it with Shogh and Divertigi.
[549] Kulat-el-Mudik.
[550] Ladikiyeh.