[3798] Probably the “Antiochia ad Taurum” mentioned by the geographer Stephanus, and by Ptolemy. Some writers place it at the modern Aintab, seventy-five miles north-east of Aleppo.
[3799] Now called Roum-Cala, or the “Roman Castle.” For Zeugma see p. 424.
[3800] In the north-east of the district of Astropatene, originally called Rhaga. It was rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator, and by him called Europus. Colonel Rawlinson has identified it with the present Veramin, at no great distance from the ancient Rhages.
[3801] Its ruins are to be seen at the ford of El Hamman, near the modern Rakkah. It stood on the banks of the Euphrates; and here was the usual, and, for a long time, the only ford of the Euphrates. It is supposed to have derived its name from the Aramean word “Thiphsach,” signifying “a ford.”
[3802] Or “Dwellers in Tents.” See p. 422.
[3803] According to Ortelius and Hardouin, this is the place called Sura by Pliny, in C. [26] of the present Book; but Parisot differs from that opinion. Bochart suggests, that “Ur, of the Chaldees,” is the place referred to under this name; but, as Hardouin observes, that place lay at a considerable distance to the south.
[3804] So called from the circumstance that Palmyra stood in the midst of them. It was built by King Solomon, in an oasis of the Desert, in the midst of palm groves, from which it received its Greek name, which was a translation also of the Hebrew “Tadmor,” “the city of palm-trees.” It lay at a considerable distance from the Euphrates. Its site presents considerable ruins; but they are all of the Roman period, and greatly inferior to those of Baalbec or Heliopolis.
[3805] The rock fortress of the Idumæans in Arabia Petræa, now called Wady-Musa, half-way between the head of the Gulf of Akabah and the Dead Sea.
[3806] Which it continued to do until it was conquered under its queen, Zenobia, by the Emperor Aurelian, in A.D. 270. It was partially destroyed by him, but was afterwards fortified by Justinian; though it never recovered its former greatness.
[3807] See B. vi. c. 30.