Next to these countries Syria occupies the coast, once the greatest of lands, and distinguished by many names; for the part which joins up to Arabia was formerly called Palæstina, Judæa, Cœle[3613], and Phœnice. The country in the interior was called Damascena, and that further on and more to the south, Babylonia. The part that lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris was called Mesopotamia, that beyond Taurus Sophene, and that on this side of the same chain Comagene. Beyond Armenia was the country of Adiabene, anciently called Assyria, and at the part where it joins up to Cilicia, it was called Antiochia. Its length, between Cilicia and Arabia[3614], is 470 miles, and its breadth, from Seleucia Pieria[3615] to Zeugma[3616], a town on the Euphrates, 175. Those who make a still more minute division of this country will have it that Phœnice is surrounded by Syria, and that first comes the maritime coast of Syria, part of which is Idumæa and Judæa, after that Phœnice, and then Syria. The whole of the tract of sea that lies in front of these shores is called the Phœnician Sea. The Phœnician people enjoy the glory of having been the inventors of letters[3617], and the first discoverers of the sciences of astronomy, navigation, and the art of war.
CHAP. 14.—IDUMÆA, PALÆSTINA, AND SAMARIA.
On leaving Pelusium we come to the Camp of Chabrias[3618], Mount Casius[3619], the temple of Jupiter Casius, and the tomb of Pompeius Magnus. Ostracine[3620], at a distance of sixty-five miles from Pelusium, is the frontier town of Arabia.
(13.) After this, at the point where the Sirbonian Lake[3621] becomes visible, Idumæa and Palæstina begin. This lake, which some writers have made to be 150 miles in circumference, Herodotus has placed at the foot of Mount Casius; it is now an inconsiderable fen. The towns are Rhinocolura[3622], and, in the interior, Rhaphea[3623], Gaza, and, still more inland, Anthedon[3624]: there is also Mount Argaris[3625]. Proceeding along the coast we come to the region of Samaria; Ascalo[3626], a free town, Azotus[3627], the two Jamniæ[3628], one of them in the interior; and Joppe[3629], a city of the Phœnicians, which existed, it is said, before the deluge of the earth. It is situate on the slope of a hill, and in front of it lies a rock, upon which they point out the vestiges of the chains by which Andromeda was bound[3630]. Here the fabulous goddess Ceto[3631] is worshipped. Next to this place comes Apollonia[3632], and then the Tower of Strato[3633], otherwise Cæsarea, built by King Herod, but now the Colony of Prima Flavia, established by the Emperor Vespasianus: this place is the frontier town of Palæstina, at a distance of 188 miles from the confines of Arabia; after which comes Phœnice[3634]. In the interior of Samaria are the towns of Neapolis[3635], formerly called Mamortha, Sebaste[3636], situate on a mountain, and, on a still more lofty one, Gamala[3637].
CHAP. 15. (14.)—JUDÆA.
Beyond Idumæa and Samaria, Judæa extends far and wide. That part of it which joins up to Syria[3638] is called Galilæa, while that which is nearest to Arabia and Egypt bears the name of Peræa[3639]. This last is thickly covered with rugged mountains, and is separated from the rest of Judæa by the river Jordanes. The remaining part of Judæa is divided into ten Toparchies, which we will mention in the following order:—That of Hiericus[3640], covered with groves of palm-trees, and watered by numerous springs, and those of Emmaüs[3641], Lydda[3642], Joppe, Acrabatena[3643], Gophna[3644], Thamna[3645], Bethleptephene[3646], Orina[3647], in which formerly stood Hierosolyma[3648], by far the most famous city, not of Judæa only, but of the East, and Herodium[3649], with a celebrated town of the same name.
(15.) The river Jordanes[3650] rises from the spring of Panias[3651], which has given its surname to Cæsarea, of which we shall have occasion to speak[3652]. This is a delightful stream, and, so far as the situation of the localities will allow of, winds along[3653] in its course and lingers among the dwellers upon its banks. With the greatest reluctance, as it were, it moves onward towards Asphaltites[3654], a lake of a gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is at last swallowed up, and its bepraised waters are lost sight of on being mingled with the pestilential streams of the lake. For this reason it is that, as soon as ever the valleys through which it runs afford it the opportunity, it discharges itself into a lake, by many writers known as Genesara[3655], sixteen miles in length and six wide; which is skirted by the pleasant towns of Julias[3656] and Hippo[3657] on the east, of Tarichea[3658] on the south (a name which is by many persons given to the lake itself), and of Tiberias[3659] on the west, the hot springs[3660] of which are so conducive to the restoration of health.
(16.) Asphaltites[3661] produces nothing whatever except bitumen, to which indeed it owes its name. The bodies of animals will not sink[3662] in its waters, and even those of bulls and camels float there. In length it exceeds 100 miles being at its greatest breadth twenty-five, and at its smallest six. Arabia of the Nomades[3663] faces it on the east, and Machærus on the south[3664], at one time, next to Hierosolyma, the most strongly fortified place in Judæa. On the same side lies Callirrhoë[3665], a warm spring, remarkable for its medicinal qualities, and which, by its name, indicates the celebrity its waters have gained.
(17.) Lying on the west of Asphaltites, and sufficiently distant to escape its noxious exhalations, are the Esseni[3666], a people that live apart from the world, and marvellous beyond all others throughout the whole earth, for they have no women among them; to sexual desire they are strangers; money they have none; the palm-trees are their only companions. Day after day, however, their numbers are fully recruited by multitudes of strangers that resort to them, driven thither to adopt their usages by the tempests of fortune, and wearied with the miseries of life. Thus it is, that through thousands of ages, incredible to relate, this people eternally prolongs its existence, without a single birth taking place there; so fruitful a source of population to it is that weariness of life which is felt by others. Below this people was formerly the town of Engadda[3667], second only to Hierosolyma in the fertility of its soil and its groves of palm-trees; now, like it, it is another heap of ashes. Next to it we come to Masada[3668], a fortress on a rock, not far from Lake Asphaltites. Thus much concerning Judæa.