On the side of Syria, joining up to Judæa, is the region of Decapolis[3669], so called from the number of its cities; as to which all writers are not agreed. Most of them, however, agree in speaking of Damascus[3670] as one, a place fertilized by the river Chrysorroös[3671], which is drawn off into its meadows and eagerly imbibed; Philadelphia[3672], and Rhaphana[3673], all which cities fall back towards Arabia; Scythopolis[3674] (formerly called Nysa by Father Liber, from his nurse having been buried there), its present name being derived from a Scythian colony which was established there; Gadara[3675], before which the river Hieromix[3676] flows; Hippo, which has been previously mentioned; Dion[3677], Pella[3678], rich with its waters; Galasa[3679], and Canatha[3680]. The Tetrarchies[3681] lie between and around these cities, equal, each of them, to a kingdom, and occupying the same rank as so many kingdoms. Their names are, Trachonitis[3682], Panias[3683], in which is Cæsarea, with the spring previously mentioned[3684], Abila[3685], Arca[3686], Ampeloëssa[3687], and Gabe[3688].
CHAP. 17. (19.)—PHŒNICE.
We must now return to the coast and to Phœnice. There was formerly a town here known as Crocodilon; there is still a river[3689] of that name: Dorum[3690] and Sycaminon[3691] are the names of cities of which the remembrance only exists. We then come to the Promontory of Carmelus[3692], and, upon the mountain, a town[3693] of that name, formerly called Acbatana. Next to this are Getta[3694], Jeba, and the river Pacida, or Belus[3695], which throws up on its narrow banks a kind of sand from which glass[3696] is made: this river flows from the marshes of Cendebia, at the foot of Mount Carmelus. Close to this river is Ptolemais, formerly called Ace[3697], a colony of Claudius Cæsar; and then the town of Ecdippa[3698], and the promontory known as the White Promontory[3699]. We next come to the city of Tyre[3700], formerly an island, separated from the mainland by a channel of the sea, of great depth, 700 paces in width, but now joined to it by the works which were thrown up by Alexander when besieging it,—the Tyre so famous in ancient times for its offspring, the cities to which it gave birth, Leptis, Utica, and Carthage[3701],—that rival of the Roman sway, that thirsted so eagerly for the conquest of the whole earth; Gades, too, which she founded beyond the limits of the world. At the present day, all her fame is confined to the production of the murex and the purple[3702]. Its circumference, including therein Palætyrus[3703], is nineteen miles, the place itself extending twenty-two stadia. The next towns are Sarepta[3704] and Ornithon[3705], and then Sidon[3706], famous for its manufacture of glass, and the parent of Thebes[3707] in Bœotia.
(20.) In the rear of this spot begins the chain of Libanus, which extends 1500 stadia, as far as Simyra; this district has the name of Cœle Syria. Opposite to this chain, and separated from it by an intervening valley, stretches away the range of Antilibanus, which was formerly connected with Libanus[3708] by a wall. Beyond it, and lying in the interior, is the region of Decapolis, and, with it, the Tetrarchies already mentioned, and the whole expanse of Palæstina. On the coast, again, and lying beneath Libanus, is the river Magoras[3709], the colony of Berytus[3710], which bears the name of Felix Julia, the town of Leontos[3711], the river Lycos[3712], Palæbyblos[3713], the river Adonis[3714], and the towns of Byblos[3715], Botrys[3716], Gigarta[3717], Trieris[3718], Calamos[3719], Tripolis[3720], inhabited by the Tyrians, Sidonians, and Aradians; Orthosia[3721], the river Eleutheros[3722], the towns of Simyra and Marathos[3723]; and opposite, Arados[3724], a town seven stadia long, on an island, distant 200 paces from the mainland. After passing through the country in which the before-named mountains end and the plains that lie between, Mount Bargylus[3725] is seen to rise.
CHAP. 18.—SYRIA ANTIOCHIA.
Here Phœnicia ends, and Syria recommences. The towns are, Carne[3726], Balanea[3727], Paltos[3728], and Gabale[3729]; then the promontory upon which is situate the free town of Laodicea[3730]; and then Diospolis[3731], Heraclea[3732], Charadrus[3733], and Posidium[3734].
(21.) We then come to the Promontory of Syria Antiochia. In the interior is the free city of Antiochia[3735] itself, surnamed Epidaphnes[3736], and divided by the river Orontes[3737]. On the promontory is Seleucia[3738], called Pieria, a free city.
(22.) Beyond it lies Mount Casius[3739], a different one from the mountain of the same name[3740] which we have already mentioned. The height of this mountain is so vast, that, at the fourth watch[3741] of the night, you can see from it, in the midst of the darkness, the sun rising on the east; and thus, by merely turning round, we may at one and the same time behold both day and night. The winding road which leads to its summit is nineteen miles in length, its perpendicular height four. Upon this coast there is the river Orontes, which takes its rise near Heliopolis[3742], between the range of Libanus and Antilibanus. The towns are, Rhosos[3743], and, behind it, the Gates of Syria[3744], lying in the space between the chain of the Rhosian mountains and that of Taurus. On the coast there is the town of Myriandros[3745], and Mount Amanus[3746], upon which is the town of Bomitæ[3747]. This mountain separates Cilicia from Syria.
CHAP. 19. (23.)—THE REMAINING PARTS OF SYRIA.
We must now speak of the interior of Syria. Cœle Syria has the town of Apamea[3748], divided by the river Marsyas from the Tetrarchy of the Nazerini[3749]; Bambyx, the other name of which is Hierapolis[3750], but by the Syrians called Mabog[3751], (here the monster Atargatis[3752], called Derceto by the Greeks, is worshipped); and the place called Chalcis[3753] on the Belus[3754], from which the region of Chalcidene, the most fertile part of Syria, takes its name. We here find also Cyrrhestice, with Cyrrhum[3755], the Gazatæ, the Gindareni, the Gabeni, the two Tetrarchies called Granucomatæ[3756], the Emeseni[3757], the Hylatæ[3758], the nation of the Ituræi, and a branch of them, the people called the Bætarreni; the Mariamitani[3759], the Tetrarchy known as Mammisea, Paradisus[3760], Pagræ[3761], the Pinaritæ[3762], two cities called Seleucia, besides the one already mentioned, the one Seleucia on the Euphrates[3763], and the other Seleucia[3764] on the Belus, and the Cardytenses. The remaining part of Syria (except those parts which will be spoken of in conjunction with the Euphrates) contains the Arethusii[3765], the Berœenses[3766], and the Epiphanæenses[3767]; and on the east, the Laodiceni[3768], who are called the Laodiceni on the Libanus, the Leucadii[3769], and the Larissæi, besides seventeen other Tetrarchies, divided into kingdoms and bearing barbarous names.