[528] This canal, leading from the Euphrates to the Tigris, is by some thought, according to Hardouin, to have been the river Chobar, mentioned in Ezekiel, c. i. v. 3.
[529] For Arar-Melik, meaning the “River King,” according to Parisot.
[530] As to the identity of this, see a Note at the beginning of this Chapter.
[531] Meaning Jupiter Uranius, or “Heavenly Jupiter,” according to Parisot, who observes that Eusebius interprets baal, or bel, “heaven.” According to one account, he was the father of king Ninus and son of Nimrod. The Greeks in later times attached to his name many of their legendary fables.
[532] The city of Seleucia ad Tigrin, long the capital of Western Asia, until it was eclipsed by Ctesiphon. Its site has been a matter of considerable discussion, but the most probable opinion is, that it stood on the western bank of the Tigris, to the north of its junction with the royal canal (probably the river Chobar above mentioned), opposite to the mouth of the river Delas or Silla (now Diala), and to the spot where Ctesiphon was afterwards built by the Parthians. It stood a little to the south of the modern city of Baghdad; thus commanding the navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the whole plain formed by those two rivers.
[533] Ammianus, like Pliny, has ascribed its foundation to the Parthians under Varanes, or Vardanes, of whom, however, nothing is known. It stood in the south of Assyria, on the eastern or left bank of the Tigris. Strabo speaks of it as being the winter residence of the Parthian kings, who lived there at that season, owing to the mildness of the climate. In modern times the site of this place has been identified with that called by the Arabs Al Madain, or the “two cities.”
[534] Or Vologeses. This was the name of five kings of Parthia, of the race of the Arsacidæ, Arsaces XXIII., XXVII., XXVIII., XXIX., XXX. It was the first of these monarchs who founded the place here mentioned by Pliny.
[535] Or the “City of Vologesus;” certa being the Armenian for “city.”
[536] Nothing appears to be known of this place; but Hardouin thinks that it is the same with one called Maarsares by Ptolemy, and situate on the same river Narraga.
[537] Parisot says that this river is the one set down in the maps as falling into the Tigris below its junction with the Euphrates, and near the mouths of the two rivers. He says that near the banks of it is marked the town of Nabrahan, the Narraga of Pliny.