[648] Their town is called Arra by Ptolemy.
[649] Their district is still called Thamud, according to Ansart.
[650] Still called Cariatain, according to Ansart.
[651] A ridiculous fancy, probably founded solely on the similarity of the name.
[652] A story as probable, Hardouin observes, as that about the descendants of Minos.
[653] The Arabs of Yemen, known in Oriental history by the name of Himyari, were called by the Greeks Homeritæ.
[654] An inland city, called Masthala by Ptolemy.
[655] Agatharchides speaks of a town on the sea coast, which was so called from the multitude of ducks found there. The one here spoken of was in the interior, and cannot be the same.
[656] Hardouin observes, that neither this word, nor the name Riphearma, above mentioned, has either a Hebrew or an Arabian origin.
[657] Probably the same place as we find spoken of by Herodotus as Ampe, and at which Darius settled a colony of Miletians after the capture of Miletus, B.C. 494.