CHAP. 2. (2.)—PAPHLAGONIA.
Beyond this river begins the nation of Paphlagonia,[21] by some writers called Pylæmenia;[22] it is closed in behind by the country of Galatia. In it are Mastya,[23] a town founded by the Milesians, and then Cromna,[24] at which spot Cornelius Nepos also places the Heneti,[25] from whom he would have us believe that the Veneti of Italy, who have a similar name, are descended. The city also of Sesamon, now called Amastris,[26] Mount Cytorus,[27] distant sixty-three miles from Tium, the towns of Cimolis[28] and Stephane,[29] and the river Parthenius.[30] The promontory of Carambis,[31] which extends a great distance into the sea, is distant from the mouth of the Euxine three hundred and twenty-five miles, or, according to some writers, three hundred and fifty, being the same distance from the Cimmerian Bosporus, or, as some persons think, only three hundred and twelve miles. There was formerly also a town of the same name, and another near it called Armene; we now find there the colony of Sinope,[32] distant from Mount Cytorus one hundred and sixty-four miles. We then come to the river Evarchus,[33] and after that a people of the Cappadocians, the towns of Gaziura[34] and Gazelum,[35] the river Halys,[36] which runs from the foot of Mount Taurus through Cataonia and Cappadocia, the towns of Gangre[37] and Carusa,[38] the free town of Amisus,[39] distant from Sinope one hundred and thirty miles, and a gulf of the same name, of such vast extent[40] as to make Asia assume the form of a peninsula, the isthmus of which is only some two hundred[41] miles in breadth, or a little more, across to the gulf of Issus in Cilicia. In all this district there are, it is said, only three races that can rightly be termed Greeks, the Dorians, the Ionians, and the Æolians, all the rest being of barbarian origin.[42] To Amisus was joined the town of Eupatoria,[43] founded by Mithridates: after his defeat they were both included under the name of Pompeiopolis.
CHAP. 3. (3.)—CAPPADOCIA.
Cappadocia[44] has in the interior Archelais,[45] a colony founded by Claudius Cæsar, and past which the river Halys flows; also the towns of Comana,[46] watered by the Sarus, Neocæsarea,[47] by the Lycus,[48] and Amasia,[49] in the region of Gazacene, washed by the Iris. In Colopene it has Sebastia and Sebastopolis;[50] these are insignificant places, but still equal in importance to those just mentioned. In its remaining districts there is Melita,[51] founded by Semiramis, and not far from the Euphrates, Diocæsarea,[52] Tyana,[53] Castabala,[54] Magnopolis,[55] Zela,[56] and at the foot of Mount Argæus[57] Mazaca, now called Cæsarea.[58] That part of Cappadocia which lies stretched out before the Greater Armenia is called Melitene, before Commagene Cataonia, before Phrygia Garsauritis, Sargarausene,[59] and Cammanene, before Galatia Morimene, where their territories are divided by the river Cappadox,[60] from which this people have taken their name; they were formerly known as the Leucosyri.[61] From Neocæsarea above mentioned, the lesser Armenia is separated by the river Lycus. In the interior also there is the famous river Ceraunus,[62] and on the coast beyond the town of Amisus, the town and river of Chadisia,[63] and the town of Lycastum,[64] after which the region of Themiscyra[65] begins.
CHAP. 4.—THE REGION OF THEMISCYRA, AND THE NATIONS THEREIN.
The river Iris brings down to the sea the waters of the Lycus. In the interior is the city of Ziela,[66] famous for the defeat of Triarius[67] and the victory of C. Cæsar.[68] Upon the coast there is the river Thermodon, which rises at the fortified place called Phanarœa,[69] and flows past the foot of Mount Amazonius.[70] There was formerly a town of the same name as the river, and five others in all, Amazonium, Themiscyra, Sotira, Amasia, and Comana,[71] now only a Manteium. (4.) We find here the nations of the Genetæ,[72] the Chalybes,[73] the town of Cotyorum,[74] the nations of the Tibareni and the Mossyni, who make marks upon their bodies,[75] the people called Macrocephali,[76] the town of Cerasus,[77] the port of Chordule, the nations called the Bechires[78] and the Buzeri, the river Melas,[79] the people called the Macrones, and Sidene with its river Sidenus,[80] by which the town of Polemonium[81] is washed, at a distance from Amisus of one hundred and twenty miles. We next come to the rivers Iasonius[82] and Melanthius,[83] and, at a distance of eighty miles from Amisus, the town of Pharnacea,[84] the fortress and river of Tripolis;[85] the fortress and river of Philocalia, the fortress of Liviopolis, but not upon a river, and, at a distance of one hundred miles from Pharnacea, the free city of Trapezus,[86] shut in by a mountain of vast size. Beyond this town is the nation of the Armenochalybes[87] and the Greater Armenia, at a distance of thirty miles. On the coast, before Trapezus, flows the river Pyxites, and beyond it is the nation of the Sanni[88] Heniochi. Next comes the river Absarus,[89] with a fortress of the same name at its mouth, distant from Trapezus one hundred and forty miles.
At the back of the mountains of this district is Iberia, while on the coast are the Heniochi, the Ampreutæ,[90] the Lazi, the rivers Acampsis,[91] Isis,[92] Mogrus, and Bathys,[93] the nations of the Colchi, the town of Matium,[94] the river Heracleum and the promontory of the same name,[95] and the Phasis,[96] the most celebrated river of Pontus. This river rises among the Moschi, and is navigable for the largest vessels a distance of thirty-eight miles and a half, and for small ones very much higher up; it is crossed by one hundred and twenty bridges. It formerly had many cities of note on its banks, the more famous of which were Tyndaris, Circæum, Cygnus, and Phasis[97] at its mouth. But the most celebrated of them all was Æa, fifteen miles[98] distant from the sea, where the Hippos and the Cyaneos,[99] rivers of vast size, flow into it from opposite directions. At the present day its only place of note is Surium, which derives its name from the river which flows at that spot into the Phasis, and up to which place the Phasis is navigable for large vessels, as we have already[100] mentioned. It receives also some other rivers, wonderful for their number and magnitude, and among them the Glaucus.[101] At the mouth of the Phasis, at a distance of seventy miles from Absarus, are some islands, which, however, have no name. After passing this, we come to another river, the Charieis,[102] and the nation of the Salæ, by the ancients called Phthirophagi,[103] as also Suani.[104] The river Chobus[105] flows from the Caucasus through the country of the Suani. The river Rhoas comes next, then the region of Ecrectice, the rivers Singames,[106] Tarsuras,[107] Astelephus,[108] Chrysorrhoas, the nation of the Absilæ, the castle of Sebastopolis,[109] one hundred miles distant from Phasis, the nation of the Sannigæ, the town of Cygnus,[110] and the river and town of Penius.[111] We then come to the tribes of the Heniochi,[112] who are distinguished by numerous names.