CHAP. 16.—ADIABENE.
The kingdom of the Persians, by which we now understand that of Parthia, is elevated upon the Caucasian chain between two seas, the Persian and the Hyrcanian. To the Greater Armenia, which in the front slopes towards Commagene, is joined Sophene, which lies upon the descent[232] on both sides thereof, and next to it is Adiabene, the most advanced frontier of Assyria; a part of which is Arbelitis,[233] where Alexander conquered Darius, and which joins up to Syria. The whole of this country was called Mygdonia by the Macedonians, on account of the resemblance it bore to Mygdonia[234] in Europe. Its cities are Alexandria,[235] and Antiochia, also called Nisibis;[236] this last place is distant from Artaxata seven hundred and fifty miles. There was also in former times Ninus,[237] a most renowned city, on the banks of the Tigris, with an aspect towards the west. Adjoining the other front of Greater Armenia, which runs down towards the Caspian Sea, we find Atropatene,[238] which is separated from Otene, a region of Armenia, by the river Araxes; Gazæ[239] is its chief city, distant from Artaxata four hundred and fifty miles, and the same from Ecbatana in Media, to which country Atropatene belongs.
CHAP. 17. (14.)—MEDIA AND THE CASPIAN GATES.
Ecbatana,[240] the capital of Media, was built[241] by king Seleucus, at a distance from Great Seleucia of seven hundred and fifty miles, and twenty miles from the Caspian Gates. The remaining towns of the Medians are Phazaca, Aganzaga, and Apamea,[242] surnamed Rhagiane. The reason of these passes receiving the name of “Gates,” is the same that has been stated above.[243] The chain of mountains is suddenly broken by a passage of such extreme narrowness that, for a distance of eight miles, a single chariot can barely find room to move along: the whole of this pass has been formed by artificial means. Both on the right hand and the left are overhanging rocks, which look as though they had been exposed to the action of fire; and there is a tract of country, quite destitute of water, twenty-eight miles in extent. This narrow pass, too, is rendered still more difficult by a liquid salt which oozes from the rocks, and uniting in a single stream, makes its way along the pass. Besides this, it is frequented by such multitudes of serpents, that the passage is quite impracticable except in winter.
(15.) Joining up to Adiabene are the people formerly known as the ‘Carduchi,’ now the Cordueni,[244] in front of whom the river Tigris flows: and next to them are the Pratitæ, entitled the Par Odon,[245] who hold possession of the Caspian Gates.[246] On the other side[247] of these gates we come to the deserts[248] of Parthia and the mountain chain of Cithenus; and after that, the most pleasant locality of all Parthia, Choara[249] by name. Here were two cities of the Parthians, built in former times for their protection against the people of Media, Calliope,[250] and Issatis, the last of which stood formerly[251] on a rock. Hecatompylos,[252] the capital of Parthia, is distant from the Caspian Gates one hundred and thirty-three miles. In such an effectual manner is the kingdom of Parthia shut out by these passes. After leaving these gates we find the nation of the Caspii, extending as far as the shores of the Caspian, a race which has given its name to these gates as well as to the sea: on the left there is a mountainous district. Turning back[253] from this nation to the river Cyrus, the distance is said to be two hundred and twenty miles; but if we go from that river as far down as the Caspian Gates, the distance is seven hundred[254] miles. In the itineraries of Alexander the Great these gates were made the central or turning point in his expeditions; the distance from the Caspian Gates to the frontier of India being there set down as fifteen thousand six hundred and eighty[255] stadia, to the city of Bactra,[256] commonly called Zariaspa, three thousand seven hundred, and thence to the river Jaxartes[257] five thousand stadia.
CHAP. 18. (16.)—NATIONS SITUATE AROUND THE HYRCANIAN SEA.
Lying to the east of the Caspii is the region known as Apavortene,[258] in which there is a place noted for its singular fertility, called Dareium.[259] We then come to the nations of the Tapyri,[260] the Anariaci, the Staures, and the Hyrcani, past whose shores and beyond the river Sideris[261] the Caspian begins to take the name of the ‘Hyrcanian’ Sea: on this side of that stream are also the rivers Maxeras and Strato; all of them take their rise in the Caucasian chain. Next comes the district of Margiane,[262] so remarkable for its sunny climate. It is the only spot in all these regions that produces the vine, being shut in on every side by verdant and refreshing hills. This district is fifteen hundred stadia in circumference, but is rendered remarkably difficult of access by sandy deserts, which extend a distance of one hundred and twenty miles: it lies opposite to the country of Parthia, and in it Alexander founded the city of Alexandria. This place having been destroyed by the barbarians, Antiochus,[263] the son of Seleucus, rebuilt it on the same site as a Syrian city.[264] For, seeing that it was watered by the Margus,[265] which passes through it, and is afterwards divided into a number of streams for the irrigation of the district of Zothale, he restored it, but preferred giving it the name of Antiochia.[266] The circumference of this city is seventy stadia: it was to this place that Orodes conducted such of the Romans as had survived the defeat of Crassus. From the mountain heights of this district, along the range of Caucasus, the savage race of the Mardi, a free people, extends as far as the Bactri.[267] Below the district inhabited by them, we find the nations of the Orciani, the Commori, the Berdrigæ, the Harmatotropi,[268] the Citomaræ, the Comani, the Marucæi, and the Mandruani. The rivers here are the Mandrus and the Chindrus.[269] Beyond the nations already mentioned, are the Chorasmii,[270] the Candari,[271] the Attasini, the Paricani, the Sarangæ, the Marotiani, the Aorsi,[272] the Gaëli, by the Greek writers called Cadusii,[273] the Matiani, the city of Heraclea,[274] which was founded by Alexander, but was afterwards destroyed, and rebuilt by Antiochus, and by him called Achaïs; the Derbices also,[275] through the middle of whose territory the river Oxus[276] runs, after rising in Lake Oxus,[277] the Syrmatæ, the Oxydracæ, the Heniochi, the Bateni, the Saraparæ, and the Bactri, whose chief city is Zariaspe, which afterwards received the name of Bactra, from the river[278] there. This last nation lies at the back of Mount Paropanisus,[279] over against the sources of the river Indus, and is bounded by the river Ochus.[280] Beyond it are the Sogdiani,[281] the town of Panda, and, at the very extremity of their territory, Alexandria,[282] founded by Alexander the Great. At this spot are the altars which were raised by Hercules and Father Liber, as also by Cyrus, Semiramis, and Alexander; for the expeditions of all these conquerors stopped short at this region, bounded as it is by the river Jaxartes, by the Scythians known as the Silis, and by Alexander and his officers supposed to have been the Tanais. This river was crossed by Demodamas, a general of kings Seleucus and Antiochus, and whose account more particularly we have here followed. He also consecrated certain altars here to Apollo Didymæus.[283]
CHAP. 19. (17.)—THE NATIONS OF SCYTHIA AND THE COUNTRIES ON THE EASTERN OCEAN.
Beyond this river are the peoples of Scythia. The Persians have called them by the general name of Sacæ,[284] which properly belongs to only the nearest nation of them. The more ancient writers give them the name of Aramii. The Scythians themselves give the name of “Chorsari” to the Persians, and they call Mount Caucasus Graucasis, which means “white with snow.” The multitude of these Scythian nations is quite innumerable: in their life and habits they much resemble the people of Parthia. The tribes among them that are better known are the Sacæ, the Massagetæ,[285] the Dahæ,[286] the Essedones,[287] the Ariacæ,[288] the Rhymmici, the Pæsici, the Amardi,[289] the Histi, the Edones, the Camæ, the Camacæ, the Euchatæ,[290] the Cotieri, the Anthusiani, the Psacæ, the Arimaspi,[291] the Antacati, the Chroasai, and the Œtei; among them the Napæi[292] are said to have been destroyed by the Palæi. The rivers in their country that are the best known, are the Mandragæus and the Carpasus. Indeed upon no subject that I know of are there greater discrepancies among writers, from the circumstance, I suppose, of these nations being so extremely numerous, and of such migratory habits. Alexander the Great has left it stated that the water of this sea[293] is fresh, and M. Varro informs us, that some of it, of a similar character, was brought to Pompey, when holding the chief command in the Mithridatic war in its vicinity; the salt,[294] no doubt, being overpowered by the volume of water discharged by the rivers which flow into it. He adds also, that under the direction of Pompey, it was ascertained that it is seven days’ journey from India to the river Icarus,[295] in the country of the Bactri, which discharges itself into the Oxus, and that the merchandize of India being conveyed from it[296] through the Caspian Sea into the Cyrus, may be brought by land to Phasis in Pontus, in five days at most. There are numerous islands throughout the whole of the Caspian sea: the only one that is well known is that of Tazata.[297]