FOOTNOTES:
1 Or the “Hospitable” Sea, now the Black Sea.
2 Or the “Inhospitable.”
3 The streams which discharge their waters into the Palus Mæotis, or Sea of Azof.
4 Straits of the Dardanelles or of Gallipoli, spoken of in B. iv. c. 18, as seven stadia in width.
5 The Thracian Bosporus, now the Channel or Straits of Constantinople, and the Cimmerian Bosporus or Straits of Kaffa, or Yeni Kale.
6 From βοῦς, an ox, and πορός, “a passage.” According to the legend, it was at the Thracian Bosporus that the cow Io made her passage from one continent to the other, and hence the name, in all probability, celebrated alike in the fables and the history of antiquity. The Cimmerian Bosporus not improbably borrowed its name from the Thracian. See Æsch. Prom. Vinc. l. 733.
7 This sentence seems to bear reference to the one that follows, and not, as punctuated in the Latin, to the one immediately preceding it.
8 It is not probable that this is the case at the Straits of Kaffa, which are nearly four miles in width at the narrowest part.
9 Now the Riva, a river of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, falling into the Euxine north-east of Chalcedon.
10 Probably an obscure town.
11 On the river Calpas or Calpe, in Bithynia. Xenophon, in the Anabasis, describes it as about half way between Byzantium and Heraclea. The spot is identified in some of the maps as Kirpeh Limán, and the promontory as Cape Kirpeh.
12 Still known as the Sakaria.
13 Now called the Sursak, according to Parisot.
14 Now the Lef-ke. See the end of c. 42 of the last Book.
15 The modern Gulf of Sakaria. Of the Mariandyni, who gave the ancient name to it, little or nothing is known.
16 Its site is now known as Harakli or Eregli. By Strabo it is erroneously called a colony of Miletus. It was situate a few miles to the north of the river Lycus.
17 Now called the Kilij.
18 Stephanus Byzantinus speaks of this place as producing whetstones, or ἀκοναὶ, as well as the plant aconite.
19 This name was given to the cavern in common with several other lakes or caverns in various parts of the world, which, like the various rivers of the name of Acheron, were at some time supposed to be connected with the lower world.
20 Now called Falios (or more properly Filiyos), according to D’Anville, from the river of that name in its vicinity, supposed by him and other geographers to be the same as the ancient Billis, here mentioned by Pliny. By others of the ancient writers it is called Billæus.
21 Paphlagonia was bounded by Bithynia on the west, and by Pontus on the east, being separated from the last by the river Halys; on the south it was divided by the chain of Mount Olympus from Phrygia in the earlier times, from Galatia at a later period; and on the north it bordered on the Euxine.
22 In the Homeric catalogue we find Pylæmenes leading the Paphlagonians as allies of the Trojans; from this Pylæmenes the later princes of Paphlagonia claimed their descent, and the country was sometimes from them called Pylæmenia.
23 Suspected by Hardouin to have been the same as the Moson or Moston mentioned by Ptolemy as in Galatia.
24 It is mentioned by Homer, Il. ii. 855, as situate on the coast of Paphlagonia.
25 Strabo also, in B. xii., says that these people afterwards established themselves in Thrace, and that gradually moving to the west, they finally settled in the Italian Venetia, which from them took its name. But in his Fourth Book he says that the Veneti of Italy owe their origin to the Gallic Veneti, who came from the neighbourhood known as the modern Vannes.
26 This city, ninety stadia east of the river Parthenius, occupied a peninsula, and on each side of the isthmus was a harbour. The original city, as here mentioned, seems to have had the name of Sesamus or Sesamum, and it is spoken of by that name in Homer, Il. ii. 853, in conjunction with Cytorus. The territory of Amastris was famous for its growth of the best box-wood, which grew on Mount Cytorus. The present Amasra or Hanasserah occupies its site.
28 Otherwise called “Cinolis.” There is a place called Kinla or Kinoglu in the maps, about half-way between Kerempeh and Sinope, which is the Kinuli of Abulfeda, and probably the Cirolis or Cimolis of the Greek geographers.
29 The modern Estefan or Stefanos.
30 Now known by the name of Bartin, a corruption of its ancient appellation.
31 It still retains its ancient appellation in its name of Cape Kerempeh: of the ancient town nothing is known.
32 Now called Sinope, or Sinoub. Some ruins of it are still to be seen. The modern town is but a poor place, and has probably greatly declined since the recent attack upon it by the Russian fleet. Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher, was a native of ancient Sinope.
33 The boundary, according to Stephanus Byzantinus, also of the nations of Paphlagonia and Cappadocia. As Parisot remarks, this is an error, arising from the circumstance of a small tribe bearing the name of Cappadocians, having settled on its banks, between whom and the Paphlagonians it served as a limit.
34 On the river Iris. It was the ancient residence of the kings of Pontus, but in Strabo’s time it was deserted. It has been suggested that the modern Azurnis occupies its site.
35 In the north-west of Pontus, in a fertile plain between the rivers Halys and Amisus. It is also called Gadilon by Strabo. D’Anville makes it the modern Aladgiam; while he calls Gaziura by the name of Guedes.
36 Now called the Kisil Irmak, or Red River. It has been remarked that Pliny, in making this river to come down from Mount Taurus and flow at once from south to north, appears to confound the Halys with one of its tributaries, now known as the Izchel Irmak.
37 Its site is now called Kiengareh, Kangreh, or Changeri. This was a town of Paphlagonia, to the south of Mount Olgasys, at a distance of thirty-five miles from Pompeiopolis.
38 A commercial place to the south of Sinope. Its site is the modern Gherseh on the coast.
39 Now called Eski Samsun; on the west side of the bay or gulf, anciently called Sinus Amisenus. According to Strabo, it was only 900 stadia from Sinope, or 112½ Roman miles. The walls of the ancient city are to be seen on a promontory about a mile and a half from the modern town.
40 He means the numerous indentations which run southward into the coast, from the headland of Sinope to a distance of about one degree to the south.
41 On examining the map, we shall find that the distance is at least 300 miles across to the gulf of Issus or Iskenderoon.
42 Not speaking the Greek language.
43 A part of it only was added to Eupatoria; and it was separated from the rest by a wall, and probably contained a different population from that of Amisus. This new quarter contained the residence of the king, Mithridates Eupator, who built Eupatoria.
44 The boundaries of Cappadocia varied under the dominion of the Persians, after the Macedonian conquest, and as a Roman province under the emperors.
45 Founded by Archelaüs, the last king of Cappadocia. In Hamilton’s Researches, the site has been assumed to be the modern Ak-serai, but that place is not on the river Halys, as Leake supposes. It is, however, considered that Ak-serai agrees very well with the position of Archelais as laid down in the Itineraries, and that Pliny may have been misled in supposing that the stream on which it stood was the Halys.
46 Also called by the name of Chryse, or “Golden,” to distinguish it from another place of the same name in Pontus. It is generally supposed that the town of Al-Bostan, on the Sihoon or Sarus, is on or near the site of this Comana.
47 Now called Niksar, according to D’Anville, though Hardouin says that it is Tocat. Parisot remarks, that this place belonged rather to Pontus than to Cappadocia.
48 A small tributary of the Iris, or Yeshil-Irmak, mentioned in the next Chapter.
49 Still called Amasia, or Amasiyeh, and situate on the river Iris, or Yeshil Ermak. It was at one time the residence of the princes of Pontus, and the birth-place of the geographer Strabo. The remains of antiquity here are very considerable, and extremely interesting.
50 Both to the west of Neo-Cæsarea. According to Tavernier, as quoted by Hardouin, the modern name of Sebastia is Sivas.
51 Which gave name to the district of Melitene, mentioned in c. 20 of the last Book.
52 Near Nazianzus, in Cappadocia, the birth-place of Gregory Nazianzen. The traveller Ainsworth, on his road from Ak-Serai to Kara Hissar, came to a place called Kaisar Koi, and he has remarked that by its name and position it might be identified with Diocæsarea. Some geographers, indeed, look upon Diocæsarea and Nazianzus as the same place.
53 Its ruins are still to be seen at Kiz Hisar. It stood in the south of Cappadocia, at the northern foot of Mount Taurus. Tyana was the native place of Apollonius, the supposed worker of miracles, whom the enemies of Christianity have not scrupled to place on a par with Jesus Christ.
54 Some ruins, nineteen geographical miles from Ayas, are supposed to denote the site of ancient Castabala or Castabulum.
55 This place was first called Eupatoria, but not the same which Mithridates united with a part of Amisus. D’Anville supposes that the modern town of Tchenikeb occupies its site.
56 Or Ziela, now known as Zillah, not far south of Amasia. It was here that Julius Cæsar conquered Pharnaces, on the occasion on which he wrote his dispatch to Rome, “Veni, vidi, vici.”
57 Still known by the name of Ardgeh-Dagh.
58 Its site is still called Kaisiriyeh. It was a city of the district Cilicia, in Cappadocia, at the base of the mountain Argæus. It was first called Mazaca, and after that, Eusebeia. There are considerable remains of the ancient city.
59 Hardouin remarks, that the district of Sargarausene was not situate in front of Phrygia, but lay between Morimene and Colopenene, in the vicinity of Pontus.
60 Now known as the Konax, a tributary of the Halys, rising in Mount Littarus, in the chain of Paryadres.
61 Or “White Syrians.” Strabo says that in his time both the Cappadocian peoples, those situate above the Taurus and those on the Euxine, were called Leucosyri, or White Syrians, as there were some Syrians who were black, and who dwelt to the east of the Amanus.
62 It is doubtful whether this is the name of a river or a town. Notwithstanding its alleged celebrity, nothing is known of it.
63 Hecatæus, as quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus, speaks of Chadisia as a city of the Leucosyri, or Cappadocians. Neither the river nor the town appears to have been identified.
64 Probably on the river of that name, which has been identified with the Mers Imak, a river two or three miles east of the Acropolis of Amisus.
65 The extensive plain on the coast of Pontus, extending east of the river Iris beyond the Thermodon, and celebrated as the country of the Amazons. At the mouth of the Thermodon was a city of the same name, which had been destroyed by the time of Augustus. It is doubtful whether the modern Thermeh occupies its site.
66 The same place apparently as is mentioned in the last Chapter under the name of Zela.
67 Valerius Triarius, one of the legates of Lucullus, in the war against Mithridates. Plutarch tells us that Lucullus was obliged to conceal Triarius from the fury of his troops.
68 Over Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates.
69 Now called the Thermea.
70 Still called Mason-Dagh.
71 He alludes to Comana, in Pontus, the site of which is now called Gumenek, near to which, on the Tocat-su, the modern name of the Iris, Hamilton found some remains of a Roman town, and part of a bridge apparently of Roman construction. The language of Pliny seems to imply that it had become in his day nothing beyond a manteium or seat of an oracle.
72 Strabo speaks of a promontory called Genetes; and Stephanus Byzantinus mentions a river and port of the same name.
73 Strabo places the Chaldei, who, he says, were originally called Chalybes, in that part of the country which lies above Pharnacia (the modern Kerasunt).
74 Or Cotyora. According to Xenophon, this was a colony of Sinope which furnished supplies for the Ten Thousand in their retreat. The place was on a bay called after the town. Hamilton, in his Researches, &c., Vol. i., is of opinion that Cotyorum may have stood on the site of Ordou, where some remains of an ancient port, cut out of the solid rock are still visible. He remarks, however, that some writers suppose that Cotyora was the modern bay of Pershembah, which is more sheltered than Ordou. Cotyora was the place of embarkation of the Ten Thousand.
75 Similar to what we call tatooing. Parisot suggests that these people may have been the ancestors of the Mongol tribes who still dwell in tents similar to those mentioned by Mela as used by the Mossyni.
76 Or the “long-headed people.”
77 Its site is not improbably that of the modern Kheresoun, on the coast of Asia Minor, and west of Trebizond. Lucullus is said to have brought thence the first cherry-trees planted in Europe.
78 It has been remarked, that Pliny’s enumeration of names often rather confuses than helps, and that it is difficult to say where he intends to place the Bechires. We may perhaps infer from Mela that they were west of Trapezus and east of the Thermodon.
79 Now the Kara Su, or Black River, still retaining its ancient appellation. It rises in Cappadocia, in the chain of Mount Argæus.
80 Still called by the same name, according to Parisot, though sometimes it is called the river of Vatisa. More recent authorities, however, call it Poleman Chai.
81 On the coast of Pontus, built by king Polemon, perhaps the Second, on the site of the older city of Side, at the mouth of the Sidenus.
82 Probably near the promontory of Jasonium, 130 stadia to the north-east of Polemonium. It was believed to have received its name from Jason the Argonaut having landed there. It still bears the name of Jasoon, though more commonly called Bona or Vona.
83 Sixty stadia, according to Arrian, from the town of Cotyora.
84 Supposed to have stood on almost the same site as the modern Kheresoun or Kerasunda. It was built near, or, as some think, on the site of Cerasus.
85 Still known by the name of Tireboli, on a river of the same name, the Tireboli Su.
86 Now called Tarabosan, Trabezun, or Trebizond. This place was originally a colony of Sinope, after the loss of whose independence Trapezus belonged, first to Lesser Armenia, and afterwards to the kingdom of Pontus. In the middle ages it was the seat of the so-called empire of Trebizond. It is now the second commercial port of the Black Sea, ranking next after Odessa.
88 Theodoret says that the Sanni, and the Lazi, subsequently mentioned, although subdued by the Roman arms, were never obedient to the Roman laws. The Heniochi were probably of Grecian origin, as they were said to have been descended from the charioteers of the Argonauts, who had been wrecked upon these coasts.
89 Or Apsarus, or Absarum. Several geographers have placed the site of this town near the modern one known as Gonieh. Its name was connected with the myth of Medea and her brother Absyrtus. It is not improbable that the names Acampsis and Absarus have been given to the same river by different writers, and that they both apply to the modern Joruk.
90 It is suggested by Hardouin that these are the same as the Zydretæ mentioned in the Periplus of Arrian, and by him placed between the Heniochi and the Lazi.
92 Supposed to be the same as the modern Tshorok.
93 Or “Deep” River. This stream may possibly be identified by observing that Pliny places only one river between it and the Phasis.
94 Probably the Madia of Ptolemy, who places it in the interior.
95 At the present day called Eraklia, according to Parisot.
96 Now called the Faz or Rhioni.
97 Still called El Faz or Poti.
98 This place was in reality thirty-seven miles and a half from the sea. It was said to have been the native place of the enchantresses Circe and Medea.
99 The rivers Hippos and Cyaneos do not appear to have been identified.
100 In the previous page.
101 Now called the Tchorocsu.
102 It is doubtful whether this is the same river as that mentioned by Strabo under the name of Chares. D’Anville says that its modern name is Enguri.
103 Or “Feeders on Lice;” so called, according to Strabo, from the extreme filthiness of their habits.
104 There is a nation in this vicinity still called by a similar name. Professor Pallas, who visited them, says that nothing can equal their dishonesty, rapacity, and voracity. Parisot suggests that they are probably the descendants of the Phthirophagi of Pliny.
105 Now called the Khalira, according to D’Anville.
106 Now called the Hati-Scari, according to D’Anville.
107 Now the Okhum, according to D’Anville.
108 Now the Mosti-Skari, according to D’Anville.
109 Still called Savastopoli, according to Hardouin.
110 This must not be confounded with the other place of the same name mentioned in the present Chapter. See p. 10.
111 Hermoläus suggests Pityus as the correct reading.
112 The Sanni Heniochi; one of these nations has been already mentioned in the last page.
113 Inhabited anciently by the Coli, and constituting the northern portion of ancient Colchis.
114 In B. v. c. 27.
115 Or nation “with the black cloaks,” from some peculiarity in their dress.
116 This was the great trading-place of the wild tribes in the interior; and so numerous were they, that the Greeks asserted that there were seventy different languages spoken in the market of Dioscurias.
117 Whence the appellation Heniochi, from the Greek ἡνιοχὸς.
118 There were two places called Heracleium on this coast, one north and the other south of the river Achæus: probably the latter is here meant.
119 Said to have been descended from the Achæans or Greeks who accompanied Jason in the Argonautic Expedition, or, according to Ammianus, who resorted thither after the conclusion of the Trojan war.
120 Probably meaning the “martial people,” or the “people of Mars.” This was the title, not of a single nation, but of a number of peoples distinguished for their predatory habits.
121 This people occupied the N.E. shore of the Euxine, between the Cimmerian Bosporus and the frontier of Colchis. Their name is still in existence, and is applied to the whole western district of the Caucasus, in the forms of Tcherkas, as applied to the people, and Tcherkeskaia or Circassia, to the country.
122 Hardouin suggests that these ought to be read as forming one name, the “Cerri Cephalatomi,” and suggests that they were so called from their habit of cutting off the heads of their slain enemies.
123 Meaning, nearly in the extreme corner of Pontus.
124 In the time of Strabo this was a considerable sea-port, and after its destruction by the Heniochi, it was restored, and served as an important frontier fortress of the Roman empire against the Scythians.
125 This was Mithridates, king of Bosporus, which sovereignty he obtained by the favour of the emperor Claudius, in A.D. 41. The circumstances are unknown which led to his subsequent expulsion by the Romans, who placed his younger brother Cotys on the throne in his stead.
126 Hardouin thinks that the Thalli inhabited the present country of Astrakan.
127 It was the ancient opinion, to which we shall find frequent reference made in the present Book, that the northern portion of the Caspian communicated with the Scythian or Septentrional ocean.
128 Mentioned only by Pliny. It is supposed to answer to the present Ukrash river; and the town and river of Hierus are probably identical with the Hieros Portus of Arrian, which has been identified with the modern Sunjuk-Kala.
129 Inhabited by the Sindi, a people of Asiatic Sarmatia. They probably dwelt in and about the modern peninsula of Taman, between the Sea of Azof and the Black Sea, to the south of the river Hypanis, the modern Kouban. The site of their capital, Sindos, or Sinda, is supposed to have been the modern Anapa. Parisot conjectures that this place was one of the ancient settlements of the Zigeunes, the modern Bohemians or Gypsies. He seems to found his opinion upon some observations of Malte Brun (Précis de Geographie, vol. vi.) upon the origin of the Gypsy race, which will amply repay the perusal.
130 The peninsula on which Taman or Timoutarakan is situate.
131 The jugerum was 100 Grecian or 104 Roman feet in length.
132 Signifying in Greek the “sea-shore.”
133 Lying between Singa and Phanagoria. Rennell fixes it at the opening of the lake into which the Kouban flows.
134 Or the “gardens,” from the Greek κῆποι. A town of the Cimmerian Bosporus, founded by the Milesians. Dr. Clarke identifies the modern Sienna with it, and the curious Milesian sculptures found there confirm the supposition.
135 Its ruins are supposed to be those near Taman, on the eastern side of the Straits of Kaffa. It was the great emporium for all the traffic between the coasts of the Palus Mæotis and the countries on the south of the Caucasus, and was chosen by the kings of Bosporus as their capital in Asia.
136 A town of the Sindæ; it possessed, like Phanagoria, a celebrated temple of Aphrodite Apaturos, or Venus “the Deceiver,” whence probably its name.
137 Clarke identifies it with the modern Temruk, but Forbiger with Eskikrimm.
138 See B. iv. c. 24.
139 That lying on the east of the Sea of Azof. It seems impossible to identify the spot inhabited by each of these savage tribes. Hardouin says that the modern name of that inhabited by the Mæotici is Coumania.
140 Parisot suggests that this tribe afterwards emigrated to the west, and after establishing themselves in Macedonia, finally gave its name to modern Servia. He remarks, that most of these names appear to have been greatly mutilated, through the ignorance or carelessness of the transcribers, no two of the manuscripts agreeing as to the mode in which they should be spelt.
141 Or Don. It flows into the Sea of Azof by two larger mouths and several smaller ones. Strabo says that the distance between the two larger mouths is sixty stadia.
142 From the Greek γυναικοκρατουμενοὶ, “ruled over by women.” It is not improbable that this name was given by some geographer to these Sarmatian tribes on finding them, at the period of his visit, in subjection to the rule of a queen. Parisot remarks, that this passage affords an instance of the little care bestowed by Pliny upon procuring the best and most correct information, for that the Roman writers had long repudiated the use of the term “Sauromatæ.” He also takes Pliny to task for his allusion to these tribes as coupling with the Amazons, the existence of such a people being in his time generally disbelieved.
143 Hardouin suggests from εὐάζω, “to celebrate the orgies of Bacchus.”
144 Perhaps from κοίτη, a “den” or “cavern,” their habitation.
145 Parisot suggests that they may have been a Caucasian or Circassian tribe, because in the Circassian language the word zig has the meaning of “man.” He also suggests that they were probably a distinct race from the Zingi previously mentioned, whom he identifies with the ancestors of the Zingari or Bohemians, the modern Gypsies.
146 The more common reading is “Turcæ,” a tribe also mentioned by Mela, and which gave name to modern Turkistan.
147 The Argippæi of Herodotus and other ancient authors. These people were bald, flat-nosed, and long-chinned. They are again mentioned by Pliny in C. 14, who calls them a race not unlike the Hyperborei, and then, like Mela, abridges the description given by Herodotus. By different writers these people have been identified with the Chinese, the Brahmins or Lamas, and the Calmucks. The last is thought to be the most probable opinion, or else that the description of Herodotus, borrowed by other writers, may be applied to the Mongols in general. The mountains, at the foot of which they have been placed, are identified with either the Ural, the western extremity of the Altaï chain, or the eastern part of the Altaï.
148 Generally regarded as the western branch of the Ural Mountains.
149 The former editions mostly have “there was,” implying that in the time of Pliny it no longer existed. The name of this place was Tanais; its ruins are still to be seen in the vicinity of Kassatchei. It was founded by a colony from Miletus, and became a flourishing seat of trade. The modern town of Azof is supposed to occupy nearly its site.
150 The people of Panticapæum, on the opposite side of the Palus Mæotis, occupying the site of the present Kertch. It was founded by the Milesians B.C. 541, and took its name from the neighbouring river Panticapes.
151 The Ceraunian mountains were a range belonging to the Caucasian chain, and situate at its eastern extremity; the relation of this range to the chain has been variously stated by the different writers.
152 He may possibly allude to a range of mountains in the Punjaub and the vicinity of the modern Lahore, by his reference to the Cathæi, who are supposed to have been the ancient inhabitants of that district. The localities of the various races here mentioned are involved in great obscurity.
153 Or Mediterranean.
154 See Vol. i. p. 497.
155 He includes under the term “Cappadocia,” the northern part originally called “Cappadocia ad Pontum,” and in later times simply Pontus, and the southern part, originally called “Cappadocia ad Taurum,” and more recently simply Cappadocia.
156 Running from the shores of the Euxine to the borders of Syria.
157 I. e. on the eastern side.
158 Meaning that part of Asia which we now call Asia Minor.
159 This ill agrees with what he has said in c. 2, that the distance across from Sinope to the Gulf of Issus is but 200 miles.
160 Greater Armenia, now known as Erzeroum, Kars, Van, and Erivan, was bounded on the north-east and north by the river Cyrus, or Kur of the present day; on the north-west and west by the Moschian mountains, the prolongation of the chain of the Anti-Taurus, and the Euphrates, or Frat of the present day; and on the south and south-east by the mountains called Masius, Niphates, and Gordiæi (the prolongation of the Taurus), and the lower course of the Araxes. On the east the country comes to a point at the confluence of the Syrus and Araxes.
161 Now known as the Kara-bel-Dagh, or Kut-Tagh, a mountain chain running south-west and north-east from the east of Asia Minor into the centre of Armenia, and forming the chief connecting link between the Taurus and the mountains of Armenia.
162 In B. v. c. 20.
163 He means, where the river Euphrates runs the farthest to the west.
164 Littré suggests that the reading should be “Aroei.”
165 The modern Eraskh or Aras.
166 The modern Kur.
167 This district was bounded on the east by the Euphrates, on the north and north-west by the mountains Scodises, Paryadres, and Anti-Taurus, and on the south by the Taurus.
168 This river is said by Ammianus to have taken its name from Cyrus. It appears, however, to have been a not uncommon name of the rivers of Persia.
169 It is probable that these rivers take their rise near each other, but it is not improbable that the intervening distance mentioned in the present passage is much too small.
170 Hardouin thinks that this is Neo-Cæsarea, mentioned as having been built on the banks of the Euphrates.
171 Now called Ezaz, according to D’Anville. Parisot suggests that it ought to be Gaza or Gazaca, probably a colony of Median Gaza, now Tauris.
172 Originally called Tephrice. It stood on the river Lycus, and not far from the sources of the Halys, having been founded by Pompey, where he gained his first victory over Mithridates, whence its name, the “City of Victory.” The modern Enderez or Devrigni, probably marks its site.
173 Ritter places it in Sophene, the modern Kharpat, and considers that it may be represented by the modern Sert, the Tigranocerta of D’Anville.
174 The capital of Sophene, one of the districts of Armenia. St. Martin thinks that this was the ancient heathen name of the city of Martyropolis, but Ritter shows that such cannot be the case. It was called by the Syrians Kortbest; its present name is Kharput.
175 Generally supposed, by D’Anville and other modern geographers, to be represented by the ruins seen at Sert. It was the later capital of Armenia, built by Tigranes.
176 The ancient capital of Armenia. Hannibal, who took refuge at the court of Artaxias when Antiochus was no longer able to afford him protection, superintended the building of it. Some ruins, called Takt Tiridate, or Throne of Tiridates, near the junction of the Aras and the Zengue, were formerly supposed to represent Artaxata, but Colonel Monteith has fixed the site at a bend in the river lower down, at the bottom of which were the ruins of a bridge of Greek or Roman architecture.
177 A fortress in Lesser Armenia, upon the Euphrates, seventy-five miles from Zimara, as mentioned in B. v. c. 20. It has been identified with the modern ferry and lead mines of Kebban Ma’den, the points where the Kara Su is joined by the Murad Chaï, 270 miles from its source.
178 Justin makes it only 1100, and that estimate appears to be several hundreds too much.
179 A country lying to the north of Armenia.
180 We find in Strabo the names of some of them mentioned, such as Sophene, Acilisene, Gorgodylene, Sacassene, Gorgarene, Phanene, Comisene Orchestene, Chorsene, Cambysene, Odomantis, &c.
181 The Ceraunian Mountains. Parisot remarks that in this description, Pliny, notwithstanding his previous professions, does not appear to have made any very great use of the list drawn up by Corbulo.
182 That is, looking towards the south.
183 The Septentrional Ocean, with which the ancients imagined that the northern part of the Caspian Sea is connected. See c. 15.
184 According to Strabo, Albania was bounded on the east by the Caspian, and on the north by the Caucasus. On the west it joined Iberia, while on the south it was divided from the Greater Armenia by the river Cyrus. By later writers, the northern and western boundaries are differently given. It was found to be the fact that the Albani occupied the country on both sides of the Caucasus, and accordingly Pliny, in c. 15, carries the country further north, as far as the river Casius, while in this Chapter he makes the river Alazon, the modern Alasan, the western boundary towards Iberia.
185 To the west of Albania.
186 Iberia lay south of the great chain of the Caucasus, forming an extensive tract bounded on the west by Colchis, on the east by Albania, and on the south by Armenia, and watered by the river Cyrus. It corresponded very nearly with modern Georgia.
187 The modern Alasan.
188 Now called Kablas-Var, according to Parisot.
189 Parisot says that this can be no other than Harmoza on the river Cyrus, in the vicinity of the modern Akhalzik.
190 Probably meaning “of the same name.”
191 To the west.
193 There are two chief passes over the chain of the Caucasus, both of which were known to the ancients. The first is between the eastern extremity of its chief north-eastern spur and the Caspian sea, near the modern Derbend. This was called “Albaniæ,” and sometimes, “Caspiæ Pylæ,” the “Albanian” or “Caspian Gates.” The other, which was nearly in the centre of the Caspian range, was called “Caucasiæ” or “Sarmaticæ Pylæ,” being the same as the modern pass of Dariyel, and probably the one here referred to.
194 Probably the same as the present fortress of Dariyel.
195 The first instance was that of the narrow isthmus to which the continent of Asia is reduced from Sinope across to the Gulf of Issus, as mentioned in c. 2.
196 The shortest distance across, in a straight line, is in reality little less than 600 miles.
197 The ancestor of the Seleucidæ, kings of Syria, treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus, brother of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
198 Already mentioned in B. iv. c. 27.
199 Mentioned in c. 44 of the last Book.
200 The one lying at the mouth of the Danube, and mentioned in B. iv. c. 27.
202 Or “Mars’ Island,” also called Aretias; at this island, in the south of the Euxine, the two queens of the Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a temple in honour of Ares or Mars. It is thought to be the rocky islet called by the Turks Kerasunt Ada, between three and four miles from Kerasunt, the ancient Pharnacea.
203 It is difficult to say what chain of mountains, if indeed any in particular, he would designate by this name. Parisot remarks that these mountains would seem to belong rather to the region of poetry and fable than of fact, and states that it is pretty clear that the Balkan chain, the districts in which the Danube takes its rise, the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Hercynian mountains, and even the chain of Taurus and Caucasus, have at different times been described or mentioned under the name of Riphæan Mountains. It was evidently Pliny’s belief that the great Northern or Scythian Ocean skirted the northern shores of Asia, a little above the latitude perhaps of the northern extremity of the Caspian. In B. iv. c. 26, we find him crossing these, perhaps imaginary, mountains, and then proceeding to the left, along, as he supposes, the extreme northern shores of Europe; here he seems to start from the same point, but turns to the right, and proceeds along the northern, eastern, and southern shores of Asia.
204 North-east.
205 I. e. more to the west.
206 See B. iv. c. 26.
207 The extremity of the supposed shores of the Hyperborei.
208 D’Anville supposes that he means the headland called Cande-Noss or Kanin-Noss, in the White Sea. Parisot, who thinks that Pliny had no idea of the regions which lie in those high latitudes, supposes that he refers to Domnes-Ness in the Baltic, and that by the Carambucis he means the river Niemen.
209 Ansart thinks that he means the Dwina, which falls into the Gulf of Archangel.
211 For a full description of them, see B. iv. c. 26.
212 See the Note to c. 7, p. 15. This description is borrowed from that given by Herodotus. Their sacred character has been explained as referring to the class or caste of priests among this Eastern people, whoever they may have been.
213 Ansart thinks that the Cicianthi, the Georgi, and the Amazons, inhabited the modern governments of Archangel and Vologda. It seems almost akin to rashness to hazard a conjecture.
214 It has been already stated that the Caspian Sea was, in one portion of it, so called, and in another the Hyrcanian Sea.
215 His meaning is, that the Scythian ocean communicates on the northern shores of Asia with the Caspian Sea. Hardouin remarks, that Patrocles, the commander of the Macedonian fleet, was the first to promulgate this notion, he having taken the mouth of the river Volga for a narrow passage, by means of which the Scythian or Northern Ocean made its way into the Caspian Sea.
216 The country of the Cadusii, in the mountainous district of Media Atropatene, on the south-west shores of the Caspian Sea, between the parallels of 390 and 370 north latitude. This district probably corresponds with the modern district of Gilan.
217 Now the Syr-Daria or Yellow River, and watering the barren steppes of the Kirghiz-Cossacks. It really discharges itself into the Sea of Aral, and not the Caspian.
218 The supposed Eastern Ocean of the ancients.
219 The imaginary passage by which it was supposed to communicate with the Scythian Ocean.
220 This being in reality the mouth of the Rha or Volga, as mentioned in Note 18, p. 24.
221 On the eastern side.
222 Across the mouths of the Volga.
223 On a promontory, on the right or eastern side of the mouth of the river Volga.
224 He here means the western shores of the Caspian, after leaving the mouth of the Volga.
225 In c. 11.
227 The Cæsius of Ptolemy, and the Koisou of modern times.
228 Probably the modern river Samour.
229 It is difficult to determine the exact locality of this river, but it would seem to have been near the Amardus, the modern Sefid-Rúd.
233 He alludes to the town of Arbela, where, as it is generally said, the army of Darius was defeated by Alexander the Great; by which engagement the conflict was terminated. It was the fact, however, that Darius left his baggage and treasures at Arbela, while the battle really took place near the village of Gaugamela, about twenty miles to the north-west of Arbela. This place still retains its name of Arbil.
234 A district in the east of Macedonia, bordering on the Thermaic gulf and the Chalcidic peninsula.
235 Nothing is known of this place. Hardouin suggests that it may have been built on the spot where Alexander defeated Darius.
236 Also known as Antiochia Mygdoniæ, the capital of Mygdonia. Its ruins are still to be seen near a place called Nisibin. It stood on the river Mygdonius, now the Nahral Huali.
237 Or Nineveh, the capital of the great Assyrian monarchy, destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians about B.C. 606.
238 There is great difficulty in ascertaining, from the accounts given by the ancient writers, the exact limits of this district, but it is supposed to have included a considerable portion of the province now known by the name of Azerbaijan. It derived its name from Atropates or Atropes, who was governor of this district under the last Darius.
239 Most probably the place now known as Gazæa, the royal residence of the Parthian kings, and, as its name would imply, their treasure city. Colonel Rawlinson thinks that this place underwent many changes of name according to the rulers who successively occupied it; among other names, it appears to have borne that of Ecbatana.
240 A city of great magnitude, pleasantly situate near the foot of Mount Orontes, in the northern part of Greater Media. Its original foundation was attributed by Diodorus Siculus to Semiramis, and by Herodotus to Deioces. It was the capital of the Median kingdom, and afterwards the summer residence of the Persian and Parthian kings. The genuine orthography of the name seems to be Agbatana. The ruins seen at the modern Hamadan are generally supposed to represent those of the ancient Ecbatana; but it is most probable that at different times, if not contemporaneously, there were several cities of this name in Media.
241 Pliny in this statement, as also in the distances which he here assigns to Ecbatana, is supposed to have confounded Ecbatana with Europus, now Veramin, rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator.
242 This was a city in the vicinity of Rhagæ, which was distant about 500 stadia from the Caspian Gates. It was built by the Greeks after the Macedonian conquest of Asia. The other places here mentioned do not appear to have been identified.
244 This was the name of the wild tribes which occupied the high mountainous district between the great upland of Persia and the low plains of Mesopotamia. In addition to the name mentioned by Pliny, they were called Gordyæ, Cardaces, and Curtii. The present Kurds, inhabiting Kurdistan, are supposed to be descended from them.
245 The Greek παρ’ ὁδὸν, “on the road”—meaning, probably, to the Caspian Gates. Hardouin says that the Pratitæ were so called from the Greek πρατῖται, “merchants.”
246 Although dwelling at a considerable distance, the custody of these gates was delivered to them, Hardouin says, by the kings of Media.
247 To the south-east of them.
248 Mentioned in c. 29 of the present Book.
249 Or Choarene.
250 Its site is unknown; but it is mentioned by Appian as one of the many towns erected by Seleucus.
251 By the use of the word “quondam,” he implies that in his time it was in ruins.
252 A place of considerable importance, which seems to have derived its name from its “hundred gates.” It was one of the capitals of the Arsacidan princes; but, extensive though it may have been, there is great doubt where it was situate, the distance recorded by ancient writers not corresponding with any known ruins.
253 In a northern direction, along the western shores of the Caspian.
254 According to Hardouin, Eratosthenes, as quoted by Strabo, makes the distance 5060 stadia, or about 633 miles. He has, however, mis-translated the passage, which gives 5600 stadia, or 700 miles exactly, as stated by Pliny.
255 Or 1960 miles.
256 Bactra, Bactrum, or Bactrium, was one of the chief cities, if not the capital, of the province of Bactriana. It was one of the most ancient cities in the world, and the modern Balkh is generally supposed to occupy its site. Strabo, as well as Pliny, evidently considers that Bactra and Zareispa were the same place, while Appian distinguishes between the two, though he does not clearly state their relative positions.
258 By some writers called Apavareticene, in the south-eastern part of Parthia. Ansart says that it is now known as Asterabad and Ghilan.
259 Or Dara. A strongly fortified place, built by Arsaces I., and situate on the mountains of the Zapaorteni.
260 According to Ansart, the district now known as Tabaristan, or Mazanderan, derives the first of those names from the Tapyri.
261 D’Anville remarks that this river still retains its “starry” name, being the modern Aster or Ester, on which Asterabad is situate.
262 This district occupied the southern part of modern Khiva, the south-western part of Bokhara, and the north-eastern part of Khorassan. This province of the ancient Persian empire received its name from the river Margus, now the Moorghab. It first became known to the Greeks by the expeditions of Alexander and Antiochus I.
263 Antiochus Soter, the son of Seleucus Nicator.
264 The meaning of this, which has caused great diversity of opinion among the Commentators, seems to be, that on rebuilding it, he preferred giving it a name borne by several cities in Syria, and given to them in honour of kings of that country. To this he appears to have been prompted by a supposed resemblance which its site on the Margus bore to that of Antiochia on the Orontes.
265 The modern Moorghab; it loses itself in the sands of Khiva.
266 Its remains are supposed to be those of an ancient city, still to be seen at a spot called Merv, on the river Moorghab.
267 The people of modern Bokhara.
268 This appears to mean the nations of “Chariot horse-breeders.”
269 In former editions, called the ‘Gridinus.’ It is impossible to identify many of these nations and rivers, as the spelling varies considerably in the respective MSS.
270 An extensive tribe of Sogdiana, now represented by the district of Khawarezm, in the desert country of Khiva.
271 A tribe in the north-western part of Sogdiana. They appear to have been situate to the east of the district of Khawarezm. It has been suggested that they derived their name from the Sanscrit Gandharas, a tribe beyond the Indus.
272 The chief seat of the Aorsi, who appear to have been a numerous and powerful people both of Europe and Asia, was in the country between the Tanais, the Euxine, the Caspian, and the Caucasus. It seems doubtful, however, whether it is these people who are alluded to in the present passage.
273 These would almost seem to be a different people from those mentioned in c. 15 of the present Book, as dwelling in Atropatene. The present appears to have been a tribe of Sogdiana.
274 Strabo mentions a town of this name, which he places, together with Apamea, in the direction of Rhagæ. If Pliny has observed anything like order in his recital of nations and places, the Heraclea here mentioned cannot be that spoken of by Strabo, but must have been distant nearly 1000 miles from it.
275 This was a tribe, apparently of Scythian origin, settled in Margiana, on the left bank of the Oxus. Strabo says that they worshipped the earth, and forbore to sacrifice or slay any female; but that they put to death their fellow-creatures as soon as they had passed their seventieth year, it being the privilege of the next of kin to eat the flesh of the deceased person. The aged women, however, they used to strangle, and then consign them to the earth.
276 The modern Jihoun or Amou. It now flows into the Sea of Aral, but the ancients universally speak of it as running into the Caspian; and there are still existing distinct traces of a channel extending in a south-westerly direction from the sea of Aral to the Caspian, by which at least a portion, and probably the whole of the waters of the Oxus found their way into the Caspian; and not improbably the Sea of Aral itself was connected with the Caspian by this channel.
277 Most probably under this name he means the Sea of Aral.
278 The Bactrus. This river is supposed to be represented by the modern Dakash. Hardouin says that Ptolemy, B. vi. c. 11, calls this river the Zariaspis, or Zariaspes. See the Note at the end of c. 17, p. 30.
279 Now known as the Hindoo-Koosh; a part of the great mountain-chain which runs from west to east through the centre of the southern portion of the highlands of Central Asia, and so divides the part of the continent which slopes down to the Indian ocean from the great central table-land of Tartary and Thibet. The native term, Hindoo-Koosh, is only a form of the ancient name “Indicus Caucasus,” which was sometimes given to this chain. The ancient name was derived probably from the Persian word paru, a “mountain.”
280 Flowing from the north side of the Paropanisus. According to Pliny and Ptolemy, this river flowed through Bactria into the Oxus; but according to Strabo, through Hyrcania into the Caspian Sea. Some suppose it to have been only another name for the Oxus. Ansart suggests that it may have been the river now known as the Bash.
281 D’Anville says that there is still the valley of Al Sogd, in Tartary, beyond the Oxus. The district called Sogdiana was probably composed of parts of modern Turkistan and Bokhara. The site of Panda does not appear to be known.
282 It was built on the Jaxartes, to mark the furthest point reached by Alexander in his Scythian expedition. It has been suggested that the modern Kokend may possibly occupy its site.
283 The “twin,” of the same birth with Diana.
284 The Sacæ probably formed one of the most numerous and most powerful of the Scythian Nomad tribes, and dwelt to the east and north-east of the Massagetæ, as far as Servia, in the steppes of Central Asia, which are now peopled by the Kirghiz Cossacks, in whose name that of their ancestors, the Sacæ, is traced by some geographers.
285 Meaning the “Great Getæ.” They dwelt beyond the Jaxartes and the Sea of Aral, and their country corresponds to that of the Khirghiz Tartars in the north of Independent Tartary.
286 The Dahæ were a numerous and warlike Nomad tribe, who wandered over the vast steppes lying to the east of the Caspian Sea. Strabo has grouped them with the Sacæ and Massagetæ, as the great Scythian tribes of Inner Asia, to the north of Bactriana.
287 See also B. iv. c. 20, and B. vi. c. 7. The position of the Essedones, or perhaps more correctly, the Issedones, may probably be assigned to the east of Ichim, in the steppes of the central border of the Kirghiz, in the immediate vicinity of the Arimaspi, who dwelt on the northern declivity of the Altaï chain. A communication is supposed to have been carried on between these two peoples for the exchange of the gold that was the produce of those mountain districts.
288 They dwelt, according to Ptolemy, along the southern banks of the Jaxartes.
289 Or the Mardi, a warlike Asiatic tribe. Stephanus Byzantinus, following Strabo, places the Amardi near the Hyrcani, and adds, “There are also Persian Mardi, without the a;” and, speaking of the Mardi, he mentions them as an Hyrcanian tribe, of predatory habits, and skilled in archery.
290 D’Anville supposes that the Euchatæ may have dwelt at the modern Koten, in Little Bukharia. It is suggested, however, by Parisot, that they may have possibly occupied a valley of the Himalaya, in the midst of a country known as “Cathai,” or the “desert.”
291 The first extant notice of them is in Herodotus; but before him there was the poem of Aristeas of Proconnesus, of which the title was ‘Arimaspea;’ and it is mainly upon the statements in it that the stories told relative to this people rest—such as their being one-eyed, and as to their stealing the gold from the Gryphes, or Griffins, under whose custody it was placed. Their locality is by some supposed to have been on the left bank of the Middle Volga, in the governments of Kasan, Simbirsk, and Saratov: a locality which is sufficiently near the gold districts of the Uralian chain to account for the legends connecting them with the Gryphes, or guardians of the gold.
292 The former reading was, “The Napæi are said to have perished as well as the Apellæi.” Sillig has, however, in all probability, restored the correct one. “Finding,” he says, “in the work of Diodorus Siculus, that two peoples of Scythia were called, from their two kings, who were brothers, the Napi and the Pali, we have followed close upon the footsteps of certain MSS. of Pliny, and have come to the conclusion that some disputes arose between these peoples, which ultimately led to the destruction of one of them”.
293 Of the Caspian Sea.
294 Said on the supposition that it is a bay or gulf of the Scythian or Septentrional Ocean.
295 Ansart suggests that this is the modern Rocsha.
296 From the Oxus.
297 Ansart suggests that this island is that now called Idak, one of the Ogurtchinski group.
298 This would apply to the north-eastern coasts of Siberia, if Pliny had had any idea of land situate in such high latitudes; but, on the contrary, as already remarked, he appears to have supposed that the continent of Asia terminated a little above the northern extremity of the Caspian. It would be a loss of time to guess what locality is meant by the Scythian Promontory.
299 Or “man-eaters.”
300 This, it would appear, he looks upon as the extreme north-eastern point of Asia. Parisot suggests that the word Tabis is allied to the Mongol Daba, which signifies “mountain;” or else that it may have some affinity with “Thibet.”
301 The people of Serica, which country with Ptolemy corresponds to the north-western part of China, and the adjacent portions of Thibet and Chinese Tartary. The capital, Sera, is by most supposed to be Singan, on the Hoang-ho, but by some Peking. Pliny evidently refers to the same people, and has some notion of the locality of their country.
302 This is generally supposed to bear reference to the cloths exported by the Seres, as Serica, and corresponding to our silks. On examination, however, it will appear that he rather refers to some textures of cotton, such as calicos or muslins; it being not unknown to Pliny that silks or bombycina were the produce of the bombyx or silk-worm; see B. xi. c. 22. The use of the word “canities” points strongly to cotton as being the substance meant.
303 Whether it is silk or cotton that is here referred to, Pliny seems in this passage to allude to some peculiarity in the texture, which was perhaps so close, that when brought to the Western world it was the custom to draw out a portion of the threads. In such case it perhaps strongly resembled the Chinese crapes of the present day. Speaking of Cleopatra in B. x. 141, of the Pharsalia, Lucan says, “Her white breasts are resplendent through the Sidonian fabric, which, wrought in close texture by the sley of the Seres, the needle of the workman of the Nile has separated, and has loosened the warp by stretching out the web.”
304 He either refers to dresses consisting of nothing but open work, or what we may call fine lace, and made from the closely woven material imported from China, or else to the ‘Coan vestments’ which were so much worn by the Roman women, especially those of light character, in the Augustan age. This Coan tissue was remarkable for its extreme transparency. It has been supposed that these dresses were made of silk, as in the island of Cos silk was spun and woven at an early period, so much so as to obtain a high celebrity for the manufactures of that island. Seneca, B. vii. De Benef. severely censures the practice of wearing these thin garments. For further information on this subject, see B. xi. c. 26, 27, and B. xii. c. 22.
305 Meaning that they do not actively seek intercourse with the rest of the world, but do not refuse to trade with those who will take the trouble of resorting to them. This coincides wonderfully with the character of the Chinese even at the present day.
306 Ptolemy speaks of it as the Œchordas.
307 The headland of Malacca, in the Aurea Chersonnesus, was also called by this name, but it is hardly probable that that is the place here meant.
308 See B. iv. c. 18.
309 The Emodi Montes (so called probably from the Indian hemâdri, or the “golden”) are supposed to have formed that portion of the great lateral branch of the Indian Caucasus, the range of the Himalaya, which extends along Nepaul, and probably as far as Bhotan.
310 In c. 14 of the present Book.
311 The whole of this passage seems very intricate, and it is difficult to make sense of it. His meaning, however, is probably this: that the coast of India, running from extreme north-east to south-east, relatively to Greece, the country of Eratosthenes, is exactly opposite to the coast of Gaul, running from extreme north-west to south-west—India thus lying due west of Gaul, without any intervening land. This, it will be remembered, was the notion of Columbus, when contemplating the possibility of a western passage to India.
312 This appears also to be somewhat obscure. It is clear that if India lies to the west of Gaul, it cannot be Pliny’s meaning that it is refreshed by the west wind blowing to it from Gaul. He may possibly mean that the west wind, which is so refreshing to the west of Europe, and Gaul in particular, first sweeps over India, and thus becomes productive of that salubrity which Posidonius seems to have discovered in India, but for which we look in vain at the present day. Amid, however, such multiplied chances of a corrupt text, it is impossible to assume any very definite position as to his probable meaning. The French translators offer no assistance in solving the difficulty, and Holland renders it, “This west wind which from behind Gaul bloweth upon India, is very healthsome,” &c.
313 As to the Etesian winds, see B. ii. c. 48.
314 In the geographical work which Patrocles seems to have published, he is supposed to have given some account of the countries bordering on the Caspian Sea, and there is little doubt that, like other writers of that period, he regarded that sea as a gulf or inlet of the Septentrional Ocean, and probably maintained the possibility of sailing thither by sea from the Indian Ocean. This statement, however, seems to have been strangely misinterpreted by Pliny in his present assertion, that Patrocles had himself accomplished this circumnavigation.
315 Sec B. v. c. 36.
316 Or Bacchus.
317 Or seventy-five miles.
318 This is the statement of Arrian.
319 Among the lost works of that philosopher.
320 In c. 17 of the present Book.
324 A town placed by Strabo on the confines of Bactriana, and by Ptolemy in the county of the Paropanisidæ.
327 The present Attok, according to D’Anville.
328 One of the principal rivers of that part of India known as the Punjaub. It rises in the north-western Himalayah mountains in Kashmere, and after flowing nearly south, falls into the Acesines or Chenab. Its present most usual name is the Jhelum.
329 The most eastern, and most important of the five rivers which water the country of the Punjaub. Rising in the western Himalaya, it flows in two principal branches, in a course nearly south-west (under the names respectively of Vipasa and Satadru), which it retains till it falls into the Indus at Mittimkote. It is best known, however, by its modern name of Sutlej, probably a corrupt form of the Sanscrit Satadru.
330 See c. 18 of the present Book. The altars there spoken of, as consecrated by Alexander the Great, appear to have been erected in Sogdiana, whereas those here mentioned were dedicated in the Indian territory.
331 It does not appear that this river has been identified. In most of the editions it is called Hesidrus; but, as Sillig observes, there was a town of India, near the Indus, called Sydros, which probably received its name from this river.
332 It has been suggested that this place is the modern Kanouge, on the Ganges.
333 The modern Jumna. It must be borne in mind by the reader, that the numbers given in this Chapter vary considerably in the different MSS.
335 The Sanscrit for “snowy” is “himarat.” The name of Emodus, combined with Imaüs, seems here to be a description of the knot of mountains formed by the intersections of the Himalaya, the Hindoo Koosh, and the Bolor range; the latter having been for many ages the boundary between the empires of China and Turkistan. It is pretty clear, that, like Ptolemy, Pliny imagined that the Imaüs ran from south to north; but it seems hardly necessary, in this instance at least, to give to the word “promontorium” the meaning attached to our word “promontory,” and to suppose that he implies that the range of the Imaüs runs down to the verge of the eastern ocean.
336 A name evidently given to numerous tribes of India, from the circumstance that Alexander and his followers found it borne by the Brahmins or priestly caste of the Hindoos.
337 Still called the Cane, a navigable river of India within the Ganges, falling into the Ganges, according to Arrian as well as Pliny, though in reality it falls into the Jumna.
338 The Calingæ, who are further mentioned in the next Chapter, probably dwelt in the vicinity of the promontory of Calingon, upon which was the town of Dandaguda, mentioned in c. 23 of the present Book. This promontory and city are usually identified with those of Calinapatnam, about half-way between the rivers Mahanuddy and Godavery; and the territory of the Calingæ seems to correspond pretty nearly to the district of Circars, lying along the coast of Orissa.
339 By the Malli, Parisot is of opinion that the people of Moultan are meant.
340 So much so, indeed, that its sources were unknown to the learned world till the beginning of the present century, although the Chinese emperor Tang-Hi on one occasion sent a body of Llamas for the purpose of inquiring into the subject. It is now ascertained that the river Ganges is the result of the confluence of three separate streams, which bear the respective names of the Gannavi, the Bhagirathi, and the Alakananda. The second is of the most sacred character, and is the one to which the largest concourse of pilgrims resort. The ancients held various opinions as to the sources of the river.
341 The Cainas and the Jomanes, mentioned in the last Chapter.
342 The modern Gandaki or Gundûk is generally supposed to be represented by the Condochates.
343 Represented as flowing into the Ganges at Palimbothra, the modern Patna. There has been considerable discussion among the learned as to what river is indicated by this name. It has, however, been considered most probable that it is the same as the Sonus of Pliny, the modern Soane, though both that author, as well as Arrian, speaks of two rivers, which they call respectively Erannoboas and Sonus. The name was probably derived from the Sanscrit Hyranyavahas, the poetical name of the Sonus.
344 Supposed to be the same as the river Cosi or Coravaha.
345 The wide diffusion of the Calingæ, and their close connection with the Gangaridæ, are shown by the fact that Pliny here calls them “Calingæ Gangarides,” and mentions the Modogalingæ on a large island in the Ganges, and the Maccocalingæ on the upper course of that river. See note 338, p. 42.
346 Called Parthalis in most of the editions.
347 Or castes, as we call them. These institutions prevail equally at the present day, and the divisions of the duties of the respective castes are pretty much as Pliny states them to be, except that the husbandmen and merchants form one class, called the Vaisya, the Brahmins being the ministers of religion, the Kshatriya forming the warlike class, the Sudra constituting the menial or servant class. Pliny here represents the rulers and councillors as forming a distinct class. Such, however, does not appear to be the fact; for we find that the sovereign is chosen from the Kshatriya or military class, while from the Brahmins are selected the royal councillors, judges, and magistrates of the country.
348 He alludes to the Brahmins, who seem to have been called by the Greek writers “Gymnosophists,” or “naked wise men.” The Brahmin Calanus is a memorable example of this kind of self-immolation.
349 It is extremely doubtful if, even in his own day, Pliny was correct in venturing upon so sweeping an assertion.
350 The Sudra or menial caste.
351 He is incorrect here; these duties devolve on the Vaisya class.
352 Inhabited, probably, by a branch of the Calingæ previously mentioned.
353 Ansart suggests that this may be the modern kingdom of Pegu. He thinks also that the preceding kingdom may be that now called Arracan.
354 These may possibly be the Daradræ of Ptolemy, but it seems impossible to guess their locality.
355 Probably the present Patna. D’Anville, however, identifies it with Allahabad, while Welford and Wahl are inclined to think it the same as Radjeurah, formerly called Balipoutra or Bengala. The Prasii are probably the race of people mentioned in the ancient Sanscrit books under the name of the “Pragi” or the Eastern Empire, while the Gangarides are mentioned in the same works under the name of “Gandaressa” or Kingdom of the Ganges.
356 Hardouin is of opinion that these nations dwelt in the localities occupied by the districts of Gwalior and Agra.
357 The Septentriones or “Seven Trions,” in the original. Parisot is of opinion that under this name of Mount Maleus he alludes to the Western Ghauts, and that the name still survives in the word Malabar. He also remarks that this statement of Pliny is not greatly exaggerated.