3118 Leiria is supposed to occupy its site.
3119 According to Hardouin, the modern Ebora de Alcobaza, ten leagues from Leiria.
3120 The modern Cabo de la Roca, seven leagues from Lisbon.
3121 Pliny, in C. 34, places the Arrotrebæ, belonging to the Conventus of Lucus Augusti, about the Promontorium Celticum, which, if not the same as the Nerium (or Cape Finisterre) of the others, is evidently in its immediate neighbourhood; but he confuses the whole matter by a very curious error. He mentions a promontory called Artabrum as the headland at the N.W. extremity of Spain; the coast on the one side of it looking to the north and the Gallic Ocean, on the other to the west and the Atlantic Ocean. But he considers this promontory to be the west headland of the estuary of the Tagus, and adds, that some called it Magnum Promontorium, or the “Great Promontory,” and others Olisiponense, from the city of Olisipo, or Lisbon. He assigns, in fact, all the west coast of Spain, down to the mouth of the Tagus, to the north coast, and, instead of being led to detect his error by the resemblance of name between his Artabrum Promontorium and his Arrotrebæ (the Artabri of his predecessors, Strabo and Mela), he perversely finds fault with those who had placed above the promontory Artabrum, a people of the same name who never were there.
3122 On the site of which the present city of Lisbon stands.
3126 Among these is Pomponius Mela, who confounds the river Limia, mentioned in the last chapter, with the Æminius, or Agueda.
3127 Now the river Mondego.
3128 See B. xxxiii. c. 21.
3129 Now Cape St. Vincent.
3130 Pliny continues his error here, in taking part of the western side of Spain for the north, and part of the southern coast for the western.
3133 In the present province of Algarve.
3134 Now Lisbon. Both Strabo, Solinus, and Martianus Capella make mention of a story that Ulysses came to Spain and founded this city.
3135 See B. viii. c. 67 of the present work.
3136 According to Hardouin, followed by D’Anville and Uckert, this place gives name to Alcazar do Sal, nearly midway between Evora and the sea-shore. Mannert says Setuval, which D’Anville however supposes to be the ancient Cetobriga.
3137 On its site stands Santiago de Cacem, nearly midway between Lisbon and Cape St. Vincent.
3138 Or the “Wedge,” generally supposed to be Cabo de Santa Maria. Ansart however thinks that it is the Punta de Sagres, near Cape St. Vincent. Pliny’s words indeed seem to imply a closer proximity than that of Capes St. Vincent and Santa Maria.
3139 According to Hardouin, the modern Estombar; according to D’Anville, in the vicinity of Faro; but ten leagues from that place, according to Mannert.
3140 Hardouin and D’Anville are of opinion that Tavira occupies its site.
3141 Now Mertola, on the river Guadiana.
3142 Now Merida, on the Guadiana. A colony of veterans (Emeriti) was planted there by Augustus.
3143 Now Medellin, in the province of Estremadura.
3144 Pax Julia, or Pax Augusta, in the country of the Turduli, or Turdetani; now Beja, in the province of the Alentejo.
3145 Now Alcantara, in the province of Estremadura.
3146 Now Truxillo, so called from Turris Julia.
3147 Now Caceres.
3148 Now called Santarem, from Saint Irene, the Virgin.
3149 “The Garrison of Julius.”
3150 “The Success of Julius.”
3151 Evora, between the Guadiana and the Tagus.
3152 “The Liberality of Julius.”
3154 Hardouin takes Augustobriga to have stood on the site of Villar del Pedroso on the Tagus. Other writers think that it is represented by the present Ponte del Arcobispo.
3155 From Ammia, now Portalegre, on the frontier of Portugal. The sites of Arabrica and Balsa do not appear to have been ascertained.
3156 Capera stood on the site now called Las Ventas de Capara, between Alcantara and Coria. The site of Cæsarobrica has not been ascertained.
3157 Coria, in Estremadura, probably occupies the site of Caura.
3158 Hardouin suggests that the modern Tomar occupies the site of Concordia.
3159 Mannert is of opinion that the city of Lancia was situate in the north of Lusitania, on the river Durius, or Douro, near the modern Zamora.
3160 To distinguish them from the Mirobrigenses, surnamed Turduli, mentioned in B. iii. c. 3. Some writers think that this Mirobriga is the present Ciudad Rodrigo; but Ambrose Morales takes it to be the place called Malabriga, in the vicinity of that city.
3161 The name of Medubriga was afterwards Aramenha, of which Hardouin says the ruins only were to be seen. They were probably called Plumbarii, from lead mines in their vicinity.
3162 According to Hardouin, Ocelum was in the vicinity of the modern Capara.
3163 From Cape de Creuz to the Promontory between the cities of Fontarabia and Saint Sebastian.
3164 From the Greek κασσίτερος, “tin.” It is generally supposed that the “Tin Islands” were the Scilly Isles, in the vicinity of Cornwall. At the same time the Greek and Roman geographers, borrowing their knowledge from the accounts probably of the Phœnician merchants, seem to have had a very indistinct notion of their precise locality, and to have thought them to be nearer to Spain than to Britain. Thus we find Strabo, in B. iii., saying, that “the Cassiterides are ten in number, lying near each other in the ocean, towards the north from the haven of the Artabri.” From a comparison of the accounts, it would almost appear that the ancient geographers confused the Scilly Islands with the Azores, as those, who enter into any detail, attribute to the Cassiterides the characteristics almost as much of the Azores and the sea in their vicinity, as of the Scilly Islands.
3165 Cape Finisterre.
3166 Or the “Islands of the Blest.” We cannot do better than quote a portion of the article on this subject in Dr. Smith’s “Dictionary of Ancient Geography.” “‘Fortunatæ Insulæ’ is one of those geographical names whose origin is lost in mythic darkness, but which afterwards came to have a specific application, so closely resembling the old mythical notion, as to make it almost impossible to doubt that that notion was based, in part at least, on some vague knowledge of the regions afterwards discovered. The earliest Greek poetry places the abode of the happy departed spirits far beyond the entrance of the Mediterranean, at the extremity of the earth, and upon the shores of the river Oceanus, or in islands in its midst; and Homer’s poetical description of the place may be applied almost word for word to those islands in the Atlantic, off the west coast of Africa, to which the name was given in the historical period. (Od. iv. l. 563, seq.) ‘There the life of mortals is most easy; there is no snow, nor winter, nor much rain, but Ocean is ever sending up the shrill breathing breezes of Zephyrus to refresh men.’ Their delicious climate, and their supposed identity of situation, marked out the Canary Islands, the Madeira group, and the Azores, as worthy to represent the Islands of the Blest. In the more specific sense, however, the name was applied to the two former groups; while, in its widest application, it may have even included the Cape de Verde Islands, its extension being in fact adapted to that of maritime discovery.” Pliny gives a further description of them in B. vi. c. 37.
3167 The strait between the island and the mainland is now called the River of Saint Peter. The circuit of the island, as stated by Pliny, varies in the MSS. from fifteen to twenty-five miles, and this last is probably correct.
3168 Julius Cæsar, on his visit to the city of Gades, during the Civil War in Spain, B.C. 49, conferred the citizenship of Rome on all the citizens of Gades. Under Augustus it became a municipium, with the title of ‘Augusta urbs Julia Gaditana.’ The modern city of Cadiz is built upon its site.
3169 Or the Island of Venus.
3170 From the Greek word κότινος, “an olive-tree.”
3171 If Gades was not the same as Tartessus (probably the Tarshish of Scripture), its exact locality is a question in dispute. Most ancient writers place it at the mouth of the river Bætis, while others identify it, and perhaps with more probability, with the city of Carteia, on Mount Calpe, the Rock of Gibraltar. The whole country west of Gibraltar was called Tartessis. See B. iii. c. 3.
3172 Or more properly ‘Agadir,’ or ‘Hagadir.’ It probably received this name, meaning a ‘hedge,’ or ‘bulwark,’ from the fact of its being the chief Phœnician colony outside of the Pillars of Hercules.
3173 Of Erythræa, or Erytheia. The monster Geryon, or Geryones, fabled to have had three bodies, lived in the fabulous Island of Erytheia, or the “Red Isle,” so called because it lay under the rays of the setting sun in the west. It was originally said to be situate off the coast of Epirus, but was afterwards identified either with Gades or the Balearic islands, and was at all times believed to be in the distant west. Geryon was said to have been the son of Chrysaor, the wealthy king of Iberia.
3175 Meaning Gessoriacum, the present Boulogne. He probably calls it Britannicum, from the circumstance that the Romans usually embarked there for the purpose of crossing over to Britain.
3176 The present Santen in the Duchy of Cleves.
3189 Ateius, surnamed Prætextatus, and also Philologus, which last name he assumed to indicate his learning, was born at Athens, and was one of the most celebrated grammarians of Rome, in the latter part of the first century B.C. He was originally a freedman of the jurist Ateius Capito, by whom he was described as “a rhetorician among grammarians, and a grammarian among rhetoricians.” He was on terms of intimacy with Sallust the historian, and Asinius Pollio. It is supposed that he assisted Sallust in the compilation of his history; but to what extent is not known. But few of his numerous commentaries were extant even in the time of Suetonius.
3190 A native of Megalopolis in Arcadia, born about B.C. 204. He was trained probably in political knowledge and the military art under Philopœmen, and was sent, as a prisoner to Rome, with others, to answer the charge of not aiding the Romans in their war against Perseus. Here, by great good fortune, he secured the friendship of Scipio Africanus, with whom he was present at the destruction of Carthage. His history is one of the most valuable works that has come down to us from antiquity.
3191 Of Miletus, one of the earliest and most distinguished Greek historians and geographers. He lived about the 65th Olympiad, or B.C. 520. A few fragments, quoted, are all that are left of his historical and geographical works. There is little doubt that Herodotus extensively availed himself of this writer’s works, though it is equally untrue that he has transcribed whole passages from him, as Porphyrius has ventured to assert.
3192 Of Mitylene, supposed to have flourished about B.C. 450. He appears to have written numerous geographical and historical works, which, with the exception of a considerable number of fragments, are lost.
3193 Of Sigæum, a Greek historian, contemporary with Herodotus. He wrote a history of Greece, and several other works, all of which, with a few unimportant exceptions, are lost.
3196 A Rhodian by birth. He was admiral of the fleet of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who reigned from B.C. 285 to 247. He wrote a work “On Harbours,” in ten books, which was copied by Eratosthenes, and is frequently quoted by ancient writers. Strabo also says that he composed poetry.
3198 Of Cumæ, or Cymæ, in Ionia. He flourished about B.C. 408. He studied under Isocrates, and gained considerable fame as a historian. Though anxious to disclose the truth, he has been accused of sometimes forcing his authorities to suit his own views. Of his history of Greece, and his essays on various subjects, a few fragments only survive.
3199 A grammarian of Mallus, in Cilicia. He lived in the time of Ptolemy Philopater, and resided at Pergamus, under the patronage of Eumenes II. and Attalus II. In his grammatical system he made a strong distinction between criticism and grammar, the latter of which sciences he regarded as quite subordinate to the former. Of his learned commentaries on the Iliad and the Odyssey, only a few fragments have come down to us.
3201 Of Cyrene, an Alexandrian grammarian and poet. He flourished at Alexandria, whither Ptolemy Philadelphus had invited him to a place in the Museum. Of his Hymns and Epigrams many are still extant. His Elegies, which were of considerable poetical merit, with the exception of a few fragments, have all perished. Of his numerous other works in prose, not one is extant in an entire state.
3203 Probably Apollodorus of Artemita, in Mesopotamia. It is probably to him that a Treatise on Islands and Cities has been ascribed by Tzetzes, as also a History of the Parthians, and a History of Pontus.
3204 Probably the author of that name, who wrote the History of Cyzicus, is the person here referred to. He is called by Athenæus both a Babylonian and a Cyzican. His work is entirely lost; but it appears to have been extensively read, and is referred to by Cicero and other ancient writers.
3205 Of Neapolis. He wrote a History of Hannibal, and to him has been ascribed a Description of the Universe, of which a fragment still survives.
3206 Of Tauromenium, in Sicily; a celebrated historian, who flourished about the year B.C. 300. He was banished from Sicily by Agathocles, and passed his exile at Athens. He composed a History of Sicily, from the earliest times to the year B.C. 264. The value of his history has been gravely attacked by Polybius; but there is little doubt that it possessed very considerable merit. Of this, and other works of Timæus, only a few fragments survive.
3207 A Greek historian; a native of Lesbos. When he lived is unknown. Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, has borrowed from him a portion of his account of the Pelasgians. He is said to have been the author of the notion that the Tyrrhenians, in consequence of their wanderings after they left their original settlement, got the name of πελαργοὶ, or “storks.” He is supposed to have written a History of Lesbos, as also a work called “Historical Paradoxes.”
3210 Of this author nothing whatever seems to be known.
3211 Of Miletus, born B.C. 610. One of the earliest philosophers of the Ionian school, and said to be a pupil of Thales. Unless Pherecydes of Scyros be an exception, he was the first author of a philosophical treatise in Greek prose. Other writings are ascribed to him by Suidas; but, no doubt, on insufficient grounds. Of his treatise, which seems to have contained summary statements of his opinions, no remains exist.
3212 Of this writer nothing whatever is known, beyond the fact that, from his name, he seems to have been a native of Mallus, in Cilicia.
3213 It seems impossible to say which, out of the vast number of the authors who bore this name, is the one here referred to. It is not improbable that Dionysius of Chalcis, a Greek historian who lived before the Christian era, is meant. He wrote a work on the Foundation of Towns, in five books, which is frequently referred to by the ancients. It is not probable that the author of the Periegesis, or “Description of the World,” is referred to, as that book bears internal marks of having been compiled in the third or fourth century of the Christian era.
3214 Of Miletus. He was the author of the “Milesiaca,” a romance of licentious character, which was translated into Latin by L. Cornelius Sisenna. He is looked upon as the inventor of the Greek romance, and the title of his work is supposed to have given rise to the term Milesian, as applied to works of fiction.
3215 A Greek author, of whom nothing is known, except that Pliny, and after him Solinus, refer to him as the authority for the statement that Eubœa was originally called Chalcis, from the fact of (χαλκὸς) copper being first discovered there.
3216 Probably Menæchmus of Sicyon, who wrote a book on Actors, a History of Alexander the Great, and a book on Sicyon. Suidas says that he flourished in the time of the successors of Alexander.
3217 When he flourished is unknown. He is said by Hyginus to have written a History of the Island of Naxos.
3218 He lived after the time of Alexander the Great; but his age is unknown. He wrote a book, περὶ νόστων, on the returns of the Greeks from their various expeditions, an account of Delos, a History of Alexander the Great, and other works, all of which have perished.
3219 Of Heraclæa, in Pontus. He was a pupil of Plato, and, after him, of Aristotle. His works upon philosophy, history, mathematics, and other subjects, were very numerous; but, unfortunately, they are nearly all of them lost. He wrote a Treatise upon Islands, and another upon the Origin of Cities.
3220 A geographical writer, of whom nothing further is known.
3221 The Greek historian, the disciple of Socrates, deservedly styled the “Attic Bee.” His principal works are the Anabasis, or the History of the Expedition of the younger Cyrus and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand; the Hellenica, or History of Greece, from the time when that of Thucydides ends to the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 362; and the Cyropædia, or Education of Cyrus. The greater portion of his works is now lost.
3224 There were two physicians of this name, one of Catana, in Sicily, the other of Dyrrhachium, in Illyricum, who, like his namesake, was the author of numerous works. It is doubtful, however, whether Pliny here refers to either of those authors.
3225 A Greek historian, quoted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. If the same person as the father of the historian Nymphis, he must have lived in the early part of the second century B.C. He wrote a work on Islands, and another entitled Χρόνοι, or Chronicles.
3226 A Greek geographer, who seems to have written an account of Cyprus.
3227 He is quoted by Strabo, Athenæus, and the Scholiasts; but all that is known of him is, that he wrote a work on Thessaly, Æolia, Attica, and Arcadia.
3228 He wrote a work relative to Miletus; but nothing further is known of him.
3230 Probably a writer on geography, of whom no particulars are known.
3232 Not reckoning under that appellation the country of Egypt, which was more generally looked upon as forming part of Asia. Josephus informs us that Africa received its name from Ophir, great-grandson of Abraham and his second wife, Keturah.
3233 ‘Castella,’ fortified places, erected for the purpose of defence; not towns formed for the reception of social communities.
3234 The Emperor Caligula, who, in the year 41 A.D., reduced the two Mauritanias to Roman provinces, and had King Ptolemy, the son of Juba, put to death.
3235 Now Cape Spartel. By Scylax it is called Hermæum, and by Ptolemy and Strabo Cote, or Coteis. Pliny means “extreme,” with reference to the sea-line of the Mediterranean, in a direction due west.
3236 Mentioned again by Pliny in B. xxxii. c. 6. Lissa was so called, according to Bochart, from the Hebrew or Phœnician word liss, ‘a lion.’ At the present day there is in this vicinity a headland called the ‘Cape of the Lion.’ Bochart thinks that the name ‘Cotta,’ or ‘Cotte,’ was derived from the Hebrew quothef, a ‘vine-dresser.’
3237 The modern Tangier occupies its site. It was said to have derived its name from Tinge, the wife of Antæus, the giant, who was slain by Hercules. His tomb, which formed a hill, in the shape of a man stretched out at full length, was shown near the town of Tingis to a late period. It was also believed, that whenever a portion of the earth covering the body was taken away, it rained until the hole was filled up again. Sertorius is said to have dug away a portion of the hill; but, on discovering a skeleton sixty cubits in length, he was struck with horror, and had it immediately covered again. Procopius says, that the fortress of this place was built by the Canaanites, who were driven by the Jews out of Palestine.
3238 It has been supposed by Salmasius and others of the learned, that Pliny by mistake here attributes to Claudius the formation of a colony which was really established by either Julius Cæsar or Augustus. It is more probable, however, that Claudius, at a later period, ordered it to be called “Traducta Julia,” or “the removed Colony of Julia,” in remembrance of a colony having proceeded thence to Spain in the time of Julius Cæsar. Claudius himself, as stated in the text, established a colony here.
3239 Its ruins are to be seen at Belonia, or Bolonia, three Spanish miles west of the modern Tarifa.
3240 At this point Pliny begins his description of the western side of Africa.
3241 Now Arzilla, in the territory of Fez. Ptolemy places it at the mouth of the river Zileia. It is also mentioned by Strabo and Antoninus.
3242 Now El Araiche, or Larache, on the river Lucos.
3243 Mentioned again in B. ix. c. 4 and c. 5 of the present Book, where Pliny speaks of them as situate elsewhere. The story of Antæus is further enlarged upon by Solinus, B. xxiv.; Lucan, B. iv. l. 589, et seq.; and Martianus Capella, B. vi.
3244 Now the Lucos.
3245 Hardouin is of opinion, that he here has a hit at Gabinius, a Roman author, who, in his Annals of Mauritania, as we learn from Strabo (B. xvii.), inserted numerous marvellous and incredible stories.
3246 When we find Pliny accusing other writers of credulity, we are strongly reminded of the proverb, ‘Clodius accusat mœchos.’
3247 Or the “Julian Colony on the Plains.” Marcus suggests that the word Babba may possibly have been derived from the Hebrew or Phœnician word beab or beaba, “situate in a thick forest.” Poinsinet takes Babba to be the Beni-Tuedi of modern times. D’Anville thinks that it is Naranja.
3248 There is considerable difficulty about the site of Banasa. Moletius thinks that it is the modern Fanfara, or Pefenfia as Marmol calls it. D’Anville suggests that it may be Old Mahmora, on the coast; but, on the other hand, Ptolemy places it among the inland cities, assigning to it a longitude at some distance from the sea. Pliny also appears to make it inland, and makes its distance from Lixos seventy-five miles, while he makes the mouth of the Subur to be fifty miles from the same place.
3249 From both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. According to Poinsinet, Volubilis was the synonym of the African name Fez, signifying a ‘band,’ or ‘swathe.’ Mannert conjectures that it is the same as the modern Walili, or Qualili. D’Anville calls it Guulili, and says that there are some remains of antiquity there.
3250 The modern Subu, or Sebou. D’Anville is of opinion that this river has changed a part of its course since the time of Pliny.
3251 Most probably the modern Sallee stands on its site.
3252 Not in reference to the fact of its existence, but the wonderful stories which were told respecting it.
3253 Like others of the ancient writers, Pliny falls into the error of considering Atlas, not as an extensive chain of mountains, but as an isolated mountain, surrounded by sands. With reference to its height, the whole range declines considerably from west to east; the highest summits in Morocco reaching near 13,000 feet, in Tunis not 5000.
3254 Or “Goat-Pans;” probably another name for the Fauni, or Fauns. More usually, there is but one Ægipan mentioned,—the son, according to Hyginus, of Zeus or Jupiter, and a goat,—or of Zeus and Æga, the wife of Pan. As a foundation for one part of the stories here mentioned, Brotier suggests the fact, that as the Kabyles, or mountain tribes, are in the habit of retiring to their dwellings and reposing during the heat of the day, it would not, consequently, be improbable that they would devote the night to their amusements, lighting up fires, and dancing to the music of drums and cymbals.
3255 Under his name we still possess a “Periplus,” or account of a voyage round a part of Libya. The work was originally written in Punic, but what has come down to us is a Greek translation. We fail, however, to discover any means by which to identify him with any one of the many Carthaginians of the same name. Some writers call him king, and others dux, or imperator of the Carthaginians; from which we may infer, that he held the office of suffetes. This expedition has by some been placed as far back as the time of the Trojan war, or of Hesiod, while others again place it as late as the reign of Agathocles. Falconer, Bougainville, and Gail, place the time of Hanno at about B.C. 570, while other critics identify him with Hanno, the father or son of Hamilcar, who was killed at Himera, B.C. 480. Pliny often makes mention of him; more particularly see B. viii. c. 21.
3256 M. Gosselin thinks that the spot here indicated was at the south-western extremity of the Atlas range, and upon the northern frontier of the Desert of Zahara.
3257 Supposed by some geographers to be the same as that now called the Ommirabih, or the Om-Rabya. This is also thought by some to have been the same river as is called by Pliny, in p. 381, by the name of Asana; but the distances do not agree.
3258 Supposed by Gosselin to be the present bay of Al-cazar, on the African coast, in the Straits of Cadiz; though Hardouin takes it to be the κόλπος ἐμπορικὸς, or “Gulf of Commerce,” of Strabo and Ptolemy. By first quoting from one, and then at a tangent from another, Pliny involves this subject in almost inextricable confusion.
3259 Probably the place called Thymiaterion in the Periplus of Hanno.
3260 The present Subu, and the river probably of Sallce, previously mentioned.
3261 The modern Mazagan, according to Gosselin.
3262 Cape Cantin, according to Gosselin; Cape Blanco, according to Marcus.
3263 Probably the Safi, Asafi, or Saffee of the present day.
3264 The river Tensift, which runs close to the city of Morocco, in the interior.
3265 The river Mogador of the present day.
3266 The modern river Sus, or Sous.
3267 The learned Gosselin has aptly remarked, that this cannot be other than an error, and that “ninety-six” is the correct reading, the Gulf of Sainte-Croix being evidently the one here referred to.
3268 Mount Barce seems to be here a name for the Atlas, or Daran chain.
3269 Supposed by Gosselin to be the present Cape Ger.
3270 The river Assa, according to Gosselin. There is also a river Suse placed here in the maps.
3271 These two tribes probably dwelt between the modern Capes Ger and Non.
3272 Marcus believes these to have been the ancestors of the present race of the Touaricks, while the Melanogætuli were the progenitors of the Tibbos, of a darker complexion, and more nearly resembling the negroes in bodily conformation.
3273 Supposed by Gosselin to be the present river Nun, or Non. According to Bochart, this river received its name from the Hebrew or Phœnician word behemoth or bamoth, the name by which Job (xl. 15) calls the crocodile [or rather the hippopotamus]. Bochart, however, with Mannert, Bougainville, De Rennet, and De Heeren, is of opinion, that by this name the modern river Senegal is meant. Marcus is of opinion that it is either the Non or the modern Sobi.
3274 Marcus here observes, that from Cape Alfach, below Cape Non, there are no mountains, but continual wastes of sand, bordering on the sea-shore. Indeed there is no headland, of any considerable height, between Cape Sobi and Cape Bajador.
3275 “The Chariot of the Gods.” Marcus is of opinion that it is the modern Cape Verde; while, on the other hand, Gosselin takes it to be Cape Non. Brotier calls it Cape Ledo.
3276 In B. vi. c. 36, Pliny speaks of this promontory as the “Hesperian Horn,” and says that it is but four days’ sail from the Theon Ochema. Brotier identifies this promontory with the modern Cape Roxo. Marcus is of opinion that it was the same as Cape Non; but there is considerable difficulty in determining its identity.
3277 Alluding to Polybius; though, according to the reading which Sillig has adopted a few lines previously, Agrippa is the last author mentioned. Pliny has here mistaken the meaning of Polybius, who has placed Atlas midway between Carthage, from which he had set out, and the Promontory of Theon Ochema, which he reached.
3278 Ptolemy the son of Juba II. and Cleopatra, was summoned to Rome in the year A.D. 40, by Caligula, and shortly after put to death by him, his riches having excited the emperor’s cupidity. Previously to this, he had been on terms of strict alliance with the Roman people, who had decreed him a toga picta and a sceptre, as a mark of their friendship.
3279 Ivory and citron-wood, or cedar, were used for the making and inlaying of the tables used by the Roman nobility. See B. xiii. c. 23.
3280 Supposed by some geographers to be the modern Wadi-Tensift. It has been also confounded with the Anatis (see note 3171, p. 369); while others again identify it with the Anidus. It is more commonly spelt ‘Asama.’
3281 Or Phuth. It does not appear to have been identified.
3282 The range is still called by the name of Daran.
3283 The same general who afterwards conquered the Britons under Boadicea or Bonduca. While Proprætor in Mauritania under the Emperor Claudius, in the year A.D. 42, he defeated the Mauri who had risen in revolt, and advanced, as Pliny here states, as far as Mount Atlas. It is not known from what point Paulinus made his advance towards the Atlas range. Mannert and Marcus are of opinion that he set out from Sala, the modern Sallee, while Latreille, Malte Brun, and Walkenaer think that his point of departure was the mouth of the river Lixos. Sala was the most southerly town on the western coast of Africa that in the time of Pliny had submitted to the Roman arms.
3284 Some of the editions read ‘Niger’ here. Marcus suggests that that river may have been called ‘Niger’ by the Phœnician or Punic colonists of the western Mauritania, and ‘Ger’ or ‘Gar’ in another quarter. The same writer also suggests that the Sigilmessa was the river to which Paulinus penetrated on his march beyond Atlas.
3285 The Sigilmessa, according to Marmol, flows between several mountains which appear to be of a blackish hue.
3286 Bocchus however, the kinsman of Massinissa, had previously for some time reigned over both the Mauritanias, consisting of Mauritania Tingitana and Mauritania Cæsariana.
3287 See B. xxv. c. 7. 12, and B. xxvi. c. 8.
3288 Extending from the sea to the river Moluga, now called the Molucha and Molochath, or Malva and Malvana.
3289 From whom the Moors of the present day take their name. Marcus observes here, that though Pliny distinguishes the Mauri from the Gætuli, they essentially belonged to the same race and spoke the same language, the so-called Berber, and its dialects, the Schellou and the Schoviah.
3290 ‘Maurusii’ was the Greek name, ‘Mauri’ the Latin, for this people. Marcus suggests that Mauri was a synonym only for the Greek word nomades, ‘wanderers.’
3291 As Marcus observes, Pliny is here greatly in error. On the inroads of Paulinus, the Mauri had retreated into the interior and taken refuge in the deserts of Zahara, whence they had again emerged in the time of the geographer Ptolemy.
3292 From the time of the second Punic War this people had remained in undisputed possession of the country situate between the rivers Molochath or Moluga and Ampsaga, which formed the Cæsarian Mauritania. Ptolemy speaks of finding some remains of them at Siga, a town situate on a river of the same name, and at which King Syphax had formerly resided.
3293 While Pomponius Mela does not make any difference between the Mauri and the Gætuli, Pliny here speaks of them as being essentially different.
3294 Derived, according to Marcus, from the Arabic compound bani-our, ‘child of nakedness,’ as equivalent to the Greek word gymnetes, by which name Pliny and other ancient writers designate the wandering naked races of Western Africa.
3295 The Autololes or, as Ptolemy calls them, the Autololæ, dwelt, it is supposed, on the western coast of Africa, between Cape Cantin and Cape Ger. Their city of Autolala or Autolalæ is one of Ptolemy’s points of astronomical observation, having the longest day thirteen hours and a half, being distant three hours and a half west of Alexandria, and having the sun vertical once a year, at the time of the winter solstice. Reichard takes it for the modern Agulon or Aquilon.
3296 The Æthiopian Daratitæ, Marcus says.
3297 The present Ceuta.
3298 They were so called from the circumstance, Marcus says, of their peaks being so numerous, and so strongly resembling each other. They are now called, according to D’Anville, ‘Gebel Mousa,’ which means “the Mountain of Apes,” an animal by which they are now much frequented, instead of by elephants as in Pliny’s time.
3299 Or Mediterranean.
3300 The modern Bedia, according to Olivarius, the Tasanel, according to Dupinet, and the Alamos or Kerkal, according to Ansart. Marcus says that it is called the Setuan, and is the largest stream on the northern shores of Western Africa.
3301 The modern Gomera according to Hardouin, the Nocor according to Mannert.
3302 The modern Melilla most probably.
3303 The modern Maluia. Antoninus calls it Malva, and Ptolemy Maloua.
3304 Its site is occupied by the modern Aresgol, according to Mariana, Guardia or Sereni according to Dupinet, Ned-Roma according to Mannert and D’Anville, and Tachumbrit according to Shaw. Marcus is inclined to be of the same opinion as the last-mentioned geographer.
3305 Now the city of Malaga.
3306 Mauritania Cæsariensis, or Cæsarian Mauritania, now forming the French province of Algiers.
3307 “Bogudiana;” from Bogud or Bogoas. The last king Bogud was deprived of his kingdom by Bocchus, king of Mauritania Cæsariensis, a warm partisan of Cæsar.
3308 Or the “Great Harbour,” now Arzeu according to D’Anville, and Mars-el-Kebir according to Marcus.
3309 The same river probably as the Malva or Malvana previously mentioned, the word mulucha or malacha coming from the Greek μολόχη, “a marsh mallow,” which malva, as a Latin word, also signifies. See p. 383.
3310 From the Greek word ξένος, “a stranger.” Pomponius Mela and Antoninus call this place Guiza, and Ptolemy Quisa. D’Anville places it on the right side of the river Malvana or Mulucha, and Shaw says that it was situate in the vicinity of the modern town of Oran.
3311 Now Marz-Agolet, or situate in its vicinity, according to Hardouin and Ansart, and the present Arzen, according to Marcus, where numerous remains of antiquity are found.
3312 Now Tenez, according to D’Anville, and Mesgraïm, according to Mannert; with which last opinion Marcus agrees.
3313 Ptolemy and Antoninus place this colony to the east of the Promontory of Apollo, and not the west as Pliny does.
3314 The present Cape Mestagan.
3315 According to Dupinet and Mannert, the modern Tenez occupies its site, Zershell according to Hardouin and Shaw, Vacur according to D’Anville and Ansart, and Algiers according to others. It is suggested by Marcus that the name Iol is derived from the Arabic verb galla, “to be noble” or “famous.” There is no doubt that the magnificent ruins at Zershell are those of Iol, and that its name is an abbreviation of Cæsarea Iol.
3316 Or New Town.
3317 Scylax calls it Thapsus; Ammianus Marcellinus, Tiposa. According to Mannert it was situate in the vicinity of the modern Damas.
3318 Or Icosium. It has been identified by inscriptions discovered by the French as standing on the same site as the modern Algiers. D’Anville, Mannert and others identify it with Scherchell or Zershell, thus placing it too far west. Mannert was evidently misled by an error in the Antonine Itinerary, whereby all the places along this coast are, for a considerable distance, thrown too far to the west; the researches however which followed the French conquest of the country have revealed inscriptions which completely set the question at rest.
3319 According to Mannert, this was situate on the modern Cape Arbatel. Marcus thinks that the Hebrew ros, or Arab ras, “a rock,” enters into the composition of the word.
3320 Now Hur according to D’Anville, Colcah according to Mannert.
3321 The modern Acor, according to Marcus.
3322 The modern Pedeles or Delys, according to Ortellius and Mannert, Tedles according to D’Anville.
3323 The modern Jigeli or Gigeri. It was probably in ancient times the emporium of the surrounding country.
3324 Destroyed, according to Hardouin, and probably by the incursions of the sea. At the mouth of the Ampsaga (now called the Wad-El-Kebir or Sufjimar, and higher up the Wadi Roumel) there is situate a small sea-port called Marsa Zeitoun.
3325 Near the present Mazuaa, according to Mannert.
3326 The modern Burgh, according to D’Anville and Mannert, but more probably considerably to the east of that place.
3327 The modern El-Herba, according to Mannert.
3328 Marcus suggests that this is the Chinalaph of Ptolemy, and probably the modern Schellif.
3329 The same that is called Savis by Ptolemy, who places Icosium on its banks.
3330 By Mela called the Vabar. Marcus supposes it to be the same as the modern Giffer.
3331 By Ptolemy called the Sisar; the Ajebbi of modern geographers, which falls into the Mediterranean, near the city of Budja.
3332 Brotier says that this reading is incorrect, and that 222 is the proper one, that being the true distance between the river Ampsaga or Wad-el-Kebir and the city of Cæsarea, the modern Zershell.
3333 It was not only Numidia that bore this name, but all the northern coast of Africa from the frontiers of the kingdom of Carthage near Hippo Regius to the Columns of Hercules. It was thus called from the Greek metagonos, a “descendant” or “successor;” as the Carthaginians established a number of small towns and villages on the coast, which were thus posterior in their origin to the large cities already founded there.
3334 Hardouin says that the Moors in the interior still follow the same usage, carrying their houses from pasture to pasture on waggons.
3335 Now Chollum or Collo.
3336 The modern Sgigada or Stora, according to Mannert, D’Anville, and Shaw.
3337 The modern Constantina occupies its site. Numerous remains of the ancient town are still discovered. Sitius was an officer who served under Cæsar, and obtained a grant of this place after the defeat of Juba.
3338 Called Urbs, or Kaff, according to D’Anville and Shaw; the latter of whom found an inscription there with the words Ordo Siccensium.
3339 Or ‘Royal Bulla’; which epithet shows that it was either a residence or a foundation of the kings of Numidia, and distinguishes it from a small place called Bulla Mensa, south of Carthage. Bulla Regia was four days’ journey south-west of Carthage, on a tributary of the river Bagrada, the valley of which is still called Wad-el-Boul. This place was one of the points of Ptolemy’s recorded astronomical observations, having its longest day fourteen hours and one-eighth, and being distant from Alexandria two hours to the west.
3340 The modern Tamseh, according to Shaw and Mannert, and Tagodet, according to D’Anville.
3341 Its ruins are south of the modern Bona. It received the name of Regius or ‘Royal’ from being the residence of the Numidian kings. It was also famed as being the see of St. Augustine. It was a colony of Tyre, and stood on the bay now forming the Gulf of Bona. It was one of the most flourishing cities of Africa till it was destroyed by the Vandals A.D. 430.
3342 Now the Mafragg, according to Mannert.
3343 Still called Tabarca, according to Hardouin.
3344 Now the Zaina, according to Marcus.
3345 For the character of the Numidian marble, see Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 7.
3346 Extending from the river Tusca, or Zaina, to the northern frontiers of Byzacium. It corresponds with the Turkish province or beylik of Tunis.
3347 He says this not only to distinguish it from Africa, considered as one-third of the globe, but also in contradistinction to the proconsular province of the Roman empire of the same name, which contained not only the province of Zeugitana, but also those of Numidia, Byzacium, and Tripolis.
3348 Candidum: now Ras-el-Abiad.
3349 The references to this headland identify it with Cape Farina, or Ras Sidi Ali-al-Mekhi, and not, as some have thought, the more westerly Cape Zibeeb or Ras Sidi Bou-Shoushe. Shaw however applies the name of Zibeeb to the former.
3350 Now Cape Bon, or Ras-Addar.
3351 More properly called Hippo Diarrhytus or Zaritus, a Tyrian colony, situate on a large lake which communicated with the sea, and received the waters of another lake. Its situation exposed it to frequent inundations, whence, as the Greeks used to state, the epithet διάῤῥυτος. It seems more probable however that this is the remnant of some Phœnician title, as the ancients were not agreed on the true form of the name, and of this uncertainty we have a further proof in the Hippo Dirutus of our author.
3352 This is placed by Ptolemy to the south-east of Hippo, and near the southern extremity of Lake Sisar.
3353 This important city stood on the north part of the Carthaginian Gulf, west of the mouth of the Bagrada, and twenty-seven Roman miles N.W. of Carthage; but the site of its ruins at the modern Bou-Shater is now inland, in consequence of the changes made by the Bagrada in the coast-line. In the Third Punic war Utica took part with the Romans against Carthage, and was rewarded with the greater part of the Carthaginian territory.
3354 Now called the Mejerdah, and though of very inconsiderable size, the chief river of the Carthaginian territory. The main stream is formed by the union of two branches, the southern of which, the ancient Bagrada, is now called the Mellig, and in its upper course the Meskianah. The other branch is called the Hamiz.
3355 Or the “Cornelian Camp.” The spot where Cornelius Scipio Africanus the Elder first encamped, on landing in Africa, B.C. 204. Cæsar describes this spot, in his description of Curio’s operations against Utica, B. C. b. ii. c. 24, 25. This spot is now called Ghellah.
3356 This colony was first established by Caius Gracchus, who sent 6000 settlers to found on the site of Carthage the new city of Junonia. The Roman senate afterwards annulled this with the other acts of Gracchus. Under Augustus however the new city of Carthage was founded, which, when Strabo wrote, was as prosperous as any city in Africa. It was made, in place of Utica, which had favoured the Pompeian party, the seat of the proconsul of Old Africa. It stood on the peninsula terminated by Ras-Sidi-Bou-Said, Cape Carthage or Carthagena. As Gibbon has remarked, “The place might be unknown if some broken arches of an aqueduct did not guide the footsteps of the inquisitive traveller.”
3357 The original city of Carthage was called ‘Carthago Magna’ to distinguish it from New Carthage and Old Carthage, colonies in Spain.
3358 Now Rhades, according to Marcus.
3359 Marcus identifies it with the modern Gurtos.
3360 By the Greeks called ‘Aspis.’ It derived its Greek and Roman names from its site on a hill of a shield-like shape. It was built by Agathocles, the Sicilian, B.C. 310. In the first Punic war it was the landing-place of Manlius and Regulus, whose first action was to take it, B.C. 256. Its site is still known as Kalebiah, and its ruins are peculiarly interesting. The site of Misua is occupied by Sidi-Doud, according to Shaw and D’Anville.
3361 Shaw informs us that an inscription found on the spot designates this place as a colony, not a free city or town. Its present name is Kurbah.
3362 The present Nabal, according to D’Anville.
3363 Zeugitana extended from the river Tusca to Horrea-Cælia, and Byzacium from this last place to Thenæ.
3364 As sprung partly from the Phœnician immigrants, and partly from the native Libyans or Africans.
3365 Pliny says, B. xvii. c. 3, “A hundred and fifty fold.” From Shaw we learn that this fertility no longer exists, the fields producing not more than eight- or at most twelve-fold.
3366 The modern Lempta occupies its site.
3367 Originally a Phœnician colony, older than Carthage. It was the capital of Byzacium, and stood within the southern extremity of the Sinus Neapolitanus or Gulf of Hammamet. Trajan made it a colony, under the high-sounding name, as we gather from inscriptions, of Colonia Concordia Ulpia Trajana Augusta Frugifera Hadrumetana, or, as set forth on coins, Colonia Concordia Julia Hadrumetana Pia. The epithet Frugifera refers to the fact that it was one of the chief sea-ports for the corn-producing country of Byzacium. It was destroyed by the Vandals, but restored by the Emperor Justinian under the name of Justiniana or Justinianopolis. The modern Sousa stands on its site; and but slight traces of the ancient city are to be found.
3368 Situate in the vicinity of the modern Monastir.
3369 Shaw discovered its ruins at the modern town of Demas.
3370 Now Taineh, according to D’Anville. This place formed the boundary between the proconsular province of Africa and the territory of the Numidian king Masinissa and his descendants.
3371 The present Mahometa, according to Marcus, El Mahres according to D’Anville.
3372 Now Cabès, according to D’Anville, giving name to the Gulf of Cabès. Marcus calls it Gaps.
3373 Now Tripoli Vecchio; also called Sabart according to D’Anville.
3374 Scipio Æmilianus, the son-in-law of Æmilius Paulus.
3375 Micipsa, the son of Masinissa, and his two legitimate brethren. Scipio having been left by Masinissa executor of his will, the sovereign power was divided by him between Micipsa and his two brethren Gulussa and Mastanabal. On this occasion also he separated Numidia from Zeugitana and Byzacium, by a long dyke drawn from Thenæ, due south, to the borders of the Great Desert, and thence in a north-westerly direction to the river Tusca.
3376 The Syrtes or ‘Quicksands’ are now called, the Lesser Syrtes the Gulf of Cabès, and the Greater the Gulf of Sydra. The country situate between the two Syrtes is called Tripoli, formerly Tripolis, a name which, according to Solinus, it owed to its three cities, Sabrata, Leptis, and Œa.
3377 Marcus observes with reference to this passage, that both Hardouin and Poinsinet have mistaken its meaning. They evidently think that Pliny is speaking here of a route to the Syrtes leading from the interior of Africa, whereas it is pretty clear that he is speaking of the dangers which attend those who approach it by the line of the sea-coast, as Cato did, on his march to Utica, so beautifully described by Lucan in his Ninth Book. This is no doubt the same route which was taken by the caravans on their passage from Lebida, the ancient Leptis, to Berenice in Cyrenaica.
3378 Those which we find at the middle of the coast bordering upon the Greater Syrtis, and which separate the mountains of Fezzan and Atlas from Cyrenaica and Barca.
3379 In its widest sense this name is applied to all the Libyan tribes inhabiting the Oases on the eastern part of the Great Desert, as the Gætulians inhabited its western part, the boundary between the two nations being drawn at the sources of the Bagrada and the mountain Usargala. In the stricter sense however, and in which the term must be here understood, the name ‘Garamantes’ denoted the people of Phazania, the modern Fezzan, which forms by far the largest oasis in the Grand Desert of Zahara.
3380 Augylæ, now Aujelah, was an oasis in the desert of Barca, in the region of Cyrenaica, about 31⁄2° south of Cyrene. It has been remarked that Pliny, here and in the Eighth Chapter of the present Book, in abridging the account given by Herodotus of the tribes of Northern Africa, has transferred to the Augylæ what that author really says of the Nasamones. This oasis forms one of the chief stations on the caravan route from Cairo to Fezzan. It is placed by Rennell in 30° 3′ North Lat. and 22° 46′ East Long., 180 miles south-east of Barca, 180 west by north of Siwah, the ancient Ammonium, and 426 east by north of Mourzouk. Later authorities, however, place the village of Aujelah in 29° 15′ North Lat. and 21° 55′ East Long.
3381 For an account of the Psylli see B. vii. c. 2. They probably dwelt in the vicinity of the modern Cape Mesurata.
3382 Now Lake Lynxama, according to Marcus.
3383 Marcus observes that in order properly to understand this passage we must remember that the ancients considered Africa as terminating north of the Equator, and imagined that from the Straits of Hercules the western coast of Africa ran, not towards the south-west, but slanted in a south-easterly direction to the Straits of Babelmandel.
3384 The modern Tripoli.
3385 A flourishing city with a mixed population of Libyans and Sicilians. It was at this place that Apuleius made his eloquent and ingenious defence against the charge of sorcery brought against him by his step-sons. According to some writers the modern Tripoli is built on its site, while other accounts make it to have been situate six leagues from that city.
3386 Now called the Wady-el-Quaham.
3387 Mannert is of opinion that this was only another name for the city of Leptis Magna or the “Greater Leptis” here mentioned by Pliny. There is little doubt that his supposition is correct.
3388 The more common reading is Taphra or Taphara. D’Anville identifies it with the town of Sfakes.
3389 Scylax identifies it with Neapolis or Leptis, and it is generally looked upon as being the same place as Sabrata or Old Tripoli.
3390 Now called Lebida. It was the birth-place of the Emperor Septimius Severus. It was almost destroyed by an attack from a Libyan tribe A.D. 366, and its ruin was completed by the invasion of the Arabs. Its ruins are considerable.
3391 “Men of sea complexion,” is the meaning of this Greek name. According to Marcus they dwelt between the Greater Leptis and the Lake Tritonis, at the present day called Schibkah-el-Loudeah. For a further account of the Lotophagi, see B. xiii. c. 32.
3392 Two brothers, citizens of Carthage, who in a dispute as to their respective territories with the people of Cyrene, submitted to be buried alive in the sand, at the boundary-line between the two countries. Sallust (Jugurthine War) is the main authority for the story. It is also related by Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 7, and Valerius Maximus, B. v. c. 6, but from the Greek name of the brothers, meaning “lovers of praise,” it is doubtful whether the story is not of spurious origin.
3394 Now called El Hammah, according to Shaw.
3395 According to some accounts the goddess Pallas or Minerva was born on the banks of Lake Tritonis.
3396 The modern Cape of Tajuni.
3397 Now called Udina, according to Marcus.
3398 Now called Tabersole, according to Marcus.
3399 In the north of Byzacium, near the Bagrada and the confines of Numidia. It was the station of a Roman garrison, and considerable remains of it are still visible near the modern Zanfour.
3400 Called Cannopissæ by Ptolemy, who places it to the east of Tabraca.
3401 There is great doubt as to the correct orthography of these places, most of which can be no longer identified.
3402 According to Marcus the present Porto Tarina.
3403 Also called Achilla and Achulla, the ruins of which are to be seen at the modern El Aliah. It stood on the sea-coast of Byzacium, a little above the northern extremity of the Lesser Syrtis. It was a colony from the island of Melita, now Malta.
3404 Now called El-Jemma, according to Marcus.
3405 From it modern Tunis takes its name.
3406 The birth-place of St. Augustin. It was to the north-west of Hippo Regius.
3407 In the vicinity of this place, if it is the same as the Tigisis mentioned by Procopius, there were two columns to be seen in his day, upon which was written in the Phœnician language, “We fled from before the robber, Joshua the son of Nun.”
3408 There were two towns of this name in the proconsular province of Africa. The first was situate in the country of Zeugitana, five days’ journey west of Carthage, and it was here that Scipio defeated Hannibal. The other bore the surname of Regia or Royal, from being the frequent residence of the Numidian kings. It lay in the interior, and at the present day its site bears the name of ‘Zowarin’ or ‘Zewarin.’
3409 The ruins of Capsa still bear the name of Cafsa or Ghafsah. It was an important city in the extreme south of Numidia, situate in an oasis, in the midst of an arid desert abounding in serpents. In the Jugurthine war it was the treasury of Jugurtha, and was taken and destroyed by Marius; but was afterwards rebuilt and made a colony.
3410 They dwelt between the river Ampsaga or Wady-El-Kebir and the Tusca or Wady-Zain, the western boundary of the Carthaginian territory.
3411 Dwelling to the east of the mountain Zalycus, now known as the Wanashrise, according to Shaw.
3412 The ancients called by the name of ‘Gætulians’ all the people of Africa who dwelt south of the Mauritanias and Numidia, as far as the line which, according to their ideas, separated Africa from Æthiopia.
3413 The Quorra most probably of modern geographers.
3414 So called, as mentioned below, from its five principal cities.
3415 Where Jupiter Ammon or Hammon was worshiped under the form of a ram, the form he was said to have assumed when the deities were dispersed in the war with the Giants. Ancient Ammonium is the present oasis of Siwah in the Libyan Desert.
3416 The same that has been already mentioned in B. ii. c. 106. It is mentioned by Herodotus and Pomponius Mela.
3417 Previously called Hesperis or Hesperides. It was the most westerly city of Cyrenaica, and stood just beyond the eastern extremity of the Greater Syrtis, on a promontory called Pseudopenias, and near the river Lethon. Its historical importance only dates from the times of the Ptolemies, when it was named Berenice, after the wife of Ptolemy III. or Euergetes. Having been greatly reduced, it was fortified anew by the Emperor Justinian. Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Ben Ghazi.
3418 So called from Arsinoë, the sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Its earlier name was Taucheira or Teucheira, which name, according to Marcus, it still retains.
3419 Its ruins may still be seen at Tolmeita or Tolometa. It was situate on the N.W. coast of Cyrenaica, and originally bore the name of Barca. From which of the Ptolemies it took its name is not known. Its splendid ruins are not less than four miles in circumference.
3420 Its ruins are still to be seen, bespeaking its former splendour, at the modern Marsa Sousah. It was originally only the port of Cyrene, but under the Ptolemies it flourished to such an extent as to eclipse that city. It is pretty certain that it was the Sozusa of the later Greek writers. Eratosthenes was a native of this place.
3421 The chief city of Cyrenaica, and the most important Hellenic colony in Africa, the early settlers having extensively intermarried with wives of Libyan parentage. In its most prosperous times it maintained an extensive commerce with Greece and Egypt, especially in silphium or assafœtida, the plantations of which, as mentioned in the present chapter, extended for miles in its vicinity. Great quantities of this plant were also exported to Capua in Southern Italy, where it was extensively employed in the manufacture of perfumes. The scene of the ‘Rudens,’ the most picturesque (if we may use the term) of the plays of Plautus, is laid in the vicinity of Cyrene, and frequent reference is made in it to the extensive cultivation of silphium; a head of which plant also appears on the coins of the place. The philosophers Aristippus and Carneades were born here, as also the poet Callimachus. Its ruins, at the modern Ghrennah, are very extensive, and are indicative of its former splendour.
3422 In C. 1 of the present Book. It was only the poetical fancy of the Greeks that found the fabled gardens of the Hesperides in the fertile regions of Cyrenaica. Scylax distinctly mentions the gardens and the lake of the Hesperides in this vicinity, where we also find a people called Hesperidæ, or, as Herodotus names them, Euesperidæ. It was probably in consequence of this similarity of name, in a great degree, that the gardens of the Hesperides were assigned to this locality.
3423 Now called Ras-Sem or Ras-El-Kazat. It is situate a little to the west of Apollonia and N.W. of Cyrene.
3424 According to Ansart, 264 miles is the real distance between Capes Ras-Sem and Tænarum or Matapan
3425 As already mentioned, Apollonia formed the harbour of Cyrene.
3426 This was called the Chersonesus Magna, being so named in contradistinction to the Chersonesus Parva, on the coast of Egypt, about thirty-five miles west of Alexandria. It is now called Ras-El-Tin, or more commonly Raxatin.
3427 So called from the peculiar features of the locality, the Greek word καταβαθμὸς, signifying “a descent.” A deep valley, bounded east and west by ranges of high hills, runs from this spot to the frontiers of Egypt. It is again mentioned by Pliny at the end of the present Chapter. The spot is still known by a similar name, being called Marsa Sollern, or the “Port of the Ladder.” In earlier times the Egyptian territory ended at the Gulf of Plinthinethes, now Lago Segio, and did not extend so far as Catabathmos.
3428 This name was unknown to Herodotus. As Marcus observes, it was probably of Phœnician origin, signifying “leading a wandering life,” like the term “nomad,” derived from the Greek.
3429 Now called El Bareton or Marsa-Labeit. This city was of considerable importance, and belonged properly to Marmaria, but was included politically in the Nomos Libya of Egypt. It stood near the promontory of Artos or Pythis, now Ras-El-Hazeit.
3430 So called from the words Matâ-Ammon, “the tribe of Ammon,” according to Bochart. The Nasamones were a powerful but savage people of Libya, who dwelt originally on the shores of the Greater Syrtis, but were driven inland by the Greek settlers of Cyrenaica, and afterwards by the Romans.
3431 From μεσὸς “the middle,” and ἄμμος “sand.”
3433 Herodotus places this nation to the west of the Nasamones and on the river Cinyps, now called the Wadi-Quaham.
3434 In most of the editions they are called ‘Hammanientes.’ It has been suggested that they were so called from the Greek word ἄμμος “sand.”
3435 This story he borrows from Herodotus, B. iv. c. 158.
3436 From the Greek word τρωγλοδύται, “dwellers in caves.” Pliny has used the term already (B. iv. c. 25) in reference to the nations on the banks of the Danube. It was a general name applied by the Greek geographers to various uncivilized races who had no abodes but caves, and more especially to the inhabitants of the western coasts of the Red Sea, along the shores of Upper Egypt and Æthiopia.
3438 Which gives name to the modern Fezzan.
3439 Now called Tanet-Mellulen, or the station of Mellulen, on the route from Gadamez to Oserona.
3440 Zaouila or Zala, half way between Augyla and Mourzouk.
3441 Now Gadamez, which, according to Marcus, is situate almost under the same meridian as Old Tripoli, the ancient Sabrata.
3442 According to Marcus this range still bears the name of Gibel-Assoud, which in the Arabic language means the “Black Mountain.”
3443 In a southerly direction. He alludes probably to the Desert of Bildulgerid.
3444 This spring is also mentioned by Pliny in B. ii. c. 106. Marcus suggests that the Debris of Pliny is the same as the Bedir of Ptolemy. He also remarks that the English traveller Oudney discovered caverns hewn out of the sides of the hills, evidently for the purposes of habitation, but of which the use is not known by the present people. These he considers to have been the abodes of the ancient Troglodytæ or “cave-dwellers.” In the Tibesti range of mountains, however, we find a race called the Rock Tibboos, from the circumstance of their dwelling in caves.
3445 Cornelius Balbus Gaditanus the Younger, who, upon his victories over the Garamantes, obtained a triumph in the year B.C. 19.
3446 L. Cornelius Balbus the Elder, also a native of Gades. He obtained the consulship in B.C. 40, the first instance, as we find mentioned by Pliny, B. vii. c. 44, in which this honour had been conferred upon one who was not a Roman citizen.
3447 On the occasion of a triumph by a Roman general, boards were carried aloft on “fercula,” on which were painted in large letters the names of vanquished nations and countries. Here too models were exhibited in ivory or wood of the cities and forts captured, and pictures of the mountains, rivers, and other great natural features of the subjugated region, with appropriate inscriptions. Marcus is of opinion that the names of the places here mentioned do not succeed in any geographical order, but solely according to their presumed importance as forming part of the conquest of Balbus. He also thinks that Balbus did not penetrate beyond the fifteenth degree of north latitude, and that his conquests did not extend so far south as the banks of Lake Tchad.
3448 The site of Garama still bears the name of ‘Gherma,’ and presents very considerable remains of antiquity. It is four days’ journey north of Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan.
3449 Now Tibesti, according to Marcus.
3450 Marcus suggests that this is probably the Febabo of modern geographers, to the N.E. of Belma and Tibesti.
3451 Discera was the Im-Zerah of modern travellers, on the road from Sockna to Mourzouk, according to Marcus, who is of opinion that the places which follow were situate at the east and north-east of Thuben and the Black Mountain.
3452 Om-El-Abid, to the N.W. of Garama or Gherma, according to Marcus, and Oudney the traveller.
3453 The same, Marcus thinks, as the modern Tessava in Fezzan.
3454 Marcus suggests that this may be the modern Sana.
3455 The town of Winega mentioned by Oudney, was probably the ancient Pega, according to Marcus.
3456 The modern Missolat, according to Marcus, on the route from Tripoli to Murmuck.
3457 According to Marcus, this was the Mount Goriano of the English travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, where, confirming the statement here made by Pliny, they found quartz, jasper, onyx, agates, and cornelians.
3459 “Past the head of the rock.” Marcus suggests that this is the Gibel-Gelat or Rock of Gelat spoken of by the English travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, forming a portion of the chain of Guriano or Gyr. He says, that at the foot of this mountain travellers have to pass from Old and New Tripoli on their road to Missolat, the Maxala of Pliny, and thence to Gerama or Gherma, the ancient capital of Fezzan.
3460 As Marcus observes, this would not make it to extend so far south as the sixteenth degree of north latitude.
3461 The Mareotis of the time of the Ptolemies extended from Alexandria to the Gulf of Plinthinethes; and Libya was properly that portion of territory which extended from that Gulf to Catabathmos. Pliny is in error here in confounding the two appellations, or rather, blending them into one. It includes the eastern portion of the modern Barca, and the western division of Lower Egypt. It most probably received its name from the Lake Mareotis, and not the lake from it.
3462 This was a seaport town on the northern coast of Africa, probably about eleven or twelve miles west of Parætonium, sometimes spoken of as belonging to Egypt, sometimes to Marmorica. Scylax places it at the western boundary of Egypt, on the frontier of the Marmaridæ. Ptolemy, like Pliny, speaks of it as being in the Libyan Nomos. The distances given in the MSS. of Pliny of this place from Parætonium are seventy-two, sixty-two, and twelve miles; the latter is probably the correct reading, as Strabo, B. xvii., makes the distance 100 stadia. It is extremely doubtful whether the Apis mentioned by Herodotus, B. ii. c. 18, can be the same place: but there is little doubt, from the words of Pliny here, that it was dedicated to the worship of the Egyptian god Apis, who was represented under the form of a bull.
3463 Now called Zerbi and Jerba, derived from the name of Girba, which even in the time of Aurelius Victor, had supplanted that of Meninx. It is situate in the Gulf of Cabes. According to Solinus, C. Marius lay in concealment here for some time. It was famous for its purple. See B. ix. c. 60.
3464 Now called Kerkéni, Karkenah, or Ramlah.
3465 Now Gherba. It was reckoned as a mere appendage to Cercina, to which it was joined by a mole, and which is found often mentioned in history.
3466 Still called Lampedusa, off the coast of Tunis. This island, with Gaulos and Galata, has been already mentioned among the islands off Sicily; see B. iii. c. 14.
3468 A lofty island surrounded by dangerous cliffs, now called Zowamour or Zembra.
3469 In the former editions the word “Aræ” is taken to refer to the Ægimuri, as meaning the same islands. Sillig is however of opinion that totally distinct groups are meant, and punctuates accordingly. The “Aræ” were probably mere rocks lying out at sea, which received their name from their fancied resemblance to altars. They are mentioned by Virgil in the Æneid, B. i. l. 113, upon which lines Servius says, that they were so called because there the Romans and the people of Africa on one occasion made a treaty.
3470 The greater portion of this Chapter is extracted almost verbatim from the account given by Mela. Ptolemy seems to place the Liby-Egyptians to the south of the Greater and Lesser Oasis, on the route thence to Darfour.
3471 Or “White Æthiopians,” men though of dark complexion, not negroes. Marcus is of opinion that the words “intervenientibus desertis” refer to the tract of desert country lying between the Leucæthiopians and the Liby-Egyptians, and not to that between the Gætulians on the one hand and the Liby-Egyptians and the Leucæthiopians on the other.
3472 Meaning to the south and the south-east of these three nations, according to Marcus. Rennel takes the Leucæthiopians to be the present Mandingos of higher Senegambia: Marcus however thinks that they are the Azanaghis, who dwell on the edge of the Great Desert, and are not of so black a complexion as the Mandingos.
3473 Probably the people of the present Nigritia or Soudan.
3474 Marcus is of opinion that Pliny does not here refer to the Joliba of Park and other travellers, as other commentators have supposed; but that he speaks of the river called Zis by the modern geographers, and which Jackson speaks of as flowing from the south-east towards north-west. The whole subject of the Niger is however enwrapped in almost impenetrable obscurity, and as the most recent inquirers have not come to any conclusion on the subject, it would be little more than a waste of time and space to enter upon an investigation of the notions which Pliny and Mela entertained on the subject.
3475 From γυμνὸς, “naked.”
3477 He refers to the words in the Odyssey, B. i. l. 23, 24.—
“The Æthiopians, the most remote of mankind, are divided into two parts, the one at the setting of Hyperion, the other at his rising.”
3478 A tribe of Æthiopia, whose position varied considerably at different epochs of history. Their predatory and savage habits caused the most extraordinary reports to be spread of their appearance and ferocity. The more ancient geographers bring them as far westward as the region beyond the Libyan Desert, and into the vicinity of the Oases. In the time however of the Antonines, when Ptolemy was composing his description of Africa, they appear to the south and east of Egypt, in the wide and almost unknown tract which lay between the rivers Astapus and Astobores.