CHAPTER XII.

ORIENS.

THE remainder of Asia shall be described under the general title of Oriens, or the East.

Below Cilicia, on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean, is Syria, but the coast itself is called Phoenicia, and below it Palæstina, or Holy Land, in the upper part of which was Galilæa, in the middle Samaria, and the lower Judæa. Below Judæa, at the top of the Sinus Arabicus, or Red Sea, was Arabia Petræa, or the Stony Arabia; lower, towards the entrance of the Sinus Arabicus, was Arabia Felix, or the Fruitful, and the rest of the vast plain between the Arabian and Persian Gulphs, was Arabia Deserta, or the Desert Arabia. East of Arabia, near the mouth of the Euphrates, at the top of the Persian

Gulph, is Chaldea, and above it Babylonia. Between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris is Mesopotamia; on the East of the Tigris is Assyria, East of which is Media, and South of it Persia; that part of Persia near the Tigris is called Susiana. North of Mesopotamia is Armenia Major, on the East bank of the Euphrates; Armenia Minor was on the Western bank of the Euphrates, being originally part of Cappadocia. Above Armenia, on the Eastern coast of the Pontus Euxinus, was Colchis, and East of it Iberia, and, still East, on the shore of the Caspian, Albania. Above them, between the Palus Mæotis and Northern part of the Caspian, was Sarmatia Asiatica. East of Persia was Carmania, and South East of it Gedrosia, reaching nearly to the river Indus. The great country between the Indus and the Ganges, was India intra Gangem, and that East of the Ganges, which was very little known, was India extra Gangem, South East of which were the Sinæ. East of Media was Aria and Bactriana. North of Media, at the Southern extremity of the Caspian, was Hyrcania and Parthia, and North of Hyrcania the Chorasmii, to the North East of whom were the Massagetæ, and to the South East Sogdiana, and still Eastward the Sacæ. All the country to the North, was called Scythia intra Imaum, or Scythia within the mountain Imaus, and South

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East of it was Scythia extra Imaum, somewhat North East of which was Serica, which approached to the North Western frontier of China.

We may consider Syria, including the coasts of Phonicia and Palæstina, as bounded by Cilicia on the North, by the Euphrates and Arabia on the East, by Arabia and Egypt on the South, and by the Mediterranean on the West. Immediately on the Cilician confines was Alexandria, now Alexandretta, or Scanderona. Below it, but somewhat inland, is the famous city of Antiochia, or Antioch, now almost depopulated, and called Antakia. It was built by Seleucus Nicator, the son of Antiochus, who called it after his father's name. Seleucus was one of the most powerful of Alexander's generals, who obtained Syria for his share in the dismemberment of the Macedonian empire, and the kings of Syria, his descendants, were called Seleucidæ We learn from the Acts of the Apostles, ch. xi. 26, that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch, and after the prevalence of Christianity it received the appellation of Theopolis, or the divine city. It was built on the river Orontes, the only important river in Syria, if we except its Eastern boundary, the Euphrates. About five miles below it was a delightful grove and fountains, called Daphne, celebrated for the worship of Venus, and the licentiousness of its visitors, it is now called Beit el Ma, or the house of water. Near the mouth of the Orontes was Seleucia, founded by Seleucus Nicator, now Savedia, and below it was Mons Casius, said to be so high that the sun-rising might be seen from the summit when the bottom of the mountain was

yet enveloped in darkness. Considerably South, near the small river Marsyas, which flows into a lake on the Orontes, was Apamea, now Famich, an important city, founded by Seleucus Nicator, who kept five hundred war elephants there; and below it is Epiphaneia, or Hamah. South East of Epiphaneia is the city of Emesa, or Hems, where was a famous temple of Elagabalus, or the sun, the priest of which, a youth of fourteen, was made Emperor by the licentious Roman soldiers, A. D. 218, and disgraced himself and the purple, during a reign of almost four years, by the most horrid cruelties and unheard-of licentiousness. South West of Emesa, on the opposite side of the Orontes, is Heliopolis, or Balbec, where are still to be seen the ruins of a most magnificent temple of the sun. It is in a valley between two parallel ridges of mountains, Libanus and Antilibanus. This valley was called Aulon, or the hollow, by the Greeks, and all this part of Syria was called Cœle Syria, or the Hollow Syria. Almost South of Heliopolis, but with a little declination towards the East, was Damascus, or Demesk, one of the most celebrated cities of Asia, both in sacred and profane geography. It was beautifully situated in a valley, still called Gouteh Demesk, or the orchard of Damascus, and watered by a river called by the Greeks Bardine, or Chrysorrhoas, the golden stream, now Baradi. We shall next describe the interior of Syria to its Eastern boundary of the Euphrates. The Northern extremity of Syria, on the declivity of Mount Taurus and Amanus, was called Comagene: its principal city was Samosata, now Semisat, on the Euphrates, the birth place of Lucian. Somewhat South West of it is Pindenissus, now Behesni, which was besieged and taken by Cicero, when proconsul of Cilicia,

after a siege of twenty-five days, A. U. C. 702, B. C. 52. South East of it is Zeugma, the principal passage of the Euphrates; South of which is Hierapolis, so called from its being the seat of worship of the Syrian goddess Atergatis; by the Syrians it was called Bambyce, or Mabog, now Menbigz. Near it was Batnæ, now Adaneh, the delightful situation of which rivalled the Antiochian Daphne. South West of it was a city antiently called Chalybon, but by the Macedonians of Alexander, Beroa, now celebrated under the modern name of Haleb, or Aleppo. South West of it was a city called Chalcis, now Old Haleb, and North of it Cyrrhus, now Corus. These three cities gave the name of Chalybonites, Chalcidice, and Cyrrhestica, to the surrounding districts. Considerably to the East of Bercea is Resapha, which preserves its name; and South East of it are the celebrated fords. of the Euphrates at the city of Thapsacus, now El-Der. This ford was first passed by Cyrus, in his expedition against Artaxerxes, immortalized by Xenophon, B. C. 401, Ol. 94, 4; afterwards by Darius, after his defeat by Alexander, at Issus, B. C. 333, Ol. 111, 4; and near three years after by Alexander, in pursuit of Darius, previous to his final and decisive victory of Arbela, Below it is Orouros, or Gorur, which was fixed by Pompey as the boundary of the Roman Empire, when he reduced Syria to a Roman province. To the West, about midway between Orouros and Emesa, in the vast desert which connects Syria with Arabia, is Palmyra, or Tadamora (the city of palm trees,) said to have been founded by Solomon, now Tadmor, in the wilderness, It was a most powerful city under its celebrated Queen Zenobia, the wife of Odenatus. She opposed the Emperor Aurelian, in the plains of Syria, at the head of