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1 In the district of Osrhoëne, in the northern part of Mesopotamia. It was situate on the Syrtus, now the Daisan, a small tributary of the Euphrates. Pliny speaks rather loosely when he places it in Arabia. It is supposed that it bore the name of Antiochia during the reign of the Syrian king, Antiochus IV. The modern town of Orfahor Uufah is supposed to represent its site.
2 "The beautiful stream." It is generally supposed that this was another name of Edessa.
3 Supposed to be the Haran, or Charan, of the Old Testament. It was here, as alluded to by Pliny, that Crassus was defeated and slain by the Parthian general, Surena. It was situate in Osroëne, in Mesopotamia, and not far from Edessa. According to Stephanus, it had its name from Carrha, a river of Syria, and was celebrated in ancient times for its temple of Luna, or Lunus.
4 According to Strabo, the Aborras, now the Khabur, flowed round this town. By Tacitus it is called Anthemusias. According to Isidorus of Charax, it lay between Edessa and the Euphrates.
5 Now Rakkah, a fortified town of Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates, near the mouth of the river Bilecha. It was built by order of Alexander the Great, and completed probably by Seleucus. It is supposed to have been the same place as Callinicum, the fortifications of which were repaired by Justinian. Its name was changed in later times to Leontopolis by the Emperor Leo.
6 Now called Sinjar, according to Brotier. Some writers imagine that this was the site of "the plain in the land of Shinar," on which the Tower of Babel was built, mentioned in the Book of Genesis, xi. 2.
7 Mentioned in C. 17 of the present Book.
8 Probably not that in the district of Cassiotis, and on the western bank of the Orontes, mentioned in C. 19 of the present Book. Of this locality nothing seems to be known, except that Dupinet states that it is now called Adelphe by the Turks.
9 Probably the "Antiochia ad Taurum" mentioned by the geographer Stephanus, and by Ptolemy. Some writers place it at the modern Aintab, seventy-five miles north-east of Aleppo.
10 Now called Roum-Cala, or the "Roman Castle." For Zeugma see p. 424.
11 In the north-east of the district of Astropatene, originally called Rhaga. It was rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator, and by him called Europus. Colonel Rawlinson has identified it with the present Veramin, at no great distance from the ancient Rhages.
12 Its ruins are to be seen at the ford of El Hamman, near the modern Rakkah. It stood on the banks of the Euphrates; and here was the usual, and, for a long time, the only ford of the Euphrates. It is supposed to have derived its name from the Aramean word "Thiphsach," signifying "a ford."
13 Or "Dwellers in Tents." See p. 422.
14 According to Ortelius and Hardouin, this is the place called Sura by Pliny, in C. 26 of the present Book; but Parisot differs from that opinion. Bochart suggests, that "Ur, of the Chaldees," is the place referred to under this name; but, as Hardouin observes, that place lay at a considerable distance to the south.
15 So called from the circumstance that Palmyra stood in the midst of them. It was built by King Solomon, in an oasis of the Desert, in the midst of palm groves, from which it received its Greek name, which was a translation also of the Hebrew "Tadmor," "the city of palm-trees." It lay at a considerable distance from the Euphrates. Its site presents considerable ruins; but they are all of the Roman period, and greatly inferior to those of Baalbec or Heliopolis.
16 The rock fortress of the Idumæans in Arabia Petræa, now called Wady-Musa, half-way between the head of the Gulf of Akabah and the Dead Sea.
17 Which it continued to do until it was conquered under its queen, Zenobia, by the Emperor Aurelian, in A.D. 270. It was partially destroyed by him, but was afterwards fortified by Justinian; though it never recovered its former greatness.
18 See B. vi. c. 30.
19 Pliny is the only author that makes mention of Stelendene.
20 In C. 19 of the present Book.
21 Previously mentioned by Pliny. See p. 439. Of Elatium nothing is known.
22 The same place that is also mentioned in history as Flavia Firms Sura. The site of Philiscum is totally unknown.
23 Nothing is known of this place.
24 Parisot remarks, that it is true that the Euphrates increases periodically, much in the same manner as the Nile; but that its increase does not arise from similar causes, nor are the same results produced by it, seeing that the river does not convey the same volume of water as the Nile, and that the country in the vicinity of its bed does not, like Egypt, form a valley pent up between two ranges of hills.
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- Cross-references to this page
(2):
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ANTIOCHEIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APAMEIA
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(1):
- Lewis & Short, Succabar