აგერ ბმულები და ამონარიდებიც მე-6 წიგნიდან:
http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin...layout=&loc=6.4http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin...layout=&loc=6.5http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin...ayout=&loc=6.10http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin...ayout=&loc=6.11http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin...ayout=&loc=6.12CHAP. 4.--THE REGION OF THEMISCYRA, AND THE NATIONS THEREIN.
The river Iris brings down to the sea the waters of the Lycus. In the interior is the city of Ziela,1 famous for the defeat of Triarius2 and the victory of C. Cæsar.3 Upon the coast there is the river Thermodon, which rises at the fortified place called Phanarœa,4 and flows past the foot of Mount Amazonius.5 There was formerly a town of the same name as the river, and five others in all, Amazonium, Themiseyra, Sotira, Amasia, and Comana,6 now only a Manteium. (4.) We find here the nations of the Genetæ,7 the Chalybes,8 the town of Cotyorum,9 the nations of the Tibareni and the Mossyni, who make marks upon their bodies,10 the people called Macro- [p. 2009] cephali,11 the town of Cerasus,12 the port of Chordule, the nations called the Bechires13 and the Buzeri, the river Melas,14 the people called the Macrones, and Sidene with its river Sidenus,15 by which the town of Polemonium16 is washed, at a distance from Amisus of one hundred and twenty miles. We next come to the rivers Iasonius17 on the site of the older city of Side, at the mouth of the Sidenus and Melanthius,18 and at a distance of eighty miles from Amisus, the town of Pharnacea,19 the fortress and river of Tripolis;20 the fortress and river of Philocalia, the fortress of Liviopolis, but not upon a river, and at a distance of one hundred miles from Pharnacea, the free city of Trapezus,21 shut in by a mountain of vast size. Beyond this town is the nation of the Armenochalybes22 and the [p. 2010] Greater Armenia, at a distance of thirty miles. On the coast, before Trapezus, flows the river Pyxites, and beyond it is the nation of the Sanni23 Heniochi. Next comes the river Absarus,24 with a fortress of the same name at its mouth, distant from Trapezus one hundred and forty miles.
At the back of the mountains of this district is Iberia, while on the coast are the Heniochi, the Ampreutæ,25 the Lazi, the rivers Acampsis,26 Isis,27 Mogrus, and Bathys,28 the nations of the Colchi, the town of Matium,29 the river Heracleum and the promontory of the same name,30 and the Phasis,31 the most celebrated river of Pontus. This river rises among the Moschi, and is navigable for the largest vessels a distance of thirty-eight miles and a half, and for small ones very much higher up; it is crossed by one hundred and twenty bridges. It formerly had many cities of note on its banks, the more famous of which were Tyndaris, Circæum, Cygnus, and Phasis32 at its mouth. But the most celebrated of them all was Æa, fifteen miles33 distant from the sea, where the Hippos and the Cyaneos,34 rivers of vast size, flow into it from opposite directions. At the present day its only place of note is Surium, which [p. 2011] derives its name from the river which flows at that spot into the Phasis, and up to which place the Phasis is navigable for large vessels, as we have already35 mentioned. It receives also some other rivers, wonderful for their number and magnitude, and among them the Glaucus.36 At the mouth of the Phasis, at a distance of seventy miles from Absarus, are some islands, which, however, have no name. After passing this, we come to another river, the Charieis,37 and the nation of the Salæ, by the ancients called Phthirophagi,38 as also Suani.39 The river Chobus40 flows from the Caucasus through the country of the Suani. The river Rhoas comes next, then the region of Ecrectice, the rivers Singames,41 Tarsuras,42 Astelephus,43 Chrysorrhoas, the nation of the Absilæ, the castle of Sebastopolis,44 one hundred miles distant from Phasis, the nation of the Sannigæ, the town of Cygnus,45 and the river and town of Penius.46 We then come to the tribes of the Heniochi,47 who are distinguished by numerous names.
CHAP. 5. (5)--THE REGION OF COLICA, THE NATIONS OF THE ACHÆI, AND OTHER NATIONS IN THE SAME PARTS.
Below this lies the region of Pontus known as Colica,1 in [p. 2012] which the mountain chain of Caucasus bends away towards the Riphæan mountains, as we have previously2 mentioned; one side running down towards the Euxine and the Lake Mæotis, the other towards the Caspian and the Hyrcanian sea. The remaining portion of these shores is peopled by savage nations, the Melanchlæni,3 and the Coraxi, who formerly dwelt in Dios- curias,4 near the river Anthemus, now deserted, but once a famous city; so much so, indeed, that we learn from Timos- thenes, that three hundred nations, all of different languages, were in the habit of resorting to it, and in later times we had there one hundred and thirty interpreters for the purpose of transacting business. There are some authors who are of opinion that this place was built by Amphitus and Telchius, the charioteers5 of Castor and Pollux, from whom it is generally understood that the nation of the Heniochi sprang. After passing Dioscurias we come to the town of Heracleium,6 seventy miles distant from Sebastopolis, and then the Achæi,7 the Mardi,8 and the Cercetæ,9 and, behind them, the Cerri and the Cephalotomi.10 In the innermost part11 of this district there was Pityus,12 a city of very considerable opulence, but [p. 2013] destroyed by the Heniochi: behind it are the Epageritæ, a people of Sarmatian origin, dwelling upon the range of the Caucasus, and beyond them, the Sauromatæ. It was with these people that Mithridates13 took refuge in the reign of the Emperor Claudius: and from him we learn that the Thalli14 join up to them, a people who border on the eastern side upon the mouth15 of the Caspian sea: he tells us also that at the reflux the channel is dry there. Upon the coast of the Euxine, near the country of the Cercetæ, is the river Icarusa,16 with the town and river of Hierus , distant from Heracleium one hundred and thirty-six miles. Next to this, is the promontory of Cruni, after passing which, we find the Toretæ upon a lofty ridge of mountains. The city of Sindos17 is distant from Hierus sixty-seven miles and a half; after passing which, we come to the river Setheries. (6.) From thence to the entrance of the Cimmerian Bosporus the distance is eighty-eight miles and a half.
CHAP. 10.--THE RIVERS CYRUS AND ARAXES.
The river Cyrus1 takes its rise in the mountains of the Heniochi, by some writers called the Coraxici; the Araxes rises in the same mountains as the river Euphrates, at a distance from it of six miles only;2 and after being increased by the waters [p. 2019] of the Usis, falls itself, as many authors have supposed, into the Cyrus, by which it is carried into the Caspian Sea.
The more famous towns in Lesser Armenia are Cæsarea,3 Aza,4 and Nicopolis;5 in the Greater Arsamosata,6 which lies near the Euphrates, Carcathiocerta7 upon the Tigris, Tigranocerta8 which stands on an elevated site, and, on a plain adjoining the river Araxes, Artaxata.9 According to Aufidius, the circumference of the whole of Armenia is five thousand miles, while Claudius Cæsar makes the length, from Dascusa10 to the borders of the Caspian Sea, thirteen11 hundred miles, and the breadth, from Tigranocerta to Iberia,12 half that distance. It is a well-known fact, that this country is divided into prefectures, called "Strategies," some of which singly formed a kingdom in former times; they are one hundred [p. 2020] and twenty in number, with barbarous and uncouth names.13 On the east, it is bounded, though not immediately, by the Ceraunian Mountains and the district of Adiabene. The space that intervenes is occupied by the Sopheni, beyond whom is the chain of mountains,14 and then beyond them the inhabitants of Adiabene. Dwelling in the valleys adjoining to Armenia are the Menobardi and the Moscheni. The Tigris and inaccessible mountains surround Adiabene. To the left15 of it is the territory of the Medi, and in the distance is seen the Caspian Sea; which, as we shall state in the proper place, receives its waters from the ocean,16 and is wholly surrounded by the Caucasian Mountains. The inhabitants upon the confines of Armenia shall now be treated of.
CHAP. 11. (10.)--ALBANIA, IBERIA, AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS.
The whole plain which extends away from the river Cyrus is inhabited by the nation of the Albani,1 and, after them,2 by that of the Iberi,3 who are separated from them by the river Alazon,4 which flows into the Cyrus from the Caucasian [p. 2021] chain. The chief cities are Cabalaca,5 in Albania, Harmastis,6 near a river7 of Iberia, and Neoris; there is the region also of Thasie, and that of Triare, extending as far as the mountains known as the Paryadres. Beyond these8 are the deserts of Colchios, on the side of which that looks towards the Ceraunian Mountains dwell the Armenochalybes;9 and there is the country of the Moschi, extending to the river Iberus, which flows into the Cyrus; below them are the Sacassani, and after them the Macrones, upon the river Absarus. Such is the manner in which the plains and low country are parcelled out. Again, after passing the confines of Albania, the wild tribes of the Silvi inhabit the face of the mountains, below them those of the Lubieni, and after them the Diduri and the Sodii.
CHAP. 12. (11.)--THE PASSES OF THE CAUCASUS.
After passing the last, we come to the Gates of Caucasus,1 by many persons most erroneously called the Caspian Passes; a vast work of nature, which has suddenly wrenched asunder in this place a chain of mountains. At this spot are gates barred up with beams shod with iron, while beneath the middle there runs a stream which emits a most fetid odour; on this side of it is a rock, defended by a fortress, the name of which is Cumania,2 erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lie beyond. Here, then, we may see the habitable world severed into two parts by a pair [p. 2022] of gates; they are just opposite to Harmastis, a town of the Iberi.
Beyond the Gates of Caucasus, in the Gordyæan Mountains, the Valli and the Suani, uncivilized tribes, are found; still, however, they work the mines of gold there. Beyond these nations, and extending as far away as Pontus, are numerous nations of the Heniochi, and, after them, of the Achæi. Such is the present state of one of the most famous tracts upon the face of the earth.
Some writers have stated that the distance between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea is not more than three hundred and seventy-five miles; Cornelius Nepos makes it only two hundred and fifty. Within such straits is Asia pent up in this second instance3 by the agency of the sea! Claudius Cæsar has informed us that from the Cimmerian Bosporus to the Caspian Sea is a distance of only one hundred and fifty4 miles, and that Nicator Seleucus5 contemplated cutting through this isthmus just at the time when he was slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus. It is a well-known fact that the distance from the Gates of Caucasus to the shores of the Euxine is two hundred miles.
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