COMPENDIUM
OF
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY,
BY
MONSIEUR D'ANVILLE,
OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF INSCRIITIONS AND BELLES LETTRES AT PARIS,
AND OF THAT OF SCIENCES AT PETERSBURG; SECRETARY TO HIS
SERENE HIGHNESS THE LATE DUKE OF ORLEANS.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.
ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS,
CAREFULLY REDUCED FROM THOSE OF THE PARIS ATLAS,
IN IMPERIAL FOLIO;
WITH A MAP OF ROMAN BRITAIN,
FROM THE
LEARNED JOHN HORSLEY, M.A. F.R.S.
AND WITH PROLEGOMENA AND NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR.
CALCULATED
For Private Libraries, as well as for the Use of Schools.
His eye might here command wherever stood
City of old or modern fame, the seat
Of mightiest empire ; from the destin'4 walls
Of CAMBALU, seat of Cathaian Khan,
And SAMARCHAND by Oxxis, Temir's throne,
By AGRA and LAHOR of Great Mogul,
Down to the GOLDEN CHERSONESE
And utmost Indian isle TAPROBANA. Parad. Lost, B. xi.
OUNARI RES IPSA NEGAT, CONTENTA DOCERI.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. FAULDER; \VILKIE AND ROBINSON ; J. \VALKLR .
R. LEA; J. RICHARDSON ; AND J. JOHNSON AND CO.
1810.
r
THE
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
I UNDERTAKE, says a geographer of anti-
quity, to describe the World; a work filled with
difficulties, and susceptible of no elegance of style*.
But when we apply to study to acquire know-
ledge, we ought, to the desire of gratifying our
own curiosity, to join the motive of being of
some utility, if possible, to the public. After
having in the course of fifteen years, under the
incitement and auspices of Monseigneur the late
Duke of Orleans, and those of the prince his
son, given charts, more ample than any pre-
ceding, of the four parts of the world, followed
by a map of the two hemispheres, I have de-
voted myself to the composition of a second se-
ries, reserved for ancient geography; an object
that has ever been dear to me. It would ap-
pear superfluous to recommend particularly
what is generally acknowledged ; the necessity
of being instructed in this Geography, to read
ancient history with profit.
At the head of this series is a general chart of
the Or bis Veteribus ?wtus, or the World known
to the Ancients ; followed by the Or bis Homa-
nus, in two parts, east and west, in which the
objects are more exactly and explicitly detailed
than in the maps hitherto published of that em-
* Orbis aititrn dicere aggredior, impeditam opus, ft fa~
cwid'ut minimi: capar. POMPONIUS MtL\. P.
vi THE AUTHORS
pire. These divisions of the Roman world are
presented under a point of view adapted to the
principal state of Geography in Antiquity, ra-
ther than to the modification of it in a posterior
age, when the provinces, multiplied almost to
infinity, had obliterated the traces of their pri-
mitive partitions. The extent of the ancient
world beyond the limits of these two parts, of-
fers scarcely any other detail than the means of
placing, with some certainty, what the general
chart of it expresses. Thus I may flatter my-
self with having furnished a considerable quan-
tity of geography, in the small compass of
three sheets. But there are countries which
make so great a figure in ancient history as to
require to be treated separately, and in a man-
ner that will leave less to desire concerning them.
Ancient Gaul is particularly interesting to a
Frenchman. It is enough to name Italy,
Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine, to
recognise the theatres where the important
scenes were performed that compose the sub-
ject of history. There arc then as many parti-
cular maps in this collection as may be thought
sufficient to represent whatever is more or less
detailed in ancient Geography.
These several maps in the hands of many per-
sons have occasioned a Avish for some written
work that might create an interest in consulting
them. Among these persons are some of a sex
whose curiosity, well meriting applause on such
PREFACE. VII
a subject, it becomes a duty to gratify. There has
hitherto appeared no treatise that seems to hold
the place of what is here offered to the public.
The learned indeed may find little trouble in turn-
ing over the two weighty quartos of Cellarius. But
in his work, though very laudable, the want of a
sufficient acquaintance with modern Geography
deprives the ancient of the light which it has often
occasion for, to ascertain or to rectify it. For we
may accuse the geographers of antiquity of ap-
pearing sometimes to offend in the face of day
with respect to location; the examination of
which ought to accompany, as much as possi-
ble, the study of their works.
In forming an abridgement I perceive all the
difficulty attached to this species of labour. I did
not willingly consent to make the context dry and
jej une. On the other hand, it req uired an effort to
resist a natural ambition to enrich the composition
of it. To fix the attention of the reader to princi-
pal objects, the body of the work is not overcharged
with too great a detail ; a table in form of a simple
nomenclature being annexed, which will furnish
to it an a rnple su pplement. The regions on which
the ancient Geography receives most light from
actual observation are those that most contribute
tothe multiplicity of this nomenclature. Besides,
there are countries which were much richer in their
ancient state than they are in the modem: there-
fore it cannot be expected that an indication of
correspondent positions will be diffused equally
viii THE AUTHOR'S
through the whole work. I am not a little solici-
tous with regard to Asia. But some persons have
been willing to testify that they have observed
more erudition displayed therein than appears in
the work in general: and I am inclined to think
that it is fitting it should be so ; since the want of
exposition may be greater on the subject of that
continent than of Europe.
The study of a book of this nature requires in-
dispensably the concomitant contemplation of
maps : but what would be the number of morsels
dispersed through such a work, were they to be
made correspondent with the number of particu-
lar regions which so vast a space as that described
therein comprehends? It is not a book of mere
amusement, to be taken up wherever it is found.
Serious as it is however, it may be easily accom-
panied with a roll of charts, or a portfolio that con-
tains them. One cannot be too sensible of the ad-
vantage of rendering familiar to the eye the situa-
tion, the extent, and the general connection of the
respective contiguous parts, rather than having
them disjointed, and represented under various
scales, which in such case would be inevitable :
so that to acquire a competent idea of their re-
union and conformity, a laborious application
would become necessary : and withal there would
not result from them the same effect that a fre-
quent and reiterated inspection of the same
plate produces on the understanding.
Another article on \\hich it is nece.ssa.rv to be
PREFACE. IX
undeceived, is the expectation of having maps
wherein the modern geography is applied to the
ancient, or rather confounded with it. But whatis
practicable with certain individual places, by in-
scribing on them a plurality of names, is by no
means so with countries whose limits do not cor-
respond. If a name having something in common,
as the name of Guienne with that of the ancient
Aquitaine, from which it is known to be derived,
does not fall upon the same extent of country ; or
if this extent is not nearly equal, as that of Pro-
vence compared with the ancient Roman province
in Gaul, how could the countries be delineated
that have nothing analogous in their ancient and
modern state? I have seen persons who think it
feasible to publish a repetition of each map in dif-
ferent colours, not perceiving the difficulty of the
execution, and the two-fold expense. Besides, to
make instruction too easy, is to injure it fundamen-
tally; for knowledge to be profitable must cost
some pains in the acquisition. 1 he correspondence
of ancient with modern Geography will be suffi-
ciently developed and illustrated, by comparing
the modern maps with the ancient: and as botli se-
ries are on the same plan, the comparison will not
be difficult. There will moreover result to the
student the advantage of familiarising himself,
at the same time, with the one as well as the
other state of Geography.
To have exhibited every place with a citation
of the author in whose works the notice of it is
x THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
found, would not have suited the plan of a Com-
pendium; though such citation I have deemed in-
dispensable in certain cases. The tenour of this
work should not resemble the dissertations, such
as may be seen in the memoirs communicated to
the academy of which I have the honour to be a
member, however difficult it be to avoid equally
the same tone of discussion. In presenting an
edifice of vast extent, one conceals as much as
possible the view of the whole scaffolding, and
the almost infinite detail of materials which served
to erect it, and to fill it at the same time with the
multitude of objects which it ought to contain.
Those to whom a sort of caprice in the alter-
ation of names is not familiar, from a want of
recognition of certain relations whereby analogy
is preserved in such alteration, will see perhaps
with some surprise that names apparently dissi-
milar are given as correspondent.
I hope that eyes almost darkened by long
study, as well as by the projection of a great num-
ber of maps, many of which have not been en-
graven, may yet permit me to follow this epitome
of ancient Geography with another work, which
might be entitled STATES FORMED IN EUROPE
AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAX EMPIRE IN
THE WEST. This change of scene representing
the revolution in Geography, and prepared from
historical documents, appears the more interest-
ing to consider, as it serves for the foundation
of the present state of tilings.
THE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
1 HE modes of Time and Place mingle so inti-
mately with our perceptions of events, that the re-
cording and descriptive parts of Chronology and
Geography have been called by an analogous meta-
phor the EYES OF HISTORY. Without their illustra-
tion, the historic Muse, that " mistress of life, and
messenger of antiquity," would be degraded into a
gossip; for the matter reported by her would be but
as
11 A woman's story at a winter's fire,
Authoriz'cl by her grandame."
Why this illustration, which so great a name as
D'Anville has furnished to ancient history, should
have been so long withholden from the mere English
reader, it is now of no great importance to discover.
It is sufficient to remark that, with the assistance of
this translation, the acquisition of the French lan-
guage will no longer be previously necessary to that
more useful part of education. The work published
by Mr. Philip Morant, in 174-2, on the plan of Du
Fresnoy's Method of Studying Geography, is justly
considered as too analytic and abrupt to make much
impression on the memory : besides, his maps be-
ing on the authority of Cellarius, are consequently
obnoxious to the censure which our author has pass-
ed on the works of that laborious compiler.
xii THE TRANSLATOR'S
It is well known that the French geographers, like
those of Greece and Rome, take the liberty of writ-
ing the names of countries, rivers, anil places, in a
manner different from the usage of the natives of the
respective countries. This practice I have endea-
voured to correct in the translation, by observing the
mode of spelling modern names in Spain, Italy,
Germany, and the British isles, of an Atlas publish-
ed by Messrs. Sayer and Beunet of Fleet Street.
But in France, and in the rest of the world, I have
for the most part, implicitly followed that of my au-
thor. In France this scrupulosity is observed for an
obvious reason, and in countries more remote, be-
cause he seems there remarkably attentive to chas-
tise the vulgar usage to genuine orthography. It is
a subject of complaint with the compilers of geogra-
phic manuals and gazetteers, that the French writers
express towns of every rank by the generic denomina-
tion of Ville. From this cause of embarrassment I
am in a great degree exempt; as the ancient places
noted in the following work are for the most part se-
lected for their eminence, and therefore properly
styled Cities. Other geographical terms however
are not without ambiguity. Marais, for example,
is used sometimes for a fen, and sometimes for a
lake, according to the interpretation of the Latin
term Pains, which seems properly to denote a moor
or tract of low grounds covered with water, though
applied to the sea of Asof, the greatest gulf of
the Kuxine. Lagune, too, the author uses to sig-
nify as well a lake that has communication with
the sea, as one that has not: thus he calls the
Tritonis Palus a lagnne ; The first of these I have
rendered discretionally ; and the second, though
more precisely appropriated to the Venetian in-
PREFACE. Xlll
lets, I have used specially to denote a piece of
water of their description.
The maps that accompany this English edition,
though carefully reduced from the Parisian Atlas in
Imperial folio, cannot be expected to contain all that
is comprehended in that original and truly magnifi-
cent work. In the solicitude to reconcile cheapness
with utility, it was found expedient to avoid all un-
necessary repetitions. Thus in the general map of
the world known to the ancients, and in the two
maps of the Roman Empire, the countries only that
do not re-appear in particular maps, are minutely
detailed. And the inferior compartments that are
observed in those of Gaul and Asia, in the Paris edi-
tion, are here omitted, to make room for more mat-
ter in the bodies of these maps. But my author
having observed, as his reason for giving a particular
map of Gaul, that the subject is particularly inter-
esting to a Frenchman, I have superinduced one of
Roman Britain, from the learned John Horsley, M. A.
F. R. S. supposing this to be not less interesting
to the posterity of the conquerors of this province of
the empire. To gratify the ingenious curiosity of
youth, for whose use this English edition is princi-
pally designed, I have annexed etymologies of the
Greek names that are not sufficiently interpreted in
the text; and, for the general illustration of the
work, I have inserted such annotations as may be of
use to some readers of every age. Those marked
with the initial D. are by the author.
The Indices being an important part of a work of
this nature, the alteration made in their form re-
quires a particular explanation. Of these there are
four in the original; the first being entitled " A
XIV THE TRANSLATOR S
Nomenclature, serving as a Supplement to what is
inserted in the body of the work," and containing
the names of those places which are found in the
folio maps exclusively, with their modern names;
and references to the chapter of the work that treats
of the country comprising them. The second is en-
titled " A Table composed of the Names of Coun-
tries." The third is of "Chief Seas;" and the
fourth, called Table du Local en detail, comprises
the names contained as well in the Nomenclature,
and distinguished by the letter N, as those con-
tained in the text, and which refer to the volume
and page ; but without the modern names. These
masses I have endeavoured to render less complicated
by digesting them into three. The first table will
be found to contain the names of countries, the se-
cond those of the chief seas, and the third the names
in the folio maps distinguished by an Italic charac-
ter, with the same references as the original ; toge-
ther with the names contained in the body of the
work. And to render this index a complete diction-
ary of ancient geography, 1 have inserted the mo-
dern names of this class also. To this edition more-
over is prefixed a table of itinerary measures re-
duced into English yards and decimal parts. This
will be useful to the English reader; until his coun-
try, in concert with other nations, shall establish a
common scale of measures on an eternal and univer-
sal principle.
IT being proper that the student of ancient geo-
graphy should have distinct ideas of the ancient in-
habitants of Europe, I shall subjoin a brief account
of the subject, chiefly, but not implicitly, from
PREFACE. XV
Pinkerton, a name not to be mentioned but with the
respect due to an illustrator of truth that has long
been enveloped in a mist of error.
It is premised then that all Europe, from the Bal-
tic Sea to the Euxine, was originally inhabited by
a race of savages known by the name of CELTS, or
GAEL. These were subdivided into two races ; the
Cimbrif Cymbri, or Cimmerii, extending along the
eastern frontier of the vast space from the Cymbrian
Chersonese to the Cimmerian Bosphorus ; and the
Gael, or Celts proper, who occupied the countries
on this side of the Rhine and the Alps. Mr. Pin-
kerton doubts whether those little mountainous cor-
ners called Greece and Italy, were ever possessed
by either the Cymbri or the Gael ; for that the ex-
tensive plains of Germany and Gaul, affording more
ample scope to a pastoral and erratic people, must
have been the principal seat of what little population
was then in Europe. But, whatever reluctance I
feel in differing on such a subject from so erudite
and sagacious an antiquarian, I cannot but think
there are strong evidences that the Latin is funda-
mentally a Celtic speech ; for words signifying
things antecedent to human improvement, as the
elements of nature, &c. are the same in the Latin
and in the Celtic dialects now spoken in the northern
and western extremities of this island. The lan-
guage of ancient Rome confessedly possesses many
Gothic words, besides a numerous nomenclature of
that particular dialect of the Gothic called Greek;
but had it not been radically a Celtic tongue, is it
at all probable that it would have so far prevailed in
Celtic countries, as is evident that it has done from
the modern state of the languages of these countries ?
The Romans only reduced and governed their pro-
xvi THE TRANSLATORS
vinces : they did not depopulate and re-people
them : and what effect could such a conquest have
upon the indigenous speech, seeing that Spain,
though successively overrun by Visigoths and Arabs,
who were respectively more numerous than the
Romans could be supposed to have been, still pos-
sesses a language that is only a military or rustic
Latin ?
About '2160 years before the Christian sera, the
Scythian nomades from the north of Persia passed
the river Araxes and Mount Caucasus, and settled
round the shores of the Euxine. This was the first
appearance in Europe of our ancestors, who in sub-
sequent ages, and in distant countries, severally as-
sumed the general names of GETES, GOTHS, and
GERMANS, probably from their successful valour; of
ALEMANS, or Ali-mcn, either from a confederacy of
tribes, or to express emphatically their virility ; and
of FRANCS or Freemen, to distinguish themselves
from the slaves whom they vanquished. About 360
years after this period they began to settle in Thrace,
Illyricum, Greece, and Asia Minor, under many
denominations; and in 300 years, or 1500 before
Christ, they had completed the settlement of these
countries. They peopled Greece under the name
of riEAASTOI, or Pelasgi. Our immediate ances-
tors then, the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, though
thirteen hundred miles distant from these, being of
the same race, must have had an homogeneal
speecn ; and it is curious to observe the analogy pre-
served in two such distant languages, in defiance of
the influence of time and place ; and the extremely
dissimilar accidents that each must have encountered
in its progress from elementary rudeness to refine-
ment. This analogy however, at the close of the
PREFACE. Xvil
eighteenth century, has betrayed classical and phi-
lological pedants into the puerile absurdity of de-
riving pure English words, such as Man, Father,
Mother, Fire, Moon, Earth, Water, &c. &c. from
Greek fountains ; never thinking that these, with
their correspondent terms in the Greek, should be
referred to a common origin*.
The Scythians gradually advancing westward, and
driving the Celts before them, had peopled all Ger-
many and Scandinavia, Pannonia, and Noricum, and
arrived at the Rhine and Alps about 500 years before
the Christian sera. In the consulship of Metellus and
Carbo happened the famous irruption of the CimbrL
and Teutones or Germans, which threatened the ex-
tinction of the Roman republic. These Cimbri,
the inhabitants of Jutland and Denmark, Mr. Pin-
kerton takes to have been the original Celtic natives
* " It may be confidently asserted that no person can tho-
*'. roughly understand the English language who does not trace it
"up to the Greek: thus, for instance, every one knows the
" meaning of the following words, being part of a lady's dress, viz.
" her cap, handkerchief, apron, ruffles, lace, gown, and saque;
" or the following, being part of the furniture of her work-basket,
" rapper, silk, thread, scissars, needles, pins : thus every one
" knows the meaning of these expressions, the deuce take it ; such
" a thing is spick and span new : every one knows the meaning of
" these words, Iridle, saddle, stirrup, whip, boots, spurs, and
"journey ; but does every one know the derivation of those words,
" that all and each of them are Greek ?
" But there are words in our language that continue to wear
" so uncouth an appearance, as would require more than an
" CEdipus to develope and disentangle them from their present
" ^enigmatical disguises. Thus the expressions hot-cockles,
" scratch-cr&dle, link-boy, boggle-Lot^, haut-goHf, bon-mCt, kick-
" shatvs, Crutchcd-friars, and innumerable others, that can only
" be explained by their etymology ; everyone of which is Grek."
(Lemons English Etymologies, Preface.)
VOL, I. b
xviii THE TRANSLATOR'S
of that peninsula, then expelled for the first time by
the Scandinavian Goths, whose posterity still occupy
it. But I am rather inclined, with the learned trans-
lator of Mallet, to believe that they were Germans,
whose ancestors had expelled the original Celts some
ages before : because, had they been Celts, it is
not probable that they would have associated with
the Teutones, the hereditary and implacable ene-
mies of the Celtic name; nor would they have ob-
tained a free passage through Germany, to invade
Gaul and Italy.
But there are two other genera or races of men in
Europe, though little distinguished by emigration or
conquest. The first of these, called by the ancients
SARMAT^, are supposed to have been the original
possessors of South-west Tartary ; but who, expelled
by the Tartars about 1000 years A. C., have occupied
all Siberia, Russia, Poland, and a territory between
the Save and the Danube. These speak the Scla-
vonian, a language as radically different from all the
dialects of the Gothic as the Celtic is. The second
race, and last in the order here adopted, is that of
the IBEKI, who, passing from Africa into Spain be-
fore the time of history, subdued its Celtic natives,
and from some districts exterminated them. Part
of the Iberian language remains in the Gascunian,
or Basque, and Mauretanic.
To return to the subject of the Goths and their
progress: We see that, not long before the time
of Cxsar, the Rhine proving too feeble a barrier to
restrain these warlike nations, they had occupied the
modern countries of Alsace, Lorrain, and Flanders,
und'r the general denomination of GERMANS. But,
with due submission to hi:-, great authority, I think
< 11 presume^ ton tmioh, in affirming that all
PREFACE. XIX
the Belga of Gaul were Germans. That the Bel-
gians were a mixed people, may be inferred from
Caesar; and from Tacitus, who says explicitly, that
the " Treverians and Nervians (nations inhabiting
Belgic Gaul) passionately aspired to the reputation
of being- descended from the Germans, thinking
that by the glory of this original they would escape
all imputation of resembling the Gauls in person and
effeminacy;" and also from the anecdote recorded
by Suetonius of Caligula; that he caused certain
Gauls to be instructed in the German language, by
way of qualifying them to personate captives in his
theatrical triumph.
About 300 years before our era, the island of
Britain was peopled with Gauls from the neighbour-
ing continent, in consequence of the Scythian pres-
sure on the east. We find among these a powerful
people occupying a considerable section of the
island, and even settling in Ireland, under the name
of Bdgte ; doubtless of the same race with the peo-
ple of the same name on the continent. And Mr.
Pinkerton, assuming as a postulate that the Belgae
were Germans, concludes that the foundation of the
modern English language was antecedent to the ar-
rival of the Saxons, and that it should be called An-
glo- Belgic, instead of Anglo-Saxon. About the
same period, this author dates the arrival in North.
Britain of the PIKS, a nation of Scandinavian Goths
from Norway ; and thus satisfactorily accounts for
the modern Scotish being a dialect of the same lan-
guage with our own. He shows too that they were
the same people with the Peukini, towards the mouth
of the Danube; and what we call the Highlanders,
were a colony of Belgic Irish, under the name DAL-
RIADS : who by long residence in Ireland had adopt-
be
XX THE TRANSLATORS
ed the Gaelic language and manners of the more
numerous natives. He derives withal the name of
SCOT from Scj/t/i or Scythian, in allusion to the
Piks*.
THE progress of the Goths after the Christian
sera belongs strictly to the geography of the middle
ages. But that I may not interrupt the continuity
of the series, I shall give the principal events of it
here.
A. D. 250, the Geta, or parental Goths, passed
the Tyras or Dniester ; and, after ravaging the
Dacia of Trajan, passed the Danube into Thrace.
About the year 260 the Causi, Cherusci, and Catti,
with many smaller nations, forming a great league
under the general name of FRANCS, conquered Gaul.
In the beginning of the fifth century, the Ostrogoths
or eastern Getic, Langobards, and other Suevian
nations, seized Italy ; and the Visigoths or Western
Getir, and Vandals, took possession of Spain. But
the numbers of these nations respectively being in-
considerable, when compared with the inhabitants
of the several countries that they conquered, the
language and manners of the vanquished have in a
* The reader will perceive that this account of the Piks and
Scots contravenes in some degree the notes extracted from the
Macphersons, to illustrate tin.' subject. The truth is, that the
sheets containing them were printed oil' before the expediency of
this preliminary exposition snjjgested itself. But, as most con-
troversy promotes tiie cause of truth, it is hoped that by this ap-
parent contradiction the htvuient will he induced to co:i.-ult the
principal authors here cir; 1 -!, if he he not already acquainted with
them; having i i inn 1 .:! that whatever !> worth considering, is
worth investiu;a ing; for suspense is an uneasy state, but the
mind reposes \viih confidence in the certainty of Truth.
PREFACE. xxi
great degree prevailed, as in similar cases they have
usually done.
In the year 449 the Jutes, the principal nation of
the Cimbrian Chersonese, arrived in Britain ; soon
after them came the Saxons ; and the Angles last of
all. These, combined, reduced their compatriots
the Belgse (if such they were) to a servile condition ;
they being the Villani and Coloni of the Doomsday
Book, according to Pinkerton. However this be,
it is certain that they cut to pieces all the remaining
inhabitants between the Tweed, the Severn, and the
boundary of Cornwall; and, by substituting their
own language for the British, imposed the last and
most awful memorial of conquest and desolation. In
the mountains of Wales, it is well known that the
Celts, or rather a fragment of that division of them
called Cymbri, still retain with their ancient man-
ners, their language, which they call Cymraeg; de-
nominating the English nation Sasseneah, or Saxon,
and its language Sassnacg. The face of nature in
Cornwall, more favourable to commerce .and com-
munication of every kind than that of Wales, af-
forded entrance to the English language, which,
after thirteen ages of gradual progress, has at
length prevailed, almost to the extinction of the
native tongue. Fugitives from the southern shores
of Britain found an asylum on the opposite cop>'t of
the continent ; calling their colony by the name of
the island which they had abandoned. And the pos-
terity of these Bretons are still distinguished from
their mixed neighbours as well by originality of lan-
guage as by characteristic manners.
The next remarkable expedition of the Goths was
from Norway, under Rollo; who, to escape the
tyranny of Harold Hurfagre, the king,, embarked
xxii THE TRANSLATOR'S
with his followers ; and after making an unsuccess-
ful attempt on England, invaded Neustria (as it
was then called), ravaged the north of France, be-
sieged Paris, and, after various success, finally esta-
blished himself in the dukedom of Normandie, or
the country of Northern-Men, having his possession
ratified by treaty in the year 912. These Normans
were Piks, according to Pinkerton ; who thus ac-
counts for the name of Pikardie, which was one of
their conquests.
But the oppression of Harold Harfagre was pro-
ductive of other effects than wars and conquests.
In the year 874, a colony under the conduct of a
hero named Tngulph, braving the utmost rigour of
the elements, settled in the uninhabited and volcanic
island of Iceland; and thereby exhibited an exam-
ple the most admirable upon record, of what human
genius, courage, and perseverance, can achieve.
For, in a land scarcely habitable through the eternal
conflict between Fire and Ice, they digested a wise
and equal government, and became not more dis-
tinguished for an implacable enmity to tyrants, than
for the successful cultivation of every species of po-
lite literature.
Having thus conducted our ancestors from their
primitive seats to their final establishments in the
west, it remains for me to give some intimation of
the erroneous opinions on the subject that have
hitherto been adopted by the learned.
The dreams of Jornandes, and other authors of his
benighted age, that find in Scandinavia the hire of
the Gothic nations, have been for some time so fully
exploded as to render further refutation inept. But
n'e have not been without dreamers in the noon of
the eighteenth century. Peloutier, a French writer,
PREFACE. xxill
and the first I believe who treated the matter in a
modern language, takes it for granted that there
were but two original races in Europe, CELTS and
SARMATJANS. The ancient Germans, the memory
of whose manners Tacitus has immortalised, he mis-
takes for the first ; and the Franks, who communi-
cated their name to his country, for the second.
The mistakes of an author of great name will pro-
pagate mistakes almost without end : accordingly we
see Mallet, a citizen of Geneva, one of the precept-
ors of the prince of Denmark, and member of many
academies, in his work on northern antiquities, con-
founding the ancient Scandinavians with the Celts
throughout. But this is less to be wondered at, as
he is convicted by his translator of ignorance in the
language of the people whose antiquities he dis-
cusses. But these are instances of discretion, com-
pared to Me moires de la Languc. Critique, par Mons.
BULLET, Besancon, 1754, 3 vols. folio; where this
egregious etymologist affects to trace English names
of places compounded of such appellative words as
land, brook, marsh, well, high, north, hill, dale,
wood, ford, street, bridge, &c. &c. to Celtic roots;
a conduct of which the slightest acquaintance with
the vocabulary of the English language would have
taught him the absurdity*. When an opinion flat-
* Examples: " ACTON (Oak-Town), from Ac, a river, and
"Ton, an habitation. ASTON (East-Town), from. As, a river,
"and Ton, an habitation. AUKLAND (Oak-Land), from Oc, n
"little hill, Lan a river, and D, or D//, two. DICK-MAR^H,
" Dich from Dlchhid, borne, and Mar, water, (quasi) land borne
" up by water. HIGHAM (High-home), from /, a river, and
" Gam in composition Gam, a bending. NORTHAMPTON (North-
" home-town), from Nor, the, mouth (of a river), Tan, a river,
"and Ton, a habitation. XORTHILL (North-hill), from .\V,
THE TRANSLATOR S
ters the vanity of men, it is the practice rather to
promote than to examine it. It is not therefore sur-
prising to see this error of the universality of the
Celtic origins, as it was adopted by such respectable
writers as the two Macphersons, mislead the dunces
of the Celtic school in Wales and Ireland. The
mention made by some of the ancient authors, of the
Teutonic and Sarmatian nations sometimes acting in
concert, may have induced those modern writers to
confound them. And the Celtic names still remain-
ing of rivers, forests, lakes, fens, and mountains,
in all the countries once possessed by Celts, seem to
favour the delusion of the Celts being the ancestors
of the modern inhabitants of Europe. More impro-
bable hypotheses have been formed on weaker pre-
misses. But the best-informed authors among the
ancients, and who expressly wrote upon the sub-
ject, explicitly describe the Celts and Germans as
people distinguished from each other by the re-
motest dissimilitude of customs, and complexion of
character, religion, and language : the former be-
ing remarked for levity, vanity, petulance, and im-
petuous though transitory bravery; the second, for
gravity, modesty, phlegm, and deliberate fortitude.
And these; qualities, notwithstanding the influence of
civilisation, arts, and identity of religion, still con-
tinue to distinguish us from the posterity of the Cel-
tic nations of the continent, though half their blood
" the mouth, and Tt/le, an habitation. RINGWOOD, from Ren y
" a division, Cw, a river, and lied, a forest. STANFORD
" (Stone or Stony ford), from Stan, the mouth of a river, and
" Kor, pronounced l : or, near. SIRATTON (Street-Town), from
" Strut, land near a river, and Ton\ or from Stcr, rivers, At, a
"junction, and Ton. uxBRincii- ((Nise IJridge), from Uc, river,
" and Briz, division." Risuia tew alls ?
PREFACE. XXV
be Gothic*. But as language is the strongest and
most permanent moral evidence of the origin of na-
tions, I shall transcribe, for the satisfaction of my
readers, a genealogy of the several dialects of the
two great parent languages, from the translator of
Mallet.
* Mr. James Macpherson, himself a Celt, thus testifies of the
Celtic character: " Fickleness and levity (says he) are the na-
" tural consequences of their warmth of disposition. Men of
" vivacity, and subject to passion, are for the most part incon-
" slant, changeable, rash, curious, credulous, and proud. All
" the branches of the Celtic nation determined suddenly upon
" affairs of the greatest moment, and placed the foundation of
" actions of the last importance upon uncertain rumours and vague
" reports. Their violence in rushing into new projects could
" only be equalled by their want of perseverance in any plan.
" The tide seldom ran long in one direction ; it was always with
" them a precipitate ebb, or a tempestuous flow." And after
expatiating on the credulity, curiosity, and hyperbolical pride of
the old Celts, he proceeds: "These are the most striking fea-
" tures of the ancient inhabitants of Britain. To any man ac-
*' quainted with the nature and genius of the unmixed part of the
" posterity of the Celt(e in the northern division of this island,
" the authorities at the bottom of the page are superfluous. He
" will be convinced of the justice of the description, by the ob-
" servations which he himself has made; and he will be at the
" same time surprised to see the accuracy with which the authors
" of Rome have drawn the portrait of our ancestors."
Compare this character with that of the unmixed progeny of
the Goths j the Germans and Low Dutch, as well as the Swedes
and Danes $ and even with that of the English !
3CXV1
THE TRANSLATOR'S
n
3. MANKS, or Language of the Isle of Man
$2. ERSE, or Highland Scotch.
\ 1. IRISH.
O
_J'
O
c a
<u H'
PS
oi
H
. O
3. CORNISH.
2. ARMORICAW, Or
Bas Bretagne.
1. WELSH.
-No language fully derived from this is now
extant; the ARMORICAN being descended
from the ancient British, or CTMRAUG.
O
o
at >-i U
5 3 Q
O 55'
O t. <
. J
CO
CJ O H
^
p ^
X J2 .
v, O
C 2
-4. SWHDISH.
-3. DANISH.
-2. NORWEGIAN, or Norse.
-1. ICELANDIC.
-3. swiss.
-2. GERMAN of Swabia. ^
-1. GERMAN, or HIGH-DUTCH (proper). P o
^
-1
~{
4. FRISIC, or Friczeland-tongue. ^ : ?
3. BELGIC, or LOW-DUTCH (proper). S >
2. SCOTCH* (broad or low-land). 5 ^J
1. ENGLISH. '3 ti =5
PREFACE. XXVll
The translator before mentioned then proceeds to
give specimens of all these dialects ; exhibiting as
well a most intimate analogy between those of the
same family respectively, as the utmost dissimilitude
from those of the other.
The Translator and Editor, desirous of affording
fo this Edition every illustration of which the work is
susceptible, having in vain inquired for an authentic
Memoir of the Life of the Author, must content him~
self with giving the translation of a Paper containing
an account of his Works, prefixed to the folio Edition
of his Atlas, in form of an Advertisement.
THE curious and learned well know to what de-
gree of perfection the late Mr. D'Anville has carried
Geography. But the world in general may be in-
formed that he was animated by a passionate zeal
from his earliest youth for this science exclusively;
and that a natural sagacity, and sound judgement,
accompanied him to the study of it, which he pur-
sued with indefatigable diligence for near seventy
years. During this time he made a collection
amounting to more than ten thousand charts, of
which above five hundred were manuscript : and it
may be said that the mass of information alone rc-
suiting from the combination and collation of these,
has put an immense interval between him and all
those who have preceded in the same career. One
may judge by the works, full of curious research,
which we owe to him ; by the quantity of learned
and judicious memoirs furnished by him to the Aca-
demy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres; and bv the
xxviii THE TRANSLATOR'S
multitude of excellent charts of geography, as well
ancient as modern, with which he has enriched the
world. The erudition of his maps, the abundance
of objects, the scrupulous exactitude of his positions,
the neatness and perspicuity of his designs, and the
beauty of their execution, give them a decided su-
periority over all that hitherto have been published.
Their merit is universally acknowledged, as well by
foreign nations as by France. Hence the continual
eagerness of the learned of Europe to possess them,
of the most skilful geographers to choose them for
models, and of compilers of maps to copy them in
preference to all others.
All these considerations have induced th? publisher
to preserve separately the geographic charts of this
learned and ingenious author, and to vend them un-
mixed with any others. It is therefore that the pub-
lic is apprised that the Sieur Demanne, who pub-
lished these charts for fifteen years under the imme-
diate inspection of the author, still continues to pub-
lish them at the same price as usual. And it being
supposed that the world will be curious to kno\
their titles, the following detail is annexed.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
Orbis veteribns notus. Orbis Romani, pars occi-
dentalis, ct pars orienialis. Gallia. Italia. Grtecia.
Asia Minor ct Syria. Palcstina. JEgyptus. India.
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Britannic
Isles, in an age between ancient and modern geo-
graphy. These eleven maps form a single sheet
each.
PREFACE. X.MN.
MODERN GEOGRAPHY.
Map of the World in two Hemispheres. Kurope.
in three parts, of two sheets each. Asia, in three
parts, each two sheets. Africa, in two parts, which
together make three sheets. North America, in two
parts, making also two sheets. South America, in
three sheets. France divided into Provinces: the
same in Generalties. Italy, two sheets. Coasts of
Greece and Islands of the Archipelago. Phoenicia
and the Environs of Damascus. Courses of the Eu-
phrates and Tigris. India, in two parts, making
three sheets. Coromandel, two sheets. Ilydrogra-
phical Charts of the Caspian sea, Gulf of Persia,
Arabic Gulf, or Red Sea, in a single sheet each.
Modern JEgypt. Western Part of Africa, two
sheets. Guinea, Canada and British America, four
sheets. Louisiana, a sheet and a half.
Written Works of the same Author arc,
General Considerations on the Study and Knowledge
required in the Composition of Works in Geogra-
phy, Svo.
Treatise on Itinerary Measures, Ancient and Mo-
dern, Svo.
Compendium of Ancient Geography, in folio, with
the Atlas.
The same in 12mo. 3 vols.
Notice of Ancient Gaul, founded on Roman Docu-
ments, 4to.
Geographic Illustrations of Ancient Gaul, 12mo.
States formed in Europe, after the fall of the Roman
Empire in the West, 4to.
Geographic Analysis of Italy. 4 to.
XXX THE TRANSLATORS
The Turkish Empire, and that of Russia, I2mo.
Analysis of the Coasts of Greece, and the Archipe-
lago, 4to.
Memoirs of JEgypt, Ancient and Modern, with a
Description of the Arabic Gulf, or Red Sea, 4to.
Dissertation on the Extent of the Ancient Jerusalem,
and its Temple, Svo.
Illustrations of the Chart of India, 4to.
Geographic Antiquity of India, and of several Coun-
tries of Upper Asia, 4to.
Memoir of China, Svo.
Memoir concerning the Chart entitled Canada, Lou-
isiana, and the British America. Journal des S$a-
vans, 1750.
Problem for ascertaining the Dimensions of the
Earth, 12mo.
Conjectural Dimensions of the Earth on the Equa-
tr, in consequence of the Extension of the South
Sea, 12mo.
Thirty-seven Memoirs inserted in the Volumes of
the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-
Lettres, beginning with Vol. XXVI.
Two in those of the Academy of Sciences.
Memoir of an Hydrographic Chart of the Caspian
Sea.
Memoir of the Geographic Chart of Ancient Gaul.
PREFACE. XXXl
Ancient and Modern ITINERARY MEASURES, reduced
into English Yards and decimal Parts.
Roman mile of 1000 Roman paces, or 756
Parisian toises . . 1611.54
Olympic stadium making the eighth part of
a Roman mile . . 201.44
Stadium making the tenth part of a Roman
mile . . . 161.15
Stadium making the 1 100 part of a degree 1 1 1.2
Gallic league equal to 1500 Roman paces 2417.31
Germanic rastra, or modern ordinary league
of France, equal to two Gallic leagues 4834.62
Persian parasanga equal to 3 Roman miles 4834.62
./Egyptian schcene equal to 4 Roman miles 6446.1G
Jewish mile, or sabbatical journey, com-
posed of 2000 Hebrew cubits, rated at
94| toises . . . 201.44
Jewish risin, of which risins 7f were equal
to a Roman mile . . 214.87
Modern French league of 2500 toises . 5329.16
Modern Greek mile of 7 Olympic stadia 1410.03
Great Arabian mile employed in Palestine
in the time of the crusades, rated at If
Roman mile . . . 2417.31
British statute mile 1760.
COMPENDIUM
OF
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
Jt>Y ancient Geography we understand what-
ever the Greek and Roman writers have left
us upon that subject. Time has prescribed to
its progress distinct and successive periods.
The information contained in the poems of
Homer makes the first age, if I may so speak,
of this Geography. Greece, and the neigh-
bouring shores of Italy, part of Asia, and a
small portion of Africa towards Egypt, com-
posed the whole of its object, which received
no considerable aggrandizement till the con-
quests of Alexander. The Greeks before that
period had no knowledge of India but its name,
and that of the Indus: and they would have
remained equally ignorant of the west, if some
of their historians had not mentioned the navi-
gation of the Phosnieians towards the southern
VOL. T. B
-2 COMPENDIUM OF
shores of Iberia or Spain. Establishments
formed in Italy and in Germany by Celtic
nations, had diffused their name before Gaul,
\vhence they issued, was known. The Roman
domination, when it extended itself in the west
and towards the north of Europe, made us ac-
quainted with the different countries of it. The
parts of Asia and of Africa subjected to the
same power, became also much better known
than they had been hitherto. Thus what, ac-
cording to some ancient writers, we may call
the Roman world, makes the principal part of
ancient geography, and that which is detailed
with most minuteness and precision. Nothing
more contributed to retard any improvement
of the ancients in geography, than the opinion
that the earth was habitable only in temperate
regions ; for, according to this system, the torrid
zone was a barrier that permitted no communi-
cation between the northern temperate zone,
which they inhabited, and the southern. Their
intelligence being thus confined to a band or
zone, they might with propriety call extension
from west to east, length, or lungi/ude; and the
more contracted space from north to south,
width, or latitude. Suabo, tin most illustrious
geographer of antiquity, was not undeceived
in this opinion, which circumscribed the object
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 3
of his science; he, nevertheless, extended it to
some regions beyond the Tropic. Ptolemy ex-
panded its limits, and even advanced beyond
the Equinoctial Line. The Ganges, which
bounded the investigations of Strabo, was not
the line that terminated the geography of
Ptolemy. Navigation had opened the way
through the ulterior countries as far as that of
the Sime t which we shall make known in the
sequel of this work: but at the same time there
will be seen how much must be rescinded from
the extension which Ptolemy takes in longitude
to this extremity of the ancient geography to-
wards the east. The Chart of the World known
to the Ancients j wherein it has been deemed
expedient to delineate only the countries which
really appertain to the subject of the title, will
showatoneviewallthatantiquity was acquaint-
ed with in Asia and Africa ; which, more vast
than Europe, left to an after-age thediscovery
of the remoter regions of these great conti-
nents.
The division of the world into three parts,
Europe, Asia, and Africa, is of the highest an-
tiquity. But before entering into a detail of
the countries contained in each of those parts,
it is proper, for the better understanding of
B L >
4 COMPENDIUM OF
ancient geography, to receive some general
ideas of two articles which refer to the universal-
ity of its object. One regards the regions and
names of the winds according to the ancients:
the other, the itinerary measures which they
made use of. With respect to the winds, we
shall find them designed in the map of the an-
cient world in a greater number than is thought
necessary to report here. We know that the
equator, and the axis of the world from one
pole to the other, determined the four princi-
pal regions of the winds, which are called car-
dinal. The east, named Subsolanus, as being
under the rising sun, takes, for the same rea-
son, the appellation of Apeliotes among the
Greeks. The west was called Favonius, or
%ephyrus : Septentrio was denominated Aparc-
tias by the G reeks; and the No tux with them
answers to the Auster, or south wind of the
Romans. Boreas, or Aquilo, which sometimes-
appears to be figuratively used to signify the
northern climates of the earth, was more pre-
cisely" ranged between the north and east, hold-
* O
ing nearly the same place with one of the four
winds called collateral*. The Eurus, or Vul-
* Improperly , however ; for how can lines converging to
:i central point be said to be parallel or collateral ? I would
have translated it radial, had I been warranted in the use
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 5
j had the same relative position between
the east and south. The Corus, which the
Greeks named Argestes, answers to our Maes-
tral, between the north and west. The Africus,
or south-west, was denominated Libs by the
Greeks, among whom Africa was called Libya $
whence the present name Lebche in the
navigation of the Mediterranean is derived.
Among the winds peculiar to different coun-
tries we shall only mention the Cirtius of Gaul,
named lapax, at the extremity of Italy, which
is our Vent de Cers *, blowing from the north-
west. That which is frequently found in an-
cient writers under the name of Etesitf, or the
Etesian winds, did not denote a particular re-
gion of the world, but a regular wind at a cer-
tain season varying its point in the horizon
from the north to the west.
of the word by any authority ; and then it would only havt
expressed ^.property, not a difference ; for the cardinal winds
are also radial, or radii of the great circle.
* The Abbe le Sadde of Avignon, in his Life of Petrarch,
observes that this wind is frequently confounded with the
Vent de Else. Both arise from the same natural causes,
and both blow with the same impetuosity.
The Cers is occasioned by the mountains of Cevennes,
the Bise by those of Vivarez and the Alps. The Cers
sweeps the coast of Languedoc from Toulouse as far as
Agde, where it loses itself in the sea ; while the Bise. comin.g
fc> COMPENDIUM OF
Among the itinerary measures, none more
frequently presents itself than the Roman mile,
which, composed of a thousand paces of five
Roman feet, makes a measure equivalent to
seven hundred and fifty-six of our toises*; the
Roman foot being somewhat inferior to that of
Paris. The employment of the stadium is
scarce less frequent; but a specific distinction
between the different lengths of stadia does
not appear to have been hitherto known in
geography. The Greek stadium, making the
down the valley formed by the bed of the Rhone, blows
over Provence as far as Nice, and is more likely to have been
the lapux. The Cers is said to derive its name from cyrcfi,
a Celtic word signifying violence j and the Bise from a
word in the same language, denoting darkness, because the
north is the region of darkness at the season when this wind
is most prevalent. The rhomb of the Cers is from the
north-west to the south-west; that of the Bise from the
north-east to the north-west.
Many ancient writers mention the effects of this furious
\vind. The poet /Eschylus, in his tragedy of Prometheus,
makes Hercules say that he was incommoded by it in cross-
ing the Plaine de Crau, near Aries. Diodorus Siculus,
and Strabo, in his fourth book, speak of its violence; and
Seneca reports that Augustus, during his residence in Gaul,
dedicated a temple to it, because of its salubrious effects on
the. atmosphere. Divus Augustus templum illi dum in
Gallia moraretur et vovit et fecit. Seneca, Qmc^t . 1. 30.
* The toisc of Paris is 70.7-i- English inches.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 7
eighth part of a mile, had in truth prevailed
over the other measures of the stadium : and it
was not without a sedulous commensuration of
the distances given in stadia to spaces locally
correspondent, that a measure was discovered
that could not be estimated at more than the
tenth of a mile: and again another stadium,
which appears of still more ancient use, that
is not more than two thirds of the last-men-
tioned. So that in the chart of the ancient
world there will be found three scales of stadia
of extremely wide proportions between them-
selves. The Persians made use of the para-
sang ; the length of which appeared equal to
thirty of those stadia whereof a mile contain-
ed ten. yEgypt employed a measure called
schene, composed of sixty of the shortest sta-
dia, commensurate with four Roman miles.
The Roman domination in Gaul had permit-
ted that nation to use in all its provinces, ex-
cept the Narbonoise, the measure peculiar to
it, the leuca, or league, which was then only
equal to fifteen hundred Roman paces ; but
since assuming double that extent, in con-
formity to a Germanic measure called a rasta,
it has become the common league of France,
equal to three Roman miles, or about the
twenty-fifth part of a degree of the meridian.
8 COMPENDIUM OF
And a more analytic detail belongs only to a
particular treatise on itinerary measures.
It is still to the purpose of this exordium to
take a general and transient view of the seas.
The whole expanse of those which envelop the
continent of the earth was comprised in the
name of Ocean. In this extent the sea wash-
ing the shores of Africa towards the west, and
near the place where mount Atlas elevates itself,
acquired the name of Mare Atlanticum; which,
from its extremely western situation, is called
by the Arabs the Dark Sea. But this name
of Atlantic Sea is not yet out of use in geogra-
phy. Another great division of the ocean,
which from the eastern coast of Africa stretches
to the south of the continent of Asia, and
which we call the Indian Sea, was denomi-
nated Mare Erythr<rAim> or the Bed Sea. In
the sequestered climates of the north the name
of Mare Pigrum, or the Torpid Sea, or other-
wise of Mare Concretum, corresponds with the
present appellation of the Icy Sea. The
greatest of gulfs that the ocean forms being
between the continents of Europe and Africa,
and penetrating into Asia, was more familiar
to the authors of antiquity than any other sea;
nnd was sometimes denoted by them in the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 9
appellation of Mare Nostrum, our sea, but
more frequently in that of Mare Internum, an
expression more conformable to the ages of
pure Latinity than Mediterranean., which is
indeed of recent date.
It is to a particular description of different
countries that an exhibition of other seas and
more considerable gulfs is reserved. It may
well be presumed that the titles of Europe,
Asia, and Africa, will make capital divisions
in this work. Under these divisions will be
ranged the predominant regions in each ; and
these regions will again be found susceptible
of subdivisions, as having severally their prin-
cipal parts.
E U R O P A.
I. HISPANIA.
TARRACONENSIS.
ByETICA.
LUSITANIA.
II. GALLIA.
NARBONENSIS.
LUGDUNENSIS.
AQUITANIA.
. BELGICA.
III. BRITANNIA.
HIBERNIA.
IV. GERMANIA.
SCANDINAVIA.
V. RH^ETIA.
N O R I C U M.
PANNONIA.
ILLYRICUM.
COMPENDIUM, &c,
VI. ITALIA.
GALLIA CISALPINA.
ITALIA.
SICILIA. CORSICA.
SARDINIA.
VII. GR^CIA.
MACEDONIA,
GHJECIA.
PELOPONNESUS.
CRETA ET CYCLADES-
VIII. THRACIA.
MCESIA.
DACIA.
IX. S A KM ATI A.
EUROREA.
I.
II I S P A N I A
AF we proceed from west to east, we find
Spain presenting itself the first in our continent
of Europe. It was calted Iberia by the Greeks,
from the river Iberus; which, having its mouth
in the Mediterranean, must have been better
known to early antiquity than the other great
rivers of Spain, which discharge themselves
into the ocean. From its remote situation to-
wards the west, it acquired also the name of
Hesperia. It is almost superfluous to say, that,
on the side where it is not environed by the
sea, it is inclosed by the Pyrenees, which sepa-
rate it from Gaul. Ibeus, the Ebro, is the
most northern of its rivers. Durius, the Duero
(or, according to the Portuguese, Douro), and
the Tagus, or the Tajo which traverse the
middle of this continent, shape their courses
almost in a parallel direction towards the west.
In the southern part Anas, or Guadi-Ana and
B<tis, which under the domination of thf-
14 COMPENDIUM OF
Maures in Spain assumed the appellation of
Guadi-al-Kibir, or the Great River, run more
obliquely from the east towards the south.
Sucj^o, or theXucar, which empties itself into
the Mediterranean; and Mini us, or the minho
(which should be pronounced Migno), having
its mouth in the Ocean northward of the
Durius, may also be cited here; omitting at
present the mention of other rivers, which will
more properly be found in the detail that is to
follow. Among the mountains described by
the ancients, that of Idnbeda extends its name
to a long chain, which, from the country of
the Cantabrians towards the north, continues
southward to that of the Celtiberians. Oros-
peda is a circle of mountains enveloping the
sources of the Bidis : and what is now called
Sierra Morena derives its name from Marianus
monsy between Castille and Andalusia. This
continent forms many promontories, of which
three are sufficiently eminent to be distin-
guished here: Charidemum on the Mediterra-
nean, now Cape Gata; Sacrum, and Aria-
brum or Ncruun, on the Ocean; the first of
which has taken the name of St. Vincent, and
the other that of Finisterrc. And these are
the features oi' nature most prominent and re-
markable in this countrv.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 15
The Romans having successfully disputed
with the Carthaginians the dominion of Spain,
and reduced by long wars the Spanish nations
who refused obedience, divided the whole
country into two provinces, distinguished by the
appellations of Citerior and Ulterior. Under
Augustus, the ulterior province was again
parted into two, B<etica and Lusitania ; at the
same time that the citerior assumed the name
of Tarraconensis, from Tarraco, its metropolis.
This Tarraconois occupied all the northern
part, from the foot of the Pyrenees to the
mouth of the Durius, where Lusitania termi-
nated; and the eastern, almost entire, to the
confines of Baetica, which, deriving this name
from the river Baetis, that traversed it during
its whole course, extended from the north to
the west along the bank of the river Anas, by
which it was separated from Lusitania; whilst
this last-mentioned province was continued
thence to the Ocean, between the mouths of
the Anas and Durius. This division of Spain
must be regarded as properly belonging to
the principal and dominant state of ancient
geography. It was not till about the age of
Dioclesian and Constantine, when the number
of provinces was multiplied by subdivisions,
that the Tarraconois was dismembered into
16 COMPENDIUM OF
two new provinces; one towards the limits of
Baetica, and adjacent to the Mediterranean,
to which the city of Carthago nova communi-
cated the name of Carthaginensis; the other on
the Ocean to the north of Lusitania, and to
which the nation of Callaici, or CalLfci, in
the angle of Spain which advances towards
the north-east, has given the name CalLccia,
still subsisting in that of Gallicia. Inde-
pendently of this distinction of provinces,
Spain under the Roman government wasdivided
into jurisdictions, called Conventus, of which
there are counted fourteen; each one formed
of the union of several cities, who held their
assizes in the principal city of the district.
We proceed now to a particular description of
each province.
TARKACONENSIS.
The country which corresponds with mo-
dern Catalonia, on the declivity of the Pyre-
nees, comprised divers people, whose names
and situations may be seen in the map of the
western part of the Roman world: but we shall
here particularly cite the Ccrclani, since they
have given their name to a district called Cer-
dagne,- A city founded on the coast by the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 17
Massilians, under the name ofEmporia, is the
first that presents itself among those which are
judged proper to be mentioned here, in prefer-
ence to many others. A wall in this city se-
parated the habitation of the Indigetes, or
natives of the country, from the Greek strang-
ers. The place is known by the name of
Ampurias, and the environs are distinguished
by that of Ampurdan, which is a depravation
of Pagus Emporitanus. Gerunda, Gironna, is
now a place of consideration in this canton.
Ausa> which gave its name to a people, is Vic
de Osona, commonly called Vic. Barcino,
under the present name of Barcelona, is the
reigning city; but it heretofore yielded this
advantage to Tarraco> orTarragona, which still
preserves the dignity of a metropolis in the
ecclesiastical government. A river, which the
sea receives near Barcelona, owes its name of
Obrega to that of Rubricates. Dertosa, a
little above the mouth of the Ebro, is recognis-
ed under the name of Tortosa. Farther in-
land, the Ilergetes, on the right bank of the
Sicoris, or the Segro, which discharges itself
into the Ebro, possessed Her da, which an ex-
pedition of Cscsar has rendered famous, and
which is still a place of importance under the
name of Lerida. Balaguer, higher up the
VOL. I. C
18 COMPENDIUM OF
same river, occupies the site of Bergusia.
Leaving the borders of Catalonia, we must
mention Osca, or Huesca, in the north of
Arragon, and the city of the laccetani, or
Jaca, at the foot of the Pyrenees. The modern
kingdom of Navarre was the original seat of
the Vascones' f a great nation; who, passing the
mountains, gave their name to a province of
ancient Gaul. Pompelo, or Pompelona, on the
declivity of the Pyrenees, and Calagurris, or
Calahora, on the southern bank of the Ebro,
were their principal cities. Towards the
sources of the Ebro, and reaching to the ocean,
dwelt the Cantabri y a warlike people, who long
defended their liberties*. Divided into many
cantons, they extended over Biscay and part
of Asturias. We may judge of their ancient
ferocity, i>y what is reported of a people who
made part of this nation under the name of
Concani, that they esteemed the blood of
horses a most delicious beverage. A city
situated at the foot of the mountains where the
Ebro rises, was called Juliobriga. Opinions
are divided concerning the position of the
maritime city called Flaviobriga. This termi-
nation of briga, frequently repeated in names
* Cantuber scru domitus catena. HOR.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 19
of places in Spain, denotes a city in the Ian*
guage of the country.
To the Cantabrians, towards the west, were
contiguous the Astures, who had also signaliz-
ed themselves by a glorious resistance to the
Roman yoke. Descending from the moun-
tains to the plain country, we find their city
under the name of Asturica Augusta, which
is still preserved in that of Astorga. A colony
established in this canton, and named Legio
o
Septima Gemina is the origin of the city of
Leon. One of the principal towns of this na-
tion, named Lancia, was not far distant. We
cannot forbear lamenting, that, from the little
topographical knowledge which Spain has yet
afforded us of the kingdoms of Leon and Old
Castile, we are here deprived of all light to
direct us in our search after different places,
which, independently of geographical monu-
ments, are mentioned in history in a manner
to excite our curiosity. Oviedo, the present
capital of Asturias, replaces in dignity, if not
precisely in situation, an ancient city called
Lucus Asturum. The territory of the Pcesici
was a peninsula, or corner of land, which the
cape named De las Penas* terminated; and
* Penas de Pu?on.
C 2
20 COMPENDIUM OF
Flavionavia was their city. Finally, the Called
terminated this northern shore of the Tarraco-
nois, which we have but cursorily surveyed.
In their territory are recognized two superior
cities or capitals of Cojiventus, the one called
Bracara Augusta, or Braga; the other Lucus
Augusti, or Lugo. A promontory, remark-
able for being the most elevated land of the
continent of Spain towards the north, appear-
ing in antiquity under the name of Trileucum,
has been changed into that of Ortiguera, or,
according to vulgar usage, Ortegal. We
have already mentioned Artabrum y still more
remarkable as answering to Finisterre*. In
the interval between these promontories, the
position of Magnus Portus seems to have been
the same with that of Coruna (pronounced
Corugna or Corunia), and Brigantium with
that of Betancos. A city named Iria Flavia
appears to have existed in a place now
named Padron. Among several places distin-
guished by mineral waters, Aqua Origines and
Aqiut Flavin have become Caldas d'Orense,
and Chaves. Tyde is Tui, above the mouth of
the Minlio. Between the Minho and Douro a
little river named Limius, now Lima, was also
* The Land's End.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 21
calledLethe, or the river of oblivion, in antiquity.
On the Douro, near its mouth, Calle, called now
Porto, is remarkable, by the combination of its
ancient and modern name, for giving the de-
nomination of Portugal to a kingdom, which
being heretofore limited to the extent of a
county or earldom, was conferred on a French
prince by a king of Leon.
Ascending the Durius, we find the nation of
Vacc&i, and that of Arevaci. Among the
cities mentioned by the ancients in the former
territory, which was contiguous to that of the
Astures, Pallantia is the most easily recogniz-
ed under the name of Palentia. A river
which traverses this region from north to
south, has deduced from the name Pisoraca
(given by an inscription) that of Pistierga. It
is not well ascertained whether Valladolid,
lower down this river, corresponds precisely in
situation with a city anciently named Pintia.
Simancas, which is not far distant from it, takes
its name from Septimanca ; the Arevaci owing
the name which distinguishes them to a river
called Arevdy which falling into the Duero on
the south side, divides their territory. Their
principal city, if we may judge by the prero-
gative of a ConventitSj was Clunia ,- of which
22 COMPENDIUM OF
vestiges subsist under the name of Coruria at
some distance north of the river, a little above
Aranda. Burgos, the present capital of Old
Castile, cannot be mentioned here, because it
only began to appear under the counts that
preceded the kings of that country. Rauda
and Ujcama> are Roa and Osma. But ascend-
ing higher, we find Numanlia distinguishing
itself in renown above all other cities, for a re-
sistance of fourteen years to the numerous
armies of Rome. An historian, a Spaniard* by
nation, and who is called Hispanue decns, the
ornament of Spain, attributes the defence of it
to the Celtiberians: and a nation under the
name of Pelendones, towards the sources of the
Durius, is mentioned as.Celtiberian.
It is upon this river, not far from its origin,
and above the city of Soria, that we find the
site that Numantia occupied. \Ve must be-
lieve that it was replaced by another city of
the same name, since there is mention made of
its existence many ages after it was destroy-
ed to its foundations by Scipio /Emilianus.
Termes, ally of Numantia, preserves the name
of Tiermes without population. In the farthest
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 23
part of the territory of the Arevacians, Canca
and Segovia preserve their names. Segontia,
now Siguenza, at the entrance of New Castile,
belonged to the same people. One of the
most powerful nations of Spain, and who
sustained long wars against the Romans, were
the Celtiberi; who joining the generic name of
their race to the specific one of the nation
where they settled*, extended themselves from
the right or southern shore of the Ebro, far
into the Tarraconois. In the centre of the
country, one of their principal cities, named
Ergavica, was situated among the mountains,
near to the little river of Guadiela, which the
Tajo receives not far from its origin. Ap-
proaching the Ebro, Bilbilis, the native city
of the poet Martial, near a river named Salo,
now Xalon, is only known by the name of
Baubola, in the neighbourhood of a new city
constructed by the Maures, called Calatayud.
Turiaso exists still in Taragona; and Cascan-
tum, in Cascante, not far distant from it. To-
wards the southern part of Celtiberia, the posi-
tion of a colony named Valeria, is found under
the name of Valera, which is preserved in a
small place in a district of New Castile,
* Celtce miscentcs nomcn Iberis. D.
24 COMPENDIUM OF
called La Mancha. And the present name of
Iniesta, in the same district, answers to that of
Egeksta. Lobetum, which appears to have
had its particular territory between the Celti-
berians and the nation we proceed to describe,
accords with that of Requena.
Beside the Celtiberians, the Edelani stretch-
ed from the Ebro to the river Sucro, or Xucar.
Ctfsar-augusta, or Saragosa, the capital of a
Conventus, and which was before named Sal-
duba, was at the northern extremity of this great
territory; and Ce'sa, which lower down had a
bridge over the Ebro, is known by the name of
Xelsa. On the opposite or southern frontier,
we distinguish Saguntus and Valentia. Sagun-
tus, destroyed by Hannibal, re-established by
the Romans, preserves its vestiges in a place,
of which the modern name of Morviedro is
formed of the Latin muri veteres, old walls.
The river which passes by Valentin, named
heretofore Turia, assumed, under the dominion
of the Mdiires, the name of Guadalaviar. In
the name of Segorba, a noted city in the king-
dom of Valentia, we recognise that of Sego-
briga, of which there is mention in the detail
of cities of the Conventus Cartkaginensis, as the
capital of Celtiberia; which cannot be easily
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 25
admitted, unless we suppose that the Celtibe-
rians, in the primitive state of their power, con-
trolled the Edetani. This name of Edetani
was formed from that of their capital Edeta;
which having been also called Lerida, still
subsists under that name in the parallel of
Morviedro, not far from Valencia. The pre-
sent name of Teruel shows the position of Tur-
bula. On the sea-coast, and towards the
mouths of the Ebro, dwelt the Ilercaones ; to
whom Dertosa is ascribed. A city in this
circuit, named Indibilis, occupied the site of a
place now called Xert, in the direction of an
ancient way from Dertosa to Saguntus. On
the coast is remarked that the signification of
the Greek denomination oiChersonesus subsists
in that of Peniscola, formed by depravation of
the Latin Peninsula.
But we must at present return by Celtiberia
to enter among the Carpttom, whom the Cel-
tiberians had behind them, in the centre of
the continent of Spain. Toletum, Toledo, was
their principal city. It is only by conjecture
that to Madrid, anew city, is applied the name
of Mantua, which we find among the ancient
towns of this nation.-' It -is agreed to ascribe
Alcala, the name of which is Arabic, toCom-
26 COMPENDIUM OF
plutum in the same territory. Contrebia, of
which mention is made in history, has left its
vestiges in a place called Santavert. The fer-
tile fields of Cumin indicate the Vicus Cumi-
narius to have been Zarza. It appears that
the name of the Olcades, who had a city named
Alt(CL> is preserved in Orgaz; and, if we be not
deceived, we discover the name of Libora in
that of Talavera on the Tagus. Consuegra is
evidently the position of Consaburus. Towards
the sources of the Anas, in a part of Orospeda,
were the Oretani, who deduced their name
from a city called Ore turn*, the site of which
has been brought to light, in a paltry village
to which the name of Oreto still remains: we
may say also that they reached into Bastica, in
possessing Castillo on the Bastis. Laminium,
which was placed not far from the source of
the Anas, ought to enter into their territory,
rather than that of the Carpetani; and Libisosa
will be found in Lesuza. Advancing at length
to the sea, we find the Contestania occupying
the country which now forms the kingdom of
Murcia and the southern part of Valencia.
By far the most considerable city in this can-
* Ilathcr the name of the city from that of the people in
thib case, and all similar ones.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 2?
ton was Carthago Nova, or Carthagena, which,
for the advantage of having a fine port, and by
its situation affording always an open entrance
into Spain, was constructed by the Carthagi-
nians, and from them taken by the most illus-
trious of the Scipios. S&tabis is Xativa, on a
little river which falls into the Xucar. Dia-
nium t a maritime city, which communicated
its name to a neighbouring promontory, still
preserves it in that of Denia. Lucentum has
subsisted under the name of Licante, which,
according to present usage, is Alicant. Ilicis
is Elche, and Orcelis Orihuela. Vergilia is
applied to the position of Murcia, although
there is no mention of this city till after the
invasion of the Maures. This maritime shore
was called Spartarius Campus, from a species
of reeds which grow there in abundance.
Another people, the Bastitani, extended into
this extremity of the Tarraconois: they appear
even to have been entirely comprised in it,
although placed beyond the mountain of Oros-
peda, on the sources of the Beetis. This cir-
cumstance naturally establishes them in Ba3-
tica; in treating of which they will be particu-
larly mentioned. Ilorcis, or Lorca, is assigned
to this territory.
28 COMPENDIUM OF
But before entering upon a description of
Baetica, we must speak of the isles adjacent to
the Tarraconois, which, in the augmentation of
the number of provinces, assumed the rank of
a particular one. The name of Baleares (or,
according to the Greeks, Gymnesig), was
limited to the two islands of Major and Minor ;
Majorca and Minorca. They were occupied
by the Phoenicians before the Romans seized
them; and tlieir inhabitants, it is well known,
were eminently distinguished for their dex-
terity at the sling. The principal city in the
first preserves the name of Palma. The posi-
tion which another city occupied named Pollcji-
tia y is known near a town constructed by the
Maures under the name of Alcudia. As to
Minorca, the name of Portus Magonis, given
to it by a Carthaginian commander, is but little
altered in that of Port Mahon. Ebusus,
Yviga, and Ophiusa, or the Serpentine*, which
is Formentera, almost adherent to Yviga, were,
separately from the Baleares, called in Greek
Pifijus<e, or the Isles of Pines.
* Serpentaire in the original, which signifies a species ol"
plant called Birtlnvort, or Snakeroot. But whether it ob-
tained its name from its figure, or for abounding in that
plant, is submitted to the conjecture of the reader. "Q&i;
signifies a serpent.
ANCIENT GEOGRAFHY. 29
B^ETICA.
This province, which, as we have already
said, was traversed by the river B<etis, to which
it owed its name, was distinguished from the
other provinces of Spain by its richness and
fertility. The number of cities which it con-
tained in limits comparatively contracted, and
four districts of jurisdictions or conventus, are
sufficient testimonies of its abundance and
population. It was also the first known by the
advantages that the Phoenicians there found
for their commerce. Its extent corresponds
precisely with that part of Spain which, ad-
vanced towards the south, has taken the name
of Andalusia, derived from Vandalitia, which
the Vandals, before they were constrained by
the Goths to pass into Africa, left to this
country. Among the people which it com-
prehended, the Turdetani occupied the great-
est space in ascending the banks of the Ba?tis
from the sea. Above them were the Turduliy
and the canton to which the river owes its
origin belonged to the Bastitani, who appear
to have seized Bretica, properly so called, if
we admit their primitive seat to have been in
the Tarraconois, Along the sea, arid within
30 COMPENDIUM OF
the Fretum, or strait, which separates Spain
from Africa, were the Bastuli, surnamed Po?ni;
which, being the general term for the Phoeni-
cian nation, was specially applied to the Car-
thaginians. A district distant from the sea,
and lining the left bank of the Anas, was distin-
guished by the name ofBtfturia, without being
proper to any particular nation.
To enter into a more minute detail, we shall
follow the course of the river from its source'
in the Saltus Tugicnsis, which owes its deno-'
mination to a place named Tugia, now Toia.
Basti, which may have given a name to the
Bastitani, is Baza. Acci preserved its name
under the Man res in that of Guadi-Acci ; of
which is formed the present name of Guadix.
A little place called Cazlona, on the right
bank of the Bretis, shows the situation of
Castulo, which was a considerable city. A
little lower, Illiturgi had its position near An-
dujar. Still descending the same bank, we
find Corduba, the head of a Conrentus. It
owed its foundation to the Romans, and did
not yield in grandeur to any other in Bit'tica.
We know that Cordova since served as a resi-
dence for the great Emirs of the Maures, who
conquered Spain from the Goths: and this city
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 31
was otherwise famous for producing the two
Senecas and Lucan. At some distance to the
left of the Bastis, on the river Singilis, now
X.eu\l,Astigis, the principal city of a Convening,
subsists in Ecija. Urso is Ossuna; and, ap-
proaching Seville, we find Carmona subsisting
under the same name. Hispalis, having the
same dignity in a Conventus, has only preserv-
ed its name under the altered form of Sevilla.
The ancient position of Italica, the native city
of the emperor Trajan, will also be found in a
place named Sevilla la Vieja, about a league
distant, in ascending the river, and upon the
opposite side. From above Sevilla, the Bastis,
which has at present but one mouth, was con-
tinued heretofore by two streams to the sea,
embracing an island which in remote antiquity
was celebrated under the name of Tartessus.
Nebrissa, now Lebrixa, and Asia, surnamed
Regia (of which there remains only the name
to ground that it occupied), were adjacent to
that arm of the Ba3tis which exists no more.
In coasting west of the Bastis we find Onoba
answering to Moguer; and from the name of
llipida is formed that of Niebla, whose situa-
tion is higher up the country. We should
here have a great number of places to cite,
were we to enumerate all that are mentioned
32 COMPENDIUM OF
by ancient authors as existing in Bo9tica. We
must not omit to mention, however, Sisapo,
which may be presumed to have been com-
prised in the limits of Beturia, and noted for
its mines of minium, or vermilion. The posi-
tion of this place is sufficiently obvious in the
modern name of Almaden, which it received
from the Maures; Maaden in the Arabic
language being the appellative term for mines.
To conclude what concerns Baetica, we must
follow the coast, which leaving the mouths of
the Baetis, and making one side of the F return
Gaditanum, becomes at length the shore of the
Mediterranean. Gadir, or Gades, owed its
foundation to tbeTyrians, on an island of small
extent, but attached to another of greater size
by a causey; while this is separated from the
continent by a channel like that of a river, at
the opening of which towards the sea a holme,
or insulated hill, bore a temple dedicated to
Hercules, the tutelar divinity of the founders
of Cadiz. Its position beyond the strait, and
the circumstance of its having one of the finest
ports in the known world, were advantages
which rendered it a city of high estimation.
Receiving new augmentation under the Roman
power, it became the capital of a Convcntus.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. S3
On the strait the position of Btflo?i, the usual
place for embarkation for Tingis, in Africa, is
found in the name of Balonia, though now
without habitation. We know that the points
of the Fretum, in entering the Mediterranean,
are elevated into two mountains opposite to
each other; Cal e in Europe, and Abila in
Africa"; and that these mountains were repre-
sented as the columns of Hercules, to whose
labour is ascribed, in the fables of antiquity,
the opening of the strait which afforded en-
trance to the Ocean. We know also that
Calpe was called Gebel-Tarik* by the Man res ;
and from this name, by alteration, the modern
one of Gibraltar is derived. At the bottom of
a gulf which this mountain covers on the
east, there existed heretofore a town called
Carteia, which appears to have been confound-
ed with that mentioned in antiquity under the
name of Calpe. Approaching Maiaca, or
Malaga, but at some distance from the sea,
Munda, which a victory won by Cassar has
* From qebs!, Arabic fora mountain, and Tarik the name
of the commander who led the first expedition of the
Muures across this strait in the year <)2 of the Hegira, which
begins in the month of November, and corresponds with the
710th of the Christian sera. D'Atrrille, Etats furmcs tn
iirope, $c.
VOL. T. D
34 COMPENDIUM OF
rendered famous, still preserves its name; and
the modern nameof Antequera, farther inland,
also recalls that of Anticaria on a Roman way.
Inscriptions which have been found there
would induce us to think that it was dependent
on Singilis, which is thought to have existed
on a river of the same name, now called the
Xenil, at a place whose modern name is Puente
de Don-Gonzalo. The principal city in the
interior part of this canton, which corresponds
with the kingdom of Grenada, was Eliberis, of
which a neighbouring mountain retains the
name, in that of Sierra Elbira. As to the city
of Grenada, which is not far distant, it is to the
Maures that it owes its foundation and its sove-
reignty. The maritime cities of Mcnoba,
Salembina, and Abdera, notwithstanding the
mutation of their names, are Almunecar, Salo-
brena, and Adra. The present name of Alme-
ria, the orthography of which in the time of
the Maures was Merja, or al-Merja, supplies
the ancient denomination ofMurgis. Finally,
on the common limits of Baetica and Tarraco-
nensis we find the ruins of a city named Urci,
not far from Vera, upon the sea.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 35
LUSITANIA.
In the general division of Spain into pro-
vinces, we have seen that this, which remains
to be described, extended itself from the river
Anas to the Durius, in passing along the
shores of the Ocean. The Tagus or Tajo,
bisecting this extent of country in its course,
separated two great nations. The Lusitani,
whose name makes that of the entire province,
occupied the division north of the river ; but in
their primitive state being only bounded by
the Durius, they encroached on the territory
which, in the extent given to the Tarraconois,
had belonged to the Callaici. The Roman
yoke was an advantage to this Lusitanian na-
tion, who are reported to have lived by depre-
dation on their neighbours before they were
obliged to apply themselves to the culture of
their lands. Olisipo is well known to have
been the position of Lisbon; but we may banish
to regions of fable the application of this name
to that of Ulysses. Of two promontories which
embrace the gulf wherein the Tajo discharges
itself, the most advanced in the sea, and which
is the most western point of land of the conti-
D2
36 COMPENDIUM OF
nent of Europe under the name of Roca de
Cintra, was called Magnum Proinontorium.
In ascending tlie Tajo on the same side with
Lisbon, Scalabis 9 a city distinguished in quality
of the head of one of the three Con-centum into
which Lusitania was portioned, has taken the
name of St. Irene, corrupted by common use
into Santarem. We must mention by the way,
that a place situated directly opposite on the
other side of the river, and whose present name-
is al-Metim, appears to have been Moron, of
which a Roman commander, who reduced the
Lusitanians, made a place of arms. Proceed-
ing north, we find Conimbriga in Coimbra, a
city celebrated in Portugal for its university;
and the river Mondego, which passes this citv,
was named Momla. Torocas takes the position
which Talabri^a occupied, upon a little river
whose name of Vacua is now \ ouga. It must
be said of Lama, that, influenced by the resem-
blance of name, we have tried to give it the
position of Lamego ; remarking, at the same
time, that this city is attributed by Ptolemy to
a different nation from the Lusitanians, and of
whom we shall presently speak. If we retire
from the sea, manv cities which might be men-
tioned occur on tin indeterminate limits bet ween
tiit 1 nation which has given the name to Lusita-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 3?
nia, and another great nation, the Vettones,
which the same province comprised, and whose
district extended from the Durius, beyond the
Tagus, to the Anas. We find two cities of the
name of Lancia ; one surnamed Qppidana, the
other Transcudana; these surnames being rela-
tive to their respective positions on a little river
which falls into the Durius, named Cittfa, now
Coa. It is thought that Oppidana might be
applied to the city of a-Guarda, and that
Ciudad-Rodrigo might replace Transcudana,
As to another city named Igosdita, whose terri-
tory, we are informed, bordered upon that of
the first Lancia, it is known to be Idanha, which
the surname of Velha distinguishes from an
Idanha Nova. On the frontier of the nation of
Arevaci, who have been mentioned in describ-
ing the Tarraconois, Salmantica is a position
well known in that of Salamanca. Baniemes
OftdCaurium arefoundin BanosandCoria. But
we must not omit Norba Ceesarea, which the
general opinion ascribes to the position of
Alcantara. A bridge over the Tagus, which
was dedicated by an association of many cities
to the emperor Trajan, afforded occasion in
the time of the Maures to the modern denomi-
nation; Cantar in the Arabic language being
the general term to designate a bridge. In
38 COMPENDIUM OF
leaving the Tagus, we meet with Castra Ceci-
lia on the site now occupied by Caseres. On
the bank of the Anas, by which Lusitania was
separated from Bituria, a part of Baetica, Emc-
rita Augusta, a colony of pensioners or ve-
terans*, founded by Augustus, the capital of a
Convent us, and the residence of the propraetor
or governor of this province, preserves its name,
with little alteration, in that of Merida. The
nation of Turduli, which we have seen estab-
lished in Ba?tica, appear to have extended
hither before this city was attributed to the
Vettones. Ascending a little higher we find
Klctallinum, sufficiently apparent in the name
of Medellin.
* The invalids throughout the empire wore, also called
Emeriti, or Eencjidarii sJitgustt, because, besides founding
tins city in Spain, Augustus instituted funds for their sup-
port. This is illustrated by the annexed inscription, pre-
served at Nimes ar.ior.g many others, and reported by Me-
nard and. Grutcr.
IVL. VALERIAN O MIL. LEG.
X X K It I T A X N I C . 15 K V .
AVG. Mlf.ITAVJT ANN 0^ X.
MEXS. vii. Pir.sv. xv
VIXIT AXX. XXM. .MEN'S. V. DliS XXVf.
IV LI A IV HO MI,IO SA NCTISSIMAI-:
P.'I.TATIS 'FT SIIU VIVA TV
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 39
The southern part of Lusitania bordering on
the Ocean between the Tagus and the Anas,
remains yet to be described. It was occupied
by the Celtici, who appear to have had some
possessions even beyond the Anas. We may
add, that a detached part of this nation was
cantoned far distant in the neighbourhood of
Finisterre, which, besides the name of Arta-
brum, was also called Celticum. The principal
city in the region of Lusitania, which makes
the present object of discussion, to judge by
the dignity or head of a Conventus, was Pax
Julia ; the name of which having been altered
in the time of the Maures into that of Bakilia,
is now hardly to be recognized in Beja. The
name of Ebora is preserved in that of Evora, to
the north of Beja; and proceeding still farther
north, we find the vestiges of Meidobriga in
Armenha, a town in the neighbourhood of
mount Herminius, very near the limits of
Portugal. Turning towards the south, we
perceive Myrtilis subsisting in Martola, on the
bank of the Guadiana; and inclining towards
the coast, we shall meet with Salacia in the
name of Alcacardo-sal, which signifies the
castle of salt. Bordering on the sea, near
Setubal, was Ceto-briga, which is thought to
40 COMPENDIUM OF
owe its name to the fisheries on the coast.
This extremity of the continent of Spain form-
ing an acute angle, was called by the Latin
term of Cuncus, or the wedge; but took the
name of Algarve under the Maures; Garb in
the Arabic language signifying the west; and
from it comes the name of Ga bitio, for the
south-west wind in the Mediterranean. The
vulgar opinion among the ancients, that oppo-
site the Sacrum P. omontorium, now Cape St.
Vincent, which is the point of Algaive, the
sun terminating his course plunged into the
sea, particularly distinguished this point of
land from others more advanced towards the
west. Among the cities of the Cunens, Laco-
briga existed near Lagos, Oysonoba near Faro;
and it is thought that Balsa might be ascribed
to the situation of Tavira, which follows at
no great distance from the mouth of the Anas,
the termination. of Lusitania. "We know that
it is a common practice to confound the limits
of Lusitania with those of modem Portugal;
and, in truth, the greatest part of this king-
dom coincides with them. liut it may be re-
marked, that Portugal, passing on one side be-
yond the confines of Lusitania, by the two
provinces which are north of the Douro, does
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 41
not comprehend, on the other, the extension of
Lusitania among the Vettones; inasmuch as
Merida, which was heretofore the capital of
the Roman province, is not now a Portuguese
city.
COMPENDIUM OF
II.
G A L L I A.
GAUL, bounded by the sea from the north
to the west, was limited on the eastern side
only by the Rhine, in the whole extent of its
course. The chain of the Alps succeeded
thence to the Mediterranean: the coast of this
sea, and then the Pyrenees, terminated the
southern part. Thus we may remark that
France does not occupy the whole extent of
ancient Gaul,* seeing the excess of this on the
side of the Rhine and Alps. Few countries
are so advantageously intersected with rivers.
To give some detail of them, we must begin
with the Mosclla, as discharging itself into the
Rhine, which we have just mentioned. The
Mosu, the Mouse or Maes, flowing northward
" It did not at the time \vhcn M. D'Anville wrote; but
\vomlciiul change* have arisen from the Trench revolu-
tion.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 43
as well as the Rhine, receives, before it arrives
at the sea, a branch emanating from that river
under the name of Vahaldis, the Waal; and
Scaldisy the Scheldt, is connected towards its
mouth with that of the Meuse. In quitting
the northern part of Gaul, Sequana, the Seine,
which, among other rivers, receives the Ala-
ti ona, the Marne, and, after a considerable in-
terval, Lige?*, the Loire, which running to the
north to reflect itself again westward, is aug-
mented by the Elaver, or A Her; Garumna>
the Garonne, which, before opening a consi-
derable gulf at its mouth, receives the Dura-
nius, or Dordogne; and finally, the Atunis, or
Adotir, near the Pyrenees; are the rivers which
we may cite preferably to others, as being the
principal ones which the Western Ocean re-
ceives from Gaul. On the side of the Medi-
terranean, Rhodamis, the Rhone, carries away
with it three rivers, whose names were Arar>
Isara, and Druentia, now the Soane, the Isere,
and the Durance. We refrain at present from
enumerating the less considerab'e rivers that
the ancients were acquainted with in Gaul, as
the more analytic description of the country
will give occasion to indicate some of them.
Among the mountains which are to be men
tioned, the Cebenna preserves its name in that
44 COMPENDIUM OF
of Cevennes; that of Jura is not changed, and
Vogtsus is Vosge. Branches detached from
the principal ridge of the Alps, and which
cover considerable tracts of country, have com-
municated the name of ALpes to particular
provinces of Gaul. On the coast of the Ocean,
the Gobasum Promontorium, which istheFinis-
terre, or Land's End of Bretagne, and the
Itium, which contracts the strait called the
Pas de Calais, are those which antiquity fur-
nishes.
Three great nations, Celtic, Belgs, and Aqni-
tanl t distinguished by language as by cus-
toms, divided among them the whole extent of
Gaul; but in a manner very unequal. The
Celts occupied more than half of it, from the
Seine and the Marne to the Garonne, extend-
ing eastward to the Rhine, towards the upper
part of its course, and in the south to the Medi-
terranean. They were also more Gallic than
the others: for the Belgue, at the northern ex-
tremity, and bordering on the Lower Rhine,
were mingled with Germanic nations; and the
Aquitani, enclosed between the Garonne and
the Pyrenees, had much affinity with the Ibe-
rian or Spanish nations of the neighbouring
mountains. The reader must also be inform-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 45
ed, that the name of Celhe, and of Celtica, ex-
tended to Gaul in general, being that given by
the nation to themselves. It is from the Ro-
mans that we learn to call them Galli, and
their country Gallia*. The Roman policy of
having allies beyond the limits of their pro-
vinces, and the pretext of succouring the city
of Marseilles, and the JEduan people, caused
the Roman armies to enter Gaul a hundred
and twenty years before the Christian sera.
This first attempt put Rome in possession of a
province, which bordering the left bank of the
Rhone to the sea, extended itself on the other
side to the mountains of Cevennes, and thence
along the sea to the Pyrenees. It was at first
distinguished by the generic name ofProvincia,
being only surnamed Braccata, from a gar-
ment worn by the natives, which covered their
thighs : at the same time the name of Comata
was given to Celtic Gaul, because the people
inhabiting it wore long hair. What remained
of Gaul, and which was by much the greatest,
part, was a conquest reserved for Cresar, more
than sixty years after the precedent. The
* The nation were called Ghaiil (plural) by themselves.
Cdtai is the Greek denomination for them, and Galli the-
Roman : as we are called English by ourselves, Angloh by the
French, and Iti^kae bv the Italian*.
46 COMPENDIUM OF
limits of the three nations were then such as we
have reported.
But Augustus holding the states of Gaul in
the 2?th year before the Christian sera, made a
new division of it, in which he showed more at-
tention to equality in the extent of provinces
than to any distinction of the several people
that inhabited them. Thus the nation of Aqui-
tani, who were before limited to the Garonne,
were made to communicate their name to a
province which encroached upon the Cell< y
as far as the mouth of the Loire; and that
which the Cdtte had contiguous to the Rhine
was taken into the limits of a province called
Be/gica. Litgdunum, a colony founded after
the death of Julius, and before the Triumvirate,
gave the name of Lugdunensis, or the Lionois,
to what remained of Celtic Gaul; whilst the
Roman province took that of \(irbonenxis, or
Nabonoirs. It is according to this division in
four principal provinces that the following de-
scription of Gaul shall be detailed. But as
each of these provinces in the succession of
time fonned innnv others, insomuch that in
about 100 years their number increased to
seventeen, and as we have a particular interest
in being acquainted with them, they will be
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 47
found comprised under the greater divisions to
which each belongs; although referring to an
age posterior to that which furnishes the reign-
ing objects in ancient geography.
The government of the church in Gaul hav-
ing conformed itself to that of the state, the ec-
clesiastical provinces, if we except those form-
ed by the elevation of a few cities to the dignity
of metropolitan sees, correspond with this di-
vision of civil provinces under the Lower Em-
pire. This conformity extends even to the
particular cantons of which each province was
composed, the ancient cites, or communities,
corresponding for the most part with the an-
cient dioceses. Places which are given under
the name of Fines, terminations, contribute to
show a correspondence of limits. The reader
must moreover be apprised, that the term com-
munities*, civitatcS) as used here, does not in-
clude the idea ordinarily signified by that of
civitas j but is specially employed to denote the
districts or territories of the several distinct
* In the original cites, which, for the sake of distinction,
I have thus translated. And whenever, in the course of this
work, metropolis occurs, an ecclesiastical, not a civil, dignity
Js to be understood.
43 COMPENDIUM OF
people^ who were very numerous in the ex-
tent of Gaul.
From this connexion between its ancient
and modern state, we may infer that this great
province has suffered less alteration in its con-
stitution by the revolutions which have follow-
ed the fall of the Roman empire, than other
parts of the same.
NARBONENSIS.
It seems reasonable to begin with that pro-
vince which was first formed in Gaul, and
which, being fashioned more particularly to
the manners of the reigning people, still pre-
serves, in the vulgar dialect, a greater resem-
blance to the Roman language than the pro-
vinces detached towards the north, where this
language might have been less familiar, or less
pure in its use. In the multiplication of the
number of provinces, we distinguish five under
this article, entitled Narbonensis. We see, at
the commencement of the fourth centurv, a
province, under the name of Vienncnsis, sepa-
rated from the Narbonois, and this again
divided into two provinces, distinguished into
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 49
first and second, by the name of the primitive.
The people cantoned in the Alps, the greatest
part of whom were not subjected to the yoke
till after the first establishment of the Roman
dominion in Gaul, composed two provinces;
one under the name of Alpes Maritime, be-
cause they touched the sea; the other more
remote upon the declivity of the Greek and
Pennine Alps, and hence called Alpes Grai<z
ct Penning.
The province distinguished by the name ol
Narbonensis prima, and of which the extent
accords, generally speaking, with that now
named Languedoc, was for the most part oc-
cupied by two considerable people; the Voices
Arecomaci, towards the Rhone; and the Volca
Tectosages, towards the Garonne. One of the
most distinguished cities of Gaul, Nemausu$ t
Nimes, was comprised among the first; and
Tolosa, Toulouse, among the second. Narbo,
with the surname of Martins, a colony found-
ed in the first years of the formation of a Ro-
man province, and a considerable city inde-
pendently of its rank in the province, communi-
cated with the sea by a canal drawn from the
river A tax, or Aude. Agatha, Agde, of Massi
Han foundation; Bccterree 9 Bezier; Carcaso,
VOL. I. K
50 COMPENDIUM OF
Garcasson ; and farther up the country Luteva,
Lodeve; are the cities to be mentioned here,
Northward of the Arecomaci were the Helvii,
covered by the mountainous bank of the Rhone,
in the territory which now composes the dio-
cese of Viviers; and their capital, called Alba
Augusta, retains some vestiges in a village
named Alps. The Sardones occupied Rous-
sillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees, which owes
its name to the principal city of this people,
Ruscine, whose site near Perpignan is well
known, lllibcris, which had been a consider-
able city in this canton, took the name of
Helena, which is now Elne, and whose episco-
pal see is translated to Perpignan. We may
add, that the Consorani, who have given their
name to Couseran, may be comprised in the
Narbonois, rather than in one of the Aquita-
nian provinces.
Viennensis extended on the left bank of the
Rhone, from rts issue out of the lake Lew anus,
or of Geneva, to its mouth. Vienna, from
which it derived its name, was distinguished as
the capital of a great people, before its eleva-
tion to the rank of a metropolis of a province:
the most considerable of the Allobroges*, quit-
* Or All-Bwoughx in their own language, a name that
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 51
ting their villages, had formed this city of
Vienne, and occupied the principal part of
what from the Dauphins of Viennois is called
Dauphine. They extended in Savoy as far as
the position of Geneva ; which was one of their
cities. Cularo ought to be ascribed to them
rather than to any other people. This city,
taking the name of Gratianopolis> from the em-
peror Gratian, is still recognised under that of
Grenoble. The Fbow^z were adjacent on the
south; having for their principal city Vasio, or
Vaison, and extending on the Drome, whose
ancient name is Druna : Dea, or Die, was in-
cluded in their circuit. Between this territory
and the Rhone, the Segalauni possessed Valen-
tia, Valence; and the Trecastini, a city named
Augusta^ now St. Paul-Trois-Chateaux. The
Cavares occupied to the Durance this part of
Provence called the Comtat; where Arausio
is Orange ; Avenio*, Avignon 5 Carpentoracte,
manifests their Gothic origin. They are characterized by
ancient writers as perfusa gens montibus : and even now there
are fewer cities inJDauphine than in any district of the same
extent in France.
* There is a position in this neighbourhood that merits
notice. On the western bank of the Rhone, between Orange
and Avignon, and about eight miles from the latter, is a town
built upon a rock, which in the name of Roquemaure, the
5-1 COMPENDIUM OF
Carpentras ; and Cabellio, Cavillon. South of
the Durance, the Satyes, whom we shall have
occasion to cite particularly in speaking of the
second Narbonois, were terminated by the
bank of the Rhone. Arelate, Aries, prevailed
over all other cities in this canton : the emperor
Honorius having transferred thither the seat of
the pretorian prefecture of Gaul, whenTreves,
sacked by the barbarians, was no longer in
a state to maintain this pre-eminence. It is
a little above Aries that the river divides
itself into two arms, to form two principal
translation of its ancient denomination of Rupis Maurensls.
perpetuates the memory of Hannibal's passage of that river
in his famous expedition. Hannibal, having crossed the
Rhone, ascended by its bank as far as the mouth of the Isere ;
called by historians, the Island; where, after settling a suc-
cession disputed between two brothers, he turned to the right
to cross the Alps ; and directing his route over the site of the
modern town of Virile, about two leagues south of Gre-
noble, cntem! the valley of Bnurg d'Oisans, where runs the
little river Rornanche ; ascended mount Lens ; then Lauterct ;
crossed the Durance (here but a brook) at Brianyon ; ascend-
ed the mounts Genevre, Sezanne, and Sestrics, successively;
and at length gained the summit of the Fenestrelle; where
after causing his army to view the plains of Piedmont, h<?
descended by the valley of Pignerol in the beginning of Sep-
tember ; five months and fifteen days after leaving the winter
quarters of Carthagena in Spain, with less than half the
number that had crossed the Rhone.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 6'3
mouths called Gradus, now Les Graus du
Rhone*.
Marius, in his war with the Cimbri, opened
a canal from the left of these Gradus to the sea.
* The Gradus Rhodani appears thus in the Anton'mi
Itinerariwn Maritimum.
A MASSILLIA GRJECORUM IXCA110 POSITIO MP. XII
AB INCARO DILIS POSITIO .- VIII
A DILIS FOSSIS MARIAXIS PORTUS XX
A FOSSIS AD GRADUM MASSILIATANUM FLUVIU9
RHODANU3 XVI
A GRADU PER FLUMEN RHODANUM ARELATUM XXX
With the following note: " Enim antiquities vocati viden-
tur pontes ad litus, aut fluminum ripas constrati, ex quibus
naves commodiore ingressu conscenderentur ad navigau-
dum, et ad quos adpellercnt. Edit. Wess. Amstel. 1635."
Hence it appears that the proper translation of the word
is a quay, or mole ; but as this was thirty miles below Aries,
if there were any such it could /lot be for the purposes of
merchandise, but must only have been as station for ships
waiting for a fair wind, or a shelter from bad weather. It
is more reasonable to conclude that the word, deflected from
its original meaning by usage, came to signify the mouth
of a river in general, as we find it also applied to the mouths
of many rivers in Spain and Italy, and which are still call-
ed Grao, or Grado. But it appears that there were actual
gradus, or quays, at the ports of Alexandria, Sinope, Ami-
sus, and others in Asia, and which may be the origin of
the term Echcllc, that the French peculiarly use in speaking
of the ports in the Levant.
54 COMPENDIUM OF
Before speaking of Marseilles, we may men-
tion Maritime!) or Martigues, at the entrance
of a great lake, or lagime, communicating with
the sea. Massilia> founded by the Greeks of
Phocaga, a maritime city of Ionia, about six
hundred years before the Christian sera, had
long preserved in a foreign land its original
manners; and was not less distinguished by the
cultivation of Greek literature than by its com-
merce, which had rendered it suffieiently
powerful to form establishments on the neigh-
bouring coasts. To the territories of this city
extended the province of the Viennois, accord-
ing to the state which is furnished us of the
provinces of Gaul.
There is no mention of the second Narbonois
before the fourth century was considerably ad-
vanced. Aquas Sextiae (or Aix), its metropo-
lis, owed its foundation to Sextius Calvinus;
who, in the first expeditions of the Romans in
Gaul, reduced the Sahjcs, or Saluvii, a power-
ful nation, who extended from the Rhone along
the southern bank of the Durance, almost to
the Alps; and with whom the Massilians had
long to contend. To speak only of the princi-
pal places on the coast, we shall cite Tclo Mar-
tius> Toulon, now so celebrated for its port;
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 55
Forum Julii, Frejus, a distinguished colony and
port, excavated by art to contain a Roman fleet
in station, near the mouth of the Argenteus, or
the little river Argens; and Antipolis, Antibes,
founded by the Massilians. On this coast
three islands, ranged on the same line, bore,
for this reason, the Greek name of Stockades,
and are now called Isles d'leres, from a place
situated on the continent. In the interior
country the Reii, previously named Albitcci,
bordered on the left bank of the Durance, to
the north of theSalyes; and the town of Reiz
preserves their name. There remain three
cities to be cited in the second Narbonois; Apia
Julia,, Apt ; Segnstero, Sisteron on the Durance ;
and Vapincum, Gap, which would appear to
have been detached from the limits of a nation
of whom the province of Alpes Maritime will
give us occasion to speak.
This province, inclosed between the prece-
dent and a chain of the Alps, reached to the
sea, at the entrance of the Var, and at the foot
of the Alpis called Maritima; which beyond
this river bore a trophy erected to Augustus,
for having subjected the people of the Alps
between the two seas which embrace Italy.
For, although the Var may be cited as sepa-
56 COMPENDIUM OF
rating Gaul from Italy, the summit of the
mountains whence the waters flow on each
side properly constitutes their natural limits;
and the city of Nice, Niccea, founded by the
Massilians, and its county, were not actually
detached from Provence till about four cen-
turies ago. The metropolis of the maritime
Alps, Ebrodunum, Embrun, has preserved its
archiepiscopal dignity in the province. It
must here be mentioned, that all this country
in the neighbourhood of the sea, and penetrat-
ing considerably into the Alps, was occupied
by divers people of a nation which we shall
see powerful through the extent of Italy, under
the name of Ligures. The Salyes, of whom
we have already spoken, derived their origin
from them ; and in the earliest age the shore of
the Mediterranean, to the entrance of Iberia,
belonged to this nation. Ascending the
country, we may cite Dinia, Digne, to remark,
that before the reign of Galba this city was
not comprised in the province; of which the
most considerable people were the Caturiges s
towards the beginning of the Durance: and it
is by alteration of this name that a little place
situated between Embrun and Gap is now call-
ed Chorges. A prince named Cottius, whose
residence wsiSbtSegusio, orSusa, and who was
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 5?
maintained by Augustus in the possession of a-
little state composed of many people, cantoned
in the Alps, had communicated his name to
the Alpis Cottia, which was Mount Genevre,
where the Durance takes its source, not far
from BrigantiO) or Briancon. Alpis Graia is
the little St. Bernard, and the great St. Ber-
nard is the Alpis Pennina; the name of which
is derived from a term employed in several
languages, denoting the summit of a mountain,
as it is applied to the Apennine*, which
* To this may be added the Cebcnna of Gaul. Tn all the
dialects of the Celtic, penn is the appellative term for the
head. Hence the.Celtic parts of Great-Britain, being the
most mountainous of it, abound inpetms : asPcnnryn, Pcnn-
zance, in Cornwall ; Pennrise, Pennmanmaurc emphatically
(Mai're signifying great in Gaelic), in Wales ; Ben-new in
the shire of Inverness, the highest land in the island of Bri-
tain : and in Bretagne, inhabited also by the Celts, we find
almost every elevated land called by this generic appellation.
For example, Pennthievre and Pcnnmark, a noted promon-
tory. We find mountains in France and Spain, and even in
England, where our conquering ancestors changed almost
every other name, retaining this, because mountains are the
last parts of any country that submit to conquest. We
have Pennshur&t in Kent, Pcnnsj'urd in Somersetshire, and
many others, though with Saxon terminations, as these.
Penrie is the name of a town and castle upon an eminence
inLanguedoc; Peima Gracias, another in Portugal; Pcnna-
t ftor in Spain; and Pennon Je Velez is a fortress -built by the
Spaniards on a high rock upon the coast of Africa, so late
58 COMPENDIUM OF
detaches itself from the Alps to traverse Italy.
That which is now called the Valais, at the
foot of the Pennine Alp, and along the Rhc A me,
from its source to the lake which receives it,
was named Vallis Pennma. The Nantuates
inhabited Chahlais, and the bottom of the
valley, while the Veragri were above. The
as the beginning of the sixteenth century; for pcna is still an
appellative in the Spanish language, denoting the highest pike
of a ridge. The name of Pyrenees seems to be derived
from terms in two languages signifying analogous things;
from HYP Jlamma (hence pyramid), and the Celtic penn.
Iloweverthis be, we may surely with confidence refer the
I^atinuord pinna, a fin or \\ing, pinna murorum. battlements,
to the same root. Yet Livy, in his refutation of the opinion
that Hannibal led his army by the Pennine Alp, dreamed
of the Pu:ni ! Miror nmb/gi quanam Annibal Alpes trans-
ient, cl Tulgo credere Pennine, atque inde nomcn ciji/go alpiun*
iiiditum, transgressum. And he adds, moreover, Ncquc Her-
rule montibushis ul> tranyitu Pcennrum itllo, Vcragri incola:
? u g' cjusn'-irvnt nonien inditum. (Lib. xxi.) And Pliny too,
speaking of the double gorge of the Graian and Pennine
Alps, GraiarumSf Paminarumfaucium: His P;vnos, says he,
Gratis Herculem translssc mcmorant. The truth (though of
no great importance) seems to be, that this invader never
a\v either the position of Lions, or the Pennine Alp, but
entered Italy by the. Grecian and Cottian Alps; and not
through their gorges, but over their more supcrable and Ies<
dangerous summits, as satisfactorily appears in M. r<.lardY
Commentaries on Polvbius.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 59
principal city in this valley, Sitten, according
to the Germans, and otherwise Sion, preserves
in this the name of the Seduni. The Cen-
trones, a more considerable people, towards
the confines of the Allobroges of the Viennois,
occupied the Tarantois; deriving this name
from that of Darantasia, which the city of
Monstier, enjoying the prerogative of a metro-
polis in this province of the Alps, heretofore
bore.
LUGDUNENSIS.
This name was applied to a long band of
country making the middle of Gaul, from Lug-
diinum, or Lions, upon the Rhone, to the West-
ern Ocean, and limited on one side by Aqui-
taine, and on the other by the Belgic. In
the division which the four primitive provinces
experienced, the Lionois was at first parted in-
to two, first and second; and this division did
not suffer another until the fourth century had
elapsed; when, in place of two Lionoises, we
find four, by a subsequent dismemberment of
each of the former two. Although the state
of Gaul in the number of provinces, multiplied
to seventeen, descend to times posterior to the
60 COMPENDIUM OF
principal age wherein ancient geography
should be considered; yet the survey which
may be taken of each having its particular
utility, as has been already remarked, we shall
subject the ancient Lugdunensis to the detail
of what each of these four provinces of the
Lionois severally comprehend.
The city of Lions had been founded on the
right bank of the Saone, in the territory of the
Segusiani: but this was a Roman city; and the
people had its capital called Forum, which pre-
serves the name of Feur, on the right bank of
the Loire : being still the capital of the province
of Forez, which owes its name to the Pagus
Forensis of the middle age. Rodumna, Rouane,
lower down on the same river, but on the other
side, belonged to the same people, who were,
in the time of Caesar, tributary to the Edui, one
of the most powerful nations of Gaul. The
city that held the rank of capital among this
nation, and called Bibracte, assumed under
Augustus the name of Augustodunum (from
which is formed that of Autun), and derived a
considerable lustre from the nobility of Gaul
being there instructed in literature. The Arar,
of which the name in an after age was Sau-
conna, the Saone, separated the /Eduan nation
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 61
from the Sequanois; so that Cabillonum and
Matisco, ChalonandMacon, on the rightbank,
belonged to this great yEduan community,
who, having its western frontier on the Loire,
possessed heretofore on this river a city which,
under the name of Neroinum or Neoirnum*
Nevers, had been separated fromt. In the
dependencies on the same people, we must not
forget Alesia; for though there remain of this
city but the name of Alise, it reminds us of
one of the greatest achievements of Caesar, and
which may serve as an epoch of the subjugation
of Gaul to the Roman power. Bordering on
these were the Lingones, having for their capita]
Andematunum ; to which it happened, as to
many other cities of the same rank in Gaul (as
will hereafter appear), to convert its primitive
name into that of its people; and thus to be
called Lingunes, now Langres. It must be
observed, that this people occupied Belgica
before it made a part of the first Lionois;
which without this accession would have been
too much diminished by the dismemberment
of anew province, which its name, of the fourth
Lionois, indicates to have been last formed.
And because it was immediately contiguous to
that from which it had been detached, to sepa-
rate entirelv the first Lionois from the second
62 COMPENDIUM OF
and third, it shall precede these in our descrip-
tion. The Senones have caused it to be distin-
guished by the name of Senonia, whose capital,
Agedincitm, after that, Senones (by the change
of name whereof we have just spoken), and
now Sens, has taken the rank of metropolis.
Another considerable people of this province,
the Carnutes*, had for their capital Autricum^
* The capital of the Carnutes should be noted as the
place where, according to Caesar, the Druids held their
annual sessions to try litigations of the nobles or aristocrats;
for the more numerous part of the community, accord-
ing to the same author, had no causes to try. " Plebs
pene servorum habetur loco ; qua; per se nihil audet et nulli
adhibetur concilio." Comm. De Bello Gall. lib. iv. And
in that deplorable condition they remained till the year
1789; for the principles of freedom introduced by the
Franks with their conquest were soon forgotten. The great
council of their nation therefore, rinding no precedent or
prescription for their liberties, were obliged to recur to the
eternal elements of things, where they found the " Rights of
Man," that in this country have been so impiously derided.
It may be- remarked, that the seeds of free governments were
disseminated in every country by the Gothic conquerors
with various degrees of success. Some fell by the way -side,
others vegetated indeed to a short-lived existence ; but it is
only in this favoured ible that they have produced fruit.
This Tree of Life has withered even in the countries where
it was indigenous. How much does it behove us then to
take warning by this awful example of our ancestors, and
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 63
which from their name is formed into that of
Chartres. Among the Parisii, Lntctia, which
an isle of the Seine formerly contained, has
since become the queen of cities, and preserves
purely the name of the people. The Aurdiani
were dismembered from another community
more ancient. The city which preserves their
name in that of Orleans, situated advantage-
ously on the summit of the curvature which the
course of the Loire describes, belonged to the
Chartrains in Caesar's time, under the primi-
tive name of Genabum. The Meldi, neigh-
bours of the Parisians, and the Tricasses, ad-
jacent to the Senones, do not appear in Caesar.
latinum, among the first, preserves the name
of the community, though somewhat altered in
that of Meaux; and Augustobona, on the Seine,
in that of Trois, among the second. Other
positions to be noted are, Autissiodurum, or
Auxerre, which appears to have belonged to
the Senones ; Nevirnum, Nevers, taken from
the ^Edui ; Melodunum, Melun, in the Seno-
nois territory, and which is .mentioned by
Caesar.
The second Lionois, after the third had been
not, after transplanting a scion, to suffer the parent stock
to perish !
64 COMPENDIUM OF
detached from it, was nearly comprised in the
present limits of Normandy. Rotomagus,
Rouen, the metropolis of this province, belong-
ed to a community whose name of Velocasscs
has become by alteration Vexin,which extends
to the river Oise; on which the Celtic name of
Briva Isar<z is translated in that of Pont-Oise.
The Caleti, who were limited by the sea, have
given their name to the Pagus Caleticus, the
Pays de Caux; and the name of Juliobona,
their capital, is preserved in that of Lilebone.
These two people, inhabiting the northern
bank of the Seine, must be referred to the
Belgic nation, in the primitive state of Gaul,
before they were added to the Lionois. On
the left bank of the Seine were the Aulcrci
Eburovices, and the LexoviL The capital of
the first quitted its primitive name of Media-
lanum, to be called Eburovices, whence the
modern name of Evreux; and Noviomagus
among the Lexovii, having also taken the name
of the people, is Lisieux. The previous name
to that of Viducasses for the capital of a com-
munity situated on the river Olina, which is
Orne, passing by Caen, is unknown. The
name of Ar<eveneus<, which belonged to the
little river Aure, as well as to the city of the
BajocasscSy who were contiguous, has been
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 65
replaced by that of Baieux. The Unelli, or
Ueneli, at the western extremity, had for their
capital Crociatojium, whose position concurs
with that of Valogenes. But another city,
Constantia, has prevailed in giving the name of
Cotantin to this canton of country, bounded on
the south by the community of Abrincatut,
whose capital, Ingena, preserves their name in
that of Avranches. It cannot be doubted that
the name of the city of Sees refers to that of
Saii; though whether this be of the same
antiquity with those just mentioned, is not so
certain. The isles opposite Cotantin, under
the names of Sarnia, Ctesarea, and Riduna>
answer to those of Guernsey, Jersey, and
Alderney.
We describe rcow the third Lionois. It had
for its metropolis Turones, Tours, which, previ-
ously called Ctssarodnnum, had taken the name
of the people whose capital it was; and Julio-
magus, the capital of Andes, or Andecavi, on
the Meduana, or Maienne, by a similar con-
version, is now named Angers. The Aulerci
Cenomani have given their name to the city of
Mans, which, before taking that of the Ceno-
mani, was called Suindmum. Adjacent to these
were the Diablintes, whose capital, N<odunum :
VOL. I. F
66 COMPENDIUM OF
having taken their name, has left that of Jublins
to a place which occupies the site of it. The
situation of Vagoritum, the capital of the Arvii*
comprised also in Maine, is known by vestiges
still subsisting in a place called the Cite, upon
a little river named Erve. If we recognise the
Redones in the name of llennes, and the
Namnetes in that of Nantes, it is that these cities,
according to the usage, have quitted their
primitive names of Condate and Condivienum.
The denomination ofCojtdate, common to many
places in Gaul, denotes a situation in a corner
of land formed by the confluence of two rivers.
The territory of the Namnetes was confined by
the Loire, whose opposite shore belonged to the
Pictavi of Aquitaine; and it is separated from
the Vcneti by the Vilaine, which we find in
antiquity under the name of Herius Fiuvius.
Cresar informs us that the Veneti distinguished
themselves by their power and their skill in
maritime affairs. Dariorigum, the name of
their capital, has been replaced by the name
of the people, which is retained in that of
Venues. Among several isles on the adjacent
coast, Vindilis preceded the name which
Belle-isle at present bears. The territory of
the Curisolites is known to have bordered on
that of the Redones. The farther end of the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 6?
province to which the insular Britons have
given the name of Bretagne, was occupied by
the Osismii, whose capital, named Vorganium,
takes the position of Karhez; and we find a
people named Corisopiti in the environs of
Quimper. The Brivates Portus indicates that
of Brest; and Uxantes and Sena, the isles of
Ushant and Sain. This last, though very small,
may merit notice as having been the dwelling
of priestesses revered in Gallic antiquity. We
know that the people borderi ng upon the Ocean
were denominated Armories Civitates, accord-
ing to the proper signification of the CeJtic
term ar-Mor. This general designation, but
particularly applied to the inhabitants between
the Seine and the Loire, confined itself at length
to Bretagne, which we find exclusively men-
tioned under the name of Armorica.
A a U I T A N I A*.
That which in the division of Gaul by Au-
gustus was but one region, afterwards formed
three provinces; the two Aquitaines, and
* It mi^ht be deemed impertinent to recommend to the
notice of the English reader a word of such extensive etymon.
68 COMPENDIUM OF
Novempopulane. The capital oftheBzturigef,
which, after having borne the name Avar tcum,
took that of the people, from which the present
name of Bourges is derived, was the metropolis
of the first Aquitaine. This nation was the
most considerable of Gaul, and appears to have
been governed by a king when the multitude
of Gauls passed the Rhine and the Alps, to
establish themselves in Germany and Italy,
about six hundred years before the Christian
aera. We have two Biturigian people ; the
as that of man, if we did not frequently overlook the
familiar in our search after the remote. All the gentile
names that we find ending in ani are only the Roman modifi-
cation of this word: as Aquitani, the men or inhabitants of
Aque ; Aureliani, the men of Aurcl ; Veromandui, and many
others, who, though in the bosom of a Gaelic country,
hence denote their Gothic origin. To these we may add
the Romani, or anen of Romulus. We find the word used
in composition of names of people in Asiatic countries,
whence our ancestors issued : as Turkoman (we might add
Mussulman, if it were not an English corruption of modem,
a believer), as well as Englishman, German, and Norman.
The Greek appellative ANH'P, quasi MANH'Pjis of this root.
It is curious to find Tacitus speaking English when inform-
ing us of the mythology of our German ancestors; who, he
says, derive their origin from Tuisco (hence 0=;>c Deus,) who
produced the earth, or, as he calls it, h'crtha, who produced
Mannus, the parent of nations.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 69
principal, which was that of Berri, distinguish-
ed by the surname of Cubi; the other, sur-
nanied Vibisci, in the second Aquitaine, The
Arverni were a very powerful nation when the
Romans invaded Gaul. We know that one of
their cities, named Gergovia s obstinately resist-
ed the efforts of Caesar to become master of it,
Vestiges of it are still visible not far from Cler-
mont, the capital of Auvergne, which has re-
placed in situation, as well as in dignity,
Angus tonsmetum, the capital of the Arverni.
Two communities immediately contiguous to
the preceding, and dependent on this province
in Caesar's time, follow in natural order; the
Gabali and the Vellam> who have given their
name to the Gevaudin and the Vellai. The
capital of the first, named Anderitum, having
taken the name of the people, is scarcely to be
recognised in that of Javols, an inconsiderable
town that occupies its site. Revessio, the
capital of the other, to which the name of the
people was likewise communicated, has taken
that of Saint Paulin. The Rut.eni occupied the
province of Rouergue; and the name of Sego-
dunum, their capital, having assumed that of
the people, has at length declined into Rodez.
We see the Ruteni in a former age inNarbonois,
as well as in Aquitaine; but hose whom Caesar
70 COMPENDIUM OF
calls Provinciates*, as being of the Roman
province, can, in conformity with local circum-
stances, be only placed in the Albigeois, \\ hose
principal city, Aibiga, All -, n^.ade thereafter
a community of the first Aquitaine. Qucrci,
adjacent to Rouergue, and Cahors, its capital,
owe equally their names to the Cadiirci ; and
in the alteration of this name there is the same
diversity between that of the city and province,
as the Ruteni observed in the names of Rouergue
and Rodez; remarking withal, that from the
name of Bituriges have equally descended the
several denominations of Berri and Bo urges.
The primitive name of the city of the Cadiirci
was Divona ; and that of the river whereon it
was seated being Oltis, ought to be written
L'Olt, and not Lot, according to the vulgar or-
thography. The name, Tarnis, of another
river, which discharges itself into the Garonne,
continues uncorrupted in that of Tarn. We
must not forget a place of the Cadiirci besieged
by Caesar, Uxellodunum, whose name and
situation are recognised in Puech d'Issolu, not
far from the Dordogne, on the frontier of the
Limosin. The Lemovices, who gave their name
* These people arc denominated Elcuthcri in Du
Fresnoi's Catalogue, probably from their participation of the
rights of Roman citizens.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 71
to the province as well as to the city of
Limoges, primitively called Augustoritum,
occur the last in the route which we have
followed in the survey of Aquitania Prima.
Aquitania Secunda had for its metropolis
Burdigala, Bourdeaux, among the Bituriges
Vibisci) who were not of Aquitanian origin.
The Medulij whose territory lay between the,
Gironde and the mouth of the Garonne, have
given their name to Medoc. From the
appellation of Petrocorii are formed the names
of Perigord and Perigueux; though Vesuna,
the primitive name of the capital, is still retain-
ed in the quarter of the city called La Visone.
The name of Agenois, on the other hand, is
derived from that of the city, Aginnum, Agen ;
it having prevailed over the gentile name of
Nitobriges. The 8antones adjacent to the sea,
and north of the Gironde, have given their
name to the province of Saintonge, and to the
city of Saintes, whose primitive name was
Mediolanum. Iculisna, Angouleme, not hav-
ing any appropriate people that we can find,
is best referred to those who occupy the Sain-
tonge. Carantonus was the name of the
Charente, which traverses this p r -pt of the
country, and opposite its mouth, Uc'iar'us is
72 COMPENDIUM OF
the isle cf Oleron. The vast territory of the
Pictones, or Pictavi, extended thence to the
Loire; from their appellative are formed the
names of Poictou and Poictiers. Limonum was
the anterior name of their capital. In this
extent of the ancient Pictavi towards the mouth
of the Loire, they had a city, whose name of
Rotiatum remains to the country of Retz. It
may be added, that a particular people, under
the name of Agesinates, was comprised in this
territory; and the district of an archdeaconry
named Aisenai, in the bishopric of Lucon,
dismembered from that of Poictiers, indicates
this portion of the Pictavi.
What remains to us of Aquitaine between
the Garonne and the Pyrenees, corresponds in
a general manner to the country occupied by
the Aquitani, in the first national division of
Gaul.
The name of Novcmpopulana, which this
part of the province of Aquitaine assumed,
seems to indicate that it was composed of nine
people, whom however we shall not seek to
distinguish in the number of those that inhabit-
ed it. 7^> e Elusates and Ausci appear to have
held tlv3 first rank. Elusa, Euse, was their
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. ?3
metropolis, before this dignity was translated
to Auch, which did not bear the name of the
Ausci till after being called Augusta, having
also the name of Climberris in the dialect of
the country. Mention must be made of the
Satiates., spoken of by Caesar, and whom we
find in a place named Sos. The Vasates have
given their name to Bazas, which was before
called Cossio. A small community, named
Boii, is represented in the Buies of the Pays
de Buch, contiguous to the sea; and the resin
furnished by their pines caused them to be
called Piceos Boios*. Between this territory
and the Pyrenees were the Jarbdli, whose
capital was Aqua Augusts, now Aqs. Lapur-
dum, which has left its name to Labourd on
taking that of Bayonne, was included in this
community. Beneharnum, a city of which
there are no visible remains, has given its name
to the principality of Beam. Iluoro is Oloran
in this province. Vicus Juli, or Atures, is
Aere on the Aturus, or Adour. Towards one
of the extremities of the Novempopulane,
Lactoj^a is Leitour. Finally, at the foot of the
Pyrenees, the Bigerrones have given their name
to Bigorrej and Tarba to the city of Tarbe;
* In a letter from St. Paulin to Ausonius. P.
74 COMPENDIUM OP
the Convene to the Pays de Cominges, whose
capital, Lugdunum, is now St. Bertrand; as
that of the Consorani, or Couserans, has taken
the name of St. Lizier.
It was this Aquitaine proper, in the national
division, that the Vascons from beyond the
mountains over-ran, communicating to it the
name of Gascogne; while that of Aquitaine
is perpetuated, with some alteration, in
Guienne.
B E L G I C A.
From the southern extremity of Aquitaine,
we must return northward to terminate our
description of Gaul in the most distant part of
it. In the multiplication of provinces we dis-
tinguish two Belgics, two Germanies, and a
fifth province called the Great Sequanois.
The capital of the Treveri, after having borne
the name of Augusta, took that of the people,
and became the metropolis of Bclgica Prima.
It also became a Roman colony, and served as
the residence of several emperors, whom the
care of superintending the defence of this
frontier retained in Gaul. It was an object of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 75
vanity with this people to be esteemed of Ger-
manic origin*. The Sar, which the Moselle
receives a little above Treves, is known in an-
cient geography under the name of Saravus.
The Mediomatrici, bordering on the Treveri,
had for their capital Divodurum, which has
since taken the name of Metis, Metz. The
Leuci extended thence to the Vogesus Mom,
their capital preserving its ancient name of
Tallinn in that of Toul. Verodunum, Verdun,
becomes a particular community in this divi-
sion of Belg/ca.
The second province under this name fur-
nishes a greater number of communities. The
Remi were distinguished by their inclination
to the Romans, under the government of
Caesar; and Durocortoruni, their capital, which
taking the name of the people, subsisting in
that of Rheims, was elevated to the rank of
metropolis in Belgica Sccunda. There is no
mention of the Catalauni till after Caesar: and
Chalon upon the Marne, in its name, preserves
* Treveri ac Nervii circa adfectationem Germanics ori-
ginis ultro ambitiosi sunt, tanquam per hanc gloriam san-
guinis a similitudine et inertia Gallorum separentur
Tacit, de Mor. German, cap. xxviii.
76 COMPENDIUM OF
their memory. The capital of the S&essiones,
strictly connected with the community of the
Rerni, had taken the name of Augusta r ; but that
of the people, having supplanted this appella-
tion, is now recognised in Soissons. The river
Aisne, which passes by it, is Axona in the
monuments of the Roman age. The Vero-
manduih&ve given their name to Vermandois;
and their capital, to which the name of Augusta
belonged, is St. Quintin. In the name of
Beauvais are known the Bellovaci, who enjoy-
ed the reputation of superior bravery among
the Belgic nations. Their capital was Cicsaro-
magus, before it took the name of the people;
and it should not be confounded with Bratu-
spantium, mentioned in Cassar. The Silvanec-
tes 3 who were restrained to narrow limits con-
tiguous to the Bellovaci, do not appear till after
the time of Cassar. They have changed in
their capital the name of Augustomagus, for
that which was proper to them, though it be
scarcely discernible under its present form of
Senlis. The Ambiani had given to their city
the name of Samaro-briva, because the Somme
was there passed on a bridge; but the name of
the people having prevailed, it subsists in that
of Amiens. This canton of Bclgica, but more
especially the community of the Bellovaci, was
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 77
distinguished by Caesar in the nameofBelgiiim.
The Atrebates, limited by the territory of
Amiens, or comprised in it, called their city
Nemetacum, otherwise Nemetocenna ; which,
having adopted the name of the people, is be-
come Arras, or, as the Flemings call it, Atrecht.
This community, which has given its name to
the province of Artois, did not however occupy
the whole of it. A part belonged to the
Morini, who, dwelling on the shore, took this
name from theirmaritime situation. Taruenna,
Terouenne, was their capital. Extending in
Flanders, they had a place called Castellum,
which preserves the name of Cassel. The
particular territory of Bononia, or Boulogne,
which was named at first Gesoriacum, was an
appendage to that of the Morini; and the
Portus Itius, which the embarkation of CaesSx
for the island of Britain has rendered famous,
is Witsand upon the same coast. The Nervii 9
a powerful nation, who affected to be thought
of Germanic origin, had for their capital in the
centre of Hainan, Bagacum, Bavia, which
appears to have declined from its rank towards
the end of the fourth century, when Camara-
cum, Cambrai, and Tournacum, Tournai, had
prevailed in this country, which the Nervians
occupied. But it must be added, that the
78 COMPENDIUM OF
dependencies of the Nervians extended in
Flanders to the sea, the strand of which was
there called \ervicanus Tractus ; andtheSam-
bre, the river of their territory, is mentioned
under the name of Sabis.
The two Germanies in the distribution of
Belgica are of more ancient date than any sub-
division that Gaul experienced after the capital
division of it into four provinces under
Augustus. We may even, without hesitation,
refer them to the reign of Tiberius. This
frontier, exposed to the enterprises of warlike
nations beyond the Rhine, demanded for its
protection particular precautions on the part
of the Roman government; and under the
command of Drusus more than iifty fortresses
were constructed along the river. The
province of Sequanois, called Maxima Scqua-
norum, dismembered too from Belgica, although
not of such high antiquity, precedes the
Germanies in geographical order. For the
same reason of relative situation, these were
distinguished into higher and lower, and also
into first and second. The Sequani formed a
considerable community between the Saone,
mount Vosque, and mount Jura; which last
separates them from the Helvetic territories.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 79
Their dependencies in the time of Cajsar even
reached to the Rhine. Extending their name
to a province, it was natural that Vesontio, or
Besanyon, their capital, should become the
metropolis of it. Caesar describes the position
of this city as almost enveloped by the river
Dubis, as it now is by the Doux. The Helvetii
extended from Geneva upon the Rhone, to the
lake which takes the name of the city of Con-
stance. The respective limits of the four
cantons, into which this nation, distinguished
by bravery, was distributed, are not now to be
ascertained. We are undeceived however in
the supposed identity of the Tigurinus Pagus
with Zurich; since we are instructed by a Ro-
man inscription, that the name of this plaee
was notTigumm, but Turictim. The principal
city of the HelveLii was Aventicum s the site of
which still retains the name of Avenche. A
Roman colony, under the name of Equestris,
otherwiseNoidtmum, retains its Celtic denomi-
nation in that of Nion, on the borders of the
lake Leman, or of Geneva. Vindonis$a t which
only exists in the name of Windisch, was a
place which translated to Constance its epi-
scopal dignity. We may mention Salodurum,
as being Soleure, and terminate the Sequanois
by describing the Rauraci. Between the
80 COMPENDIUM OF
Sequanois and the Rhine, they occupied the
environs of the flexure which that river makes
at the city of Basle, after that part which
afforded the Sequani communication with the
river had ceased to belong to them. A colony
founded among the Rauraci, called Augusta,
placed a little above Basle, has profited by the
decline of that city to become considerable,
and still subsists under the name of Augst.
The first, or Upper Germany, immediately
succeeds to this territory. Three Germanic
people, the Triboci, Ncmet.es, and Vangiones,
having passed the Rhine, established themselves
between this river and the Vosge, in the lands
which were believed to compose part of the
territory of the Lend and Mediomatrici.
Argentoratum, Strasbourg, was the residence
of a particular commander or prefect of this
frontier; although another city, Brocomagus,
now Brurnt, be mentioned as the capital of the
Tribocians. Among the Nemetes, who come
next, the principal city was named Novio-
magus, before there was mention of it under
the name of the people; and which, from a
little river that discharges itself into the Rhine,
has taken that of Spire. The capital of the
Vangiones, to which their name had likewise
ANEC1NT GEOGRAPHY.
been, communicated, was primitively called
Borbetomagus^ but its present.nameis Worms.
Montiacum, Mentz, was the metropolis of a
province, and the residence of a general,
whose command extended along the Rhine
from Saletio, Seltz, to Antunnaciun, Andernach.
Below Mentz are Bingium., Bingen, at the con-
fluence of a river named Nava, now Nahe; and
Conjliientes, Coblentz, where the Rhine receives
the Moselle in the territory of the Trcvi'ri.
In Lower Germany, the bank of the Rhine
was occupied by the Ubii and the Gu^erni,
two Germanic people, who had transported
themselves, under the reign of Augustus, to
the hither or Belgic side of the river. Colonia
Agripfrina, Cologne, founded among the
Ubians in the reign of Claudius, was the metro-
polis of this province. Bo?ma, Bonn, Xovesmm,
Nuys, are the places to be cited among the
same people : and, among the Gugerni, we
shall mention a post spoken of in history under
the name of Vetera, now Santen, and Colonia
Trajana, reduced to a hamlet named Koln,
near Cleves. But the second Germany did
not confine itself to the country between the
rivers. The community of^the Tun^ri gave it
a considerable extension on this side of the
Meuse. The Euro?ie.'> ) of German origin, and
VOL. 1. (;
&2 COMPENDIUM OF
who appear to have been annihilated by
Caesar, in revenge for the fate of a Roman legion
that had been slaughtered by this nation,
occupied the country which was after them
possessed by the Tungri. These were also of
Germanic race; and their principal post, call-
ed Atuatuca, having taken the name of the
people, remains in that of Tongres. On the
con fines of this people and the Trcveri extend-
ed a great forest, which, according to Csesar,
continued from the limits of the Nerviito the
Rhine, under the name ofArduenna; and one
of the cantons which it embraced retains in
the name of Condras that of the Condrusi- of
whom there is mention in Cassar as depend-
ants on the Trcveri. The northern part of
what is now called Brabant belonged to the
Menapii; who, extending to the Rhine, had a
fortress on the Meuse, whose name of Cas-
tdlum subsists in Kessel. But we find after
them theToxandri established in the province
now called Campine: and the mouths of the
Scheldt limited the Lower Belgica on the side
of Lower Germany. The Batavi belonged
incontestable to Gaul, which they terminated.
The ground called Insula Batavoj^um, part of
which retains the name of Betaw, was included
between the branch detached from the Rhine
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 83
to the left, called Vahaldis, or Waal, and that
which, flowing to the right, preserved the
name of Rhenus. Drusus had drawn from the
Rhine a canal called Fossa Drusi, belo\v the
separation of the Waal. This canal conveyed
a sufficient quantity of water to form, by the
course of the Issel, to which it was joined, a
great lake called Flt-vo. And this was the
first cause (historically speaking) of the dimi-
nution of this branch of the Rhine, which we
now see has not power to reach the ocean.
In the first rank among the Batavian cities
was Lugdunum, which keeps its name in that
of Ley den. Re-ascending the Rhine, we re-
cognise the position of Batavoduritm in Dur-
stadt, and Xoviomagus in Nimeguen.
If the reader recollect the great number of
particular people that Gaul contains, and who
by their equality of rank are competitors for
admission into this detail, he will be convinced
that it could not be more abridged without
suffering mutilation. But if there be any who
wish to see the subject more amply treated,
they may consult a particular work* on the
geography of Gaul, by the same author,
* Notice de la Gaule.
G <2
84 COMPENDIUM OF
III.
BRITANNI A*.
THE Britannic Island was the greatest of the
world known to the ancients; and if it be not
really the greatest, other advantages, which
prevail over those of extent, make it by much
* The Translator hopes no apology will be thought neces-
sary for his insertion of the following etymologies. Mr.
James Macpherson observes, that the Roman names of
places in Gaul and Britain, however disguised by th<;
writers of the continent, may with the utmost facility be
traced to their original meaning, in the language spoken at
this day by their posterity in the northern extremity of this
island. The name of the island itself was given by the
Cimbri, who were the second race that emigrated from the
continent; and who, coming from the flat country of Bel-
gium, called the comparatively lofty shores of Kent Braight-
ain, which in their dialect of the Celtic signifies the high
island. Thus Braidalbin is the name of the most elevated
district in North Britain.
Alba, or Albin, the name by which the Scots have from
immemorial antiquity distinguished tluir division of the
inland, is also from a word signifying the samu quality in
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 85
the most considerable of islands. Notwith-
standing the irregularity of its contour, the
triangular figure which Ceesar ascribes to it
from hearsay is sufficiently applicable to it.
But he was moreover well enough informed
with regard to the inequality of its sides; the
south one of which, Jess extended than the
other two, seems to serve them as a base.
their dialect ; Alb or Alp, high, and In or Ain, invariably an
island. Cantium is derived from Canti, the -end (of the
island); the Belgoe, from Belgen, a party-coloured tribe,
hence by analogy a mixed people; Bolerium, from Eel-ir,
the western rock ; Ordovices, from Ord-tuavich, northern
mountaineers ; Brigantes, Brigand, plunderers ; Durotriges,
from Dur-treig, the sea tribe ; the Selgovae, from Selgovick,
hunters, and metaphorically freebooters; Gadeni, from
Gadechin, robbers ; Mseatae, from Moi-atta, inhabitants of
the plains; Dimxts;, from Di-moi-atta, inhabitants of the
southern plain ; Dobuni, from Dc-bb-buni, on the bank
of a river, alluding to their situation on the banks of the
Severn ; Trinobantes, from Trion-oban, a marshy district,
the inhabitants of Middlesex and Essex ; Silures, from Slot,
a race, and Urus, the river, emphatically, from their situa-
tion beyond the Severn. Caledonia is derived from Caiil,
the generic name of the nation, and Doc/i, a district or
region; and Ghaeldoch (with a c, or an aspirated g) is the
proper name by which the Scotch Highlanders call their
country; Albin being rather a figurative form of speech.
" Enquiry into the Antiquities of Scotland, by James
3iacpherson, Esq."
86 COMPENDIUM OF
Cantium*, on the coast of Kent, opposite the
Itlum promontory of Gaul, makes one end of
it; and a point of land projecting far into the
Western Ocean, named Bolerium Promonlo-
rium, or the Land's Endf, forms the other.
As to the apex of this triangle, the northern
point of Scotland, now named Dungsby-head,
was called Orcas, a name relative to the
Orcades, which are adjacent to this promon-
tory. The name of Albion, given to the great-
est of the British islands, is probably borrowed
from the remotest times, when it was less
known than it has since been. Straitened in
its width, its principal rivers, Tamesis and
Sabrina,) the Thames and the Severn, are con-
siderable only in their approximation to the
sea. Respecting the second of these rivers,
the Sabrintf JEstuarium is less its mouth than
a gulf of the Western Ocean penetrating
deeply into the land. Although this island be
mountainous almost without interruption on
its western side, antiquity furnishes no parti-
cular denomination of mountains, if we except
the Grampius Mo?i* in Scotland, which an
expedition of Agricola has given occasion to
* The North Foreland,
i Rather Cape Cornwall.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 87
mention, and which appears divided into Cite-
rior and Ulterior, or Hither and Thither.
A difference of complexion observed among
the inhabitants of Britain, indicated a difference
of origin. It is indisputable that numerous
tribes crossing over from Gaul established
themselves in the southern parts of it. A great
analogy in the language, identity of religion,
and a conformity of manners, though less
civilised in Britain than in Gaul, are an uni-
vocal testimony of affinity between the people.
But the reddish hair and tall stature of the
Caledonians persuaded Tacitus that these were
originally from Germany; while the swarthy
tint and curled locks of the Silures caused them
to be deemed of Iberian origin. Caesar, when
he passed over into Britain, advanced only to
the banks of the Thames, which only served,
as it were, to show him the country. Augustus,
little attached to the principle of extending the
limits of the empire, neglected the conquest of
it: and it was not seriously invaded till the
reign of Claudius, when the part nearest to
Gaul, between the east and the south, was
subjected. Under the reign of Domitian, the
Roman armies, commanded by Agricola,
penetrated even to Caledonia ; that is to say.
88 COMPENDIUM OF
into tl>e centre of Scotland. The difficulty of
maintaining this distant frontier against the
assaults of the unconquered people, determin-
ed Adrian to contract the limits of the Roman
province in Britain, and separate it from the
barbarous country, by a rampart of eighty
miles in length, from the bottom of the gulf
called now Solvvay Frith, to Tinmouth, which
is the entrance of a river on the eastern side of
the island. Severus extended these limits by
constructing another rampart, of thirty-two
miles, in the narrowest part of the island, be-
tween Glofa, or the river Clyde, and the bottom
of Bodotria, or the gulf near which the city of
Edinburgh stands. Though we have not in
Roman Britain well-defined limits between the
several provinces as in Gaul, we perceive a
distinction between Superior and Inferior; mid
the position of some cities ascribed to the
higher Britain, indicates this to have been on
the western shore. The multiplication of
provinces which prevailed throughout the
empire, furnished a Britannia Prima and
S..cunda; ami the situation of the first colonies
after the commencement of the conquest should
establish the first Britain in the east. Two
other provinces, Flaria ('j'.iariensis, and
M<nima Ca'sariensis, appear, by the name of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 89
Flavia, to have been called after the family of
Constantine; and the surname of C&saritfisis
would refer to Constantius Chlorus, who, it is
well known, commanded in Britain with the
title of Cresar. But we are not informed of
the extent and limits of these provinces. Some-
what later in the order of time another province
is observed under the name of Valentin, sup-
posed to have been the nearest to the rampart
of Severus.
To enter into a detail of people and cities,
we must begin with Cantium., as it presents it-
self at the first approach. It preserves its
name in that of Kent. The principal city of
this corner of land was called Dnrcrccrnuni, and
its present name of Canter-bury is that proper
to the country itself, followed by the appella-
tive for a town* in the language of the Anglo-
Saxons. Another city, Duro-brivis 3 received
the name of Rofus-ceaster, which in common
use is Rochester. The port that appears to
have been the most used for landing in
Britain was named Rutupice^, towards the
* Rather a station, or dwelling, for that is what
in the Saxon signifies. Bolipoe, Bonnigh, is the appellative
for a town or city. See Johnson's Diet.
i Rvtupite is Richborough, according to Horsley.
90 COMPENDIUM OF
southern point of the island called Tanetos t or
Thanet, where we now find Sandwich. Dover
is mentioned by the name of Dubris. But we
recognise at some distance towards the west,
another beach with the name of Lema.nis,
Lymnc ; and which, as there is every reason to
presume, was the place where Caesar made
his descent upon the island of Britain. Thence,
after traversing the territory of a people named
Regni, we find the Bel< ; and their principal
city, called Venta Belgarum, retains its name
in Winchester. This termination of Chester,
applied to many cities in England, is a depra-
vation of the Latin term Castrum, which the
Roman domination had established and render-
ed familiar in Britain, and which under the
Anglo-Saxons having taken the form ofCcasfer,
has become Cester, or Chester, indifferently.
Vectis, or the Isle of Wight, adjacent to this
canton which the Bel^^e inhabited, was subject-
ed by Vespasian under the reign of Claudius.
The Atrc.batcs, whose name we find also among
the people of Belgic Gaul, were contiguous to
the Bclotf of Britain in inclining towards the
Thames. On the coast, \\ieDurotriges follow-
ed the Belgians; and Dnrnoraria, their city, is
now Dorchester. What remains of the south-
ern part of Britain, and which is contracted by
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 91
the sea and the Sabrince JEstuarium, belonged
to the Dumnonii. Their city, called Isca, on
a river of the same name, retains its denomi-
nation in that of Exeter*, or Exchester. It
is well known that this extremity of the island,
which has taken the name of Cornwall, was
renowned for its tin. The importation of this
metal making a considerable object of com-
merce among the Phoenicians and Carthagi-
nians, they gave the name of Cassiterides,
derived from a Greek word denoting tin, to
islands which were thought to produce it.
Although many of the ancient geographers
speak of those islands as lying off the Finisterre
of Spain, there is sufficient reason to ascribe
the Cassiterides to the end of the British island;
and passing over the little isles or rocks of
Scillyf, to comprehend under this denomination
two promontories, which, separated probably
by a convulsion of the elements, might be
mistaken by strangers arrivingintheselatitudes
for insulated lands. These promontories are
* Uxda was the name of Exeter, according to Horsley;
and Isca Dumnoniorum Hamden-Hill.
t We find the isles of Scilly mentioned in the Antoninc
Itinerary under the name of Lisda ; and the following note
by Wesselingius, the Amsterdam editor: " Lis vcteri Bri-
tannorum sermonc Gurgitem notassc volunt."
<V2 COMPENDIUM OF
Bolerium, before mentioned, and the Lizard
Point, known in antiquity under the name of
Ditm?ionium, or Ocrinum. Further, we read in
Diodorus Siculus, that the tin of the Cassitc-
rides was transported by the inhabitants of
Bolerium to the isle of Vectis : a report which
can leave no doubt of their identity.
Having thus terminated the southern shores,
we return to describe the eastern parts. Among
the Trinobantes we find Londinium, London,
which is spoken of under the Roman govern-
ment as a city flourishing by commerce.
Camalodunum was the first colony which the
Romans established in Britain under the reign
of Claudius. Its situation agrees with that of
Colchester: and there isobserved in the modern
denomination a fragment of the title or sur-
name of Colonia, which this citv appears to
have borne bv way of eminence. The vestisrcs
*/ */ O
of an ancient city named Verulamium arc-
recognised near St. Alban's, twenty-one miles
from London. North of the Truiobantes } i\iQ
Iceni, a people equally powerful, designated
their capital bv the same name of Vail a which
we have observed among the Belgians; and
the place which this city occupied is now call-
ed Caster, near Norwich, the principal city of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 93
the county of Norfolk. Towards the sources
V
of the Thames were the Dobuni. Aqiue Soils*,
or waters of Apollo, are distinguished by the
name of Bath, signifying the same thing as
Baden among the Germans; this name being
appropriated by them to places where there
are baths of mineral waters. The position of
Gloucester, upon the Severn, is the same as that
of Clanum-\: and the passage of the Severn was
the entrance to the territory of the Silures, who
occupied the northern shore of the gulf which
receives this river. They had a city called,
as many others, Venta, the name of which is
found in Caer-gwent: and, as well as the Dum-
nonii, they had a city called Isca y the' residence
of a Roman legion, and its site is now recog-
nized in the name of Caer-leon, on a river
whose name of UskJ is evidently the same as
* Horsley has placed Aquft koli-s in the territory of tin-
elgcc.
+ Cle~cum, as well in the map of our author, as in that oi
llorsley.
| Uisk, or Wyskie, is the Gaelic appellative for the ele-
ment of water : hence there are several rivers of that name
in the British island. Dur has the same meaning; hence the
Duriu in Savoy, the Durance in France, and die Duuro in
Spain and Portugal. Taw is the name for the sea; and, ac-
cording to the hyperbolical genius of the Celtic speech, the
94 COMPENDIUM OF
that of the city. Among the De.mettf, who
were contiguous on the same shore, we find the
position of Maridunum in that of Caermarthen.
In the north of the principality of Wales*, of
which the southern part belonged to the people
greatest rivers in each country are so called : hence the
Tamh, or Thames; the Tay in Scotland; more than one Tq^
in Wales; the Tagus, or Tajo, in Portugal; the Tanais in the
north of Asia, &c. "RutAmhon, pronounced Avon, is the
specific and precise appellation of a river.
* Pays des Gallcs in the original ; therein retaining the
generic name of the nation; and it is only by a change of
the initial for another letter peculiar to the Gothic dialects,
that we call it Wales. Thus another part of the same na-
tion, retiring from the conquering Saxons into the south-
ern extremity of the island, prefixed to this national denomi-
nation a name which in their own language, as well as in
the Roman, denotes its geographical figure, Corn-Gall,
Corn-wall, quasi Cornu. So the posterity of the German
nations that seized Belgic Gaul acquired the name of
Walloons. And the Germans on this side of the Alps call
the inhabitants of the ancient Cisalpine Gaul, and the
Italians in general, Wailch. But to return. Giraldus
Canib. observes, that " Adulterino Tocabulo usitatoque magis,
sed proprio minus, mudernis dltbus Wallia dicitur." And
Wallis, Literarum g ct w frequentissinia est commutatio.
(Preface.) And Spelman, G alii semper g iifuntur pro Sax.
f- (Gloss, verbo Garantie). Examples of the Gallic
practice in words beginning with W, are Gager, gardent,
gardrobe, garantic, guerre, &c. and the name Guillaume;
for wager, warden, wardrobe, warranty, war, ar.<! William-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 95
just mentioned, the Ordovices were only sepa-
rated by a narrow channel from the isle of
Mona, where the Druids had consecrated
woods polluted with human blood. This isle
has taken the name of Angles-ey, this termina-
tion being an appellative word in many north-
ern dialects to denote an island; and it is thus
that the Orcades are called Orkn-ey*. The
isle which is known under the name of Man,
with which that of Mona appears confounded,
is situated in the distance between the north of
England and Ireland, and was known to the
ancients by the name of Monabia.
East of the Ordovices, among the Cornavii>
mention is made of Deva as a post of a legion
in Upper Britain; its name is now Chester,
We add Viroconium, to observe that its posi-
tion was not that of the city of Worcester, but
a small town called Wroxeter, also upon the
Severn, and a little below Shrewsbury. Lindum
Colonia, retaining the name of Lincoln, indi-
cates to us the territory of the Coritani, to
whom this city is attributed; and a gulf which
* Ey answers to isle, which, from the Latin insula, we
received into our language through the channel of the
French.
90 COMPENDIUM OF
appears to have been named Mclaris ;Estua-
rium, should separate them from the Iccni be-
fore-mentioned. The most powerful people in
Britain were the Brigantes; to judge by the
extent of country that they occupied, which
was the whole breadth of the island between
the t\vo seas, from the mouth of the river Abut,
or 1 1 umber, to the Wall of Hadrian*. In
this circuit Elwracum, or York, was distinguish-
ed above other cities by the residence of the
emperors Severus and Constantius Chlorus
during their continuance in Britain. It is
probable that the province called Maxima
Cccsariensis was in this part of Britain. There
are here very obvious vestiges of military ways;
on which is recognised a measure that exceeds
the Roman mile by eighty toises. The ways
also indicate many ancient places which we
have the satisfaction to find; but which being
too numerous to enter into an abridged descrip-
tion, arc comprised in a table designed to
supply the deficiency here as well as elsewhere.
The same may be said oiihef'allum Hadriani,
or rampart of Adrian; along which we distin-
guish places of defence at no great distance
* Ilorsley places a people called Parisii between the
Uuinber and the Denvent.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 97
from each other. From the shore of Sol way
Frith towards the west, this line tends to Lugu-
vallurti, now Carlisle; and it is terminated on
the eastern side of the island by a post called
Tinocellum, near the mouth of a river named
Tina. Beyond this river were the Otta-thrion
the eastern shore; and, in turning to the west,
the Sdgov< ; arid the Novantg were they who
occupied the modern county of Galloway to
the angle which we find under the name of
^ovantum Peninsula, terminating this county;
the southern promontory whereof is called
Mula, or the Beak. A city remarkable by the
name of Victoria^ attributed to the Demnii,
might have served for the monument of a
victory won by Agricola from the Caledonians,
near the Grampian Hills. The people on this
side of the Vallum or rampart of Severus were
in general called MceattC> by distinction from
the Caledonians who inhabited the other. AVe
have said above that this line extended from
the river Glota> or Clyde, to the Bodotria
.Kstuarium, which is now named the Frith of
Forth. We are assured by the proper signifi-
cation of the name of Edinburgh, that it is the
position of a post called by the Romans Alata
Casf.ra, or the Flying Camp.
VOL. T. u
98 COMPENDIUM OF
That which was not comprised within the
limits, more or less remote, of the Roman em-
pire, might be distinguished under the title of
Britannia Barbara. The name of Calcdonii
appears to have comprehended many particular
people who occupied, under divers denomina-
tions, the northern parts of Scotland. Nor are
ihe Caledonians to be distinguished from the
Pict.i, whose name is not found employed till
a succeeding age; but which, by a term bor-
rowed from the Roman language, expresses a
custom established among this savage people,
of painting their skin with party-coloured
figures*. Another nation, the Scoti, who,
migrating from Hibernia, attacked the Picts
before Britain was lost to the Romans, pene-
trated to the utmost part of the Roman domina-
* Nee falso nomine Picti. (Claudian.) Not however from
the Roman language, but from the Celtic; in which they
were nick-mimed PictiLsh, or thieves, by their neighbours
in the I,o\v Country, according to Dr. John Macphcrson.
Similarity of sound natural!}' produced ambiguity, which.
degenerating into error, has been perpetuated by such
authors as Claiu'ian, and Eumenius the panegyrist. The
Hibernian origin of the Scot 1 -, and the Spanish < ngin of die
Iri.ih, and the Si lures of Britain, are :;!MJ treated by him as
puerile errors with equal plausibility cf argument. But
PinKerum, in his late History ol Scotland, makes the Picts
to be Scandinavian Goth*; fu>m Norway.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 99
tion towards the north, and were in the sequel
sufficiently powerful to gain, by conquest, from
the Saxons of the English heptarchy, the king-
dom of the Nordan-humbers, which was bound-
ed on the north by the gulf of Edinburgh, and
the rampart of Severus*. And the conquests
of this people have extended their name to the
northern end of the island; although the Scots,
properly so called, are distinguished as occupy-
ing the western shore, called High- land be-
cause it is more mountainous than that towards
the east. Among the people of ancient Cale-
donia the Horestce are found in history, and
appear to have inhabited beyond the Taum
/Estuarium, which cannot be more suitably
* Scot is an imputed name as well as Pictdish, and signi-
fies in the Gaelic little or contemptible. Opprobrious
epithets are owing to the malignity of mankind: and these
people were so denominated by their neighbours of the
Low Countries, who migrated from the continent after they
had left it. The unlettered Highlander is as utter a stranger
to the national name of Scot as he is to that of Parthian or
Arabian; and if he be asked of what country he is, he
immediately replies that he is an Albanich or Gael. The
translator is indebted for this, the note concerning rivers,
and that on the etymology of the term Picti, to Critical
Dissertations on Caledonian Antiquities, by John Macpher-
son, D. D. Minister of Slate in the Isle of Sky. London,
Berket, &c. 1768.
}} O
100 ; COMPENDIUM OF
assigned than to the mouth of the Tay.
Devana y farther north, is the river named Dee,
from which the town of Aberdeen, situated at
its mouth, derives its name. Among the
several people of whom we find but the names,
the Cornabii should be placed, apparently, in
the remotest corner of Scotland, in the country
which we now name Caithness; therein em-
ploying a term much used by many northern
nations to denote a land far advanced in the
sea*. The extremity of this land is the pro-
montory which received from the ancients the
name of Orcas, from its proximity to the
Orcades. As there is mention of these islands
before a Roman fleet circumnavigated Britain,
when Agricola commanded there, what Tacitus
reports of their being then discovered and
conquered, must only be strictly understood
with respect to the last of these terms. The
ancients were not entirely ignorant of the
islands on the western shore of Scotland,
which they called Ebudes, and which are now
* As Inverness, &c. Tins term appears one of the few
that are common to the Celtic and Gothic. AViv, nasus,
nez, noej*e, nose. The similarity between the northern and
southern extremity oi the island in geographical figure, is
not more remarkable than the, indentity of name, Curnabn
and L'uniga/l.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 101
named, by reason of their situation, the Western
Isles*. But they are mentioned in a manner
too desultory and indistinct to authorize a
particular detail of them here. We have
now amore important object to consider, which
is,
HIBERNIA.
The name of this great island is variously
read. That of feme, in some authors of anti-
quity, has a great affinity to the name of Enwf,
which it bears among the people who inhabit
it, and from which is formed its present deno-
mination of Ire-land. Adjacent to Britain,
but inferior in extent, it is sometimes called
Britannia Minor. In times just preceding the
fall of the western empire, we find it mention-
ed under the name of Scotia; and we have
seen that the Scoti issued from it to invade the
* They are incorrectly called the Hebrides.
f Compounded of Jar, west, and /, an island. Caesar
is the first author who mentions Ireland under the name of
Hibernia: and therein he might either have latinized the
H'Yterdhon of the southern Britons; or, what is more pro-
bable, given it a name that suited his own ideas of its air and
rlimate. James Macpherson.
102 COMPENDIUM OF
north of the British island. The Romans,
having never carried their arms into Ireland,
had no other knowledge of it than what com-
merce furnished between two lands in sight of
each other. It \vould be difficult, not to say
inept, to recount the detail which the geogra-
phy of Ptolemy furnishes of Ilibcrnia ; for this
island docs not enter into history till an age
very much posterior to that of antiquity.
There are however some circumstances to be
remarked, as appertaining to its principal
features.
The figure given of it by Ptolemy is a paral-
lelogram, determined by its promontories; t\vo
towards the south, and two towards the north.
On the eastern shore, and towards the middle
of its extent, the position of a city under the
name of Eblana agrees with that of Dublin;
and the mouth of a river a little northward of
it, named Bmtinda, consequently answers to
the Boyne. The promontory terminating
this side towards the south, and named Sacrum,
is the south-east point of Ireland; and that
which stretches towards the west, and was
called Not/urn, or the South, agrees with what
is now named Cape Clear. On the western
coast, terminated by a promontory named
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 103
Boreum, or the Northern, a river, called Semis,
is thought to be the Shannon ; the most con-
siderable of the country, and which obtains the
same name in the work of an ancient British
historian as in Ptolemy. The circumstances
that regard Armagh would induce us to con-
sider it as the position of the most northern of
two cities named Regia. A local tradition
O
reports it to have been the residence of the
kings of this part of Ireland called Ulster, and
we know that it is still the primatial see for the
whole island. A city of the same name with
that of the island, that is to say, Jernis or Juer-
nisy placed in the centre of the southern part,
takes therefore the position of Cashel, one of
the principal towns of the province of Munster;
if we be not inclined rather to credit a tradition
of the country, which pretends that at some
distance west of Cashel there formerly existed
a large episcopal city bearing the name of Aen.
Among the nations whose names are placed in
Hibernia, that of the Brigantes evinces that it
received colonies from Great Britain: but com-
mon fame ascribes the origin of the Irish
people to an emigration from Iberia.
To this article of Hibernia must be added
what we can say of Thule or Thyle, which the
104 COMPENDIUM OF
ancients reputed the remotest of lands on the
Northern Ocean, and nearest to the Pole. The
relation of Pytheas, a Massilian Greek, had
made this land remarkable many ages before
the Christian asra^ although the description of
its climate, according to this navigator, as
being neither earth, air, nor sea, but a chaotic
confusion of these three elements, might be
sufficient to invalidate his testimony. The
opinion which takes Iceland for Thule cannot
be maintained against an analysis of circum-
stances which are attributed to Thule, without
omitting those even which the narrative of Py-
theas furnishes*; the discussion whereof is not
* Le nom dc Thule. reparmt dans les tables de Ptolcmee.
Mais ce n'est plus la Thule de Pytheas; on a eu tort de hi
ronfondre jusqu'aujourd'luii avec elle. Li s circonstuncc-s
astronomiqucs qui accompagnent le recil do Pvtheas, ne
permettent pas dc douter que 1'isle dont il parloit no dut
ctre tres voisine du ccrclc polairo. Ptolemee, qui eli-voit
deja trop toutes los latitudes de la Brctagne, n'a pu cepen-
daut arriver a cette hauteur, ni passer au-dcia du 63iii'
dcgre. Aiusi il n'apretcndu deci'ire qu'uiie terre iuiciieure
en latitude a celle que Pvtheas avoit indiqueo.
Kn plar;ant Thule pres ties Orcades, Piolemr-e fait voir
que les connoissanccs de son sieclr s'etondoicnt pen au-dela
de cos isles; que la route de 1'Icelaiid s't'-toit ])erdue, et que
i'<in avoit transport*' le noni de 'I huh et le souvenir de sou
'..xistencc a ia petite isle <lc .^fhcthii;'!. ]\J. d'Ai;-. nlc ]';t
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 105
adapted to a work of this kind. We learn
from Tacitus, that the Roman fleet which made
the tour of Britain, and reduced the Orkneys,
had at the same time a sight of Thule ; which
could have been no other than the Shetland
Isles, at least twenty leagues north-east of the
Orkneys. And if in Ptolemy be considered
the position of Thule relative to the Orkneys,
the conclusion formed upon the report of
Tacitus will be confirmed beyond a doubt.
We shall find in the sequel another Thule, in
a northern region of Europe, but which, sepa-
rated from the Orkneys by the space of a
hundred leagues of sea, cannot be confounded
with the Thule now under consideration.
bien jiige. Mais il a confondu les terns ; il n'a point vu quo
1'opinion de Ptolemee ne pouvoit avoir aucune rapport avec
cello de Pytheas, et que les deux Thule devoient trouver
une place differente dans sa carte de 1'ancien Monde.
Geographic des Grecs anafysce, par M. Gosselin, ouvra^e
couronne par {'Academic. Pam, 17 V QO.
106 COMPENDIUM OF
IV.
GERMANIA,
SEPARATED from Gaul by the Rhine, Ger-
many extends eastward to the Vistula, which
may serve it for limits on the side of Sarmatia;
while the shore of the sea towards the north,
and the course of the Danube on the south, are
elsewhere its boundaries. That which we now
see comprised in Alemagne, between the
Danube and the Alps, did not belong to an-
cient Germany. There are three principal
rivers in the interval between the Rhine and the
Vistula, directing their course to the German
Ocean: Visurgis, the Weser; Albis, the Elbe;
Viadrvs, the Oder; a river less considerable,
Amis us y the Ems, precedes the Wescr in the
order from west to cast. The ancients, more-
over, were acquainted with three other rivers
which the Rhino received; Nicer, the Neckar,
MtcnuSy the Maine; Lu/>i.d, thcLippc: and we
may mention the AV//V/, which under the same
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 10?
name traverses Thuringia to discharge itself
into the Elbe. Among the local circum-
stances of Germany, there are few more re-
markable than those which regard the Silva
Herc\:nia, or Hercynian forest; which was so
vast, according to what is reported of it, that
it seemed to cover the whole country; whose
ancient aspect might thence have well merited
the description* that Tacitus has given of it,
however inapplicable to its present state. We
must add, that Hercynia is a generic term,
there being several places in Germany named
der Hartz : and if there be found other names
of forests, as that of the Gabreta Silva, they
are proper only to parts of this immense con-
tinuity of wood, which extended from the banks
of the Rhine to the limits of Sarmatia and
Dacia. The mountains covered with forests
were designated by the same name; as the
Hercynii Montcs are principally remarked in
the chain which encompasses Boiohemum, or
Bohemia. Some other mountains will appear
in the detail which the article of Germany de-
mands.
* Dfformem terris, asperam ccelo, tristem bitu cultuque,
Tacitus.
108 COMPENDIUM OF
The name of Germani did not belong to this
nation from immemorial antiquity. There was
a time when the Celts prevailed in power over
the people beyond the Rhine, as establishments
formed in Germany by Celtic nations sufficient-
ly evince. But when, in their turn, detach-
ments of Germanic people invaded a part of
Belgica, Tacitus informsus that these strangers,
when they had become superior in arms, were
called Germani} and we find that, in the Teu-
tonic or Germanic language, Ger-man signifies
a w r arrior*. The name of Alemagne, which
* From Wer, Bellum, and Man, Homo. The Roman
alphabet (like the French) affording no w, this letter WHS
converted into g. Perhaps all the original names of nations
being compounded of names of qualities, were at first im-
puted either by themselves through vanity or, by their
neighbours through calumny ; as appellative words are ante-
cedent to proper names in the history of human speech. Thus
the Bri'^antes of South Britain, of Ireland, of the Alpine
regions, and of Spain, derived their common name from
Brigand, a Celtic word (and which the French have rctain-
i d), signifying a robber. Thus Kymraeg, by which the
Welch distinguish themselves and their dialect of the Celtic,
signifies an associate- inarms; the French having retained
this word also in camnrade, which they use for a brother-
soldier. And our thrice-illustrious ancestor,, the Get ex
and Got/is, or, as the Romans called them, Gefae and Gothi,
formed their name of the verb Detail, to get; got, gotten:
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 109
the French extend to Germany, comes from a
particular people, of whom the first mention is
made at the beginning of the third century,
under the reign of Caracalla. This name of
Ale-man, or All-man, signifies properly a mul-
titude of men; and the Alemanni appear to
have been established in the country now call-
ed Suabia, in descending the Rhine to the con-
fluence of the Maine. This nation having
detached itself from the Francic league, form-
ed in the same age by the nations of the Lower
Rhine, had arrived to the highest degree of
power. However, the name of Alemannia, its
territory, confined in the middle ages to Suabia,
because they professed to got territory by expulsion of the
natives. In times of violence and adventure, acquisition
signified right; and in the language of our common law, the
terms conqueror and founder are synonymous. One more
example may be adduced out of many that remain: the
Slavons, a word which in their own language denotes nobles,
but which, by a signal accident of fortune, affording no in-
different lesson to arrogance, has become significant of the
most abject and calamitous condition of human life, in
all the western languages of Europe.
Mr. Pinkei ton observes, that it is worthy of remark thac
a people called Fe^xavoi, Germans, existed in Persia,
Herod, i. l'<25. There were also in Peloponnesus the Teu-
tania Tsuravoi, Greek nation, Plin. iii. 8. Steph. Byz.
The same Scythic speech produced the same appellations.
Dm. on the Scy. orJSoth-s,
110 COMPENDIUM OF
Alsace, and part of Switzerland, is not that
which Alemagne or Germania itself has adopt-
ed. As to the actual and Teutonic name of
Teutsch-land, we cannot forbear remarking in
it the obvious resemblance to that of the
Teutones, whom we find associated with the
Cimbri in an irruption, about a century before
the Christian sera, that diffused terror through
Italy, and was only restrained by the victories
of Marius. If, among the people and countries
of Germany, a name be sought that would
appear predominant by its extent, it is that of
the Sucvi and Sucvia.
In describing the different people, it will be
found agreeable to geographic order to begin
in the vicinity of the Rhine, and, ascending
that river to the Danube, fo penetrate thence
through the bosom of the continent to the
shores of the Baltic sea, Hence the Frisii, or
Frisons, separated from Gaul and the territory
of the Batavians by that arm of the Rhine
which preserves its name, appear the first.
Their country was intersected by a canal
named Flcvo, made by Drusus; which, by a
derivation of the waters of the Rhine into the
Tssel, had expanded to such a degree as to
form a considerable lake or lagnne, whose issur-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. Ill
to the sea was fortified by a castle bearing the
same name. This lagune, having been in the
progress of time much increased by the sea,
assumed the name of Zuyderzee, or the South-
ern Sea; and of several channels which afford
entrance to the Ocean, that named Vlie indi-
cates the genuine egress of the Fleto. A Ro-
man fleet commanded by Drusus, having enter-
ed the Ocean by this channel, seized an island
named Byrchanis ; which, notwithstanding the
changes that this shore has experienced by the
encroachments of the sea, we recognise in the
name of Borkum, at the entrance of the Ems.
The next were the Chauci, divided, as we may
say of the Frisons, into Majores and Minores $
these inhabiting the hither side of the Weser,
those occupying tlie country between that
river and the Elbe. This was one of the most
illustrious nations of Germany*, according 1 to
tj $J
* Fopul us inter Germanos nobilissimus, quique inaguitu-
dinem suam malit justitia tueri. Sine cupiditate, sine im-
potcntia quieti secretique, nulla provocant bella; nullis
raptibus aut latrociniis populantur. Idquc pnedpuum
virtutis ac virium argumentum est, quod, ut superiores
agant, non per injurias adsequuntur. Prompta taineri
omnibus arma, ac si resposcat cxercitus : plurimum virorum
equorumque; et quiesccntibus eadem faina. Tacitus df
Mor. Germ. cap. 35.
112 COMPENDIUM OF
Tacitus, and distinguished by the love of
justice. But Pliny represents as very miserable
the life of those who inhabited a shore exposed
to inundations of the sea. Between the Rhine
and the Ems, above the Prisons, were the
Bructeri ; and although Tacitus speaks of them
as a nation destroyed by the hatred of their
neighbours, we find them distinguishing them-
selves among the first in the Francic league.
We read that a part of the country of the
Bructerians was occupied by the Chamavi and
the Argravarii. The first, having previously
inhabited the banks of the Rhine, had been
successively replaced by the Tubanies and the
Usipii; and it is believed that the second,
established on the Weser in the vicinity of the
Chcrusci, have given the name to Angaria or
Angria, the domain of the famous Saxon Witi-
kind, who cost Charlemagne so much trouble
to reduce to obedience. And by the mention
made of the Marsi, it is known that they also
belonged to this canton. The Cheruscians
were extended on both sides of the Weser
above the Cauciai^ ; where, under the conduct
of Arminius, they acquired an immortal name
by the utter annihilation of three Roman
legions/ commanded by Varus; and the Saltus
'rcntolvriensit, tlu' sct;iie of this blood
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, 113
catastrophe, makes a part of the bishopric of
Paderborn*. Another field, named Idislavi-
sus t where Arminius was defeated by Germa-
nicus, has much resemblance in the circum-
* Pinkerton observes, in the words of Tacitus: " The
Scythians or Goths, who slew Cyrus, whom Alexander shun-
ned, and who were the terror of Pyrrhus, were in their
German seats equally formidable. Not the Sainnians, not
the Carthaginians, not the mingled nations of Spain and
Gaul, nor even the Parthians themselves, were so dangerous
to the Roman power. Carbo and Cassius, Scaurus Aure-
lius, Servilius Csepio, and Marcus Manlius, with their five
consular armies, were all taken or cut to pieces by the
Teutones, and Cimbri, who had fled from the northern
Germans. Julius declined the contest with the Germans:
Augustus wceped for the fate of Varus and his legions.
Hardly could Drusus, and Nero, and Germanicus, defend
this frontier of the empire; for this was the sole ambition of
Rome. In later times they were triumphed over, but not
conquered."
" Under their ancient name of Scytha?, or Goths, they
were soon by degrees to seize on the whole Western Empire;
nay, to pour over the fertile coasts of Africa. The Vandali,
whom Tacitus and Pliny found in the north of Germany,
were to fight with Belisarius in the. plains of Numidia,
The Suevi were to possess the fragarit fields of Spain. The
Langobardi were to enjoy the orange-groves of Italy. And
the Angli, whom Tacitus places in his catalogue as not
meriting further notice, were to give their name to a country
eminent in artsand arms, in wisdom and liberty."
Dits. on the Scy, or Goths, Part II, chap. iv.
VOL. I. I
114 COMPENDIUM OF
stances of this action to that of Hastenbach,
where a French army gained a victory in the
year I?o7- The Cheruscians are afterwards
described as a degenerate people, appearing
subjected to a neighbouring power, who it is
thought were the Causcians, as the dependen-
cies of these, in the time of Tacitus, extended
to the territory of the Cattians. The victories
of Germanicus had caused the ruin of the
Cheruscians, and involved a contiguous nation,
named the Fosi, in their calamity. The
Chasuarii merit notice, if they be the same
people with the Atluarii, in the league of the
Francs. A trophy erected by Drusus, father
of Germanicus, on the bank of the Elbe in
Thuringia, signalized the progress of the Ro
man armies in this part of Germany.
AVe must again approach the Rhine, and re-
mark the Sicambri, who inhabited the south
side of the course of the Lippe. Pressed by
the Cattians, powerful neighbours, whom
Caesar calls Suevi, they were, together with the
Ubiiy received into Gaul, on the left bank of
the Rhine, under Augustus ; and there is reason
to believe that the people who occupied this
position under the name of Gugerni, were
Sicambrians. It was in favour of the Ubians
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 115
that Caesar crossed the Rhine, at the extremity
of the territory of Treves, ravaged that of the
Sicambrians, and caused the Cattians to de-
camp. The Tencteri inhabited the country
contiguous to that which the Sicambrians had
possessed, and also above it. A nation supe-
rior in power to any of these were the Catti,
whom Caesar, as before observed, calls Suevi.
They occupied Hesse to the Sala inThuringia,
and Weteravia to the Maine. Among other
circumstances which enhanced the merit of
this people, was that of their skill in the mili-
tary art; which, according to Tacitus, the Cat-
tians superadded to the quality of bravery com-
mon to the Germanic nations. A place which
is mentioned under the name ofCastelhtm con-
tinues this name in that of Cassel. Mattium
is spoken of as the capital of the Cattians, and
it is believed that this city is Marpurg. We
read in Tacitus, that the Germans had no cities;
yet it is reasonable to believe that each com-
munity had some principal place of congre-
gated habitations: and the analogy discernible
in the name Mattium to that of Matt lad ^ who
remain to be mentioned, induces an opinion
that the place belonged to this people; who
made part of the great Cattian nation, from
v.hom were detached the Balavi, established
116 COMPENDIUM OF
in the extremity of Gaul. A firm alliance
united the Mattiacians to the Roman empire.
It is remarked even, that a part of their terri-
tory contiguous to the Rhine and the Maine,
was covered and separated from the exterior
country by a vallum, or retrenchment, whereof
evident vestiges are still subsisting: and the
mount named Taunus, whose ridge prevails
from the bank of the Rhine to above Frankfort,
had a post fortified by Drusus. The town,
which is now named Wisbaden, at the foot of
this hill opposite to Mentz, represents the
Aqucf. Mattiaci. From this canton, in ascend-
ing the Rhine, the course of this river should
not be regarded as a definitive determination
of limits, whereby the country in obedience to
the Romans wa's bounded. There was a Ro-
man town called Aqucf, beyond the Rhine, to
which the position of Baden corresponds.
The Marconians, a Germanic people, migrat-
ing from these ambiguous limits to transport
themselves into Bohemia, were succeeded by
Gauls, who spread from the Rhine to the sources
of the Danube, at the foot of mount Abnobu,
which is the Black Mountain. This is what
we find in Ptolemy indicated by the wilderness
of the Helvetians; and these lands have been
railed Dtrumatcs ////, because they were
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 117
subjected to an imposition of the tenth of their
fruits. Many have thought that theAlemanni
issued from the Decumatic people. But if we
admit that the Alemanni were composed of
divers people, as may be fairly inferred from
the name that distinguishes them, yet it is
extremely probable that they were more Ger-
mans and Suevians than Gauls. For whence
should come the present name of Suabia pecu-
liar to this circle of Germany, although far
distant from the ancient and primitive Suevi,
whose name, in its severer and more appropri-
ate sense, was applicable to the Cattian nations
beyond the Maine? However this be, we
must remark, that the Roman domination ex-
tended over the country which has taken the
name of Suabia; which extent was even de-
fined in its limits, and defended, by a retrench-
ment, under the reign of Probus, embracing
about sixty leagues of the course of the
Danube from its sources. And this line is
thought to have been garrisoned till about the
reigns of Dioclesian and Maximian.
The Hermundnri, a potent nation, and
attached to the Roman name, stretched from
the shore of the same river far into the interior
country, disputing with the Cattians the
118 COMPENDIUM OF
possession of the Sala, and the salt which the"
waters of this river furnish to the town of Halle.
They were only separated by the Elbe from
another great nation, of whom we shall speak
hereafter. Lower down on the same bank of
the Danube, the Xarisci succeed to the Her-
mnndurians, and seem to have been covered
by Boiohemuyi. In the name of this country,
that of the more ancient people who occupi-
ed it is followed by a term in the German
language, which signifies habitation or dwell-
ing; and this name has continued to the same
country in that of Bohemia, although the Boii
had given place to the Marcomans, and these
to a Slavonic or Sarmatian people, who have
long possessed it. It appears by Caesar, that
the Boii were associated with the Helvetic
nation; and the Helvetians, according to Taci-
tus, had advanced as far as the Maine. The
Marcomani, or Marco manui, and their king
Marobeduus, desirous of escaping from the
Roman yoke, withdrew from the Rhine and
Maine under Augustus, and wrested from the
Boians the country which had borne their
name; which name the same peopl-e, abandon-
ing these their native seats, have carried with
them into that now called Boiaria, Bayaria, or
Bavaria. The Quadi, the most remote of the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 119
Germanic nations on the Danube, between
the Marcomans and the Sarmatian people
called Jazyges, and who make a figure in
many passages of history, but particularly
under the reign of Marcus Aurelius, occupied
what is now called Moravia. Under Tiberius,
bands of Germans, who had followed princes
driven from their states, were settled on the
Danube, between the rivers Marus and Cusus,
the Morava and the Vag; of which the former
is the boundary between the modern kingdom
of Hungary and the marquisate of Moravia.
The establishment then made by a kin^ of the
J O
Quadians, named Vannius, extended the limits
of this nation to the river Granua, or Gran,
whose mouth in the Danube is on the bank op-
posite to a city of the same name, but other-
wise called Strigonia.
The internal part of this continent may be
considered under the general name of Suevia ;
whence many Germanic nations have borrow-
ed the denomination under which they appear.
Suevia \vas divided among a number of distinct
people. The Semnonts, who were reputed the
noblest and most ancient of the Suevian na-
tions, extended from the Elbe beyond the
Oder. Behind the Marcomans and Quadians
120 COMPENDIUM OF
asTacitus expresses himself, were the Marsigni,
Gothoni, Osi, and Burii; an arrangement
which places these people towards the Oder,
above the Semnones. The Lygii are mention-
ed as a powerful nation, uniting under this
name several people, whose dwellings, border-
ing on the Sarmatians, appear to have been on
the Warta and the Vistula. The position
which Ptolemy gives in this canton, under
the name of Calisia, is evidently found in that
of Kalitz, a Polish town on the frontier of
Silesia. Tacitus, naming the Langobardi
after the Sein nones, authorizes the opinion
that they were established on the Sprhe, which
communicates with the Elbe*. It is glorious
to this people, says that historian, to maintain
their independence amidst more powerful and
hostile neighbours. Seeing the Lombards
comprised in Suevia, can it be supposed that
they who entered Italy under that name be-
fore the end of the sixth century were origin-
ally from a country separated from Germany
by the Baltic Sea, according to the report of
* Contra Lanjioliitrdos pnucitas nobihtat: pluritm's ac
vak'iitirtsinii* n;uu>nibus ciiicii, non JUT obs<quiuin, bed
pra'liis ct jH'riciilando tuli sum. 'J ac. <ic j\Ior. (i<rt.>i.
aj). 40.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 121
Paulus Diaconus, who r nevertheless was a
Lombard by nation? Their name (which,
according to this historian, signifies Long-
beard*) might have been employed in differ-
ent regions. Beyond the Lygians were the
Gvthones, whose residence is thought to have
been near the sea. The name of the Rugii sub-
o
sists in that of Rugenwald, which belongs to a
maritime city of the farther Pomerania, as an
island adjacent to the hither part of the same
country is called Rugen. The Varini are sup-
posed to have been in Mecklenburg; and all
those approaching that shore appear to be com-
prised under the name of Vindili, the same that
the Vandals have made famous. To these
may be added the Eurgundiones, whose name
is retained in that of Bourgogne, a province
of France which fell to their share. The
entrance of the Cimbrian Chersonese, or that
which corresponds with modern Holstein, con-
tained two nations highly illustrious in their
progress; on one side the Angli, on the other
the Saxones. These last were bounded in
their primitive state by the issue of the Elbe;
although now the name of Saxony, under
* Ab intactas ferro barbae lonitudine. D,
122 COMPENDIUM OF
which Westphalia is comprised, extends from
the Rhine to the Oder.
The great emigration of the Cimbrians had
reduced the remains of this nation, who conti-
nued in their ancient seats many ages after, to
an inconsiderable tribe; but the remembrance
of the former glory of this nation rendered it
still respectable*. It is manifest, that the
Chersonesus Cimbrica is Denmark; the north-
ern part whereof, the dwelling of the Cimbri,
has taken the name of Jut-land from a peoplef
who are not known till an age posterior to the
term to which ancient geography is confined.
A fleet under the command of Drusus had
pushed discovery on this coast so far as to re-
connoitre the point whereby the land is ter-
minated, and which is now named Skagen.
This voyage, according to Pliny, made the
Romans acquainted with twenty-three islands.
And these that line the western coast of Den-
mark, and of which the sea has covered apart,
as it has encroached on the continent, must be
f>f this number. We find in Ptolemy three
* Parva nunc ci vitas, sod ploria ingons. Tacitus.
f Rather the people from the mime of tho country, which
Denotes its figure and situation.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
islands of the Saxons, a little farther north
than the mouth of the Elbe. Tacitus speaks
of an island of the Ocean, which the people
whom he names in this part of the continent
consecrated to a religious ceremony in honour
of Hertha, or the mother Earth. Though it
be the opinion of many that this island is the
same with Rugen, there is greater probability
of recognising it in the name of Heilig-land,
which signifies the Holy Isle. It is situated in
the distance off the mouth of the Elbe, and of
it only an eminence now remains 3 the sea
having covered a shore much more spacious
in the years 800 and 1300, or thereabout.
We should here conclude this description of
Germany, if in the ancient authors we did not
find Scandinavia annexed to it, and demand-
ing a supplementary discussion.
SCANDINAVIA.
It is also named by abbreviation Scandia,
and in the writers of a succeeding age we read
Scanzia. Antiquity had yet another name for
it, which is Baltia, remarkable for its affinity
with the Baltic Sea, which borders Scandina-
via. This sea washing on the other side the
124 COMPENDIUM OF
shores of Germany, which the Suevian nation*
occupied, is also called by Tacitus Mare Sue-
vicum. In other authors it is distinguished as
a particular gulf, under the name of Sinus
Codanus. The ancients had a very imperfect
knowledge of Scandinavia; believing it to be
totally encompassed by the sea, or even com-
posed of many islands. The manner in which
these islands of the name of Scandy are repre-
sented in the chart prepared from Ptolemy,
has no relation to the real state of the country.
J
The southern extremity however, and of which
the Danish Isles of Seeland, Funen, &c. make
the appendages, recall in the name of Skanv,
or Scane, the memory of its ancient denomina-
tion. Tacitus, without naming Scandinavia,
speaks of this country as being environed by
the Ocean, which forms spacious gulfs, em-
bracing islands of great extent; ascribes it to
Suovia, and places two nations therein. What
he reports of the tiuiones, in having a marine,
appears remarkable, when we recollect that
the ancient laws concerning navigation had
their origin in A\ isbyin the Isle of Gothland.
The country to which 'Tacitus conducts us re-
tains the name of SHCOII'HI, in 1 lie writers of
the middle age, speaking precisely of Sweden.
The other nation, the SitoneS) whose sovo-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 125
reignty was in the hands of a woman, may
have been Norway*. According to Pliny,
the only part of Scandinavia which was known
was occupied by the Hilleviones, a numerous
nation. Among the divers names of countries
and people reported by Jornandes we find
Hallin; and that which is contiguous to the
particular province of Skane is still called Hal-
land. Although the proper name of a prin-
cipal country of ancient Scandinavia be Got-
land, and, according to the historians of the
Goths, Scanzia insula was the cradle of the
illustrious nation, we must say that the account
is not justified by the authority of any of the
Roman writers. But we may conjecture that
a people named Gutce by Ptolemy have some
relation to them; remarking withal in Jornan-
des, that a nation distinguished as very brave
and addicted to war were called Gauti-Goth.
According to the ancient error which divided
the continent of Scandinavia into many ishtnds,
there are found in Piiny the names of Bergos
and Nerigos, as proper to two of these isles;
the former being the place of embarkation for
* Cetera similes; uno differunt, quod tVmina noininatur.
In tcintum non modo a libcrtate, sed etiama servitute degt-
nerant. Tec, de 31 vr. Germ. cup. 45,
12(5 COMPENDIUM Of
Thule. It is evident, that the first under con-
sideration is Bergen, one of the principal
towns in Norway, having a port much fre-
quented; and the name which succeeds being
attributed to the largest island, is applicable
to the country itself, of which the proper and
local denomination is Norge. The Sevo mans
of the same author, which it is thought accords
with the Riphean mountains, can be no other
than the great chain of this country known
under the general name of Fiell; but which
takes particular names in divers places. But
there is recognised in this country another
Thule described by Procopius, and whose
name is preserved in a canton called Tele-mark.
It is certain that this author leads us to Scan-
dinavia when he comprises the people called
Scrito-Finni in Thule. These Finns were so
called, according to Paulus Diaconus, from
the lightness and vivacity of their course over
the snows and ice, which they pursued on
wooden skates. The angle formed by the sepa-
ration of the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland
from the Bailie Sea, offering the appearance
of a great ishind, was culled Finnin^ia. Taci-
tus describes the condition of the Fauni, or
Finni, us very mist ruble; and that of the
Finns of ThuK: is link- better in Procopius.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
Jornandes speaking of this nation as the gen-
tlest in character of all the Scandinavians, we
may conclude them to be the Laplanders, who
are not otherwise mentioned. What we read
of the nature of the sea which envelops the
north of this continent, shows that it was very
little known. The Cimbrians named it Mori-
marusa, or the Dead Sea, as Pliny reports;
and we find the same signification still annex-
ed to these terms in the northern languages.
The name of Rubeas Promontorium, cited by
the same author as being advanced to this sea,
cannot be more applicable than to that called
the North-Cape.
123 COMPENDIUM OF
V.
R H J T I A.
N O R I C U M
ET
PANNONIA.
I L L Y R I C U M.
IN assembling these several countries in the
same chapter, we fill the space from the right
or southern shore of the Danube to the Alps,
and the Hadriatic Sea. But as the distinction
to be made between these provinces will not
admit of their being described collectively, we
shall treat of them under their respective
titles.
R II JE T I A
This name is also written Rnetia, without
the aspiration of the Greek orthography: and
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
to this article shall be joined Vindelicia.
Rhsetia, properly so called, occupied the Alps
from the frontier of the Helvetic country of
Gaul to Venetia and the limits of Noricum;
by which it was bounded on the east. Vinde-
licia confined it on the north, and the flat
country of Cisalpine Gaul on the south. The
country of the Grisons makes only a pa r of
ancient Rhaetia. The sources and the course
of the Rhine to its entrance into the lake to
which the city of Constance communicates its
name, the course of the (Enus, or the Inn,
from its source to the point where it bounded
Noricum, belonged to Rhaetia; as did also the
declivity of the Alps which regards the south,
where Ticinus, or the Tesin, Addua, or the
Adda, Athesis, or the Adige, begin their
courses. The Rluetia were a colony of the
Tusci, or Tuscans, a civilized nation, establish-
ed in this country when the Gauls came to in-
/
vade Italy. This colony, becoming savage,
and infesting Cisalpine Gaul, were subjugated
under the reign of Augustus by Drusus. And
because the Vinddici armed in favour of their
neighbours, Tiberius sent a force that reduced
them also to obedience. This double conquest
formed a province called Rhiftia, comprehend-
ing Vindelicia, without obliterating altogether
VOL, T. K
1^0 CO.Ml'MNDJUM Or
the distinction. Hut in the multiplication
that Dioclesian, and some emperors alter him,
made of the provinces, Rhaetia was divided
into two, under the distinction of the first and
second; a circumstance that caused Rhaetia
proper and Vindelicia to rcassnme their primi-
tive distinctions.
Of a great number of particular people that
were cantoned in the mountains, we shall
mention the principal only. I he Saruneles
occupied the position of Sargans, pressing on
the limits of Helvetia, on the left of the course
of the Rhine. On the right, Curia, from the
name of which is derived that of the city of
Coire, was a principal place in this canton of
Rhaetia, as this city still is among the Grisons.
The Lcponlii inhabited the high Alps, whence
flow the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Tesin;
and the name of Leventina, which distinguishes
among many valleys that through which the
Tesin runs, is formed of the name of this na-
tion, who on the other side extended in the
Pennine valley, where thev possessed Osc\la,
now Domo d'Osnla. The FUCK nates are re-
cognised in the name of Vogogna; and i lie-
greater part of the Lacu* l'erl>a//us, the modern
Lago Maggiore, appears comprised in the
limits of RluL'tia. The ycnnencx are placed
ANClENf GEOGRAPHY. 131
above the Lacus Larius, or Lago di Como,
inclining towards the east; a situation that
would give them the Val-Teline. The name
of Camumis preserved in Val Camonica, near
the fountains of the river Ollius, or Oglio. On
the limits of Venetia, Tridentum, Trent, and
Feltria, Feltri, belonged to Rluetia. The
Brixentes have communicated their name to
the town of Brixen, although it be not known
in antiquity, when a place named Sabio, now
Seben, and of little note, was the principal one
of this canton. There is mention of Terioli, as
a military post: and this castle in the valley,
where the Adige takes its origin, has given the
name to Tirol.
We must now speak of the country of the
Vindclici, which from the city of Brigantia, or
Bregentz, on a lake which took the name of
Brig ant. inns, before it was called the Lake of
Constance, extended to the Danube; while the
lower part of the CEnus, or Inn, separated it
from Noricum. A powerful colony was estab-
lished in the angle formed by the two rivers,
Vindo and Lie us ; whence it would seem that
the nation derived its name; and that of
Augusta, given to this colony, is preserved, as
it is well known, in Augsburg, between the
K2
l-j L 2 COMPENDIUM OF
rivers Lech and Wcrtach ; the former of which
separates Suabia from Bavaria. In making
choice of some other places, we shall cite
Cambodunum, now Kempten. A position
distinguished on a Roman war under the name
of Samufacenis corresponds with Saulgen,
which is likewise in Suabia. On the Danube,
Regina retains its name iuthatof Regensburg,
from the river Regen, that the Danube receives
opposite the site of this city, which we call
Ratisbon. Lower down, and on a point of
land formed by the confluence of the Inn, the
position of Batava Castra is that of Passau.
A place named PonsG^eni is ascertained bvthe
direction of a Roman way to be that now Call-
ed Muldorff. It is not the same with Ins-
pruck, as the affinity of denomination in the
German language would intimate. If anli-
quity knew any position applicable to Ins-
pruck, it is Veldidena, whose name is retained
in a small place contiguous, called Vilten.
N O 11 I C U M.
It extends along the southern shore of the
Danube, from the mouth of the Inn to .Mount
CV//w, which causes the river to form a ilex-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 133
nre a little above the position of Vienna.
Embracing the beginning of the course of the
Dravus, or Drave, and comprehending that
which composes the duchies of Carinthia and
Stiria, it is bounded by the summit of the Alps
on the south. This country, which is first
spoken of as having a king, followed the fate
of Pannonia ; for, when it was reduced, No-
ricum also became a province under the reign
of Augustus. Afterwards, and by the multi-
plication of provinces, there is distinguished
a Noricinn Ripens j , adjacent to the Danube,
from a Xoricum Mediterraneum^ distant from
that river in the bosom of the Alps.
To recite the most considerable places, Bo-
iodurum was without any other interval be-
tween Bafava Castra in Vindelicia, than the
course of the Inn ; and its position must be
referred to that of Inn-stadt, opposite to
Passau. We have seen, in treating of Ger-
many, that the Boii, from whom the Marco-
mans conquered Bohemia, occupied the coun-
try which took the name of Boiaria ; and that
this country, being more extended than that
which preserves the name of Bavaria, descend-
ed along the Danube ; comprising the Up-
per Austria to the river Ens, whose name of
134 COMPENDIUM OF
Anisus is not known in antiquity. Lauriacurn
appears with superiority among the places of
Noricum ; and a Roman fleet had there a, ren-
dezvous, or station, upon the Danube. It is
now but an inconsiderable village, under the
name of Lorch, a little above the confluence
of the Ens. The principal town on this bank
of the river is now Lentz ; a name found in
Lentia. Another station which makes a
figure in this canton, Ovilabif 9 \s Wells on the
Traum, which the Danube receives between
Lentz and Lorch. Deeper inland \ve find Jit-
vavinn, which is known to be Saltzburg, on a
river whose name is Salza. As we approach
the Drave, the position of Solua discovers it-
self by the name of a field called Zol-feld ;
and we may believe that Clagenfurt, now the
capital of Carinthia, has profited by its de-
cline, since an ancient city, that was not far
distant from it, exists no more. Viriuium then
takes its place near the Drave, towards the
town named \\olk-markt. The position of
?*o eid is remarkable, inasmuch as it is said
to have been occupied by a body of Boiens,
who are to be distinguished from those esta-
blished in Bohemia, and from a time anterior
to the invasion of the Marcomans, who drove
this nation into Noricum. Ccltia, keeping its
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 135
name in the position of Cillei, is the remotest
which we have to recount in Noricum.
P A X N O N I A.
It stretched along the right bank of the
Danube, from the frontier of Noricum to the
mouth of the Save : the country beyond the
river being occupied from the limits of the
Germanic nation of the Quadians by Sarma-
tians called lazyges. On the southern side,
Pannonia was bounded by Dalmatia, com-
prised in Illyricum. It received the Drave
from its issue out of Noricum, and inclosed
the greatest part of the course of the Save.
In the war which Augustus, then called Oc-
tavius, waged with the lapydes and the Dal-
matians of Illyricum, the Roman arms had
penetrated to the Pannonians. But it was re-
served for Tiberius, who commanded in these
countries, to reduce Pannonia into a province.
t was divided in the time of the Antonines in-
to Superior and Inferior ; and the mouth of
the river Arrubo, or Rnah, in the Danube,
formed the separation of it, according to Pto-
lemy. Afterwards we find employed the
136 COMPENDIUM OF
terms first and second, as in the other provin-
ces of the empire : and in a later age a third,
under the name of Valeria^ between the for-
mer two. This second, occupying the banks
of the Drave and Save, obtained the name of
Savia, which now gives to a canton of this
country the name of Po- Savia ; expressing
in the Slavonic language a situation ad-
O O
jacent to the Save. Among the several peo-
ple which are named in the extent of Panno-
nia, the SCOT disci and the Taurisci are particu-
larly noted. Gauls by origin, and far remov-
ed from their ancient dwelling as the BoiL they
O *
were separated by Mons Claudius, which ap-
pears to extend be i ween the Drave and the
Save. We know, moreover, that the Scordis-
cians had penetrated far into Muesia, which
succeeds to Pannonia, on the same shore of
the Danube. The first among the cities of
the Upper Pannonia, in following the cour.se
of the Danube a little below Mount Cetius,
called now Kalenberg, is Vindibona, well
known to be Vienna. But a little lower, and
almost opposite the mouth of the Morava,
Carnunlum was the principal of cities on this
side of the Danube. With regard to the po-
sition of it, as opinions vary between two
places named Petronel and Haimbourg, it may
be observed, that an intermediate village
ANCIENT CEOGR \PIIY. 137
would appear to indicate an ancient site in
the name of Altenburg, or Old-Town. The
position of Arrabona is evidently that of Raab,
which the Hungarians call Javorin, 'where the
Arrabo joins with one of the channels of the Da-
nube. This river dividing its waters into many
branches from the mouth of the Morava, re-
unites them a little below that of the Raab.
Ascending the Raab, Sabaria must be mention-
ed in Sarvar, without deviating further from
the course of the Danube. The position of
Bregcfio, where a Roman legion was quartered,
appears to preserve vestiges of antiquity on
the bank of the river in a place otherwise re-
markable by the name of Pannonia, which is
given to it in some maps. There is not recog-
nised in the site of a city, distinguished as
Strigonia, that of any ancient place that merits
notice here.
Thus we must proceed to Aguincum, or, by
contraction, Acincum, the mime whereof ap-
pears to have arisen from the warm iaths;
which have also given to the city of Buda the
name of Ofen in the German language. The
opposite shore of the Danube, having been a
Roman post called Contra-Acinum, is now re-
presented by a place named Pest, opposite
138 COMPENDIUM OP
Btula. Continuing to follow the course of the
Danube, we find Tolna, which appears to
have been a position named Altimtm ; and
nearer to the confluence of the Drave, that of
Teutolmrsfittm denotes the seat of a Germanic
tribe. On the further side of the Drave, a
little above its junction with the Danube, the
situation of Essek is known to be that of the
ancient city of Mursa. Still ascending the
Danube to the Save, which terminates Panno-
nia, we find a place which was called Bononia,
corresponding' Avith the position of Illok.
Acunum is Petenvaradin, in the angle formed
by the river. Acimincum is Salankemen, and
Taurumun is not the same place with Belgrade,
according to the prevalent opinion; but an
obscure hamlet named Izeruinka, on the Save,
souie miles from its mouth.
"\Ye must now ascend the course of the Save
to terminate Pannonia in the southern part.
The union of a little river named Baciintiu^
now Box/cut, with the Save, determines I he
spot occupied by the city oftSumiuM, which,
under the- reigns posterior to the Augustan age,
shone amorr;- the most illustrious of the empire:
and this district of Pannonia included between
the Danube and the Save is still called Sinnia
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 139
Below Sirmium was Bass'iana, now Sabacz.
And what we learn of the situation of Cibalis,
on the occasion of the defeat of Licinius by
Constantine, leads directly to the discovery of
it in a place that has taken the name of Swilei,
above Sirmium. At the junction of the river
Colapis, or Kulp, with the Save, Siscia preserves
its name with little alteration in that of Sisseg.
To these may be added the places of Pctovioand
Jovia : the first on the confines of Noricum,and
wh ose name is perpetuated in that of Petaw ; the
other, on the confluence of the rivers Muer
and Drave, has taken the Sclavonian name of
Legrad. It is somewhat surprising to find
JEmona adjudged by some authors to Pan-
nonia ; from which it is separated by the po-
sition of Ccleia; a local circumstance thai
would make it appear more applicable to No-
ricum. But we shall find it included in the
limits of Italy.
ILL Y R I C U M.
The name of llhjricum varies in its final syl-
lable, being sometimes employed under the
form of lllyris. The ethnick, or national
name, islllyrii. And it is common in French
140 COMPENDIUM OF
to say rillyrie, though the name of Illyria is
scarcely, if at all, used in the Latin. The ex-
tent of this country from the little river Arsia,
which divides it from Istria, will conduct us
along the Adriatic Sea to the mouth of the
Drilo, or Drin, where we must stop ; although
beyond that, as far as Chaonia, on the con-
fines of Epirus, which makes part of Greece,
the country was occupied by Illyrian nations.
As to the limits on the side of Pannonia, which
make the northern frontier, \ve find them de-
termined by many positions under the name of
Fines, which may be attributed to the Roman
government, as we find these points of termi-
nation in many countries that have been sub-
jected to that power. A chain of mountains
taking the name of Alb his J/6>;z,9, and being a
continuation of the Alpes Carnic<c, on the
frontier of Noricum, runs through the whole
length of Illyricum, from west to east, to
Mount Scardus of Dardania. The Colapis
issues from these mountains, to discharge itself
into the Save in Pannonia. Towards the
south, Tilius, Nestus, and \urn 3 direct their
courses to the Adriatic. The coast of this sea
is covered by an Jmmen.se number of isles, of
which it will be sufficient to mention the most
considerable.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 141
The lllyrian nations are described in the
earliest age as a savage people, who printed
marks on their skins, like the Thracians; and
the piracy which they practised furnished the
Romans with the first occasion to arm against
them, more than two hundred years before the
Christian asra ; although the entire submission
of the country was only achieved by Tiberius
towards the end of the reign of Augustus. Two
particular provinces are distinguished in it ;
one towards the head of the Adriatic, named
Liburnia ; the other, more famous, under the
name of Dalmatia, which it still preserves.
That part of the province of Croatia called
Murlaka, under Mount Alb i us, and conti-
guous to Istria, was the division of Liburnia
occupied by the lapydes. The positions of
Flanona, Fianona ; Tarsatica, Tersatz, near
Fiume -., and Senia, Segna ; may be recounted
in succession, as being all on the shore of the
Adriatic. The site of Mctulum, the principal
city of the lapydes, at the siege of which
we find Augustus, while a triumvir, giving
proofs of intrepidity, is not unknown when WP
observe the place named Metuc Vet us, in thr-
country of Licka, among the mountains which
the lapydes inhabited. To this nation suc-
ceeded the Liburnl* as far as the river Tit ins..
142 COMPENDIUM OF
In their territory Jadera was a city of the first
rank, which Zara now holds under the title of
a county. To which may be added ^Enona,
or Nona, and Blamlona, in a place named
Zara Vecchia.
In Dalmatia, beyond the river Titinx, now
called Kerca, two principal nations are distin-
guished, the Autariatce and Ardijsi. The first
had primitively extended their power far be-
vond their limits ; and it was with the second
that the Romans had commenced the war on
this continent. Scardona, on the right of the
Titius, preserves its name without alteration ;
and that of Tragurium is now abbreviated
into Trau. But the most considerable of the
cities of this country, and which the retreat of
Dioclesian has illustrated, is Salona, whose
name still subsists in its ruins. Spalatro, which
now predominates in the vicinitv, derives its
name from Aspalalhos, which did not appear,
as it is judged proper to inform the reader, till
an age posterior to that of ancient geography.
The description of a strong place named
Andetrium applies with singular propriety to
the position of the fortress of C'lissa, in the
mountain, at no great distance from Salona,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 143
towards the north. Epctium is reduced to an
inconsiderable place called Viscio, near the
castle of Almissa : and the name of Colonia,
retained by a town distant from the sea, indi-
cates the situation of Equum Colonia. Among
the principal cities of ancient Dalmatia, Na-
rona is buried in its ruins, at some distance
from the right shore of the river Xaro, whose
modern name is Narenta. Dclminium (a
great city of the interior country, from whose
name that of Dalmatia is thought to have been
formed, having; been verv ill treated bv a Ro-
*/ V
man commander) its site now is not to be
ascertained. If there be a well-defined figure
o
of a peninsula on the coast of Illyricum, and
to which the name of Hullis deserves to be
applied, it is that which is now named Sabion-
ceLlo. Ragusa, which comes next in geogra-
phic order, was a city of the Lower Empire.
But a little above, in a place vulgarly called
Ragusi Vecchio, existed Efriilaurus. Rhizinium,
Butua, Olcinium, Risano, Budua, Dulcigno,
may successively be named. 'The borderers of
the lake Labeatis were distinguished by ihe
name of Labeates ; and at the issue of this lake
the city Scodra subsists under the name of
*/
Scutari, or Iscoclar, according to the usage of
the Turks, whom this r>oumrv, which h^
144 COMPENDIUM OF
taken the name of Albania, obeys. The last
place that we deem expedient to mention is
Lissnx, a little above the mouth of the Drilo,
on the right in ascending, and making itself
known by the name of Alesso, which conies
from Eli.wirs of the middle ages. Under the
Greek emperors this place and the precedent
were adjudged to a particular province called
Prircalitana, comprised in the extent of a de-
partment formed under the title of Ilhjricum
Orwntis, that was only limited bv the Euxine
Sea, and has thus no relation to the primitive
and national state which contributes to form
the object of ancient geography.
It remains that we speak of the isles adjacent
to the coasts of Illyricum. The name of
Absifrtides (in which some of the ancient
authors have thought they have discerned that
of Absyrthus, brother of Medea) appears to
have regarded a collective number of these
islands: a gulf called Flanaticus comprised
them, and whose name would appear to be
borrowed from Flcivona, a maritime city of
the first rank. Crcpsa and Apsorux, are
Cherso and Ossero; and as Arba retains the
name of Arbe, Curicta should be referred to
Veglia. O'v.vrt has taken the name of Pago
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 145
from the principal place in the island, which,
as well as the two preceding, are only separated
by a narrow channel from the territory of the
lapydes. The name of Scardona, as an isle
lying before the position of Jadera, cannot be
applied with more propriety than to Isola
Grossa. Issa, or, as it is now called, Lissa,
situated more in the distance, and inconsider-
able by its extent, was nevertheless distin-
guished in the first war of the Romans in Illy-
ricum. Pharus, which surpasses the other
isles in magnitude, is denoted at present by
the name of the principal place in it, which is
Lesina. The name of Brattia is pronounced
Brazzia, and that of Corcijra is recognized in
the present denomination of Curzola. The
surname of Nigra, or the Black, distinguishes
it from another more considerable of the same
name, adjacent to the shore of Epirus. And
Mfli/e, now Meleda, at the end of Curzola, is
the last of the isles wherewith the coast of
Da 1m at ia is covered.
VOL. I.
146 COMPENDIUM OF
VI.
I T A L I A.
I HERE is no idea of Italy more familiar
than that of the renown which it acquired
from having ruled over a great part of the an-
cient world, after having been the cradle of
Roman greatness. We find it called Ilesperia
by the Greeks, as being westward in regard to
them. The other names of (Eenotria, and
Ausonia, are borrowed from nations \vhose re-
mote antiquity deprives us of all particular
knowledge of them. The name of Italia
comes, according to some authors, from a
chief named I talus, of whom we have no other
account. This name appertained properly to
the part the most contracted between the two
seas, by distinction from the country under
the Alps, which is comprised in a more
general manner in the name of Italy. The
seas by which it is bounded were distinguished
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 14?
between themselves by the names of Mare
Superum, and Mare Inferum. The former
extended with a declination from the east to-
wards the south; deriving at the same time,
from a neighbouring city called Hadria, the
name of Mare Hadriaticum, as Venice gives
the modern name to this gulf. The illustri-
ous nation of Tusci, called Tyrrheni by the
Greeks, communicated to the inferior sea the
name of Tuscum or Tyrrhenum; The ex-
tremity of Italy being washed by the sea
which is adjacent to the continent of Greece,
the name of Mare Ionium, or the Grecian Sea,
which is terminated by the heel of the boot,
to which the figure of Italy is assimilated.
The propriety of treating the subject of
Italia in separate articles, results from the ob-
servation already made on its name, as being
more strictly applicable to one part of the
country than to the other.
Proceeding from west to east, the accession
made to Italy on the side of the Alps, and
what is now called Lombardy, will precede
Italy properly so called.
The establishments which the Gallic nations
148 COMPENDIUM OF
formed there had communicated to all this
part the name of Gaul; with the surname of
Cisalpine, or on this side of the Alps, consider-
ed with repect to Italy.
But, before entering upon this, it will be
proper to show what, on a general view,
appear common to both regions of this conti-
nent. The chain of the Apennines, in detach-
ing itself from the Alps, in the vicinity of the
Inferior Sea, takes the direction of this coast
to the point where, in quitting Cisalpine Gaul,
it approaches the Superior Sea. Thence
running through the whole length of Italy,
more equally towards the middle of its breadth,
it divides into two branches; one of which
touches the extremity of the foot of the boot,
the other the heel; but more in hills than in
mountains towards these points.
The three islands of Siciiy , Corsica, and Sar-
dinia, will make a supplement to what the
continent of Italy contains.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 149
G A L L I A C I S A L P I N A.
It extends from the declivity of the AJps>
which looks towards the east, to the strand of
the Adriatic, or Superior Sea. The Rhaetian
nations, established in the Alps, confined the
Cisalpine on the north; and the Sinus Ligusti-
cus, called now the Gulf of Genoa, bounded
them on the south. A current celebrated
under the name of Rubico, \yhich, formed of
three brooks, is called at its mouth Fiumesino,
separates it from Italy Proper, on the side of
the Superior Sea; and a little river named
Macra, on the Inferior. Cisalpine Gaul was
also called To<*afa, because the people inhabit-
ing it were gratified with the privilege of wear-
ing the Roman toga. The greatest river of all
Italy, Padus, or the Po, issuing from the Alps,
and traversing the whole breadth of the flat
country from west to east, discharges itself in-
to the Adriatic Sea by many mouths; affording
in its course a distinction to the regions Cis-
O
padane and Transpadane, or this side and that
of the Po, in relation to Italy. It receives a
great number of tributary streams; the princi-
pal of which on the northern side, and flowing
likewise from the Alps, are Dima Minor and
150 COMPENDIUM OF
Major, or Doria Riparia and Baltea; Scssites,
Sesia; Tichius, Tecino; Addua, Adda; Ollius,
Oglio; which last traverses a lake named here-
tofore fan')} us, no\v Iseo. To these the Min-
cius, or Mincio, which issues from Benacus,or
Lago di Garda, may be added. On the south-
ern or right side, the Tanarus, Tanaro, de-
scends from the Apennine, as well as Trebia,
which preserves its name, and Tarns, or Taro:
to which may be added, Scultenna, which to-
wards the sequel of its course assumes the
name of Panaro; and lastly Bhenut, or the
Reno, which the famous coalition called
Triumvirate, formed in one of its islands,
distinguishes in history. And these are the
principal rivers of Cisalpine Gaul.
The country wherein the Celtic nations, on
passing the Alps, came to establish themselves,
was occupied by the T/t.tci, or Tuscans; who
in their primitive state were not confined to
the limits which preserve their name in Italy.
We read in Livy that the Gauls, having van-
quished them near the Tesino, founded Medio-
lanum, or Milan, in the territory of the Insu-
bre* ; whose name, according to Caesar, was
that of a canton dependant on the sEdui, or
the community of Autun. And this event is
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 151
referred in history to the time that Tarquinius
Priscus reigned in Rome, or about six hundred
years before the Christian aera. The Taurini
occur first of the Cisalpine nations, at the de-
scent of the Alps, where Hannibal met them in
passing into Italy. Their capital, near the con-
fluence of the Doria Riparia and the Po, took
the name of Augusta ; which being changed for
that of the people, according to the general
practice of the Gallic cities, is now called Turin,
or, as the Italians write it, Turino. But more
immediately" under the Alps, in ascending the
Doria, is recognised Segusio> in Susa, as having
been the residence of a prince named Cottius;
who, by the favour of Augustus, was maintain-
ed in possession of it, to reign over a number of
little communities cantoned in the mountains.
This state, extending beyond the limits of
Cisalpine Gaul, was not united to the empire
till the reign of Nero, And we may mention
Ocelum, now Usseau,in a gorge which affords
also a passage into the Cisalpine to the south
of Susa, as one of the towns of this principa-
lity. In a profound valley, covered by the
A I pis Pcnnina and the Alpis Grain, or the
Great and Little St. Bernard, which the
Salassi occupied, a colony of Pretorians, esta-
blished under the reign of Augustus, took the
152 COMPENDIUM OF
name of Augusta Pretoria; and that of
Aoiista still remains to this city. We read of
the Libici, who inhabited the flat coumry,
that tiiey were descended from the Saijlc.-, u ho
are mentioned in Transalpine Caul as a I.igu-
rian people. Of cities to be recounted are
Eporedia, or Ivica, on the Doria Baltea, \vhich
comes from the Val d'Aousta; Vcr cdhc., Ver-
celli, near the Sesia ; Ncvaria, Novara, and
Lumcilum, which has given the nam^ to the
district of I.aumellin. Approaching Medio-
laninn, in the canton of the fii--ubrcs before
mentioned, the name of Randii Campi, memo-
rable by a great victory of Marius over the
Cimbri, is knov.'n in that of a small place now
called R ho. Laus Pompeia, is Lodi Vecchio.
Ticinum, a little above the mouth of the Te-
sino, having taken thereafter the name of
Pa/u'a, is now Pavia. Farther on, in the
canton where the Cenomani were established,
Brcxia is Brescia. Cremona on the Po, and
Mantua, have preserved their names without
alteration: this last, situated on a lake formed
by the Mincio, has rendered itself immortal
by the birth of Virgil. Ber^omiun, or Ber-
gamo, may also be mentioned; and Coin ,'/;?/,
which being fast by the lake heretofore named
I.ariuS) whence the Adda issues, has caused
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 153
it to be cal'ed Lago di Como. This city is
distinguished in having produced Pliny the
Younger, nephew to the naturalist. Passing
to the south of the Po, we find a part of Cis-
alpine Gaul, separated under the special name
ofLiguria, The Taurini, even on the anterior
shore of the river, were reputed Ligurians:
and we have seen the Ligurian people extend-
ing in Gaul between the Alps and Rhone.
This great nation was not limited by the river
Macnty which bounded the Cisalpine, but
reached to the banks of the Arno, beneath the
Apennine. Towards the place where this
ridge leaves the Alps, the Vagienni occupied
the northern acclivity, as the name of Vio-
zenna, subsisting in this canton, sufficiently
indicates: and the position of their capital,
named Augusia,*i% that of an obscure place
under the name of Vico, near Mondovi.
Then come, and in the same situation, the
Statielli ; and the place of AqiiiC Statidlce sub-
sists under the name of Aqui. Alba Pomaeia
and As fa retain their names in those of A!ba
and Asti, on the Tanaro; and an inconsider-
able place named Polenza indicates Potent ia.
The city named Industria b\ T the Romans is
not Casal, as was believed before its vestiges
were discovered on the same river, much
154 COMPENDIUM OF
nearer to Turin. It was also called by the
natives Bodincomagit.v, a name formed from
that of Bodmcux, which they applied to the
P6. The Forum Fulvii is known, by the sur-
name of Valcntinum, to be Valentia, or Valen-
za, below Casal. The name of Dcrtona has
suffered but little alteration in Tortona; and
that of Iria may be developed in Yoghera, on
a little river of the same name. On the sea-
coast, departing from the frontier of Gaul, we
find two people, the Intemelli and Ingauni ;
and their cities, Albium Intemellium, and
Albiutn Ligaunum, are Ventimiglia and Albeti-
gua. Vada Sabatia, now Vado, is a place
known in antiquity, as was Savona upon the
same coast. It is well known that, towards
the summit of an inlet, formed by the gulf,
which from the Ligurians was called Ligustic;
Genua, Genoa, becoming a capital city, has
communicated its name to that gulf. At the
extremity of this Ligurian shore, Port us Vcnc-
7-/.S", retaining its name in Porto Yenere, is re-
marked at the entrance of a little bay, now
the Gulf of Spetia; but which from the city
of Lima, situated on the further bank o( the
river Macra, was called Portus Lunensis.
The gentile name of 7>V////</<.V.v subsists in that
of Brugneto, at some distance from the sea.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 155
And, lastly, a city called Apna, which caused
the Ligurians to be distinguished by the name
of A/warn, has only appeared to be removed
from our knowledge because concealed under
that of Pontremoli.
What remains of the Cisalpine was Gallic,
and not Ligurian. The Boii and Lingones\ on
their arrival in this country, finding other Gauls
already established in the region called Trans-
padane, passed the river, and conquered from
the Tuscans the lands situated between that
and the Apennine. These nations were both
Celtic: the latter coming directly from the
territory of Langres; while we find the former
diffusing their name in Germany, Noricum,
Pannonia, and Illyricum. The Boii settled
themselves in the mountains; and the Ligonex
down the river, in the vicinity of the sea. \Ve
also find mention of another people under the
name of Ananes, or Anamani. The Senones,
or those of Sens, arriving last, and entering
i j O
upon Umbria, passed the boundaries that dis-
tinguished the Cisalpine from Italy Proper.
In after-times these countries were called
Flaminia and JEmilia, from the military roads
so denominated, which intersected each other
in their territories.
156 COMPENDIUM OF
In the order which we have adopted, no city
presents itself before Placentia, or Placenza,
on the Po,near the mouth of the Trebia; and
which the first victory of Hannibal over the
Romans rendered famous: and not long since
there were discovered the vestiges of a city in
this canton whose name was Vcleia. Follow-
ing the Emilian Way beyond Placenza, we
find Florentia, called by a diminutive, Fieran-
zuolo; Fidentia, now Borgo-di-San-Dominio;
and Parma, at the confluence of a river of the
same name, and the Taro*. We wiJlingly
deviate a little to the right, to observe that
Forum Novum is Fornovo, where the valour of
the French displayed itself in the return of
Charles VIII. from his enterprise on the king-
dom of Naples. But resuming the traces of
the same way, Rc^ium Lepidi (Emilii under-
stood) is Regio ; Mutina, Modena; and Bono-
nia, Bologna; which before the Gauls, and
under the Tuscans, had the name of Felsina.
Then come Forum Cornell! t now Imola; Fawn-
tia, Faenza; Forum Livii, Forli; and Cesena,,
which preserves its name under the same form.
Bri.rellum, Bresello, may be added near the
* Rather at the junction of the Parma and the Pi"), as
it is expressed in the map.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 157
entrance of the Taro in the P6. It is thought
that Forum Allicni existed on the site that
Ferrara now occupies. But the most cele-
brated city in this part of the Cisalpine is
Ravenna, at the bottom of the Adriatic Gulf;
for after having been the residence of the em-
perors of the west, while Rome was possessed
by barbarians, it became that of a governor
established under the title of Exarch, by the
eastern emperors; who, at the time of the
domination of the Lombards in Italy, were iu
possession of what is now called Romagna.
Augustus had caused a port to be excavated at
Raverrna, for the purpose of a rendezvous and
arsenal for a fleet in the Superior Sea; as that
of Misena, in the neighbourhood of Naples,
was in the Inferior. The sea, retiring from
its shores, has left the place where this port
existed at a considerable distance in the land,
but which nevertheless preserves the name of
Classe. We must now speak of the mouths
of the P6. The nearest to Ravenna derives
the name of Spinetieum Ostium from a very an-
cient city founded by the Greeks, called
Spina. They applied to it specially the name
of EridamiSy by which the Po is sometimes
denominated. This channel was also named
Padusa; and, at the place where the city of
1.-38 COMPENDIUM OF
Ferrara is situated, there separates from it a
channel named Volana, which preserves this
name, and communicates it to its mouth.
The principal arm of the P6 only arrives at
the sea by dividing itself into many channels,
whose issue was called Septem Maria, the
Seven Seas.
There remains to be described a Canton of
the Cisalpine country, under the name of
Venetia. Common fame would bring the
Veneti from Asia, under the conduct of Ante-
n or, after the destruction of Troy. Be this as
it may, they were in possession of the country
which envelopes in part the head of the
Adriatic Gulf, in a time anterior to the founda-
tion of Rome, and while the Tuscans were ex-
tended in the Transpadane. The greatest
river of Venetia is Athesis, or the Adige, which
rises in Rhaetia; as do also Mcdoaciis (which
lias taken the name of Brenta), and P lav is, or
Piava, Tajamentus, or Tagliamento; Sontius,
or Lisonzo, descended from the Alps, distin-
guished in this part by the name of Carnics,
which separate Venetia. from Noricum. The
first city that appears is Hadria, the name ot
which is also written Atria. It is attributed to
th'j undent Tuscans, and it still preserves the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 159
name Adria. Pataviuin, or Padua, is spoken
of as the most illustrious city of this district,
and the circumstance from which it deiivcs
most honour is the giving birth to Titus Livius.
There is no mention of Venice, as a city in
antiquity, but only as a port called Vcnctiis.
It is well known that the entrance of Attila
into Italy, and the ruin of cities spreading
terror through the country, caused a multitude
of people to seek refuge among the lakes or
lagunes which the sea forms upon that fenny
shore. This was the beginning of a city
which has since been so much distinguished
by successful commerce, and consequent ag-
grandisement of power. Ateste, now Este,
and Vicentia, Vicenza, are in the vicinity of
Padua. Verona, a considerable city, and
which produced Catullus, and Pliny the natu-
ralist, retaining its name without alteration,
is seated on the Adige. The ruins ofAl/iintm
preserve the name of Altino. Tarvisium is
Treviso: Oint.-rgiiim is Oderzo; and the name
of Concordia subsists in the place which that
city occupied. But, without going farther,
we must speak of the Enganei, who are said
to have inhabited the maritime country before
the arrival of the Venetians; who drove them,
as it would appear, into the mountains which
1()0 COMPENDIUM OF
make part of Rhgetia, where we find them after-
wards established. Another people, named
Canri, occupied the northern side of Venetia,
to the foot of those mountains which from
them were named the Carnian Alps; and the
same name subsists in that which is now call-
ed Carniola, though more contracted in limits
than the territories of the Cariii. The posi-
tion of a city situated at the foot of the moun-
tains, and named Jitlium Carnicum, is found
in the name of ZugHo, which is no more than
an obscure village: and these mountains were
called Aije.s Julice, as well as CwnicJ. Fonnn
Julii is maintained in Ciudal-di-Friuli, in the
province of Friuli. Vedinum is Udino in the
same province. But the city which was most
considerable heretofore in this territory is
Aquilcia, not far from the sea, and the Lisonzo.
It was a colony founded to serve as a barrier
to Cisalpine Gaul, while the more remote pro-
vinces were not yet subjected; but it has
never recovered from the devastation that it
suffered from Attila. Beyond Aquileia, a
little river, which meets the sea at a short
distance from its numerous fountains, is cele-
brated in antiquity under tbeimrm 1 of Timavus,
mm 7 Timao. Tcrgexlc, or Trieste, at. the
bottom of the gulf from it named Terges limns,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 16 1
was the last city in Italy before Histria was
annexed to it. This little province heretofore
was numbered among the dependencies of
Illyricum; but was detached from them, and
added to Italy, by Augustus. By this aug-
mentation, the little river of Arsia, which has
not changed its name, served for the limits of
Italy. A city which has taken the name of
Cabo d'Istria, was heretofore called JEgidai
and Parentium preserves its name in that of
Parenzo. But the principal city of Istria was
Pola, preserving the same name, at the head
of a deep inlet or creek. Another accession
that Italy obtained on the distribution of the
provinces under Augustus, passes the Carnian
Alps, in their declination from the north to
the east; extending over that country which
retains the gentile name of Carni, in Carniola,
and comprehends sEmona, now Laybach.
And a place of some celebrity, under the
name Nauportus, at the foot of the mountains,
takes also the name of Laybach, with the dis-
tinction of Ober, or Upper. These towns
borrow their common name from a stream that
runs into the Save.
VOL. I. M
162 COMPENDIUM OI
I T A L I A.
The country which' the Tusci retained after
having lost what they occupied beyond the
limits of Italy Proper, is the first that presents
itself in these limits. And this nation, which
was there known more particularly under the
name of Etrusci, gave the name of Rtruria
to all that which borders the western bank of
the Tiber, from its source in the Apennine to
the sea. According to the prevalent opinion,
the Etruscans, named Tyrrhe?jiby the Greeks,
were originally Masonians of Lydia, in what
is commonly called Asia Minor. They distin-
guished themselves in the arts at a time when
they were little known to their neighbours.
The frivolous science of augury also was pecu-
liar to them. The country extending along
the sea, from the Macra to the mouth of tho
Tiber, is bounded on the north by the Appen-
nine, as by the Tiber towards the east. The
greatest river that it comprises U the Arnux or
Arno, which tends towards the west, to render
itself in the sea. The Umbra, or Ombrone,
may be mentioned, which the sea. also receive-;
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 163
and the Clanis, or Chiaca, which falls into the
Tiber.
The foot of the mountains was inhabited by
a Ligurian people, distinguished by the name
of Ma^elli, which we recognise under that of
Mugello, still appertaining to a valley north
of Florence. The nation or body politic of
the Etruscans comprised twelve people, to
which as many cities gave the name; and it
is remarked that these cities were scattered at
a distance from the Arno; if we except
Arezzo, which approaches it. There only
exist some ruins of Luna, at the entrance of
the country on the banks of the Macra, and
the name of Lunegniano in its environs.
Luca, Lucca; Pisee, Pisa; Pistoria, Pistoia;
and Florentia, Florence, which is situated to-
wards the source of the Arno, as Pisa towards
its mouth; do not appear among the number
of the ancient Etruscan communities: being,
as well as Sena-Julia, Sienna, almost in the
centre of Etruria, of a subsequent age. But
Aretium, Arezzo; Cortona, which retains its
name; Perusia, Perugia; and Clusium, Chiusi,
in the same canton of Etruria, towards the eastj
are of those. Tra.rimenus Lacus, which the
defeat of the Romans by Hannibal rendered
M 2
164 COMPENDIUM OP
memorable, being in the province of Perugino,
is now called Lago cli Perugia. Turning to-
wards the sea, Livoi'tio, or Leghorn, must be
mentioned, under the ancient denomination
of Portus Hcrculis Labronis y or Liburni.
Volaten\e, Volterra, more interior and inclin-
ing towards Sienna, was among the Etruscan
cities. Again approaching the sea, a city
\vhich had enjoyed a distinguished rank among
those of Etruria, and from which Rome, in the
dawn of the republic, borrowed the exterior
ornaments of the magistrature, was Vetulonii,
whose site cannot be ascertained by any
vestiges. We recognise more precisely those
of Populonium, on a point projected towards
an island, whose name of Ilva is pronounced
Elba, celebrated heretofore for its mines of
iron. RntelLe, another of the Etruscan cities,
is found in the name of Rosella, which its ruins
bear. The same may he remarked of Cotd,
near the lake of Orbitello. But the Portus
I lerculis, surnamed Cos an i. by distinction from
several others, subsists in Porto Hercole. A
little above the mouth of the river j\Iarta,
which, retaining the same name, issues from
the Lac us Vnlsiniensis, an ancient position
called the Turchimi indicates that of Tar-
ii ; and Volsiniitm* another chief place of an
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 165
Etruscan people, is Bolsena, upon the borders
of the lake. The extremity of ancient Etruria,
towards the lower part of the Tiber, comprised
three more cities. The place which Falcrii,
the city of the Falisci, occupied, is named
Palari, although abandoned. Veii t capital of
the Veientes, distinguished by so obstinate a
resistance to the Romans, existed on an emi-
nence adjacent to a place named Isola. And
C&re is now called Cer-Veteri. On the sea,
the port which was a work of Trajan, under
the name of Centum CelL-c, is Civita-Vecchia:
and the Portus Augusti, excavated by Clau-
dius, and to which Trajan added an interior
basin, still preserves the name of Porto,
although entirely covered with earth and sand
accumulated by the Tiber.
This river, directing its course from north to
south, borders successively Ombria, Sabina,
and Latium. The Umbri are spoken of as a
nation the most ancient in Italy. Not being
at first bounded by the Rubicon, they extend-
ed to the Po, in the vicinity of Ravenna.
The Apennine, after having given birth to the
Tiber, traverses obliquely the country to which
the name of Umbria was appropriated. The
part enclosed between the Superior Sea and
166 COMPENDIUM OF
the mountain, was invaded by the Gallic nation
of Senones ; and the river /Exit, or lesi, sepa-
rated it from Picenum. The famous Rubicon
is only a channel by which several united
torrents are discharged, and to which the name
of Fiumcsino is given. Some miles distant,
Ariminum, Rimini, at the month of a river of
the same name, was the first town on entering
Italy. Beyond, and on the same shore,
Pisanrum is Pesaro; Fanum Fortune?, Fano;
and Sena Gallica, Senigaglia. AVe must ascend
the JEsis to fnul a city of the same name, now
lesi. And likewise, at some distance from the
sea, Forum Sempronii, on the Metaitrus, or
Metro, famous for the defeat of Asdrubal,
brother to Annibal, is Fossombrone. We find
two cities of the name of Uibinum; and that
to which the surname of Hortcnse belonged, is
the Urbino of the present day. Camerinum,
the remotest of their cities in this part (c.iterior,
or hither, respecting the Apennine), exists in
Cameriuo. In the ulterior- division, Tifernuin,
distinguished from another by the surname of
Tiber in um, is now called Citta di Castello.
I guv mm and Nucerice at the foot of the Apen-
nine, Tuder on the Tiber, St oletium at some
distance from it, harnia on the Nar> or Nera,
which falls into the Tiber, and Amcria, are
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 16?
known to be Gubio, Nocera, Todi, Spoleto,
Narni, and Amelia. Spoleto receives a dis-
tinction among- the cities of Ombria, for having
given its name to a considerable duchy in a
time posterior to the ages of antiquity.
*
But an appendage to ancient Ombria, by
continuity on the superior Sea, is Picenum.
Ancona, that derives its name from its situation
in the angle which a flexure of the coast forms,
has given the title of a marquisate to the
greater part of the territory of the Picentes.
Other principal cities in this canton are Auxi-
mum, Firmu??i, and Asculum (the last being
on a river named Truentus, now Tronto), and
which retain their names, with altered ortho-
graphy and pronunciation, in Osimo, Fermo,
and Ascoli. We may also add the territory
of the Pj\etutii, whose principal city, Hadria,
exists under the name of Atri. The limits of
Picennm are sometimes extended to the river
Aternus : at the mouth of which a city named
Aternum has taken the name of Pescara.
The Sabini, whose name Sabina now pre-
serves, succeed the Umbrians on the same
bank of the Tiber, as far as the river Anio,
which is Teverone, Jt may be said in general
168 COMPENDIUM OF
of this people, that it was reputed one of the
most ancient in Italy, without entering into a
discussion of the diversity of traditions on this
subject. They are said to have migrated from
a place near the city of Amiternum, to settle
at Reate, which is Rieti, extending themselves
to the Tiber. They founded a city named
Cures, from which was derived the name of
Quirites, given bv the orators to the Roman
people in public addresses. This city was,
nevertheless, reduced to an inconsiderable
place in the time of the Roman greatness; and
the site of it is thought to be found under the
name of Correse. Near a city named Cutilice,
whose ruins are in the neighbourhood of a
place called Citta-Ducali, is a small lake, re-
puted the navel of Italy, being equally distant
from either sea. Nursia, or Norcia, beneath
the Apennine, and now beyond the limits of
Sabina, is attributed to the Sabines. Among
the many cities which made some figure in
history during the first ages of Rome, but now
for the most part obliterated, must be distinguish-
ed Tibur, on the Teverone, the allurements of
whose situation have caused it to be celebrated -,
and its name has been corrupted to Tivoli.
We have now reached Lat.ium, whence
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 169
issued that power which extended itself in the
three parts of the ancient world. The Lalini,
the principal people of this territory, occupied
the space between the Tiber, the Teverone,
and the sea: a space that made but a small
part of Latium- whose limits, by the accession
of many other people, correspond with the
modern Campagna di Roma. Of these people,
the most powerful and most difficult to reduce
were the Volsci. It is agreeable to our plan
to give a particular description of a city that
from the feeblest beginnings arrived at an ex-
tent of dominion which affords the principal
objects of ancient history.
Ancient Rome, for whose site at first Mount
Palatine was sufficient, covered, at the time of
the abolition of the regal government, seven
hills; from which circumstance it acquired
the name of UrbsSepticollis. Theseeminences,
besides the Palatinus, were the Capitolinus 9
QuirinaliSj Viminalis, Esquilinus, Ccdins, an:l
Aventinus. TheJaniculum, beyond the Tiber,
was not numbered among the seven hills.
The wall that enclosed them, and extended to
the Janiculum, was finished by ServiusTullius
towards the end of the second age of Rome;
and a rampart called As.^)', covering the
170 COMPENDIUM OF
Quirinal, the Viminal, and the Esqailine was
a work of his successor Tarquin the Proud.
The Cam mis Martins, now the most populous
part of the city, was then beyond the wall,
and without habitations. This enclosure, reli-
giously respected as the cradle of the infant
empire, subsisted not only to the last times oi
the republic, but for many ages under the em-
perors; and of the fourteen regions or wards
into which Augustus divided this city, many
were without this line. But by anew division
made under Aurelian, elevated to the empire
in the two-hundred and seventieth year of the
Christian *era, its walls were advanced far be-
yond the Capitoline Mount, towards the north ;
and there is reason to believe that the present
barrier of Rome, if we except the part of Tras-
Tevere, which surrounds the Vatican, repre-
sents that of Aurelian. Not to transgress the
narrow limits of an abridgement, we shall only
add, that at the foot of the Capitol, on one
side of the Forum Romanum, now the Campo
Vaccino, was erected the Milliarium Aureum,
or gilded milliary column, whence issued, as
from a common centre, the great roads which
conducted to different parts of Italy. And,
for a more ample detail of what concerns
Rome, the render is referred to a Memoir in-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 171
serted in vol. xxx. of the Memoirs of the Aca-
demy.
As to the principal places in Latiimi, Ostia>
so called from its situation upon the principal
of the two mouths of the Tiber, subsists under
the same name, though not exactly in its
former place; the river having protracted its
bank by an accumulation of earth in the suc-
cession of ages. It is thought Laviniitw, a.
city whose foundation tradition ascribes to
^Eneas, to whom the Romans affected to owe
their establishment in Italy, existed in a place
now called Pratica, at some distance from the
sea. Another place, in a similiar situation,
bore the name of Ardea, and was the capital
of the Rutuli, who fought with the Trojans,
companions to /Eneas. The remains of
Antium are merely the name of Anzio and
some traces of its port, a little on this side a
place calle i Nettuno. Circeii, which was
said to have been the dwelling of Circe, dis-
covers itself in the name of Monte Circello:
opposite to which Pottlia, or Ponza, is an
island in the open sea. At the issue of the
Paludes Pompthite, or the Pontine Marshes,
which extend along the sea, is seated, on an
eminence, Terracing preserving its name with-
172 COMPENDIUM OP'
out alteration. And the Via Appia, the most
celebrated of the Roman ways, passes over
these morasses. Caicta, Gaeta, on a point of
land, precedes the mouth of the Liris, or
Garigliano, which falls into the sea under Min-
turncc, after having traversed the extremity of
Latium. Receding from the neighbourhood
of Rome, to survey the interior of this country,
Tuscuhim first occurs, whose agreeable situa-
tion answers to that of Frascati. It is thought
that Alba-longa, the rival of Rome, and of more
ancient foundation, existed in a place whose
name is now Palazzo. Panics fe, which had
a citadel, is Palestrina. Anagnia, Anagni,
was the principal city of a people named
Hernici. The sEqui inhabited farther on the
frontier of the Sabines. The position of
Sucstd Ponictia, which held the first rank
among the cities of the Volsci, cannot be
ascertained. That of Corioli, from which an
illustrious Roman acquired the title of Corio-
lanus, is equally unknown. But we may cite
Arpinum, Arpino, for being the native city of
Marius and Cicero.
Campania, Campagna, succeeds Latium.
This is the country of Italy which nature ap-
pears to have most favoured, its beautv and
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 1?3
fertility being much celebrated in antiquity.
It made the principal of what is now named
Terra di Lavoro. Its extent along the sea is
carried to the limits of Lucania; and it is
bounded on its interior side by Samnium.
The Vttlturnus, or Volturno, is the most con-
siderable of its rivers. Capua, the magnificent
and delightful city, has not preserved its posi-
tion; but has taken another on the Volturno,
about three miles distant, opposite to that
which a city named Casilinum occupied, but
where its pristine splendour and greatness
have not followed it. \eapolis, Naples, a
Greek city, as were many others on the same
shore, bore primitively the name QiParthenope-,
.said to be that of a Syren, and has profited by
the decline of Capua. Puteoli, Puozzola,
Baice, or Baya, in the vicinity of Naples, are
places celebrated for their delights; Misemvtn t
for being the station of a Roman fleet; ami
Cum.& 3 for the incantations and pretended
prophecies of a Sibyl of the same name.' Op-
posite the promontory of Misenum is an isle
named JEnaria, now Ischia, which has expe-
rienced extraordinary conflicts from subterra-
nean fires, if we may believe the nncient
writers. On the south side of the gulf called
Crater, or Bassin, the isle of CVvr:'^, of which
174 COMPENDIUM OF
Augustus made the acquisition, and which the
debaucheries of his successor Tiberius have
rendered infamous, preserves its name in that
of Capri. A particular people, the P!centini y
extended beyond that ; and Salernuw, Salerno,
a maritime city, is to be mentioned in this
district. AVhat bore the name of Picentia
remains but a heap of ruins, with the name of
Bicenza. Retiring from the shore by Nuceria,
or Nocera, we shall mention Nola, which pre-
serves the orthography of its name. The
Vesuvius Jllons has given occasion to call this
part of Campania by the Greek name of
Phlegrtfus Campus, or the burned country.
Returning bv Capua, Suessa Aurunca, and
Teanum Sidicinum, which the names of an-
cient people have caused thus to be surnamed,
are now Sezza and Tiano; and we shall con-
clude what we think incumbent on us to say
of Campania, with Venqfnwi, or Venafro;
adding, that the celebrated vineyard of Faler-
rjnm was in the vicinitv of the sea, between
Sinuessa and Fcanmii.
\\'e proceed now to the description of Sam-
uium; and under this article will be comprised
all that which extends from Sabina and Pice-
num to Apulia; or, otherwise, from the limit-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 173
of Latium and Campania to the "Superior Sea.
The Apennine runs obliquely through the
length of this space. It is well known how
much exercise the martial nation of Stnnnites
afforded the Roman arms during many ages.
They are said to be descended from the first
Sabines ;and theirnameis Saunites in theGreek
writers. In departing from Campania, a de-
file conducts by Caudium to Beneventum*
Benevento, whose name was anteriorly Jlfale-
ventum. And a small place in this passage
preserves, in its name of Forchie, the memory
of a signal disgrace suffered by a Roman army.
The Hirpini occupied this extremity oi
country to the confines of Lucania: wherein
were comprised Abcllinum, Avellino, aiid
Compsa, Conza. In Samnium, properly so
called, Borianiim, JEsernia, Anjidtna, are
Boiano, Isernia, and Alfidena. Among man v
separate people, the Alarsi, contiguous to tin
Sabines must be distinguished; as we fmd then*
in history contending singly with the Romans.
They inhabited the borders of the Lacut
Fucinus, which from a place in its environs is
now called Lago di Celano; and near it are the
ruins of Marubium, the principal city of this
nation. Alba, surnamed Fucensit> from its
proximity to the Fucine Lake, prp^crvr's i^
176 COMPENDIUM OF
name. Among the Pcligni, who were adja-
cent, Corfinium, which was the place of arms
of the people leagued against the Romans in
the Social War, has declined into a very small
place named San-Perino: but Sulmo, the native
place of Ovid, exists inSolmona. Amiternum
is known only by some vestiges near a city
called Aquila. Pinna, of the Vestini, exists
in Civita di Penna; and Tcatc,o the Marra-
cini in Civita di Chieti. All this country is call-
ed Abruzzo. The name of Anxanum, in the
territory of the Frentani, is preserved in that
of Anciano, not far from the river Sagrus, or
Sangro, and that of Larinum in Larino. Tca-
num Afndium, on the coast of Fronto, or For-
rore, which borders Apulia, is a ruined place,
distinguished by the name of Civitate.
It must here be remarked, that what re-
mains to be surveyed of the continent of Italy
is distinguished among the authors of antiquity
by the name of Jl/a^na (r?\cci(t, from the
number of Greek colonies there established.
We find sometimes the name of Apulia extend-
ing to the heel of this continent, although
this extremity be more commonly denominated
fa/njgia, or Messapia. That of Apuiia sub-
sists under the form of Puglin. Aujldns, or
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
Ofanto, descending from the Apennine, tra-
verses the country with a rapid: course. The
Mons Garganust tiow Monte Sant'-Angelo,
covers a land far advanced in the sea, making
the spur of the boot to which the figure of
Italy is compared. This side of Apulia pecu-
liarly bore the narwe of Daunia, as having
been the domain of Daunus, father-in-law of
Diomede, who, on his return from the war of
Troy, establishing himself in. this country,
founded the city of Arpi, whose site preserves
its name; and another city near the sea,
Salapia, which, from the insalubrity of the
air, was transferred to the position where that
name remains in Salpe. We find traces of
Sipufttuin, or A$7p$synear Manfredonia, which
is a new city. Luc aid preserves its name in
Lucera. Venusia, the natal city of Horace,
preserves its situation at the foot of the Apen-
nine, in the name Venosa; Canusium, in
Canosa; and near this city the fatal field of
Camme is known by the same name. An in-
termediate part between Daunia and Messa-
pia was distinguished by the name of Pucetia ;
and Barium, or Bari, was its maritime city.
fapygia, among the Greek writers, i not com-
prehended within the same limits as Messapia-,
it extends to that other part which is called
VOL. 1.
178 COMPENDIUM OF
Apulia. This canton is at the same time the
country of the ancient Calabri, distant from
that which in a posterior age took the name
of Calabria. The Salentini appear likewise
to have been a people of ancient Calabria.
Tarentum, or Tar as according to the Greeks, is
Tarento, which the Lacedaemonians occupied,
and which was the occasion of the coming of
Pyrrhus into Italy. This city has communi-
cated its name to the gulf that advances into
this extremity of the continent. Brundusium,
Brindisi, on the Adriatic Sea, was the port
most frequented for passing between Italy and
Greece. Lupit?, now Lecce, had contiguous
to it another city named Rudicc, which the
birth of Ennius, the most celebrated of the
first Latin poets, has illustrated. The posi-
tion approaching nearest to the continent of
Greece is Hydruntum, now Otranto. The
land's end of Italy was culled lapygium, or
Salentinum Promontorium ; and, returning to-
wards the interior part of the gulf, we find
Callipolis subsisting in Gallipoli.
The country which bore the name of Lu-
cania brings us back to the bottom of the Gulf
of Tarentuin, and extends thence across the
Mi!<tf-p (to pursue the allusion) to the Inferior
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 179
Sea. The Apennine making the division of
its streams, Silarus, or the Silaro, directs its
course towards this sea; the Aciris or Agri,
the Bradanus or Bradano, which flow along
the limits of lapygia, render themselves in
the gulf. At a little distance from the mouth
of the Silarus, Pass turn 9 which the Greeks
named Posidonia 3 as a city consecrated to
Neptune, preserves its maritime position, but
in ruins, with the name of Pesti; while the
city of Salerno communicates its name to a.
gulf which was called Pccstanus. We must
here mention Hdea, or Velea, a Phoca?an
colony, which derives celebrity from the stoic
school of Zeno, and is now replaced by the
city of Castello-a-mare della Brucca. Buxen-
tum, which follows, or Py.ms, according to
the Greek manner of writing it, has taken the
name of Policastro. A little river named
Laiis, now Laino, makes the termination of
Lucania on this shore. In the interior country,
a city named Abellinum, being distinguished
by the surname of Marsicum, is recognised
in Marsico Vetere. Potentia exists in Po-
tenza; and although to cross the Brandano is
to pass the limits of Lucania, we shall here
mention Acherontia, as preserving its name in
that of Acerenza. On the shore of this gulf,
N2
180 COMPENDIUM OF
Mefapontum, where Pythagoras taught his
doctrine, and Heradea, and Sybaris, have
left few or no traces: the first being nearest to
Tarentum, the second between the rivers Aciris
and Siris, and the third between a river of the
name of the city and another called Crathis.
The Sybarites were a people much condemned
for the licentiousness of their manners: and
their city having been destroyed by the Cro-
tonians, other Greeks, among whom was
Herodotus the historian, re-established it under
the name of Thnrii, which it maintained till
it ceased to exist.
That which is now called Calabria, south of
ancient Lucania, was occupied by the Brutii.
Crathis and Ntetlius, Crati and Neto, were its
principal rivers. A vast forest, which afford-
ed turpentine, was called Brutia Si/lva ; and
in the Apennine we have still the name of
Sila. The position of the city vyhich bore
the name of Pandosla, cannot be found ; but
Koscianum and Conwntia are evidently Rosano
nnd Coscnza. Petilia, built by Philoctetes
after his return from the Trojan war, has
raken the name of Strongoli. Croton, which
was a great city is now called Crotona. The
neighbouring promontory, where the Gulf of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 181
Tarento terminates, and named Lacinium, is
styled Cabo della Colonna, from the remains
of a temple to Juno. We shall mention seme
rocks that lie off this cape, because, among
other names under which they appear in an-
tiquity, we find that of the Isle of Calypso.
On one side of that part of the continent the
most contracted between two gulfs, Scijlacium
discovers itself in Squillaci; and on the other,
Hipponium, having also borne the name of
Vibo, is found in that of Bivona. Trop<za
and Nicotera are literally the same. Mamer-
t/
turn, of which the name might be common to
the Mamertines, in favour of whom the Ro-
mans first landed in Sicily, appears applicable
to the position of a city whose present name
is Oppido. There remain two cities worthy
of notice, Rhegium and Locri: the latter, from
the proximity of a promontory named Zephy-
rium, acquired from its founders the surname
of Epi-%ephyrii; and a place called Motta-
di-Burzano preserves its remains. The situa-
tion of Rhegium, which retains the name of
Regio, on the F return Siculum, or the strait
which separates the main land of Italy from
Sicily, has brought us nearer than any other
to this island.
182 COMPENDIUM OF
However, before making the passage, we
shall take a transient survey of the great Ro-
man ways, which occur not less frequently in
history than in geographical treatises. They
are distinguished for the most part by the
names of their constructors. It is well known
that they were measured from mile to mile;
and that columns called milliary, at each
mile, were inscribed with an indication of the
distance; and this was practised in every pro-
vince subject to the empire.
The Via Appia^ approaching the sea at
Terracina, conducts to Capua, then to Bene-
vento; whence it leads to Brindisi by two
routes, the right by Venosa, the left byTarento,
passing along the coast of the Adriatic from
Ban'. From Capua there issued another road,
which, traversing "Lucania and Brutium, ex-
tended to Regio on the Sicilian Strait.
The Via Flamima directed its course north-
ward, towards the shore of the Adriatic or Su-
perior Sea, to Rimini, where it terminated.
The JEftiilia succeeding, penetrated into Cis-
alpine Gaul: not to mention a branch of this
way, which, passing ciloug the margin of the
Adriatic Gulf at its bottom, conducted to
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 183
Aquileia. In the interval of the Appian and
Flaminian, two other ways, Valeria and Sa-
laria, coast along the sea: the first, passing-
through Corfmium, arrives at Aternum; the
second, by Reate, is continued to Ancona.
The Via Aurelia, traversing the maritime
parts of Etruria, and those of the Ligustic
Gulf, enters by Nice into Gaul, where our
Provencals still call it Camin Aurelian.
Another way named Claudia, separated from
the Flaminian near Rome, ran through the
middle of Etruria, and joined the Aurelian in
approaching Luna. This is all that the nature
of the work permits to be said of the Roman
ways: and it was judged necessary to give a
general idea of the subject*.
* Tiie degree of importance in which these roads were
held, may be inferred from the practice of inscribing on a
milliary column the date of the emperor's reign wherein
any part of the road was repaired. There were twenty-six
of these columns preserved in the city of Nismes, all found
in its neighbourhood, on the Domitian way, which crosses
the Rhone at Tarrascon, ten miles below Avignon; and,
passing through Nismes and Narbonne, conducts to Car-
thagena in Spain ; and has served as the foundation for the
modern post-road from Madrid to Rome. Here follow*
an exact transcript of one of them :
184 COMPENDIUM OF
We might afford occasion for censure, if
we should omit here the mention of a division
made by Augustus of Italy into eleven regions,
and which is fully delineated only in Pliny.
The first consisted of Latium and Campania,
to the river Silarus. The second encroaches
On that which we have seen belonging to
Samnium, including the Hirpini; extending
thence in Apulia, and the more ancient
country of the Calabrians, to the, lapygian
promontory. Lucania, and the country of
the Brutians, composed the third. The fourth,
reputed to include the most martial people of
Italy, comprised Sabina, and the rest of Sam-
IMF. CjESAR
DIVI HADRIAN.
F T. JEL1VS HADRI-
ANVS ANTOXINVS
AVG. P1VS
PONTIF. MAX. TRIE. POT.
VIII. IMP. II. COS. HIT.
P. P.
RESTITVIT
II.
That is, Impcrato Caesar diii Hadriani filius T,
Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, Pont if ex Maximus.
Tribitnitia Poi estate 8% Imperaforio 2, Cojtsulc 4, pnni
prcnnonnit . licstituit.
II. or the second mile from Nisincs.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 185
nium. Picenum, one of the most populous
countries of Italy, appears to have constituted
the fifth region. Umbria made the sixth ; and
Etruria, to the river Macra, the seventh : which
completed ancient Italy, precisely so called.
What has been distinguished under the name
of Cisalpine, a distinction which Augustus
appeared willing to destroy, was divided only
into four regions. The eighth region of Italy
then extended, between the Apennine and
the river Po, to Placentia inclusively. Liguria,
in ascending the same bank of the river to the
summit of the Alps, made the ninth. What
was called Transpadane likewise composed
two regions. In the tenth Venetia and the
country of the Carni were comprehended.
The eleventh comprised the space between
the limits of Venetia and the Pennine or
higher Alps. But we do not see that suffi-
cient use has been made of this division to
render the knowledge of it very interesting.
It appears proper in this place to subjoin
an observation on that which made a great
juridical district under the emperors. The
prefecture of Rome extended to the Centesi-
miis Lapis, or the hundredth milliary column,
on the great roads that issued from the city:
and one of these boundaries, on the Flamir
186 COMPENDIUM OF
man way, is recognised in a place called
Ponte Centesimo. We pass now to the islands
adjacent to Italy.
SICILIA. CORSICA. SARDINIA.
The name of Sicilia is less ancient than that
of Sicania, if the Sicani possessed this island
before the Siculi, who are made to issue from
Italy before the Trojan expedition, and to
reduce the Sicani to a corner of the island
towards the west. It is well known that the
three points which determine the figure of
Sicily caused it to be called Trinacria.
Having received Greek colonies before the
Carthaginians became powerful there, it
afforded three different languages; the Roman,
the Greek, and the Punic. A mountainous
chain extends, near the northern shore, from
the promontory of Pelcrum, now Cape Faro,
which contracts the strait. These mountains,
which were called Uerai (that is to say, of
Juno), and Xcbrodcs, detach branches which
stretch towards the south. Many rivers
assembled under the name of Simalhus t now
Giarretta, fall into the sea at the foot of /Etna,
on the eastern shore: and Hi?tiera 3 no\v Fin me
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 18?
Salso; with Camicus, or Fiume di Platani, on
the southern.
Messana, Messina, very near to Pelorum,
had the name of Zancle, before the Messeni-
ans, driven from the Peloponnesus by the
Lacedemonians, established themselves there.
Tauromenium, which follows, preserves its
name in Taormina; and the little river Ads,
celebrated in fable, gives its name to Castel
d'laci. This stream issues from the most
famous of volcanos, yEtna; whose modern
name of Gibello is formed from the appella-
tive term for a mountain in the language of
the Arabs, to whose domination Sicily was
subjected by conquest from the Greek empe-
rors of Constantinople. Cafana, retaining its
name, borders on the sea, at the foot of ./Etna.
The plains which succeeded were the dwell-
ings of the LtestrigoneSt ancient and savage
inhabitants of the country, as well as the
Cyclopes ; and Leontini is recognised on these
plains in the name Lentini. Syracuse, the
most considerable of the cities of Sicily, and
much celebrated in Greek and Roman history,
retains indeed the name of Syragusa, but only
in a little insulated point heretofore named
Ortygia, which made one of the regions of a
18$ COMPENDIUM OF
vast city. Neoetwn may be noted as one of
three parts in which modern Sicily is distin-
guished, and is called Val di Noto. At no
great distance from the sea, Helorum preserves
its vestiges, which are called Muri Ucci; and
the delightful aspect of this region caused it
to be called Helorina Tc.rnpe. The name of
the southern promontory, which was Pachy-
num, is now Passaro. Camarina, a Syracusian
colony, preserves with its vestiges the name
'of Camarana. Gda was situated a little
above the modern position of Terra-Nova.
Crossing the river Himera, which separates
the dependences of Syracuse from those
which obeyed the Carthaginians, we find
Agrigentunii or, according to the Greeks,
Acravas, whose vestiges are called Girgenti
Vecchio, near the modern city of Girgenti.
Beyond the Camicus, and another river named
Hijpsa, now Belici, Selijnus, of Syracusian
foundation, is buried under ruins, which
afford a high idea of its ancient splendor.
But, before arriving there, we may remark the
thermtCy or warm baths, surnamed Selinunt'uey
which are found near a place named Sciacca.
Mazarum, which follows Selvnus, and which
was dependent on it, is only remarkable in
being one of the three divisions of Sicily, and
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 189
called Val di Mazara. The western promon-
tory of this island, and which is nearest to
Africa, preserves the name Lilybteum in that
of Boeo; but the city of the same name with
the promontory is now called Marsalla. A
curved point of land gave it the name of
Drepanum*> which it preserves, with little
alteration, in Trapani; and above this city
rises mount Eryx, celebrated by a temple
which was said to have been dedicated to
Venus by ^Eneas, and to which a citadel
named San Giuliano has succeeded. Trojans,
established in this canton of Sicily, occupied,
farther on, Egesta or Segeste, which exists no
more. Panormus, thus named by the Greeks
for its portf, is known for the capital city,
with a little alteration, in the name of Paler-
mo. Himera, having in its environs baths
under the appellative name of Therm<z y a
maritime city, retains this name in that of
Termini. Cephaledis exists in Cefalu. The
name of Tyndari remains to the ancient site
ofTtjndaris. Melazzo represents My lee ; and
it was between this city and a place named
Naulochus, that the fleet of Sextus Pompeius
* From $gsrtotvri,falx, a scythe or scimitar.
f From TToV, omuls, and ocu,of, sfntio navium,
190 COMPENDIUM OF
was destroyed by that of the triumvir Octa-
vius. The enumeration of these positions
leads us back to Pelorum, whence we took
our departure to follow the three coasts
which make the contour of Sicily.
Entering into a description of the interior
of the island, we should, among many other
places, remark Halijcia*, which preserves the
signification of its Greek name in that of
Saleme. The site of Ejilclla, which is very
advantageous for a fortress, retains its name,
though the place is destroyed. Enna, re-
puted the centre of the island, and famous for
having been the supposed dwelling of Ceres
and Proserpine, is named Castro Joanni or
Giovanni. The name Mencc, of a city con-
structed by an ancient Sicilian prince, exists
in that of Mineo. The honey of Hybla was
proverbially celebrated: and we find several
cities of this name in Sicily. But, that under
/
present consideration is distinguished by the
surname of Major, in the dependence of
Catania, and which has ceased to exist.
The little isles not. far distant towards the
'" From a/ vv. .-. ."?'.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 191
north, called jEoluc, may properly be included
in this article concerning Sicily. They were
so named from being the supposed residence
of ^Eolus; who, according to the fable, there
retained the winds imprisoned in their caverns,
and released them at his pleasure. They
were also called -Vulcanite,, because they had
volcanos; and are now named Lipari, from
Lipara, the principal of them. This is also
the place to mention Melite ; and Gaulos, or
Gozo, which accompanies it. The towns
placed now so advantageously on the ports of
Malta, are neither of them the ancient city of
the island ; whose position was in a place
interior, and named Rebatto, from a term
which the domination of the Arabs of Bar-
bary in this island brought into use.
Two islands remain to be described :' Cor-
sica, which by its promontory far projected
towards the north, named Sacrum, now Cabo
Corso, being the nearest to the continent of
Italy, precedes Sardinia. The Greeks named
it Cyrnosj and they pretend that the Phocaaans
were the first who made any settlement in it.
But the insular nation was of Ligurian race;
and they are described of a savage character,
such as is natural to the inhabitants of w
192 COMPENDIUM OF
country rugged and of difficult access. The
Corsicans had experienced the tyranny of the
Carthaginians before the Romans undertook
to subject them. This isle received two colo-
nies; Mariana from Marius, and Alefia from
Sylla. Vestiges of them are observed on the
eastern shore: and it is thought that the
modern city of Bastia has replaced the Manti-
norum Oppidum. The name of Palania is
preserved in the canton called La Balagna;
and the Casalus Sinus appears to correspond
with the inlet of Calvi. The Greeks called
Traphos> or the Trench, the channel which
separates Corsica from Sardinia.
The Greeks assimilating the island of Sardi-
nia to the print of a foot, called it Ichnusa*;
and they speak as well of the fertility of the
soil, as of the insalubrity of the atmosphere.
A part of the country is covered with moun-
tains; and those of the northern end are so
rugged and inaccessible, that they were call-
ed Ins a tri MonteiSy or the frantic mountains.
The most considerable of its rivers named
Thyrsus, flowing from the north to the south,
falls into the sea at the modern city of Ori-
* From lyv'j;. ">:.<! igvini, a fooli-t'p.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 193
stagni j and the name of this city now serves
to denote it. According to tradition, a
colony of Africans first established themselves
in Sardinia, under a chief whose name, Sar-
dus, they communicated to the island. There
were also known colonies of Iberians, or
Spaniards; from whom were long distinguished
the Trojans, under the name of Ilians, from
Ilium, their ancient country. The Carthagi-
nians too had founded the cities of Calaris
and of Sulci; the former of which, preserving
its name in that of Cagliari, has become the
capital of the island: and the vestiges of the
second are found on the strait which separates
the main land of Sardinia from a little isle
named Sant'-Antioco. The name of Neapolis
is preserved at the bottom of the bay of Ori-
stagni. We recognise Lesa in Ales, and
Forum Trajani in Fordongiano. Bosa, a
maritime town, has not changed its name;
neither has N~ora, or Xura, in the mountain-
ous region. The position of Titrris Libisonis
is indicated by Porto-di-Torro, on the northr
ern shore. This city was Roman ; and its
environs retained the name of Romangia, till
the time when the Arabs of Barbary invaded
the island. They superseded it with the name
of Barbaria, which WM;., afterwards given to a.11
VOL. f O
194 COMPENDIUM OF
this canton of Sardinia. Tibula, at the sum-
mit of the island occupied by Corsicans,
agrees in position with a port named Longo-
Sardo. Olbia, a Greek city, and one of the
most ancient, having a port which regards
Italy, and the nearest to it of any other, ought
to be about the place where now exists Terra-
Nova. Finally, we remark that of the name
Luguido appears formed that of Lugodori,
which distinguishes the northern canton of
Sardinia.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 195
VII.
G R JE C I A.
J-O judge of the extent of Greece by the
power which enabled its states to arm against
each other, or, when united, to sustain the
attacks of formidable foreign enemies, would
be to form an idea of a great country. A
more intimate acquaintance with it, however,
will undeceive us in this point. For we shall
see that Greece, properly so called, scarcely
contains more space than the kingdom of
Naples occupies in the continent of Italy.
And the island of Sicily alone is deemed equal
to the Peloponnesus, considered exclusively of
Greece Proper j although in it there are enu-
merated six distinct provinces. The circum-
stance that contributes among others to the
glory of Greece, is well known to be that,
though reduced by the Roman arms, she tri-
o %
196 COMPENDIUM OF
umphed in Rome by establishing the arts
which in this mistress of the world were un-
known*.
The Greeks gave themselves the name of
Helenes-y and that of Hellines is still known to
the Turks in speaking of the Greeks. But
that which they called Hellas did not extend
over all that is comprehended under the name
of Greece; for it excluded Macedon, and the
greatest part of Epirus. There is mention
made of a primitive people under the name of
Pelasgi, in a state of society little better than
that of nations which we consider as savages.
Three principal races are then distinguished;
I ones, Dares, and sEoles. Attica was the
original seat of the Ionian*, who in the Pelo-
ponnesus occupied A chain, The Dorians,
migrating from tho environs of Parnassus,
became powerful in Peloponnesus: and the
Etolians inhabited Thessnlv, when foreigners
came from Egypt and Phoenicia to civilize
the first inhabitants of Greece. But, after
having remarked u relntive distinction in the
Gr.ix.'ia cn[;t;i tiTUii; victoivi.'i civiut.. <.t artt's
fntnlit H<rnsti Latio. HOR.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 197
extent of the name of Greece, it becomes us
to mention here, that it is in its most compre-
hensive space that we propose to treat it.
Returning to the frontier of Illyricum, thence
to take our departure, we shall include Mace-
don in its greatest extent, towards Epirus on
the one side, and towards Thrace on the
other; and of this part which occupies the
north, we shall make a division preceding the
others, under the name of Macedonia. Thes-
saly, with Epirus, and divers particular
countries which follow to the Isthmus, will
constitute the division which shall be entitled
Gr&cia ; a third follows named Peloponnesus.
The Adriatic and Ionian Seas embrace one
side of Greece, the jEgean the other. Creta,
with the Cycladcs, will require a separate sec-
tion.
MACEDONIA.
Illyrian people occupied by a continuity
of extent the neighbouring country of the
Adriatic Sea to the confines of Epirus, before
this country was attributed to Macedon by
the Romans, and after it had made a particu-
lar province under the name of Kpinia Nova t
198 COMPENDIUM OF
or the New Epirus. Among other rivers
are here distinguished Drilo, which isDrino*;
Mat/u's, or Mattia; Genusus, called Semno;
Apsus, which lias taken the name of Crevasta;
Aous, or Lao ; and Celyd?ms, Salnich, other-
wise Voiussa. The mountains that were call-
ed Candavii, on the way which conducted
through the interior of Macedon, are now
named Crasta. As to the names of particu-
lar people, Partliiniy Taulantii, and others,
actual observation offers nothing that answers
to them. We know that the name of Albania
extended to this country, and an Albanopolis,
which Ptolemy gives, appears to exist in a
city whose name is Albasano. The princi-
pal city on the coast, and a place of the
greatest resort, was a colony of Corey ra,
under the name of Epi-damnns^ ; but which,
having changed its name to Dyrrachium t for
the evil omen that the signification of it indi-
cated, is now called Durazzo. Receding to-
wards the south, to the neighbourhood of the
river Aous, ApoHonia, at some distance from
the sea, distinguished itself by the cultivation
of Greek literature; and we recognise the
* Called Drin-noir in tin 1 original.
-f From in, prope, ai:d Jaaaiw,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 199
vestiges of this city in its mutilated name of
Polina. On a gulf which penetrates deeply
into the land, the name of Aulon is now pro-
nounced Valona; and the fortress raised upon
an adjacent mountain preserves in the name
of Canina some traces of that of Chaonia,
which was adjacent, and comprised in Epirus.
Oricum had a port at the bottom of this gulf.
Advancing in the country, we find the city of
Elyma, which appears to have communicated
its name to the territory of Elymiotis, pene-
trating into Macedon Proper. This city may
be that which in the Slavonian language is
called Arnaut Beli-grad, or the city of the
White Albanois. Scampis, on a great Roman
way, shows itself under the name of Iscampi.
But a principal city of the interior country,
and attributed to the Dassaretii was Lycknidus y
near a lake from which the Drino derives its
course. The Bulgarians, who composed a
great state, more than an age after the reign
of Justinian, or in the eighth of the Christian
sera, took Lychnidus for their capital, chang-
ing its name to Achrida, which still subsists.
This city is erroneously thought to be Justi-
niana Prima, which I shall mention in speak-
ing of Dardania. Dibra, which is lower
down the Drino, indicates Deborus ; and the
200 COMPENDIUM OF
map will give some other positions^ which an
expedition of Perseus, the last king of Mace-
don, into this part of lllyricum, has rendered
worthy to bo known.
Macedon, in its more ancient state, was
bounded on the west by the country whereof
we have just spoken, and confined on the east
by Thrace; by which it was even contracted
before the borders of the river Strymon were
comprised in it. It had Dardania on the
north, and was bounded on the south by
Thessaly. But in the interior of a country so
renowned there is still wanting much of the
actual intelligence from which ancient geo-
graphy derives its most important illustration.
The most considerable of its rivers, however,
Axius, now Vardari, issuing from Mount
Scardus in Dardania, and receiving in its
course the greatest number of streams of the
country, falls into the Sinus Thermiacm^ or
the Gulf ot Thessalonica, after having commu-
nicated by a canal with the Eji^on, which
is also augmented by the Astr^us, or Vistriza.
On the confines of Thessaly Hallacmon
discharges itself into the same gulf, near a
place which, bearing heretofore the same
riamr with the river, is now known under that of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 201
Platamona. The Strymon, taking its source
in what is called Despoto-dag, or the Moun-
tain of the Prince, is received into the gulf,
which, from its name, was called Stnjmonicus
Sinus. The mounts Scardus and Orbdus, of
Dardania, which are called Monte Argentaro,
cover the country by which Macedon is ter-
minated towards the north.
This northern part bore the name of P tea-
ma, and divers nations comprised under this
name extended to the frontiers of Thrace.
The name of Pelagonia sometimes supplied
the place of it, and penetrating into the inte-
rior of Macedon had Stobi for the principal
city. And when Macedon was formed into
two provinces, this was the metropolis of one
of them ; while the capital of the other division
was called Salutaris. The situation of a par-
ticular canton towards the beginning of the
Erigon, named Deuriopus, is more certainly
determined than many others by this circum-
stance. The position of a city of the name
of Heraclea is given by its situation on a Ro-
man way leading from Lychnidus to Thessalo-
nica; and this city indicates the canton of /,?/-
cestis, since we know it to have been included
therein. That of Eordd-a appears to have
'202 COMPENDIUM OF
been contiguous, towards the Illyrian country.
The most distinguished country of Macedon,
and most adorned with cities, was Emafkia.
Edessa, otherwise called sEgc, or the city of
the Goat, was the royal city before Pella; and
it still retains the first of these names, as well
as that of Moglena, the name of the country
in its environs. Pclla, which had taken rank
of Edessa, was advantageously situated on a
lake, which communicated with the sea by a
river called Ludias, holding a parallel course
with the Vardari. Two lakes are observed in
this canton, one of which, named Ostrovo, is
mentioned in a time posterior to antiquity, as
being commanded by a castle named Bodena,
seated on a rock*; and it is said that the ruins
of Pella are called Palatisa, or the Little
Palace. Be?\ra, another considerable city,
subsists under the name of Cara-Veria, or the
Black Berea. We find in the interior country
the city of Celethrum, which a lake encloses;
and this situation accords with that described
under the Greek emperors by the name of
Castoria. On the western side of the Ther-
maicGulf, in adistrict called Picria, where the
Romans finished the conquest of the kingdom
of Macedon, Pijdfia, which was otherwise
named Citron, subsists in Kitro. The last
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 203
city on this shore is Dium, known at present
by the name of Stan-Dia; in which a prepo-
sition of place precedes the proper name,
according to the usage which in latter times
had become prevalent in this part of the Ro-
man- empire.
East of the Axius lies Mygdojzia, one of the
most extensive countries of Macedon, and
which was conquered, with a great part from
Thrace, by the predecessors of Alexander.
Thessalonica, which under the Romans be-
came the capital of Macedon, was called
Therm a before Cassander gave it the name of
his wife, the sister of Alexander; and it still
flourishes under the name of Saloniki. To-
wards the north of Mygdonia may be named
Idomene, and Eropus ad A.rium. Then de-
scending south, we meet with Anthemus and
Apollonian which last (as well as the city of
the same name in Epirus) is called Polina:
and declining still towards the sea we find
Chalcis. The foundation of JE?iia, on a gulf
below the Thessalonic, is attributed to /Eneas.
Potidcea, situated on a isthmus, defended the
entrance of a peninsula named Pallene. This
city had been renewed under the name of
Ciissandria ; and it is remarkable, that the
204 COMPENDIUM OF
opening of the isthmus is still called the
Gates of Cassander. The point of the penin-
sula is called PHlouri, and also Canouistro, by
depravation of the name Canastrceum, which
heretofore distinguished the promontory from
the peninsula. This cape separated the Ther-
maicns Sinus from that which the city of
Torone, or Toron, on the right in entering,
caused to be called Toronaicus. Osynthns is
remarked at the bottom of this gulf; and near
the position ascribed to it is a modern place
named Agiomarna. A gulf which a second
peninsula separates from the Toronaic, and
which was called Singiticus^ washes one of
the flanks of the famous Mount Athos, and the
Strymonicus Sinus the other. This mountain,
which, from its monasteries, is now called
Agios-Oros, or Monte-Santo, is only connect-
ed with the continent by a low and narrow
tongue of land, which was easily opened by
Xerxes, to afford a passage to his fleet, as re-
ported in history. Staqyra, whose maritime
situation corresponds with that of Stauros,
must also be mentioned as famous for having
produced Aristotle.
Amphipolis, situated at the angle which the
two mouths of the Stninion form, was so
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 205
named by the Athenians, to express an ambi-
guous position between Macedon and Thrace.
The place was named Nove?)i VLc, or the
Nine Ways; and the name of Amphipolis is
now lamboli. Near a river called Pontus
was the city of Heraclea, which, from the
canton where it was situated, was surnamed
Sintica; and this river, at the issue of a lake
named Carcinitis (adjacent to which is a
place called Marmara), fails into the Strymon,
near the division of its stream. Advancing
towards the frontier, and a little above the
sea, we find the ruins of Philippi, which owed
its name to Philip, the father of Alexander,
and whose plains were the scene of a battle
fatal to Brutus and Cassius. The name of
Drame is sometimes erroneously transferred to
these ruins from a place in the same canton,
called heretofore Drahescus. I n an ad vantage-
ous situation for maritime commerce was
the emporium* Neapolis, now Cavale. Two
* The term is Ec/tcllt; or ladder, in the original, which
the French apply peculiarly to the ports in the Levant, and
which is said, by the translator of the Memoirs of the.
Baron de Tott,to be tunned of the Turkish \\ord Tskelt', a
iort of pier built on piles, \vith steps, to UicilitaU- the land-
ing and embarkation of merchandise. But as the Turks
construct any thing either f^r utility or ornament.,
206 COMPENDIUM OF
precipices of Pangteus, which is a mountain-
ous branch detached from Rhodope, so nearly
approach the sea as to form narrow defiles on
its beach, the passages of which were closed
and defended by walls; and these brows of the
mountain are now called Castagnas. Oppo-
site to a point directly under the farthest of
these Castagnas, the isle called Tliasus, which
still retains the name of Thapso, is only sepa-
rated from the continent by a narrow channel.
This island, rendered famous by its marbles, is
thought to have been first settled bv the
V
Phoenicians.
G R & C I A.
Under this title we comprehend all that
which, south of the former part, is included
between the Ionian Sea and the Gulf of
Corinth on the one side, and the yEgean Sea
on the other. Epirus and Thessalia fill the
northern part of this space j and, looking
it seems more- probable that they gave this name, corrupted
from the Latin Scalu or Gratlus, to moles or piers which
they found already made in Asia Minor, Syria, and Greece,
when they conquered those count rit-.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 20?
from west to east, Epirus precedes Thessaly.
The shore of Epirus commences at a point
named Acro-ccraunia, directly opposite to the
heel of Italy, and terminated by mountains
which, by reason of their precipitate elevation,
are obnoxious to thunder-bolts, and thence
called Acro-ceraunii* Mantes. This point is
named Linguetta by the Italians, and Glossa
by the Greeks. The canton situated in these
mountains, and along the sea, was named
Chaonidj and the name Chimera, which was
that of a maritime place of Chaonia, is now
applied to the whole country. Thesprotia
follows, and is one of the principal parts of
Epirus, extending to the entrance of the Gulf
of Ambracia. Buthrotum is there distinguish-
ed more than any other place, and still sub-
sists under the name of Butrinto. Corcyra is
separated by a very narrow channel from the
continent of Epirus, opposite to Thesprotia.
This is the isle of the Pheacians, in Homer.
The city of the same name with the isle, and
which received a colony of Corinthians, who
became powerful, did not occupy- precisely
the site which is given to the modern city,
but was confined to a peninsula, which they
* I'rom xj o,-, sumaius. and K^y.-y^;, fulmen.
208 COMPENDIUM OP
call Chersopoli; and the present name Corfu,
derived from a Greek term signifying an ele-
vation, has no relation to the ancient. The
interior of Epirus is little known. We know,
however, that a river named Acheron falls into
the Ghjkyslimen*, or tranquil Port ; on which
is a place preserving the name in Glykeon,
Dodone, celebrated for being the seat of the
most ancient oracle of Greece, was sequester-
ed in the interior country. Molossis, the
country of the Molosses, a prevailing nation
in Epirus, extended along the Ambracius
Sinus, which received its name from Atnbracia,
the royal city of Pyrrhus and his race.
This city was on a river named Arethon^
which has given the name of Arta to" a city
situated a little above the site of the ancient
Ambracia; and Arta, having become the
capital of the country, has communicated its
name to the gu-f. The camp which the
victor occupied at Acthnu became the site of
a city under the name of \icopolis-\-, the pri-
vileges of which caused the decline of A nib ru-
cia. Its position is known in that of Prevesa-
Vecchia. Pindu* separates the interior of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 209
Epirus from Thessaly; and among many par-
ticular countries on the declivity of this great
mountain, Athamania appears to have been
the most considerable.
Thessaly is bounded on three sides by
mountains; towards the north by Olympus,
which runs along the sea-coast to Mount
Stymphe ; on the west by Pifidus, and on the
south by (Eta. The Peneus traverses the
country from west to east, to discharge itself
into the Thermaic Gulf, after having received
a great number of rivers; of which the most
considerable appears to be Apidanus, on the
right shore, now called Salampria. The differ-
ent countries which divide Thessaly are
Estiteotis and Pelasgiotis, in the neighbour-
hood of the Peneus; the one towards its source,
and the other on its stream below; Thessalio-
tis more southward, and Phthiotis too ap-
proaching the sea withal. The nation of
Perrh&bi gives the name of Perrhxbia to the
country adjacent to the mountains north of
Thessaly. Dolopia is detached towards the
confines of that which we shall see in the
sequel belonging to
We have very little actual knowledge of
VOL. I. P
210 COMPENDIUM OF
this country; and our confession of ignorance
we reluctantly repeat in speaking of Greece.
Larissa, the domain of Achilles, was the most
considerable of the Thessalian cities, and it
still subsists in the same position, without any
alteration in its name. It is after having left
this city on its right, that the Peneus, enclosed
between Olympus and Ossa, in a narrow and
rapid course, is discharged into the sea by a
mouth called Lycastomo, or the Wolfs
Mouth; and the whole length of this passage,
through wild and picturesque scenes, is the
famous valley of Tempc. To enter upon a
detail of some particular places, Gomphi and
Tricca are distinguished towards the fountains
of the Peneus: the last of these cities is known
under the name of Tricala; and we recognise
the name of Oloosson in Alessone. Azorus
was the principal city of Pcla^onia, surnamed
Tripolitis, or the Three Cities, towards the
frontier of Macedon, as the expedition of a
Roman commander against Perseus has shewn.
loannia is still a considerable citv, but does
not give the name of lanna to Thessaly, as
books and maps erroneously report. Thessaly
appears to owe its modern name to that of the
river lun, flowing into the) Pencils. Passing
south of the Peneus, we find Pharsalus un the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 211
river Enipeus, which the Apidanus receives.
This place, which a signal and decisive battle
has rendered ever memorable, preserves in the
maps the name of Farsa, Beyond Pher<e, and
at the bottom of the gulf named Pelasgicus,
and now Volo, was the city of Demetrias,
which owed its foundation and name to Deme-
trius Poliorcetes: and this was deemed by
Philip one of the proper posts to impose chains
on Greece. On the side of this gulf the city of
Thtb^ was distinguished from that of Boeotiaby
the surname of Phthiotic<e. The entrance of the
gulf had a port from which it is pretended
that the ship Argo took her departure, and
its name of Aphetx preserves some traces in
that of Fetio. Magnesia, without the gulf
near the promontory of Sepias, where the
fleet of Xerxes suffered from tempests, has
communicated its name to a canton of this
country. Opposite are ranged many isles
south of the Thermaic Gulf: the principal of
these are Sciathus, Scopelus, Halonnesus, and
Peparethus ; of which the two first preserve
their names.
But, returning to the interior country, we
shall mention a city seated on an elevation
that immediately commanded the plain,-: of
p Cl
2l l J COMPENDIUM OF
Thessaly. It was called Thaumacta*, from the
sentiment of admiration wherewith the spec-
tator was impressed on contemplating from it
a delightful and luxuriant prospect, after hav-
ing been among gorges and precipices, which
must be passed to enter Thessaly on the side
of Phocis. Lamia is remarkable for having
given the title to a war which the Greeks
maintained with Macedon after the death of
Alexander. The Sperchius is not far distant
from it. This river, issuing from the remotest
part of Mount (Eta, and having passed
Hi/pata, whose women were reputed skilled
in magic, falls into the Sinus Maliacus, which
succeeds the Pelasgicus. Farther on, and
upon the southern side of the gulf, begin the
famous defiles of Thermopylae In a little
plain among the mountains was placed a city
named Trachys, or the Rugged. It is also
called Heraclea Trachinia, from Hercules, who
is said to have been thrown upon his funeral
pile on the summit of Mount (Eta, which is
not far distant. This position is now occupied
by n. city which has communicated its name
of Zeilou to the Mali;ic Gulf.'
Having thus terminated '1 hessaly, we must
ii turn towards ihe Ionian Sea. That which
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
was called Acarnania, and whose name is not
entirely lost in that of Carnia, was separated
from Epirus by the Sinus Ambracius. This
country extended along the strand of the sea
to the rnouth of the river Achelous ; the course
of which formed the separation of Acarnania
and ^Etolia. This river, which descends
from Mount Find us, is now named Aspro Po-
tamo, or the White River; and we are in-
formed that there issues from it a derivation,
which is believed to run into the gulf of Arta,
or Ambracia. But its main stream falls into
the sea opposite the Eckinade$ 3 little low flat
isles which are almost joined to the continent
by continued alluvions of the river : and apart
from these are other little pointed isles named
Oxi&, now called Curzolari. Anaclorium was
the first place in entering the gulf; preceding
even the position of Act him, whose ruins are
distinguished by the name of Azio. And it
was in a basin, contracted by two correspond-
ing points, and interior to the more capacious
bay, that the famous naval combat was ex-
hibited which decided the empire of the
world. Argos, surnamed Amphilochum, gives
still to the canton where this city existed the
name of Filoquia. Stratus is spoken of as a
strong place in Acarnania, at which we
214 COMPENDIUM OF
arrive by ascending the Acheloiis ; and the
City of CEniadte was placed near the entrance
of this river. But, to describe the rest of
Acarnania, we must depart from the continent.
Leucadidy which preserves the same name,
bearing also that of Neritus, was previously a
peninsula, but has been insulated by art, in
dividing a low and narrow beach, by which
this portion of land was prolonged from the
main. The city of Leitcas, which gives it the
name, is not in the same position with that
of a Venetian place named Santa-Maura.
Cepkallenia, or, according to the modern or-
thography, Cefalonia, being a situation more
immediate to Leucadia than any other we
have to mention, should find a place here.
In the interior country, a city of the same
name with the isle has changed this name for
Borgo; and near the eastern shore \\e find a
position called Same, which also appears to
have been a name for the entire island. A
channel of the sea separates this shore from
another isle called the Little Cefalonia: but
which, in its proper name of Theaki, appears
to represent that of Ithaca: and it would
appear absurd to confine the name of Ithaca
to a holm that lies before Theaki, since that
bears the name of lotaco. And we see in
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 215
Homer that Ulysses commanded the Cephalle-
nians, without whom his domain would have
been extremely contracted.
JEtolia succeeds to Acarnania, and from the
margin of the sea penetrates to the mountains
on the confines of Thessaly, where the Vala-
ques, who were transported thither by the
Greek emperors, still inhabit; whence this
canton has taken the name Vlakia. The
/Etolians are seen playing a distinguished
part under the last kings of Macedon, till com-
pelled to yield to the irresistible fortune of the
Roman arms. The river Evenus, which tra-
verses this country through the whole length
of its course, is now called Fidari. Calydon is
seated towards the lower part of it: but the
principal city of ./Etolia was in the interior
country, and named Thermits ; and which an
expedition of Philip, son of Demetrius, has
made known, together with some other local
circumstances of the same canton.
Entering Phocis, we must speak of the
Locri y surnamed OzoLc, or 111 -scented, accord-
ing to the fable which reports that the arrows
of Hercules, dipped in the blood of the Hvdra
of Lerna, and being there buried by Philoo
216 COMPENDIUM OF
tetes, exhaled a mephitic odour. They were
also distinguished by the surname of Hesfyerii t
or Western, from those who inhabited the
east of Phocis, opposite Euboea. Naupactus,
which we call Lepanto by a strange depra-
vation of the name Enebect, formed by the
Greeks from that of Naupact, is the principal
city of Locris. It is to be remarked that,
according to antiquity, the Sinus Corinthiacus
commences on the coast of ytolia, from the
mouth of the Achelotis, before it is much con-
tracted by two points, Rhiinn, and Anti-
Rhium, which, being fortified with castles,
have acquired the name of the Dardanelles of
Lepanto ; the name of Lepanto being also
communicated to the gulf. And it was also
in this anterior part of the Corinthiac gulf,
and not under Lepanto, which is beyond the
strait, that the Christian and Ottoman fleets
contended in the year 1571. On the frontiers
of Phocis, Amphi.wa, which has taken the
name of Salona, belongs also to the Locrians.
Phocis offers nothing more celebrated than
Delphi, and Parnassus Mons, which covers
this city towards the north. Delphos is now
a small place named Castri ; and the most ele-
vated point of Mount Parnassus is called
Heliocoro. Crisxa t to the south of Delphos,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 21?
gave the name of Criss<sus Sinus to the part
of the Corinthiac gulf which is now called
the Gulf of Salona. Anticyra, on the isthmus
of a peninsula, has taken the name of Aspro-
Spitia. The little mountainous country of
Doj^is gives birth to the river Cephissus; and
near to its course Elatia, the greatest city in
Phocis, exists only in a very small place call-
ed Turco-chorio. The Locri, whom the city
of Op'as had surnamed Opuntii, and those who
from Mount Cnemis were called Epi-Cnemidii,
bordered on the sea which separated this part
of the continent from Euboea. The famous
strait of TlwrmopyLe, Avhere, between Mount
CEta and the sea, there is only passage for a
single file of waggons, belonged to the Epi-
Cnemides. Therms, or warm baths, in this
passage, with the addition of the Greek ap-
pellative for gates, caused it to be so called.
And it was here that a handful of Lacedemo-
nians undertook to stop the entrance of the
army of Xerxes into Greece.
succeeding Phocis, extends along
the sea opposite Eubrea; and, touching on
the other side of the Corinthiac gulf, is bound-
ed by Attica on the south. The land here
being rich and fertile, and the air more thicl*:
218 COMPENDIUM OF
than in Attica, of which the soil is dry and
sterile, is thought to have made the fancied
difference in the minds and genius of the na-
tives of these two countries. The Cephissus
falls into a spacious lake named Copais , the
redundancy of whose waters passing under a
mountain, communicates, by numerous rivu-
lets, with the sea. In the interior country
Tkebtf, which owed its foundation to Cadmus
the Phenician, and from whom the citadel of
this city was called Cadmea, retains some
vestiges under the name of Thiva. Destroyed
by Alexander, who spared only the house of
Pindar, it rose again from its ruins. Lebadea,
distinguished by the oracle of Trophonius in
a cavern where he was precipitated, appears
to be the capital city ; whence it comes that
the country bears, improperly, the name of
Livadia in the maps. Cheroncca is found, as
well as the preceding city, in the most north-
ern part of Bosotia, towards Phocis. Chero-
nseais rendered famous by a victory of Philip,
father of Alexander, over the Greeks, and
for one of Sylla over the generals of Mithri-
dates, and still more for having given birth to
Plutarch. Orchomenus was reputed so opu-
lent in the earliest times, that its riches be-
<;ame proverbial. Hfcliartus^ on the side of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 219
lake Copais, was destroyed by the Romans in
the first Macedonian war. The ridge formed
by Helicon, now called Zagaro-vouni, covers
the city of Thespitf on the north ; and at the
bottom of the Corinthiac gulf we may cite
Leuctra, not far distant, as a place which the
victory of Epaminondas over the Lacedemo-
nians has illustrated. Plattea, whose name
recalls to memory the defeat of the Persians
commanded by Mardonius, is separated from
Eleuther< by Mount Cytharon. The Asopus,
which traverses the plain terminated by mount
Parnes, separating Bceotia from Attica,
meets the sea below Tanagara. Aulis was
the rendezvous of the Grecian army embark-
ing for the Trojan expedition. There are
distinguished two of these havens, Megalo
and Micro- Vathi, the great and little port;
as the Aulis of Boeotia and that of Euripus; of
which last we shall speak in treating of
Euboea.
The name of Attica is derived from the
Greek term Actt, denoting a shore or beach;
and Attica justifies this etymology of its name,
by having two sides embraced by the sea.
We shall extend it to the isthmus, compris-
ing therein Megaris, which nevertheless pre-
220 COMPENDIUM OF
tended to the separate dignity of an indepen-
dent state. Athene, whose glory is well
known on the subject of the fine arts, which
from her bosom were diffused through all the
nations where they are best cultivated, pre-
serves its name under the form of Atheni; and
it is by depravation, and by prefixing the pre-
position of place, that Athens is called
Setines by the uninformed. This city, though
situated at some distance from the sea, had
nevertheless three ports; the principal of
which, although the most distant, named
Pir&us, now Porto-Leone, had a communica-
tion with the city by means of two walls forty
stadia in length. Munychia and Phalerus
were the two other ports. Among the moun-
tains of Attica, Hymettus and Pentelicus,
near Athens, are the most known; that for
the honey which il afforded, and this for its
marble. We know how much the mysteries
of Ceres distinguished Eleusi.f, the name of
which is now pronounced Lessina. The isle
of Salamis, which takes the name of Colouri
from a place that it contains, leaves but narrow
passages to the cove which the sea forms
before this city. Near the opposite shore,
Marathon preserves the same name, which a
victory of tho Athenians over the Persians has
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
rendered immortal. Among the events of the
Peloponnesian war, there is a particular circum-
stance which may create a curiosity concern-
ing the position of Decelia, on the route from
Athens to Chalcis in Eubcea. Attica, ex-
tremely contracted between two seas, termi-
nates at the promontory of Sunium; where
the columns still standing of a temple of
Minerva have caused it to be called Cabo
Colonni. It is separated towards the east,
by a narrow channel, from an island named,
by reason of its length, Macris, otherwise
Helena, and which preserves the name of
Macro-nisi. But we must not leave Attica
without speaking of Megara : its district call-
ed Megaris, separated from Eleusis by the
brow of a mountain, is extended towards the
isthmus. The city retains its name, a little
distant from the shore, where it had a port
named
Eubcea is comprised in our present division.
as covering Breotia and Attica; and only sepa-
rated by a channel, so narrow in one place as
to permit it to be connected with the continent
by a bridge. Chalcis was the principal city of
this great island, and one of the three that, in
the judgement of the king of Maccdon,
COMPENDIUM OF
would enable their possessor to enslave Greece.
This city derives its present name of Egripo,
or Eg'rivo (as the modern Greeks pronounce
it), from the Euripus, or the strait on which
it is seated; and where, under the arches of
the bridge above mentioned, the sea makes a
fluctuation as regular as extraordinary*.
From this name of Egripo mariners have
through ignorance formed that of Negropont,
which disgraces in some measure the charts
wherein it appears. Eretria was the second
city in Euboea, at a short distance from Chal-
cis, on the same shore: and a place which the
Greeks now call Gravalinais, appears to corre-
spond with its position. Towards the north,
and opposite the entrance of the Pelasgic
gulf, Orcus, otherwise Istuea, from a primi-
tive name, was a place of consideration, and
still subsists in the name of Orio. Edepsus is
also recognised in the name of Dipso. At the
southern extremity of Euboea, Carystus, whose
marble \vas esteemed, retains the name of
Caristo. The authors of antiquity describe
the Caphareum Promontorium, at the same
* Hence the name Euripus; compounded of ty, bene t &nA
i-l-rrruj, projiciu, quia facile projidtur; or, fluctuating.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
height on the ./Egean Sea, as a place of peril-
ous navigation.
PELOPONNESUS.
The Peloponnesus owes its name to Pelops,
son of Tantalus, king of Phrygia; with the
addition of a Greek term, which would inti-
mate that the country was an island, although
it adheres to the continent by an isthmus.
From the line of its coast being serrated by
numberless inlets, and more deeply indented
by many gulfs, it has been assimilated to a
leaf; and from that of a mulberry it has ac-
quired the name of- Morea*. Six countries
compose the Peloponnesus Achaia, Argolis,
Laconia, Messenia, Elis, arranged successively
on the sea in the circumference of the country;
and Arcadia, which occupies its centre. A
detail of rivers and mountains is reserved for
a particular description of these states: two
principal rivers however, the Alpheus and
Eurotas, may be described before entering
upon the detail, as relating to the whole sub-
ject. The first has its source in Arcadia, on
the confines of Laconia; and quits Arcadia to
* The Italian name fora mullx-rrv.
224 COMPENDIUM OF
traverse Klis. The second is included in the
extent of Laconia; and lias taken the name of
Vasilipotamo, or the Royal River. Concern-
ing the gulfs that environ the Peloponnesus,
it may be said that the northern part is bound-
ed by the Sinus Corinthiacus ; the Saronicus
opens between Argolis and Attica; Argolicus
succeeds it, between Argolis and Lacouia; and
finally, the Laconicus and Messeniacus y sepa-
rated by a great promontory, penetrate the
southern and western part. Achaia is a mar-
gin of land which, along the Corinthiac gulf,
occupies the northern side of the Peloponne-
sus from the isthmus; comprehending the
districts of Corinth and Sicyon, which have
their particular names of Corinthia and Sicyo-
nia. It is remarkable that it was under the
name of Achaians that the Greeks contended
for their liberties against the Roman power:
whence it happened that, under the general
name of Achaia, conquered Greece became a
province of the Roman empire; and the name
of Greecia does not appear among the pro-
vinces enumerated in the Notice of the Em-
pire. The- Isilnnux which affords entrance
to the Peloponnesus, i.s now called Hexa-
Mili ; its breadth beimv estimated at six modern
Greek miles, which are shorter than the Ro-
man. The 7.>V//;/;;/y \\iii 1 - cV^thud to the eel?--
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
bration of games called Isthmian, which, in a
place contracted by two seas, were dedi-
cated to Neptune. Corinthus, a rich and
powerful city, whose situation on the opening
of the isthmus might make one of the shackles
of Greece in the opinion of Philip, owed its
re-establishment to Caesar, after having been
erased to the foundations in the war of the
Romans against the Achaian league. And a
wretched hamlet on its site still recalls it to
memory, in the name of Corito. This city
had two ports j Lechteum, on the Corinthiac
gulf, and Cenchretc, on the Saronic; besides a
citadel on the pike of a mountain, which, by
reason of its situation, was named Acro-Corin*
thus. Sicyon, from its having been governed
by kings in a remote age, has taken the name
of Basilico. In the interior of Sicyon, which
a river traverses named Asopus, Phlius is a
city to be mentioned ; and its name still ap-
pears, with the preposition of place prefixed,
in Staphlica. Pallene, at a distance from the
sea, is without this district. After having
mentioned JEgira, we shall pass to JEgium,
where the states of Achaia were held; and
which is thought to have been replaced by
Vostitza, on the borders of the gulf. Patrx
subsists with the name of Patras ; and that of
VOL. I. Q
226 COMPENDIUM OF
Tritri indicates the position of Trittta, in the
heart of the country. Dijme was the last city
of Achaia on the gulf terminated by the pro-
montory of Araxum, now called Papa.
The country of Ar soils derives its name
^ c?
from the city of Argos, one of the most re-
nowned in Greece, and still existing in the
name of Argo. Its little river, which from the
most ancient king of the country was named
Inachns, loses itself in a morass near the sea.
Mycenae, having become after Argos the resi-
dence of kings, was that of Agamemnon.
Tyrius had been the dwelling of other princes ;
and its sequestered situation is found expressed
in the name of Vathia*, which the place now
bears. It is deeply bosomed in mountains;
and the entrance to it is through a narrow
gorge, which affords a bed for a torrent. Nc-
?nea, on the confines of Corinthia, must also be
mentioned. Nauplia is si ill a place of consi-
deration, under the name of Napli (not Napoli,
as we call it), with the surname of Romania;
and this town communicates its name to the
Argolic gulf, at the bottom of which it js si-
* From pa.^'c, prt'/'iniiliia ; the- modi-ru (>ri.c!,< c< nvir:-
i;;si tht- i into ;.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
tuated on a tongue of land. On the same pa-
rallel, towards the opposite shore, we discover
in a pool called Molini the lake Lerna> which
its Hydra has made famous; as the lion, killed
also by Hercules, has made the forest of Ne-
mea. Epidaurus, on the Saronic gulf, which
a particular adoration rendered to Esculapius
distinguished, preserves its name under the
form of Pidavra. Egina is directly opposite,
not far from the continent of Argolis; and we
see in history that the inhabitants of this isle
were powerful in their marine. An alteration
of the name has made that of Engia, by which
the Saronic gulf is also denoted. A place
named Damala occupies the position of
Trcezen; and the remains of Hermione are
called Castri. The Scyllamm Promontorium,
which is the most advanced point of Pelopon-
nesus towards the east, and fronts the Suninum
of Attica, retains the name in Skilleo.
Laconia succeeds Argolis: its name under
O
the Greek empire took the form Tzaconia;
and it is erroneously that in modern maps the
name of Sconia appears in the centre of
Argolis. It is well known how much the
laws and the martial valour of the Spartans
distinguished their nation in Greece. It is
o ?
228 COMPENDIUM OF
known also that the names of Lacedamon and
Sparta were common to the same city. The
river Eurotas envelops it so as to form a
peninsula; and the place which this city
occupied is called Paleo-Chori, or the Old
Town. The New Town, under the name of
Misitra, at some distance towards the west, is
sometimes erroneously confounded with Sparta.
The worship of Apollo gave some lustre to
Amyclte, not far from Sparta, towards the
south. On the coast of the Argolic gulf the
most remarkable place is Epidaurus, with the
surname of Limera, the site of which is now
called Malvasia-Vecchia, as being in the
vicinity of Napoli of Malvasia, a strong place
on an insulated rock. The promontory of
Male a, which terminates this coast, retains
the name of Malio, although otherwise called
Sant'-Angelo. Cythera, now Cerigo, an isle
consecrated peculiarly to Venus, lies off this
promontory. About midway up the Laconic
gulf, Gythium served as the port to the city of
Sparta; and is now known by the name of
Colo-Kythia, which it has communicated to
the gulf. The Tcenarium Promontorium,
which is the land of the Peloponnesus the
most advanced towards the south, is now
named Metupan, from the Greek word metd-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 229
pon, which signifies a front. It is formed by
a great mountain, whose name was Taygetus,
and which was prolonged towards the north
till it joined the mountains of Arcadia. It is
inhabited by a particular nation, who derive
their name of Mainote from a castle called
Maina, situated on the western acclivity; but
it does not appear that they ever extended
their name over all Laconia, as expressed in
the modern maps. Several places, for the
most part maritime, having been detached
from the Lacedemonian government, and
enfranchised by Augustus, were hence distin-
guished by the denomination of Elcuthero-
Lacones, or the free Lacons.
Messenia is situated at the end and along
the sides of the gulf which was thence called
Messeniacus; and beyond this gulf it is bound-
ed by the Ionian Sea. The river Pamisus,
which is described as more considerable than
we should infer from the length of its course,
is received into the gulf towards the middle of
its extent. Messene, from which the country
received its name, is distant from the coast to-
wards the confines of Arcadia. Its ruins are
called in the country Mavra-matia, or the
Black Eyes, according to the signification
230 COMPENDIUM OF
attached to it; and the mount It home, which
served it as a citadel, is named Vnlcano.
Stenyclarus refers to a place whose name is
Nisi; and Corone retains its name uncorrupted.
Beyond the promontory of Acritas, now Capo
Gallo, which terminates the gulf, the (Enussce
isles are Sapienza and Cabrera, in sight of
Methane, or Modon; and Navarin has taken
the position of Pylus. The city of the same
name, however, in Thucydides, and whose
port was covered by a little isle named Sphac-
teria (in which the Athenians invested a party
of Spartans), does net agree with this position ;
but with that whereof the modern name is
Zonchio, otherwise Avaranio-Vecchio; which
last form appears to be derived from Erana,
mentioned in antiquity. Cyparissus corre-
sponds with a place now called Arcadia; and
the sea making an opening in the land, in this
part, sufficiently discernible', was called Cypa-
rissius Sinus. The river Neda, whose source
is in Arcadia, terminates Messenia. Towards
the banks of this river, the fortress of Ira,
which was the last place held by the Messe-
nians against their implacable enemies the
Lacedemonians, should not be forgotten.
Elis, extending along the Ionian Sea to the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 231
frontiers of Achaia, is bounded by Arcadia
towards the east. Its southern part contiguous
to Messenia, was distinguished by the name of
Triphylia; and in this canton was a place of
the name of Pylus, which disputed with that
of Messenia the honour of having belonged to
old Nestor j antiquity itself being not decided
on this article. Olympia, whose name is dis-
tinguished by the most celebrated games per-
formed in Greece, was seated on the left bank
of the Alpheus, at some distance from its
mouth ; while Pisa was opposite on the other.
The reader perhaps would not imagine that we
are still uncertain of the identity of a position
so celebrated; and that it is only by a mere
presumption, that what we find under the name
of Rofeo, by alteration from Alfeo, represents
it. Elis, which gave its name to this part of
the Peloponnesus, and which was invested
with the prerogative of presiding at the Olym-
pic games, was situated in the most spacious
canton of the country, on a river of the same
name with the Peneus of Thessaly, though
much inferior to it in magnitude. It is thought
that a place named Gastonni occupies the
site of this city. There is still another place,
named Pylus, farther advanced in the country
than Elis. But on the sea from which Elis
COMPENDIUM OF
was distant, Cyllene, now a place uninhabited
under the name of Chiarenza, was the port
of the Elians. A promontory named Chelo-
nitcs, now Cabo Torneso, is the most ad-
vanced point of the Peloponnesus towards the
west, and which a canal of the sea separates
from Zacinfhus, or the isle of Zante. Two
shoals rather than isles, to the south of Zante,
are the Strophades, which the poets have
peopled with harpies, and whose modern
name is Strivali.
There remains to be described a country
which, under the name of Arcadia, having no
communication with the sea, was contiguous,
in some part of its limits, to every other state
in the Peloponnesus. The nature of the coun-
try, environed by mountains, and fit for
the feeding of cattle, had attached its inhabit-
ants to a pastoral life: and the shepherds of
Arcadia, and of mount Manalusvh particular,
are celebrated by the poets. To those who
entered this country on the side of Argolis,
M (inline a was the first city that presented it-
self; and it is illustrated by a victory gained
over the Lacedemonians, which cost Epami-
nondas his life. It is thought that this city is
succeeded by that of Trapolizzaj and it is
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 233
judged that Tegea, which was also remark-
able on the same frontier, had the same posi-
tion with the modern place named Moklia.
North of Mantinea was a city of the same
name with Orchomenus, in Boeotia : and beyond
that, near the frontier of Argolis, is the lake
Stymphalus. In approaching the frontier of
Achaia, and of mount Cyllene, where it is pre-
tended that Mercury was born, Pheneos dis-
covers itself in the name of Phonia. The
Lado?i, and, on the limits of Elis, the Eryman-
thus, are the rivers that the Alpheus receives.
Hersea on the Alpheus was in the vicinity of
these limits. A place, whose name is Gari-
tena, appears to indicate the position ofGortys.
Megalopolis, or the great city, constructed by
the advice of Epaminondas, as a barrier to
Arcadia on the confines of Laconia, and on a
river named Hdisson, which joins the Alpheus,
corresponds in these circumstances with the
modern position of Leonard i. We shall ter-
minate this article of Arcadia with the men-
tion of Lyctfus, as one of the principal moun-
tains of the country, and having beneath it a
city named Lycosura, on the confines of
Messenia.
234 COMPENDIUM OF
CRETA ET CYCLADES.
The island of Crete, which nothing could
render more illustrious in antiquity than hav-
ing given birth to Jupiter, retains its name
under the form of Icriti, as the Turks pro-
nounce it. The application of the name of
the capital, which is Candia, to the island it-
self, appears to have arisen from the Vene-
tians. This island extends in length from
west to east, forming two promontories; on
one side Criu-Met6pon > which signifies the
ram's front, now simply Crio; the other
Samonium, vulgarly Salamone. Another pro-
montory, which advances towards the north,
and is called Spada, was heretofore named
Cimarus. Among the mountains which reign
throughout the island, Ida, where it is pretend-
ed that Jupiter was nursed in his infancy,
elevates itself in the centre of the country.
Cnossus or Gnosus, Gorfyna, and Cydonia,
were the three principal cities of Crete. The
first, at some distance from the northern shore,
and which is said to have been the residence
of Minos, has left no vestiges that are known.
Candia, Jess remote towards the east than
was Cnorsu^ is a new city; and which had
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 235
its commencement by being a post of the
Saracens in the ninth century. The ruins of
Gortyna are better known in receding from
Candia towards the south, on a little river
named Letlueus, at no great distance from the
ports which this city has upon the southern
coast. Subterranean passages in its environs
seem to represent a dasdalus or labyrinth,
which one is curious to find in this country.
Canea, one of the principal cities of the island,
has replaced Cijdonia; where should also be
its port under the name of Minoa. Cisamns,
which retains the name of Kisamo, on the
side of Cape Spada, served for a port to a city
named Aplera ; and another city, named
Polyrrhenia, is indicated as lying west of
Cydonia. Amphimalia is a gulf, on one side
of which is an insulated fortress, named Suda.
The position of Retimo, on the same northern
shore, gives us that of Rhitjj?nme. We must
make mention of f^ctos, one of the principal
cities of the country in the eastern part, and
whose name we discover in that of Lassiti.
At some distance its port of Cherronesus
accords with the position named Spin a Longa ;
although the name of Cherronesi be now trans-
posed to Porto-Tigani. Hiera-Pytna, where
the island contracted by the two seas is only
236 COMPENDIUM OF
sixty stadia in breadth, subsists in the altered
name of Girapetra. Of the little isles about
Crete, Dium 9 on the northern shore, is now
Stan-dia: Gaulos, towards the south, is the
Gozo of Candia, as there is one of the same
name by Malta ; and Mgilia y in the channel
which separates Citherea (or Cerigo) from
Crete, has taken the name of Cerigotto.
It is said that the isles called Cyclades, from
the Greek term Kudos., owe the name to
their encircling Delos; but it may more
plausibly be ascribed to the circumstance of
their being collected in the same part of the
/Egean Sea, adjacent to Greece. It is pro-
per to add, moreover, that the name of Archi-
pelago, by which we now call this sea, is no
other than an alteration of that of Egio-
pelago, according to the form of the Greek,
very far from being an expression of pre-
eminence in relation to other seas*. After
* This idea arose from the etymon of its altered name
which is 'Apyy, principal us, and UeAayof , wore ; a natural
and plausible error. The fate of this word, in its misappli-
cation, is singular ; for it is used, not as a generic term for
principal seas, but for cvclades, or groupes of islands.
Thus the Abbe Ravnal, in his History, denominates the
islands that lie off the Gulf of Mexico (which \ve, by the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
having doubled the Malean promontory of
the Peloponnesus, the first isle that presents
itself, and a considerable one among the Cy-
clades, is Mdos, or Milo: Cimolus is adjacent,
and has taken the name of Argentiera,
though that of Kimoli is still known.
Siphnus is Siphanto; Seriphus, Serpho; and
Cythnus has changed this name for that of
Thermia. Ceos, now Zia, is most adjacent to
the Sunium promontory, and more consider-
able in magnitude than either of the three pre-
cedent. Andros, or Andro, lies off the south,
ern extremity of Euboea, pointing in the same
direction; and Te?ios> or Tina, which seems to
have been a prolongation of the land, is only
separated by a narrow channel from the point
of Andros, having Syros, or Syra, on the west-
ern side.
We speak now of the famous Delvs, which
the opinion of its having produced Latona,
Apollo, and Diana, had exalted into such
high veneration, that it became at one time
way, as improperly call the West Indies), I' Archipel (f
Ameriqm; and the intelligent geographer, Major Kennel,
in his excellent Map of India, expresses a cluster of islands
on the coast of Sum, by the title of" Archipelago of Mcr-
238 COMPENDIUM OF
the sacred deposit of the riches which Greece
held in reserve, and acquired the enjoyment
of entire immunities with regard to commerce.
This spot of land, about three miles in length,
and less than a mile in breadth, exhibits now
but a hill of ruins: and joining it to Rhenea>
which is very near, the two isles are called
Sdili. Miconus, or My con i, is also very near
Delos, on the other side, or that of the east.
Hence inclining to the south, Xaxos, the
greatest of the Cyclades, fertile in wines, and
where Bacchus was honoured with a particu-
lar worship, is called Naxia. Paros, whose
white marble was in high esteem, is adjacent
towards the west; and a neighbouring isle
called Anti-paros, was named Oliarus. Amor-
gu.f retains the name of Amorgo. The name
of /OY is pronounced Nio; Sicinus and Plwle-
vandrus. Si kino and Policandro, are of little
note. Tkera has acquired a name by the
foundation of Cyrene in Libya. A volcano
has very much damaged this island, whose
modern denomination is Santorin. Anaphc is
Nonphio; and AstiipaLca, Stanpalia, may be
classed among the Cvclades, as the remotest
towards the oast. The Sporades, which art-
beyond, belong to Asia, and do not enter into
our present division. Bnt we must not omit
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 239
an isle separated from the rest by the interven-
tion of E,ubcea,Scyros, which the banishment of
Theseus, and thetemporarydwelling of Achilles,
served to illustrate, and which preserves the
name of Skiro. We defer speaking of Lem?ios,
as being much more remote, and in the
parallel of Troy, but which will become an
article in treating of another continent.
240 COMPENDIUM OF
VIII.
T II R A C I A
ET
M <E S I A.
D A C I A.
T H R A C I A.
the countries which we assemble in this
chapter, the first extends from the frontier of
Macedonia, along the /Egean Sea and the
Propontis, to the Euxine; while Mount
Hccmus separates it from Mcesia. It is de-
scribed in antiquity as a wild country, only
fertile in places near the sea; inhabited by na-
tions addicted to rapine, and of a character
corresponding with the local circumstances.
Mount Rlwdo})c envelopes it on the western
side, as does llcemus on the northern; and a
branch of this mountain extends to the Bos-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 241
pborus. The Hebrus, a great river issuing
from the valleys between Hsemus and Rho-
rlope, and receiving a great number of streams
that have their courses in the same extent of
country, falls into the jEgean Sea under the
name of Mariza. We find Thrace divided
among many kings before it fell under the
Roman domination, which did not happen till
the reign of Claudius. In the subdivisions
which the age of Dioclesian and Constantino
produced in the empire, Thrace was formed
into many provinces. That part which borders
the Propontis was called Europa, as being the
entrance of Europe, opposite the land of Asia;
which is only separated by the narrow channel
called the Bosphorus. Hgmi-montits was the
name of another province, which descended
to the Hebrus. Rhodope borders upon the
^Egean Sea; and the name of Thracia was
reserved for a portion of the country towards
the sources of the Hebrus. It is improperly
that the name of Romania appears exclusively
appropriated to Thrace in modern maps,
Roumeli* or Roum-Vilaiet, in the modern
state of things, is not a peculiar denomination
* RounifH M2niii.cs die territory occupied bv the /*;;
mans.
VOL. T. R
COMPENDIUM Ol-
for the country called heretofore Thrace; for
it is equally applicable to Greece.
These being premised, we take our depar-
ture from the limits of Macedon, to enter into
some detail of the country. The river Nestns,
or Mestiis, which retains the name of Mesto,
and Abdera, the native city of Democritus
the philosopher, present themselves the first.
The city of Xicopolis, built by Trajan on the
Nestus, preserves the same name. This dis-
trict of Thrace was occupied by a nation
whose name was Mccdica, and who had for
their capital a city called lamphronia, which
is not known. At the issue of a lake that
communicates with the sea, 7V /;/>, with the
praenomen of Uljria, which belonged to the
same emperor, occupied the position of a
place now named Bourun. M drone a, Mescm-
bria, Sarrum, and JEnos on one of the two
mouths of the Hebrus, subsist along the coast,
under the names of Marogna, Miscvria,
Castro-Saros, and Eno. Deviating from the
track of the shore, we shall make mention of
Scapta-hijla, where Thucydides wrote his his-
tory, and possessed gold mines in the right of
his wife in its environs. This place is recog-
nised in the name of Skipsilar. Ascending
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 243
the Hebrus, we find Cyftsea retaining the same
name. Cardia, situated towards the end of
the gulf contributing to form the Chersonese
which we shall presently describe, was destroy-
ed by Lysimachus, one of the successors of
Alexander, when he founded a new city, pre-
cisely at the entrance of this Chersonese, under
the name of Lysimaclda. It was also called
Hexa-milium, from the breadth of the isthmus,
which is here estimated at six miles ; and the
name of Hexarnili still subsists in this place.
The country called Ckersonesus, or Peninsula,
has on one side the gulf named Mdanes, and
on the other the narrow sea called the Helles-
pont, or the Strait of Dardanelles, as we now
say. On this strait Callipolis is distinguished
under the name of Gallipoli. But a little be-
yond it is a small stream named j$Lgos-potamos,
or the River of Goats; rendered memorable by
an event that proved ruinous to the affairs of
the Athenians, and terminated the Peloponne-
sian war, after twenty years' duration. Sestus>
which was the most frequented passage of the
Hellespont, only exists in a ruined place
named Zemcnic, which was the first that the
Turks seized in passing from Asia to Europe,
under their Sultan Or- Khan, about the year
13.56. Here it is proper to remark, that about
244 COMPENDIUM OF
the height of the Chersonese are two isles of
small extent in the /Egean Sea, named Sa?no-
thrace and Imbros, and which have preserved
their names in Samothraki and Imbro; the
former having been celebrated in antiquity as
sacred land, and an inviolable asylum.
Continuing to advance along the shore, we
find the sea enlarge itself, at the end of the
Hellespont, under the name of Propontis, be-
cause it precedes another sea, called Pontus
Euxinns. An isle which it includes, but near-
er to Asia than Europe, and of which the mo-
dern name is Marmora, communicates this
name to the Propontis, which is also called
the White Sea, in contradistinction to the
name of Black Sea which is given to the
Euxine. Among the principal places on its
shores, Ganos, the first that occurs, preserves
its name. But the brow of a mountain which
rises in its environs, and which bore the same
name, is now called Tekkiur-dag, or the
Mountain of the Prince; and among the Turks
this term Tekkiur denoted the emperors of
Constantinople, tii^unlhc having also taken
the name of Kkccdt'^.tu:^ the position of Rodosto
indicates it. The most considerable of these
Muintini'' cities wa< /Vr >'/;//,'//.-. elevated in the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 245
manner of a theatre, and of which the name
Heraclea, posterior to the other, subsists in
that of Erekli, applied to the position of this
city now in ruins. Byzantium, become Con-
stantinople, caused the decay of Heraclea,
whose see, notwithstanding, enjoys the pre-
eminence of metropolitan in the province
distinguished in Thrace by the title of Europa.
Sehjmbria retains the name of Selivria ; the
termination bria, which is observed attached
to other names, being the appellative for a city
in the language of the Thracians. Byzan-
tium occupied a point of land contracted be-
tween the Propontis and a long cove, which
forms one of the best ports in the world, and
which was heretofore named C/iri/so-ceras, or
the Horn of Gold. At this point begins a
channel called Box-poms, which signifies
properly the passage of the ox; opening a
communication between the Propontis and
the Euxine: and this Bosphorus wassurnamed
Thracicus, to distinguish it from another
Bosphorus called the Cimmerian. The choice
made by Constantine of a situation so advan-
tageous as that of Byzantium, to construct in
the empire a new Rome, which took the name
of Constantinoplis, every tyro in literature
knows. It was in occupying the ground
246 COMPENDIUM OF
along the Propontis and the port, affecting, in
imitation of Rome, to cover seven hills, that
Constantinople extended far beyond the an-
cient Byzantium. The enclosure of this was
nevertheless preserved, and it still separates the
seraglio of the Sultan from the city. The
name of Stamboul, which use has established
among the Turks, is not an alteration of the
name of Constantinople*, but comes from a
Greek expression, eisten-Polin, where the ge-
neric term Polls is preceded by the preposi-
tion of place ; as who should say the city, by
way of eminence. The shore of the Bospho-
rus, or channel of Constantinople, on the side
of Europe, terminates near some insulated
rocks, which are called the isles, with the
name of Cyanea in antiquity.
This extremity of Thrace and of Europe,
contracted between two seas, was enclosed by
a long wall called Macrcn-tichos, commencing
a little beyond Heraclea, and terminating on
the shore of the Euxine, near a place named
Dcrcon, or Derkous. Tiiis barrier, of which
there are only some vestiges remaining, was
constructed by the emperor Anastasius, at the
* The word seems rather to be a corruption of Constan-
tinople.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 24?
beginning of the sixth century, to resist the in-
cursions of many foreign nations who had pe-
netrated even to the environs of the city. At
some distance from the sea, tending towards
the interior country, Turullus, or, as we read
in the Byzantine writers, Tzorolus preserves its
position and its name in Tchourli. A river
named Agrianes, now Ergene, conducts us to
the Hebrus, on which the city of Didymo-ti-
chos, the name whereof indicates a double ram-
part, exists under that of Dimotuc, which is
evidently derived from it. Trajanopolis, si-
tuated lower down, held the rank of metropo-
lis in the province called Rhodope; and it is ad-
mitted into the maps as existing under the same
name, though it has suffered a translation of its
see to Maronea. In the place where the He-
brus first changes its course, from the eastward
to descend south, Hadrianopolis, had primitive-
ly borne the name of Orestias, which the By-
zantine authors frequently employ in speaking
of this city. The three rivers by which it is pre-
tended that Orestes, polluted by the murder of
his mother, purified himself, had their conflu-
ence here: for at Adrianople the Hebrus re-
ceived the Ar discus on one side, and the Ton-
zus on the other, now the Arda and Tonza.
This city, which enjoyed the dignity of a me-
248 COMPENDIUM OF
tropolis in the province of Hiemimontus, serv-
ed as a residence for the Ottoman Sultans
before the taking of Constantinople, and is
known to the Turks by the name of Hedrine.
The nation of Odryss<, one of the most con-
derable of Thrace, occupied its environs. In
ascending towards the fountains of the Hebrus,
not far from the foot of mount Haemus, we find
that Philippopolis, so named from Philip, father
of Alexander, acquired also, from its situation
among hills, the denomination of Trimontium,
but still preserves the name of Philippopoli, or
Philiba, as the Turks abbreviate it. This was
the metropolis of the province especially dis-
tinguished by the name of Thracia. It was
in the canton of the Bessi, whose ferocity was
said to surpass the rigour of their climate*.
We find their name in that of Bessapara, on a
Roman way not far from Philippopolis; and
on this road there is a place under the name of
Tzapar Bazargik, or the Market of Tzapar.
The country called Bessica had a principal
city named Uscudama, which appears now
under the name Statimaka, at some distance
south of Philippopolis.
There still remains to be described a part of
* Sua Bosii nive duriorcs. Paidin. Nolens.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 249
the name of Zagora. Ranging along the coast
Thrace adjacent to the Euxine. Turning to
this side, Bercea, or Bcroe, must be mentioned,
on the confines of the province of Thrace Pro-
per and Mo3sia. And we read that this city,
when re-established by the empress Irene, as-
sumed her name. A place in this canton,
named Eski-Zadra, may represent it, as the
term Eski in the Turkish language is used to
indicate other ancient cities. Cabyla is more
remote; and an act of sovereignty of Philip, in
banishing criminals thither, proves 1 that his do-
minions extended thus far. Htemus, in cover-
ing the north of Thrace, terminates a long
ridge by projecting a great promontory in the
sea ; and this promontory is now called Emi-
neh-borun, which is a translation of its ancient
name of ILcmi-extrema ; as the denomination
of ILcmus Mons appears in that of Emi neh-dag.
On a gulf which succeeds this promontory,
Mesembria and Anchialus are found in the ex-
isting names of Misevria and Akkiali. Apol-
lonia, deeper in the gulf, appears to have
changed this name, in an after-time, for that of
Sozopolis, which is now pronounced Sizeboli.
DcbeltiiSy on a lake at some distance from the
sea, received from the Bulgarians, whom a
Greek emperor put in possession of this city,
250 COMPENDIUM OF
towards the south, we find Thynias, now Ti-
niada, on a point advanced in the sea : and
this name is remarkable as being formed from
that of the 77/2/7?*, a Thracian nation, who, mi-
grating into Asia, gave the name of Bithynia
to their country. Bizija, the residence of Te-
reus, who reigned in Thrace before the time of
history, still exists as a place of note, without
any alteration of name. Of Salmydessus, a
city and shore as described in history, the mu-
tilated name is preserved in Midjeh. This
maritime part, wherein returning* towards the
Bosphorus we terminate Thrace, derives from
a nation called Astac y the name Astica.
M (E S I A.
We comprehend under this name the coun-
try which, between the limits of Thrace and
Macedon on the south, and the banks of the
Ister or Danube on the north, extends in length
eastward from Pannonia and Illyricum, to the
Euxine sea. It must be remarked, that the
name of the country and of the nation is also
written Mysia, and J/y.v/, as the name of the
province south of the Propontis in Asia and ot'
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 251
its people, who are thought to have issued from
the Mossia now under consideration. This
country corresponds in general with those
which we call Servia and Bulgaria. It is in-
tersected with rivers that have their sources in
the mountains, the chain of which joins the
Hcemus without interruption ; and these rivers
descend into the Ister, except the Drinus, or
Drin, which separates Servia from Bulgaria,
and discharges itself into the Save. The Mar-
J
gu<> 9 greater than any other river that Moesia
includes, is received into the Ister, near a city
of the same name. Ascending this river, we
find it composed of two branches; Morava of
Servia, on the right; and Morava of Bulgaria,
on the left. Timacus, the Timok, comes next ;
and after many that we omit, we shall recount
(Escus, or the Esker ; Utus, or the Vid : Os-
mas, or the Osmo; and latnt.s, or the lantra.
Besides these, the Pcunjsus falls into the Eux-
ine sea, under its ancient name. The reader
must be informed, that the name of Ister be-
came appropriated to the Danube ; but the
ancients have not uniformly explained them-
selves with regard to the point of division of the
Danubius and Ister. It appears too high at
Vindobona, or Vienna, and much too low at
Ariopolis. Strabo establishes it at a place re-
252 COMPENDIUM Or
markable by the cataracts, of which we shall
make mention hereafter.
Mccsia was in great part more anciently oc-
cupied by the Scordisci, a Celtic nation ; and
when we read that Alexander, in the first ex-
pedition towards the Ister, encountered the
Celts, or Gauls, these are the people alluded
to. And although the Scordiscians were al-
most annihilated at the time when the Roman
power extended in this country, it is remarked
that many names of places on the Ister are
purely Celtic. Darius, son of Hystaspes,
marching against the Scythians, encountered
the Getes, who were reputed Thracians, on his
passage, before arriving at the Ister ; and we
shall see that this extremity of the country on
the Euxine bore the name of Scythia. Mcesia
appears to have been subjected to the em-
pire under Augustus and Tiberius. Its extent
along the river, which separated it from Dacia
on the north, was divided into Superior and In-
ferior; and a little river named Ciabrusor Cc-
brus, now Zibriz, between the Timacus and the
(Escus t makes, according to Ptolemy, the sepa-
ration of these two Moesias. But Moesia suffer-
ed encroachment upon its centre in the admis-
sion of a new province, under the name of Da-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 253
da. Aurelian, fearingthat he could not main-
tain the conquest of Trajan beyond the Ister,
called Dacia, abandoned it, and retired with
the troops and people, which he placed on the
hither side of the river, affecting to call his new
province the Dacia of Aurelian. That which
Moesia preserved of the'superior division, was
called the First Mcesia; and there is reason to
believe that the name of Masua, which re-
mains to a canton south of the Save, near its
confluence with the Ister, comes from this
Moesia. The inferior was the Second Mcesia.
There was afterwards distinguished in Dacia
the part bordering on the river under the name
of Ripensis ; and that which was sequestered
in the interior country under the name of Me-
diterranea, occupied probably a country con-
tiguous to Macedonia, and known more an-
ciently by the name of Dardania.
We now proceed to a detail of particular
positions, which would be very numerous if we
we were not to limit ourselves to the princU
pal ones. Singidunum, the first place that pre-
sents itself, is indubitably Belgrade; and a
holm in the Save, near this place, preserves the
name of it in that of Singin. The Celtic ter-
mination of-dunum was succeeded in the Lower
254 COMPENDIUM OF
Empire by another in the Slavonian language,
signifying a city, and qualified by the epithet
white. Taurunum, which has been erroneously
referred to Belgrade, has found its position on
this side of the Save, in Pannonia. The place
of Spenderovv, commonly called Smendria, and
to which the position of Singidunum was er-
roneously also transposed, represents another
city, whose name was Aureus Mons. ]\fargus,
which succeeds, retains vestiges of antiquity
under the name of Kastolatz ; though now at
some distance below the mouth of a river of
the same name, by a deviation that has taken
place in the lower part of its course. V'nnina-
cium should occupy the point of land caused
by the flexure that the river describes, and
some remains of fortification are there remark-
ed. This was a considerable place, and enjoyed
the rank of metropolis in one of the provinces
ofMcesia; which, from the local circumstances,
must have been the first. Taliatis, to which
we may refer a position that the Slavonian ap-
pellative Gradisca distinguishes as a city, was
the last post of the First Mccsia, followed by
Dacia, surnamed Ripens is. And it is remark-
able that the name of Krain, which signifies
preciselv a frontier in the Slavonian language,
is givMi to the canton where we recognise
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 255
these limits. Another circumstance, the no-
tice of which must not be omitted in a district
thus denominated, is a reef of rock traversing
the bed of the Danube, which forming a kind
of cataract, as has been already intimated,
makes a distinction in the use of the names
Ister and Danubius. The name of Clisura, ap-
propriated to a part of the river extremely con-
tracted between mountains, is also applied by
the Byzantine writers to another place much
resembling this in its circumstances.
Continuing to follow the bank of the river,
a little below these narrow passes we find the
ruins of the bridge constructed by Trajan for
a passage into Dacia. These ruins afford rea-
son to believe that it was of twenty arches;
and the measure taken between the piers at
the two extremities, gives 515 or 520 toises*;
which makes live times the breadth that the
Seine takes in arriving at Paris, and seven times
* 520 toises make 3325 feet 4 inches English. The
longest bridge now existing in Europe, is the Pont de Saint
Esprit, built in the 12th century across the Rhone, on thirfv
arches, between Montelimai t and Orange; and which, ac-
cording to M. Dutens' measurement, reduced into English
feet, is 3 1971 : that of Prague, according to the same au-
thor, it 1&J2; of Touts 14??; urn! of \V,^tnii.">t'<r K7<.
256 COMPENDIUM OF
the length of the Pont Royal, where this river
is narrowest. We give this detail, as the ob-
ject is worthy of curiosity. Bononia, which
conies next, is Bidin or Vidin, and is still a
place of some note. Ratiraia prevailed here-
tofore in quality of metropolis of Dacia, on the
borders of the river ; and we recognise its name
in that of Artzar. CEscus, at the mouth of the
river of the same name, has left vestiges which
are called Igien : and, by the manner in which
it is mentioned in Ptolemy (annexing to it the
name of the Triballi), this city appears to haVe
been the capital of a great nation, of Thracian
origin, established in Moesia. Farther down,
Nicopolis was constructed by Trajan, to perpe-
tuate the memory of his victories ; the name
and the city still subsist. This is the Nicopoli,
memorable for a victory gained by Bajazet, in
the year 1393, over the Christian army, in
which was a great number of the French no-
bility. And it should not be confounded with
the Nicopolis surnamed ad Jatnnn, which is
now called Nicop, and situated on the lantra,
at a distance from the Danube. Duros fonts
was the name of a number of principal places
on the river; ;ind there is still a considerable
city under the name of Drist.ni. The maps
wherein this name is Silistria, have borrowed
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 257
it from the gazettes. Axiopolis preserves the
same name, although that of Rassovat be also
applied to it. The position of Oarsiim, now
Kerscua, is remarkable for an emanation of the
river to the right, forming a lagune, of which
the name Halmyris denoted it to be salt j and
at its issue into the sea, a city heretofore named
Istropolis appears to be succeeded by a place
called Kara-Kerman, or the Black Fortress.
We know no place which corresponds with
Trosmiy though it appears to have been a prin-
cipal post among the places of the lowest part
of the course of the Ister. We know that the
land, insulated by the division of the river into
many arms, was called Pence, a name pre-
served in that of Piczina, and from which was
derived that of the Peucini, whom it is remark-
able to find re-appear in the Lower Empire
under the names of Picziniges and Patzina-
cites.
After having thus surveyed the shore of the
river, we must penetrate into the interior coun-
try, to describe the Mediterranean Dacia. At
the entrance to it, Naissus, the native city of
Constantine, is still known by the name of
Nissa. On a Roman way, which from Vimi-
nacium conducts to it, a place named Horrea
VOL. I. S
258 COMPENDIUM OF
Margi (the Granaries of Margus) is Morava-
hisar, or the castle of Morava, according to the
Turks. Beyond Naissus, towards Sardica, a
defile called Succorum Augusts, and mentioned
during the Lower Empire as an important pass
to guard on the route conducting through the
mountains to Thrace, is still known by the
name of Zuccora. Sardica, which was the
metropolis of Mediterranean Dacia, acquired
from the Bulgarians the name of Triaditza.
The vestiges of it are contiguous to Sophia,
which now holds an eminent rank, being the
residence of a Begler-beg, to whom the go-
vernment of all the country comprehended un-
der the name of Roumeli is confided. The po-
sition of Ulpia Pautalia, distinguished by the
prrenomen of Trajan, is unknown. Tauresium,
where the emperor Justinian was born, was an
obscure place before his reign ; but becoming
then the predominant city in this country, was
called Just ini ana Prima ; and is still a place of
consideration under the name of Giustendil,
which is an evident depravation of its primitive.
The prerogatives of a great metropolis, invested
in Justiniana by its founder, having been trans-
lated by the Bulgarian kings to Achrida, which
they had chosen for their residence in the New
Kpirus, has induced the error of confounding
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 259
this with the other. There was moreover a se-
cond Justiniana ; for the city of Ulpianum, the
native place of Justin, uncle to Justinian, re-
ceived this name on its embellishment; and that
of Giustendil is also its modern denomination.
All this interior of Moasia was more anciently
called Dardania 3 from the name of a people
known to be savage in an early age. And
although the Mediterranean Dacia extended
over Dardania, \ve distinguish a particular pro-
vince of Dardania under the Lower Empire,
and whose metropolis was Scupi, which pre-
serves this name, or otherwise Uskup, towards
the sources of the Axius, beneath Mount
Scardus, which is now called Monte Agentaro,
We regret that we cannot find a position
which may represent that of Bylazora,
distinguished in antiquity as the capital of
Pceonia.
To finish what concerns Moesia, there remains
a division of it adjacentto theEuxine ; in which
the part nearest to the mouths of the Ister was
formed, under Constantine, into a particular
province named Scythia. The city of Toriri,
which the banishment of Ovid has illustrated,
assumed in this province the rank of metropo-
lis: and is still known iu the name of Tome
260 COMPENDIUM OF
swar, although otherwise called Baba. A
neighbouring maritime place, whose name is
Kiustinge, discovers the position of a city
which was named Constantiana : and the port
called Mangalia answers the description of Ca-
latis. At some distance from the sea, Marcia-
nopolis, so called from the sister of Trajan, was
the metropolis of the Second Mcesia. The
name of Marcenopoli may be still in use : but
it is said that the Bulgarians more frequently
call it Prebislaw, or the illustrious city. We
shall conclude with Odessus, supposed to be
Varna ; which a great victory gained by Morad
II. over the Hungarians, in 1444, distinguishes
in history.
D A C 1 A.
Two nations who appear associated, and
to whom the same language was common, the
Dad and the (teLe, occupied a great space of
country, which, from the shore of the Danube
towards the north, extended to the frontiers of
European Sarmatia. The lazi/ges, a Sarma-
tic nation, established between Pannonia and
Dacia, are comprised by their situation in the
object under consideration. There is every
reason to believe that the Getes were of Scy-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 26 i
thian origin ; and when we pass over into Asia,
and treat of Scythia, the hive of this nation will
be shown under the name of Gete, which it
still preserves. There were Getes established
in Thrace, on the route which Darius, son of
Hystaspes, took towards the Ister. But in the
expedition of Alexander against the Triballi,
near two ages posterior to that of Darius, there
is mention of the Getes only in their position
beyond the river. Impatient, however, of their
limits, Moesia and Illyricum suffered from their
incursions ; and the Celtic nations there esta-
blished were destroyed by them. Augustus,
for whom the Danube, as the Rhine, was a
boundary which nature seemed to give to the
empire, contented himself with repelling the
Dacians, and fortifying the bank of the river.
But Trajan had conceived an appetite for con-
quest. Although the Dacians and Getes
appear to have formed a combined politic
body, and the whole country was equally re-
duced by Trajan, yet we observe a local dis-
tinction between them; inasmuch as the
Dacians inhabited the upper, and the Getes
the lower part of the course of the river, and
along the Euxine. The name of Getes was
more familiar to the Greeks, and that of Da-
cians to the Romans; and this name consti-
tuted that of the country. There would have
262 COMPENDIUM OF
been more mention of the Getes, if those who
undertook to be their historians had not con-
founded this name with that of the Goths,
a Teutonic or German nation, who in
the middle of the third century invaded Da-
cia*.
Transylvania is commonly considered as
denoted by Dacia. But numerous remains of
Roman retrenchments, constructed to cover
the conquered country, manifest that part of
Hungary was comprised in it ; and, by the
positions which appertain to Dacia, the mo-
dern provinces of Walachia and Moldavia were
also comprehended in one vast province,
which the arms of Trajan annexed to the em-
pire. To enter into some detail on this sub-
ject, TibisciiSy to which a Roman way con-
ducts from Viminacium, is Temeswar. From
this place another Roman way, entering by
defiles into Transylvania, conducts at their
issue to the capital city of all the country,
which, under the name Sctrmizegethusa hav-
ing served for the residence of Decebalus, van-
quished by Trajan, received from this prince
that of I'lpia Trajana, with which the prirni-
* Though the Germans or Goth> air here distinguished
from the Gi tesjthe.re ii indubitable evidence of their being
the humc IScvthian nice, migrating in a late i ago.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 263
tive name was also associated. Ruins pre-
serve the memory of its ancient magnificence
to the place, which is inhabited only by a
few herdsmen, and called Warhel, which sig-
nifies the site or position of a city; or other-
wise Gradisca, denoting the same thing. A
way which issues from it, leading into the
north of Transylvania, passes through a noted
city named Apulum, which has declined into
a small place called Albe-Julie, or more pro-
perly Albe-Gyula. Saline, which is beyond,
is the same with Tada, where are found quar-
ries of salt; and Napoca is indicated by the
modern name of Doboca; while Kolsovar is
thought to represent Ulpianum. Other places
are found by analogy in their denominations ;
Rhuconium, in Regen; Uti-dava, in Udvar;
and Docirana may be represented by Dora a.
The Maros, which after traversing the middle
of this country enters Hungary, and discharges
itself into the Teisse, is known to antiquity by
the name of Marisus.
Another river, rising in Transylvania, and
piercing the chain of mountains that separate
this province from Walachia, preserves the
ancient name of Aluta in that of Olt or Alut.
We find traces of a Roman way along this
264 COMPENDIUM OF
river to the Danube, opposite Nicopoli, and
on which, among other posts, that of Castro,
Trajana was near the place where Ribnik now
stands; and Castra nova, thought to have
been an establishment of Constantine> must be
ascribed to a place which retains numerous
monuments of antiquity, in the name of For-
cas. %ernes was a strong place at the entrance
of the country, not far from the bridge of
Trajan; and the name is retained, with altered
orthography, in Czernez. Beyond Aluta, the
name of Ardeiscus was common to a city and
a river, as that of Argis is at present. Or-
dessus\s mentioned by Herodotus; and another
river, which he indicates by the name of
Naparis, must be that named Proava. In the
extent of Moldavia, which appears to have
belonged to the Getes in particular, Siret re-
fers to Arams ; and Porata or Poretus, which
in Ptolemy appears with the surname of
Heirassus, is evidently Prut. We must be-
lieve that the Dacia of Trajan had no other
limits than the course of the Tyras ; and from
the name of Danaster, which this river assumed
in later ages, is formed that of Dniester.
There still exists a great Roman way, tra-
versing the country in a right line from the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 265
Siret, near its confluence with the Danube, to
the modern town of Bender on the Dniester,
and called Tro'iane or Trajane. Advancing
into the country, we find places given by
Ptolemy in Dacia. Palloda appears to be
Barlad; Petro-dava, Piatra; Susi-dava t Suc-
zav& ; and Netin-dava, Sniatyn, on the frontier
of Poland. The two final syllables repeated in
many names, seem to have affinity with the
name of Davus, which the slaves brought from
Dacia generally bore. The name oflassiorum
municipium is given to lassi by an inscription;
and the city of Pretoria Augusta appears to
be represented by that which is now distin-
guished by the name of Roman, at the con-
fluence of the Maldava and Siret. The Coka-
jon mons is singularly remarkable for having
been the residence of a pontiff in whose per-
son the Getes believed the Deity was incar-
nate j with a similar faith to that of eastern
Tartars, who maintain the transfusion of the
same soul in their Lamas from him who is
celebrated under the name of Zamolxis. A
river of the same name with the mountain
flows at its foot; and is recognised under
that of Kason, on the confines of Moldavia
and Transylvania. There is still known in this
country a people of Roman origin, speaking a
266 COMPENDIUM OF
language manifestly derived from the Latin j
and who, under the name of Vlak or Valak,
having occupied a canton of Tartary beyond
the Caspian Sea, where they had been trans-
ported, returned with the Patzinaces and Bul-
garians to their primitive dwellings. A Me-
moir inserted in Vol. XXX. of the Memoirs
of the Academy, will furnish a more ample
detail on this subject than can be admitted
here*.
* The curious circumstances alluded to are here given
in the Author's own words: " Ce qu'il y a de plus singu-
" Her, et ce qui neanmoins paroitra indubitable, cVst que
" les Vlakcs, que nous voyons accompagner les Patzinaces,
" et, quoique de race Romaine, etre confondus avec eux,
" sortoient egalement de la Tartarie. La vaste etendue de
" cette partie de 1' Asie cst semblable a une mer orageuse,
" dont les vaques sc mcuvent au gre des tempetes qui
" I'agitent. Los Remains restes dans la Dace, inais qui sc
<: .sont trouvcs invostis d'une multitude de Scythes, et
" comme assujetis aux mouvemons de cette multitude,
" auront t'te cntraines fort au loin; et c'est un autre flot,
" si Ton peut s'exprimcr ainsi, qui les a rcportes dans la
" contree d'ou ils avoient ete enleves." -And again:
" Mais ce qui est plus digne de remarquo, et ce qui a son
" fondement sur 1' alliniu'" reconnuc entrc la nation dcs
" Vlakes et les Romains, c'est quo tons les pouplos dont jc
" vions de parler, Ilongrois, Polonois, Creates, Sorviens,
" Bulgares, appliquent egalement la meme denomination
" a la nation Romaine on Italienne, dont Ic lancage e:?t !;
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 26?
To include all that our present Section em-
braces, it remains that we describe a space be-
tween the limits of Roman Daciaandthe pro-
vince of Pannonia. In this country there in-
habited, as has been already premised, the
lazi/ges, a Sarmatic nation, who were sur-
named Metanastte, which denotes them to
have been removed or driven from their native
seats. And we find indeed other Isazyges
established on the Palus Maeotis. The coun-
try is covered on the side of the north by a
great chain of mountains, of which the name
Carpathes subsists with some alteration in that
of Krapak. We also find them denominated
" pute Latin. En considerant ineme combicn le nom de
" Velsch ou de Vlaisch, que les Suisses et d'autres peuplcs
"' Gcrmaniqucs donnent a 1'Italie ct aux Italiens, ressernble
*' a celui dont il s'agit, on seroit tente de croire qu'ils sont
' cntierement le memc."
(Memoire sur les Peuplcs qni habitent aujourd'
hui la Dace de Trajan, tire du XXX. Vol. des
Mem. de 1'Acnd.)
The people who form the subject of this note are called
by their German neighbours Walachians ; and the country
is also recognised by English geographers in the name of
Walachia. But the French having no zr in their language,
substitute r for this letter. These Walachians being van-
quished bv Alexis, and John Comnenes his son, in the
year 1123, colonies of them were transported to Etolia, the
mounts Pindus, Panics, and other parts of Greece.
268 COMPENDIUM OF
Alpes Bastarnictf, from the great Bastarnic na-
tion, (of whom we shall speak in treating of
Sarmatia); using withal the term of Alps as
generic with regard to mountains. The
7 ^ibiscus issues from them; and, after flowing
westward, turns to the south, and traverses a
flat country till it meets the Danube, receiving
in its course the Crisius, or the Keres, and the
Marisus already mentioned. The name of
Anarti is attributed to a particular nation
contiguous to the Dacians towards the
north. Of the lazyges it is remarkable that,
notwithstanding the revolutions which Hun-
gary has sustained, they are still known in the
environs of a place about the height of Buda,
whose name of lazberin signifies the Fountain
of lazyges.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 269
IX.
SARMATIA EUROP^A,
JL HIS vast country, contiguous to the eastern
part of Germany, completes our description
of the continent of Europe. It even passes
the limits of it; inasmuch as the Sarmate, or
according to the Greeks Sauromate, are ex-
tended beyond the Tanais. To give a general
idea of this great nation, and to distinguish
what is Germanic on one side from what is
Scythic on the other, it must be observed,
that wherever a Slavonian dialect is spoken,
the natives are Sarmatian. And if we find a
language fundamentally the same established
in countries distant from ancient Sarmatia, the
reason is, that swarms from the same hive
settled in divers parts of Germany, as far as
the Elbe ; and south of the Danube, as far as
the Adriatic sea.
Sarmatia in general is avast plain; and it is
from the term pole, which signifies flat, that
Poland, making part of Sarmatia, derives it?
270 COMPENDIUM OF
name. The Vistula is regarded as the separa-
tion between Sarmatia and ancient Germany.
Ptolemy conducts several rivers, as well as the
Vistula, into the Sinus Venedicus y by which
name he denotes a part of the Baltic Sea.
And these rivers Chronus, Rubo, Tiiruntus,
Chessinus, appear to be the Pregel, which has
its mouth below Koningsberg, as should be re-
marked; Russ, which in the upper part of its
course is named Niemen; Duna and Perna,
which fall into the gulf of Livonia. This gulf
should be the Cijlipe?ius,from the circumstance
of its having, according to the report of Pliny,
an island at its entrance named Latris, which
may correspond with that of Osel. But it be-
comes us to be diffident in reporting the con-
formity of these modern names with the an-
cient. The Borysthenes is composed of two
rivers in Ptolemy, the sources of which are
distinguished into northern and southern ; the
latter can only be referred to the Prvpec,
which joins the northern branch of Dnieper
above Kiow*. For the Borysthenes assumed,
in the middle ages, the name of Dana/)/ is, of
which the modern denomination of Dnieper is
* The a has the power oi'//t 01 vt in fill the (.'iah-cis of
:he Slavonian. Thus the nanu-s Romansovv, Si.inisl;'!: ;.
&c. :ut- pronounced Ilumansoffe, Sta
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 2? I
formed. The river which under the name of
Hypanis falls into it, not far from the sea, hav-
ing been also called Bogus, retains the name of
Bog. And the Tanais, taking its source in
Sarmatia, separates, in the lower part of its
course, Europe from Asia; and, in voyages
written more than five hund red years ago, is call-
ed the Tane; at the same time communicating
this name to the Palus Masoris, into which it is
known to discharge itself ; the modern name
of Don being only an abbreviated form of its
ancient denomination. A city named Tanais ,
situated at its mouth, and which was the em-
porium of the commerce of this country, is
celebrated in tradition by the Slavons under
the name of Aas-grad, or the city of Aas;
and it is remarkable to find that of Azof sub-
sisting on the same site. It may moreover be
remarked that this name contributes to com-
pose that of Tan-ait, formed of two members,
the first of which expresses the actual name of
the river.
Although Ptolemy comprises the great river
which he culls Rha in Asiatic Sarmatia, the
positive knowledge that we have of the sources
of the Volga in the vicinity of those, of the
Borysthenes, places this river in the division
272 COMPENDIUM OF
of Europe. Of the two rivers which form the
Rha of Ptolemy, the western has its source
deeper in Europe than even the Tanaisj
and the eastern branch, which the Kama re-
presents, issuing from mountains that separate
p-ussia from Siberia, determines this also in
favour of our continent. Hitherto the country
offers no mountains; and what are celebrated
in antiquity by the najne ofRiph^i Monies, or
Ripid, according to the Greeks, do not exist
near the sources of the Tanais, as Ptolemy re-
presents. If he marks a chain of Hyperborean
mountains, that is to say, more elevated to-
wards the north, actual observation affords
nothing corresponding; except it be those
just mentioned, and of which the first intima-
tion appears to have been under the name of
Cingulum Mundi, or the girdle of the world.
We now proceed to an indication of some
of the principal among the numerous nations
which are found scattered over the immense
expanse of Sarmatia. The Vencdi extended
along the shores of the Baltic, to a consider-
able distance in the interior country; and if
their name be remarked subsisting in that of
Wenden, in a district of Livonia, it is only in a
partial manner, and holding but a small pro-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
portion to the extent which that nation oc-
cupied. Passing the Vistula, the Venedians
took possession of the lands between that river
and the Elbe, that had been evacuated about
the close of the fourth century by the Vandals,
whose name is seen sometimes erroneously
confounded with that of the Venedians. But
the difference is definitively marked by the
language j the Venedians speaking aSlavonian,
and the Vandals a Teutonic dialect. It is
observable that the Slavonian language has ac-
companied the Venedians, transported into the
district of Carniola, which from them is called
Windishmark. The country that the Vene-
dians occupied in the tenth century was that
of the Pruzzi, whose name present use has
changed into Borussi. We find this name in-
deed in Ptolemy ; but it appears there very far
distant, on another frontier of Sarmatia, to-
wards the situation which he gives to the Ri-
phean Mountains. It is on this shore that the
sea casts up amber, called by the natives of
the country Glass or Gles, by the Romans
Succinitm, by the Greeks Electron: and the
islands called Elect rides can only be the long
and narrow sands that separate the sea from
the gulfs named Frisch-haf and Curisch-haf
According to Tacitus, amber was gathered by
VOL. i, y
274 COMPENDIUM OF
the &stitei; and notwithstanding that Ptolemy
takes no notice of them, the name is preserved
beyond the limits of Prussia, in Estonia, which
makes a part of Livonia; and there is no
doubt that the name of East-land,in the writers
of the middle ages, comes from its position
respecting the Baltic sea.
According to Ptolemy, the great nations of
Sarmatia besides the Venedians, with whom
he begins his description, are the Peucini and
BastarnfC, who inhabited above Dacia, and
the lazyges and Roxolani, established on the
PalusMaeotis. He adds, in the interior country,
the Hamaxo-biiy or dwellers in waggons; and
Tacitus distinguishes the Venedians, Peuci-
nians, and Bastarnians from those, as having
fixed abodes. He also speaks of the Peuci-
aiaris and Bastarnians as the same nation; so
that the name of Peucini could only distinguish
the part of this nation which was settled in the
vicinity of the isle of Pence, between the arms
which form the mouths of the Danube, and
whose modern name Piczina preserves an
evident analogy to that of the Peucini and
Pir-ziniges, as we have already had occasion
lo remark. The la^i^ts appear to have been
u nation widely extended; apart of them
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 275
being named with the Tyri-getce, established
on the Tyras or Dniester. Their position on
the Pahis is given to the Scythians by Hero-
dotus; and the Ro.wldni are thought to have
existed a little beyond these, as we see their
name associated with those of the Bastarnians
and Dacians in the treaty which the Emperor
Hadrian made with the King of the latter.
There is moreover reason to believe that the
nameRoxolanians is that of the Russians; who
having occupied, in the middle of Poland, the
lands which appear to have been the residence
of the Bastarnians, have left their name to one
of the principal provinces of this kingdom.
There must be added to these people the
Budini and Geloni, whom Herodotus men-
tions in reciting the expedition of Darius son
of Hystaspes against the Scythians. These
two nations appear to have maintained a firm
alliance, though of different races: those being
purely Sarmatic, and addicted to a pastoral
life; while these were sprung from establish-
ments which the Greeks had formed on the
Euxine, and who had communicated to their
neighbours the theology and part of the lan-
guage of Greece, A city of the Budinians.
T 2
276 COMPENDIUM OF
built of wood, and named Gelontis, which
Darius destroyed by fire, must have been a
work of the Gelonians. By a detail which
Herodotus furnishes of the canton of the Budi-
nians, but which the nature of our plan does
not permit us to enter upon, we think we dis-
tinguish this canton on the right of the Bory-
sthenes, below^Kiow. But it appears, by other
districts of this country, that this people had
ascended higher; and that the Gelonians, hav-
ing been scattered from their primitive dwell-
ings, had become more Sarmatic than they
were in the time that Herodotus speaks of: for
they are represented as having colours stained
upon the skin, as reported of the Agathyrsi,
who appear in a much more southern situation
in Herodotus than in Ptolemy. The Sanna-
tians are also described to have among them
Androphagi, or eaters of human flesh; and
Melan-chlxni, or those clothed in black.
But the nation designated as royal in the
name of Rasilii, were Scythians, according to
Herodotus, and seated on the Palus at the
entrance of the Tauric Chersonese. Strabo
joins the Basilii with the lazyges, named with
the Tyrigetes. In Ptolemy, the nation distin-
guished by this name is far distant in Asiatic
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 277
Sarmatia; and, to give it a place, the canton
of Russia, where the ancient princes of Russia
were established, as Wolodimer, would corre-
spond with it better than any other. The
Perierbidiy which according to the same
author formed a great nation in the same
Sarmatia, would refer to what has been long
distinguished by the name of Welika Perma,
or Great Permski.
Pliny speaks of a people, under the name
ofArimphtfij who should occupy a very north-
ern situation in the neighbourhood of a pro-
montory attributed to Celtica; which name in
the earliest antiquity was extended to all the
northern part of Europe. And if we seek, in
the actual situations of these regions, for one
that may correspond with this promontory
called Lijtarmis, we shall find that of Cande-
noss corresponding best with the circumstan-
ces reported of it, as being the point of land
most projected into the icy sea, beyond the
gulf named Biela Mor, or the White Sea. It
is presumed that the ancients had some idea
of this sea, the form of which seemed to favour
the opinion that Scandinavia was an island
environed by gulfs. A river mentioned in
this region, and named Carambucis, may be
278 COMPENDIUM OF
applied to the Dwina, which is known to have
its mouths in the White Sea. The Arim-
phseians inhabited the forests, living upon
mast and nuts. This dwelling is that which
still distinguishes a people known in the
country under the name of Siraeni. But as to
a nation deemed sacred, together with the
Hyperboreans, which Pliny adds to the ac-
count of these, it becomes us to number them
among the supernatural wonders that the an-
cients imputed to the arctic climates. Hav-
ing thus recounted the principal nations of
Sarmatia, we shall conclude this chapter by
descending towards the Euxine, to survey the
Tauric Chersonese.
The borders of the Euxine, from the mouths
of Uic Ister to the environs of the Borysthenes,
and the shore of the Pal us, are given to the
Scythians by Herodotus; and, after Strabo, we
may apply to it the name of Parva Scythia,
or Little Scythia; as it is common in modern
maps to see this country under the name of
Little Tartary.
The Greeks had formed some establishments
here; and a Milesian colony, to which they had
given the name of Olbia, or the Happy, was si-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
tuated a little above the mouth of the Bory-
sthenes, at the place where it receives the Hy-
panis. It is another position at the mouth of
the same river that has given the name to Ou-
zi,or,in thelanguage ( of the country, Oczakow.
When (on ascending this river) there is found a
place remarkable for affording a secure fast-
ness to the Cossacks in a labyrinth of channels,
we are tempted to refer to it the position that
Ptolemy describes as being above Olbia on
the Borysthenes, under the name of Metropolis,
We do not find any mention in the writers of
antiquity, or before Constantine Porphyro-
genetes, of the cataracts of this river, which
are called Porowis. But between the mouth
of this river and the gulf of Carcine, the long
and narrow beaches, uniting and terminating
in a point, and thereby forming inlets, or
creeks, were called Dromiu Achillei, or *the
Course of Achilles, from a tradition that this
hero there celebrated games.
The entrance of the Chersonese is extremely
contracted on one side by the depth of a gulf,
to which an adjacent city, called Carcine, had
given the name of Carcinitcs : and the name of
Necro-pyla, or the Funeral Gate, which it
assumed in 'later times, has induced the error
280 COMPENDIUM OF
in some maps of replacing Carcine by a city
called Negropoli. What contracts the other
side of the entrance of the Chersonese, is an
extensive morass formed by the PaJus Macotis,
and named Byces, Putris, or Sapra, now
Gniloe-more, which in the language of the
country has the same signification with its
Greek and Latin denominations. A retrench-
ment, or, according to the Greek term, Taphros,
had been cut to close this entrance; and a
place of the same name, or Taphra, defended
it; as we now see the fortress of Perekop,
otherwise named Or, and Or-capi, with the
addition of a Turkish term, which signifies a
gate. This Chersonese, according to the
Greek term for a peninsula, enveloped by the
Euxine and Palus, had been conquered by the
Scythians from the Cimmerians, whose incur-
sions into Asia south of the Euxine had ren-
dered them famous. These conquerors, dis-
tinguished by the name of Tauri> or Tauro-
Scythtf, appear established as well beyond the
peninsula as in the interior of it; and from
them it acquired the denomination of Taurica
Chersoncsus. But it is to be remarked, that
the modern name of Rrim, or Crimea, as we
ordinarily say, seems to be owing to the
Cimmerii. Of this land the mountainous
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 281
part towards the south preserved the name of
Mons Cimmerius ; in which an ancient place
is discovered, called Eski-krim, or the Old
Krim.
The Greeks established in the Chersonese
about the shores of the Bospherus, had ceded
a small state there to Mithridates, king of
Pontus, whose wars with the Romans have
rendered him so famous. And this prince re-
duced to obedience the Scythians,* who had
become masters of the greatest part of the
Chersonese. After him the Bosphorus had a
race of kings, who recognised the superiority
of the Roman empire. The name of Gothia
also is found applied to this country, because
the Goths maintained it for some time during
the Lower Empire. There remain to be re-
counted some principal places that were
known to the ancients in this country: and
first a particular Chersonese formed by the
depth of two ports. Greeks colonising from
Heraclea, a maritime city of Bithynia, had
constructed a city there, which appears to
have had two successive sites under the same
name of Chersonesus. The Greek emperors
preserved this place in the name of Cherson:
but it may reasonably be doubted whether the
282 COMPENDIUM OF
modern position of Kosleve be precisely the
same with the ancient one of Cherson.
The Tauric Chersonese is terminated to-
wards the south by a promontory far advanced
into the Euxine, and named heretofore Criu-
vie.topon, or the Ram's Forehead; but now
called by the Turks Karadje-bourun, or the
Black Nose. The ancients have observed that
it looks directly towards a promontory not
less elevated in the continent of Asia, called
Carambis ; remarking withal that from the
midway channel both are to be seen. On
the coast which extends from the Ram's
Forehead to the Bosphorus, it is agreed to
give to a city which the Greeks named Theo-
dosia, the position of Cafa. The principal
city on the Cimmerian Bosphorus was Panti-
capccum, which, with the other maritime towns
in this country, owed its foundation to the
Greeks; and there is reason to believe that the
name of Bosporus was also applied to it. The
name that has replaced it is Kerche; beyond
which is a place called by the Turks leni-cale,
or New Castle. It is well known that the
Bosporus Cimmerius makes the communica-
tion between the Palus KLcotis and the Euxine
sea. The Italians, whom commerce hud con-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 283
ducted into these seas (as the possession of Cafa
by the Genoese, till the reduction of this city
by Mohamed II. manifests), had given to the
Palus the name of Mare delle Zabache, and to
the Bosphorus, that of the Channel of Cafa,
otherwise the Strait of Zabache. We find
also the Palus named Limeti; although, to
correspond with the Latin Palus, the Greek
term is Lining and not Limen, which signifies
a port. The natives of this country have
communicated to the Palus the name of the
Tanais, according to the testimony of a
Byzantine author ; and as it is now more usual
to call it the Sea of Azof, we have remarked
that in this denomination of the river that of
the city is comprised. Thus we terminate
with Sarmatia our description of Europe
according to the ancient geography.
ENP OF EUROPE.
ASIA.
I. ASIA.
MYSIA.
BITHYNIA.
PAPHLAGONIA.
PONTUS.
LYDIA ET IONIA.
PHRYGIA ET LYCAONIA.
GALATIA.
CAPPADOCIA ET ARMENIA MINOR.
CARIA.
LYCIA.
PAMPHYLIA ET PISIDIA.
CILICIA,
II. A R M E X I A.
COLCHIS.
IBERIA.
ALBANIA.
III. SYRIA ET PAL^ESTINA.
MESOPOTAMIA.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 285
IV. ARABIA.
PETRJEA.
FELIX.
DESERTA.
V. MEDIA.
ASSYRIA.
BABYLONIA.
VI. P E R S I S ET SUSIANA.
C A R M A N I A.
GEDROSIA.
VII. ARIA.
B A C T R I A N A.
SOGDIANA.
VIII. S A R M A T I A.
SCYTHI C A.
S E R I C A.
JX. I N D I A.
I.
ASIA (vulgarly called) M I N O K
XT must be premised, that antiquity know no
distinction of country under the name of Asia
Minor; though there be found sometimes in
the ancient writers, Asia on this side of Mount
Taurus and the river Halys, distinguished from
that which is beyond. But, to comprise what
we propose under the present title, we must
advance eastward to the Euphrates, follow the
shore of the Euxine northward to Colchis, and
the shore of the interior sea, or Mediterranean,
to the limits of Syria. It is usual to call this
country Natolia. But besides that it is more
agreeable to its Greek etymology to say Ana-
tolia*, this denomination does not extend over
all that the title of Asia Minor comprehends.
Under the Lower Empire, it. was divided into
prefectures called Themata, and we see a 7 '//<-
"* From ' Avarc/.r, orien-.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
ma Anatolicum; that is to say, eastern in re-
gard to the imperial residence. This name the
Turks have preserved in that of Anadoli, by
which they designate one of their grand pa-
chalics, whose dependencies are extended both
on the Mediterranean and the Euxine seas.
We shall show hereafter in what these depen-
dencies are deficient in filling the space com-
monly signified by the name of Asia Minor,
when we describe the ancient countries which
the modern provinces have replaced. And we
think this the more incumbent on us, as the
world has hitherto received very little informa-
tion on the subject. Two grand Diaccscs, or
departments, under the emperors of the east,
in the fourth century, divided this Asia, by the
names of Asiana and Pontica, under the two
'metropolitan sees of Ephesus and Cassarea of
Cappadocia. But this division has no affinity
with any distribution in the ages of antiquity;
nor does it preserve any traces at present. Asi-
ana occupied all the shore of the Mediterra-
nean, Pontica that of the Black Sea; and a
line drawn obliquely from the Propontis made
the separation.
To delineate the principal natural feature?
agreeable to our plan, before entering 1 upon 3
288 COMPENDIUM OF
detail of positions, we shall first mention Ha*>
lys, as the greatest river of this country. It
takes its source at a great distance in what is
called Armenia Minor; and after having tra-
versed, from east to west, all the north of
Cappadocia, it is joined by a river issuing
from mount Taurus, to which the name of
Halys is also applied. From this confluence it
turns to the north; and, after making great
circuits and flexures, it is at length received
into the Euxine sea, under the modern name
of Kizilermark, or the Red River. The Sa?i-
garius, otherwise Sagaris, much less remote,
flows from Galatia to render itself likewise in
the Euxine by Bithynia, and preserves its
name in the form of Sakaria. The Hermits
and Meander have both their origin in Phry-
gia, and both direct their course to the ^Egean
sea. The first is known by the name of Sara-
bat, otherwise Kedous, from a citv near its
source; and the ancient name of Maeander is
a little altered in the modern form of Meinder.
An indication of a greater number of rivers
will appear in the detail that is to follow of
the several parts of this great country, which
is also traversed by long series of mountains.
We distinguish one of these, prevailing at
some distance from the Euxine towards the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 289
Euphrates, where it joins the mountains of
Armenia. That which generally takes the
name of Taurus extends in a line parallel
with the shore of the Mediterranean, which it
even touches in one point with a promontory
named Sacrum : and, after having been inter-
rupted by the passage of the Euphrates, it is
prolonged in a continuity which the ancients
judged to extend as far as India. And observ-
ing the same order in this article of moun-
tains as in that of rivers, we reserve a more
particular enumeration for the sequel. To-
wards the centre of the country is a plain of
vast extent.
Endeavouring to apply method to the dis-
tribution of the divers countries which com-
pose Asia Minor, we find them disposed in
such a manner so as to be divisible into three
classes : one towards the north along the Eux-
ine j one towards the south on the Mediter-
ranean, but separated from the preceding
by a middJe class, which extended from the
^Egean Sea to the Euphrates. Each class, or
assemblage, is composed of four principal
countries. Under the first, or northern, are
ranged Mysia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and
Pontus; in the intermediate, Lydia, Plirygia,
VOL, i \:
290 COMPENDIUM OP
Galatia, and Cappadocia. The southern
consists of Caria, Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cili-
cia. Consequently the following detail will
be divided into three sections, each bearing
the title of the countries comprised therein.
And some portions of territory, which do not
appear in this arrangement, shall be made
known by their connexion with some indivi-
dual province : thus Ionia will appear with
Lydia; Lycaonia with Phrygia ; Pisidia with
Pamphylia j and Armenia Minor with Cap-
padocia.
MYSIA, B1T1IYNIA, PAPHLAGONIA,
PONTUS.
MYSIA.
It is adjacent to the Propontis on the
north, and to the .ZEgean Sea on the west: it
is bounded by Bithynia on the east, and on
the south by Lydia. It was believed that the
My si owed their origin to the Mccsi, na-
tives of Thrace in the vicinity of the Is-
ter. The name of IIellesj)o?itus was given
to the greatest part of Mysia, on forming it
into a province in a posterior age. It is well
known that Hclles-pontus is the channel which
from the .^"ean Sea to the Pro-
ANClEftt GEOGRAPHY. 291
pohtis, and now called the Strait of the Dar-
danelles. Nothing is so niiich celebrated in
this country as the ancient Troas, or Troy,
the kingdom of Priam. Troja, named other-
wise Ilium, having been 1 destroyed by the
Greeks rose again from its ashes, to take a
position hearer to the sea, at the mouth of
the Scamander^ of Xanthus, below the junc-
tion of the Simofo. These rivers, of whose
modern names we are ignorant, owe their
celebrity to Homer, and are dnly torrents,
which have but a short space to traverse be-
tween Mount Ida and the sea. What are
Commonly regarded as the ruins of Troy,
under the name of Eski-Stamboul, or Old
Constantinople, are the fragments of another
city, which received from Lysimachus, one of
the successors of Alexander, the name of
Alexandria, to which the surname of Troas
Was also added; and under the Romans this
city had considerable immunities, from the
pretension of the Romans to be of Trojan race.
Its site at some distance from the strait, and
bordering on the sea, is formally distinguish-
ed in the Romn itineraries by the name of
Ilium.
A city called Dardanus, that communicated
U 2
the name of Dardania to a part of Troas
which should be that adjacent to the strait,
does not now exist ; although the name of
Dardanelles is evidently derived from it.
Here is observed a distinction between the old
castles and the new; these being placed at the
entrance of the strait, those higher up; and
both constructed by Mohammed IV". in the
year 1659. These old castles do not, as is
ordinarily supposed, represent the positions of
Abydus and Sestus; the one in Asia, the
other in Europe. Abydos, which is not pre-
cisely opposite to Sestos, exhibits now but a
heap of ruins, in a point named Nagara. The
width of the strait a little above, and nearer
to Sestus, is not more than 3^5 toises. It was
in this place, the most contracted, that Xerxes
laid a bridge for the passage of his immense
army: and as this bridge had seven stadia of
length, according to the testimony of Hero-
dotus, it follows that these stadia are the short-
est of the three measures under the same de-
nomination. Farther on, Lampsucus preserves
its name in Lamsaki ; Pariuni is now Camanar;
and Priapns has been replaced by Caraboa,
where the shore is not that of the Hellespont,
hit. of the Propontis. On this shore, which
is a low and uniform beucli, two rivers are dis-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
charged, the Granicus and jEsepus, which
issue from the side of Mount Ida that is
opposite to the Scamander and Simois. This
famous Granicus, that travellers flatter them-
selves to have crossed when they pass the
Rhyndacus, which is more considerable,
appears to be a torrent named Ousvola, less
vehement than that which succeeds under
the name of Satal-dere. On the farther side
of a narrow channel, which separates a
spacious insulated land; Cyzicus, which held a
rank among the principal cities of Asia,
sustained a siege against all the forces of
Mithridates. It had the dignity of metropo-
lis in the province that has been mentioned
under the name of Hellespont; and ruins of it
still preserve its name. But its channel,
which numerous bridges covered heretofore,
is now filled up with rubbish. In what is
thus become a, peninsula, a neighbouring
place named Artace subsists in the form of Ar-
taki. Among many adjacent isles Proconne-
sits, the only one which shall be mentioned here,
owes its present name of Marmora to the marble
which distinguished it in antiquity; and this
name is also communicated to the Propontis; it
being commonly called the Sea of Marmora.
In our progress we find the Rhyndacus: and,
294 COMPENDIUM OF
as this terminates Mysia on the side of Bithy-
nia, we must return to Troy.
Before the Alexandria of Troas lies the
small isle of Tenedos, which still retains its
namej and beyond a promontory named
Lectum, now cape Baba, Assus in a very ele-
vated position preserves the name of Asso.
The coast of the continent, tending towards
the east, conducts into a gulf to Adramyttium y
whose name is more purely preserved in
Adramitti than under the vulgar form of Lan-
demitre. This coast, and that which succeeds
towards the south, were occupied after the
ruin of Troy by ,/Eolian Greeks; and the
name of JEolis was given to a part of Mysia,
extending hence to Lydia and the river
Hermus. At the mouth of the Caicus is re-
cognised the position of Elva, which was the
port of Pergamus, and is now called lalea.
Pergamus was the capital of a kingdom, which
the Romans aggrandised considerably in
favour of the king Eumenes, after the defeat of
Antiochus the Great, king of Syria; and this
city, which, with its kingdom, was bequeathed
to them by Attains the last king of Pergamus,
subsists in the name of Hergamo. A promon-
tory named Cana, now Coloni, very near
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
the eastern point of Lesbos, is accompanied
with little islands called Arginusstfj which
merit notice as they became the scene of a
great naval victory of the Athenians over the
Lacedemonians. Lesbos, whose oblique po-
sition between the north and east covers all
the space between the promontories Lectum
and Cana, is one of the largest islands in the
jEgean Sea. Its present name of Mytilin is
from Mytilene, which is described in antiquity
as a delightful abode, and distinguished by
the cultivation of literature. This city, which
subsists under the name of Mytilini, is en-
nobled by the birth of Sappho, whose fame
has survived her poems. Methipmifi, which
yielded to Mytilene alone, existed in a place
whose modern name is Porto-Petera. The
small islands enclosed between this coast and
the shore of ./Eolis, and which, from the
epithet of Hecatus given to Apollo, were call-
ed Hecaton-nesi, are now Musco-nisi, or the
Isles of Mice. But from the promontory of
Lesbos, the most advanced in the yEgean Sea,
and to which the name of Sigrium is conti-
nued in Sigri, we shall take a view of Lemnos,
which, as being nearer to Asia than to any land
in Europe, can no where be better described
than in this place. Of twp cities which it
296 COMPENDIUM OF
possessed, Myprina and Hephcestia, the first is
Palio-castro, or the Old Castle, on a point
turned towards the north-west, which is re-
marked by the ancients to receive the shadow
of Mount Athos at the time of the winter
solstice.
What we have hitherto seen of Mysia re-
gards only the part bordering on the sea: it is
proper also to be acquainted with some prin-
cipal places in the interior country. Scepsis
was a considerable city in Troas; and from
which it is remarkable that the writings of
Aristotle came to light again, much damaged
by having been long buried in the earth. It
is to Strabo that we are indebted for this
anecdote, and also for information concerning
the succeeding fortune of these writings. The
country which envelopes the bottom of the
Adramyttian gulf was called Cilicia, and
portioned between two cities, The.be and
Lyrnessus, of whose present state and situa-
tion we have no knowledge. There is ob-
served a town named Biga, near the place
where %eltia existed on the river Torsius,
which loses itself in the Propontis near
Cy/jcus. Another town, under the modern
name of Balikesri, may represent MiletopQlis t
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 297
which would appear to be situated on a river
that the Rhyndacus receives; but not upon
the Rhyndacus itself, as we read in some pas-
sages of ancient authors: for the whole course
of this river appertained to Bithynia. A
position under the name of Ghermasti indi-
cates that of Hiera-Germa on these confines.
And we regret that we have no intelligence
to offer concerning a country distinguished
in Mysia by the name ofAbrettene.
BITHYNIA.
This country was named Bebnjcia, before a
people who are said to have issued from
Thrace gave it the name of Bitlnpiia. There
is moreover observed a distinction between
the T/njJii and Bithi/ni, although both were re-
puted of Thracian origin. Departing from
Rhyndacus., we shall extend Bithynia to the
river Parthenius; observing that there was a
time when the dependencies of Pontus, ex-
tending to Heraclea, confined Bithynia with-
in narrower bounds; and remarking also, that
under the lower empire Bithynia was no long-
er the name of a province, its principal part in
298 COMPENDIUM OF
the vicinity of the Propontis having assumed
that of Pontica.
Olympus, which is one of the great moun-
tains of Asia, and whose name is still used,
caused the part bordering on Mysia to be
called Olympena. Prusa, at the foot of this
mountain towards the north, is one of the
principal cities of Bithynia, and from which a
race of kings were called of the Prusias.
This city, afterwards signalised by the resi-
dence of the Ottoman sultans before the taking
of Constantinople, still preserves its name.,
although the Turks by their pronunciation
change the P into B, and, refusing to begin a
word with two consonants, call it Bursa.
This canton of Bithynia covers one of the two
gulfs which the Propontis forms, named
Cianus from a city at its head called Cius,
now Ohio, or Kemlik, according to the Turks;
and on its shore Myrlea, which was also call-
ed Afuimea, has taken the name of Moudania.
The modern name of Diaskillo manifests
Dascylium on a lake of the same name, formed
by the diffusion of a river that descends from
Mount Olympus. South of this mountain, a
lake more spacious receives the Rhyndacus,
which issues from a corner of Phrygia; and on
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 299
this lake Apollonia preserves the name of
Aboullona. But as the lake was heretofore
called Apolloniatis from the city, it is now
called Lubad from another city, whose name
of Lapadium only appears under the lower
empire. Hadriant, near Olympus, is a place
cited in the annals of the Turks under the
name of Edrenos. Leaving Mount Olympus,
we find Niccsa, situated at the extremity of a
lake called Ascanius. The renown which this
city acquired from a general council that as-
sembled there, under Constant! ne, to define
the orthodox faith, is universal through
Christendom. It preserves its name with the
preposition of place prefixed in the form of
Is-Nick : as if we should say, " to Nicaea."
At the head of the greater gulf which the
Propontis forms, Nicomedia is likewise known
in Is-Nikmid. This city owed its name to
one of the first kings of Bithynia, and held the
first rank in the country under their dynasty;
it was afterwards distinguished as the resi-
dence of many emperors of the East. A city
called Astacus, which appears to have existed
in the vicinity of Nicomedia, communicated
the name of Astaceneus to this gulf. Thence
inclining towards the Bosphorus, we remark
at Libyssa the tomb of Hannibal, who in the
300 COMPENDIUM OK
last years of his life found an asylum in Bithy-
nia; and this place appears to be that named
Gebise. Pantichium is found in Pantichi ; and
on the same parallel are little isles, which are
thought to be those named Demonnesi, or the
Isles of Genii, and now called the Isles of
Princes, for having been a place of exile ap-
propriated to persons of that rank. Chalcedon
was called the City of the Blind, in derision of
its Greek founders, for overlooking the more
advantageous situation of Byzantium. A
council against the Eutychian heresy in the
middle of the fifth century has illustrated Chal-
cedon, which has taken under the Turks the
name of Kadi-keui, or the Burgh of the Kadi.
It is here that the Propontis begins to con-
tract itself to form the Bosphorus, which be-
comes still narrower at Chrysopoli?, the modern
Scutari, directly opposite the point that By-
zantium occupied. It must be observed, that
this Bosphorus has its old and new castles, as
well as the strait of the Dardanelles. And at
some distance within its aperture, called by
the Turks Bogas, whore the new castk-s now
stand, is the site of a temple consecrated to
Jupiter Uriits, or the Dispenser of favourable
winds; and which is now named loron. The
part of Bithynia which succeeds, in follow ing
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 301
the shore of the Euxine, is nearest to Thrace,
and was attributed particularly to the people
distinguished by the name of Thyni. A port
preceding the mouth of theSangar, and which
was named Calpe, is now Kerbech ; and Sop/ion,
of which we read in the Byzantine authors,
appears under the modern denomination of
Sabangeh, which is common also to a moun-
tain, and a lake, about the same height with
Nicomedia.
Beyond the Sangar the river Hypius must
be mentioned, as issuing from mountains call-
ed Hypii, and on which a city called Prusa
or Prusias was surnamed by distinction ad
Hypium. That now known in this canton by
the name of Uskubi appears to represent it.
But the powerful maritime Greek city of
Heraclea with the surname of Pont'tca, is evi-
dently that subsisting under the name of
Erekli. The gulf at the head of which this
city is situated is covered by a point of land,
in the figure of a peninsula, called Achemsiii;
and it was pretended that Hercules, who gave
the name to this city, dragged Cerberus from
hell through a cavern in this promontory.
The nation of Mariandyni, who occupied the
country, were not definitively distinguished
302 COMPENDIUM 6F
from the Bifhyni. Under the lower empire,
this part of Bithynia adjacent to Paphlagonia
composed a separate province named Honorias.
Between Heraclea and the Parthenius there
is no other city to be cited than Tium, on a
point advanced in the sea, and which appears
to have taken the name of Falios from a river,
whose mouth, a little beyond, is called Bilious
by the ancient geographers. The country in
the environs of this city, which is also Greek,
was occupied by the Caucones, of whom
little is known besides the name. In this can-
ton Bithynium, which bore also the name of
Claudiopolis, was the metropolis of Honorius,
and was dishonoured by the birth of Antinoiis,
so well known as the favourite of Adrian. Its
position seems to be that of the modern town
of Bastan. Farther in the country \ve recog-
nise the name of Crafia, called also Flavian-
opolisy in that of Gheredeh; and Boli, a city
of some note, represents Hadridnopolis. We
may add Comopolis Modrence, although there
be no mention of it till the time of the lower
empire. Its position is found in that of Mou-
derni.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 303
PAPHLAGONIA.
It extends from the river Parlhenius, which
preserves the name of Partheni, to the river
Hatys before mentioned. Adjacent to the
Euxine* on the north, it is contiguous on the
south to Galatia. Till the time of the Trojan
war this country was occupied by the Heneti,
who are pretended to have afterwards passed
into Italy, in confounding their name with
that of the Veneti. To enter into a detail of
this country, we must first recount its mari-
time cities. Amastris, situated advantage-
ously in a peninsula, bore the name of the
niece of the last king of Persia of the name of
Darius; and whom a Greek, tyrant of Hera-
clea-Pontica, had married; the term of tyrant
being peculiarly applied in antiquity to an
usurper of the sovereignty of a free state.
An ancient city called Sesamus, to which
* The Euxinus was originally called *Avof, inkospitali&,
from the savage character of the nations on its shores: but.
its name was changed by antiphrasis to Eu%evo$, kospitalis,
as the Furies are called Eumenides. And this name is
alluded to by Ovid:
Dum me tcrrarum pars pene norissima Ponti
Euxinus {also ii'iinine dicf.us lutbet. Ti 1st. lib. Hi. el. 13,
\::d. Quern tenet Euxhu mcndax cvgnymine Hi us. Lib, v. el, 1 0.
304 COMPENDIUM OF
this princess subjected many other cities in its
environs, assumed her name, which it still pre-
serves under the form of Amasreh. Cytorus
is recognised in the modern name of Kudros;
beyond which position the most important
object is the promontory of Carambh, whose
name is perpetuated in that of Keremhi: and,
in describing the Tauric Chersonese, we have
said that this is directly opposite the Criu-
metdpon of that land. Abonitichos, which was
also called lonopolis, retains this last-mention-
ed name in that of Ainehboli. JEgiwtis is
Ginuc; Cinolis Kinoli; and Stephane Istefan.
But the most celebrated of the cities adjacent
to the sea was Sinope, naturally strong by its
situation in a narrow isthmus of a peninsula,
which afforded it two ports. Inconsiderable
however in remote antiquity, this city owed its
aggrandisement to a Milesian colony, before
it fell under the domination of the kings of
Pontus, who made it their ordinary residence.
It preserves its name under the form of
Si nub.
In the interior of Paplilagonia the most
considerable modern city is Kastamoni;
which appears to derive this name from that
of a canton called Dornaiiifi'i: and there is
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 305
found no position which will better repre-
sent Germanicopolis than that of Kastamoni,
which was seized from its native prince by
Mohammed II. A great mountain called
Elkas is the Olgassis of antiquity ; and the
name of Docia is disclosed in that of Tousieh.
Pompeiopolis had mines of sandarac or orpi-
ment, the foliations of which were deemed
poisonous. There is an ambiguity concern-
ing the limits of Paphlagonia and Galatia.
Gangra was the metropolis of the former pro-
vince under the lower empire; yet the local
position of this city, and the circumstance of
its having been the residence of a Galatian
prince, as king Dejoratus, seem to favour the
claim of Galatia during the ages of antiquity.
P O N T U S.
Pontus was a dismemberment from Cappa-
docia, as a separate satrapy under the kings of
Persia, till it was erected into a kingdom
about 300 years before the Christian a3ra.
The name of Leuco-Syri, or White Syrians,
which was given to the Cappadocians, ex-
tended to a people who inhabited Pontus :
and it is plainly seen that the term Pontus di-
VOL. I. X
306 COMPENDIUM OF
stinguished the maritime people from those
who dwelt in the Mediterranean country.
This great space, extending to Colchis,
formed under the Roman empire two pro-
vinces : the one, encroaching on Paphlagonia
on the side of Sinope, was distinguished by
the term Prima, and afterwards by the name
of HdenopontiiSy from Helen, mother of Con-
stantine. The other was called Pontus Pole-
moniacus, from the name of Polemon, which
had been that of a race of kings ; the last of
which made a formal cession of his state to
Nero.
Leaving the mouths of the Halys, the shore
of the sea conducts to Amisus, a Greek city,
but which, subjected in the sequel to the
kings of Pontus, was aggrandised by Mithri-
dates with a quarter called from the surname
that he bore, Eupatoria* ; and Samsoun, as it
is now called, preserves the ancient site. The
sea here forms a kind of gulf, which from the
name of Amisus was called Amiseus Sinus ;
and Asia, being considerably contracted be-
tween this gulf and the coast of Cilicia by
Tarsus, was regarded as a peninsula by some
* From Eu, bcnc, and II#rr}f, pater.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 307
authors of antiquity. The head of this gulf,
called Leuco-Syroruiii Aeon, or the Creek of
the White Syrians, ecerves the river Iris,
aiigMented by the Lycus ; and which is called
by the Turks lekil-ermark, or the Green Ri^
ver. 'Ascending from the sea through the plain
country, which was called Phanartea, by the
course of the Iris, we arrive at Amasea, the
most considerable of the cities of Pontus ; and
which enjoyed the dignity of metropolis in
the first of these provinces, or the Helenopon-
tus. This city, which was also distinguished
by the birth of the geographer Strabo, still
flourishes with the name of Amasieh. A
city at the confluence of the Lycus, begun by
Mithridattes under the name Eupatoria, and
which received from Pompey, who finished
it, the name of Magnopolis, appears to be that
now called Tchenikeh. Phazemon and Pi-
nlolis, situated between Amasea and the fron-
tier Of Paphlagonia, and which gave to their
respective districts the names of Phazemoniti^
and Pimolisena, appear to preserve their po-
sitions in Merzifoun and Osmangik. A
place named Gueder may represent Gaziura,
mentioned in history as a royal city. Zela,
which a victory of Caesar over Pharnaces, son
of Mithridates, has illustrated, and which an
308 COMPENDIUM OF
establishment of the priesthood of Anaitis, a
Persian divinity, rendered considerable, re-
tains the name of Zeleh. Sebastopolis was in
the position of the modern town of Turcal,
between Amasea and Berisa, which is now
Tocat ; and Comana in that of Almons upon
the Iris. Of two cities named Comana, and
both endowed with a grand chapter or
college of priests, in honour of Bellona, this
one was distinguished by the surname of Pon-
tica ; the other being comprised in Cappado-
cia. NeO'desarea, placed on the Lycus by
Pliny, is easily recognised in the form of Nik-
sar : and we shall to these add Colonia, as a
strong place, under the modern name of Cho-
nac, or according to the Turks Coulei-hisar ;
although there is no mention of it before the
Byzantian authors. It must be observed that
all this part of Pontus is enveloped towards
the south, and separated from Cappadocia,
by a great chain of mountains, taking differ-
ent names in its extent; and among others
that of Paryadres, now Ildiz Dagi, which sig-
nifies in the language of the Turks the moun-
tain of Etolia.
To Phanarsea succeeds Themiscyra, whose
fields, traversed by the river Thermodon,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 309
were famous for being the dwelling attri-
buted to the Amazons. The name of this
river may be developed in that of Termeh,
although towards the beginning of its course,
on the route from Arzoum, the river named
Carmili appears to be the same. This coun-
try is inhabited by a people almost savage,
named Djanik. Following the coast, we find
(Enoe in Ounich. Polemonium may have
owed this name to the first Polemon, who was
established king of this country by Marc An-
tony. This city, adjacent to the promontory
of Phadisa?ia, appears to derive there from its
modern name of Vatisa, where the river Si-
denus meets the sea, after having given the
name of Sidena to the district which it tra-
verses. Jasonium and Boona retain the same
names without alteration ; and the nation of
Tibareni inhabited this country. Cerasus is
a city existing under the name of Keresoun :
and although there be some room for dispute
concerning the identity of Cerasus and a city
called Pharnacia, there is more reason, with-
out entering here into the discussion, to a-
scribe the two names to one city, than to ap-
propriate each to a. several one. If we may
credit an historian, it was from Cerasus that
Lucullus, in his war with Mithridates, brought
310 COMPENDIUM OF
into Europe a fruit-tree hitherto unknown,
which was thence called cerasum, or cherry.
We have here the satisfaction of recognis-
ing several ancient denominations in those
actually existing, as %ephyrium in Zafra; Tri-
polis in Tireboli ; Caralla in Kierali ; and the
promontory of Hermonessa in Cape Haromsa.
It immediately precedes Trapezus, a very ce-
lebrated Greek city, which apparently owed
its name to the regular geometrical figure of
that denomination which its walls assumed,
on a point of land projected in the sea. It
was the residence of a prince of the race of
Comnenes, when it fell, in the reign of Mo-
hammed II., under the domination of the
Turks, who, according to their pronuncia-
tion in such cases, call it Terabezoun. Be-
yond Trebisond, as this city is commonly
called, we find Rkisceum in Rizeh; and in
Athenoh A the nee ; though it had nothing
in common with Athens but the name. The
position of Apsarus is that of a place pro-
vided with a port, and named Gounieh. The
river named Balhys, or the Deep, which ap-
pears also under the name of Acampis, now
Bathoun, separates Pontus from Colchis.
Advancing from Trebisond into the interior
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 311
country, a place given on a Roman way un-
der the name of Byl<e, may correspond with
that which from its mines the Turks call Gu-
mish-kaneh, or the House of Silver. The
name of Teheh, in this canton, discloses that
of TecheSy from which the ten thousand had
the first view of the sea in their memorable
retreat. A chain of mountains, by which
the Euphrates seems constrained to take a
southern course, were named Scijdisses,
and described as rugged and inaccessible.
For the same quality of extreme asperity they
are now distinguished by the name of Aggi-
dag, or the Bitter Mountain. Different names
distinguish the people in the vicinity of the
sea. The Mosynaeci*) who imprinted spots on
their skins, derived their name from the
form of their habitations, which were towers
built of wood. There is mention in Xeno-
phon's retreat, of the Dry he as adjacent to
Trebisond. These nations received the
general name of Chalybes, from being occu-
pied in the forging of iron. They are mention-
ed by Strabo under thenameof Chaldai ; anclall
this country, distributed into deep valleys and
precipitate mountains, is still called Keldir.
* From /AOCTI/V, turns.
312 COMPENDIUM OF
The character of the people corresponded
with the face of the country as above describ-
ed; which was composed of Hepta-cometx, or
seven communities.
LYDIA, PHRYGIA, GALATIA,
CAPP ADOCI A.
LYDIA ET IONIA.
We now treat of what fills the intermediate
space between the northern part which pre-
ceded, and the southern which is to follow.
On this space, which should conduct us from
the shores of the ygean Sea to the banks of
the Euphrates, Lydia is the first country, in
proceeding thus from west to east. It is
bounded by Mysia on the north, Phrygia on
the east, and Caria on the south. The name
of Maeonia was also common to it: but leav-
ing equivocal distinctions, we may affirm that
the Lydi and Mcconcs were the same nation.
The borders of the sea having been occupied
bv Ionian colonies, about 900 years before
the Christian sera, took the name of Ionia,
whose maritime situation will necessarily pre-
cede in our detail the interior of Lydia.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 313
Ephesiif, the most illustrious city of Asia,
was founded by a son of Codrus, king of
Athens; was adorned with a superb temple,
constructed by common contribution of the
Asiatic cities; and was the residence of a Ro-
man Proconsul, whose jurisdiction respected
a province of great extent, under the name of
Asia. It is now a mass of ruins, under the
name of Aiosoluc, which is an alteration of
Agio-Theologos, or Saint Theologian; an
epithet which the modern Greeks have given
to St. John, founder of the church of this city.
Its position is at some distance from the sea,
and from the mouth of the river Caystrus^
called by the Turks Kitchik-Meinder, or the
Little Meander. Smyrna, which did not enter
into the association of the Ionic cities till the
establishment had been some time formed,
took its name from an Amazon. This city,
which is well known to be the greatest empo-
rium of commerce in that part of the Otto-
man empire, preserves its name in the form of
Ismir; and which the Turks have thus altered
to. avoid the combination of the two initial
consonants, the pronunciation of which, from
their organs being inveterate in contrary
habits, they find difficult to compass. Phoccea,
founded by Athenians, was the remotest of
314 COMPENDIUM OF
the Ionic cities towards ^Eolis. We know
that Phocaea was the parent of Marseille, by
an emigration of its inhabitants from the
oppression of one of the generals of Cyrus,
named Harpagus. The name of Fochia re-
mains to its ancient site, although a new town
of the same name is a little distant from it, to-
wards the gulf of Smyrna. Cuma, or Cyme,
which follows, was the most powerful of the
yolic colonies, at the head of a gulf called
Cumceus Sinus; and there are vestiges of this
city found in a place called Nemourt.
Returning towards Smyrna, to enter a great
peninsula which the Smyrneus Sinus contri-
butes to form, Ctazomene, an Ionic city, occu-
pied a distinct peninsula, projected from the
greater; and a place named Vourla has suc-
ceeded in the neighbourhood. Erythrte,
another Ionic city, preserves this name in
Erethri, opposite to Scio; and the peninsula is
terminated by a cape, extremely pointed; of
which the name Mdcrna Acra, or the Black
Point, is rendered by the Turks Kara-bouroun,
and altered by seamen into Calaberno. From
this peninsula the isle of Chios, or Scio, is only
separated by a channel ; and the city of the
same name with the island was in the number
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 315
of the Ionic league. This island, which is
well known to be one of the most spacious of
the JEgean Sea, or Archipelago, 1 is celebrated
for its wines as much at this day as it was
heretofore. On the south side of the penin-
sula, and in the throat of the Isthmus, Teas was
also Ionic; and its port is now known by the
name of Sigagik. With Lebedus, which is
mentioned as a place of no great population,
we can find nothing correspondent; nor can
we either with Colophon, an Ionic city more
considerable. Returning towards Ephesus,
we must pass below its position, to observe
that what is now called Scala Nova had here-
tofore a name conformable in that ofNeapolis 9
or the New City. The mount Mycale, which
presses upon the shore, is remarkable in his-
tory for the entire defeat of the great arma-
ment by sea and land of Xerxes, when he was
returning from his unsuccessful expedition
against Greece. Priejie, an Ionic city, and a
place consecrated by religious festivals named
Pan-ionium, as being common to the whole
Ionian confederation, were at the foot of this
mountain, which was only separated by a
narrow channel from Samos. This island,
still known under the same name, among the
principal of the ^Egean Sea, was peopled by
316 COMPENDIUM OF
Carians before it became Ionian. Juno was
here honoured with a particular worship.
Icaria, which is not far distant towards the
west, owed its name to Icarus, son of Dedalus,
who also communicated his name of Icarium
Mare to the sea where he was lost. After
having been peopled, this island was left desert
in the time of Strabo, as it is at this day, under
the name of Nicaria.
To omit no maritime city of the Ionic
union, we should speak of Miletus, if this city
were not rather comprised within the limits of
Caria: and, above the mouth of the Meander,
Myus was of the same foundation. But we
must now quit this famous colony to survey
the interior of Lydia.
Sardes was the capital of a kingdom which
extended to the river Halys, when Cyrus con-
quered it from Croesus; and under the kings
of Persia it became the residence of the Satraps
of Asia. It was seated at the foot of Mount
TmolnSy now called by the Turks Bouz-
dag, or the Cold Mountain. The river that
watered this territory was named Pactolus,
which in the time of Strabo rolled no more
sands of gold; whence it was idly supposed
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 31?
proceeded the treasures of Croesus. Sardes is
said to be represented by a small place named
Sart, which preserves some vestiges of an-
tiquity. A plain country adjacent, named
Cilbienus Campus, appears to have been inha-
bited by a race of Turkmans*, as the name of
Durguz manifests. Hyrcanians transported
under the kings of Persia from the borders of
the Caspian into the plain north of the Her-
mus, had given the name of Hyrcania to a.
city, which that now named Marmora is sup-
posed to have replaced. A river named
Hyllus, or Phrygius, traverses this plain tq
empty itself into the Hermus, opposite Mag-
nesia, which was surnamed Sypilia, being
situated at the foot of mount Sypilus, on the
left of the Hermus. It is near this city that
Antiochus the Great was defeated by Scipio
Asiaticus ; and Magnisa, as it is now called,
having been the residence of the Ottoman
Sultans, is stiil a considerable place. Thyatria,
towards the frontier of Mysia, and which re-
ceived a Macedonian colony, is now called
Ak-hisar, or the White Castle. But direct-
* The Turkmans have no settled dwelling, but roam
about the plains of Asia Minor and Syria in hordes, with
their flocks and cattle; acknowledging, however, the supre-
macy of the Turkish Sultan.
318 COMPENDIUM OF
ing the view to the declination of mount
Tmolus, opposite to that which descends to-
wards Sardes, we find Hypcepa, in the modern
position of Berkij and in the plain which the
Caystrus traverses, another city, under the
modern name of Tireh, appears to have been
the Metropolis of Lydia. The mount Mesogis,
now called Kestenous-dag, separates this plain
on the south side from that which is watered
by the convolutions of Meander. Magnesia,
surnamed Mtfandri, a city of Eolic foundation,
is called by the Turks Guzel-hizar, or the
Handsome Castle. Tralles, a city strong by
its situation, and among those of the first rank,
is very much declined from this state, under
the name of Sultan-hisar. ^ysa, at the foot
of the Mesogis, retains its name in the form of
Nosti: and, in ascending the Meander, to the
limits of Lydia, 'fripolis appears to have been
situated in a place where this river receives
another that comes out of Phrygia. Philadel-
phia, which owed this name to a brother of
Eumenes king of Pergamus, was situated im-
mediately under the extremity of a branch
of Tmolus; but was constructed with little
solidity in its edifices, as being extremely
subject to earthquakes. These phenomena
were most dreadful in their effects in the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 319
seventeenth year of the Christian aera^ for
then twelve of the principal cities of Asia, par-
ticularly this and Sardes, were nearly destroyed.
A great tract of country, which from Mysia
extended in Phrygia, being at all times most
exposed to these disasters, was called Cata-
kecaume?ie*, or the Burnt Country. It must
be said, to the honour of Philadelphia, that
when all the country had sunk under the Ot-
toman yoke, it still resisted, and yielded only
to the efforts of Bajazet I., or Ilderim. The
Turks call it Alah-Shehr, or the Beautiful
City f ; probably by reason of its situation.
A city remarkable by the name of Mtconia
had its situation at the foot of the same
mountain, on a river called Cogamus ; and we
find it cited as between Philadelphia and Tri-
polis. An Attalia of Lydia is indicated by
the modern name of Italah.
PHRYGIA ET LYCAONIA.
Succeeding to Lydia, towards the east, Phry-
gia is one of the principal countries in what
* From Jiarana/w, exwro, with an additional termination.
f Rather the divine city, according to the common in-
terpretation of the sacramental word Allah.
320 COMPENDIUM OF
is called Asia Minor. Tlie Phrygcs were of
Thracian origin, according to Strabo ; and
their first establishments, from the time that
Gordius and Midas reigned over this nation,
were towards the sources of the Sangar, which
divided their territory from Bithynia, accord-
ing to the report of the same author. It is to
this part, although at first but of small extent
compared with its subsequent expansion, that
the name of the Greater Phrygia is given
by distinction from a Phrygia Minor, which
encroached on Mysia towards the Hellespont,
and was thus denominated from Phrygians
who occupied this country after the destruc-
tion of Troy. The testimony of Strabo is ex-
plicit; and if the Trojans are called Phrygi-
ans by Virgil, they became so by usurpation ;
and that accidental event will not justify us in
obliterating the distinction between Mysia
and Phrygia, as provinces. But by a dis-
memberment which the kingdom of Bithynia
suffered on the part of the Romans, and to
the advantage of the kings of Pergamus, this
part of the territory, which was Phrygian, as-
sumed under these kings the name of Epicte-
tus*, or Phrygia, by acquisition. The terri-
* From cTTi, per, and Kry,ou,su t acquiro.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 321
tory which Phrygia possessed towards the
south, and contiguous to Pisidia and Lycia,
appears to have been called Paroreias*; de-
noting it in the Greek to be in the vicinity of
mountains. In the subdivision of provinces
that took place in the time of Constantine, we
distinguish two Phrygias ; one surnamed Paca-
tiana, the other Salutaris; and Laodicea ap-
pears to have been metropolis in the first,
and Synnada in the second.
It is singular that, on entering upon the
detail of the cities of this country, we cannot
begin with those that belonged to the first oc-
cupants of the nation. The Galatians having
diffused themselves in Phrygia, this canton,
where the Phrygians originally settled deci-
sively makes a part of Galatia, which forms
a distinct province among those that divide
the continent. Thus Pessinus and Gordium
will only appear in treating of that province.
Dorylteum takes the position of Eski-Shehr,
or the Old City; and the Thymbris, which
flows near it, is now named Pursac. Cotyteium,
or (according to the Turkish form) Kutaieh,
on the same river, being the residence of the
* From Tfy,cy.,juxta, and Zfj;, man?-
VOL, I. Y
322 COMPENDIUM OF
Beglerbeg of Anadoli, has taken a predomi-
nant rank among the places of this country.
In Xenophon's account of the expedition of
the younger Cyrus, PdLc and an adjacent plain
may be the same with what is now called
Uschuk. Cadi, a city near the sources of the
Hermus, preserves its position in Kedous.
There is no actual intelligence concerning
Azani and Ancyra, the most remote cities of
the Epicfetus. The same may be said of
Eumenia, seated on a river called Cludrus,
while the name of the city communicated it-
self to the adjacent country. Two consider-
able cities, at no great distance between them-
selves, were Hierapolis, in a place which the
Turks call Bambuk-Kalasi, or the Castle of
Cotton; because the neighbouring rocks re-
sembled that substance in their whiteness : and
Laodicea, which is still called Ladik, although
otherwise named Eski-hisar, or the Old Castle,
by the Turks. These cities are now in ruins;
and above Ladik, Degnizlu is a city which
prevails in this canton. A river named Lvcus,
passing between Laodicea and Hierapolis,
proceeds to join the Meander below ColvssiC,
whose name of Chonos, which it assumed in an
after-age, still subsists. Cibyra, the remotest
place on the other side, and which was a, con-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 323
siderable city, appears in the annals of the
Turks under the name of Buruz. Therhiso-
nium may be recognised in Teseni ; and Suva-
lassus, on the indefinite limits of Phrygia and
Pisidia, appears to disclose itself in the name
of Sajaklu. A little beyond, near a place
named Choma, or Houma, which in Strabo is
Holmi, through the mountains are deep and
narrow gorges, of which that called Myrio-
cephalon, or the Thousand Heads, was fatal to
the army of Michael Comnenes, defeated by
the Sultan of Konieh.
A city which commerce had rendered suffi-
ciently flourishing to yield this advantage
only to Ephesus, was Apamea, surnamed
Cibotus, or the Coffer, and situated at the. con-
fluence of the little river Marsyas and the
Meander, not far from its origin. This city
had succeeded to one more ancient, almost
on the same site, whose name was Celcence.
Apamea is represented by Amphiom Kara-
hizar; which signifying the Black Castle of
Opium, justifies the belief that this narcotic,
much used in the Levant, is there prepared.
Thence advancing towards Synnada, whose
marbles were in great estimation among the
Romans, and which holds the rank of metro--
V C 2
COMPENDIUM OF
polls in one of the two provinces of Phrygia,
we find a place named Boluaden, which gives
the position of Dinice. Ipsus, where a great
battle decided the fortunes of the successors
of Alexander, was in the environs of Sijnnada.
Antiochia, surnamed ad Pisidiam, thus ex-
pressing it to be on the confines of Pisidia, is
frequently cited as a city of Pisidia defini-
tively, and it became indeed the metropolis of
that province. But what has been said of
Sagalassus must also be observed of this posi-
tion; this region being the ambiguous confine
of Phrygia Paroreias before-mentioned. The
Turks give to this Antioch the name of Ak-
shehr, or the White City. More distant, a
place named Ilgoun, having some vestiges of
antiquity withal, is on the site of Philomelium.
Tkymbrium occurred in the march of the
younger Cyrus; and there is reason to believe
that this was the field of battle under the
name of Thymbraia, where CrcEsus was
utterly defeated by the founder of the Persian
monarchy: for though, in the sequel of the
recital of that event, it seems that Sardes and
the Pactolus were not far distant, it cannot be
supposed that the king of Lydia, powerfully
armed as he was, delayed the action till the
enemy came within sight of his capital.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 32-5
The part of Phrygia which remains to be
described, belongs to a particular country under
the name of Lycaonia. Iconium is the princi-
pal city, and which took the rank of metro-
polis of the province. But the renown of
Konieb, as it is now called, is principally de-
rived from the circumstance of its becoming
the residence of the Seljukide Sultans, who
reigned there during many ages, beginning
towards the close of the eleventh. The country
which they oppressed, called Karaman, in its
present state of a Beglerbeglic of the Otto T
man empire, extends from the limits of Ana-
doli to those of a country distinguished by
the name of Roum; which we shall describe
in treating of Cappadocia. On this side of
Iconium, Laodicea, surnamed Combusta, is
known by the name of lurekiam Ladik; and
Ismil, the name of a position beyond Konieh,
discloses that of Psibeta. Laranda preserves
the name of Larendeh in a position remote
towards the south. The Li/caojium Colics,
which are characterised as cold and naked,
are a ridge of no great elevation, stretching
from the north of Konieh towards the east,
and bearing the name of Foudhal-baba, a
Being fantastically revered in the country.
A vast plain, which extends from these hills
326 COMPENDIUM OF
to the limits of Galatia, is so dry and scarce of
water, that Strabo remarks this necessary ele-
ment to be sold in a place named Soatra, or
Sabatra. The Tat (a Pains, a salt pool, men-
tioned by the same author, and which extends
much more in length than in breadth, in this
plain, is called Tuzla; a term, in the language
of the Turks, signifying the quality of its
waters.
G A L A T I A.
It is adjacent towards the north to Bithy*
nia and Paphlagonia. The Sangar and the
Halys traverse the contiguous extremities of
these provinces. We see in history, that
about two hundred and seventy years before
the Christian asra, a handful of Gauls detach-
ed from a great emigration, led by Brennus,
passed into Asia by crossing the Hellespont.
After having laid under contribution all the
country on this side of mount Taurus, these
Gauls cantoned themselves in a part of
Phrygia, extending to the confines of Cappa-
docia. And, as there had been previous esta-
blishments formed by the Greeks, with whom
ihe strangers had mingled, the conquered
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 32?
country obtained the name also of Gallo-
Gr<ecia. However, they had so well preserved
the distinction, that their language appeared
to St. Jerome, about six hundred years after
their migration, the same with that spoken at
his time in Treves*. This nation was com-
posed of three people; the Tolisto-boii, con-
fining on Phrygia, called Epictetus ; the Troc-
??ii, on the side of Cappadocia ; and the Tec-
tosages, occupying the intermediate territory.
Among many cotemporary princes, called Te-
trarchs, who ruled in Galatia, Deiotarus, fa-
voured by Pompey, and not less so by Ca?sar,
usurped the government of the whole, and as-
sumed the title of King. But a kingdom that
Amyntas, a creature of Antony, possessed,
* Pinkerton, \vho has written professedly upon the mi-
grations of the parent nations, seems to prove that these
Galatians were not originally Gauls, but Germans, who
having conquered a part of Gaul, were thus denominated
to distinguish them from other Goths ; as the Arabs of
Maurctania are called Maures ; and the English, Britons.
He also considers the evidence of St. Jerome as decisive
with regard to their Germanic origin ; for it is well known
that, in the time of this father, the German was the po-
pular language, at Troves, as it now is. Their leaders too
were called Lomnorius and Lotharius ; names in them-
selves purely Gothic, though disguised under Roman ter-
minations.
328 COMPENDIUM OF
and which beyond Galatia extended in Lyca-
onia and Pisidia, was re-united to the empire
by Augustus, after the battle of Actium. As
to the occurrences of later times, Galatia was
not divided into two provinces before the
reign of Theodosius, who also elevated Pessi-
nus to the dignity of metropolis in second
Galatia, surnamed Salutaris.
Ancyra, among the Tectosages, is the first
city of Galatia. Jt received many favours
from Augustus; and Angoura, as it is now
called, still preserves a magnificent inscrip-
tion, reciting the principal circumstances of
the life of that prince. It is in these environs
that Bajazet (or Bayezid) was vanquished,
and made prisoner by Timur. This city is
distinguished by a much esteemed manufac-
ture of camelots of goats'-hair, which nume-
rous herds of these animals furnish in this can-
ton, inhabited by Turkmans, and named
Tchourgoud-ili. Pessuius, which appears to
have been near the Sangar, in the country oc-
cupied by the Tolistoboians, was a sanctuary
of the worship which the Phrygians rendered
to the mother of the gods, or Cybele, whose
simulacrum, or idol, was transported from this
city to Rome duringh te second Punic War.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
Gordium is another place of consideration, in
quality of the ancient residence of the kings
of this country; and its situation on the San-
gar admits not of the doubt which some of
the learned have suggested concerning it. It
had declined iato a very small place, called
Gordiu-come, when it was aggrandised under
the name of Juliopolis, in the reign of Au-
gustus; and the injury that the w r alls of this
city received from the course of the Sangar,
was repaired by Justinian. But we reluct-
antly confess the deficiency of actual informa-
tion concerning this and the preceding posi-
tion. To these we may add also a city which
there is reason to believe was not far distant
from Pessinus, and which to the name of
Germa annexed the surname of Colonia,
Amorium was a considerable city when it was
taken and sacked by the Khalif Motasem, in
the year 223 of the Hegira, and in the 837th
of the Christian rcra ; an event that did not
however preclude the mention of Amora by
the Arabian geographers many ages after.
In following the track of a Roman way
which from Ancyra conducts into Cilicia, a
place is found under the name of Gorbagaj,
which indicates Gorbcus, the residence of a
330 COMPENDIUM OF
prince whom Deiotarus put to death. An-
drapa, on this route, agrees with the position
of Ku-Shehr. There is remarked, on another
way, a mansion or inn called Eccobriga : and
the road should here cross the I lalys ; bri%a
being a Celtic or Galatian term to denote a
bridge*. This way leads to Tavium> other-
* The mingling of the Gothic and Celtic nations by con-
quest and migrations, Ions; before the time of letters, has
necessarily made some words common to both languages,
and which it is now perhaps impossible to assign to their
peculiar parents. Among these we may mention true bridge,
which our author has remarked to signify a city, in the ter-
mination of Celtic names in Spain and in Thrace, while here
it denotes a bridge. The only way of reconciling this seem-
ing inconsistency, is to remark, that probably the word
signified neither a bridge nor a city absolutely, and both
relatively, as many in names of places in England : Cam-
bridge, Uxbridge, for example, among a thousand others,
all applied to positions where a river is passed on a bridge.
Thus a foreigner, not well acquainted with the language,
might fall into a similar error in his interpretation of the
numberless names ending in ford, which all denote towns
where a river is passed by wading, as Brentford, Oxford,
&c. The final syllables < fall the names of places in England,
are words in the language of the Anglo-Saxons expressive,
of the local circumstance that distinguishes each; and it
may be supposed that a similar practice has been observ-
ed in other countries, as appellative names precede proper
ones in the history of human speech.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 331
wise Tavia, which was the principal city of
the Trocmians, the remotest of the Galatian
people; and a place now called Tchoroum re-
presents it. The whole north side of Galatia
is covered with a chain of mountains; among
which is distinguished Olympus, where the
Galatians were attacked by the Romans at the
conclusion of the war with Antiochus; but
this Olympus is to be distinguished from that
just mentioned in Bithynia. -The continua-
tion of these mountains (particularly that
which the Turks call Koush-Dagi, or the
Mountain of the Bird) incloses Gangar, and
covers this city on the side of the north.
Thus by its position it seems comprised with-
in the natural limits of Galatia : but it never-
theless held the rank of metropolis in the pro-
vince of Paphlagonia, the princes who pos-
sessed it having extended their dominion in
this province. Before Deiotarus, a prince
named Morzes made it his residence. It is
by the light of modern geography that its
identity is recognised in Kiangari.
COMPENDIUM OF
CAPPADOCIA ET ARMENIA MINOR.
Separated from Pontus by a chain of moun-
tains, Cappadocia extends southward to
Mount Taurus. We have seen that Pontus
was only distinguished from Cappadocia by
its having been detached from it ; that the na-
tion was fundamentally the same in one part
as the other, and reputed of Syrian race ; the
Cappadocians being generally called Leuco-
Sijri, or White Syrians. But that which was
properly Cappadocia, was called Cappadocia
Magna, or Major. This country was a king-
dom of the Persian empire ; and, at the ex-
tinction of the royal race, the Cappadocians,
to whom liberty was offered by the Romans,
preferred being governed by kings. It has
been said of the king of Cappadocia, that,
though poor in money, he was rich in slaves ;
alluding to the condition of the peasantry iu
Iris allodial demesnes, which was that of the
most miserable vassalage. Under Tiberius
this kingdom was re-united to the empire, but
did not extend as a separate domain to the
Fviiphrates. An union with the Armenian
nation caused the part adjacent to the river to
assume the name of Armenia Minor y but in a
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 333
manner indeterminate, and much more con-
tracted at first than in posterior times, when,
by the division of Cappadocia into four or five
provinces, the name of Armenia was extended
to two of them, as will be shown in speaking
of the metropolitan cities.
Mazaca, capital of Cappadocia, in a parti-
cular canton called Cilicia, took the name of
Ctesarea under Tiberius, without losing its
former denomination. It is surnamed Ad
Argtfum, being situated at the foot of Mount
Argans, from whose summit, it is said, botk
the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas may be
seen. Some difference is thought to be dis-
tinguished between the site of the ancient city
of Ceesarea and the modern one of Kaisarieh.
The mountain preserves its name in that of
Argeh-dag. There issues from it a river,
which, with the name of Koremoz, is also
called by the Turks Kara-sou, or the Black
Water, in conformity to its Greek denomi-
nation of Melas. The river Halys oh tie
other side cannot be far distant; since the
devastation brought on the territory of Csesa-
rea by the inundations of this river, occasion-
ed a remission of the customary tribute. The
name of Commantne, the ancient prefecture of
334 COMPENDIUM OF
Cappadocia, is recognised in that of Kaman;
and Ni/sna in that of Nous-sher. Mocissus
must also be noticed, being known by this
name at the time of its re-edification by Justi-
nian, who made it the metropolis of the third
Cappadocia, giving it the name of Justiniano-
polis, which it has not retained: for this place
is found at some distance from the passage of
a river, which is the Ilalys, under the name of
Moucious. Garsaura. which gives its name
* O
to a district, occupied the position of Ak-serai ;
and Cadyna that of Xigdeh, a city of some
note. In the environs or' a place named
Bour, the vestiges of an ancient castle appear
to be the fortress of Nora, or Neroassus;
where Eumenes, who had been secretary to
Alexander, sustained a siege against the forces
of Antigonus. Cybislrc, which Mount Ar-
ga3us separates from Mazaca, is Bustereh.
On the route which conducts from Konieh
to the passes of Mount Taurus, Erekli is
Archelais, a colony of the emperor Claudius,
on one of the branches of the Ilalys; and not
Heraclea, as most travellers have imagined.
Nazianzus was a place of little note, but illus-
trated by the birth of a father of the Greek
church.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. . 335
A branch of the river Halys issues from
one of the gorges of Taurus, and the Sarus
rushes through another, before entering
Cilicia. At the sources of these rivers the
mountain prolongs one of its chains towards
the north, called Anti-Taurus, by opposition
to the more dominant ridge that encompasses
a particular country called Cataonia. Two
principal cities in this country were Tyana
and Comona. The former was elevated to the
dignity of metropolis in the second Cappa-
docia; and was remarkable for producing a
celebrated pretender, named Apollonius.
The other was distinguished by a college
devoted to the worship of BelJona or Diana,
the pontiff of which was a sovereign prince,
who only yielded in dignity to the kings of
Cappadocia. The Sarus issuing from Anti-
Taurus passed through this city; which the
position of a place named El Bostan, or the
Garden, appears to represent. There is no
positive knowledge of the site of Tyana; and
it may be proper to add, that this is the city
which appears under the name of Dana, in
the march of the younger Cyrus. Podandus
preserves its name in Podando. This place
was much decried for the rudenes of its situa-
tion; it being buried among the mountains,
336 COMPENDIUM OF
which here form a defile that affords a difficult
passage from Cataonia into Cilicia. Cue us us,
the gloomy place of exile of St. John Chryso-
stom, situated likewise in one of the gorges
of Taurus, is named Cocson: and through
these defiles lay the routes of the crusards to-
wards Syria. Dasmenon, a castle on a lateral
rock, according to Strabo, appears to be no
other than the Tzamandus of the Byzantian
historians, and which preserves its name under
the modern form of Tzamaneni. It requires
more actual knowledge of the country than
we possess, to indicate the positions ofAriafhia,
the residence of many kings; or of ArabissuSy
of To?iosa, and MILS ana. Strabo was induced
to think that the greatest part of Cappadocia
had no cities, at least in his time. The prin-
cipal Roman camp in MeUtent', one of the
greatest prefectures of this country, took the
form of a city under Trajan, with the same
name; and in the division of the less Armenia
into two provinces, Melittne became metro-
polis of the second. Situated between the
rivers Euphrates and MclaSy which last may
have thus denominated the country, it subsists
in the name of Malaria; and, in its jurisdic-
tion, a city called Area is known under the
same name.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 33?
We must DOW pass to Sebaste, which being
tinder Mithridates but a castle named Cabira,
became a city under Pompey. The name
which it still keeps, and' which in Greek has
the same signification with Augusta in Latin,
was given to it, in honour of Augustus, by
the queen-dowager of Polemon, king of Pon-
tus. The river Halys flows in its vicinity;
and Mount Paryadres is not far distant to-
wards the north. Sivas, as it is now called,
was the metropolis of the first Armenia; and
was cruelly treated by Timur, who erased its
ramparts, which a Seljukid Sultan had erected.
It is now but an inconsiderable place, although
the residence of a Beglerbeg, whose govern-
ment extends over the country distinguished
from Karaman and Anadoli by the name of
Roum. This denomination, which was ex-
tended to the whole Greek empire by the
Arabian tChalifs, is now confined to this terri-
tory, which formed its eastern frontier. Be-
tween Sivas and the mountains, on the route
from Tocat and Amasieh, a city named Artik-
abad appears to correspond with 'he position
of Ariathira. But in the vicinity of Sebaste
there is mention made of an almost inexpug-
nable fortress, situated on a steep rock among
deep valleys, and where Mithridates had de-
VOI, I. /
338 COMPENDIUM OF
posited his principal treasures. Its name,
which was Kovus, is retained by the Arme-
nians in the form of Hesen-Nowj but the
Turks call it Kadj-hisar. Nicopolis in Arme-
nia Minor, constructed by Pompey, after hav-
ing forced Mithridates to retire to the Acili-
sene on the banks of the Euphrates, cannot
be referred to any other position than that of
a city, whose modern name of Divriki is the
same with Tephrice in the Byzantians, al-
though Tephrice and Nicopolis be found
separately mentioned by one of these authors.
The fortress of Synoria, or Sinibra, to which
Mithridates, when vanquished, retired, is also
known. Its modern name, pronounced by
an Armenian, has appeared to be Snarvier;
and there is a striking conformity in the cir-
cumstances of the respective positions. That
which exists under the name of Derindeh in-
dicates Analibla, which was otherwise called
Daranalis. The Euphrates is here contract-
ed between two mountains, named Capotes
or, as the Armenians pronounce it, Kepouh.
Arabracc, which is mentioned by the Byzan-
tians, preserves the name in Arabkir. It
must be observed that Camaches, a strong
place by its situation, but which is not men-
tioned before the times of the Lower Empire,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 339
retains the name of Kamak. The last place
on this frontier, and 'garrisoned by a legion,
was Satala, in a position in every circum-
stance conformable with that of Arzingan.
CARI A, LYCIA, PAMPHYLIA, CILICI A.
CARIA.
These countries, which remain to be in-
spected, make the southern and maritime
circuit. Caria, which is adjacent to the sea
on the western and southern sides, cannot be
more distinctly separated from Lydia than by
the course of the river Meander. The Cares ',
and their language, were esteemed barbarous
by the Greeks, who made establishments
among them. They had inhabited isles of
the yEgean Sea, and had extended even to the
coast of Lydia, before the arrival of the
Ionian colonies. The Leleges, obliged about
the time of the Trojan war to quit a maritime
canton of Troas, retired into Caria, where
they possessed many cities. And that is alt
that can be said concerning the more remote
antiquity in Caria.
340 COMPENDIUM OF
Before speaking of Miletus, Mount Latmus
must be mentioned, the scene of the fable of
Endymiorf, and which rises immediately from
an opening of the sea. Miletus, which was
situated towards the entrance of this little
gulf, made the most southern of the Ionian
cities: it was distinguished above all other
Greek cities by the number of its colonies,
which peopled the shores of the Propontis and
Euxine, as far as the Cimmerian Bosphorus.
It may be thought extraordinary that the ac-
tual state of a city, once so illustrious, should
be unknown ; for it is an erroneous opinion
that a place named Palatsa represents it. It
may be added, to the honour of Miletus, that
Thales, who laid the foundations of philoso-
phy among the Greeks, to whom the sciences
owed their nurture, was one of its citizens.
The situation of lassns, at the head of a gulf
which was thence called lassius Sinus,, is re-
cognised in that of Assem Kalasi: Myndus is
still a place named Mindes. Crossing a
narrow space of country which separates this
gulf from another which succeeds, we find
Halicarnassus, a city of Greek foundation,
which became the residence of the kings of
Caria; and which was ornamented with a
superb tomb, erected by Artemisia to king
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 341
Mausolus, her husband. The birth of Hero-
dotus, the most ancient of the Greek histo-
rians, and the defence made by Halicarnassus
when besieged by Alexander, are circum-
stances which contribute to the fame of
this city*. On the spot that it occupies is a
castle, named Bodroun, which appears to have
been erected by the knights of Malta, whose
possessions extended on the coast's of the con-
tinent, as well as to the adjacent isles. At
the opening of a gulf, which from a city
named Ceramus, new Keramo, was called
Ceramicus, and near a long-projected pro-
montory named Triopium, now Cape Crio, was
the city of Cnidus, distinguished heretofore
for the devotion rendered to Venus, and now
exhibiting but a mass of ruins. This canton
of Caria having been occupied by Dorians,
was named Doris; and the sea there forms a
gulf which was called Do.-idis Sinus. The
last of the maritime cities of Caria that shall
be mentioned here is Caunus, which is thought
to be the place named Kaiguez, not far dis-
tant from the mouth of a river called Calbis;
* The author has omitted the mention of Smyrna as the
natal city of Homer, diid Halicarnassus as that of the
famous philologist and antiquary Dionysiue.
342 COMPENDIUM OF
this city was so remarkable for the insalubrity
of the air, that it was said hyperbolically that
the dead walked in it. The coast whereon it
was seated was called Per<fa* Rhodiorum, as
being separated from Rhodes, to which it was
subjected, by a ferry.
All that is known of Alabanda, one of the
principal cities in the interior of Caria, is, that
it was not far distant from the Meander. An-
tiochia M&andri appears to have been re-
placed by a town named lenghi-Shehr, or the
New Town. The site of Aphrodisias is found
in a place named Gheiraj and that of Strata-
nicea in Eski-Shehr, or the Old Town. The
first had the rank of metropolis, in the province
of Caria; the second, aggrandised under the
kings of Syria, owed its name to Stratonice,
wife to Antiochus Soter. Mylasa, a consider-
able city, where Jupiter was honoured with a
particular worship by the Carians, subsists
under the same name, although the quarries
in its vicinity have caused it also to be called
Marmora. The city is situated at some
distance from the sea; and its port, named
Physcus, retains the name of Physco. All
* From Tfepaw, transco.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 343
that can be said of Alinda, the residence of a
princess in the time of Alexander, is, that
there is reason to believe it situated in the
canton of a principal city of the country,
named Moglah: and Tdb<e is well known in
the name of Tabas.
But this section of Caria cannot be con-
cluded without some notice of the adjacent
isles of the ^Egean Sea. The name of Sporades*
is applied to them in general, to signify
that they are dispersed. Pathmos, Leros, and
Calymna, preserve their names ; with a small
alteration in the last, which is pronounced
Calmine. It is well known how much the
circumstance of the banishment of St. John,
the apostle of the churches of Asia, has illus-
trated the first of these isles, but little remark-
able in itself. Cos, a considerable isle off the
Ceramic gulf, had the glory of producing
Hippocrates and Apelles, two men who held
the first rank in their respective faculties. It
preserves its name in the form of Stan-Co,
where the preposition of place is recognised j
but, by a depravation singularly gross, it is
called Lango by Europeans. Nysirus is evi-
*' From (TTTo^af, dispersus.
344 COMPENDIUM OF
dently Nisari ; while Ttlos has taken the
name of Piscopia. The isle of Rhodes has a
well-earned celebrity: the Rhodians signalised
themselves particularly in the marine; and
the services rendered by them to the Romans,
in the war against the last king of Syria, pro-
cured them extensive possessions on the conti-
nent. LindiiSy Camirus, and lah/sus, had pre-
ceded in this isle the foundation of a city
named Rhodus, which remounts no higher
tli an the Peloponnesian war, or about four
hundred years before the Christian asra. It
was in vain that Demetrius, surnamed Polior-
cetes, or the Taker of Cities, held it besieged
for a year. Having successfully resisted Mo-
hammed II. it yielded at length to the efforts
of Soiiman II. in 1522. It may be added, that
Undo and Camiro are still names known in
the isle of Rhodes; and the little isle of Car-
pathus, now Scarpanto, lying in the mid chan-
nel between Rhodes and Crete, had given to
this channel the name of Carpathium Mare,
L Y C I A.
Contained between two gulfs, Lycia is bor-
dered by the sea on three sides. Mountains,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 345
which extend their branches in various direc-
tions through the country, cover it on the
other side. It is recorded of the Lycii, that
having poks favourable for navigation, they
had preferred the establishment of a good ad-
ministration to the example of their neigh-
bours of Pamphylia and Cilicia, who were
addicted to piracy. At the head of the gulf
which confines Lycia on the side of Caria,
Telmissus, which was famed for very skilful
magicians, takps a position similar to that
which is given to a modern city named Ma-
cri 5 and although the name of Glaucus ap-
pears to have been proper to this gulf, it is
also found denominated by that of its ancient
city, as it now is by its modern. Along this
gulf extends the ridge of Mount Cragus, of
which a detached chain was distinguished by
the name of Anti-cragus. The extremity of
Cragus that is washed by the sea, forms what
is now named the Seven Capes ; and Chimera
is a volcano in this mountain, Xanthus, the
greatest city of Lycia, was situated upon a
river of the same name, at some distance from
the sea; and it is evident that the modern
name of Eksenide, in the same position, is
only an alteration of the primitive form. Ad-
vancing into the country, Pinara, at the foot
346 COMPENDIUM OF
of the Cragus, and Tlos, in a situation more
interior, were principal cities. Near the sea,
Patara (or as it is now pronounced, Patera,)
was in possession of an oracle; between
which, and that of Delos, it was pretended
that Apollo equally divided his presence, by
giving an alternate half-year to each. Myra
and Limyra are marked successively at the
same distance from the sea; and the first, ele-
vated to the dignity of metropolis in the pro-
vince of Lycia, retains its name and site.
The Sacrum Promontorium, where 4he coast,
hitherto tending to the east, turns northward,
being covered with three shoals called Chelido-
ni<e insultf, is now named Cape Kelidoni.
The elevation which Mount Taurus takes
from this promontory, has been regarded as
its commencement, whence it directs its ridge ;
and, at the confines of Pamphylia, joins itself
to mountains which from Caria are continued
along the north of Lycia. Two maritime
places, which served as a retreat to the pirates
of Cilicia, and which were taken and almost
destroyed by Servilius Isauricus, succeeded to
this promontory. Olympus, a great city, pre-
serves only a castle on a very elevated site.
That of Phastlis, to which it is thought a
place now called Fionda corresponds, is re-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. S4?
raarkable for being adjacent to a passage so
much contracted by a brow of Taurus, called
Climax, or the ladder, that Alexander could
not traverse it to enter Pamphylia without
wading through the sea. In the environs of
this city, a ground, from which fire issues,
was for that reason named Hephtfstium*. It
must be added, that the north of Lycia made
part of a country .called Milyas, which ex-
tended on the common frontier of Pisidia and
Phrygia, in the neighbourhood of the moun-
tains. But we cannot enter into a detail of
positions on this frontier, through want of in-
telligence concerning the actual state of the
country.
PAMPHYLIA ET PISIDIA.
We thus comprise, under the same title, two
countries between which it would be difficult
to determine the limits with precision. But
what distinguishes them in general manner is,
that Pamphylia borders the sea, while Pisidia
occupies the interior country. To observe a
* H<pcus~eiw, Vulcanitemplum ; ab y<pous'Q$, ignis, et \t
templum.
'US .COMPENDIUM OF
natural order, we must first survey the mari-
time part. The position of OLbia appears to be
that given to the modern city of Alitalia, or,
as it is commonly called, Satalia; for, at some
distance from this, the site of the ancient At'
talia manifests itself under the name of Palaia
Antalia. The river Cataractes, called in the
country Duden-Soui, ought to precede Atta-
lia, according to Strabo ; and the city there-
fore at the mouth of this river represents the
ancient Olbia. The Cestrus, which succeeds,
conducts at some distance from the sea to
Pcrga, which took the rank of metropolis in
the province of Pamphylia, and which ap-
pears to be concealed under the Turkish de-
nomination of Kara-hisar, or the Black Castle,
in a district called Tekieh. Further on was
Aspendus, on the river Eurijmedon. Ranging
along the coast we find Side, which seems to
have taken precedence of Perga ; for, when
Pamphylia was divided into two provinces, it
became metropolis of the first. A port covered
with many little isles, and called Candeloro,
appears to correspond with this position. We
are instructed with respect to the situation of
Ctbi/ra, which was above, by the modern
name of Iburar, without obtaining the same sa-
tisfaction in our search after places more con-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 349
siderable. Beyond the river Melas, or the
Black, the limits of Pamphylia are extremely
equivocal: Coracesium being attributed to.Ci-
licia; and in another time, Sydra, which is
more remote, being given to Pamphylia. On
this shore there exists a place named Alanieh,
seated on a rock that overlooks the sea, as Co-
racesium is described in antiquity; and al-
though this place owes its present state to a
Seljukide Sultan, it may be esteemed more an-
cient, and the same as the Castel Ubaldo of
the marine atlases.
Advancing towards the interior country, we
find Termessus, on the indeterminate limits of
Pamphylia and Pisidia, situated before the
defiles that gave entrance to the country of
Mylas, which is mentioned in concluding the
section of Lycia. It was the centre of the
little territory of Cabalia, bounded by Lycia
and Pamphylia, and inhabited by the Solymi.
This position appears to correspond with that
of a place at the foot mountains, whose name
of Estenaz *' may be derived from a Greek
word signifying defiles. In the interior of Pi-
sidia, now named Hamid, Cremna, a strong*
* From TTZYOS, angustus.
350 COMPENDIUM OF
place where the Romans established a colony,
appears to preserve its name in that of Kebri-
naz, which has an ancient castle on a high
mount. Between this place and Sagalassus,
was Sandalium, a fortress that no invader ever
insulted. Isbarteh, a principal city in this
canton, may owe this name to Baris, or Ba-
ridos. The position of Lysone concurs with
that whose name is Ag-lason, and not without
analogy. Trogitis is disclosed in Egreder, or
Egredi, on the borders of a lake of the same
name: and the name of Haviran has some
affinity with that of Oroanda. A city under
Taurus, called by the Macedonian name of
Seleucia, with the surname of Ferrea, may be
concealed under that of Eushar, which a con-
siderable town bears below the lake of Egridi.
But the greatest city of Pisidia was Selga-, of
Lacedemonian foundation, and which had be-
come so powerful as to be able to arm twenty
thousand men. It appears to be ascribed to
Pamphylia, in a posterior age; but the site
which it occupied is now unknown. Petnelis-
sus seems to have been adjacent, above Aspen-
dus; and Catenna towards Homonada, which
ill be mentioned in treating of Cilicia.
Isauria was a country adjacent to Pisidia ;
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 351
and the Isaurians were distinguished from
the Pisidians by the violence and rapine
which they exercised on their neighbours. Ser-
vilius, who was charged with the conduct of
the war in this country, and who acquired
from its success the name of Isauricus, de-
stroyed their capital called Isaura ; which
Amyntas, of whom Galatia has given us oc-
casion to speak, re-established, after having
dislodged a partisan who in this country held
Derbe and Lystra. The name of Darb pro-
perly denotes a gate ; and this place may be
represented by that called Alah-dag, at the
passage of a high mountain. Among the
places that are known at this day in Isauria,
Bei Shehri, on a lake, is the principal; and
above this, a position near another lake pre-
serves in the name of Kerali, that of Ceralis,
We shall see that the name of Isauria has be-
come proper to a part of Cilicia.
CILICIA.
Overlooked by the ridge of Taurus on the
northern side, Cilicia borders the sea on the
south, to the limits of Syria. The Cilices are
first mentioned at a time when the weakness
352 COMPENDIUM OF
of the kings of Syria, and the divisions in their
house, permitted this nation to exercise piracy
with impunity; a practice which could not
but be agreeable to the Ptolemies, enemies to
the Seleucides, and which was not at first an
object directly interesting to the Romans.
But the predatory power, which extended to
the maritime places as well as on the seas,
having grown to such a height as to brave the
Romans on the shores of Italy, Servilius Isau-
ricus was sent to destroy the pirates. He,
however, merely began the work, which Pom-
pey finished by a naval victory under Corace-
sium, and the consequent capture of this city,
mentioned in the preceding section.
A part of Cilicia, extremely rude and
mountainous, was distinguished by the sur-
name of Trachea*, which expresses in Greek
its topical character; and this is the first that
presents itself after Pamphylia. A conformity
in the aspect of the country with that of Isau-
via just described, caused this name to pass by
continuity into this part of Cilicia, which ap-
pears thus denominated in the notices of the
eastern empire. Among the Turks this can-
cujicr.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 353
ton is called Itch-il, which signifies an interi-
or country. Following the sea coast, Sclinus
occurs at the mouth of a river of the same
name; and which, for having been the place
where the emperor Trajan died, assumed the
name of Trajanopolls : hut it has since retaken
its primitive denomination in the form of Se-
lenti. At the foot of a steep mountain near
the sea, and named Cragus as that in Lycia,
an Antiochia has taken the diminutive form of
Antiocheta. There is then recognised Ckara-
drus, in Calandro. Anemurium, on a pro-
montory opposite a point of land in Cyprus,
has scarcely changed its name in the form of
Anemur, or Anemurieh. The preposition of
place being prefixed, it may make Estenmur,
but not Estelmur, as expressed in the maps.
The name of Cdenderis is found in the Kelnar
of the present day. The Caly, or cadnus, as
it is now called, Kelikdni, having its mouth
between two promontories, conducts to Seleu-
cia, surnamed T achca ; to distinguish it from
other cities of the same name, and <is the
capital of Cilicia Trachea. This city ib still
the principal one in the country, and preserves
its name in that of Seletkeh. As to the in-
land positions, Homonada, on the confines of
Isauria, in a situation very proper for a strong
VOL. I. 2 A
354 COMPENDIUM OF
fortress, retains, under the name of Ermenak,
a castle hewn out of a rock, and less disfigured
by time or violence than most others of
the same antiquity. We could wish to as-
certain, with equal precision, the situation
of Olbtty in the country named Cetis ; as it
was the see of a sacred college (founded by
Ajax, son of Teucer), whose pontiff was sove-
reign.
From Cilicia Trachea we pass to that which,
being less rugged, was called Campestris, or
the Plains. The first place that presents it-
self on the shore is Corycus y where is mention-
ed a cavern or hollow, which produced
saffron highly esteemed. This position pre-
serves the name of Curco. Not far from it, a
little isle named Eleusa contained a city
named Sebaste, constructed by Archelaus,
king of Cappadocia, whom Augustus put in
possession of Cilicia Trachea. A little river
named Lamus gave to this canton, which it
passes through, the name of Lamotris ; and
that of Lamuzo still subsists. Not far from
its mouth, <SW/, an ancient Greek city, was
reduced to an inconsiderable number of inha-
bitants, when Pompey established there the
pirates who had been admitted to a capitula-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 355
tion, causing the place to take the name of
Pompeiopolis. Anchiale, at a small distance
from the sea, and which owed its foundation
to Sardanapalus, still possesses the tomb, or
cenotaph rather, of this prince, with an in-
scription which makes him speak in confor-
mity to the maxims of sensuality adopted by
the orientals. The expansion of the river
Cydnus, near the sea, forms a port at least a
mile below the city of Tarsus; which this
river traverses, at no great distance from its
source in Mount Taurus. This is the river
where Alexander endangered his life in bath-
ing, from the extreme coldness of its waters.
Tarsus was a great and populous city, and so
much distinguished by the cultivation of li-
terature and philosophy, as to maintain a
competition with Athens and Alexandria, the
most celebrated schools of antiquity. Having
fallen into the hands of the Moslems, it be-
came the frontier of the two empires, and re-
ceived new fortifications from the Khalif
Haroun Al-Rashid. It exists under the
name of Tarsous, but as subordinate to Adana,
and even comprised in the modern district of
this City.
'. ;>
Adana preserves its name and position on
2 A 2
356 COMPENDIUM OF
the river Sarus, or Seihoun, as it is now call-
ed. This river, after opening to itself a pass-
age through Mount Taurus, and forming
thereby the famous defile known under the
name of Pyl<e Cilicia, or the gates of Cilicia,
renders itself into the sea where the shore re-
tires so as to form two points called Sari
Capita, or the Heads of Sarus. The Pyra-
mus which succeeds has taken the name of
Geihoun. At its mouth there is found jfcgtf,
in the name of Aias; Mallus, in Mallo; and
Mopsus, or Mopsu-estia, in Messis. Ascend-
ing the same river, we find Anazarbus, which
also bore the name of Ctfsarca, particularly
distinguished in this country; and on the
division of Cilicia into two provinces, under
the younger Theodosius, this city was elevated
to the rank of metropolis in the second Cilicia;
Tarsus preserving that dignity in the first.
A canton named Characene, having a city
called Flarias, makes itself known by the
name of Kars, which is proper to a district
contiguous to Anzarba, as it is now called.
Lyccinifis is another canton more remote, the
same with Lycandus of the Byzantine au-
thors, and which communicates to Mount
Amanus, whereby it is covered, the name of
Al-Lucan. The place corresponding with a
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 35?
city named Irenopolis, and otherwise Nero-
niaSy in this canton, is not known. But Ger-
manicia is recognised in the position of
Marash; for we know that this city, now the
chief place of a great government, is also call-
ed Banicia, by alteration of the ancient name;
and detaching it from Cilicia, it has also been
comprised in a province of Syria, called
Euphratesien. The country that we have
just been viewing, and its environs, correspond
with that which, in the time of the Crusades,
was called the kingdom of Leon, from the
name of many Armenian princes; the first of
whom arrived at the regal dignity towards
the close of the twelfth century. Returning
towards the sea, Issus, the famous scene of a
great victory of Alexander over Darius, and
which <nves the name of Issicus Sinus to a
O
gulf of the Mediterranean that penetrates
deepest into the continent, retains its name
under the form of A'iasse; and the river Pina-
rus, which is in the neighbourhood, is now
named Deli-sou. Nicopolis* appears to owe
this name to a famous victory also; although
its position, distant from the sea, does not re-
present the field of battle: a place named
* From YIKO$, victoria, and iat>Xi$ t cwitas.
358 COMPENDIUM OF
Kenisat-asoud, or the Black Church, now oc-
cupies this site; which retained its ancient de-
fences when the Khalif Haroun Al-Rashid
fortified it. Epiphania may be applied to a
place named Surfendkar. As to Baite, on the
sea, it is sufficiently evident in Paias. The
torrent named Carsus is found in the name of
Mahersi, or Ma-kersi ; and the traveller has
only to cross it to find himself enclosed be-
ween Mount Amanus and the sea. It is here
that Cilicia terminates; this passage being
called Syri< Pylte> or the Gates of Syria. It
concludes also our description of the first
part of Asia; which, as well from the extent
of the subject, as from the importance and
celebrity of the objects that are contained
in it, could not be treated with more brevity.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 359
II.
ARMENIA,
COLCHIS,
I B E R I A, A L B A N I A.
ARMENIA.
ARMENIA extends from the Euphrates
eastward to the place where the Kur and
Aras unite their streams, not far from their
mouth. It is contiguous on the north to the
three countries assembled in this chapter, and
which fill all the interval between the Euxine
and Caspian Seas. Towards the south it is
bounded by Mesopotamia, Assyria, and
Media. It is a country much diversified
with mountains and plains. The Euphrates
and Tigris have here their sources; and the
Aras traverses the principal part of the
360 COMPENDIUM OF
country from west to cast. We have seen
Armenia not bounded by the Euphrates, but
extending westward of that river, in Cappa-
docia, under the name of Armenia minor, by
distinction from the Armenia proper (also
called major} which constitutes our present
object. The fables published by the Greeks
concerning the origin of tiiis nation, and the
name of the country, merit not the least con-
sideration. Armenia appears to have been
successively subjected to the great monar-
chies of the East: to that of the Medes after
the Assyrian domination; and then governed
by Sarraps under the kings of Persia. The
Seleucides reigned here till the defeat of
Antiochus the Great by the Romans. The
governors who commanded in Armenia then
rendered themselves independent. But this
stat.e fluctuating between two potent empires,
and alternately ruled by the Romans and the
Parthians, was considered by the latter as
the portion for the cadet of the house of the
Arsacides. It was the same under the second
empire of the Persians : and the part confining
on this empire was called Pcrsarmenia.
To enter upon the detail of the country,
we must follow the route which travellers
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 361
furnish, and depart from the position of Arz-
roum. It is known to the Byzantines only
under the name of Arze ; to which is added
the surname of Roum, denoting a place in the
Greek empire: and they must be very igno-
rant of the subject in general who write this
name Erzeron, as it appears in the maps. It
is known that one of the streams that contri-
butes to the Euphrates, runs by this city: a
little below which, a place called Elegia dis-
covers itself, in the name of Ilija, denoting
hot baths. We believe that the name of
Gijmnias, which occurs in the retreat of the
ten thousand, is found in that of Gennis. But
a considerable place on the frontier of the
Lower Empire, named Theodosiopolis, is now
called Hassan-cala, and otherwise Cali-cala,
or the Beautiful Castle. The Araxes, or
Aras, is in this place but a rivulet; and the
name of Phatiane^ which the Byzantines be-
stow on a canton traversed by the Aras at its
entrance in Armenia, subsists in that of
Pasiani, or Pasin, as the Turks call it. Thus
we are not surprised to find in Xenophon
that the Greeks passed the Aras under the
name of Pliasis. It is proper here to remark
that Armenia is separated from Colchis by
the river Acampsis, which is said to rush into
362 COMPENDIUM OF
the sea with such impetuosity, as to forbid all
approaches to the shore. It is named Boas
towards its source, which it has among the
mountains inhabited by the Tzani, whose
name was Sanni, according to the most
ancient notice of this nation. The situation
of Ispira on this river indicates that of Hispi-
ratisy which Strabo speaks of as containing
mines of gold. Adranutzium, a frontier place,
as it is mentioned in the Byzantines, is found
in Ardanouji: and a canton named Tahoskari
accords in local circumstances with Taochi, in
the return of the ten thousand.
We now revert to the course of the Aras.
It receives on the left shore a river which
conies from an ancient city, whose present
name of Anisi refers to that of Abnicum of
the Byzantine historians. As to the name of
this river, which is Harpasou, it scarcely
differs from the Harpasus that we find in
Xenophon, immediately after the passage of
the Phasis, which we have remarked to be
the Aras. This Harpasus of Xenophon, after
having passed by Kars, is joined by another
river, which more precisely retains the name
of Harpasou. A canton in the north of
Armenia, named Chorze?ie, owed its name
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 363
apparently to this city of Kars; and we find
a city named Chorsa in Ptolemy. Descend-
ing the Aras a little, we encounter Armavria,
or Armavir, as the Armenians pronounce it;
which, in their tradition, is an ancient royal
city. But it is stjll lower, and in a bend of
the river, that the Armenian city most distin-
guished in history existed under the name of
Art ax at a, which it received from king Arta-
xias. This city is no longer in being, but its
site is known. This must be distinguished
from Tibium, mentioned in the history of the
Lower Empire, and which is now pronounced
by the Armenians Tevin. If the tradition of
the country is to be credited, another royal
city, to which the king Valarsaces, brother
to the second of the Parthian Arsacides, had
given the name of Valarsapat, existed in the
place where the patriarchal church of Eksmia-
zin is now found. The population of these
places has been exhausted to supply Eri van,
now the predominant city in their neighbour-
hood Naksivan is a city distinguished in
Armenia, by the opinion of its being construct-
ed soon after the deluge; and we find
Naxuana in Ptolemy. The country here ex-
tends in plains more than in any other part;
and the Aras, towards the end of its course,
364 COMPENDIUM OF
separates it from the Media called Atropa-
tene.
We proceed now to describe the parts
which extend to Mesopotamia and Assyria.
To the Euphrates, which has been already
mentioned as having its origin near Arz-
roum, is added another branch, whose sources,
called in the country Bing-gheul, or the
Thousand Fountains, form a river which
appears to have been that named Lycus.
The river, of which the union of these two
streams makes the commencement's particu-
larly called Frat. But there is still another
Euphrates, which, having its fountains more
remote, becomes more considerable than the
preceding at its junction. This Euphrates is
that which, precisely under this name, the ten
thousand passed in returning; and the same
that Corbulo, charged with the conduct of
the war in Armenia under Nero, makes issue
from a district called Caranites, according to
the report of Pliny. There are circum-
stances that seem to authorise the application
to it of the name Arsanias, which another
river decidedly claims. This is what the
Turks name Morad-siai, which signifies the
Water of Desire, Ptolemy recognises a two-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 365
fold Euphrates, concerning which modern
literati manifest an embarrassment which a
further knowledge of the country will remove.
The mountain whence the second Euphrates
issues is called Abus, or Abas: and a city
named Sigua, at the foot of this mountain,
corresponds with the position of a place
named Bayezid. That of Diadine, which is
lower, appears to find its name in Daudyana.
The Mauro-castrum under the Lower Empire
is evidently Malaz-kerd, because the signifi-
cation is the same. Moxoene forms a parti-
cular canton among many which Dioclesian
acquired by cession of the king of Persia, and
which is recognised in the name of Moush.
The river which traverses it appears to be the
Tdeboas, which the ten thousand met with
between the sources of the Tigris and their
passage of the Euphrates. The space com-
prised between these two Euphrates, retains
its name of Acilisem in that of Ekilis.
Between this Euphrates and Mount Taurus
is a great country, whose name of Sonhcne is
preserved in that of Zoph. A river named
Arsanias, now Arsen, crosses this country, to
discharge itself into the Euphrates, after hav-
ing passed Arsamosata, a considerable place,
366 COMPENDIUM OF
whose name is preserved under the form of
Simsat, or Shimshat. A little below, and at
a place of the same name with the Elcgia, or
Ilija, by Arz-roum, the Euphrates pierces
the chain of Mount Taurus; and this place is
now called the Pass of Nushar. A fortress
of this country above Simsat, called Kar-birt,
is Charpote in the Byzantine authors. Anzita,
which gives the name to a canton, appears to
be the same with a place called Ansga; and
the fortress known by the name of Ardis
seems to indicate the position ofArtagi-certa,
the same probably with Artagera, mentioned
particularly on the occasion of a mortal
wound which Caius, one of the nephews of
Augustus, received there. Balisbiga, the
position of which, given in the neighbour-
hood of tire Euphrates, takes in consequence
that of the fortress of Palou, or Pali, is the
residence of a bey or governor. On approach-
ing Amid, we find Argana under the ancient
name. Amida was not known, at least under
this name, till the fourth century. From
changes that took place about that time in
the distribution of provinces, effacing even
the primitive limits of countries, it happened
that Amida was made the metropolis of a
province of Mesopotamia. Constatitius,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 36?
putting it in a state to cover this frontier of
the empire, gave it the name of Constantia,
which it has not retained : for that of Amid
has remained; and its walls, constructed with
black stones, have caused it to be called Kara
Amid ; although it is more commonly denomi-
nated Diar-Bekir, the name of its district.
But we must not omit to remark that men-
tion is made of a royal city of Sophene
by Strabo, under the name of Carcathio-
certa; and the city of this name was situated
on the Tigris, according to Pliny; whence
arises a strong presumption that it is Amid
which is thus spoken of under a former name,
which expresses in its termination a place of
defence. And this having been a barrier
to the Greek empire, has under that of the
Turks become the residence of a Beglerbeg.
The origin of the Tigris, which has been
cited on the subject of the position of Amid,
or Diar-Bekir, is a subject of discussion.
When we read in antiquity that the Tigris
runs so near the Arsanias that these rivers
almost mix their waters, it is only to be under-
stood of the branch which passes the city just
named. Other rivers which join this below
Amid are equally taken for the Tigris ; but it
368 COMPENDIUM OF
may be said that the peculiar Tigris of Pliny
is that distinguished by the name of Nym-
phteus ; and by that of Basilinfa, or Barema,
in the oriental geography. On examining
with attention the route of Xenophon, it will
be found that the source of the Tigris which
he met with, ought to be referred to this last
river. It crosses two or more lakes; and that
named Thospitis was so called from a town
named Thospia, which appearing afterwards
under the name of Arzaniorum oppidum, com-
municated that of Arzanene to a canton ; and
it still subsists in the name of Erzen. A place
mentioned in the notice of the empire under
the name of Cepha, preserves this name in the
form of Hesn-keif, on the borders of the Ti-
gris, which nearly environs it by a remarkable
involution. It is plainly to be seen that such
a denomination as that of Martyropolis on the
Nymphaus could not have had being till the
time of the Lower Empire; and this city is
now called Miafarekin. The mountainous
chain which covers towards the north the
sources of these several streams of the Tigris,
appears to be the Xiphatcs of the ancients,
notwithstanding that the circumstances of
Ptolemy's report do not justify this opinion.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 369
Tigranocerta, although the prosperity of
Tigranes ,its founder was of short duration,
appears to have preserved after him the rank
of a great city. It could not be far removed
from the Tigris, since its distance from Nisibis
in Mesopotamia is but thirty-seven miles. A
very considerable river, named Nicephorius.
flowed under its ramparts; and when we see
the Greeks in Xenophon, after having cleared
the Carducian mountains, and before arriving
at the fountain of the Tigris, passing a river,
which in the country was named Centrites,
there can be no doubt that this river has
something common in its course with that which
has the Greek name] of Nicephorius. It ap-
pears at present under the name of Khabour;
and a city named Sered, towards the lower
part of its course, may represent Tigranocerta.
This southern part of Armenia would termi-
nate the description of the country, if it were
not judged expedient to comprise within these
limits the great lake which has the name of
Arsissa in Ptolemy. It was on its northern
side embellished with cities, which were bet-
ter known to the Byzantine writers than they
had been before : Chaliat, or Aklat, Arzes, or
Argish, and Perkri. The city under the
name of Artemita, in Ptolemy, appears to b^
VOL. r. 2 B
370 COMPENDIUM OF
that of Van. If Armenian history be worthy
of credit, it owed its foundation to Semiramis,
and it should in consequence have borne the
name of Semiramocerta ; as, among the Arme-
nians, Vani signifies a strong hold. Although
it be common to call this lake by the modern
name of the city, there may be also remark-
ed an analogy between the name which Pto-
lemy furnishes and that of Arzes, or Argish.
This canton of Armenia is called Vaspura-
kan, a name that appears to be employed by
the Byzantian writers.
COLCHIS.
Colchis, which the fable of the Golden
Fleece, and the expedition of Jason and the
Argonauts, have rendered famous in remote
antiquity, borders the head of the Euxine
Sea: being bounded on the east by Iberia,
and covered by Caucasus towards the north.
In the time of the Lower Empire the same
country was called Lazica ; and the name of
Colchi appears to have been replaced by that
of the Lazi, which anteriorly was only proper
to a particular nation, comprised in the limits
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 3?1
of what is now named Guria, on the southern
bank of the Faz. That which is now known
under the name of Mingrel, or Odisci, on the
Black Sea, from the mouth of the Phasis a-
scending towards the north, is only a part of
Colchis, as is that more inland towards the
frontier of Georgia, and called Imeriti. Pha-
sis bears now, with the name of Fasz, that of
Rione, which comes from a branch of this
river, called Rheon by the writers of the Lower
Empire, and which unites with the Fasz about
fifty miles above its mouth. The writers of
a higher antiquity, to whom the Rheon does
not appear to be known (although the Rhoas
mentioned by Pliny may refer to it), take the
right or southern branch peculiarly for the Pha-
sis; as we see in Strabo, when he says that, in
penetrating to Iberia, the Phasis must b'e
passed more than a hundred times above Sa-
rapana; the position of which Shorabani on
the same river preserves. Positive intelli-
gence of the country corrects an error in the
ancient geography on the subject of this river,
which is there represented as corning from the
south before taking its course towards the
west, like the Acainsis in the preceding sec-
tion. Colchis is watered by a great number
of rivers, whereof mention is made in the an-
2 B 9.
372 COMPENDIUM OF
cient monuments, but which are of too small
importance to obtain notice here.
To enter upon some detail of positions, we
must first speak of a city of Greek foundation,
as having existed under the name of Phasis,
at the mouth of the river of the same name.
On this river too, at some distance from the
sea, Ma had been known to the Argonauts.
But the principal city of Colchis, and the na-
tive place of Medea, was Cyta, now Cotatis,
on the Rheon, a little above its junction with
the other branch of the river. We have al-
ready mentioned Sarapana, which was a for-
tress in the interior country. Scanda, among
the Lazi, preserves the same name. There is
no mention of Archaopolis till the reign of
Justinian ; yet as the principal place of the
Lazi, and which defended itself against the
Persians, it may be interesting to remark, that
its position accords with that which in Min-
grel is distinguished as an asylum of the
princes of the country, under the name of
Ruki. On the shore of the sea, Dioscurias, also
named Sebastopolis, was in the earliest age the
port most frequented in Colchis by distant as
well as neighbouring nations, "speaking differ-
ent languages; a circumstance that still di-
-tinguishes Iskuriah, whose iKimc is only a dr-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. S?S
pravation of the ancient denomination. The
last place of the country was Pitytis, the ac-
cusative whereof, or Pityunta, has made the
modern denomination of Pitchinda: and, a
little further, a passage contracted between
the sea and a mountain was closed by a re-
trenchment called Validus Murus, or the
Strong Wall; and this defile is still called Der-
bend, which has a correspondent significa-
tion. The name Dandars, of an elevated
place at some distance from the sea, between
Iskuriah and Pitchinda, indicates a canton of
a particular people named Dandari in anti-
quity.
Among many nations distinguished be-
tween themselves, it is remarked that the
Abasci, now beyond the limits of Mingrel to-
wards Pitchinda, appear heretofore about the
centre of Colchis. In Caucasus the Suani, a
powerful nation, were on the confines of Colchis,
and the country which they occupied is still
called Suaneti, which appears to be the ethnic
of the nation. Many gorges of Mount Cauca-
sus retan vetiges of retrenchments by which
they were closed. Scymnia was a canton, whose
name is though to be found in Letskoumi, be-
ween Mingrel and Jmeriti. On the common
limits of Iberia, Armenia, and Colchis, the
374 COMPENDIUM OF
Moschi, portioned between these three regions,
caused the name of Moschia to be given to the
country which they oocupied, whose moun-
tains covering the sources of the Euphrates
communicate with the chains that reign
through Pontus and the less Armenia.
IBERIA.
It holds the middle in the space that ex-
tends from the Euxine to the Caspian Sea.
Mountains detached from the ridge of Cauca-
sus, by which it is covered towards the north,
embrace it on one side towards Colchis, and
on the other towards Albania; and thus in-
terrupt the communication between the two
seas. Its name of Iberia seems to be now
confined to the part bordering on Colchis,
which, as we have observed, is called Imeriti,
by the change of a letter, according to the
modern practice of the Levantine Greeks;
while the name of Georgia has prevailed over
far the greater part of the country. A great
river called Cyrus, issuing from the frontier of
Armenia, traverses all this country to the
limits of Albania; and, after having received
the Araxes, discharges itself into the Caspian
Sea by two mouths, which retain the name of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, S?5
Kur. Iberia was not subjected to the Medes or
Persians; nor could it have been well known
in the west before the Roman arms, under
the conduct of Pompey, penetrated through
Albania, to the Caspian Sea, or till the affairs
of Armenia occasioned discord with the kings
of Iberia.
In a narrow pass, at the entrance of the
country, where the Cyrus receives another
river named Aragus, were two cities at no
great distance from each other; Harmozica
on the greater river, and Semnara on the less;
and it may be presumed that these places
were iii the neighbourhood of Alkalzike, the
capital of a government on this frontier of the
Turkish empire. We should be glad to dis-
cover the position of Zalissa, which is men-
tioned by Ptolemy as the capital of Iberia.
That which is commonly called Teflis, is
Tblisi in the country, and denoting mineral
fountains; and it is observed that the name of
Tepliz is common to similar places in coun-
tries where the Slavonian language has pre-
vailed. On the frontier of Colchis, a place
called Ideessa had borne the name of Phrixus,
which, according to Greek fables, was ante-
cedent to the arrival of the Argonauts in the
376 COMPENDIUM OF
country. In the remotest part of Iberia, to-
wards the north, is a narrow passage through
the mountains, called Pyltf Caucasia*, which
was closed with a gate, and defended by a
fortress named Cumania : and the bed of a
torrent traversed this defile; as several torrents,
descending from the mountains, are united to
pierce the gorge called Tatar, or Tartar Topa,
in the last of the ridges of Caucasus, and are
discharged into the Caspian Sea, under the
name of the river Terki. A vast country, con-
sisting of plains, then stretches from these
mountains as far as the Palus Mreotis; and it
was to shut the entrance of Iberia against the
Sarmatian nations assembled in these plains,
that this passage was fortified. Under the
Lower Empire these nations, among whom
we distinguish the Sabiri, are called Huns.
In the time of Justinian, the fortress was in
the possession of a Hunnic prince, and it is
found cited in an Armenian manuscript under
the name of Hounora-Kert.
A L B A N I A.
It extends from Iberia eastward along the
Caspian Sea to the Cyrus, which appears to
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 377
separate it from Media Atropatenaj and its
limits remount this river to a stream, which it
receives towards the frontier of Iberia, called
Aldzon, and which has not changed its name.
The country was divided among many na-
tions, which Pompey found united under a
king. The people inhabiting Albania, less
inclined to agriculture than those of Iberia,
were occupied principally in the feeding of
cattle. The mountains which cover this
country are called Daghestan*, from terms in
use in the Turkish language: and as to the
national name, or that of Lesghi, there is men-
tion in antiquity of the Leges, or Legtf, as a
Scythian people of Caucasus, near the sea,
and contiguous to Albania. The southern
part, adjacent to the Kur, forms at present a
province called Shirvan.
According to Pliny, the principal city of
Albania was Cabaiaca, which name is found
in that of Kablas-var, on a river named
Samura: and as this is the greatest in the
centre of the country, it may represent the
Albanusflumus of Ptolemy. A maritime city,
* Dagh signifies a mountain, and stan a country, or re-
gion, in the Persian language.
COMPENDIUM OF
under the name of Albana, might be repre-
sented by Niasabad, if a position more north-
ern than the river, according to Ptolemy, did
not suit better with that of Der-bend. If a
maritime city be sought for distant towards
the south, to correspond with that of Getara
in Ptolemy, Baku will be found to agree in
the local circumstances, being a place remark-
able for the springs of naphtha or bitumen in
its environs. Between the name ofJlla?nechta,
which we read in Ptolemy, and that of Sha-
maki, the capital of Shirvan, there is only that
degree of difference which induces a suspicion
of an error of the copyist. The object most
remarkable in Albania is a defile between a
promontory of Caucasus and the sea; the
passage of which is closed by the interposition
of a city, named by the Persians Der-bend;
by the Turks, Demir-capi, or the Gate of
Iron; and, by the Arabs, Bab-al-Abuab, or
the Gate of Gates. This situation suits the
application of the name of AlbanLr Pyltf-, or
the Gates of Albania. Adjacent as they are
to the Caspian Sea, the name of Caspue Pi/Le
would appear more proper to these than to
the gates of Iberia before mentioned, to which
the Romans ^nevertheless, who during the war
in Armenia, under Corbulo, had prepared
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 379
maps of the country, applied this name of
Caspian. But a defile conducting, according
to Strabo, from Albania into Iberia, and
which must be the Albania Pylte that we see
in Ptolemy, at a distance from the sea, is a
topical circumstance at this day well known ;
there being a similar passage through the
Daghestan into the Kaketi of Georgia, and
named in the country Tup Karagan.
III.
SYRIA
ET
PAL^ESTINA,
MESOPOTAMIA,
SYRIA.
AMONG the countries of Asia, those
which we proceed to describe are the most
worthy to be known. The Syrian nation was
not bounded by the limits which comprise
Syria, but extended beyond the Euphrates in
Mesopotamia; and we have also remarked, in
treating of Cappadocia, that the people who
occupied it, as far as the Euxine, were reputed
of Syrian origin. Syria extends along the sea
from the frontier of Cilicia, and, comprehend-
ing Palestine, touches the limits of Egypt.
Mount Taurus covers it towards the north;
and to the course of the Euphrates, on the side
of the east, succeeds an indifmite canton of
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 381
the desert Arabia; which, turning to the
south, stretches into Arabia Petraea. The
Amanus mons, detached from Taurus, extends
a ridge to the mouth of the Orontes; and be-
tween the course of this river and the sea we
find a continuity of mountains, which in divers
places dividing into numerous ramifications,
extend to the northern parts of Palestine.
Syria is in other places composed of plains,
which become more vast as they extend to-
wards the Desert. In this space, the Orontes
is the only considerable river; and, after hav-
ing directed its course northward as far as
Antioch, it is reflected south, and soon after
discharged into the sea. Besides its name,
which is not yet obsolete in the country, it is
called el Asi, or the reversed; alluding to the
contrariety of its course to that of the Eu-
phrates, Tigris, and many other rivers of the
east: and this name of el Asi seems to have
affinity with that of Axius, which we find
appropriated to the river that passes by
Apamea, which is the Orontes itself. But
it is more reasonable to believe that the
name of the principal river of Macedon should
be applied to the river which had the same
advantage in Syria; since under the Mace-
dpnian domination it was the practice to
352 COMPENDIUM OF
transpose Macedonian names to corresponding
rivers and cities in the conquered countries.
We shall not here mention the Jordan, as it
peculiarly appertains to Palestine.
In the dismemberment which the empire of
Alexander suffered after the death of this con-
queror, Seleucus Nicator, having become the
most powerful of princes among whom this
empire was portioned, possessed the great
division of it, extending from the fiLgean. Sea
to India. But the insurrection of the Par-
thians, which happened under Antiochus II.
grandson of Seleucus, deprived the successors
of that prince of the eastern provinces; and
Antiochus III. in the war that he had with
the Romans, lost that part of Asia which was
situated beyond Mount Taurus, with regard
to Syria. Great divisions in the family of the
Seleucides having at length extremely enfeebled
tbis power, Tigranes, king of Armenia, took
possession of Syria; and, when constrained by
Pompey to confine himself within his proper
limits, his conquest became a province of the
Roman empire. A situation bordering upon
the Parthian empire, and also upon the
second empire of the Persians, must have
made the defence of this province an object
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 883
of the greatest importance. Syria constituted
by much the greatest part of that Dicecese
(for so the great departments established be-
fore the end of the fourth century were
named) called Oriens, comprising Palestine,
a district of Mesopotamia, the province of
Cilicia, and the isle of Cyprus. By a division
of primitive provinces, there appear five in the
limits of Syria: two Syrias, Prima, and Secun-
da or Saint aris ; two Pho3nicias, one properly
so called, and the other surnamed Libani, by
the extension of the anterior limits of Phcznice;
and finally, the Euphratensis. In the sacred
writings Syria is called Aram. The Arabs
now give it the name of Sham, which in their
language signifies the left, its situation being
such on facing the east. To enter into a
detailed description of the country, we shall
depart from the sea at the limits of Cilicia,
and, ascending the Orontes to Damascus, re-
turn thence to visit the parts watered by the
Euphrates. The coast of Phoenicia is reserved
for a particular object, with which the isle of
Cyprus will naturally connect itself.
The first position that occurs is Alexandria,
surnamed Cata Isson, or near Issus, at the
head of the bay called Issicus, well known to
384 COMPENDIUM OF
be that of Alexandretta, or, as the Syrians caJj
it, Scanderona. Rhosus, on the same shore,
also retains its name. On the declivity of
the mountains, not far distant from the shore,
Pagr<, on the route which conducts to
Antioch, is Bagras. Antiochia, the residence
of the kings of Syria, and founded by Seleucus
Nicator, was one of the most potent cities of
the east. It was called Theopolis, or the
Divine City, when Christianity became the
predominant religion : and it may be remark-
ed that, in the bosom of this city, the name
of Christiani first began to distinguish those
who made profession of this faith. It pre-
serves its name among the Arabs under the
form of Antakia, but is almost depopulated;
though the strong walls which environ it have
resisted the ravages of time, as well as the
calamities to which the city has been subject-
ed. These walls border the left shore of the
Orontes, tending towards its mouth; and, on
the other, ascend the heights by which the
modern city is commanded. To distinguish it
from many other places of the same name, it
was surnamed Epi Daphne, or near Daphne.
This Daphne was four or live miles lower
down, in a place which groves of laurel and
cypress, and cool fountains, rendered delight-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 385
ful ; and which is now called Beit el Ma, or the
House of Water *
Seleucictj on the sea, near the mouth of the
Orontes, was also a work of Seleucus Nicator;
and, from its situation at the foot of a moun-
tain named Pierius, was surnamed Pieria :
but it was more distinguished for giving the
name of Seleucis to a part of Syria, extended
on the Orontes in ascending. The site of this
city is known under the altered name of Su-
veidia. On the opposite side of the Orontes
is mount Casing from whose summit it was
said, by an extravagant hyperbole, that both
* This is among the places, by comparison with which
Milton illustrates his Paradise :
Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Proserpine, gathering flow'rs,
Herself a fairer flow'r, by gloomy Dis
Was gather'd, which cost Ceres all that pain
To seek her through the world ; nor that sweet grove
Of DAPHNE, by ORONTES, and th' inspir'd
Castalian spring; might with this paradise
Of Eden strive : nor that Nyseian isle
Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham,
Whom gentiles Aminon call, and Libyan Jove,
Hid Amalthea, and her florid son
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eyes.
VOL. I. 2 C
386 COMPENDIUM OF
the morning's dawn, and the evening's twi-
light, might at the same time be seen.
Seleuco-belus is a position on the Orontes ;
and its present name is Shagr. Apamea, situ-
ated between the Orontes and a lake, holding
a place among the principal cities of this
country, assumed the rank of metropolis of
the second Syria. It was constructed by Se-
leucus Nicator, who entertained his elephants
there, the number of which was said to
amount to five hundred. This position has
been erroneously taken for that of Hamah;
the name of Apamea being still extant in Far-
nieh, attended with identical circumstances
of situation. The name Marsyas, of a river,
seems communicated to an adjacent castle,
which is called Berzieh, although this place
appears to have borne the name of Lysias.
Thelmenissus has changed its name to Sermin;
but the identical position of Marra is not
known by any modern name. Continuing to
ascend the Orontes, we find Larissa in Shi-
2ar> and Epiphania, or the Illustrious in
Greek, in Hamah j it having reassumed its
primitive Syrian name of Hamath, in confor-
mity to the practice of many cities whosenames
had been rhan.aed by the conqueror. We
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 387
may be flowed to remark here, that Abul-
feda, the author of a body of Oriental Geo-
graphy, reigned in this city, with the title of
Sultan, in the fourteenth century.
> Immediately above Hamah, on the Orontes
likewise, the position of Are 'thus a accords with
that of a place named Restan. Emesa, which
ha4 a famous temple of Elagabalus, or the
Sun, retains its name in the form of Hems, at
no great distance from the Orontes on the
right, Laodicea, surnamed Libani, by di-
stinction from another Laodicea of Syria, on
the sea, occupied the position of a place called
loushiah. labrnda preserves the name Ja-
brud ; and another place, farther distant from
the river, indicates, in the name of Kara, the
position of Carrg. We are thus conducted
to Damascus^ whose name is pronounced De-
mesk in the country. This city, which does
not yield in celebrity to any in Asia, was the
metropolis of the Phoenicia of Libanus. The
charms of its situation in a fertile and irrigu-
ous valley, famous among the Orientals under
the name of Goutah Demesk (the orchard of
Damascus), are documents of the high anti-
quity of this city, as they have always occa-
sioned it to revive after calamities that had
2 C 2
388 COMPENDIUM OF
nearly annihilated it at different periods. A
river, named by the Greeks ^Chrysorrhoas, or
the Current of Gold, otherwise Bar dine,
whence the modern name of Baradi is deriv-
ed, divides in many channels, which stream
through the city as well as in the environs.
Above Damascus, Abila, surnamed Lysania,
or of Lysanias, a governor of that name, is
now called Nebi Abel, or the town of the
Prophet Abel, after the immediate son of the
parent of humankind. At the bottom of an
adjacent valley, Heliopolis* preserves, under
its primitive name of Baalbek, a magnificent
temple dedicated to the divinity to which it
owed its denomination, both in the Syriac and
Greek. The valley is enclosed between two
parallel ridges, which are Libanus and Anti-
Lib anus ; the first having its exterior declivity
towards the sea, while the second regards Da-
mascus. And the, name of Aidon, given to
this valley, denotes a hollow in the Greek.
It is now named el Bekah; and this district,
extending to the sources of the Oronte.s, was
called Code-Syria^ or the concave Syria, from
its local character.
* From TjAj&f, W, and TTOAJ;, civitus.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. .889
We proceed now to survey the course of
the Euphrates, beginning with that country
which is distinguished by the name of Coma-
gene, on the declivityof Taurus and Amanus,
forming the northern extremity of Syria. It
was governed by kings, who were thought to
have been of the race of the Seleucides, before
it was united to the empire under Vespasian.
It is found afterwards confounded with the
Euphratesian province, of which it made a
part; being mentioned in the Oriental Geo-
graphy under the name of Kamash. Samo-
sata is its capital, situated advantageously on
the Euphrates, at the apex of a great para-
bola, by which this river, which hitherto ap-
pears to direct its course to the Mediterra-
nean, turns suddenly towards the east and
south. This city is still known by the name
of Semisat. Remounting the Euphrates, the
strong places of Barsalium and Claudius ap-
pear under the names of Bersel and Cloudieh.
Apart from the river, Perre, Lacabena, and
%apetra, are places known under the forms of
Perrin, Lacaben, and Zabatra. Pendenissus,
which an expedition of Cicero (during his go-
vernment of Cilicia) seems to recommend to
notice, appears to be a place known under the
name of Behesni. Syco-basilisseSi situated
390 COMPENDIUM OF
upon a Roman way, should be the same with
Sochos, mentioned in the march of Darius to
meet Alexander at Issus. The name of Doli-
cke is preserved in that of Doluc, to a castle
on a chain of mountains, which, detached
from Amanus, is prolonged towards the Eu-
phrates. The ancient name of Deba is recog-
nised in the modern one of Ain Tab, a city of
some Consideration. Zeugma* was the prin-
cipal passage of the river, as its name evinces;
and an ancient fortress by which it was com-
manded, is called Roum-Cala, or the Roman
Castle j to which we may add, that, on the op-
posite shore, there is a place named zegme.
The most considerable city in this part of Sy-
ria, and which became metropolis of the Eu-
phratesian, was Hieropolis-f, or the Sacred
City, so called by the Macedonians, from its
being the seat of the worship of Atergalis, a
great Syrian goddess; but named by the Sy-
rians Bambyce, or Mabog. Its name is writ^
ten Menbigz by the oriental geographers, and
subsists in a place much degraded from its
ancient lustre. Batmc was distinguished by
the allurements of its situation, which caused
* '/.c^yy.*, conjunct io, or the li<lgc. emphatically.
? l-'rom Isr^f, facer.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 391
it to be compared with Daphne, by Antioch ;
and by the actual name of Adaneh, properly
signifying a delightful dwelling, its position
is known.
But a city which, under the Macedonian
princes, received the imputed name of Bersea,
has become the most powerful and opulent
of the Syrian cities, and is now known by an
alteration of its more ancient denomination of
Chalybon. And though through common
usage it be called Alep*, the name should be
written Haleb ; since the Syrians themselves
write it with a double aspiration, as Hhaleb,
therein preserving analogy with the name of
which it is formed. The name of Beria also
is not altogether obsolete in the country. The
river which passes by it occurs in the Anaba-
sis of Xenophon, under the name of Chains,
and is now called Koeic. It loses itself in a
lake below the site of a city, the Greek name
of which, Chalcis, had supplanted the Syriac
denomination Kinnesrin, little known at pre-
sent in the vestiges of a place which the
Francs call the Old Alep. This city, which
* The Venetians called it Aleppo, by which name it ap-
pears also in our maps.
392 COMPENDIUM OF
was considerable, communicated to its envi-
rons the name of Chalcidice ; as the preced<-
ing caused its canton to be distinguished by
that of Chali/bonitis. And the district of Cyr-
rhus, another city at the foot of the moun-
tains north of Beria, and which preserves the
name of Corus, was called Cyrrhestica. On
the other side, in receding from Chalcis to-
wards the south, we find Androna in the
name of Andreneh, Salaminias in Salemiah,
and Seriane in Esrieh,
As we again approach the Euphrates, Bar-
balissus is recognised in the position of Beles;
and we meet with it in tracing the march of
Xenophon, or rather of the younger Cyrus,
as the situation of a palace of Belesis, who had
been satrap of Syria. At a little distance
from the river, on a vast plain, which was call-
ed Barbaricus Campus, and by the Arabs now
named Siffin, we find Resaplia under the same
name; that of Sergiopolis, which the venera-
tion of a saint had given to the same place,
being forgotten. Sura preserves the name of
Surieh, on the same river; and %enobia is
found in Zelebi. Thapsacus, a renowned
passage of the Euphrates, by which Alexan-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 393
der entered .Mesopotamia*, and inclined
towards the Tigris to fight Darius on the plains
of Assyria, is named el Der in the country,
and Porto Catena in the Lingua Francaf. Ga-
dirtha, which by this Syrian name is a place
known to be fortified, corresponds with the posi-
tion of Rahabeh. Auzara exists under the same
name, though written Osara. A little lower,
the position of a castle named Horur, or Gorur,
is remarkable for the advantage of indicating
a place which Pompey, in reducing Syria,
decided as a boundary of the Roman empire
under the name of Oruros according to Pliny.
We shall conclude this section with a notice
of the famous city of Palmyra, which gives
the name of Palmyrene to a vast plain that is
united to the Desert Arabia. The foundation
of this city is attributed to Solomon, by
Josephus the historian; and the name of Tada-
mora, which he applies to it, remains in that
* Three years previous to this period, Darius crossed
here, after his defeat at the battle of Issus ; and fifty-nine
years before that, the younger Cyrus passed in his expe-
dition against his brother, and was said to have been the
first who forded the river at Thapsacus.
f As the Turks denominate the western nations of Eu-
rope without distinction Franks, so the mingled dialect
which they speak within their dominions is properly call-
ed Linrnia Franca.
394 COMPENDIUM OF
of Tadmor*, a Syrian name, whose significa-
tion seems to have suggested the Greek deno-
mination of Palmyra. This city, by its cen-
trical position between two great empires,
and by holding the same relative situation to
the two seas, by which it maintained a great
commerce between these divisions of the an-
cient hemisphere, rose to great opulence and
renown. The great power of Odenatus and
Zenobia, under the reign of Gallienus and
Aurelian, is well known; and the remains
of lofty edifices interspersed among the cabins
of a few Arabs, manifest the former mag-
nificence, and the present wretchedness, of
Palmyra.
PHCENICE ET CYPRUS.
Every one knows how much the Phoeni-
cians distinguished themselves by navigation,
* If Tadmor, a? M. Volney informs the readers of his
Travels, signify in the Syriac language a grove of palm
trees, this city should, in conformity to that name, have
been called Pkifnicopolis. But seeing that it is named
Palmyra, we may be allowed to seek another root for it.
The Macedonians, when they conquered Syria, finding
this city an established mart, might have given it a name
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 395
from which their commerce derived its exten-
sion and aggrandisement. Confined to a
margin of land between the sea and moun-
tains, they could only acquire power by the
means which they employed, and which were
exerted with such success as to enable them
to form establishments, not only on the shores
of their own sea, but also on those of the
Western Ocean. The Arts owed both their
birth and their perfection to them. It was a
Phffinician who introduced into Greece the
knowledge of letters, and their use; and
artists brought from Tyre presided over the
construction of the temple with which Solo-
mon embellished his capital city.
In the description of this maritime part of
Syria, we shall take our departure from Laodi-
cea, which was a Phoenician city, before it
became a Greek one by renovation under
Seleucus Nicator. It then took the name of
Laodicea; which, distinguished by its maritime
situation, was surnamed ad Mare; and its
name has scarcely suffered any alteration in
the present form of Ladikieh. Although
formed of tfaAai, pridem, and pvps., fundcns. There have
been already mentioned a Myra and Limyra in Lycia,
396 COMPENDIUM OF
Phoenicia be sometimes mentioned in a man-
ner that would prolong its extent as far as the
limits of Egypt, we deem it expedient here to
stop at Tyre, that we may not take from
Palaestine what it would have a right to re-
claim. Immediately succeeding to Laodicea,
Gabala exists in Gebileh. The site of Paltus
is unknowns tmt Balnea is found in Belnias.
Afarathus, at some distance from the sea, is a
little place called Merakia. The mountains
which overlook these cities were occupied by
a particular people, whose name of Nazarini
subsists in that of Nassaris. Aradus is a rock
two hundred paces in the sea, less than a
mile in circuit, but which nevertheless con-
tained a populous city, and powerful among
those of Phoenicia. Its name in the present
form is Ruad. Antaradus, situated opposite
on the shore of the continent, is now named
Tortosa. A river named Eleutherus, at which
Phoenicia commenced according to some
authors, has changed its mouth, in directing
its course farther from Tortosa than hereto-
fore. It is now named Nahr-kibir, or the
Great River; which addition it might merit
by comparison with the streams that run in-
to the sea upon this shore. Retiring from the
^ca, we must mention Rd]yliant\c, whose name
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 397
is recognised in that of Rafineh. On a moun-
tain in its environs, a fortress named Masiat
was the residence of the Ishmaelite prince of
the Assassins*, celebrated in the time of the
crusades. The name of Demetrias was given
to a city whose Syrian name is Akkar. Arce
retains the name of Arkaj and Simyra and
Orthosia are found in Sumira and Ortosa.
The name of Tripolis takes the form of Tara-
bolus among the Turks. A river issuing
from the highest summits of Libanus dis-
charges itself into the sea after passing
through a deep valley where, in a monastery
called Kanobin, resides the patriarch of the
Maronites, by whom this river is called Nahr-
Kades, or the Sacred River; and this ravine
makes a part of the vally of Kesroan. The
ridge of a mountain projects into the sea a
steep promontory, whose name of Theo-pros-
6pon signifies the divine countenance. Then
Botrus appears in Batrounj and Byblus in
Gebail. The Fluvius Adonis has taken the
name of Nahr-Ibrahim ; and the Lycus, or the
Wolf, is Nahr-Kelb, or the River of the Dog.t
Aphaca, a city infamous for prostitution, was
* This name is derived from tlu> Arabic verb /iass, to
surprise: and was introduced by the crusard.s into Euro-
pean languages.
39$ COMPENDIUM OF
destroyed by Constantine. Berytus, among
the number of the principal cities of Phoeni-
cia (the termination being abscinded), is called
Berut; and, beyond the river Tamyras or
Nahr-Damnr, Porphyrion, which intercepts
the passage between the foot of the mountain
and the sea, is named Rumeile. The moun-
tains of this part of Phoenicia are those which
the Druses occupy, who are said to be de-
scended from the crusards who took refuge
here after the loss of Palestine.
We arrive now at Sidon, which was distin-
guished by a degree of power and opulence
beyond the competition of any other city in
Phoenicia, except Tyre. By use it is called
Se'ide, although a place at some distance from
the sea, towards the mountain, preserves pre-
cisely the name of Sidon. Between this city
and Tyre, Sarepta preserves its name in Sar-
fond. A river which flows into the sea a little
on this side of Tyre, after having run the
whole length of a valley which we have men-
tioned under the name of El Bekah, is called
Casemieh towards its mouth, which signifies
separation j but elsewhere Leitoni, or Lante:
and there can be found no other river to
\vhich that named Leontos can be so well re-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 399
ferred. There were two citiesof the name of Tyre,
PaLz Tyrus, or the Antient, and Tyrus placed
on an isle ; but the time of the transmigration
is not well known. The ruins of the first
furnished Alexander with materials for con-
structing a mole or causey, which joined the,
continent to the insulated city, and which
time has rather consolidated than impaired.
Tyre, which yielded to Sidon in antiquity, at
least equalled it in renown ; and the famous
purple dye contributed to the maintenance of
its wealth. Its name in the oriental lan-
guages is Sur. The Franks, who rendered
themselves masters of this city, lost it again to-
wards the end of the thirteenth century ; and
it is now buried in its ruins.
The Isle of Cyprus extends in length from
a promontory in the east named Acamas, and
now bearing the name of the Holy Epiphany,
to another in the west called Dinaretum, now
Cape Saint Andrew. The channel which se-
parates the northern shore between these pro-
montories from Cilicia, was called Aulon Cili-
cius, or the Cilician Strait. The southern
shore of the island is divided into two parts by
.a point of land, whose name of Curias is
changed into that of Gavata, otherwise Delia
400 COMPENDIUM OF
Gatte. This island is not spacious enough to
have large rivers: but it has many mountains;
of which the most elevated and most centri-
cal was named Olympus, and is now called
Santa Croce. It is thought that its mines of
brass or copper caused it to be called Cu-
piw*, or rather that this metal owes the name
which distinguishes it to that of the island.
The Turks call Cyprus, Kibrisj the Arabs,
Kubrous; and we should do well to abstain
from the practice of writing it Chypref,
which disguises the form of the name, and is
only derived from the Italian mode of pro-
nouncing the initial letter. This island had
received Phoenician tribes, before Greek co-
lonies posterior to the war of Troy came to
establish themselves in it. Under the domi-
nion of the kings of Persia it was portioned
into particular principalities, to the number of
nine. Ptolemy Soter, king of Egypt, con-
quered it ; and it was in possession of a prince
of the house of the Ptolemies when it was
seized by the Romans. Although many KJia-
lifs had endeavoured to become masters of it,
it was not lost to the Greek empire till to-
* KiTTfiC--, cujn'inn.
\ The n-ulcr \\ill perceive tlial it is only thu French uf-
thograpliy that is here alluded to.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 401
wards the end of the twelfth century ; and it
has not been subjected to the Turks more
than two ages.
The principal city of Cyprus was Salami f,
which, having been overwhelmed by an inun-
dation of the sea, occasioned by an earth-
quake, was re-established under the name of
Cctnstantia, in the fourth century; and al-
though it was depopulated towards the end of
the seventh, by the transmigration of its inha-
bitants, yet the name of Constanza remains to
the site which it occupied. Pedtfus, or Pedio,
the most considerable of the rivers of this is-
land, had its mouth here. The place which
has since become the principal in the island,
and not far distant from tlie former capital, is
Famagouste, or rather Amogoste, as the Cy-
prian Greeks pronounce it, and derives this
name from a sandy cape adjacent called Am-
mocliostos*. There were two cities of the
name of Paphos : the more ancient, which
had received Venus when issuing from the
foam of the sea; and a new one which
has prevailed, preserving its name under the
form of Bafo, or Bafa. We have three cities
* From '/.ao.-, arena.
VOL, I. 2 D
402 COMPENDIUM OF
to cite in this interval between Salamis and
Paphos : Citium, the native place of Zeno,
author of the Stoic philosophy, and which is
now called Chiti: Amalhus, a Phoenician ra-
ther than a Greek city, but where Venus was
not less honoured than at Paphos, and whose
site is called Linmeson Antica: and lastly
Curium, which is thought to have occupied
the position of a place now named Piscopia.
On the northern coast, a city called Arsinoe,
among many of the same name in Cyprus,
corresponds in local circumstances with a
place named Poli. SoLe retains the name of
Solia; Lapethusis Lapito ; and Chitrus, some-
what retired from the sea, is Citria, or other-
wise Paleo Chitro. Carpasia appears to have
been a canton filling the eastern and most
contracted extremity of-the island. The mo-
dern capital is known commonly by the name
of Nicosia, which comes from Lefcosia, an-
cicntlv called Leant. Trimithus is recognised
in the name Trimitusa, which appertains to a
small village. And we think that we discover
Id'ilium, as well bv the pleasantness of its si-
tuation, as bv the analogous name of Dalin.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 403
PALEST I N A.
Under this title we comprehend all the
country extending south from the limits of Sy-
ria, or properly the Coele-Syria, to Arabia Pe-
trsea: and this space is bounded on the west
by the sea called in Scripture the Great Sea,
and confined by Arabia Deserta on the eastern
side. Though the country is mountainous, it
is not abundant in streams: we know of but
one river that merits the appellation ; and this
is the Jordanes, or Jordan, which rising from
a mountain named Hermon, a branch of Anti-
Libanus, falls into a lake named Genesareth,
otherwise the Sea of Tiberias. Thence it
issues again to water a spacious valley called
Aulon, or Magnus Campus ; at the aperture
of which it loses itself in a lake much more
spacious than the preceding, named the Dead
Sea, and the Salt Sea> in the sacred writings;
Asphaltites Lacus, or the Bituminous Lake, in
the Greek and Rormm authors; and Almo-
tanah, or the Stinking, by the Ar^bs. And
the Jordan is called by- these Nahr-el-Arden.
Several torrents will occur on survey ins: the
J O
country in detail.
404 COMPENDIUM OF
It is agreed that the name of PaLcstina is
derived from the Philistines. For notwithstand-
ing that the Hebrew people established them-
selves in Canaan, the Philistines maintained
possession of a maritime country, which ex-
tended to the limits of Egypt. And there is rea-
son to believe that it was the Syrians who, by a
greater attachment to this people than to a
nation originally foreign in the country, have
given occasion to the extension of the name of
Palagstine, which is found in history at the
time of Herodotus, and which the Jewish
writers have since adopted in the same extent.
The people of Judah, transported to Babylon
by Nabucodonosor, had obtained liberty from
Cyrus to return to their native country;
and the Jews, since this return, extending
themselves, as well in what composed the
kingdom of Israel as that of Judah, diffused
the name of Judcca over the same space ; and
this was the name of the kingdom possessed
by Herod. But, in the enumeration of the
provinces of the empire, it is recognised only
by the name of Palsestine: and in the first
years of the fifth century, this name was com-
municated to throe provinces; first, second,
and third. And because this last occupied
Arabia Pcliva, we shall regard it as foreign to
our })re>!'iit subject.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 405
This distinction is incompetent to the tho-
rough knowledge of a country, which divides
with some others the greatest celebrity in his-
tory. A particular discussion however, more
intricate than interesting, concerning the dif-
ferent Canaanite people established in the
country before the conquest of it by Joshua,
is not requisite in a work of this nature.
Nor can we delineate, but in a manner vague
and general, the several tribes which compos-
ed the Hebraic, or Israelitish people.
All that country which was comprised be-
tween the Dead Sea, the Great Sea, and the
limits of Egypt, was destined to Judali. But
Simeon also occupied a place in this extent,
towards the country which the Philistines
preserved, and on the confines of Idumea;
Beersabee being of his portion. In such a
distribution it can hardly be conceived that
this tribe was of the ten who obeyed Samaria
rather than Jerusalem. Benjamin $ tribe was
contiguous to that of Judah, towards the
north. Its limits embraced Jericho and
Bethel; and, from Bethoron declining south
towards Kiriath-jearim, must have compre-
hended Jerusalem, in passing through the
valley Ben-hinnon, which Sion bounds on
406 COMPENDIUM OF
the south. The map will indicate these posi-
tions, which are cited (though here out of
place), the better to delineate the subject.
Dan was placed at the same height towards
the sea, in ascribing to it Accaron and
Jamnia. The confines of these two tribes
were common to that of Ephraim, which
touched the Jordan, and extended on the sea
to the torrent named Cana. The half tribe
of Manasseh was contiguous to the tribe of
Ephraim; which was bounded on the east by
the Jordan, and on the west by the sea as far
as Dora, at the foot of Mount Carmel, on the
limits of Asher. Vv r e see it claiming the
possession of Bethsan, although this part of
the Jordan had fallen to Issachar, who occu-
pied Jezrael, and whom the Tabor limited to-
wards the north. This mount separated him
from the tribe of Zabulon, whose extension on
the lake of Genesareth may be disputed.
The borders of this lake belonged to the
tribe of Xaphla/i, which terminating the
country towards the north, confined towards
the west with Asher, whose portion bordered
the sea from Mount Carmel to Sidon, in-
cluding the city of Tyre, which was, notwith-
standing, never subjected to his tribe.
There remain to be recounted the tribes of
-ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 40?
Reuben and of Gad, and a half tribe of
Manasseh, who obtained their lots on the east
side of the Jordan. The first of these com-
menced at the torrent of Arnon, on the limits
of Moab; the second was adjacent, towards
the north; and the third was prolonged on the
eastern shore of lake Genesareth, and beyond
that, to the extremity of the country possess-
ed by the Israelites. It is well known that
the posterity of Levi, reserved for the hier-
archy, were invested with the government
of several cities, interspersed throughout the
territories of the other tribes, and were called
Levites.
The extinction of the kingdoms of Judah
and Israel destroyed all traces of this division
of country. After the return from captivity,
and during the times of the second temple,
we distinguish four principal countries; JucLca,
Samaria, GaliLea on this side of the Jordan,
and Pci\ca,> a denomination which denotes
the country that is the subject of it to be be-
yond this river. We find also the name of
Judaaa appropriated specially to the greater
part of the country, and to which the Jewish,
nation owe their distinguishing appellation.
Judaea Proper occupied the south, Galihea
408 COMPENDIUM OF
the north, and Samaria filled the intermediate
space. Different districts under the title of
Toparchies, mentioned as belonging to Judasa,
indicate its limits on the side of Samaria, be-
tween the Jordan and the sea. A place
named Ginaea, attributed to Galilasa, pressed
on the other side of Samaria.
In treating of the Peraea, we shall speak, of
cantons separated from that which is more
precisely so denominated; and withal, of a
particular province distinguished by the name
of Arabia.
J U D yE A.
The predominant city in this part, as in all
the country, is Jerusalem, or Ilierosolyma;
which, according to some authors, is the same
with Salem, the residence of Melchisedec.
It is sometimes called Jebus, for having been
possessed by the Jebusites, a Canaanite
people; from whom it was taken by David,
who made it his residence. This is the
Cadytis of Herodotus, who says that it was
taken by Necos, king of Egypt; and \ve find,
in the sacred writings, Nccho perform ing
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 409
acts of sovereignty in Jerusalem. Its site
occupied several hills, of which the most ele-
vated and most spacious was Sion, making the
southern quarter of the city; which quarter a
valley towards the north separated from
another hill. On the eastern side rose a third
elevation, called mount Moria, whereon was
seated the temple; which a mosque, much
revered by the Mohammedans, has supplant-
ed. The length of the city, looking to the
east, bordered a valley that is channeled
through the bottom by a ravine, which
affords a bed for a torrent called Ccdron.
And if the reader be desirous of acquiring a
more perfect knowledge of the ancient and
actual state of Jerusalem, its different
quarters, the extent of the city, and its temple,
he may consult a particular dissertation on
this subject by the author of the present work.
We know that, destroyed by a king of Baby-
lon, Jerusalem rose again from its ruins after
the return from captivity. This city and its
second temple received from Herod great em-
bellishments, which subsisted only till its final
destruction in the reign of \ r espasian. The
insurrection of the Jews under Hadrian, fur-
nished occasion for the building of a new city,
altogether Roman, called jElia, from the
410 COMPENDIUM OF
name of ^Eiius which Hadrian bore, with the
surname of CapiLolina : and it is thence that
Jerusalem is mentioned by the oriental geo-
graphers under the name of Ilia. The princi-
cipal alteration in its site consists in this point
that Sion, which made the principal quarter
of the more ancient city, was not comprised
within the limits of the new one. This city
bears among the Arabs the titles of Beitel-
Makdes, and Kads-She-if; that is to say, the
House of the Sanctuary, and the Holy, by
way of excellence: and this last title is ex-
pressed in the name of Cadytis, before men-
tioned.
When we see that, in the search made by
Eusebins of Cesarea in Palestine, and St. Je-
rome, inhabiting the same country in the fourth
ceniury, but a very few of the multitude of
places mentioned in the Scriptures could be
found, one is tempted to smile at the pre-
sumption of the publishers of those maps,
wherein the number of positions seems to
equal this multitude. It cannot be expected
that this country, stiil more desolated than it
then was, can furnish many satisfactory indi-
cations of its ancient state. Besides, an epi-
tome, as this is, will not admit so much detail
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 411
as the subject might require. An examina-
tion of evidences, a collation of authorities
necessary to ascertain the identity of posi-
tions, can only have place in a special and
appropriate work. It may be said, in
general, however, that the places which be-
long to the time of the second temple are
much better known than those of the ante-
rior ages. Of the toparchies, or chief places
which we have said form a fence to Judcea on.
the side of Samaria, are Acrabatem*^ whose
name seems to indicate a country of moun-
tains; Gop/Miiticiaj and Thamniiicia, ranged
from the east to the west, between the Jordan
and the sea. Gophna appears a place of
considerable dignity north of Jerusalem, on
the route of Neapolis and Samaria. Antipatris
was so called by Herod, after his father, who
was named Antipater; and this city is de-
scribed as being seated at the descent of a
mountainous country, on the border of a
plain named Saronas, terminated by the sea.
On the same shore, Apollonius is now a ruin-
ated place named Arsuf, near the mouth of a
torrent. And on traversing this coast towards
the north, we find the issue of another torrent,
412 COMPENDIUM OF
which has been mentioned as serving for the
boundary to Ephraim's tribe, under the name
of Cana-y or Arcindeneti, signifying the Reedy,
and translated el-Kasab by the Arabs. On
this shore a lagune, which in the country
being called Moiet-el-Temsah, or the Water
of the Crocodile, represents the Crocodilorum
Lacus mentioned in antiquity.
Tending towards the south, another torrent,
which appears unknown till the time of the
crusades, is found to precede the position of
Joppe, through which the actual name of
Jafa is derived, from Jappo its original form.
The fable of Andromeda chained to a rock illus-
trates this place in antiquity. This was the or-
dinary place of debarkation for Jerusalem; but
there now remains scarcely any thing more
than the name of what was once a city. At the
same height in the interior of the country,
Lydda, which among the Greeks took the
name of Diospolis, preserves, in some vestiges,
the name of Lod. Kamla, or as it is common-
ly called, llama, is the principal place in this
canton: and a little nearer to Joppe, Jamnia,
or, according to the oriental form, labne, not
far from the sea, still preserves the name of
Jebna, with the advantage of a port: and this.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 413
is the Iblin which we find in the history of
the holy wars. Some idea may be acquired
of the population of Judsea from Strabo, who
reports that this place, joined with some
others in its neighbourhood, could arm forty
thousand men. We find, a little on this side,
the bed of another torrent ; which having passed,
and left the position just mentioned, we enter in-
to the lands of the PhiUsliCi, or Philistines; who,
occupying the maritime country to the limits
of Egypt, had divided it into five satrapies, or
signories. They were treated as Allophyli, or
foreigners, by the Jews in the time of the
second temple, notwithstanding that their
possession of the country was anterior to that
of the ancestors of the Jewish nation. Alien-
ation from the worship of the true God pro-
duced the distinction.
We find Awtiis, or rather Asdod, under thr
same name, at some distance from the sea; on
the shore of which was an Azot paralios, or
maritime, Ekron, or Accaron, preserves the
first of these forms in its name. Gath, or
Gefh, which took a place also among the
satrapies, was more inland by its position
given with regard to a city, which we do not
find mentioned till after the ruin of the second
414 COMPENDIUM OF
temple; but which, under the Greek name of
Eleutheropolis, or the Free City, appears to
have presided over a great district. It is now
unknown. Ascalon and Gaza, the principal
cities of the Philistines, completed the
number of their satrapies. These cities were
remarkable for their attachment to paganism.
The first, in the vicinity of the sea, and a very
important place, as it appears in the holy
wars, preserves its name, although buried in
ruins. It is known also by the history of
these wars, -that a torrent, springing from the
mountains in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem,
has its issue near Ascalon; and this torrent is
crossed by the road that leads to Gaza. All
this part adjacent to the sea, being a flat
country, is designated by the generic term of
Scplida. Gaza, razed by Alexander alter a
siege, was at length re-established ; and it still
subsists, with the same name, on the same
site. The port formed a town at some dis-
tance, and a small stream runs a little beyond
it. jRaphia, remarkable for a great battle be-
tween the kings of Syria and Egypt, is si ill a
place named Re fall.
In the time of the second temple, the south-
ern part of Judaea was called 1) aromas t and
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 415
the name of Darom still appears. That of
Iditmcea, passing the ancient limits of the
country of Edom, was at the same time ex-
tended to this part, which had been evacuated
by the removal of the people of Judah to
Babylon. We learn from St. Jerome, that the
inhabitants of it in his time contrived their
dwellings in caverns. The country on the
borders of the lake Asphaltites is terminated
by mountains, through which a passage is
called Ascensus Acrabim, or the Ascent of the
Scorpion. Among the places which are to
be cited in this remote part of Judaea, Gcrara
gave its name to the canton environing it;
and from which Bcr-Sabee, signifying the
Well of the Oath, being mentioned as making
the southern boundary of the country ceded
to the people of Israel, cannot be far distant.
Arad was a city at the extremity of the tribe
of Judah. But, in returning towards Jeru-
salem, we find Hebron, a considerable place,
to which a high antiquity was attributed
under the primitive name of Kiriath-Ai'ba, or
the city of Arba. The sepulchre of Abraham
and his family has made this place respected
to the present time. Its name among the
Arabs is Cabr Ibrahim, or the Tomb of
Abraham j and, in the history of the crusades,
416 COMPENDIUM OF
St. Abraham is the name given to Hebron,
Bethlehem, a small place where the Redeemer
of the world was born, is only six miles from
Jerusalem, towards the south. A place con-
structed by Herod, in memory of a victory
obtained over the Jews before arriving at the
regal dignity, and which he embellished with
a palace named Herodium, was a little farther
from Jerusalem, and to the east withal. At
the same distance, being marked at 60 stadia,
but in an opposite direction, Emmaus, where
Vespasian defeated the revolted Jews, was
called Nicopolis. Turning towards Jericho, a
plain adjacent to the Jordan, celebrated here-
tofore for its fertility, and which produced a
celebrated balm, succeeds a space sterile and
mountainous between Jerusalem and this city,
whose name in the Roman writers is Hicrichus,
and in the Arabian geographers, Eriha.
Engaddi, on the Dead Sea, but having its
territory contiguous to that of Jericho, was
not less fertile in palm trees. Masada, a for-
tress elevated on a rock, was the last asylum
which remained to the revolted Jews after
the taking of Jerusalem. Zip/i is a canton
between Hebron and the Dead Sea; to
which succeeds a mountain of the same
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 41?
name with the Carmel, more celebrated and
better known on the Great Sea in Galilee.
SAMARIA ET GALIL.EA.
We know that Salmanazar, having trans-
ported to Assyria the inhabitants of the
kingdom of Israel, caused the country thus
evacuated to be repeopled with colonies from
his own dominions. Among these colonies
we find some named Cutheans; but with
their primitive seats we are unacquainted.
It is also well known that these colonists
adopted the religion of the country where
they were established; and that they derived
from Samaria, the capital of Israel, the name
of Samaritans, which distinguished them from
the Jews. Samaria owed its foundation to
one of the successors of the first kings of
Israel. But it had been destroyed by the
Jews under one of their Asmonean princes,
and re-edified by a governor of Syria, when
Herod, fortifying and embellishing this city,
gave it, in honour of Augustus, the name of
Sebaste, which it preserves in its ruins.
Sickem, which was the royal city of Israel be-
fore Samaria, took afterwards the name of
VOL, I, 2 E
418 COMPENDIUM OF
Neapolis, which is altered only into the form
of Nabolus. Two mountains, Garizim and
Ebal, form a valley which encloses this city:
and it was at the foot of the first that the Sa-
maritans had their temple. But the city that
took the pre-eminence of others was Ccesareai
which, becoming the residence of the Roman
governors, is called Cesarea of Palestine. This
place, named anteriorly Turris Stratonis, was
chosen by Herod for the site of a magnificent
city and port; to which he gave a name re-
ferring personally to Augustus, and common
to many other cities. In the division of
Palestine into three provinces, that whereof
Cesarea remained metropolis, was the Jirst;
and the see of Jerusalem was its suffragan, be-
fore it was elevated to the patriarchal dignity.
Though we find Cesarea subsisting at the
time of the crusades, there is nothing of it
now remaining but its name, and some ves-
tiges of its walls and its port. .
Samaria appears very much contracted in
breadth, being bounded on the side of Gali-
lee, as we already remarked, by the position
of Giricca, which is still found under the name
of Genim, not far from Sebaste, on the road
towards the north. Carmel was at the same
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 419
time reputed within the limits of Galilee.
This name of Galilee rarely occurs in the
Scriptures of the Old Testament. But, from
the manner in which the country is frequently
mentioned afterwards, the goodness of its soil
seems to give it the pre-eminence over the
other parts of Palestine, with the advantage
of a population proportionate to a greater
fecundity. There was a distinction made be-
tween Galilee inferior, adjacent to Samaria,
and the superior towards the north, on the
frontier of Phoenicia ; which last, less occu-
pied by Jews than the lower division, was
called Galileo, Gentium, the Galilee of the
Gentiles, or foreign nations.
At the entrance to this country is a great
plain, to which the name and the place of
Jesrail, which was a royal city in Israel situa-
ted on the right of the plain, give at this day
the name of Esdrelon. On the other side, in
tending towards Carmel, the place that a Ro-
man legion occupied, under the name of
Legio, is found in that of Legune. And we
coukl wish to be as well assured of the posi-
tion of Mageddo, situated on the same plain,
where Josias of Judah was killed in a battle
with Necos king of Egypt. The Carmelus
2 E 2
420 COMPENDIUM OF
vw?is bordered the shore of the sea to the west
and north; and the respect of the Jews for
this mountain was communicated also to the
Pagans. It is fertile and woody ; and its pastures
feed horses of a race highly esteemed, and
which are maintained by an Emir, or Arabian
prince, long established in this canton.
Several maritime cities are still recognised
under Mount Carmel. Dora, whose modern
name is Tartoura, and the position of a place
named Atlik, or Castle Pilgrim, appears to
have been that which, from the sycamores
that abound in its environs, was named Sijca-
minos. A place named Hepha, now Caipha,
opposite to the position of Acre, appeared
under the name of Porphijrion* in a time
when the strand of the sea furnished a species
of shell-fish yielding the famous purple dye,
but which seems now to be unknown. The
torrent of Kison sprang from the south sid^ of
Tabor, and, augmented by some brooks
which traverse the plain of Esdrelon, is re-
ceived on the flank of Carmel into a gulf
which the sea forms between this mountain
and the point of Acre. The same gulf also
receives the little river 7&7//y, calltl by the
pur/mra.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 421
Arabs Nahr Halou, and famous in antiquity
for affording a sand proper for the manufac-
ture of glass. A co, or Aeon, took the name of
Ptolemais under the Ptolemies, many of whom
possessed Coele- Syria. But although this
new name be employed by the Greek and
Roman authors, they also use the primitive
denomination of Ace. No place was more
disputed by the crusaders and the Mussulman
princes than this of Acre till towards the end
of the thirteenth century; it being then de-
stroyed, that it might no longer serve the
Franks as a key to Palestine. Being situated
on a point advanced in the sea, commerce
has given occasion to some habitations
among its ruins. To conclude this notice
of the coast as far as Tyre, the site of
Ecdippa, or Aczib, preserves in a very small
place the name of Zib; beyond which the
passage of a steep mountain that overlooks
the sea, was called Scala Tyriorum, or the
Ladder of the Tyrians.
Advancing into the country, nearly east of
Acre, we find that Sepphoris, spoken of by
Josephus as being the strongest place and
most considerable city of Galilee, had taken
the name of Dioccesarea in the time of Saint
422 COMPENDIUM OF
Jerom, and was then extremely decayed.
The Jews have continued to it the name of
Sipphori, which in vulgar use is Sefouri. Be-
tween this place and the Tabor, in a valley
north of the plain of Esdrelon, Nazareth is a
small place, according to St. Jerom, called
Nazara. The Tabor is an insulated mount in
the middle of a plain; and its name takes the
form of Itabyrius in the Greek writers. But,
proceeding towards Tiberias, we must incline
to the right to view Bethsan, on the confines
of Galilee and Sarnaria. This city, in the
vicinity of the Jordan, is more celebrated
under the name of Scytkopolis, which appears
to be due to the Scythians, who, according to
Herodotus, had advanced as far as Palestine
before they won the empire of Asia from the
Medes. However, this Greek denomination
of a city that was reputed the first among
those of the Decapolis, and that took the
rank of metropolis in the second Palestine,
has in its turn been superseded by its primi-
tive name, in the altered form of Baisan.
Tiberias received this name from Herod
' Antipas, in honour of Tiberius. Jt is sup-
posed that the son of the great Herod, for the
construction of the new city, made choice of
the site of a more ancient and obscure place,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 423
called Chenereth, according to St. Jerom, or
Cinereth: and this name of Tiberias was com-
municated to the adjacent lake, which it
qualified at the same time with the appella-
tion of Sea, by a figure familiar to the
orientals. In the pronunciation of the Arabs
the name is Tabarieh ; and that of Hammam,
by which they denominate the thermae, or
mineral baths, in its neighbourhood, is the
AmmaiiSy which the Greek writers bestow
on the same place, and which is itself an
alteration of the primitive Hebraic name of
Ckamath.
>
The name Genesarcth, which the lake of
Tiberias originally bore, was drawn from a
little country distinguished for the beauties of
its situation, under the name of Gennesar, and
which being watered by the fountain of
Caphernaum, should be situated towards the
upper part of the lake, near the entrance of
the Jordan. The siege that Josephus sustained,
against Vespasian in Jotapata, has given cele-
brity to this place, which this historian de-
scribes as situated on a height environed
with precipices. He speaks of Japha as
another strong place in the same canton ; and
it is presumed that the fortress of Sapher,
424 COMPENDIUM OF
which was the residence of a Turkish com-
mandant, and overthrown by an earthquake
some years since, corresponds with this posi-
tion. A little beyond, the Lacus Samocho-
nites of Josephus, traversed by the Jordan, is
thought to be the waters of Meron in the
sacred text. This lake, now called Bahr-el-
Houlei, is reduced to an inconsiderable pool
in dry seasons. There are said to be still ves-
tiges of Asor, which preserve the name of
this royal city of the Canaanites. Another
place named Kadas may have been the Kedes
of Naphtali, and at the same time the Cedes-
sus which the Tyrians possessed. It remains
that we remount to Pane as between two
brooks which form the Jordan, at the foot of
the mount called Panium, on which Herod,
in gratitude for having been put in possession
of the Trachonitis by Augustus, erected a
temple to that prince. On the partition of
the states of Herod among his children, Phi-
lip, who had the Trachonitis, gave to the city
of Paneas the name of desarea^ to which was
annexed by distinction the surname of Phi-
lippi. It did not however prevent the resump-
tion of its primitive denomination, pronounced
Banias, more purely than Belines, as it is
written by the historians of the crusades.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 425
PER^EA ET ARABIA.
Although all the country beyond the Jor-
dan may with the same propriety be called
Pertfa*, according to the signification of the
term, yet this distinction is more particularly
applied to that part which made the portions
of Reuben and Gad, extending from the tor-
rent of Arnon northward to the mount called
Galaad, at nearly the same height with the is-
sue of the Jordan from the Tiberiad Sea. The
Arnon is discharged into the lake Asphaltites,
after having passed through the neighbour-
hood of the principal city of the Moabites.
Towards the beginning of its course, the Ro-
mans had established a military post, Cas-
tra Arnonensia, on the frontier of Arabia, in a
canton which was called Anwnas. The
mounts Abarim, and the summit of Nebo,
whence Moses had a prospect of the Promised
Land, rise at some distance from the Jordan
opposite to Jerico, between two plains : that
on the western side being divided by the river,
while the eastern plain is an extent of country
which we find under the name of Campestria
* From TFJSS, ultra.
426 COMPENDIUM OF
Moab. At the foot of these mountains to-
wards the Jordan, the name of Livias was
given to an ancient city, to flatter Augustus in
the person of Livia. Nearer to the lake As-
phaltites, Herod added fortifications to the
advantageous situation of Machccrus y on the
summit of a steep rock. Farther on, and
southward withal, a place meriting notice for
its hot springs, was called Calli-rhoe, which
signifies in Greek the limpid fountain. Pe-
netrating into the country, we find Hesebon,
or according to the Greek writers, Esbus : and
there is still mention of it in the oriental geo-
graphy under the name of Hesbon. Medaba
is a city to be reckoned in the same canton,
which is now called al Belkaa. Amathus is
described as an exceedingly strong fortress,
overlooking the great plain, which is con-
tinued along the course of the Jordan, from
the Tiberiad lake to that of Asphaltites, under
the name of Aulon in antiquity, but supplant-
ed by that of el-Gour, which signifies in the
Arabic language a low, or sunken land. And
the position of a place named Asselt in the
oriental geography appears to correspond with
that just mentioned. We here find Jazer,
and its lake, from which emanntc.s a stream
received by the Jordan under the iiame Zira.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 42?
A canton of country more retired toward
the north is distinguished by the name of Ga-
laaditisy which a mountain, whose name is
Gafaad, communicates to it. The name of
this mountain appears sometimes to be ex-
tended to the branches projected towards
Anti-Libanus ; but it is more particularly ap-
plied to the ridge that reigns on the right of
the torrent of Jabok, which, issuing from the
country of Ammon, discharges itself into the
Jordan about the height of Bethsan ; and is
believed to be that now called Zarca, Ra-
moth was in remote antiquity a principal city
of this country, situated near Jabok, and at a
defined distance from the capital of the Am-
monites. But in a posterior age, another city
attracts greater notice under the name of
Pella, which the Greeks of Syria, by whom it
was inhabited, had given it, from the circum-
stance of its being environed with water, as
the Macedonian city of this name. We see
in history that this city received the Christ-
ians who had abandoned Jerusalem when it
was menaced with ruin bv the sie^e. There
*/ o
is mention made of another city, whose name
of Dium was transferred likewise from Mace-
don : but its position is judged to be more re-
mote, as comprehended in the province of
428 COMPENDIUM OF
Arabia, without the limits of Palestine, which
included the former. Batanxa is another
country which covers the north of Galaaditis,
and its name is preserved in that of Batinia,
as we find in the oriental geographers. This
is the country conquered by the people of Is-
rael, under Og king of Basan ; to whose terri-
tories was contiguous in Galaad what Sehon
king of the Amorites possessed. And there
is reason to believe that of the primitive Ba-
san was afterwards formed the name of Bata-
nea. Its district appears to be separated
from the Tiberiad lake by a margin of land
called Gaulonitis, from Golan, or Gaidon, the
name of a strong fortress, distinctly indicated
in the oriental geography under the name of
Agheloun, or Adgeloun. Gamala, not far
distant, was a place almost inaccessible, being
seated upon a rock bounded by precipices,
which was separated by the extremity of the
Tiberiad lake from a considerable city called
TarickiCa*, from the circumstance of its be-
ing the place where the fish taken in the lake
were cured.
This extremity of the lake receives a stream
From fy.%r/j>$, salsame/tttim piscium ; a TZI^JJ, ctsicco,
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 429
named heretofore Hieromax, and now Yer-
muk, which passes under Gadara, a consi-
derable city, distinguished as the capital of
Perea by Josephus. Its name is now Kedar.
Hippos, on the border of the lake opposite to
the position of Tiberias, was at the foot of a
mountain of the same name ; and the name of
Ergab in the neighbourhood represents that
of Argobj extended to a district in the Scrip-
tures. At the entrance of the Jordan into the
lake, Julias received its name from Philip,
tetrarch of the Trachonitis: and with this posi-
tion correspond the vestiges of a city under
the name of Tel-oui. We may add, that there
is reason to believe this Julias to be the Cho-
roza'in of a remoter age. The Yermuk is ce-
lebrated in Saracen history for a great victory
obtained over the Greeks, in the time of
Omar ; and a city of the same name is also men-
tioned as adjacent to the river, and which ap-
pears to have been that known heretofore un-
der the Roman denomination of Capitolias.
Adraa, or Edrei, another city of Batanea, is
cited in the oriental geography under the
name of Adreat, with the addition of the name
Bitinia, denoting the country itself. G eras a
is recognised in the name of Jaras, found in
the historians of the crusades. On a route
430 COMPENDIUM OF
leading to Damascus, Coneitra, or Coneitha,
may refer to Canatha. And this position was
the term of the Israelitish possessions in the
half tribe of Manasseh. The name of Herman
is applied to the branch of a mountain which
envelopes this canton. In a plain east of the
Jordan, a basin called Phiala, having no per-
ceptible issue, has been regarded as the foun-
tain of the Jordan: this rivulet being filtered
through the soil, between the basin and its
more apparent sources in the environs of Pa-
neas. This plain is called by the Arabs Mei-
dan, signifying a horse-course, and is famous
for a fair held upon it.
Before we proceed, it is proper to speak of
what is called the Decapolis. This appears to
have been a confederation of ten cities; which,
being not inhabited by Jews, had a common
interest in guarding against the enterprises of
the Asmonean princes, by whom the Jewish
nation was governed till the time of Herod.
Scythopolis is put in the first rank, and second
only to Gadara ; to these may be added Hip-
po.t, Gerasdy Canalha : and descending to the
south, we meet with Pclld, J)i:nn, and Philadel-
phia, of which \ve shall speak hereafter. Abila,
a city of Batanca, is oi 'this number; to com-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 431
plete which we have to add the city that we
have seen under the name of Capitolias.
There are three denominations of countries,
making the frontiers of Syria and Arabia;
Trachonitis, Iturtea, and Auranitis ; but their
appropriate limits we cannot distinguish. The
first has a Greek name, expressing the asperity
of a mountainous country, which a people
addicted to rapine, and inhabiting deep ca-
verns called Trachones, occupied. These had
for their chief one Zenodorus, whom Au-
gustus deprived of his domain, called Domus
Zenodori. Itura3a is not easily distinguished
from the Trachonitis, and may owe its name
to an appellative in some other language than
the Greek. The Auranitis is better known,
retaining its name in that of Belad-Hauran ;
and whose eastern limits are absorbed in the
deserts of Arabia. This arid country, which
is only watered by the winter rains preserved
in cisterns, does not appear to have been sub-
jected till the reign of Trajan. Bosfra, its
principal city, was metropolis of a province
formed under the name of Arabia. It still re-
tains the name of Bosra; and it is said to be
situated on a torrent called Nahr-al-Gazal, or
the River of Gazelle. There remain to be
425 COMPENDIUM OF
mentioned two celebrated nations, the Ammo*
nitae and the Moabitie. The Ammonitis con-
fines with the lots of Reuben and Gad. The
principal city was called Ammon, and Rab-
bath-Ammon, or the Great Ammon, before
the name of Philadelphia was given to it,
probably from a Philadelphia king of Egypt:
but following the practice which we have
seen common in Syria, it has resumed its
primitive name in the form of Amman. The
Moabitis extends to the east of the Asphal-
tite lake. Its capital, situated on the torrent
of Arnon, was called Areopolis ; but its true
name was RabaLfi'Moaby or Moba, by which
it is still known; although it is called el-
Raba, as well as Maab, in the oriental geogra-
P 1 '}"-
If the chapter of Palestine be found dilated
here to a great length, it must be remember-
ed that tliis country occupies a proportionate
importance in history; and the expediency
of a particular map will likewise be acknow-
ledged.
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
MESOPOTAMIA.
The name of Mesopotamia* is known to
denote a country between rivers; and in the
books of the Pentateuch this is called Aram-
Naharaim, or Syria of the Rivers. It is also
known that these rivers are the Euphrates
and the Tigris, which embrace this country
in its whole length, and contract it by their
approximation in the lower or southern part,
which is contiguous to Babylon. From this
situation it has acquired the name of al-Gezira
among the Arabs, who have no specific
term to distinguish a peninsula from an island.
We cannot forbear remarking here, that it is
through ignorance that this country is called
Diarbek in the maps. For not only should
this name be written Diar-Bekr, but it should
also be restrained to the northern extremity,
which Armenia claims in antiquity. This
part corresponds with what the oriental geo-
graphers call Diar Modzar on the side of the
Euphrates, and Diar-Rabiah on the banks of
the Tigris. On the north there reigns a
mountainous chain, which from the passage
: ' : " From astro;, medius, and itQT&u,o$ } jlu'vi'U$.
VOL. I, 2 F
434 COMPENDIUM OF
of the Euphrates through Mount Taurus ex-
tends to the borders of the Tigris. This is
the Mount Masius of antiquity, and now
known among the Turks by the plural appella-
tion of Karadgia Daglar, or the Black
Mountains. A river called Chaboras, which
preserves the name of al-Kabour, and aug-
mented by another river, to which the Mace-
donians of Syria have given the name of
Mygdonius? proceeds to join the Euphrates
under a fortress which we shall mention
hereafter. The lower part of the country,
distant from the rivers, being less cultivated
and more sterile than the upper, could be
only occupied by Arabs called Sccnites, or in-
habiting tents.
The district of Mesopotamia, which is only
separated from Syria by the course of the Eu-
phrates, bore the name of Osroe?ie, which it
owed to Osroes, or, according to the chro-
nicles of the country, Orrhoes; who, profit-
ing by the feebleness of the Seleucides, caused
by their divisions, acquired a principality,
.about a hundred and twenty years befbre the
Christian a?ra. In the time of the unsuccess-
ful expedition of Crassus against the Par-
tliians, we find in this country a prince,
whose name of Abgar passed successively to
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 435
many others. The Euphrates appearing to
the prudence of Augustus as the boundary
that nature had prescribed to the empire, the
Osroene prince's had to adjust their interests
between the Roman power and that of the
Parthians; and Trajan, in the conquest that
he made of Mesopotamia, forbore to despoil
the prince Abgar. But Caracalla did not
conduct himself with equal moderation.
However, it cannot be decided that the
Osroene was distinguished as a province of
the empire before the time of the first suc-
cessors of Constantine. The capital of the
country received from the Macedonian con-
querors the name of Edessa: and an abundant
fountain which the city inclosed, called in
Greek Calli-rhoe, communicated this name to
the city itself. In posterior times it is called
Roha, or, with the article of the Arabs, Or-
rhoa, and by abbreviation Orha. This name
may be derived from the Greek term signify-
ing a fountain ; or according to another
opinion, it may refer to the founder of this
city, whose name is said to have been Orrhoi:
but however this be, it is by corruption that
it is commonly called Orfa. A little river,
which by its sudden inundations annoys this
city, was called Scirtus, or the Vaulter; and
2 F2
436 COMPENDIUM OF
the Syrians preserve this signification in the
name of Daisan.
%eugma y or the Bridge, which afforded en-
trance to the Osroene, and which has been
mentioned under the article of Syria, was on
the opposite side covered by a place named
Apamea by some authors, and by others
Seleucia, it having been constructed by the
first Seleucus. It is usual now between
Hhaleb and Roha to pass the river opposite
a place named el-Bir; and we find in the
Osroene a Birtha which is not to be con-
founded with that upon the Tigris. In re-
ceding from the Euphrates, it will be remark-
ed that the name of Anthemusias, which a
city bore, was transferred from Macedon, and
that the name of Anlhemusia was extended to
a country of Mesopotamia, where it preceded
that of Osroene, which, by the establishment
of a particular principality, had prevailed in
its turn. Batkn<e appears under the same
name with a place in Syria; but, having the
surname of Sarugi t is recognised by it in the
form of Seroug. Beyond Edessa, Carrae,
Chan\r-, or Charran (according to oriental
orthography), of which we cannot speak
without recollecting the fate of Crassus, was
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 437
a very ancient city; for it was thence that
Abraham departed for the land of Canaan.
This city was distinguished for an attachment
to Sabeism from the earliest ages; and in the
worship rendered to the host of heaven, the
god LumiSy denoting the moon by this mas-
culine term, was here honoured with a parti-
cular adoration. Though inconsiderable at
the present day, the name of Haran is conti-
nued to it. A little river named Bilichia, or,
as it is now called, Beles, conducts us towards
the Euphrates, on which the ancient position
of Dausara -keeps the name of Dausar; al-
though the fortress of this place causes it also
to be called Calaat-Giabar, Castle of the
Giant, or of a chief of that name. Nicepho-
rium, in an advantageous situation at the con-
fluence of the Bilichia and the Euphrates, was
a place of which Alexander had ordained the
construction. Seleucus Callinicus, the fourth
in succession of the kings of Syria of that race,
having fortified the same place, or some other
spot adjacent, gave to it the name of Callini-
cum y which in the fifth century the emperor
Leon of Thrace caused to be changed to
Leontopolis. It is in the oriental geography
the position of a considerable place named
Racca, and distinguished in three several
438 COMPENDIUM OF
quarters; in the principal of which the Khalif
JIaroun Al-Rashid erected a castle^ which be-
came his favourite residence.
We pass, without meeting with any object
to arrest our attention, to the Chaboras, or al-
Khabour. Its junction with the Euphrates
forms an angle which affords to Cir cesium a
situation naturally advantageous, to which
Dioclesian added fortifications, making it a
barrier of the empire; and Kerkisia, as it is
pronounced, preserves the same situation.
Some of the learned are of opinion that this is
the position mentioned in the Scriptures under
ihe name of Cafchemis 9 on the Euphrates.
The name Ara.xes, by which the Chuboras is
called in the Anabasis of Xenophon, appears
to be an appellative tern), as we find it
applied to many other rivers in antiquity.
The positions given on its banks in ascending
are, Magusa, TJialaba, Acraba and llesaina :
and these names are found iu Makesin, Tha-
laban, Araban, and Ras-Ain, observing the
orthography of the oriental geographers.
Ras-Ain is celebrated for its numerous springs,
and from this circumstance derives its name,
which in the Arabic language signifies the
fountain of a river; though there is reason to
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 459
believe that the Kabour has its origin some-
what higher, llesaina, which was a colony
formed under Septimius Severus, received
from Theodosius the name of Theodosiopolis.
But we re-approach the Euphrates, to remark
that below Kerkisia, the modern name of
Zoxo-Sultan, indicating the monument of
some prince, plainly alludes to the younger
Gordian, who perished by the conspiracy of
Philip, and whose sepulchre was a tumulus
of earth, thrown up by a Roman soldier on
the spot. Ptolemy makes a river enter the
Euphrates named Saocoras, whose sources he
places in Syria, near Nisibis. It is true, such
a river is known in this country; but by
actual observation it is found to fall into the
Khabour, and not into the Euphrates. There
is noted, in the expedition of the younger
Cyrus, a river under the name of Masca, about
the place where the Saocoras of Ptolemy is
made to join the Great River j and the dry
bed of a river, called by the Arabs Wadi-al-
Sebaa, or the Ravine of Fallow Game, traverses
this canton. The vestiges of a city on the
border of the Euphrates, under tlie name of
Elersi, correspond with the position of Rite*-
s-cipfta in Ptolemy ; and the modern name of
Kahem, given to a position at the summit Q
440 COMPENDIUM OF
a great flexure which the Euphrates makes
towards the south, indicates the Agamana of
the same author. But this geographer had
no knowledge of the position of Anatho on a
holm farther down, and whose name subsists
in that of Anah. This is the residence of the
most considerable prince among the Arabs,
who nevertheless recognises the supremacy of
the sultan of the Turks. The Euphrates is
then seen to describe great circuits - 3 and,
among these involutions, out of a number of
positions we must cite the insulated cities of
Neharda and Pombeditha, where the Jews
had celebrated schools. Haditha and Juba
are their modern names. Is was another re-
markable place, near a river of the same name,
affording the bitumen wherewith the walls of
Babylon were cemented, according to Hero-
dotus. We find elsewhere the name of
JEiopolis applied to the same place, which is
now called Hit. The place which appears
the best to accord with the field of Cnnaxa.,
where Cyrus lost his life in fighting with his
brother Artaxerxes, is Mnemon, immediately
preceding a canal of communication between
the Euphrates and Tigris. This canal is
what in the march of Julian is called Macc-
practa, -after the Syriac Maifarekin, denoting
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, 441
a derivation by the means of a canal. This
canal, which is now dry, is found to have
been paved. What is beyond seems without
the bounds of Mesopotamia, which on this
confine even is called Media: and at the
height of a place called Opis, on the Assyrian
side of the Tigris, a rampart, thought to have
been erected by Semiramis, separated the two
countries*.
We must now remount by the Tigris to
complete the contour of Mesopotamia. In
this course, Apamea is the first city that
occurs, with the surname of Mese?ie, by which
we understand a margin of land insulated by
the canal issuing from the Tigris near this
Apamea, and inclosing what is now called
Digel. Birtha, or Vitra above, is described
as a very strong fortress, and said to have
been constructed by order of Alexander.
There is no position more agreeable to this
description than that of Tecrit; which in the
seventh century was chosen for the residence
of a Jacobite primate, in whom the imme-
diate government of many churches was con-
This is manifestly an error of inadvertency. It should
be " on the Babylonian side of the Tigris, extending to the
Euphrates/' as expressed in the map.
442 COMPENDIUM OF
fided, with the title of Maphrien. This place
having been taken and destroyed by Timur,
or Temir-leng, in 1393, is now but a village.
Hatra in the desert, at a distance from the
Tigris, is a place celebrated in history for
having resisted the attacks of Trajan and of
Severus, in person, as well as those of Arta-
xerxes, under whom, in the third century, the
Persians carried off from the Parthians the em-
pire of the east. An Arabian prince occu-
pied this place; which, although ruined, is
known by the name of Hatder. The position
of a place now named el-Senn corresponds
with that of a city mentioned by Xenophon
under the name of Ccente, as being situated on
the opposite bank of the Tigris to that which
the Greeks pursued in their return. The Ro-
man army on its route towards Nisibis, after
the unsuccessful expedition of Julian, en-
countered a castle held by the Persians, and
named Uz, which appears to some to be the
Uz of Chaldea, that the father of Abraham
quitted to settle in Charran. Among the
principal places of Mesopotamia is Singara,
transposed by Ptolemy in assigning it a place
on the bank of the Tigris. After Trajan had
made the conquest of this place, its situation
on the cdmmon limits of two empires subject-
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 445
-ed it alternately to them both. Its modern
name is Sinjar, which it communicates to a
ridge of mountains in its vicinity. There is
some difficulty in acceding to the opinion
which refers the name of this city to that of
Sinear, which we find in the Scriptures appro-
priated to the plain country that was chosen
for the site of Babel. Positive geography
finds a hundred leagues of interval between
Babylon and Singara. And in the plains of
Mesopotamia, towards Sinjar, there is a
space that was deemed favourable, under the
khalifat g of Almanon, for the mensuration of
two degrees of the meridian; the result of
which problem ascertained a terrestrial degree
to be equal to fifty-seven Arabic miles. Lab'
bana is remarked by Ptolemy as a principal
city in this canton, and seated on the Tigris.
These local circumstances might direct our
attention to Mosul, or Mausel, as a corre-
spondent place, but for another situated a
little higher, named Beldea, and which is also
called Old Mosul.
We pass now to Nisibis, which of all the
places of Mesopotamia was the most import-
ant; and its name Nisbin, in the plural, pro-
perly denotes posts, or military stations.
444 COMPENDIUM OF
Under the Macedonian princes of Syria, the
district which is now distinguished by the
name of Diar-Rabiah in al-Gezira, was called
Mygd&nia, from a country in Macedon, and
Nisi bis was named Antiochia Mygdonitf. This
place is seen afterwards serving as a barrier to
the Roman empire against the enterprises of
the Parthians. But it was at length ceded to
Sapor, king of Persia, by one of the condi-
tions of the treaty which succeeded the dis-
grace of the Roman army in the expedition of
Julian. Nisibin is now a place entirely open,
and reduced to a hamlet. By a great num-
ber of brooks which descend from the neigh-
bouring mountains, there is here formed a
river, which in antiquity was called Mygdo-
nius Fluvius, and is now named Hernias, or
Nahr al-Hauali; and which, after having
passed by Sinjar, appears to unite with the
Khabour, in a place named al-Nahraim, or
the Rivers. In the Lower Empire, Dara, a
place opposite and very near to Nisibin, was
fortified in 506 by the emperor Anastasius,
and thence called Anastasiopolis. It was the
residence of a general of Mesopotamia under
Justinian, but was taken by the Persian king,
Chosroes Anushirvan, in the reign of Justin
II. In the name of Dara-Kardin, which the
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 445
vestiges of this place preserve, that of Corde,
proper to a neighbouring place and a little
river, is found united. A place which was
called Castra Mororum, denoting a field
planted with mulberry trees, is indicated by
the name of Cafar Tutha, between Dara and
Ras-Ain; and it must be supposed that it
appears in the Notice of the Empire Castra
Maurorum, by an error of the transcriber.
Re-approaching the Tigris, on the chain of
mountains that covers Nisibin towards the
north, we find a fortress whose name of Rab-
dium subsists in that of Tur Rabdin; wherein
the generic term of a mountain precedes the
proper and local denomination. The Tigris
by a circuit envelopes a place whose name of
Bezabde gave to its environs, in both parts of
the river, that of Zabdicena. The Arabs call
it Gezirat-ebn-Omar, and the Syrians Gozarta,
by a term in their language corresponding
with the Gezira of the Arabic. On the
other side, Marde, or Miridc (and, according
to the modern form of the mune, Merdin), is
one of these castles, whose situation, accord-
ing to the oriental expression, permits not
the enemy to flatter himself with the hope of
possessing it. It appears nevertheless in the
history of Timur to have been carried almost-
446 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
without an effort, and is now the residence of
a Turkish pacha. Farther on, towards the
foot of the mountains, Tela> on a hill, as the
name expresses, and which received from the
emperor Constantius the name of Constantia,
subsists under that of Tel-Kiuran. The name
of Saiira is recognised in that of Seuerik, and
belongs to a beilik, or particular lordship.,
As to the extension given to Mesopotamia in
comprising Amida, as the metropolis of a pro-
vince of that name, we have remarked that it
was by an encroachment on Armenia, which
appears to have taken place in a time prior to
the middle age of geography.
END OF VOL, I.
S. ii.uiiiiu'ii, \\rjbridge-.
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