68 , pli>t:'s natural history. [Book VI. 



separates it from Elymais.^^ Opposite to the coast of Persis, 

 are the islands of Psilos, Cassandra, and Aracia, the last 

 sacred to jS'eptime,^' and containing a mountain of great height. 

 Persis^** itself, looking towards the west, has a line of coast 

 five hundred and fifty miles in length ; it is a country opulent 

 even to luxury, but has long since changed its name for that 

 of '' Parthia."^^ I shall now devote a few words to the Parthian 

 empire. 



CHAP. 29. THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE. 



The kingdoms^ of Parthia are eighteen in all : such being 

 the divisions of its provinces, which lie, as we have already 

 stated, along the Red Sea to the south, and the Hyrcanian to 

 the north. Of this number the eleven, called the Higher pro- 

 vinces, begin at the frontiers of Armenia and the shores of the 

 Caspian, and extend to the Scythians, whose mode of life is 

 similar in every respect. The other seven kingdoms of Parthia 

 bear the name of the Lower provinces. As to the Parthi 

 themselves, Parthia- always lay at the foot of the mountains^ 

 so often mentioned, which overhang all these nations. On the 

 east it is bounded by the Arii, on the south by Carmania and 

 the Ariani, on the west by the Pratitee, a people of the Medi, 

 and on the north by the Hyrcani : it is surrounded by deserts 

 on eveiy side. The more distant of the Parthi are called 

 Komades ;* on this side of them there are deserts. On the 



^ A district of Susiana, extending from the river Eulaeus on the west, 

 to the Gratis on the east, deriving its name perhaps from the Klymsei, or 

 Elymi, a warhke people found in the mountains of Greater Media. In the 

 Old Testament this country is called Elam. 



•*" Ptolemy says that this last bore the name of "Alexander's Island." 



'^"^ Persis was more properly a portion only or province of the ancient 

 kinsrdom of Persia. It gave name to the extensive Medo-Persian king- 

 dom under Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, b.c. 559. 



^^ The Parthi originally inhabited the country south-east of the Caspian, 

 now Khorassan. Under Arsaces and his descendants, Persis and the other 

 provinces of ancient Persia became absorbed in the great Parthian empire. 

 Parthia, vrith the Chorasmii, Sogdii, and Arii, formed the sixteenth sa- 

 trapy under the Persian empire. See c. 16 of this Book. 



' The provinces of Pai-thia have been already mentioned in detail in 

 the preceding Chapters, except Susiana and Elymais, which are mentioned 

 in c. 31. 



2 The original Parthia, the modem Khorassan. 



3 The so-called Caucasian chain. See c. 16 of the present Book. 

 * Or "AYandering Parthians," lying fur to the east. 



