Cliap. 31.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, ETC. 81 



this place we will now make mention, after first stating the 

 opinions of M. Agrippa in relation to this subject. That 

 author informs us that Media, Parthia, and Persis, are bounded 

 on the east by the Indus, on the west by the Tigris, on the 

 north by Taurus and Caucasus, and on the south by the Red 

 Sea ; that the length of these countries is thirteen hundred and 

 twenty miles, and the breadth eight hundred and forty ; and 

 that, in addition to these, there is Mesopotamia, which, taken 

 by itself, is bounded on the east by the Tigris, on the west 

 by the Euphrates, on the north by the chain of Taurus, and 

 on the south by the Persian Sea, being eight hundred miles in 

 length, and three hundred and sixty in breadth. 



Charax is a city situate at the furthest extremity of the 

 Arabian Gulf, at which begins the more prominent portion of 

 Arabia Felix :^ it is built on an artificial elevation, having the 

 Tigris on the right, and the Eulaeus on the left, and lies on 

 a piece of ground three miles in extent, just between the con- 

 fluence of those streams. It was first founded by Alexander 

 the Great, with colonists from the royal city of Durine, which 

 was then destroyed, and such of his soldiers as were invalided 

 and left behind. By his order it was to be called Alexandria, 

 and a borough called Pella, from his native place, was to be 

 peopled solely by Macedonians ; the city, however, was de- 

 stroyed by inundations of the rivers. Antiochus,- the fifth king 

 of Syria, afterwards rebuilt this place and called it by his 

 own name ; and on its being again destroyed, Pasines, the son 

 of Saggonadacus, and king of the neighbouring Arabians, 

 whom Juba has incorrectly described as a satrap of king An- 

 tiochus, restored it, and raised embankments for its protection, 

 calling it after himself. These embankments extended in 

 length a distance of nearly three miles, in breadth a little less. 

 It stood at first at a distance of ten stadia from the shore, and 

 even had a harbour^ of its own. But according to Juba, it is 

 fifty miles from the sea ; and at the present day, the am- 

 bassadors from Arabia, and our own merchants who have 

 visited the place, say that it stands at a distance of one hundrc^d 

 and twenty miles from the sea-shore. Indeed, in no part of 



^ Called " Eudsemon" by Pliny. 



2 The Great, the father of Antiochus Epiphanes. 



' Though this passage is probably corrupt, the reading employed by 

 Sillig is inadmissible, as it makes nothing but nonsense. " Et jam Vip- 

 sanda porticus habet;" "and even now, Vipsanda has its porticos." 



VOL. II. Q 



