Cliap. 32.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTETES, ETC. 83 



apparently on the part of nature, that it is surrounded by the 

 sea in such a manner as to resemble very much the form and 

 size ^^ of Italy, there being no difference either in the climate of 

 the two countries, as they lie in the same latitudes. ^°* This, 

 too, renders it equally fertile with the countries of Italy. We 

 have already mentioned ^^ its peoples, which extend from our sea 

 as far as the deserts of Palmyrene, and we shall now proceed to 

 a description of the remainder. The Scenitae, as we have already 

 stated, ^^ border upon the Nomades and the tribes that ravage 

 the territories of Chaldaea, being themselves of wandering habits, 

 and receiving their name from the tents which constitute their 

 dwellings ; these are made of goats' hair, and they pitch them 

 wherever they please. Next after them are the Nabatsei, 

 who have a city called Petra,'^ which lies in a deep vaUey, 

 somewhat less than two miles in width, and surrounded by 

 inaccessible mountains, between which a river Hows : it is 

 distant from the city of Gaza, on our shores, six hundred 

 miles, and from the Persian Gulf one hundred and thirty-five. 

 At this place two roads meet, the one leading from Syria to 

 Palmyra, and the other from Gaza. On lea\ing Petra we come 

 to the Omani,^* who dwell as far as Charax, with their once 

 famous cities which were built by Semiramis, Besannisa and 

 Soractia by name ; at the present day they are wildernesses. 

 We next come to a city situate on the banks of the Pasitigris, 

 Fora by name, and subject to the king of Charax : to this 

 place people resort on their road from Petra, and sail thence 

 to Charax, twelve miles distant, with the tide. If you are 

 proceeding by water from the Parthian territories, you come 

 to a village knowTi as Teredon ; and below tlie confluence of 

 the Euphrates and Tigris, you have the Chaldaei dwelling 



'0 The only resemblance between them is, that each is a peninsula ; that 

 of Arabia being of far greater extent than Italy. It will be remarked that 

 here, contrary to his ordinary practice, Pliny makes a distinction between 

 tlie Red Sea and the Persian Sea or Gulf. 



1"* " In eandem etiam coeli partem nulla diflferentia spectat." A glance 

 at the map will at once show the fallacy of this assertion. 



11 In B. V. c. 12 and 21. 



12 In c. 30 of the present Book. 



13 Mentioned in B. v. c. 21, if, indeed, that is the same Petra. 



1* Omana or Omanum was their chief place, a port on the north-east 

 coast of Arabia Felix, a little above the promontory of Syagros, now Has 

 el Had, on a large gulf of the same name. Tlie name is still preserved in 

 the modern name Oman. 



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