6 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VI. 



CHAP. 3. (3.) CAPPADOCIA. 



Cappadocia 44 has in the interior Archelais, 45 a colony founded 

 by Claudius Caesar, and past which the river Halys flows ; also 

 the towns of Comana, 46 watered by the Sarus, Neocsesarea, 47 

 by the Lycus, 48 and Amasia, 49 in the region of Gazacene, 

 washed by the Iris. In Colopene it has Sebastia and Sebas- 

 topolis ; 51 these are insignificant places, but still equal in im- 

 portance to those just mentioned. In its remaining districts 

 there is Melita, 62 founded by Semiramis, and not far from the 

 Euphrates, Diocaesarea, 53 Tyana, 54 Castabala, 55 Magnopolis, 56 



of Amisus. This new quarter contained the residence of the king, Mithri- 

 dates Eupator, who built Eupatoria. 



44 The boundaries of Cappadocia varied under the dominion of the Per- 

 sians, after the Macedonian conquest, and as a Eoman province under the 

 emperors. 



45 Founded by Archelaiis, the last king of Cappadocia. In Hamilton's 

 Researches, the site has been assumed to be the modern Ak-serai, but that 

 place is not on the river Halys, as Leake supposes. It is, however, con- 

 sidered that Ak-serai agrees very well with the position of Archelais as 

 laid down in the Itineraries, and that Pliny may have been misled in sup- 

 posing that the stream on which it stood was the Halys. 



46 Also called by the name of Chryse, or " Golden," to distinguish it 

 from another place of the same name in Pontus. It is generally supposed 

 that the town of Al-Bostan, on the Sihoon or Sarus, is on or near the site 

 of this Comana. 



47 Now called Niksar, according to D'Anville, though Hardouin says 

 that it is Tocat. Parisot remarks, that this place belonged rather to 

 Pontus than to Cappadocia. 



43 A small tributary of the Iris, or Yeshil-Irmak, mentioned in the next 

 Chapter. 



49 Still called Amasia, or Amasiyeh, and situate on the river Iris, or 

 Yeshil Ermak. It was at one time the residence of the princes of Pontus, 

 and the birth-place of the geographer Strabo. The remains of , antiquity 

 here are very considerable, and extremely interesting. 



51 Both to the west of Neo-Caesarea. According to Tavernier, as quoted 

 by Hardouin, the modern name of Sebastia is Sivas. 



52 Which gave name to the district of Melitene, mentioned in c. 20 of 

 the last Book. 



53 Near Nazianzus, in Cappadocia, the birth-place of Gregory Nazi- 

 auzen. The traveller Ainsworth, on his road from Ak Serai to Kara His- 

 sar, came to a place called Kaisar Koi, and he has remarked that by its 

 name and position it might be identified with Dioca3sarea. Some geo- 

 graphers, indeed, look upon Diocsesarea and Nazianzus as the same place. 



54 Its ruins are still to be seen at Kiz Hisar. It stood in the south 

 of Cappadocia, at the northern foot of Mount Taurus. Tyana was the 



