70 PLINY'S NATTJKAL HISTOET. [Book VI. 



Alexander. It has also, at its extreme frontier, Laodicea, 13 

 founded by Antiochus. To the east of this place is the 

 fortress of Passagarda, 14 held by the Magi, at which spot is 

 the tomb of Cyrus ; also Ecbatana, 15 a city of theirs, the inhabit- 

 ants of which were removed by Darius to the mountains. 

 Between the Parthi and the Ariani projects the territory of 

 the Paraetaceni. 16 Ey these nations and the river Euphrates 

 are the Lower kingdoms of Parthia bounded ; of the others 

 we shall speak after Mesopotamia, which we shall now de- 

 scribe, with the exception of that angle of it and the peoples of 

 Arabia, which have been already mentioned in a former 

 book. 1 ' 



CHAP. 30. MESOPOTAMIA. 



The whole of Mesopotamia formerly belonged to the As- 

 syrians, being covered with nothing but villages, with the 

 exception of Babylonia 18 and .Mnus. 19 The Macedonians 



middle ages had the name of Istakhar ; it is now called Takhti Jemsheed, 

 the throne of Jemsheed, or Chil-Minar, the Forty Pillars. Its foundation 

 is sometimes asciibed to Cyrus the Great, but more generally to his son, 

 Cambyses, The ruins of this place are very extensive. 



13 Its site is unknown ; but Dupinet translates it the " city of Lor." 



14 The older of the two capitals of Persia, Persepolis being the later 

 one. It was said to have been founded by Cyrus the Great, on the spot 

 where he gained his victory over Astyages. Its exact site is doubtful, but 

 most modern geographers identify it with Murghab, to the north-east of 

 Persepolis, where there are the remains of a great sepulchral monument 

 of the ancient Persians, probably the tomb of Cyrus. Others place it at 

 Farsa or at Dorab-Gherd, both to the south-east of Persepolis, the direc- 

 tion mentioned by Strabo, but not in other respects answering his de- 

 scription so well as Murghab. 



15 It is most probable that he does not allude here to the Ecbatana, 

 mentioned in c. 17 of this Book. 



16 There were several mountainous districts called Para3tacene in the Per- 

 sian empire, that being the Greek form of a Persian word signifying 

 " mountainous." 



17 In B. v. c. 21. He returns to the description of Susiana, Elymai's, 

 and Characene in c. 31 of the present Book. 



18 The great seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldaean kingdom. It 

 either occupied the site, it is supposed, or stood in the immediate vicinity 

 of the tower of Babel. In the reign of Labynedus, Nabonnetus, or Bel- 

 shazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. In the reign of Augustus, a small part 

 only of Babylon was still inhabited, the remainder of the space within the 

 walls being under cultivation. The ruins of Babylon are found to commence 

 a little south of the village of Mohawill, eight miles north of Hillah. 



19 Nineveh. See c. 16 of the present Book. 



