ASIATIC. 167 



Tigris. Mount Ararat, on which the ark rested after the flood, is 

 supposed to be in Armenia. Asia Minor, between the Mediterra- 

 nean and the Pontus Euxinus, now called the Black Sea, contained 

 the states of Pontus, in the north-east ; Paphlagonia, and Bithynia 

 in the north ; Mysia, Lydia and Curia in the west ; Lycia, Pam- 

 phylia and Cilicia in the south; Cappadocia in the east; and 

 Phrygia and Galatia in the interior. The ancient city of Troy, or 

 Ilium, was in Mysia; and the cities of the seven churches, were 

 in or near the western part of Asia Minor. Smyrna, is still the 

 largest city in Asiatic Turkey ; Erzerum, the next; and Bagdad, on 

 the Tigris, was long the capital of the Caliphs. The region between 

 the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea, inhabited by the tribe of 

 Kurds, (or Curds), is sometimes called Kurdistan. The islands of 

 Cyprus, and Rhodes, (Rhodus), south of Asia Minor, retain their an- 

 cient names ; and still belong to the Turkish Empire, of which more 

 will be said in treating of Europe. 



Syria, lies along the east end of the Mediterranean Sea, which 

 portion, with the adjacent region, is often called the Levant. Syria 

 now comprehends the ancient Phoenicia, or land of the cities Tyre 

 and Sidon ; and south of it, Palestine or the Holy Land, extending 

 to Arabia Petraea in the south-west. It contains the ancient Palmyra, 

 or Tadmor, in the east; Balbec, (Baalbec), or Heliopolis, toward the 

 west; Damascus, south-south-east of Balbec; and Antioch in the 

 north-west. Palestine, the ancient Canaan, comprehended Persea, 

 and farther north Batansea, both east of the river Jordan : Galilee 

 in the north-west ; Samaria south of it, and Judsea in the south- 

 west, between the Mediterranean and the Lake Asphaltites, or Dead 

 Sea. Jerusalem or Hierosolyma, the capital of Palestine, was in 

 the northern part of Judasa ; and Samaria, was in the northern part 

 of the province to which it gave name. The Twelve Tribes of Is- 

 rael, and their location in Palestine, we have no room here to men- 

 tion, (p. 161). Damascus, is still the largest city in Syria, but Aleppo, 

 not far from ancient Antioch, is the capital. Syria belongs at present 

 to the Turkish Empire ; having been recently recovered from the 

 Pacha of Egypt, by the aid of other European Powers. Bagdad 

 constitutes a distinct sultanry : but is tributary to Turkey. 



Arabia, like Syria, retains its ancient name, and extent ; reaching 

 from the Mediterranean, on the north-west, to the Erythrseum Mare, 

 or Sea of Arabia, in the south-east; and from the Sinus Jlrabicus, or 

 Red Sea, in the south-west, to the Sinus Persicus, or Persian Gulf. 

 It is usually divided into Arabia Petrsea, or the stony, including the 

 ancient land of Edom, or Iclumea, in the north-west; Arabia Felix, 

 or the happy, in the south ; and Arabia Deserta, or the desert, ex- 

 tending from the centre towards the east and north. In the first of 

 these divisions are the mountains Sinai, and Horeb, near the Red 

 Sea. The chief cities of Arabia, are Mecca, the capital, in the west ; 

 Medina, north of it ; Sana and Mocha, in the south ; and Muscat, 

 which has its own sultan, in the east. Arabia is the land of the 

 ancient Ishmaelites ; and the cradle of the Mohamedan religion. It 

 is jjoverned by independent chiefs ; but much of the western coast is 

 subject to the Pacha of Egypt. 



