BOOK IV. xxii. 119-XX111. 122 



according to Polybius's account measuring 12 miles 

 in length and 3 miles in breadth. Its distance from 

 the mainland at the nearest point is less than 233 

 yards. but at other places it is more than 7 miles; 

 the circuit of the island is 15 miles. It has a town 

 whose population have the Roman citizenship and 

 are called Augustans, the title of their city being 

 Julia Gaditana. On the side facing Spain at a 

 distance of about 100 yards is another island one 

 mile long and one mile broad, on which the town of 

 Cadiz was previously situated ; Ephorus and Philistus 

 call this island Erythea, and Timaeus and Silcnus 

 call it Aphrodisias, but its native name is the Isle 

 of Juno. The larger island according to Timaeus is 

 kno\vn as Potimusa from its wells, but our people call 

 it Tartesos and the Punic name is Gadir, which is 

 Carthaginian for a fence; it was called Erythea, 

 because the original ancestors of the Carthaginians, 

 the Tyrians, were said to have come from the Red 

 Sea. This island is believed by some people to have 

 been the home of the Geryones whose cattle were 

 carried off bv Hercules ; but others hold that that 

 was another island, lying off Lusitania, and that an 

 island there was once called by the same name. 



XXIII. Having completed the circuit of Europe Dimensions 

 we must now give its complete dimensions, in order °' "■^"p^- 

 that those who desire this information may not be 

 left at a loss. Its length from the Don to Cadiz is 

 given by Artemidorus and Isidorus as 7714 miles. 

 Polybius stated the breadth of Europe from Italy 

 to the ocean as 1150 miles, but its exact magnitude 

 had not been ascertained even in his day. The length 

 of Italy itself up to the Alps is 1020 miles, as we 

 stjitid; .",r.d from the Alps through Lyons to the 11143. 



voT,. TT. II 213 



