BOOK V. XX. 85-xxi. 88 



river reachingthe goalof its choice but the mountaiii 

 preventing it from reaching it by the course of its 

 choice. After passing the Cataracts the stream is 

 again navigable ; and 40 miles from this point is 

 Samosata the capital of Commagene. 



XXI. Arabia above mentioned contains the towns Mesopo- 

 Edessa, which was formerly called Antiochia, oTAe' ^*^"' 

 Calhrrhoe, named from its spring, and Carrhae, Euphrates. 

 famous for the defeat of Crassus there. Adjoining 

 it is the prefecture of Mesopotamia, which derives 

 its origin from the Assyrians and in which are the 

 towns of Anthemusia and Nicephorium. Then 

 comes the Arab tribe called the Praetavi, whose 

 capital is Singara. Below Samosata, on the Syrian 

 side, the river Marsyas flows into the Euphrates. 

 At Cingilla the territory of Commagene ends and 

 the state of the Imenei begins. The towns washed 

 by the river are Epiphania and Antioch (called 

 Antioch on the Euphrates), and also Bridgetown, 72 

 miles from Samosata, famous as a place where the 

 Euphrates can be crossed, Apamea on the opposite 

 bank being joined to it by a bridge constructed by 

 Seleucus, the founder of both towns. The people 

 contiguous to Mesopotamia are called the llhoali. In 

 Syria are the town of Europus and the town formerly 

 called Thapsacus and now AmphipoHs, and an Arab 

 tribe of Scenitae.'^ So the river flows on to the 

 place named Sura, where it takes a turn to the 

 east and leaves the Syrian desert of Palmyra which 

 stretches right on to the city of Petra and the region 

 called Arabia Felix. 



Palmyra is a city famous for its situation , for the rich- paimt/ra. 

 ness of its soil and for its agreeable springs ; its fields 

 are surrounded on every side by a vast circuit of sand, 



287 



