BOOK VI. VIII. 23-ix. 25 



in the interior. I do not deny that my description 

 of it will diffcr in many ]ioints from that of the old 

 Avriters. as I have devotcd nuich care and attention to 

 ascertaining thoroughly the reccnt events in that 

 region from Domitius Corbulo and the kings sent from 

 lliere as suppliants or king's chiklren sent as hostages. 

 We will however begin with the Cappadocian tribe. 

 This extcnds farthest into the intcrior of all the 

 peoples of Pontus, passing on its left-hand side Lesser 

 and Cireater Armenia and Commagene and on its 

 right all the tribes of Asia mentioned above ; it 

 spreads over a very large number of peoples, and 

 rises rapidly in elcvation towards the east in the 

 direction of tlie Taurus range, passing Lycaonia, 

 Pisidia and CiHcia, and thcn advances above the 

 district of Antiochia, the part of it called Cataonia 

 reaching as far as the departmcnt of Antiochia 

 named Cyrrestica. Consequcntly the length of Asia 

 at this point is 1250 miles and its breadth 640 

 miles. 



IX. Greater Armcnia bcgins at the Parihedri Greater 

 Mountains, and is separatcd fnim Cappadocia, as we ^'■'"""''- 

 have said, by the river Euphratcs and, when the v. 83. 

 Euphrates turns aside," from Mesopotamia by the 

 equally famous river Tigris. Both rivers rise in 

 Armenia, and it forms the beginning of Mesopotamia, 

 the tract of country lying between these two rivers ; * 

 the intervening space is occupicd by the Orroean 

 Arabs. It thus extends its frontier as far as Adiabene, 

 where it is enclosed by rangcs of mountains that 

 stretch across it; here it spreads its width on the 

 left, crossing the Aras, to the river Kur, while its 

 length reaches right to Lesser Armenia, from which 

 it is separated by the river Absarrus, which flows 



355 



