Chap. 21.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTEIEB, ETC. 445 



CU8\ now Amphipolis. "We then come to the Arabian 

 Scenitse^. The Euphrates then proceeds in its course till 

 it reaches the place called Ura^, at which, taking a turn 

 to the east, it leaves the Syrian Deserts of Palmyra^, 

 which extend as far as the city of Petra' and the regions 

 of Arabia Felix. 



(25.) Palmyra is a city famous for the beauty of its site, 

 the riches of its soil, and the delicious quality and abundance 

 of its water. Its fields are surrounded by sands on every 

 side, and are thus separated, as it were, by nature from the rest 

 of the world. Though placed between the two great empires 

 of Rome and Parthia, it still maintains* its independence ; 

 never failing, at the very first moment that a rupture 

 between them is threatened, to attract the careful attention 

 of both. It is distant 337 miles from Seleucia' of the 

 Parthians, generally known as Seleucia on the Tigris, 203 

 from the nearest part of the Syrian coast, and twenty-seven 

 less from Damascus. 



pus. Colonel Rawlinson has identified it with the present Veramin, at 

 no great distance from the ancient Rhages. ' 



^ Its ruins are to be seen at the ford of El Hamman, near the modem 

 Bakkah. It stood on the banks of the Euphrates ; and here was the 

 usual, and, for a long time, the only ford of the Euphrates. It is sup- 

 posed to have derived its name from the Aramean word " Thiphsach," 

 signifying " a ford." ' Or " Dwellers in Tents." See p. 422. 



* According to Ortelius and Hardouin, this is the place called Sura 

 by Pliny, in C. 26 of the present Book ; but Parisot differs from that 

 opinion. Bochart suggests, that " Ur, of the Chaldees," is the place 

 referred to under this name ; but, as Hardouin observes, that place lay 

 at a considerable distance to the south. 



* So called from the circumstance that Palmyra stood in the midst 

 of them. It was built by King Solomon, in an oasis of the Desert, in 

 the midst of palm groves, from which it received its Greek name, which 

 was a translation also of the Hebrew " Tadmor," " the city of palm-trees." 

 It lay at a considerable distance from the Euphrates. Its site presents 

 considerable ruins ; but they are all of the Roman period, and greatly 

 inferior to those of Baalbec or HeliopoUs. 



* The rock fortress of the Idumseans in Arabia Petrsea, now called 

 Wady-Musa, half-way between the head of the GuK of Akabah and the 

 Dead Sea. 



^ Which it continued to do until it was conquered xmder its queen, 

 Zenobia, by the Emperor AureUan, in a.d. 270. It was partially de- 

 stroyed by him, but was afterwards fortified by Justinian ; though it 

 never recovered its former greatness. 7 gee B. vi. c. 30. 



