72 PLINT'S WATTIEAL HISTOBT. [Book VI. 



the favourable situation of the spot, ordered it to be built. We 

 have also similarly made mention^' of Apamea on the Zeugma. 

 Leaving that city and going eastward, we come to Caphrena, 

 a fortified town, formerly seventy stadia in extent, and called 

 the " Court of the Satraps." It was to this place that the 

 tribute was conveyed ; now it is reduced to a mere fortress. 

 Thsebata is still in the same state as formerly : after which 

 comes Oruros, which under Pompeius Magnus formed the ex- 

 treme limit of the Eoman Empire, distant ftom Zeugma two 

 hundred and fifty miles. There are writers who say that 

 the Euphrates was drawn off by an artificial channel by the 

 governor Gobares, at the point where we have stated'" that it 

 branches off,'' in order that it might not commit damage in the 

 city of Babylonia, in consequence of the extreme rapidity of 

 its course. The Assyrians imiversally call this river by the 

 name of Narmalcha,'* which signifies the "royal river." 

 At the point where its waters divide, there was in former times 

 a very large city, called Agranis, which the Persee have de- 

 stroyed. 



Babylon, the capital of the nations of Chaldaea, long en- 

 joyed the greatest celebrity of all cities throughout the 

 whole world : and it is from this place that the remaining 

 parts of Mesopotamia and Assyria received the name of Baby- 

 lonia. The circuit of its walls, which were two hundred 

 feet in height, was sixty miles. These walls were also 

 fifty feet in breadth, reckoning to every foot three fingers' 

 breadth beyond the ordinary measure of our foot. The 

 river Euphrates flowed through the city, with quays of mar- 

 vellous workmanship erected on either side. The temple 

 there'* of Jupiter Belus '° is still in existence ; he was the first 



'> In B. V. c. 21. 



'2 In B. V. c. 21. 



ss This canal, leading from the Euphrates to the Tigris, is by some 

 thought, according to Hardouin, to have been the river Chobar, men- 

 tioned in Ezekiel, c. i. v. 3. 



=* For Arar-Melik, meaning the " River King," according to Parisot. 



ss As to the identity of this, see a Note at the beginning of this Chapter. 



38 Meaning Jupiter Uranius, or " Heavenly JTupiter," according to 

 Parisot, who observes that Eusebius interprets iaal, or iel, " heaven." 

 According to one account, he was the father of king Ninus and son of 

 Nimrod. The Greeks in later times attached to his name many of their 

 legendary fables. ' 



