ANCIENT NAMES OF THE XANTHIANS. 47 



Geography, stating that " Sirbe was a Persian 

 word meaning sand-colour." (Fellows, p. 278.) 

 Mr. Sharpe, when treating on the Lycian coins 

 in the Appendix B. of Sir C. Fellows's second 

 volume of travels, argues in favour of Sirbe 

 being the most ancient name of the river, and of 

 Xanthus being merely a Greek translation of it. 

 From the evidence before adduced we venture 

 to take the opposite view ; and from the fact of 

 Sirbe being a Persian word of the same meaning 

 as Xanthus, we are disposed to think it furnishes a 

 very important link in our chain of evidences in 

 favour of believing that the valley of the Xan- 

 thus was inhabited by Persians after their conquest 

 of the country, and that it was these settlers who 

 adopted a word of their own language, which, 

 like Xanthus, denoted the colour of the river, as 

 the name the most applicable to so remarkable a 

 stream. Subsequently, as the Greeks supplanted 

 the Persian influence, and their language also, 

 through intermarriage, the original name of the 

 river again replaced that introduced by the 

 Persians ; but being retained through tradition, 

 it may thus have reached Strabo, and the other 

 geographers, as an ancient appellation of the 

 stream. But as it is a name not mentioned 



