70 
PLINY' S NATUBAL HISTOKT. 
[Book VI. 
Alexander. It has also, at its extreme frontier, Laodicea,^^ 
founded by Antiochus. To the east of this place is the 
fortress of Passagarda,^* held by the Magi, at which spot is 
the tomb of Cyrus ; also Ecbatana,^^ a city of theirs, the inhabit- 
ants of which were removed by Darius to the mountains. 
Between the Parthi and the Ariani projects the territory of 
the Parse taceni.^^ By these nations and the river Euphrates 
are the Lower kingdoms of Parthia bounded ; of the others 
we shall speak after Mesopotamia, which we shall now de- 
scribe, with the exception of that angle of it and the peoples of 
Arabia, which have been already mentioned in a former 
book.^? 
CHAP. 30. — MESOPOTAMIA. 
The whole of Mesopotamia formerly belonged to the As- 
syrians, being covered with nothing but villages, with the 
exception of Babylonia^^ and Mnus.^^ The Macedonians 
middle ages had the name of Istakhar ; it is now called Takhti Jemsheed, 
the throne of Jemsheed, or Chil-Minar, the Forty Pillars. Its foundation 
is sometimes asciibed to Cyrus the Great, but more generally to his son, 
Cambyses, The ruins of this place are very extensive. 
^•^ Its site is unknown ; but Dupinet translates it the city of Lor." 
1^ The older of the two capitals of Persia, Persepolis being the later 
one. It was said to have been founded by Cyrus the Great, on the spot 
where he gained his victory over Astyages. Its exact site is doubtful, but 
most modern geographers identify it with Murghab, to the north-east of 
Persepolis, where there are the remains of a great sepulchral monument 
of the ancient Persians, probably the tomb of Cyrus. Others place it at 
Farsa or at Dorab-Gherd, both to the south-east of Persepolis, the direc- 
tion mentioned by Strabo, but not in other respects answering his de- 
scription so well as Murghab. 
It is most probable that he does not allude here to the Ecbatana, 
mentioned in c. 17 of this Book. 
There were several mountainous districts called Paraetacene in the Per- 
sian empire, that being the Greek form of a Persian word signifying 
" mountainous." 
In B. V. c. 21. He returns to the description of Susiana, Elymais, 
and Characene in c. 31 of the present Book, 
The great seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldsean kingdom. It 
either occupied the site, it is supposed, or stood in the immediate vicinity 
of the tower of Babel. In the reign of Labynedus, Nabonnetus, or Bel- 
shazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. In the reign of Augustus, a small part 
only of Babylon was still inhabited, the remainder of the space within the 
walls being under cultivation. The ruins of Babylon are found to commence 
a little south of the village of Mohawill, eight miles north of Hillah. 
^9 .Nineveh. See c. 16 of the present Book. 
