72 
PLINY'S KATUEAL HISTOEY. 
[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 o:^' 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 from 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 th e 
city of Babylonia, in consequence of the extreme rapidity of 
its course. The Assyrians universally call this river by the 
name of !N'armalcha,^* 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 Persse have de- 
stroyed. 
Babylon, the capital of the nations of Chaldsea, 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 
31 In B. V. c. 21. 
32 In B, V. c. 21. 
33 This canal, leading from the Euphrates to the Tigris, is by some 
thought, according to flardouin, to have been the river Chobar, men- 
tioned in Ezekiel, c. i, v. 3. 
3^ For Arar-Melik, meaning the " River King/' according to Parisot. 
35 As to the identity of this, see a Note at the beginning of this Chapter. 
36 Meaning Jupiter Uranius, or Heavenly Jupiter," according to 
Parisot, who observes that Eusebius interprets baal, or belj "heaven." 
According to one account, he v^as the father of king Ninus and son of 
Nimrod. The Greeks in later times attached to his name many of their 
legendary fables. 
