Chap. 31.] 
ACCOUNT or COUNTRIES, ETC. 
81 
this place we will now make mention, after first stating the 
opinions of M. Agrippa in relation to this subject. That 
author informs us that Media, Parthia, and Persis, are bounded 
on the east by the Indus, on the west by the Tigris, on the 
north by Taurus and Caucasus, and on the south by the Red 
Sea ; that the length of these countries is thirteen hundred and 
twenty miles, and the breadth eight hundred and forty ; and 
that, in addition to these, there is Mesopotamia, which, taken 
by itself, is bounded on the east by the Tigris, on the west 
by the Euphrates, on the north by the chain of Taurus, and 
on the south by the Persian Sea, being eight hundred miles in 
length, and three hundred and sixty in breadth. 
Charax is a city situate at the furthest extremity of the 
Arabian Gulf, at which begins the more prominent portion of 
Arabia Pelix :^ it is built on an artificial elevation, having the 
Tigris on the right, and the Eulseus on the left, and lies on 
a piece of ground three miles in extent, just between the con- 
fluence of those streams. It was first founded by Alexander 
the Great, with colonists from the royal city of Durine, which 
was then destroyed, and such of his soldiers as were invalided 
and left behind. By his order it was to be called Alexandria, 
and a borough called Pella, from his native place, was to be 
peopled solely by Macedonians ; the city, however, was de- 
stroyed by inundations of the rivers. Antiochus,^ the fifth king 
of Syria, afterwards rebuilt this place and called it by his 
own name ; and on its being again destroyed, Pasines, the son 
of Saggonadacus, and king of the neighbouring Arabians, 
whom J uba has incorrectly described as a satrap of king An- 
tiochus, restored it, and raised embankments for its protection, 
calling it after himself. These embankments extended in 
length a distance of nearly three miles, in breadth a little less. 
It stood at first at a distance of ten stadia from the shore, and 
even had a harbour^ of its own. But according to Juba, it is 
fifty miles from the sea ; and at the present day, the am- 
bassadors from Arabia, and our own merchants who have 
visited the place, say that it stands at a distance of one hundred 
and twenty miles from the sea-shore. Indeed, in no part of 
^ Called " Eudsemon" by Pliny. 
2 The Great, the father of Antiochus Epiphanes. 
3 Though this passage is probably corrupt, the reading employed by 
Sillig is inadmissible, as it makes nothing but nonsense. " Et jarn Vip- 
sanda porticus habet ;" *'and even now, Vipsanda has its porticos." 
VOL. II. G 
