Chap. 32.] 
ACCOUNT OE COUNTRIES, ETC. 
83 
apparently on the part of nature, that it is surrounded by the 
sea in such a manner as to resemble very much the form and 
size of Italy, there being no difference either in the climate of 
the two countries, as they lie in the same latitudes. This, 
too, renders it equally fertile with the countries of Italy. We 
have already mentioned its peoples, which extend from our sea 
as far as the deserts of Palmyrene, and we shall now proceed to 
a description of the remainder. The Scenitse, as we have already 
stated, border upon the JS'omades and the tribes that ravage 
the territories of Chaldsea, being themselves of wandering habits, 
and receiving their name from the tents which constitute their 
dwellings ; these are made of goats' hair, and they pitch them 
wherever they please. JS^ext after them are the ]N"abat3ei, 
who have a city called Petra,^^ which lies in a deep valley, 
somewhat less than two miles in width, and surrounded by 
inaccessible mountains, between which a river flows : it is 
distant from the city of Gaza, on our shores, six hundred 
miles, and from the Persian Gulf one hundred and thirty -five. 
At this place two roads meet, the one leading from Syria to 
Palm^rra, and the other from Gaza. On leaving Petra we come 
to the Omani,^^ who dwell as far as Charax, with their once 
famous cities which were built by Semiramis, Besannisa and 
Soractia by name ; at the present day they are wildernesses. 
We next come to a city situate on the banks of the Pasitigris, 
Fora by name, and subject to the king of Charax : to this 
place people resort on their road from Petra, and sail thence 
to Charax, twelve miles distant, with the tide. If you are 
proceeding by water from the Parthian territories, you come 
to a village known as Teredon ; and below the confluence of 
the Euphrates and Tigris, you have the Chaldssi dwelling 
The only resemblance between them is, that each is a peninsula ; that 
of Arabia being of far greater extent than Italy. It will he remarked that 
here, contrary to his ordinary practice, Pliny makes a distinction between 
the Red Sea and the Persian Sea or Gulf. 
10* u jj^ eandem etiam coeli partem nulla differentia spectat." A glance 
at the map will at once show the fallacy of this assertion. 
11 In B. V. c. 12 and 21. 
12 In c. 30 of the present Book. 
13 Mentioned in B. v. c. 21, if, indeed, that is the same Petra. 
1"^ Oman a or Omanum was their chief place, a port on the north-east 
coast of Arabia Felix, a little above the promontory of Syagros, now Eas 
el Had, on a large gulf of the same name. The name is still preserved in 
the modern name Oman. 
G 2 
