I 
Chap. 19.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, ETC. 489 
has the town of Apamea\ divided bj the river Marsyas from 
the Tetrarchy of the Nazerini^ ; Bambyx, the other name of 
which is Hierapolis^, but by the Syrians called Mabog'*, 
(here the monster Atargatis^, called Derceto by the Grreeks, 
is worshipped) ; and the place called Chalcis^ on the Belus', 
from which the region of Chalcidene, the most fertile part of 
Syria, takes its name. "We here find also Cyrrhestice, with 
Cyrrhum^, the Gazatse, the Grindareni, the Gabeni, the two 
Tetrarchies called Granucomatse^, the Emeseni^^, the Hyla- 
^ Now Kulat-el-Mudik, situate in the valley of the Orontes, and capital 
of the province of Apamene. It was fortified and enlarged by Seleucus 
Nicator, who gave it its name, after his wife Apama. It also bore the 
Macedonian name of PeUa. It was situate on a hill, and was so far sur- 
rounded by the windings of the Orontes, as to become a peninsula, wlisnce 
its name of Chersonesus. Yery extensive ruins of this place still exist. 
^ It is suggested, that these are the Phylarchi Arabes of Strabo, now 
called the Nosairis, who were situate to the east of Apamea. The river 
Marsyas here mentioned was a small tributary of the Orontes, into 
which it faUs on the east side, near Apamea. 
This was situate in Cyrrhestica, in Syria, on the high road from 
Antioch to Mesopotamia, twenty-four miles to the west of the Euphrates, 
and thirty- six to the south-west of Zeugma ; two and a half days' jour- 
ney from Beroea, and five from Antioch. It obtained its Grreek name 
of the " Sacred City" from Seleucus ISTicator, owing to its being the chief 
seat of the worship of the Syrian goddess Astarte. Its ruins were first 
discovered by Maundrell. 
* In the former editions it is " Magog j" but SiUig's reading of 
" Mabog" is correct, and corresponds with the Oriental forms of Mun- 
bedj, Manbesja, Manbesjun, Menba, Manba, Manbegj, and the modem 
name, Kara Bambuche, or Buguk Munbedj. 
^ Astarte, the semi-fish goddess. 
^ This Chalcis is supposed to have been situate somewhere in the 
district of the Buckaa, probably south of HeHopohs, or Baalbec. It has 
been suggested, that its site may have been at, or near Zahle ; in the 
vicinity of which, at the village of Heusn Nieba, are to be seen some 
remarkable remains. Or else, possibly, at Majdel Anjar, where Abul- 
feda speaks of great ruins of hewn stone. 
7 Ansart suggests, that Belus is here the name of a mountain, and 
that it may be the same that is now called Djebel-il-Semmaq. 
^ To the north of Chalcidene, a town of Syria, on the slopes of the 
Taurus, eighty miles to the north-east of Antioch. In the Roman times, 
it was the head-quarters of the Tenth Legion. The ruins near the modern 
village of Corns represent the ancient Cyrrhus. Of the Grazatae and 
Grindareni, nothing is known. ^ Possibly meaning the " Burghers 
of Grranum." Nothing is known of these people. 
The people of Emesa, a city in the district of Apamene, on the right, 
