440 
plii^t's t^atural history. 
[Book T. 
tae^ the nation of tlie Ituraei, and a brancli of them, the 
people called the Eaetari^ni; the Mariamitani^, the Te- 
trarchy known as Mammisea, Paradisus^, Pagrse'^, the 
Pinaritse^, two cities called Seleucia, besides the one already 
mentioned, the one Seleucia on the Euphrates^, and 
the other Seleucia"^ on the Belus, and the Cardytenses. 
The remaining part of Syria (except those parts which will 
be spoken of in conjunction with the Euphrates) contains 
the Arethusii^, the Berceenses^, and the Epiphanseenses^^ ; 
or eastern bank of tlie Orontes, to which, in C. 26 of the present Book, 
Pliny assigns a desert district beyond Palmyra. It was celebrated in 
ancient times for its magnificent temple of the sun, and the appointment 
of its priest, Bassianus, or HeUogabalus, to the imperial dignity, in his 
fourteenth year. It was made a colony, with the jus Italicum, by Cara- 
calla, and afterwards became the capital of Phoenicia Libanesia. The 
present name of its site is Hems. 
^ The Hylatse are totally unknown. Ttursea was situate in the north- 
east of Palestine, and, with Trachonitis, belonged to the tetrarchy of 
PhiHp. Its boundaries cannot be precisely determined; but it may 
probably be traversed by a Ime drawn from the Lake of Tiberias to 
Damascus. 
2 According to Ptolemy, the people of Mariama, some miles to the 
west of Emesa. 
3 In the district of Laodicea, according to Ptolemy. 
* Near the Portse Amani, or " Passes of Amanus." 
5 Pinara was near Pagrse, in Pieria, last mentioned. 
^ Probably Seleucia, in Mesopotamia, now called Bir, on the left bank 
of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of Zeugma, a fortress of con- 
siderable importance. 
7 Its site is doubtful. Sebj d'Aboulgazi has been suggested. 
® The people of Arethusa, a city of Syria, not far from Apamea, 
situate between Epiphania and Emesa. In later times, it took the 
name of Kestan. 
^ The people of Beroea, a town of Syria, midway between Antioch and 
HierapoUs. Seleucus Nicator gave to it the Macedonian name of Beroea ; 
but, in A.D. 638, it resumed its ancient name of Chaleb, or Chalybon. 
The modern Haleb, or Aleppo, occupies its site. Some excavations, on 
the eastern side of it, are the only vestiges of ancient remains in the 
neighbourhood. 
10 The people of Epiphansea, placed by Ptolemy in the district of 
Cassiotis- in which also Antioch and Larissa were situate. The Itine- 
rary of Antoninus places it sixteen miles from Larissa, thirty-two from 
Emesa, and 101 from Antioch of Syria. It is supposed to have been 
identical with the ancient Hamath, mentioned in 2 Sam. viii. 9 ; 1 Kings 
viii. 65 ; Isaiah x. 9, and called " Hamath the great" in Amos vi. 2, 
which name it also retained in the time of St. Jerome. 
