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ny oportunities of a very early intelligence concern- 
ing any difcoveries made by navigation, which might 
be a long time before they were communicated to 
the other learned men of that extenfive empire. 
Accordingly we fee, that the author of the P. Maris 
Erythiasi, who is luppoled to have been his cotem- 
porary t , but lived a little later to the time of Mar- 
cus and Verus, was lefs acquainted with thele late 
difcoveries. 
Agathemerus,who had read Ptolemy’s works, lived 
m the reign of Severus and Galienus u , in the be- 
gining of the third century, and mentions the coun- 
tiy of the Sins as the moll oriental he was acquaint- 
ed with. ^ 
Marcianus Heracleota is the lall geographical au- 
thor it will be necelTary to mention. He is fuppofed 
to have lived fome little time before the building of 
Conftantinople, and even at that time this nation ap- 
pears to have been the moll oriental } for, although 
lie copied from fuch authors as wrote in the interval 
between Ptolemy and him, yet all the improvement 
that was made during that time was only a men- 
suration of this particular coaft, which Ptolemy him- 
lelf tells us was not done in the days in which he 
lived x . 
From thefe circumftances it is apparent, that no 
mention was made of this country during the fir ft 
century. Marinus, as we have feen, wrote before 
Ptolemy i Ptolemy was far advanced in years before 
* Dodwell. 
“ Dodwell. 
x Ptol. c. 14. 
the 
