GEOGRAPHY. 
seo 
part of this country the name of Arabia Scenitarum, or 
Euphratenfis. 
Babylonia Proper,, was every where encompafl’ed by tlie 
Tigi is, and branches of the Euphrates. Babel or Baby¬ 
lon, tlie capital, was founded by Belus, and adorned and 
enlarged by Semiramis and Nebuchadnezzar; it is fup. 
pofed to have been fifty miles in circuit. Votogefia and 
Alamuiidari took their names from Parthian princes ; Bor- 
/ppa gave its name to a Chaldean feft. 
The Euphrates was cut into many branches and canals, 
communicating with the Tigris.- The chief canals were : 
Marfes, Pallacolta, and the Royal Canal; vefliges allb re¬ 
main of a channel by which the Euphrates once di.C 
charged itfelf into the Perfian Gulf, without mixing its 
waters with thofe of the Tigris. 
Chaldea was feparated from Arabia on the fouth-wefl 
by a ridge of mountains; it was bounded on the other 
fides by the Euphrates, Tigris, and their branches.— 
XaX^ouot Toiyyv •ruv a.^ya.wra.Tm ovrn; BaSvXunwi'. Diod.Biculus. 
—Ti'.e chief towns were: Teredon, advantageoully fitua- 
ted on the united flream of the two rivers for the Indian 
trade ; it is perhaps new Buflbrah ; Orch'dc, fuppofed to 
have been Ur of the Chaldees, the feat of Abraham’s an- 
ceftors ; it gave name to a Chaldean fedl. Near it, the 
moll vvellern branch of the Euphrates left itfelf in the 
lands, 'i'he rivers, after their junction, were called Pnfi- 
tigris. A tract of land formed by the branching of their 
moLiths, was called Meftne Euphratis, to diftinguifti it from 
another infular tradt higher up the- river, called Mcfcne 
Tigridis,—Marc Erythranm, the denomination of the whole 
Eaftern Ocean, was fometimes reftriCted to the Gulf of 
Perfia. 
Perfia, or Perjis, Pars, Pars, Iran, lay north and fouth, 
between Media and the Perfian Gulf; and between the 
'I'igris to the W'eft, and Aria to the eaft.—oM 
(/lyaX'sicTi yaix. Dionyf. Per. 
Cyrus, who drew this country from obfeurity, fub- 
jefted to it the greater part of Alia. The country pro¬ 
perly fo called, aniong others, contained thefe provinces : 
Sufiana, Chufiftan, the moft weltern. Sufa, the chief 
town, is now thought to be Soulter, the winter refidence 
of the kings of Perfia. It is traverfed by the river EiiPrus 
or Choafpei, now Karun, which fupplied the water chiefly 
drunk by tlie kings of Perfia.—Ad Choafpem amnem 
pervenit, delicatain, ut fama eft, vehentem aquam. g. 
Cartius .—The lame river is the weftern boundary of the 
province of Elimais, part of Chufiftan, on the Perfian 
Gulf, The diftrict between the Elimais and the mouth 
of the Tigris, was called C/iaracene, from its chief town 
Cliarax. Perjis Propria, now Farfiftan, and part of Erac 
y\.gem. Ihe chief towns of it were: PerJ'epolis, on the 
Araxes, deftroyed by Alexander; Schiras is not far from 
its ruins. Pafargada;, an ancient royal city, where Cyrus 
was buried ; Afpadana, Ifpahan. 
The Perfian empire, in the time of the Darius’s, was 
divided into twenty large provinces or fatrapies.—The 
princijial rivers, belidcs thofe already mentioned, are 
t\\o Araxis ox Arofis, (not to be confounded with the river 
of the lame name, which flows into the Cafpian,) and 
Medus, which run into each other, and the Cyrvs. Their 
courl'e is into the Perfian Gulf. The Oxus, Gihon, or 
Amu, was one of the boundaries of Perfia ; the country 
within it was Iran, thofe beyond it were called Aniran. 
Eaftward lay the province of Cannania, Kerman; di¬ 
vided into Defcrta, the northern part, and Vera, the 
fouthern, towards the Arabian Sea. The chief towns 
were : Carmana, Harmozia, Ormus. 
Gedrofia, extended from Carmania to India ; it now an- 
fwers to Mckran. The coaft of it was occupied by the 
Ichthyopkagi -, the greater part of this country was defert, 
and has proved fatal to the armies of feveral princes. 
Aria, the name of a particular province, when applied 
to feveral of the adjoining countries, was called Ariana. 
Aria Proper anfwers to the country now called Ciiorufun 
4 
and Sabluftan. In its more extenfive ufe it containecJ 
Pegio Parapamefadum, Candahar, and the eaft part of 
Sabluftan ; Drangiana, part of which was occupied by 
the Ariafpa Evergetce, Sigiftan ; Arackcfia, extending from 
Drangiaria to the Indus. 
Hyrcania, lay to the north of Aria, from vrhich it was- 
fepar'ated by the high ridge of mountains called Parapa- 
viifus, and wliich were fometimes, but improperly, called 
Caiicafus. It extended to the Cafpian Sea, to piart of 
wiiicli it gave name : it now anfwers to the north of 
Chorafan. 
To the north of Hyrcania lay Margiana, inhabited by 
the Mejfagctre, wh.ofe queen Tomyris is laid to have cut 
off Cyrus ; BaBriana and Sogdiana, now Ulbeck Tartary, 
or the Great Bucharia and Balk.—The rivers of this 
country were : Margus, the Morgah ; Oxus, the Gihon or 
Amu ; Polytimetus, laxartes, the Sirr or Sehoon, Rymnicus, 
Daix. Of thefe and others it is difficult to fay whether 
their names are proper, or the appellatives of feveral. 
The South or Asi.K. —The fouthern part of Afia 
confifted of India intra Gangem\ India extra Gangem-, Shia- 
rum Regio •, and Injula; Maris Indici. The firft of thefe, 
India intra Gangem, whofe capital was Palibothra, Aliha- 
bad, or, according to others, Patna, lay between the 
two great rivers Indus and Ganges. Befides other coun¬ 
tries, it comprehended the kingdoms of Porus and 
Taxiles, and a great part of the country of the Prajii 
or Gangaridce, whofe chief town was Ganga. It was very 
imperfedlly known to the ancients. The fame obferva- 
tion is with more reafon applied to India extra Gangem, 
the farther India, and Sinarum Regio, Cochin-China; the 
northern part of which was Serica, Cathai, and China ; 
by others it is thought to be no more than Siam, and 
Serica to have been Tongut. 
Taprobane, called alfo Salice and Sielcdiba, is thought to 
be the illand of Ceylon or Selandib ; the ancients thought 
this a very extenfive country, and confidered it as the 
Antipodes or Antichthones of their hemifphere : Aurea 
Cherfonefus, Malacca, according to others, Pegu ; Ophir, 
the farther peninfula (but of this there are various con- 
jedfures), it was alfo called Argentea Regio, part of it 
Aurea RegioSabaracus Sinus, probably was the Gulf of 
Martaban, and Befyngetis, Pegu ; Premontorium Magnus, 
Cape Romania, preceded hy Perimvlicus Sinus, the Straits 
of Malacca, leading to Sinus Magnus, the Gulf of Siam, 
beyond which the ancients feem to have been quite in 
the dark: Bona Fortune: Inftdre, Great Andaman ; Maniola, 
the Little Andaman; Jabadii Injula, Sumatra; Sinda, 
the Celebes. 
Of the few towns on thefe coafts, mentioned by ancient 
geographers, Patala, on the Indus, built by Alexander, 
is thought to be Tatta ; Barygaza on Namadus, the river 
Nerbuddah, Baroach ; Mufiris, Merjee ; Nigama anfwers 
to Negapatam; Mefolia, Mafulipatam, was at the mouth 
of Mefolus, the Kiftnah ; Arcali, Arcat ; Palura, Balafor ; 
Chaberis FI. was the river Cauvery, and Tyndis, the Goda- 
veri; the Magnum OJiium of the Ganges anfwers to Hoogli. 
Several Emporia, or fadtories, are alfo mentioned. The 
Romans appear to have been better acquainted with this 
country than the Greeks. There is no reafon, how¬ 
ever, for thinking that the one or the other failed round 
Malacca, or went as far as China. 
. Many of the ancient names carry with them a marked 
coincidence to the modern ones; liich as, Dachanos or 
Dachanades, the Deccan, or country to the fouth of the 
Nerbuddah; ylgora, Agra-, Male, Malabar; Comaria 
Promontorium, Cape Comorin, the terminating point of 
the Hither Peninfula, of the projedtion of which the 
ideas of tlie ancients were fo deficient, that they made 
its bearing eaft and weft, inftead of Ibuth and north. 
Between it and Ceylon was Sinus Colchicus, and Colymbejis 
Pinici, the pearl-fifhing coaft. Modura anfwets to Ma¬ 
dura.—See further particulars, and Map of Ancient 
vol, ji, p. 362. 
ANCIENT 
