CHAP. 21—SYRIA UPON THE EUPHRATES.
Arabia, above mentioned, has the cities of Edessa1, formerly called Antiochia, and, from the name of its fountain, Callirhoë2, and Carrhæ3, memorable for the defeat of Crassus there. Adjoining to this is the præfecture of Mesopotamia, which derives its origin from the Assyrians, and in which are the towns of Anthemusia4 and Nicephorium5; after which come the Arabians, known by the name of Prætavi, with Singara6 for their capital. Below Samosata, on the side of Syria, the river Marsyas7 flows into the Euphrates. At Cingilla ends the territory of Commagene, and the state of the Immei begins. The cities which are here washed by the river are those of Epiphania8 and Antiochia9, generally known as Epiphania and Antiochia on the Euphrates; also Zeugma, seventy-two miles distant from Samosata, famous for the passage there across the Euphrates. Opposite to it is Apamia10, which Seleucus, the founder of both cities, united by a bridge. The people who join up to Mesopotamia are called the Rhoali. Other towns in Syria are those of Europus11, and what was formerly Thapsa- cus12, now Amphipolis. We then come to the Arabian Scenitæ13. The Euphrates then proceeds in its course till it reaches the place called Ura14, at which, taking a turn to the east, it leaves the Syrian Deserts of Palmyra15, which extend as far as the city of Petra16 and the regions of Arabia Felix.(25.) Palmyra is a city famous for the beauty of its site, the riches of its soil, and the delicious quality and abundance of its water. Its fields are surrounded by sands on every side, and are thus separated, as it were, by nature from the rest of the world. Though placed between the two great empires of Rome and Parthia, it still maintains17 its independence; never failing, at the very first moment that a rupture between them is threatened, to attract the careful attention of both. It is distant 337 miles from Seleucia18 of the Parthians, generally known as Seleucia on the Tigris, 203 from the nearest part of the Syrian coast, and twenty-seven less from Damascus.
(26.) Below the deserts of Palmyra is the region of Stelendene19, and Hierapolis, Berœa, and Chalcis, already mentioned20. Beyond Palmyra, Emesa21 takes to itself a portion of these deserts; also Elatium, nearer to Petra by one-half than Damascus. At no great distance from Sura22 is Philiscum, a town of the Parthians, on the Euphrates. From this place it is ten days' sail to Seleucia, and nearly as many to Babylon. At a distance of 594 miles beyond Zeugma, near the village of Massice, the Euphrates divides into two channels, the left one of which runs through Mesopotamia, past Seleucia, and falls into the Tigris as it flows around that city. Its channel on the right runs towards Babylon, the former capital of Chaldæa, and flows through the middle of it; and then through another city, the name of which is Otris23, after which it becomes lost in the marshes. Like the Nile, this river increases at stated times, and at much about the same period. When the sun has reached the twentieth degree of Cancer, it inundates24 Mesopotamia; and, after he has passed through Leo and entered Virgo, its waters begin to subside. By the time the sun has entered the twenty-ninth degree of Virgo, the river has fully regained its usual height.
