Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1100

 lOTG SYRIA. not intend to say that all these towns were on the liver. The castle of Oroum, not far above Bireh- Jik and Port William, is Urima (Nn. 1 in tlie li.-.t), to the west of vshich, not far from 'Ain Tab, i.s the small village of Ari'd, Arulis (No. 2). (Chesney, p. 419.) vi. Sei.kucis (§ 15). 1. Gephyra. 2. Gin- darus. 3. Imma. The Seleucis of Ttolemy com- prehended a small part only of that district described under the same name by Strabo, probably that tract of coast to the north of the Orontes, in which Seleu- eeia Pieria was situated. [Seleucis; Seleuceia Fieria] vii. Cassiotis (§ 16). 1. Antioeh on the Orontes. 2. Dajihne. 3. Bactiiialle. 4. Audeia (al. Lydia). 5. Seleuceia ad Belum. 6. Larissa. 7. Epiphaneia. 8. Khaphaneae. 9. Antaradus. 10. Marat bus. 11. Mariame. 12. Mamuga. This di.-itrict comprehended the coast from the mouth of the Orontes to Aradus, so including part of Phoenice, while to the east it extended as far as the Orontes; thus corresponding nearly with the pashalie of Tripoli in the modern division of the country. This also was part of Strabo's Seleucis, in which he places Antioeh. Of the towns recited, 7, 6, 5, 1, 2 were situated at or near the Orontes; 8, 9, and 10 on the coast (see under the names): 3,4, 11, and 12 liave not been identified. viii. Chalyhunitis (§ 17). 1. Thema. 2. Aco- raca (aZ. Acoraba). 3. Derrhima. 4. Clialybon. .5. Spelunca ; and, by the Euphrates, 6, Barbarissus. 7. Athis. Chalybonitis received its name from No. 4 in the list of cities, afterwards called Beroea bv Seleucus Nicator, and so designated by Strabo, .situated about half-way been Antioeh and Hierapolis. [Bekoea, No. 3.] This tixcs the district to the east of Cassiotis, in the pashalie of Alejipo, whose renowned capital called in Arabic C'lialeb, is the modern representative of Chalybon, which had re- sumed its ancient name as early as the time of Ptolemy, unless it had rather retained it throughout among the natives. The district extended from the Orontes to the Euphrates. The sites have not been identified. ix. Chaloidice (§ 18). 1. Ch.alcis. 2. Asa- jiheidama. 3. Tolmidessa. 4. ^laronias. 5. Coara. This district lay south of Aleppo, and therefore of Glial vbonitis, according to Pococke (^Ohservutiuns on Syria, p. 149), which is confirmed by the exist- ence of Kennasserin, which he takes to be iden- tical in situation with Chalcis, and which, among Arab wnters, gives its name to this part of Syria, and to the gate of Aleppo, which leads in this direction. [Chalcis, No. 1.] X. Apamene (§ 19). 1. Nazaba {ul. Nazama). And on the east of tlie Orontes, 2. Thelnienissus {(il. Tiielbenissus). 3. Apameia. 4. Emissa. This is comprehended in Strabo's Seleucis, and is easily iden- tified with the district of Hor)is. [See Emesa, &c.] xi. Laodicene (§ 20). 1. Scabiosa Laodiceia, 2. Paradisus. 3. Jabruda. To the south of the forin.r, higher up the Orontes, also comprehended in the Seleucis of Slr.abo. No. I is identical with Strabo and Pliny's Laodiceia ad Libanum, placed by Mr. Porter and Dr. Robinson at TtU Neby Mindan on the lefc bank of the Orontes, near Lake Horns, Paradisus (2), still marked by a pyramid, on which ae represented hunting scenes. (See above, p. 495, s.v. OuoNTKS.) Dr. Robinson so nearly agrees with this identification as to place Paradisus at Jiiseieh- el-Kadim, which is only a few miles distant from SYEIA. the pyramid of Ilurmul to the east. (Robinson, Bib. Jies. 1852, p. 556 ; Porter, Five Years in Damascus, vol. ii. p. 339.) Jabruda (3) is distinctly marked by Yabrud on the east of Antilibanus, a town mentioned by writers of sacred geography as an episcojial city in the fourth century, a distinction which it still retains. xii. Phoenice, inland cities (§21). 1. Area. 2. Palaeobiblus. 3. Gabala. 4. Caesareia Panias. These have been noticed under the articles Phoe- nice, &c. xiii. Coelesyeia, cities of the Decapolis (§§ 22. 23). 1. Heliopolis. 2. Abila, named of Lysanias, 3. Saana. 4. Ina. 5. Damasais. 6. Sanmlis. 7. Abida. 8. Hippus. 9. Capitolias. 10. Gadara. ll.Adra. . Scythopolis. . Gerasa. . Bella. 15. JJiun. 16. Gadora. . PhihuMpheia. 18. Ca- natha. The statement of the geographer that these are the cities of the Decapolis, preceding, as it does, the enumeration of eighteen cities, can only be taken to mean that the ten cities of the Decapolis were comprehended in the list, and that the remainder might be regarded as situated in that region. It is remarkable, too, that the name Coelesyria is here used in a more restricted and proper sense than at the heading of the chapter under consideration, where it is equivalent to Syria in its widest accep- tation. According to Pliny the nine cities marked by italics in the above list, with the addition of Raphana, — apparently the Raphaneae of Ptolemy in Cassiotis, — properly constituted the cities of the Decapolis, according to mo.st authorities. These and the remaining cities reijuire a very large district to be assigned to this division of the country, com- prehending the whole length of the Buh'i'a, i. e. Coelesyria Proper, from Heliopolis (1) (^Baalbek) to Philadelpheia (17) {Amman), and in width from Damascus almost to the Mediterranean. Abila of Lysanias (2), h.as only lately been identified, and attracted the notice which it deserves, as the capital of the tetrarchy of Abilene, mentioned by St. Luke, in connection perhaps with this same Lysanias, whose name is attached to it by the geographer. {St. Luke, iii. 1.) It is situated in the heart of Antilibanus, on the north side of the river Baradn, where the numerous remains of antiquity and some inscriptions leave no doubt of the identity of the site. (De Saulcy, Voyage autour de la Mer Morte, vol. ii. pp. 593— C04; Porter, Damascus, vol. i. pp. 15, 102, 261 — 273; Robinsou, Bib. Res. 1852, pp. 479—484.) xiv. Palmyhene (§ 24). l.Rhesapha. 2.Cholle. 3. Oriza. 4. Putea. 5. Adada. 6. Palmyra. 7. Adacha. 8. Danaba. 9. Goaria. 10. Aueria (o7. Aueira). 11. Casairia. 12. Odmana. 13. Atera ; and, near the Euphrates, 14. Alalis. 15. Sura. 16. Alamatha. Tliis district obviously lay to the east of the last-named, and south of Chalybonitis. It comprehended the vast desert region in which Pal- myra is situated, but which is almost a blank on the map, so as to defy all attempts to identify the sites. XV. Batanaea (§ 26). 1. Gerra. 2. Elere. 3. Nelaxa. 4. Adrama. This district will best be con- sidered in connection with Traclionitis. [G.W.] IV. History. — The earliest accounts which wtj possess of Syiia represent it as consisting of a numl ber of independent kingdoms. Thus we hear of the* kings of Maacha in the time of David (2 Sam. x. 6), of the kings of the neighbouring town of Gesher in the time of Solomon {lb. iii. 3, xiii. 37), &c. But of all the Aramaean monarchies the most