Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/290

 274 MARGIANA. MARGIA'NA (v Mapyiau-l], Strab. xi. p. 516, Ptol. vi. 10; Plin. vi. 16. s. 18), a district of con- siderable extent in the western part of Central Asia, which was bounded on the V. by Hyrcania, on the N. by Scythia and the Oxus as far as Bactriana, on the E. by Bactriana, and on the S. by Ariana. At present the country is called Khorusan, and com- prehends also some part of the territory occupied by the Turkoman tribes. Like most of the districts at a great distance from Greece or Rome, it was but partially known to the ancients; hence its limits are variously stated by ancient authors. Thus Strabo makes it the province next to Parthia, to the N. of the Sariphi mountains, and gives the same boundaries to the W., N., and E. as the other geo- graphers (xi. p. 516). Pliny places it in the same direction, but adds that a desert of 120 M.P. must be crossed before it could be reached (vi. 16. s. 18). Both Strabo and Pliny speak of the great fertility of its land, and the fineness of its climate ; the former stating that the vines were often so large that a man could not embrace their stems in his arms; the latter, that it was the only district in that part of the world which produced grapes. The ac- counts of the ancients are in this particular con- firmed by modern and by Muhammedan writers. According to the latter, it would seem to have comprehended the territory from Bimjurd on the ■west, io Merv and theMiirgh-db in the east, a tract remarkable for its beauty and fertility. (Wilson, Ariana, p. 149.) The principal river of Margiana, from which, too, it probably derived its name, was the JIargus (now Blurgh-iih). Various races and tribes are noticed in different authors as occupying parts of Margiana. All of tliem may be considered as of Scythian or Tatar origin ; — indeed, in this part of Asia, the population has remained nearly the same to the present day which it was in the classical times. The principal of these were the Derbiccae or Derbices (Steph. p. 23; Strab. xi. p. 508; Dionys. v. 734), who lived to the N. near the mouth of the Oxus; the ]Iassagetae, the Parni, and the Daae, who lived to the S. of the former, along the Caspian and the termination of the llargus, which loses itself in the sands before it readies the Caspian ; and the Tapuri and JIardi. The chief towns were, Antiocheia Margiana (certainly the present Merv), Nisaea. or Nesaea, Ariaca, and Jasonium. [See these places under their re- spective names.] [V.] MARGIDUNUM, in Britain (^Itin. Anton, pp. 477, 479). It is supposed by Camden, Stukeley, Horseley, and others, to have been situated at or near Ea3t Bridgeford, about eight miles from Wil- hughhy. [C. R. S.] MAP.GUM or MARGUS (JAapyov, Map7os), also called MURGUM, a city of Moesia, at the confluence of the Margus and Danube. It was termed " Mar- gum planum " on account of the level character of the sun-ounding country. (Jomand. de Reh. Get. c. 58.) It was here that tlie emperor Carinus was totally defeated by Diocletian. (Eutrop. ix. 13, X. 20 ; It. Ant. p. 132; It. Hieros.]). 564.) [A.L.] MARGUS (Mdpyos, Strab. vii. p. 318 ; Margis, Plin. iii. 26. s. 29), an important river of Moesia, which flows into the Danube, near the town of Mar- gum, now the 3Iorava. Strabo says Q. c.) that it was also called Bargus, and the same appears in Herodotus (iv. 44) under the form of Brongus (BpJyyos). It is the same river as the Moschius (Mderxios) of Ptolemy (iii. 9. § 3). [A. L.] MARIABA. MARGUS (M(£p7os, Strab. xi. p. 516; Ptol. vi. 10. §§ 1, 4), the chief river of the province of Margiana, which in all probability derives its name from it, — now the Murgh-ab or Merv Rud. It is said by Ptolemy to have taken its rise in the Sariphi mountains (now Hazards), a western spur of the great range of the Paropamisus, and, after a northern course and a junction with another small stream, to have flowed into the Oxus. The travels of Sir Alexander Burnes have demonstrated that the Murgh-ab no longer reaches the Oxus, but is lost in the sands about 50 miles NW. of Merv (Bumes, vol. ii. p. 35) ; but it is probable that as late as the time of Ibn Haukal (about A. D. 950) it still flowed into the Jihon (De Sacy, Mem. sur deux Prov. de la Perse, p. 22). The Margus passed by and watered Antiocheia Margiana, the capital of the province. [V.] JIARIABA (MapioSa). There seem to have been several cities of this name in Arabia, as there are still several towns or sites of the name, scarcely modified. How many distinct cities are mentioned by the classical geographers, antiquarians are not agreed, and the various readings have involved the question in great perplexity. It will be well to eli- minate first those of which the notices are most distinct. 1. The celebrated capital of the Sabaei in Yemen, is known both in the native and classical writers. It is called the metropolis of the Sabaei by Strabo (xvi. 4. § 2), which tribe was contiguous to that of the Minaei, who bordered on the Red Sea on one side, and to the Catabaneis, who reached to the sKvaiiis oi Bab-el-Mandeb. [Sabaei; Minaei; Ca- TABANi.] It was situated on a well-wooded moun- tain, and was the royal residence. It seems diflacult to imagine that this was distinct from the Mariaba of Pliny, who, however, assigns it to the Atramitae, a branch of the Sabaei, and places it on a bay 94 M. P. in circuit, filled with spice-bearing islands; while it is certain that the Mariaba of the Sabaeans was an inland city. It is beyond all doubt the Maarib of the Arabian historians, built according to their traditions by 'Abd-schems, surnamed Saba, third only in succession from the patriarch Koktaii or Joktan, son of Eber. Abulfeda says that this city was also called Saba ; and that, in the opinion of some, Maarib was the name of the royal residence, while the city itself was called Saba. Its founder also constructed the stupendous embankment so re- nowned in history, forming a dam for confining the water of seventy rivers and torrents, which he con- ducted into it from a distance. (Abulfeda, Historia Ante-Islamica, hb. iv. ap. init.) The object of this was not only to supply the city with water, but also to irrigate the lands, and to keep the subjugated country in awe, by being masters of the water. The water rose to the height of almost 20 fathoms, and was kept in on every side by a work so solid, that many of the inhabitants had their houses built upon it. It stood like a mountain above the city, and no danger was apprehended of its ever failing. The inundation of El-Arem (the mound) is an aera in Arabic history, and is mentioned in tlie Koran as a signal instance of divine judgment on the inha- bitants of this city for their pride and insolence. A mighty flood broke down the mound by night, while the inhabitants were asleep, and carried away the whole city, with the neighbouring towns and people. (Sale, Koran, cap. 34, vol. ii. p. 289, notes, and Preliminai-y Discourse, sect. 1. vol. i p. 13;