Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/132

116 mouth of the Onrontes : this appears to be the Pieria of Strabo (p. 751). On the south-west base of this range, called Pieria, was Seleucm, which Strabo (p. 676) considers to be the first city in Syria after leaving Cilicia. Accordingly, he considers the mountain range of Amanus, which terminates on the east side of the gulf of Issus, to mark the boundary between Cilicia and Syria; and this is a correct view of the physical geography of the country.

Cicero (ad Fam, ii. 10), who was governor of Cilicia, describes the Amanns as common to him and Bibulus, who was governor of Syria; and he calls it the water-shed of the streams, by which description he means the range which bounds the east side of the gulf of Issus. His description in another passage also (ad Fam,xv. 4) shows that his Amanus is the range which has its termination in Ras-el-Khamir. Cicero carried on a campaign against the mountaineers of this range during hjs government of Cillcia ( 51), and took and destroyed several of their hill forts. He enumerates among them Erana (as the name stands in our present texts), which was the chief town of the Amanus, Sepyra, and Commores. He also took Pindenissus, a town of the Eleatherocilices, which was on a high point, and a place of great strength. The passes in the Amanus have been already enumerated. On the bay, between Iskenderun and Bayas the Baiae of Strabo and the Itineraries, is the small river Merkez, supposed to be the Earsns or Kersus of Xenophon (Anab, i 4). On the south side of this small stream is a stone wall, which crosses the narrow plain between the Amanus and the sea, and terminates on the coast in a tower. There are also ruins on the north side of the Kersus; and nearer to the mountain there are traces of " a double wall between which the river flowed." (Ainsworth, London Geog, Journal vol. viii.) At the head of the river Kersus is the steep pass of Boghras Beli, one of the passes of the Amanus. This description seems to agree with that of the Cilidan and Syrian gates of Xenophon. The Cilician pass was a gateway in a wall which descended from the mountains to the sea north of the Kersus ; and the Syrian pass was a gateway in the wall which extended in the same direction to the south of the river. Cyrus marched from the Syrian pass five parasangs to Myriandms, which may be near the site of Iskenderun, We need not suppose that the present walls near the Merkez are as old as the time of Cyrus (b. c. 401); but it seems probable that this spot, having once been chosen as a strong frontier position, would be maintained as such. If the Kersus is properly identified with the Merkez we must also consider it as the gates through which Alexander marched from Mallus to Myriandms, and through which he returned from Myriandrus to give battle to Darins, who had descended upon Issus, and thus put himself in the rear of the Greeks. (Arrian. Anab. ii. 6, 8.) From these gates Alexander retraced his march to the river Pinarns (Deli Chai), near which was fought the battle of Issus (b. c. 333). If the exact position of Issus were ascertained, we might feel more certain as to the interpretations of Arnan and Curtius. Niebuhr (Reisen durch Syrien, &c., 1837, Anhang p. 151), who followed the road from Iskenderun along the east coast of the bay of Issus on his road to Constantinople, observes that Xenophon makes the march of Cyrus 15 parasangs from the Pyramus to Issus; and he observes that it is 15 hours by the road from Bayas to the Pyramus. Cyrus marched 5 parasangs from Issus to the Cilician and Syrian gates; and Iskendenm is 5 hours from Boyas. But still he thinks that Myriandus is at Iskenderun, and that the Cilidan and Syrian pass is at Merkez; but he adds, we must ^en remove Issus to Demir Kapu; and this makes a new difficulty, for it is certainly not 15 parasangs from Demir Kapu to the Pyramus. Besides, the position of Issus at Demir Kapu will not agree with the march of Alexander as described by Curtius; for Alexander made two days' march from Mallus, that is, from the Pyramus, to Castabalum; and one day's march from Castabalum to Issus. Castabalum, then, may be represented by Demir Kapu, undoubtedly the remains of a town, and Issus is somewhere east of it. The Peutinger Table places Issus next to Castabalum, and then comes Alexandreia (ad Issum). Consequently wo should look for Issus somewhere on the road between Demir Kapu and Iskenderun. Now Issus, or Issi, as Xenophon calls it, was on or near the coast (Xen. Andb. i. 4; Strab. p. 676); and Darius marched from Issus to the Pinarus to meet Alexander; and Alexander returned from Myriandrus, through the Pylae, to meet Darius. It seems that as the plain about the Pinarus corresponds to Arrian's description, this river must have been that where the two armies met, and that we must look for Issus a little north of the Pinarus, and near the head of the bay of Issus. Those who have examined this district do not, however, seem to have exhausted the subject; nor has it been treated by the latest writers with sufficient exactness.

Stephanus (s.v. ) says that Issns was called Nioopolis in consequence of Alexander's victory. Strabo makes Nicopolis a different place; but his description of the spots on the bay of Issus is confused. Cicoro, in the description of his Cilician campiagn, says that he encamped at the Ante Alexandri, near the base of the mountains. He gives no other indication of the site; but we may be sure that it was north of the Cilician Pylae, and probably it was near Issus.

[G. L.]

AMARDI, or MABDI, a warlike Asiatic tribe. Stephanus (s. v. ), following Strabo, places the Amardi near the Hyrcani; and adds " there are also Persian Mardi without the a." Strabo (p. 514) says, " in a circle round the Caspian sea after the Hyrcani are the Amardi, &c." Under Mardi, Stephanus (quoting Apollodorus) speaks of them as an Hyrcanian tribe, who were robbers and archers. Curtius (vL 5) describes them as bordering on Hyrcania, and inhabiting mountains which were covered with forests. They occupied therefore part of the mountain tract which forms the southern boundary of the basin of the Caspian.

The name Mardi or Amardi, which we may assume to be the same, was widely spread, for we find Mardi mentioned as being in Hyrcania, and Margiana, also as a nomadic Persian tribe (Herod. L 125; Strab. p. 524), and as being in Armenia (Tacit Ann. xic. 23), uid in other places. This wide distribution of the name may be partly attributed to the ignorance of the Greek and Roman writers of the geography of Asia, but not entirely.

[G. L.]

AMARDUS, or MARDUS (, Dionys, Perieg. v. 734), a river of Media, mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus in his confused description of the Persian provinces (xxiii. 6). Ptolemy (vi. 2. § 2) places it in Media, and if we take his numbers as correct, its source is in the Zagrus. The river flows north, and enters the southern coast of