Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/232

 216 ARMENIA. from tills cnlmiDatiiig point of the whole system, is the elevated range, fonning the backbone of the Assyrian mountains, which, with its principal rami- fications, is the seat of the valleys, containing a large proportion of the inhabitants of the coontiy. This ridge runs from the slopes of Mt. Ararat at its northern extremity, in a SSE. direction between the Lakes of Vdn and Urumiyah^ along the W. side of Azerbaijanj the ancient Atropatene, to the extre- mity of the province. This main range of Kurdittun is identified with the chain which Strabo (p. 522) says some called the Gordyaean Mountains, and to which Mt. Masius belongs, having on the S. the cities of Nisibis and Tigranocerta. It is composed of red sandstone and basalt, terminating in needle points at a considerable elevation, while the irregular sides are frequently wooded, and form basins or amphitheatres. From this chain branches diverge towards the W. These assume the form of an acute triangle, which has its apex W. of the Euphrates, its base resting on the Kurdistdn range, while its sides are formed by portions of the ranges of Taurus and Antitaurus. The S. branches constitute what was properly called the Taurus, and those to the N. the Antitaurus. Antitaurus extends from the bor- ders of Commagene {El Boston)^ and Melitene (^MiUuiyaK) towards the N., enclosing Sophene in a valley between it and Taurus Proper. (Strab. xi. p. 521.) This statement corresponds with the de- scription of the range running W. from Mt Ararat in two parallel chains to Deyddin^ where it separates into several branches, the upper one taking a general W. direction, having to the northward the great abutments of Aliges-Beg^ Keban-Tdgh, KcU-Tdgh^ with others, the Paryadres and mountains of the Moschi of Strabo (/. c). At Deyddin, the S. chain of the Antitaurus bifurcates ; the N. branch taking the upper portion of the Murdd; and the lower range, enclosing the S. side of the valley. In these different ridges limestone and gypsum prevail, with basalt and other rolcanic rocks. It separates Ar- menia from Mesopotamia, and also Acisilene from Sophene. (Strab. xi. pp.521, 527.) Near the S. extremity of the main ridge of Kurdistdn, the range designated Taurus Proper divei^es from the Zagros in two almost parallel lines, and divides Sophene and part of Annenia from Mesopotamia. (Strab. Pl 522.) The formation is chiefly of limestone, with red sandstone, conglomerate, and occasionally jasper ; conical bare summits, with irregular sides intersected by deep valleys, less or more peopled, are the characteristics of that portion of the range of Taurus which lies £. of the river Tigris. In cross- ing Upper Mesopotamia the Taurus is more rocky and less continuous than before, — and at Mdrdin the height of the limestone summit of Moimt Masius scarcely exceeds 2,300 feet It appears from the investigations of recent travellers, that the whole tract of country comprehended between the Euxine and Caspian Seas exhibits the phenomena of volcanic action. It has been conjectured that this region, at a period not very remote, geologically speaking, was at one time covered with water, which formed a vast inland sea, of which the Caspian and other lai^^e sheets (^ water are the remnants. The first move- ment belongs to the Jura limestone, or oolitic series; a subsequent deposition of schistose and arenaceous sands then took pkoe, which, from the fossils they contain, are identified with the cretaceous and green sandstone formations. This country must have then presented the picture of a narrow sea, bounded on AP.MENIA, the N. by the chain belonging to the chalk fornuttioo, and to the S. by the Jura limegtone range, the result of the previous upheaval. At this epoch the vol- canic eruptions began which have so much modified the surface of the coimtiy. The emptioQ of these masses, besides filling up valleys, has in other parts of the chain formed great circular basins, or '* am- phitheatres,** — some of which now exist as lakes, while others have been filled up with tertiary de- posits, showing the prior date cS the volcanic rocks by which they are encircled. Belonging to these is the volcanic lake of SevangJiOy supposed to be the Lychnitis (^/ivxyiTis) of Ptolemy (v. 13. § 8) 5,000 feet from the sea, surrounded by trap and porphyry formations. SW. of this Like is the great volcanic amphitheatre of Central Armenia, com- posing a circus of several conical mountains con- taining craters. As the lakes of Vdn and Uru- miyah have no outlet it may be conjectured that they were produced in the same manner. In ad- dition to this the basin of Central Armenia contains vast deposits of rock-salt, a further proof of the existence of a great salt lake. (Daubeny on Fo/- ccmoea, p. 366.) The high mountains, and the snows with which they are covered, arc the fcedera di a considerable number of rivers. The elevated plateau, which extends from the base of Mt. Ararat into N. Ar- menia (^Kurdistdn), and part of Asia Minor, contains the sources of these great channels of communication from Armenia to the several nations of Europe and Asia. 1. The Halts has its sources at two places, both of which are much further to the £. than generally represented on maps. Of these sources the most northern arc on the sides of Gcmm Beli- Taghj but the others are on the W. slopes of the Paryadres or Kara-Bel group, which separates the springs of this river finom those <^ the Euphrates. [Halts.] 2. The Araxgs, which rises nearly in the centre of the space between the E. and W. branches of the Euphrates, and takes a SE. course till it is jouied by the Cyrus. [Araxes ; Cybcs.] 3. The AcAMPSis (^hKoix^is ; Jordh, Arriaii, Periplug; Phn. vL 4), unites the waters on the K. and W. sides of the mountains, containing the s>ourres of the Cyrus, Araxes, Harpasus and W. Euplirates, which serve as dnuns to the valleys tm the opposite sides of the chain. It bounds Colchis to the W., and is probably the Bathys, which, according to Pliny ('L 4), is a river of Colchis. 4. The Tigris (Tiypis) has in Central Armenia two principal sources, bodi of which spring from the S. slope of the Antitaurus, near those of the Araxes and Euphrates, and not far from those of the Halys. [Tigris.] 5. The Centrites (K«ktp/t7js), mentioned by Xenophon {Anab. iv. 3. § 1), as dividing Armenia from the countiy of the Corduchi, is identified i^ith the Bvhtdnchdty a considerable affluent of the Tigris. 6. The Euphrates, which is, in fact, the con- fluence of the two great streams, the Afttrddchai and the Kard 5u, hxis two great sources in the Armenian mountains. [Euphrates.] Among the lakes (£ Armenia is that of Arsexe (*ApaTivri : Van), situated in the S. of the country towards the Tigris. Ptolemy calls it Areissa (L c), and it also went by the name of Thospites. Sepa- rated from it to the E. by a chain of hills lies the lake Mamtiane (Moktio*^ : UrumiyaK) of Strabo (p. 529), probably the same as the Lake of Spauta,