Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/526

 508 CAPPADOCIA. fertile ooontry^. The people of this Annenta were governed hj a king, like the people of Sophenc; and these kings of the small Armenia were sometimes in league with the other Armenians, and sometimes the7 were not. They extended their dominions even to Pbamacia and Trapezos, bat the last of them sur- rendered to Mithridates the Great Some time after the defeat of Mithridates this Armenia was attached to the Cappadocian kingdom of Ariobarzanes, as stated above. The Euphrates was the eastern boun- dary of this Armenia, and separated it from Acilisene. This boundary seems to have begun about the point where the Euphrates takes a southern course. The northern boundary of Armenia Minor extended to the Paryadres range, and the upper part of the basin of the Halys, and even comprised part of that of the Lycus; for Nioopolis was probably oa the Ly- cos, though it is not certain. Melitene was south of Armenia Minor, and also on the west side of the Eu- phrates. Ptolemy (v. 7) includes both Melitene and Gataonia in Armenia Minor. It is very difficult to fix any boundary of this Armenia, except that on the side of the Euphrates; and the modem writers on ancient geography do not help us much. Armenia Minor was given by Caligula to Cotys in A. d.SS, and by Nero in A. D. 54 to Aristobulus. It was afterwards attached to the province of Cappadocia, but it is not certain at what time; by Vespasian, as some suppose, or at the latest by Trajan. Its position on Uie north-east border of Cappadocia, and west of the Euphrates, made it a necessary addition to the province for de- fence. Melitene was now reckoned a part of Armenia Minor, which had, for the metropolis of the northern part, Nicopolis, the probable position of which has been mentioned; and for the southern part, the town of Melitene, near the west bank of the Euphrates. Cappadocia Proper, so poor in towns, was enriched with the addition of ./U^helais in Garsauritis, near the western frontier of Cappadocia, by the emperor Claudius; and with Faustinopolis, in the south- western part of Cappadocia, by M. Aurelins. Pliny's (vi. 3) divisions of Cappadocia do not agree with Strabo; nor can we understand easily whether he is desoribing Cappadocia as a Roman province or not He correctly places Melitene as lying in front of Armenia Minor, and Cataonia as bordering on Commagene. He makes Garsauritis, Sargarausene, andCammanene border on Phrygia. He places Morimene in the NW.,* bordering on Ga- latia, "where the river Cappadox separates them (the Galatians and Cappadocians), from which they derived their name, being before called Leucosyri." If the position of the Cappadox can be determined, it fixes the boundary of Cappadocia <m this side. Aiusworth (^London Gtog. Journal^ vol. x. p. 290) supposes it to be the small river of Kir-Shehry or the Kalichi-SUj which joins the Halys on the right bank, a little north of 39° N. lat Mqjwj which is in N. lat 39° 5', and at an elevation of 8140 feet above the sea, may be Mocissus (Ainsworth). Some geo- graphers place Mocissus aiKir-Shehrj which is NW. of Mojta: The Cappadocia of Ptolemy (vi. 1.) comprises a much hurger extent of country than Cappadocia Proper. He makes it extend on the coast of the Euxine from Amisus to the mouth of the Apsarus ; and this coast is distributed among Pontns Galaticus, Pontus Polemoniacus and Poutus Cappadocicus. All this is excluded from the Cappadocia d[ Strabo. The praefecturaeCappadocicae which Ptolemy names are seven : Chamanene, Sargarausene (Sai^brasene), CAPPADOCIA. Garsaouria (Gardocreta), Cilida; Lycaonia; Antio^ chiana, containing Derbe, liaranda and Olbasa; and Tyanitis (Tyanis). These are the divisions as they stand in the old Latin version of Ptolemy: some of the names are corrupt Ptolemy, as already ob- served, places Melitene and Cataonia under Armenia Minor, and he gives to Cataonia a greater extent than Strabo does. The districts of Meutienb, and Cataokia, are described in separate articles; and also Pontus Ga- laticus, PoLEMOiriAcns, and Cappadocicus. Cappadocia in its limited sense comprised part of the upper basin of the Halys, as far west as the river Cappadox. The country to the north of the Halys is mountunous, and the plains that lie be- tween this northern range and tiie southern range of Taurus, are at a great elevation above the sea. The plain of Caesareia (JTotfortyeA) at the foot of the Argaens is 3236 feet high, acowding to Ains- worth {London Gtog. Journal^ vol. x. p. 310). Hamilton {Retearchetj &g. vol. ii. p. 280) makes it 4200 feet The difierenoe between these two esti- f mates is 1000 feet, aid one of them must be ^-/ erroneous. However the great elevation of this part •' of the country is certain. The plain of Caesareia is covered with com fields and vineyards. (Hamilton.) Strabo describes the plains around Caesareia in his time as altogether unproductive and uncultivated, though level ; but they were sandy and rather stony. The level of the Halys in the longitude of Caesareia must also be at a very considerable elevation above the sea, though much less than that of the plain of Caesareia. Strabo observes (p. 539) that Cappadocia, though iiirther south than Pontus, is colder; and the country which he calls Bagadania, the most sontbem part of Cappadocia, at the foot of Taurus, though it b level, has scarcely any fruit-bearing trees ; but it is pasture land, as a large part of the rest of Cappadocia is. That part of Strabo's Cappadocia, which is not drained by the Halys, belongs to two separate physical divisions. That to the west and SV. of Caesareia belongs to the high plateaus of Lycaouia and Phrygia, the waters of which have no outlet to the sea. The other part which contains the country east and south-east of Caesareia, belongs to the basins of the Pyramus, and the Sams, which rivers pass through the gaps c£ the Taurus to the plains of 'Cilicia. Cappadocia was generally deficient in wood; but it was well adapted fOT grain, particularly wheat. Some parts produced excellent wine. It was also a good grazing country fer domesticated animals of all kinds; and it produced good horses. Some add wild asses to the list of Cappadocian animals (Groekurd, Strab. ii. p. 457), in which case they must read iifayp68oTos instead of lyp66oTos in Strab. (p. 539). But Strabo's observaticHi would be very ridiculous if he were speaking of wild asses. The mineral pro- ducts were (Strab. p. 540) plates of ciystal, as he calls it; a lapis Onydiites found near the border of Galatia; a white stone fitted for sword handles; and a lapis specularis, or plates of a translucent stone, which was exported. There are salt beds of great extent near the west side of the Halys, at a place called Tuz Koi, probably within the limits of the Garsauritis of Strabo. The great salt lake of Tatta is west of Tuz Koi, and within the limits of Great Phrygia, but the plateau in which it is situated is part of the high land of Cappadocia. The level of the lake is about 2500 feet above the sea. It is -