Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/469

 Chap. 17.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTIIIES, ETC. 435 conquest of the whole earth ; Gades, too, which she founded beyond the limits of the world. At the present day, all her fame is confined to the production of the murex and the purpled Its circumference, including therein Paltutyrus^, is nineteen miles, the place itself extending twenty-two stadia. The next towns are Sarepta^ and Ornithon"*, and then Sidon famous for its manufacture of glass, and the parent of Thebes^ in Bceotia, (20.) In the rear of this spot begins the chain of Libanus, which extends 1500 stadia, as far as Simyra ; this district has the name of Coele Syria. Opposite to this cliain, and separated from it by an intervening valley, stretches away the range of Antilibanus, which was formerly connected with Libanus^ by a wall. Beyond it, and lynig in the in- terior, is the region of Decapolis, and, with it, the Tetrarchies already mentioned, and the whole expanse of Palaestina. On the coast, again, and lying beneath Libanus, is the river Magoras the colony of Berytus^ which bears the name of Felix Julia, the town of Leontos^", the river Lycos ^ Palae- byblos'-, the river Adonis ^^, and the towns of By bios ^*, ' From which was made the famous Tyrian purjile. " Or "ancient Tyre," whieh was built on the mainland. 3 The Zarephath of 1 Kings xvii. 9, 10, whither Elijah was sent to the widow, whose son he afterwards raised from the dead. Its site ia now known as Sarfand. of game in its vicinity. Its site now bears the name of Adlan. ^ Its site is now called Saida. In the time of David and Solomon, it was probably subject to the kings of Tyre. king Agenor. 7 I'he Lebanon of Scripture. This inter- vening space, the ancient Coele-Syria, is now inhabited by the Druses. ^ Kow Beyrout. By some it has been identified with the Berotha, or Berothai, of tiie Hebrew Scriptures. Its full name as a Roman colony was, " Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus." It was coloni/ed by the veterans of the Fifth, or Macedonian, ami the Eighth, or Augustan, Legions. Beyrout, or Berut, is now, in a commercial point of view, the most important place in Syria. '" Nothing is known of this place. The name seems to mean, the "Town of the Lion." " Now the Nahr-el-Kelb, or " Dog's River." ^2 The site of this place seems not to be known. '3 Now the Nahr-el-Ibrahim. ^^ The modem town which stands on its site is called JebcU. It is 2 F 2
 * Probably meaning " City of the Birds," perhaps from the quantities
 * Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, was said to have been the son of its
 * Perhaps the modern Nahr-el-Damur.