Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/474

 440 plint's t^atural history. [Book T. tae the nation of the Ituraei, and a branch of them, the people called the Baetarreni; the Mariamitani^, the Te- trarchy known as Mammisea, Paradisus^, Pagrae"*, the Pinaritse®, two cities called Seleucia, besides the one already mentioned, the one Seleucia on the Euphrates^, and the other Seleucia^ on the Belus, and the Cardytenses. The remaining part of Syria (except those parts which will be spoken of in conjunction with the Euphrates) contains the Arethusii^, the Beroeenses^, and the Epiphanseenses^"; or eastern bank of the Orontes, to which, in C. 26 of the present Book, Pliny assigns a desert district beyond Pahnyi'a. It was celebrated in ancient times for its magnificent temple of the sun, and the appointment of its priest, Bassianus, or HeUogabalus, to the imperial dignity, in his fourteenth year. It was made a colony, with the jus Italicum, by Cara- ealla, and afterwards became the capital of Phoenicia Libanesia. The present name of its site is Hems. ^ The Hylatae are totally miknown. Itursea was situate in the north- east of Palestine, and, with Trachonitis, belonged to the tetrarchy of Phihp. Its boundaries cannot be precisely determined; but it may probably be traversed by a line drawn from the Lake of Tiberias to Damascus. 2 According to Ptolemy, the people of Mariama, some miles to the west of Emesa. 3 In the district of Laodicea, according to Ptolemy. of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of Zeugma, a fortress of con- siderable importance. 7 Its site is doubtful. Sebj d'Aboulgazi has been suggested. 8 The people of Arethusa, a city of Syria, not far from Apamea, situate between Epiphania and Emesa. In later times, it took the name of Restan. ^ The people of Beroea, a town of Syria, midway between Antioch and Hierapohs. Seleucus Nicator gave to it the Macedonian name of Beroea ; but, in A.D. 638, it resumed its ancient name of Chaleb, or Chalybon. The modern Haleb, or Aleppo, occupies its site. Some excavations, on the eastern side of it, are the only vestiges of ancient remains in the neighbourhood. ^" The people of Epiphansea, placed by Ptolemy in the district of Cassiotis, in which also Antioch and Larissa were situate. The Itine- rary of Antoninus places it sixteen mUes from Larissa, thirty-two from Emesa, and 101 from Antioch of Syria. It is supposed to have been identical with the ancient Hamath, mentioned in 2 Sam. viii. 9 ; 1 Kings viii. 65 ; Isaiah x. 9, and called " Hamath the great" in Amos vi. 2, which name it also retaiaed in the time of St. Jerome.
 * Near the Portse Amani, or " Passes of Amanus."
 * Pinara was near Pagrse, in Pieria, last mentioned.
 * Probably Seleucia, in Mesopotamia, now called Bir, on the left bank