Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/479

 Chap. 21.] ACCOUNT OF GOUNTRIES, ETC. 445 cus now Amphipolis. We then come to the Arabian Scenitae^. The Euphrates then proceeds in its course till it reaches the place called Ura^, at which, taking a turn to the east, it leaves the Syrian Deserts of Palmyra'*, which extend as far as the city of Petra* and the regions of Arabia Felix. (25.) Palmyra is a city famous for the beauty of its site, the riches of its soil, and the delicious quality and abundance of its water. Its fields are surrounded by sands on every side, and are thus separated, as it were, by nature from the rest of the world. Though placed between the two great empires of Eome and Parthia, it still maintains*' its independence ; never failing, at the very first moment that a rupture between them is threatened, to attract the careful attention of both. It is distant 337 miles from Seleucia^ of the Parthians, generally known as Seleucia on the Tigris, 203 from the nearest part of the Syrian coast, and twenty-seven less from Damascus. pii3. Colonel Rawlinson has identified it with the present Yeramin, at no great distance fi*om the ancient Rhages. ^ Its ruins are to be seen at the ford of El Hamman, near the modern Hakkah. It stood on the banks of the Euphrates ; and here was the usual, and, for a long time, the only ford of the Euphrates. It is sup- posed to have derived its name from the Aramean word " Thiphsach," signiJfymg " a ford." 2 Qr " DweUers in Tents." See p. 422. 3 According to Ortehus and llardouin, tliis is the place called Sura by Pliny, in C. 26 of the present Book ; but Parisot diti'ers from that opinion. Bochart suggests, that " Ur, of the Chaldees," is the place referred to under this name ; but, as Hardouin observes, that place lay at a considerable distance to the south. ^ So called from the circumstance that Palmyra stood in tlie midst of them. It was built by King Solomon, in an oasis of the Desert, in the midst of palm groves, from which it received its Greek name, which was a translation also of the Hebrew " Tadmor," " the city of palm-trees." It lay at a considerable distance from the Euphrates. Its site presents considerable ruins ; but they are all of the Roman period, and greatly inferior to those of Baalbec or Heliopohs. 5 The rock fortress of the Idumccans in Arabia Petrjra, now called Wady-Musa, half-way between the head of the Gulf of Akabah and the Dead Sea. ^ Wliich it continued to do until it was conquered under its queen, Zenobia, by the Emperor Aurehan, in a.i>. 270. It was partially de- stroyed by him, but was afterwards fortified by Justinian ; though it .never recovered its former greatness. 7 gee j}. vi. c. 30.