Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/226

 218 STRABO. CASAUB. 492. " To stand the first in worth, as in command." l Add to this, that he wrote the history of Pompey. For these reasons he ought to have paid a greater regard to truth. 7. The second portion is that above the Hyrcanian, 2 which we also call the Caspian Sea, extending as far as the Scythians near the Indians. The third portion is continuous with the above-mention- ed isthmus, and consists of the country following next in order to the isthmus and the Caspian Gates, 3 and approaching nearest the parts within the Taurus, and to Europe ; these are Media, Armenia, Cappadocia, and the intervening country. 4 The fourth portion consists of the tract within the Halys, 5 and the parts upon and without the Taurus, which coincide with the peninsula formed by the isthmus, 6 which separates the Euxine* and the Cilician Seas. Among the other coun- tries beyond the Taurus we place Indica and Ariana, 7 as far 1 II. vi. 208. Pope. 2 In many authors these names are used indifferently, the one for the other ; they are however distinguished by Pliny, (iv. 13,) who states that this sea begins to be called the Caspian after you have passed the river Cyrus, (Kur,) and that the Caspii live near it; and in vi. 16, that it is called the Hyrcanian Sea, from the Hyrcani who live along its shores. The western side should therefore in strictness be called the Caspian ; the eastern, the Hyrcanian. Smith, art. Caspium Mare. 3 A narrow pass leading from North Western Asia into the N. E provinces of Persia. Their exact position was at the division of Parthia from Media, about a day's journey from the Median town of Rhagas. (Arrian. iii. 19.) According to Isodorus Charax, they were immediately below Mt. Caspius. As in the case of the people called Caspii, there seem to have been two mountains Caspius, one near the Armenian fron- tier, the other near the Parthian. It was through the pass of the Caspise Pylae that Alexander the Great pursued Darius. (Arrian. Anab. iii. 19 ; Curt. vi. 14 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6.) It was one of the most important places in ancient geography, and from it many of the meridians were mea- sured. The exact place corresponding with the Caspise Pylae is probably a spot between Hark-a-Koh, and Siah-Koh, about 6 parasangs from Rey, the name of the entrance of which is called Dereh. Smith, art. Caspian Pylas. 4 Du Theil justly remarks on the obscurity of this passage. His translation or paraphrase is as follows ; " La troisieme contiendra ce qui touche a 1' isthme dont nous avons parle" ; et, par suite, ceux des pays qui, au sud de cet isthme et des Pyles Caspiennes, mais toujours en de^a, ou, au moins, dans le sein meme du "Taurus, se succedant de I' est a 1* ouest, se rapprochent le plus de 1' Europe. In B. ii. c. v. 31, Strabo assigns Colchis to the third portion, but in this book to the first. 5 The Kizil Ermak. 6 B. i. c. iii. '2. 7 A district of wide extent in Central Asia, comprehending nearly the