Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/227

 B. xi. c. ii. 1. ASIA. 219 as the nations which extend to the Persian Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and the Nile, and to the .^Egyptian and the Issic seas. CHAPTER II. 1. ACCORDING to this disposition, the first portion towards the north and the Ocean is inhabited by certain tribes of Scy- thians, shepherds, (nomades,) and Hamaxosci (or those who live in waggon-houses). Within these tribes live Sarmatians, who also are Scythians, Aorsi, 1 and Siraci, extending as far as the Caucasian Mountains towards the south. Some of these are Nomades, or shepherd tribes, others Scenitae, (or dwellers in tents,) and Georgi, or tillers of the ground. About the lake Maeotis live the Masotae. Close to the sea is the Asiatic portion of the Bosporus and Sindica. 2 Next follow Achaei, Zygi, Heniochi, 3 Cercetae, and Macropogones (or the long- beards). Above these people are situated the passes of the Phtheirophagi (or Lice-eaters). After the Heniochi is Colchis, lying at the foot of the Caucasian and Moschic mountains. Having assumed the Tanai's as the boundary of Europe and Asia, we must begin our description in detail from this river. whole of ancient Persia ; and bounded on the N. by the provinces of Bactriana, Margiana, and Hyrcania ; on the E. by the Indus ; on the S. by the Indian Ocean and the eastern portion of the Persian Gulf; and on the W. by Media and the mountains S. of the Caspian Sea. Its exact limits are laid down with little accuracy in ancient authors, and it seems to have been often confounded (as in Pliny, b. vi. c. 23, 25) with the small pro- vince of Aria. It comprehended the provinces of Gedrosia, Drangiana, Arachosia, Paropamisus mountains, Aria, Parthia, and Carmania. Smith, art. Ariana. See b. xv. c. ii. 7, 8. 1 The Aorsi and Siraci occupied the country between the Sea of AzofF, the Don, the Volga, the Caspian Sea, and the Terek. May not the Aorsi, says Gossellin, be the same as the Thyrsagetae, Agathursi, Utidorsi, Adorsi, Alanorsi of other writers, but whose real name is Thyrsi ? The Siraci do not appear to differ from the Soraci or Seraci of Tacitus, (Ann. xii. 15, &c.,) and may be the same as lyrces, 'Iwpicfe, afterwards called Turcee. 2 The country to the N. and N. E. of Anapa. By Bosporus we are to understand the territory on each side of the Straits of Kertch. 3 B. ii. c. v. 31.