Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/287

 B. xii. c. ii. 3, 4. CATAONIA. 279 direction. The Amanus extends from Cataonia to Cilicia, and the Syrian sea towards the west and south. In this intervening space it comprises the whole of the gulf of Issus, and the plains of the Cilicians which lie towards the Taurus. But the Anti-Taurus inclines to the north, and a little also to the east, and then terminates in the interior of the country. 3. In the Anti-Taurus are deep and narrow valleys, in which is situated Comana, 1 and the temple of Enyus (Bellona). which they call Ma. It is a considerable city. It contains a very great multitude of persons who at times are actuated by divine impulse, and of servants of the temple. It is in- habited by Cataonians, who are chiefly under the command of the priest, but in other respects subject to the king. The former presides over the temple, and has authority over the servants belonging to it, who, at the time that I was there, exceeded in number six thousand persons, including men and women. A large tract of land adjoins the temple, the revenue of which the priest enjoys. He is second in rank in Cappa- docia after the king, and, in general, the priests are descended from the same family as the kings. Orestes, when he came hither with his sister Iphigenia from Tauric Scythia, 2 is thought to have introduced the sacred rites performed in honour of Diana Tauropolus, and to have deposited here the tresses (Coman, Kopriv) of mourning, from which the city had the name of Comana. The river Sarus flows through this city, and passes out through the valleys of the Taurus to the plains of Cilicia, and to the sea lying below them. 4. The Pyramus, 3 which has its source in the middle of the plain, is navigable throughout Cataonia. There is a large sub- terraneous channel, through which the water flows underground to a great distance, and then may be seen springing up again to the surface. If an arrow is let down into the pit from above, the resistance of the water is so great that it is scarcely immersed. Although it pursues its course with great 4 depth and breadth, it undergoes an extraordinary contraction of its size by the time it has reached the Taurus. There is also an extra- ordinary fissure in the mountain, through which the stream is carried. For, as in rocks which have burst and split in two 1 Supposed to be Al-Bostan. 2 The Crimea. 8 Dschehan-Tschai. * The text is here corrupt.