Chapter XXX: Appendix: Of Corrections (12)

[3295] The Autololes or, as Ptolemy calls them, the Autololæ, dwelt, it is supposed, on the western coast of Africa, between Cape Cantin and Cape Ger. Their city of Autolala or Autolalæ is one of Ptolemy’s points of astronomical observation, having the longest day thirteen hours and a half, being distant three hours and a half west of Alexandria, and having the sun vertical once a year, at the time of the winter solstice. Reichard takes it for the modern Agulon or Aquilon.

[3296] The Æthiopian Daratitæ, Marcus says.

[3297] The present Ceuta.

[3298] They were so called from the circumstance, Marcus says, of their peaks being so numerous, and so strongly resembling each other. They are now called, according to D’Anville, ‘Gebel Mousa,’ which means “the Mountain of Apes,” an animal by which they are now much frequented, instead of by elephants as in Pliny’s time.

[3299] Or Mediterranean.

[3300] The modern Bedia, according to Olivarius, the Tasanel, according to Dupinet, and the Alamos or Kerkal, according to Ansart. Marcus says that it is called the Setuan, and is the largest stream on the northern shores of Western Africa.

[3301] The modern Gomera according to Hardouin, the Nocor according to Mannert.

[3302] The modern Melilla most probably.

[3303] The modern Maluia. Antoninus calls it Malva, and Ptolemy Maloua.

[3304] Its site is occupied by the modern Aresgol, according to Mariana, Guardia or Sereni according to Dupinet, Ned-Roma according to Mannert and D’Anville, and Tachumbrit according to Shaw. Marcus is inclined to be of the same opinion as the last-mentioned geographer.

[3305] Now the city of Malaga.

[3306] Mauritania Cæsariensis, or Cæsarian Mauritania, now forming the French province of Algiers.

[3307] “Bogudiana;” from Bogud or Bogoas. The last king Bogud was deprived of his kingdom by Bocchus, king of Mauritania Cæsariensis, a warm partisan of Cæsar.

[3308] Or the “Great Harbour,” now Arzeu according to D’Anville, and Mars-el-Kebir according to Marcus.

[3309] The same river probably as the Malva or Malvana previously mentioned, the word _mulucha_ or _malacha_ coming from the Greek μολόχη, “a marsh mallow,” which _malva_, as a Latin word, also signifies. See p. 383.

[3310] From the Greek word ξένος, “a stranger.” Pomponius Mela and Antoninus call this place Guiza, and Ptolemy Quisa. D’Anville places it on the right side of the river Malvana or Mulucha, and Shaw says that it was situate in the vicinity of the modern town of Oran.

[3311] Now Marz-Agolet, or situate in its vicinity, according to Hardouin and Ansart, and the present Arzen, according to Marcus, where numerous remains of antiquity are found.

[3312] Now Tenez, according to D’Anville, and Mesgraïm, according to Mannert; with which last opinion Marcus agrees.

[3313] Ptolemy and Antoninus place this colony to the east of the Promontory of Apollo, and not the west as Pliny does.

[3314] The present Cape Mestagan.

[3315] According to Dupinet and Mannert, the modern Tenez occupies its site, Zershell according to Hardouin and Shaw, Vacur according to D’Anville and Ansart, and Algiers according to others. It is suggested by Marcus that the name Iol is derived from the Arabic verb _galla_, “to be noble” or “famous.” There is no doubt that the magnificent ruins at Zershell are those of Iol, and that its name is an abbreviation of Cæsarea Iol.

[3316] Or New Town.

[3317] Scylax calls it Thapsus; Ammianus Marcellinus, Tiposa. According to Mannert it was situate in the vicinity of the modern Damas.

[3318] Or Icosium. It has been identified by inscriptions discovered by the French as standing on the same site as the modern Algiers. D’Anville, Mannert and others identify it with Scherchell or Zershell, thus placing it too far west. Mannert was evidently misled by an error in the Antonine Itinerary, whereby all the places along this coast are, for a considerable distance, thrown too far to the west; the researches however which followed the French conquest of the country have revealed inscriptions which completely set the question at rest.

[3319] According to Mannert, this was situate on the modern Cape Arbatel. Marcus thinks that the Hebrew _ros_, or Arab _ras_, “a rock,” enters into the composition of the word.

[3320] Now Hur according to D’Anville, Colcah according to Mannert.

[3321] The modern Acor, according to Marcus.

[3322] The modern Pedeles or Delys, according to Ortellius and Mannert, Tedles according to D’Anville.

[3323] The modern Jigeli or Gigeri. It was probably in ancient times the emporium of the surrounding country.

[3324] Destroyed, according to Hardouin, and probably by the incursions of the sea. At the mouth of the Ampsaga (now called the Wad-El-Kebir or Sufjimar, and higher up the Wadi Roumel) there is situate a small sea-port called Marsa Zeitoun.

[3325] Near the present Mazuaa, according to Mannert.

[3326] The modern Burgh, according to D’Anville and Mannert, but more probably considerably to the east of that place.

[3327] The modern El-Herba, according to Mannert.

[3328] Marcus suggests that this is the Chinalaph of Ptolemy, and probably the modern Schellif.

[3329] The same that is called Savis by Ptolemy, who places Icosium on its banks.

[3330] By Mela called the Vabar. Marcus supposes it to be the same as the modern Giffer.

[3331] By Ptolemy called the Sisar; the Ajebbi of modern geographers, which falls into the Mediterranean, near the city of Budja.

[3332] Brotier says that this reading is incorrect, and that 222 is the proper one, that being the true distance between the river Ampsaga or Wad-el-Kebir and the city of Cæsarea, the modern Zershell.

[3333] It was not only Numidia that bore this name, but all the northern coast of Africa from the frontiers of the kingdom of Carthage near Hippo Regius to the Columns of Hercules. It was thus called from the Greek _metagonos_, a “descendant” or “successor;” as the Carthaginians established a number of small towns and villages on the coast, which were thus posterior in their origin to the large cities already founded there.

[3334] Hardouin says that the Moors in the interior still follow the same usage, carrying their houses from pasture to pasture on waggons.

[3335] Now Chollum or Collo.

[3336] The modern Sgigada or Stora, according to Mannert, D’Anville, and Shaw.

[3337] The modern Constantina occupies its site. Numerous remains of the ancient town are still discovered. Sitius was an officer who served under Cæsar, and obtained a grant of this place after the defeat of Juba.

[3338] Called Urbs, or Kaff, according to D’Anville and Shaw; the latter of whom found an inscription there with the words _Ordo Siccensium_.

[3339] Or ‘Royal Bulla’; which epithet shows that it was either a residence or a foundation of the kings of Numidia, and distinguishes it from a small place called Bulla Mensa, south of Carthage. Bulla Regia was four days’ journey south-west of Carthage, on a tributary of the river Bagrada, the valley of which is still called Wad-el-Boul. This place was one of the points of Ptolemy’s recorded astronomical observations, having its longest day fourteen hours and one-eighth, and being distant from Alexandria two hours to the west.

[3340] The modern Tamseh, according to Shaw and Mannert, and Tagodet, according to D’Anville.

[3341] Its ruins are south of the modern Bona. It received the name of _Regius_ or ‘Royal’ from being the residence of the Numidian kings. It was also famed as being the see of St. Augustine. It was a colony of Tyre, and stood on the bay now forming the Gulf of Bona. It was one of the most flourishing cities of Africa till it was destroyed by the Vandals A.D. 430.

[3342] Now the Mafragg, according to Mannert.

[3343] Still called Tabarca, according to Hardouin.

[3344] Now the Zaina, according to Marcus.

[3345] For the character of the Numidian marble, see Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 7.

[3346] Extending from the river Tusca, or Zaina, to the northern frontiers of Byzacium. It corresponds with the Turkish province or beylik of Tunis.

[3347] He says this not only to distinguish it from Africa, considered as one-third of the globe, but also in contradistinction to the proconsular province of the Roman empire of the same name, which contained not only the province of Zeugitana, but also those of Numidia, Byzacium, and Tripolis.

[3348] Candidum: now Ras-el-Abiad.

[3349] The references to this headland identify it with Cape Farina, or Ras Sidi Ali-al-Mekhi, and not, as some have thought, the more westerly Cape Zibeeb or Ras Sidi Bou-Shoushe. Shaw however applies the name of Zibeeb to the former.

[3350] Now Cape Bon, or Ras-Addar.

[3351] More properly called Hippo Diarrhytus or Zaritus, a Tyrian colony, situate on a large lake which communicated with the sea, and received the waters of another lake. Its situation exposed it to frequent inundations, whence, as the Greeks used to state, the epithet διάῤῥυτος. It seems more probable however that this is the remnant of some Phœnician title, as the ancients were not agreed on the true form of the name, and of this uncertainty we have a further proof in the _Hippo Dirutus_ of our author.

[3352] This is placed by Ptolemy to the south-east of Hippo, and near the southern extremity of Lake Sisar.

[3353] This important city stood on the north part of the Carthaginian Gulf, west of the mouth of the Bagrada, and twenty-seven Roman miles N.W. of Carthage; but the site of its ruins at the modern Bou-Shater is now inland, in consequence of the changes made by the Bagrada in the coast-line. In the Third Punic war Utica took part with the Romans against Carthage, and was rewarded with the greater part of the Carthaginian territory.

[3354] Now called the Mejerdah, and though of very inconsiderable size, the chief river of the Carthaginian territory. The main stream is formed by the union of two branches, the southern of which, the ancient Bagrada, is now called the Mellig, and in its upper course the Meskianah. The other branch is called the Hamiz.

[3355] Or the “Cornelian Camp.” The spot where Cornelius Scipio Africanus the Elder first encamped, on landing in Africa, B.C. 204. Cæsar describes this spot, in his description of Curio’s operations against Utica, B. C. b. ii. c. 24, 25. This spot is now called Ghellah.

[3356] This colony was first established by Caius Gracchus, who sent 6000 settlers to found on the site of Carthage the new city of Junonia. The Roman senate afterwards annulled this with the other acts of Gracchus. Under Augustus however the new city of Carthage was founded, which, when Strabo wrote, was as prosperous as any city in Africa. It was made, in place of Utica, which had favoured the Pompeian party, the seat of the proconsul of Old Africa. It stood on the peninsula terminated by Ras-Sidi-Bou-Said, Cape Carthage or Carthagena. As Gibbon has remarked, “The place might be unknown if some broken arches of an aqueduct did not guide the footsteps of the inquisitive traveller.”

[3357] The original city of Carthage was called ‘Carthago Magna’ to distinguish it from New Carthage and Old Carthage, colonies in Spain.

[3358] Now Rhades, according to Marcus.

[3359] Marcus identifies it with the modern Gurtos.

[3360] By the Greeks called ‘Aspis.’ It derived its Greek and Roman names from its site on a hill of a shield-like shape. It was built by Agathocles, the Sicilian, B.C. 310. In the first Punic war it was the landing-place of Manlius and Regulus, whose first action was to take it, B.C. 256. Its site is still known as Kalebiah, and its ruins are peculiarly interesting. The site of Misua is occupied by Sidi-Doud, according to Shaw and D’Anville.

[3361] Shaw informs us that an inscription found on the spot designates this place as a colony, not a free city or town. Its present name is Kurbah.

[3362] The present Nabal, according to D’Anville.

[3363] Zeugitana extended from the river Tusca to Horrea-Cælia, and Byzacium from this last place to Thenæ.

[3364] As sprung partly from the Phœnician immigrants, and partly from the native Libyans or Africans.

[3365] Pliny says, B. xvii. c. 3, “A hundred and fifty fold.” From Shaw we learn that this fertility no longer exists, the fields producing not more than eight- or at most twelve-fold.

[3366] The modern Lempta occupies its site.

[3367] Originally a Phœnician colony, older than Carthage. It was the capital of Byzacium, and stood within the southern extremity of the Sinus Neapolitanus or Gulf of Hammamet. Trajan made it a colony, under the high-sounding name, as we gather from inscriptions, of _Colonia Concordia Ulpia Trajana Augusta Frugifera Hadrumetana_, or, as set forth on coins, _Colonia Concordia Julia Hadrumetana Pia_. The epithet _Frugifera_ refers to the fact that it was one of the chief sea-ports for the corn-producing country of Byzacium. It was destroyed by the Vandals, but restored by the Emperor Justinian under the name of Justiniana or Justinianopolis. The modern Sousa stands on its site; and but slight traces of the ancient city are to be found.

[3368] Situate in the vicinity of the modern Monastir.

[3369] Shaw discovered its ruins at the modern town of Demas.

[3370] Now Taineh, according to D’Anville. This place formed the boundary between the proconsular province of Africa and the territory of the Numidian king Masinissa and his descendants.

[3371] The present Mahometa, according to Marcus, El Mahres according to D’Anville.

[3372] Now Cabès, according to D’Anville, giving name to the Gulf of Cabès. Marcus calls it Gaps.

[3373] Now Tripoli Vecchio; also called Sabart according to D’Anville.

[3374] Scipio Æmilianus, the son-in-law of Æmilius Paulus.

[3375] Micipsa, the son of Masinissa, and his two legitimate brethren. Scipio having been left by Masinissa executor of his will, the sovereign power was divided by him between Micipsa and his two brethren Gulussa and Mastanabal. On this occasion also he separated Numidia from Zeugitana and Byzacium, by a long dyke drawn from Thenæ, due south, to the borders of the Great Desert, and thence in a north-westerly direction to the river Tusca.

[3376] The Syrtes or ‘Quicksands’ are now called, the Lesser Syrtes the Gulf of Cabès, and the Greater the Gulf of Sydra. The country situate between the two Syrtes is called Tripoli, formerly Tripolis, a name which, according to Solinus, it owed to its three cities, Sabrata, Leptis, and Œa.

[3377] Marcus observes with reference to this passage, that both Hardouin and Poinsinet have mistaken its meaning. They evidently think that Pliny is speaking here of a route to the Syrtes leading from the interior of Africa, whereas it is pretty clear that he is speaking of the dangers which attend those who approach it by the line of the sea-coast, as Cato did, on his march to Utica, so beautifully described by Lucan in his Ninth Book. This is no doubt the same route which was taken by the caravans on their passage from Lebida, the ancient Leptis, to Berenice in Cyrenaica.

[3378] Those which we find at the middle of the coast bordering upon the Greater Syrtis, and which separate the mountains of Fezzan and Atlas from Cyrenaica and Barca.

[3379] In its widest sense this name is applied to all the Libyan tribes inhabiting the Oases on the eastern part of the Great Desert, as the Gætulians inhabited its western part, the boundary between the two nations being drawn at the sources of the Bagrada and the mountain Usargala. In the stricter sense however, and in which the term must be here understood, the name ‘Garamantes’ denoted the people of Phazania, the modern Fezzan, which forms by far the largest oasis in the Grand Desert of Zahara.

[3380] Augylæ, now Aujelah, was an oasis in the desert of Barca, in the region of Cyrenaica, about 3-1/2° south of Cyrene. It has been remarked that Pliny, here and in the Eighth Chapter of the present Book, in abridging the account given by Herodotus of the tribes of Northern Africa, has transferred to the Augylæ what that author really says of the Nasamones. This oasis forms one of the chief stations on the caravan route from Cairo to Fezzan. It is placed by Rennell in 30° 3′ North Lat. and 22° 46′ East Long., 180 miles south-east of Barca, 180 west by north of Siwah, the ancient Ammonium, and 426 east by north of Mourzouk. Later authorities, however, place the village of Aujelah in 29° 15′ North Lat. and 21° 55′ East Long.

[3381] For an account of the Psylli see B. vii. c. 2. They probably dwelt in the vicinity of the modern Cape Mesurata.

[3382] Now Lake Lynxama, according to Marcus.

[3383] Marcus observes that in order properly to understand this passage we must remember that the ancients considered Africa as terminating north of the Equator, and imagined that from the Straits of Hercules the western coast of Africa ran, not towards the south-west, but slanted in a south-easterly direction to the Straits of Babelmandel.

[3384] The modern Tripoli.

[3385] A flourishing city with a mixed population of Libyans and Sicilians. It was at this place that Apuleius made his eloquent and ingenious defence against the charge of sorcery brought against him by his step-sons. According to some writers the modern Tripoli is built on its site, while other accounts make it to have been situate six leagues from that city.

[3386] Now called the Wady-el-Quaham.

[3387] Mannert is of opinion that this was only another name for the city of Leptis Magna or the “Greater Leptis” here mentioned by Pliny. There is little doubt that his supposition is correct.

[3388] The more common reading is Taphra or Taphara. D’Anville identifies it with the town of Sfakes.

[3389] Scylax identifies it with Neapolis or Leptis, and it is generally looked upon as being the same place as Sabrata or Old Tripoli.

[3390] Now called Lebida. It was the birth-place of the Emperor Septimius Severus. It was almost destroyed by an attack from a Libyan tribe A.D. 366, and its ruin was completed by the invasion of the Arabs. Its ruins are considerable.

[3391] “Men of sea complexion,” is the meaning of this Greek name. According to Marcus they dwelt between the Greater Leptis and the Lake Tritonis, at the present day called Schibkah-el-Loudeah. For a further account of the Lotophagi, see B. xiii. c. 32.

[3392] Two brothers, citizens of Carthage, who in a dispute as to their respective territories with the people of Cyrene, submitted to be buried alive in the sand, at the boundary-line between the two countries. Sallust (Jugurthine War) is the main authority for the story. It is also related by Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 7, and Valerius Maximus, B. v. c. 6, but from the Greek name of the brothers, meaning “lovers of praise,” it is doubtful whether the story is not of spurious origin.

[3393] The Lake Tritonis mentioned in note [3391], p. 393.

[3394] Now called El Hammah, according to Shaw.

[3395] According to some accounts the goddess Pallas or Minerva was born on the banks of Lake Tritonis.

[3396] The modern Cape of Tajuni.

[3397] Now called Udina, according to Marcus.

[3398] Now called Tabersole, according to Marcus.

[3399] In the north of Byzacium, near the Bagrada and the confines of Numidia. It was the station of a Roman garrison, and considerable remains of it are still visible near the modern Zanfour.

[3400] Called Cannopissæ by Ptolemy, who places it to the east of Tabraca.

[3401] There is great doubt as to the correct orthography of these places, most of which can be no longer identified.

[3402] According to Marcus the present Porto Tarina.

[3403] Also called Achilla and Achulla, the ruins of which are to be seen at the modern El Aliah. It stood on the sea-coast of Byzacium, a little above the northern extremity of the Lesser Syrtis. It was a colony from the island of Melita, now Malta.

[3404] Now called El-Jemma, according to Marcus.

[3405] From it modern Tunis takes its name.

[3406] The birth-place of St. Augustin. It was to the north-west of Hippo Regius.

[3407] In the vicinity of this place, if it is the same as the Tigisis mentioned by Procopius, there were two columns to be seen in his day, upon which was written in the Phœnician language, “We fled from before the robber, Joshua the son of Nun.”

[3408] There were two towns of this name in the proconsular province of Africa. The first was situate in the country of Zeugitana, five days’ journey west of Carthage, and it was here that Scipio defeated Hannibal. The other bore the surname of _Regia_ or Royal, from being the frequent residence of the Numidian kings. It lay in the interior, and at the present day its site bears the name of ‘Zowarin’ or ‘Zewarin.’

[3409] The ruins of Capsa still bear the name of Cafsa or Ghafsah. It was an important city in the extreme south of Numidia, situate in an oasis, in the midst of an arid desert abounding in serpents. In the Jugurthine war it was the treasury of Jugurtha, and was taken and destroyed by Marius; but was afterwards rebuilt and made a colony.

[3410] They dwelt between the river Ampsaga or Wady-El-Kebir and the Tusca or Wady-Zain, the western boundary of the Carthaginian territory.

[3411] Dwelling to the east of the mountain Zalycus, now known as the Wanashrise, according to Shaw.

[3412] The ancients called by the name of ‘Gætulians’ all the people of Africa who dwelt south of the Mauritanias and Numidia, as far as the line which, according to their ideas, separated Africa from Æthiopia.

[3413] The Quorra most probably of modern geographers.

[3414] So called, as mentioned below, from its five principal cities.

[3415] Where Jupiter Ammon or Hammon was worshiped under the form of a ram, the form he was said to have assumed when the deities were dispersed in the war with the Giants. Ancient Ammonium is the present oasis of Siwah in the Libyan Desert.

[3416] The same that has been already mentioned in B. ii. c. 106. It is mentioned by Herodotus and Pomponius Mela.

[3417] Previously called Hesperis or Hesperides. It was the most westerly city of Cyrenaica, and stood just beyond the eastern extremity of the Greater Syrtis, on a promontory called Pseudopenias, and near the river Lethon. Its historical importance only dates from the times of the Ptolemies, when it was named Berenice, after the wife of Ptolemy III. or Euergetes. Having been greatly reduced, it was fortified anew by the Emperor Justinian. Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Ben Ghazi.

[3418] So called from Arsinoë, the sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Its earlier name was Taucheira or Teucheira, which name, according to Marcus, it still retains.

[3419] Its ruins may still be seen at Tolmeita or Tolometa. It was situate on the N.W. coast of Cyrenaica, and originally bore the name of Barca. From which of the Ptolemies it took its name is not known. Its splendid ruins are not less than four miles in circumference.

[3420] Its ruins are still to be seen, bespeaking its former splendour, at the modern Marsa Sousah. It was originally only the port of Cyrene, but under the Ptolemies it flourished to such an extent as to eclipse that city. It is pretty certain that it was the Sozusa of the later Greek writers. Eratosthenes was a native of this place.

[3421] The chief city of Cyrenaica, and the most important Hellenic colony in Africa, the early settlers having extensively intermarried with wives of Libyan parentage. In its most prosperous times it maintained an extensive commerce with Greece and Egypt, especially in silphium or assafœtida, the plantations of which, as mentioned in the present chapter, extended for miles in its vicinity. Great quantities of this plant were also exported to Capua in Southern Italy, where it was extensively employed in the manufacture of perfumes. The scene of the ‘Rudens,’ the most picturesque (if we may use the term) of the plays of Plautus, is laid in the vicinity of Cyrene, and frequent reference is made in it to the extensive cultivation of silphium; a head of which plant also appears on the coins of the place. The philosophers Aristippus and Carneades were born here, as also the poet Callimachus. Its ruins, at the modern Ghrennah, are very extensive, and are indicative of its former splendour.

[3422] In C. 1 of the present Book. It was only the poetical fancy of the Greeks that found the fabled gardens of the Hesperides in the fertile regions of Cyrenaica. Scylax distinctly mentions the gardens and the lake of the Hesperides in this vicinity, where we also find a people called Hesperidæ, or, as Herodotus names them, Euesperidæ. It was probably in consequence of this similarity of name, in a great degree, that the gardens of the Hesperides were assigned to this locality.

[3423] Now called Ras-Sem or Ras-El-Kazat. It is situate a little to the west of Apollonia and N.W. of Cyrene.

[3424] According to Ansart, 264 miles is the real distance between Capes Ras-Sem and Tænarum or Matapan

[3425] As already mentioned, Apollonia formed the harbour of Cyrene.

[3426] This was called the Chersonesus Magna, being so named in contradistinction to the Chersonesus Parva, on the coast of Egypt, about thirty-five miles west of Alexandria. It is now called Ras-El-Tin, or more commonly Raxatin.

[3427] So called from the peculiar features of the locality, the Greek word καταβαθμὸς, signifying “a descent.” A deep valley, bounded east and west by ranges of high hills, runs from this spot to the frontiers of Egypt. It is again mentioned by Pliny at the end of the present Chapter. The spot is still known by a similar name, being called Marsa Sollern, or the “Port of the Ladder.” In earlier times the Egyptian territory ended at the Gulf of Plinthinethes, now Lago Segio, and did not extend so far as Catabathmos.

[3428] This name was unknown to Herodotus. As Marcus observes, it was probably of Phœnician origin, signifying “leading a wandering life,” like the term “nomad,” derived from the Greek.

[3429] Now called El Bareton or Marsa-Labeit. This city was of considerable importance, and belonged properly to Marmaria, but was included politically in the Nomos Libya of Egypt. It stood near the promontory of Artos or Pythis, now Ras-El-Hazeit.

[3430] So called from the words _Matâ-Ammon_, “the tribe of Ammon,” according to Bochart. The Nasamones were a powerful but savage people of Libya, who dwelt originally on the shores of the Greater Syrtis, but were driven inland by the Greek settlers of Cyrenaica, and afterwards by the Romans.

[3431] From μεσὸς “the middle,” and ἄμμος “sand.”

[3432] See note [3421] in p. 396.

[3433] Herodotus places this nation to the west of the Nasamones and on the river Cinyps, now called the Wadi-Quaham.

[3434] In most of the editions they are called ‘Hammanientes.’ It has been suggested that they were so called from the Greek word ἄμμος “sand.”

[3435] This story he borrows from Herodotus, B. iv. c. 158.

[3436] From the Greek word τρωγλοδύται, “dwellers in caves.” Pliny has used the term already (B. iv. c. 25) in reference to the nations on the banks of the Danube. It was a general name applied by the Greek geographers to various uncivilized races who had no abodes but caves, and more especially to the inhabitants of the western coasts of the Red Sea, along the shores of Upper Egypt and Æthiopia.

[3437] At the beginning of C. 4.

[3438] Which gives name to the modern Fezzan.

[3439] Now called Tanet-Mellulen, or the station of Mellulen, on the route from Gadamez to Oserona.

[3440] Zaouila or Zala, half way between Augyla and Mourzouk.

[3441] Now Gadamez, which, according to Marcus, is situate almost under the same meridian as Old Tripoli, the ancient Sabrata.

[3442] According to Marcus this range still bears the name of Gibel-Assoud, which in the Arabic language means the “Black Mountain.”

[3443] In a southerly direction. He alludes probably to the Desert of Bildulgerid.

[3444] This spring is also mentioned by Pliny in B. ii. c. 106. Marcus suggests that the Debris of Pliny is the same as the Bedir of Ptolemy. He also remarks that the English traveller Oudney discovered caverns hewn out of the sides of the hills, evidently for the purposes of habitation, but of which the use is not known by the present people. These he considers to have been the abodes of the ancient Troglodytæ or “cave-dwellers.” In the Tibesti range of mountains, however, we find a race called the Rock Tibboos, from the circumstance of their dwelling in caves.

[3445] Cornelius Balbus Gaditanus the Younger, who, upon his victories over the Garamantes, obtained a triumph in the year B.C. 19.

[3446] L. Cornelius Balbus the Elder, also a native of Gades. He obtained the consulship in B.C. 40, the first instance, as we find mentioned by Pliny, B. vii. c. 44, in which this honour had been conferred upon one who was not a Roman citizen.

[3447] On the occasion of a triumph by a Roman general, boards were carried aloft on “fercula,” on which were painted in large letters the names of vanquished nations and countries. Here too models were exhibited in ivory or wood of the cities and forts captured, and pictures of the mountains, rivers, and other great natural features of the subjugated region, with appropriate inscriptions. Marcus is of opinion that the names of the places here mentioned do not succeed in any geographical order, but solely according to their presumed importance as forming part of the conquest of Balbus. He also thinks that Balbus did not penetrate beyond the fifteenth degree of north latitude, and that his conquests did not extend so far south as the banks of Lake Tchad.

[3448] The site of Garama still bears the name of ‘Gherma,’ and presents very considerable remains of antiquity. It is four days’ journey north of Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan.

[3449] Now Tibesti, according to Marcus.

[3450] Marcus suggests that this is probably the Febabo of modern geographers, to the N.E. of Belma and Tibesti.

[3451] Discera was the Im-Zerah of modern travellers, on the road from Sockna to Mourzouk, according to Marcus, who is of opinion that the places which follow were situate at the east and north-east of Thuben and the Black Mountain.

[3452] Om-El-Abid, to the N.W. of Garama or Gherma, according to Marcus, and Oudney the traveller.

[3453] The same, Marcus thinks, as the modern Tessava in Fezzan.

[3454] Marcus suggests that this may be the modern Sana.

[3455] The town of Winega mentioned by Oudney, was probably the ancient Pega, according to Marcus.

[3456] The modern Missolat, according to Marcus, on the route from Tripoli to Murmuck.

[3457] According to Marcus, this was the Mount Goriano of the English travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, where, confirming the statement here made by Pliny, they found quartz, jasper, onyx, agates, and cornelians.

[3458] Mentioned by Tacitus, B. iv. c. 50. The town of Œa has been alluded to by Pliny in C. 4.

[3459] “Past the head of the rock.” Marcus suggests that this is the Gibel-Gelat or Rock of Gelat spoken of by the English travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, forming a portion of the chain of Guriano or Gyr. He says, that at the foot of this mountain travellers have to pass from Old and New Tripoli on their road to Missolat, the Maxala of Pliny, and thence to Gerama or Gherma, the ancient capital of Fezzan.

[3460] As Marcus observes, this would not make it to extend so far south as the sixteenth degree of north latitude.

[3461] The Mareotis of the time of the Ptolemies extended from Alexandria to the Gulf of Plinthinethes; and Libya was properly that portion of territory which extended from that Gulf to Catabathmos. Pliny is in error here in confounding the two appellations, or rather, blending them into one. It includes the eastern portion of the modern Barca, and the western division of Lower Egypt. It most probably received its name from the Lake Mareotis, and not the lake from it.

[3462] This was a seaport town on the northern coast of Africa, probably about eleven or twelve miles west of Parætonium, sometimes spoken of as belonging to Egypt, sometimes to Marmorica. Scylax places it at the western boundary of Egypt, on the frontier of the Marmaridæ. Ptolemy, like Pliny, speaks of it as being in the Libyan Nomos. The distances given in the MSS. of Pliny of this place from Parætonium are seventy-two, sixty-two, and twelve miles; the latter is probably the correct reading, as Strabo, B. xvii., makes the distance 100 stadia. It is extremely doubtful whether the Apis mentioned by Herodotus, B. ii. c. 18, can be the same place: but there is little doubt, from the words of Pliny here, that it was dedicated to the worship of the Egyptian god Apis, who was represented under the form of a bull.

[3463] Now called Zerbi and Jerba, derived from the name of Girba, which even in the time of Aurelius Victor, had supplanted that of Meninx. It is situate in the Gulf of Cabes. According to Solinus, C. Marius lay in concealment here for some time. It was famous for its purple. See B. ix. c. 60.

[3464] Now called Kerkéni, Karkenah, or Ramlah.

[3465] Now Gherba. It was reckoned as a mere appendage to Cercina, to which it was joined by a mole, and which is found often mentioned in history.

[3466] Still called Lampedusa, off the coast of Tunis. This island, with Gaulos and Galata, has been already mentioned among the islands off Sicily; see B. iii. c. 14.

[3467] Now Pantellaria. See B. iii. c. 14.

[3468] A lofty island surrounded by dangerous cliffs, now called Zowamour or Zembra.

[3469] In the former editions the word “Aræ” is taken to refer to the Ægimuri, as meaning the same islands. Sillig is however of opinion that totally distinct groups are meant, and punctuates accordingly. The “Aræ” were probably mere rocks lying out at sea, which received their name from their fancied resemblance to altars. They are mentioned by Virgil in the Æneid, B. i. l. 113, upon which lines Servius says, that they were so called because there the Romans and the people of Africa on one occasion made a treaty.

[3470] The greater portion of this Chapter is extracted almost verbatim from the account given by Mela. Ptolemy seems to place the Liby-Egyptians to the south of the Greater and Lesser Oasis, on the route thence to Darfour.

[3471] Or “White Æthiopians,” men though of dark complexion, not negroes. Marcus is of opinion that the words “intervenientibus desertis” refer to the tract of desert country lying between the Leucæthiopians and the Liby-Egyptians, and not to that between the Gætulians on the one hand and the Liby-Egyptians and the Leucæthiopians on the other.

[3472] Meaning to the south and the south-east of these three nations, according to Marcus. Rennel takes the Leucæthiopians to be the present Mandingos of higher Senegambia: Marcus however thinks that they are the Azanaghis, who dwell on the edge of the Great Desert, and are not of so black a complexion as the Mandingos.

[3473] Probably the people of the present Nigritia or Soudan.

[3474] Marcus is of opinion that Pliny does not here refer to the Joliba of Park and other travellers, as other commentators have supposed; but that he speaks of the river called Zis by the modern geographers, and which Jackson speaks of as flowing from the south-east towards north-west. The whole subject of the Niger is however enwrapped in almost impenetrable obscurity, and as the most recent inquirers have not come to any conclusion on the subject, it would be little more than a waste of time and space to enter upon an investigation of the notions which Pliny and Mela entertained on the subject.

[3475] From γυμνὸς, “naked.”

[3476] Mentioned in C. 1 of the present Book.

[3477] He refers to the words in the Odyssey, B. i. l. 23, 24.—

Αἰθίοπας τοὶ δίχθα δεδαιάται, ἔσχατοι ἄνδρων·
Οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, οἱ δ’ ἀνιόντος.

“The Æthiopians, the most remote of mankind, are divided into two parts, the one at the setting of Hyperion, the other at his rising.”

[3478] A tribe of Æthiopia, whose position varied considerably at different epochs of history. Their predatory and savage habits caused the most extraordinary reports to be spread of their appearance and ferocity. The more ancient geographers bring them as far westward as the region beyond the Libyan Desert, and into the vicinity of the Oases. In the time however of the Antonines, when Ptolemy was composing his description of Africa, they appear to the south and east of Egypt, in the wide and almost unknown tract which lay between the rivers Astapus and Astobores.

[3479] Mela speaks of this race as situate farthest to the west. The description of them here given is from Herodotus, B. iv. c. 183-185, who speaks of them under the name of “Atarantes.”

[3480] The people who are visited by no dreams, are called Atlantes by Herodotus, the same name by which Pliny calls them. He says that their territory is ten days’ journey from that of the Atarantes.

[3481] This also is borrowed from Herodotus. As some confirmation of this account, it is worthy of remark, that the Rock Tibboos of the present day, who, like the ancient Troglodytæ, dwell in caves, have so peculiar a kind of speech, that it is compared by the people of Aujelah to nothing but the whistling of birds. The Troglodytæ of Fezzan are here referred to, not those of the coasts of the Red Sea.

[3482] Mela says that they look upon the Manes or spirits of the departed as their only deities.

[3483] This is said, in almost the same words, of the Garamantes, by Herodotus. The mistake was probably made by Mela in copying from Herodotus, and continued by Pliny when borrowing from him.

[3484] So called from their supposed resemblance in form to the Satyrs of the ancient mythology, who were represented as little hairy men with horns, long ears, and tails. They were probably monkeys, which had been mistaken for men.

[3485] Half goat, half man. See the Note [3254] relative to Ægipan, in C. 1 of the present Book, p. 378.

[3486] Evidently intended to be derived from the Greek ἱμὰς “a thong,” and πόδες “the feet.” It is most probable that the name of a savage people in the interior bore a fancied resemblance to this word, upon which the marvellous story here stated was coined for the purpose of tallying with the name. From a statement in the Æthiopica of Heliodorus, B. x., Marcus suggests that the story as to the Blemmyæ having no heads arose from the circumstance, that on the invasion of the Persians they were in the habit of falling on one knee and bowing the head to the breast, by which means, without injury to themselves, they afforded a passage to the horses of the enemy.

[3487] It must be remembered, as already mentioned, that the ancients looked upon Egypt as forming part of Asia, not of Africa. It seems impossible to say how this supposition arose, when the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez form so natural and so palpable a frontier between Asia and Africa.

[3488] It is not improbable that these numbers are incorrectly stated in the MSS. of our author.

[3489] Parisot remarks that Pliny is in error in this statement. A considerable part of Lower Egypt lay both on the right and left of the Delta or island formed by the branches of the Nile. It must be remembered, however, that our author has already included a portion of what was strictly Egypt, in his description of Libya Mareotis.

[3490] By reason of its triangular form, Δ.

[3491] The Ombite nome worshipped the crocodile as the emblem of Sebak. Its capital was Ombos.

[3492] This nome destroyed the crocodile and worshipped the sun. Its capital was Apollinopolis Magna.

[3493] It worshipped Osiris and his son Orus. The chief town was Thermonthis.

[3494] Probably the original kingdom of Menes of This, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy. It worshipped Osiris. Its capital was This, afterwards called Abydos.

[3495] The nome of Thebes, which was its chief town.

[3496] Its capital was Coptos.

[3497] Its chief town was Tentyra. This nome worshipped Athor or Venus, Isis, and Typhon. It destroyed the crocodile.

[3498] Perhaps the same as the Panopolite or Chemmite nome, which had for its chief town Chemmis or Panopolis. It paid divine honours to a deified hero.

[3499] It probably worshipped Typhon. Its capital was Antæopolis.

[3500] Probably an offshoot from a nome in the Heptanomis of similar name.

[3501] Dedicated to the worship of the wolf. Its chief town was Lycopolis. It should be remarked that these names do not appear to be given by Pliny in their proper geographical order.

[3502] Some of these nomes were inconsiderable and of little importance. The Bubastite nome worshipped Bubastis, Artemis, or Diana, of whom it contained a fine temple.

[3503] Its chief town was Tanis. In this nome, according to tradition, Moses was born.

[3504] Its capital was Athribis, where the shrew-mouse and crocodile were worshipped.

[3505] The seat of the worship of the dog-headed deity Anubis. Its capital was Cynopolis; which is to be distinguished from the Deltic city and other places of that name, as this was a nome of the Heptanomis or Middle Egypt, to which also the Hammonian nome belonged.

[3506] The border nome of Upper and Middle Egypt.

[3507] Its capital was Pachnamunis. It worshipped a goddess corresponding to the Greek Leto, or the Latona of the Romans.

[3508] Its capital was Busiris. It worshipped Isis, and at one period was said to have sacrificed the nomad tribes of Syria and Arabia.

[3509] Its chief town was Onuphis.

[3510] Its chief city was Sais, and it worshipped Neith or Athene, and contained the tomb and a sanctuary of Osiris.

[3511] Its capital was Tava.

[3512] Its chief town was Naucratis on the coast, the birth-place of Athenæus, the Deipnosophist. By some authors it is made part of the Saitic nome. The names given by Pliny vary very considerably from those found in others of the ancient writers.

[3513] The capital of this nome was Heracleopolis, ‘The city of Hercules,’ as Pliny calls it, situate, as he says, on an island, at the entrance of the nome of Arsinoïtes, formed by the Nile and a canal. After Memphis and Heliopolis, it was probably the most important city south of the Thebaid. Its ruins are inconsiderable; a portion of them are to be seen at the modern hamlet of Amasieh.

[3514] He probably means Arsinoë or Arsinoïtis, the chief town of the nome of that name, and the city so called at the northern extremity of the Heroöpolite Gulf in the Red Sea. The former is denoted by the modern district of El-Fayoom, the most fertile of ancient Egypt. At this place the crocodile was worshipped. The Labyrinth and Lake Mœris were in this nome. Extensive ruins at Medinet-el-Fayoom, or El-Fares, represent its site. The modern Ardscherud, a village near Suez, corresponds to Arsinoë on the Red Sea. There is some little doubt however whether this last Arsinoë is the one here meant by Pliny.

[3515] Memphis was the chief city of this nome, which was situate in Middle Egypt, and was the capital of the whole country, and the residence of the Pharaohs, who succeeded Psammetichus, B.C. 616. This nome rose in importance on the decline of the kingdom of Thebais, but was afterwards eclipsed by the progress of Alexandria under the successors of Alexander the Great.

[3516] At which Middle Egypt terminates.

[3517] They are more generally looked upon as forming one nome only, and included under the name of Hammonium.

[3518] Its chief town was Heroöpolis, a principal seat of the worship of Typhon, the evil or destroying genius.

[3519] The same as the nome of Arsinoïtes, the capital of which, Arsinoë, was originally called Crocodilopolis.

[3520] Now known as Birket-el-Keroum. This was a vast lake on the western side of the Nile in Middle Egypt, used for the reception and subsequent distribution of a part of the overflow of the Nile. The supposition that it was formed by artificial means is now pretty generally exploded, and it is regarded as of natural formation. It was situate in the nome of Arsinoïtes or Crocodilopolites. Its length seems to be overstated by our author, as at the present day it is only thirty miles in length and five in breadth at the widest part.

[3521] And it is generally supposed that they are so up to the present day. The ethnographer Jablonski is of opinion that this river derives its name from the Coptish word _tneialei_ “to rise at stated times.” Servius, the commentator on Virgil, says that it is derived from the two Greek words νέα ἰλὺς “fresh mud,” in allusion to the fresh mud or slime which it leaves after each inundation. Singularly enough, Champollion prefers this silly etymology to that suggested by Jablonski.

[3522] An interesting disquisition on the probable sources of the Nile, as viewed by the ancients, is to be found in the Ninth Book of Lucan’s Pharsalia. The Indian word “_nilas_,” “black,” has also been suggested as its possible origin.

[3523] What spot is meant under this name, if indeed it is anything more than the creation of fancy, it is impossible to ascertain with any degree of precision. It is possible however that the ancients may have had some knowledge of Lake Tchad, and the Mountains of the Moon, or Djebel-Kumri, though at the same time it is more than doubtful that the Nile has its source in either of those localities, the former especially.

[3524] Perhaps a kind of river lamprey. As to the Coracinus, see B. ix. c. 24, 32, and B. xxxii. c. 19, 24, 34, 44, and 53; and as to the Silurus, B. ix. c. 17, 25, and B. xxxii. c. 31, 36, 40, 43, 44, &c.

[3525] The modern Vacur in Northern Africa.

[3526] A district which in reality was at least 1200 or 1500 miles distant from any part of the Nile, and probably near 3000 from its real source.

[3527] “Spargit.” It is doubtful whether this word means here “waters,” or “divides.” Probably however the latter is its meaning.

[3528] This is the third or eastern branch of the river, now known as the Tacazze. It rises in the highlands of Abyssinia, in about 11° 40′ north lat. and 39° 40′ east long., and joins the main stream of the Nile, formed by the union of the Abiad and the Azrek, in 17° 45′ north lat. and about 34° 5′ east long.; the point of junction being the apex of the island of Meroë, here mentioned by Pliny.

[3529] Possibly by this name he designates the Bahr-el-Abied, or White River, the main stream of the Nile, the sources of which have not been hitherto satisfactorily ascertained. The Astapus is supposed to have been really the name of the Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue River, the third branch of the Nile, the sources of which are in the highlands of Abyssinia, in about 11° 40′ north lat. and 39° 40′ east long.

[3530] Or “side of the water that issues from the shades.” As Hardouin says, this does not appear to be a very satisfactory explanation.

[3531] Said by Tzetzes to have been derived from the Greek τρίτος, “the third,” because it had three times changed its name: having been called, first, the Ocean; secondly, Aëtus, or the Eagle; and thirdly, Ægyptus.

[3532] Or the “Cataracts,” for which it is the Greek name. The most northerly of these cataracts, called the First Cataract, is, and always has been, the southern boundary of Egypt. According to the most recent accounts, these Cataracts are devoid of any stupendous features, such as characterize the Falls of Niagara.

[3533] The one now called the First Cataract.

[3534] Seven mouths in ancient times, which have now dwindled down to two of any importance, the Damietta mouth on the east, and the Rosetta on the west.

[3535] The Etesians are periodical winds, which blow steadily from one quarter for forty days each year, during the season of the Dog-days. The opinion here stated was that promulgated by Thales the philosopher. Seneca refutes it in B. iv. c. 2. of his Quæst. Nat.

[3536] This was the opinion of Democritus of Abdera, and of Agatharchidas of Cnidos. It is combated by Diodorus Siculus, B. i., but it is the opinion most generally received at the present day. See the disquisition on the subject introduced in the Ninth book of Lucan’s Pharsalia.

[3537] And that the high tide or inundation would be consequently continuous as well.

[3538] The principal well for this purpose was called the “Nilometer,” or “Gauge for the Nile.”

[3539] On this subject see Pliny, B. xviii. c. 47, and B. xxxvi. c. 11.

[3540] Seneca says that the Nile did not rise as usual in the tenth and eleventh years of the reign of Cleopatra, and that the circumstance was said to bode ruin to her and Antony.—Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c. 2.

[3541] He means dense clouds, productive of rain, not thin mists. See what is said of the Borysthenes by our author, B. xxxi. c. 30.

[3542] Syene was a city of Upper Egypt, on the eastern bank of the Nile just below the First Cataract, and was looked upon as the southern frontier city of Egypt against Æthiopia. It was an important point in the geography and astronomy of the ancients; for, lying just under the tropic of Cancer, it was chosen as the place through which they drew their chief parallel of latitude. The sun was vertical to Syene at the time of the summer solstice, and a well was shown there where the face of the sun was seen at noon at that time. Its present name is Assouan or Ossouan.

[3543] If this word means the “Camp,” it does not appear to be known what camp is meant. Most editions have “Cerastæ,” in which case it would mean that at Syene the Cerastes or horned serpent is found.

[3544] One of these (if indeed Philæ did consist of more than a single island, which seems doubtful) is now known as Djeziret-el-Birbe, the “Island of the Temple.”

[3545] This island was seated just below the Lesser Cataract, opposite Syene, and near the western bank of the Nile. At this point the river becomes navigable downward to its mouths, and the traveller from Meroë or Æthiopia enters Egypt Proper. The original name of this island was “Ebo,” Eb being in the language of hieroglyphics the symbol of the elephant and ivory. It was remarkable for its fertility and verdure, and the Arabs of the present day designate the island as Djesiret-el-Sag, or “the Blooming.”

[3546] This is a mistake of Pliny’s, for it was opposite to Syene. Brotier thinks that Pliny intended to write ‘Philæ,’ but by mistake inserted Syene.

[3547] Artemidorus, Juba, and Aristocreon.

[3548] They were probably made of papyrus, or else of hides, like the British coracles.

[3549] The last king of the line of Psammetichus, B.C. 569. He succeeded Apries, whom the Egyptians put to death. He died just before the invasion by Cambyses, having displayed great abilities as a ruler.

[3550] There was the Greater Apollinopolis, the modern Edfoo, in the Thebaid, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 25° north, about thirteen miles below the lesser Cataract: its inhabitants were enemies of the crocodile and its worshippers. The remains of two temples there are considered second only to the temple of Denderah as specimens of the sacred structures of Egypt. A Lesser Apollinopolis was in Upper Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° north. Another Lesser Apollinopolis was a town of the Thebaid in the Coptite Nome, in lat. 26° north, situate between Thebes and Coptos. It was situate at the present Kuss.

[3551] Its site is unknown. Hardouin suggests that it is the Eilethuia of Ptolemy, the modern El-Kab.

[3552] “City of Jupiter,” the Greek name for Thebes, the No or No Ammon of Scripture. It stood in the centre of the Thebaid, on both banks of the Nile, above Coptos, and in the Nomos Coptites. Its ruins, which are the most magnificent in the world, enclose within their site the four villages of Carnac, Luxor, Medinet Abou, and Gournou.

[3553] Its hieroglyphical name was Kobto, and its site is now occupied by the modern town of Kouft or Keft. It was situate in lat. 26° north, on the right bank of the Nile, about a mile from its banks. As a halting place or rather watering-place for the caravans, it was enriched by the commerce between Libya and Egypt on the one hand, and Arabia and India and Egypt on the other, the latter being carried on through the port of Berenice on the Red Sea, founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, B.C. 266. In the seventh century of the Christian era, it bore for some time the name of Justinianopolis. There are a few remains of Roman buildings to be seen on its site.