Greek Texts & Translations

In the district of Apameia is a city well fortified in almost every part. For it consists of a well-fortified hill, situated in a hollow plain, and almost surrounded by the Orontes, which, passing by a large lake in the neighbourhood, flows through wide-spread marshes and meadows of vast extent, affording pasture for cattle and horses. ^note The city is thus securely situated, and received the name Cherrhonesus (or the peninsula) from the nature of its position. It is well supplied from a very large fertile tract of country, through which the Orontes flows with numerous windings. Seleucus Nicator, and succeeding kings, kept there five hundred elephants, and the greater part of their army.

It was formerly called Pella by the first Macedonians, because most of the soldiers of the Macedonian army had settled there; for Pella, the native place of Philip and Alexander, was held to be the metropolis of the Macedonians. Here also the soldiers were mustered, and the breed of horses kept up. There were in the royal stud more than thirty thousand brood mares and three hundred stallions. Here were employed colt-breakers, instructors in the method of fighting in heavy armour, and all who were paid to teach the arts of war.

The power Trypho, surnamed Diodotus, acquired is a proof of the influence of this place; for when he aimed at the empire of Syria, he made Apameia the centre of his operations. He was born at Casiana, a strong fortress in the Apameian district, and educated in Apameia; he was a favourite of the king and the persons about the court. When he attempted to effect a revolution in the state, he obtained his supplies from Apameia and from the neighbouring cities, Larisa, ^note Casiana, Megara, Apollonia, and others like them, all of which were reckoned to belong to the district of Apameia. He was proclaimed king of this country, and maintained his sovereignty for a long time. Caecilius Bassus, at the head of two legions, caused Apameia to revolt, and was besieged by two large Roman armies, but his resistance was so vigorous and long that he only surrendered voluntarily and on his own conditions. ^note For the country supplied his army with provisions,

and a great many of the chiefs of the neighbouring tribes were his allies, who possessed strongholds, among which was Lysias, situated above the lake, near Apameia, Arethusa, ^note belonging to Sampsiceramus and Iamblichus his son, chiefs of the tribe of the Emeseni. ^note At no great distance were Heliopolis and Chalcis, ^note which were subject to Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, ^note who possessed the Massyas ^note and the mountainous country of the Ituraeans. Among the auxiliaries of Bassus was Alchaedamnus, ^note king of the Rhambaei, a tribe of the Nomades on this side of the Euphrates. He was a friend of the Romans, but, considering himself as having been unjustly treated by their governors, he retired to Mesopotamia, and then became a tributary of Bassus. Poseidonius the Stoic was a native of this place, a man of the most extensive learning among the philosophers of our times. 16.2.11

The tract called Parapotamia, belonging to the Arab chiefs, and Chalcidica, extending from the Massyas, border upon the district of Apameia on the east; and nearly all the country further to the south of Apameia belongs to the Scenitae, who resemble the Nomades of Mesopotamia. In proportion as the nations approach the Syrians they become more civilized, while the Arabians and Scenitae are less so. Their

governments are better constituted [as that of Arethusa under Sampsiceramus, that of Themella under Gambarus, and other states of this kind]. ^note 16.2.12

Such is the nature of the interior parts of the district of Seleuceia.

The remainder of the navigation along the coast from Laodiceia is such as I shall now describe.

Near Laodiceia are the small cities, Poseidium, Heracleium, and Gabala. Then follows the maritime tract ^note of the Aradii, where are Paltus, ^note Balanaea, and Carnus, ^note the arsenal of Aradus, which has a small harbour; then Enydra, ^note and Marathus, an ancient city of the Phoenicians in ruins. The Aradii ^note divided the territory by lot. Then follows the district Simyra. ^note Continuous with these places is Orthosia, ^note then the river Eleutherus, which some make the boundary of Seleucis towards Phoenicia and Coele-Syria. 16.2.13

Aradus is in front of a rocky coast without harbours, and situated nearly between its arsenal ^note and Marathus. It is distant from the land 20 stadia. It is a rock, surrounded by the sea, of about seven stadia in circuit, and covered with dwellings. The population even at present is so large that the houses have many stories. It was colonized, it is said, by fugitives from Sidon. The inhabitants are supplied with water partly from cisterns containing rain water, and partly

from the opposite coast. In war time they obtain water a little in front of the city, from the channel (between the island and the mainland), in which there is an abundant spring. The water is obtained by letting down from a boat, which serves for the purpose, and inverting over the spring (at the bottom of the sea), a wide-mouthed funnel of lead, the end of which is contracted to a moderate-sized opening; round this is fastened a (long) leathern pipe, which we may call the neck, and which receives the water, forced up from the spring through the funnel. The water first forced up is sea water, but the boatmen wait for the flow of pure and potable water, which is received into vessels ready for the purpose. in as large a quantity as may be required, and carry it to the city. ^note