Greek Texts & Translations

nothing but the palm. This tree grows in the greatest abundance in Babylonia. It is found in Susiana also in great quantity, on the Persian coast, and in Carmania.

They do not use tiles for their houses, because there are no great rains. The case is the same in Susiana and in Sitacene. 6

In Babylon a residence was set apart for the native philosophers called Chaldaeans, who are chiefly devoted to the study of astronomy. Some, who are not approved of by the rest, profess to understand genethlialogy, or the casting of nativities. There is also a tribe of Chaldaeans, who inhabit a district of Babylonia, in the neighbourhood of the Arabians, and of the sea called the Persian Sea. ^note There are several classes of the Chaldaean astronomers. Some have the name of Orcheni, some Borsippeni, and many others, as if divided into sects, who disseminate different tenets on the same subjects. The mathematicians make mention of some individuals among them, as Cidenas, Naburianus, and Sudinus. Seleucus also of Seleuceia is a Chaldaean, and many other remarkable men. 7

Borsippa is a city sacred to Diana and Apollo. Here is a large linen manufactory. Bats of much larger size than those in other parts abound in it. They are caught and salted for food. 8

The country of the Babylonians is surrounded on the east by the Susans, Elymaei, and Paraetaceni; on the south by the Persian Gulf, and the Chaldaeans as far as the Arabian Meseni; on the west by the Arabian Scenitae as far as Adiabene and Gordyaea; on the north by the Armenians and Medes as far as the Zagrus, and the nations about that river. 9

The country is intersected by many rivers, the largest of which are the Euphrates and the Tigris: next to the Indian rivers, the rivers in the southern parts of Asia are said to hold the second place. The Tigris is navigable upwards from its mouth to Opis, ^note and to the present Seleuceia. Opis is a village and a mart for the surrounding places. The