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Gordytaean mountains, and having formed a great circle which embraces the vast country of Mesopotamia, turn towards the rising of the sun in winter and the south, particularly the Euphrates, which, continually approaching nearer and nearer to the Tigris, passes by the rampart of Semiramis, note and at about 200 stadia from the village of Opis, note thence it flows through Babylon, and so discharges itself into the Persian Gulf. Thus the figure of Mesopotamia and Babylon resembles the cushion of a rower's bench.—Such are the words of Eratosthenes. 27
In the Third Section it is true he does make some mistakes, which we shall take into consideration; but they are
nothing like the amount which Hipparchus attributes to
him. However, we will examine his objections. [In the
first place,] he would have the ancient charts left just as
they are, and by no means India brought more to the south,
as Eratosthenes thinks proper. Indeed, he asserts that the
very arguments adduced by that writer only confirm him the
more in his opinion. He says, According to Eratosthenes,
the northern side of the third section is bounded by a line of
10,000 stadia drawn from the Caspian Gates to the Euphrates,
the southern side from Babylon to the confines of Carmania
is a little more than 9000 stadia. On the western side, following the course of the Euphrates, from Thapsacus to Babylon
there are 4800 stadia, and thence to the outlets of the river
3000 stadia more. Northward from Thapsacus [to the Gates
of Armenia] is reckoned
We answer, that if the Caspian Gates and the boundary line of Carmania and Persia were exactly under the same meridian, and if right lines drawn in the direction of Thapsacus and Babylon would intersect such meridian at right angles,
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Strabo, Geography (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Str.].