the Cafpian fea; on the fouth by Perfis, Sufiana, and Affyria; on the eaft by Parthia and Hyrcania; and on the weft by Armenia Major. It was, in antient times, divided into several provinces, namely Tropatene, Charomithrene, Darites, Marciane, Amariace, and Syro-Media. All these were, by a later divifion, reduced to two only, the one called Media Magna, the other Media Atropatia, or fimply Atropatene. Atropatene was that part which lay between mount Taurus and the Cafpian fea, and is fuppofed to have been fo called from one Atropatus, who, being governor of this province in the time of Darius, the last Persian monarch, withstood Alexander the Great, and, upon the downfal of the Perfian monarchy, feized on this part of Media, and tranfmitted it to his pofterity, who held it as fovereigns to Strabo's time. This was a cold, barren, and unhofpitable country, and on that very account allotted by Shalmanezer for the abode of many captive Ifraelites, after the conqueft of that kingdom. CITIES of note, in this part of Media, were Gaza or Gaza, the metropolis of the province, and fituated, according to Pliny, in a fpacious plain, betweeen Ecbatan and Artaxata, and equally distant from both. Sanina, feated between the Araxes and the Cambyfes; Fazina, between the Cambyfes and the Cyrus; and Cyropolis, between the Cyrus and the Amardus. This tract was inhabited by the Cadufians and Cafpians, a barbarous and inhuman race, originally sprung from the Scythians d. MEDIA MAGNA was bounded by Perfis, Parthia, Hyrcania, the Hyrcanian fea, and Atropatene. The most remarkable cities in this part of Media were Ecbatan, Laodicea, Apamea, Regeia, Arfacia, &c. Ecbatan, the metropolis of all Media, and the feat both of the Median and Perfian monarchs, was built by Dejoces, called in the book of Judith Arphaxad, the first that reigned • STRAB. ibid. p. 523. e b STRAB. I. xi. p. 360, & 363. Judith i. z. d PLIN. . vi. c. 13. a city here called Media, whence, fay they, the whole country borrowed its name (1). Sextus Rufus tells us, that in his time it was known by the name of Medena (2); and from (1) Strab. 1. xi. p. 526.. (3) Ortel. ibid. others we learn (3), that it was alfo called Aria. But to inquire farther into the origin of these various appellations, would prove both a laborious and fruitless task. (2) Ortel. thef. geogr, ad vocem Media, in Media, after the inhabitants had fhaken off the Affyrian yoke. The walls of this city are much celebrated by the antients, and minutely defcribed by Herodotus 1. They were seven in number, all of a circular form, and gradually rifing above each other by the height of the battlements of each wall. The fituation of the ground, rifing by an eafy ascent, was very favourable to the defign of building them, and perhaps firft fuggefted it. The royal palace and treasury were within the innermoft circle of the feven. The firft of thefe walls was equal in circumference to the city of Athens, that is, according to Thucydides, one hundred and feventy-eight furlongs, and had white battlements; the fecond black; the third of a purple colour; the fourth blue; and the fifth of a deep orange; but the two innermoft, as ferving more immediately for a fence to the royal perfon of the king, were embellished above the others, the one being covered with filver, and the other with gold ". This defcription of Herodotus favours, we muft own, fomewhat of romance; but, nevertheless, that Ecbatan was a great and powerful city, and perhaps no-ways inferior either to Nineveh or Babylon, is confirmed by far greater authorities. In the book of Judith we read, that the walls of this stately metropolis were feventy cubits high, and fifty cubits broad; that the towers on the gates were an hundred cubits in height, the breadth in the foundation' fixty cubits, and the walls built of hewn and polished ftone, each ftone being fix cubits in length, and three in breadth. This city is, by the antients, conftantly called Ecbatan of Media, to diftinguish it from another in Syria bearing the fame name, where the unfortunate Cambyfes died, as we read in Herodotus (B). • HERODOT. 1. i. c. 98. h HERODOT. ibid. LAODI f HERODOT. ubi fupra. * Lib. i. Judith c. i. 2, 4. * HERODOT. 1. iii. c. 62. DIODOR. 1. xiv. c. 23. PLIN. 1. vi. C. 27. PLUTARCH. in Alex. p. 704. TACIT. 1. XV. c. 31, &c. HERODOT. 1. iii. c. 66. (B) Pliny (4) tells us, that Ec- tus, but likewise in Demofthebatan was built by Seleucus; an nes (5), who calls it the ordiunaccountable overfight, fincenary refidence of the Perfian he must have read a defcrip- monarchs. On the other hand, tion of it not only in Herodo- Diodorus (6) carries the build (4) Plin. 1. vi. c. 14. (5) Demofth. Philip. iv. p. 100. Sicul. 1, ü, &o 121 B 3 (6) Diodor. ing n LAODICE A, of which appellation there were many towns, fo called either from the mother of Nicator, or the wife of Antiochus, is counted, by Strabo m, among the cities of Media, and placed, by Pliny ", near the confines of Perfia. Apamea is, by Strabo, fometimes adjudged to Media, and fometimes to Parthia. Raga, Rageia, or Ragea, is called, by Ifidorus P, the greatest city of Media. It was repaired by Nicator, who called it Europus, and by that name it was known to Ptolemy; but, in the book of Tobit, it is called Rages, and placed in m STRAB. 1. xi. p. 361. n L, vi. c. 26. • STRAB. 1. xi. P. 354, & 361. PISIDOR. p. 361. ing of this town back to the 181. mer; nay, there is a great difagreement among our modern travellers about the place where that ftately metropolis ftood. The opinion of Molet, who tranflated and wrote a commentary upon Ptolemy, seems to Sir John Chardin the most probable, viz. that Tauris is the antient and famous Ecbatan (8); and this opinion is confirmed by Ortelius, Golnitz, Teixera, Andrea della Valle, &c. Jofephus affures us (9), that the palace built by Daniel was intire in his time; but at prefent not even the ruins of any magnificent buildings are to be feen either at Tauris, or in that neighbourhood; for in all the ruins there the materials, as our traveller judiciously obferves (10), are only earth, brick, and pebbles, which in antient times were never used in Media for the building of palaces. Some writers confound Ecbatan with Batana, which is evidently Ptolemy's Batina, and placed by him to the north of mount Orontes, near the river Straton. (7) Ammian. Marcell. I. xxiii. c. 23. (8) Chardin. voy. en Perf. vol. i. (9) Jefeph. antiquitat. x.(10) Chardin ubi fupra. the neighbourhood of Ecbatan P. In procefs of time, it became the feat of the Parthian kings; who gave it the name of Arfacia, or Arface, as we fhall fee in the history of that people. Other cities of Media are mentioned by Pliny, Stephanus, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Ifidorus; viz. Zombis, Patigran, Gazaca, Margafis, &c. but these were all built in after-ages by the Macedonians, and are therefore called, by Strabo 4, Greek cities. This part of Media was inhabited by the Carduchians, Marandæans, Gelians, Syro-Medians, Margafians, &c. THE mountains of this country, fuch as may be proper Mountains to take notice of, are, according to Ptolemy and Strabo, andrivers. Choatra parting Media from Affyria, and branching out from the Gordyean mountains on the confines of Affyria and Armenia; Zagrus dividing it from the fame Affyria on the east, a mountain, according to Polybius, one hundred cubits high. Parachoatra placed by Ptolemy on the borders towards Perfia, and by Strabo t on the confines of Media, Hyrcania, and Parthia. Thefe are the boundaries between Media and the adjacent regions, and therefore may be faid as properly to belong to the latter as to the former; but the Orontes, the Jafonius, and the Coronus, are in the strictest sense mountains of Media, as arifing in the very heart of the country. The rivers of note are, according to Ptolemy, the Straton, the Amardus, the Cyrus, and the Cambyfes. But thefe rivers, as they are reprefented to difembogue themselves into the most fouthern part of the Cafpian fea, muft by their pofition have belonged to the provinces of Ghilan and Mazandaran, as they are now call'd, and confequently could not belong to Media Proper, as it is defcribed to us by the antients. WE cannot help taking notice here of a confiderable mistake, which many of the antients have been guilty of, with refpect to the fituation of the Cafpian Streights, called by the Latins Porta Cafpia, Clauftra Cafpia, and Pylæ Cafpia. Ptolemy, Strabo, Arrian, Ifidorus, Characenus, and Dionyfius Periegeta ", place them on the confines of Media and Parthia, or on the eaftern borders of Media. But Pliny, not liking this fituation, carries them quite cross the country; and, after having been fome time at a lofs how to difpofe of fo heavy a load, drops it at last on P Ch. v. & feq. paff. 1 STRAB. 1. vi. p. 361. • Idem POLYB. 1. v. c. 44. STRAB. ubi fupra. ibid. p. 363. Soil. the confines of Media and Armenia, that is, on the moft western borders of Media ". Suetonius and Tacitus y confound them with the Iberian ftreights, which are a narrow paffage through the mountains dividing Iberia from Sarmatia. Some of our modern geographers place them in Media Atropatia, between the Cafpian mountains and the Cafpian fea, confounding them with what the present inhabitants call Demir-can, or Iron-gate, which is a narrow paffage out of Tartary into Perfia. THE northern parts of Media, lying between the Cafpian mountains and the fea, are very cold and barren: the prefent inhabitants make their bread of dried almonds, and their drink of the juice of certain herbs. Here the fnow lies on the mountains for nine months in the year 2. But the fouthern parts are productive of all forts of grain, and neceflaries for life, and withal fo pleasant, that the country adjoining to Tauris, probably the antient Ecbatan, is called the garden of Perfia. There are here large plains, among which that of Nyfa is famous for the numerous ftuds of horfes that were kept in it for the ufe of the Perfian monarchs, and are often mentioned and celebrated by the antients. Where this plain of Nyfa was fituated, is no easy matter to determine (C). w PLIN. 1. vi, c. 15. * SUETON. C. 19. THE Y TACIT. I. i. hift. c. 6. Z CHARDIN VOY. en Perfe, vol. i. p. 524. (C) The antients place the 66 |