Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK VI. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST, OR FORMERLY EXISTED., CHAP. 9. (9.)

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CHAP. 9. (9.)—THE LESSER AND THE GREATER ARMENIA.

Greater Armenia,¹ beginning at the mountains known as the Paryadres,² is separated, as we have already stated,³ from Cappadocia by the river Euphrates, and, where that river turns off⁴ in its course, from Mesopotamia, by the no less famous river Tigris. Both of these rivers take their rise in Armenia, which also forms the commencement of Mesopotamia, a tract of country which lies between these streams; the intervening space between them being occupied by the Arabian Orei.⁵ It thus extends its frontier as far as Adiabene, at which point it is stopped short by a chain of mountains which takes a cross direction; whereupon the province extends in width to the left, crossing the course of the Araxes,⁶ as far as the river Cyrus;⁷ while in length it reaches as far as the Lesser Armenia,⁸ from which it is separated by the river Absarus, which flows into the Euxine, and by the mountains known as the Paryadres, in which the Absarus takes its rise.

1 Greater Armenia, now known as Erzeroum, Kars, Van, and Erivan, was bounded on the north-east and north by the river Cyrus, or Kur of the present day; on the north-west and west by the Moschian mountains, the prolongation of the chain of the Anti-Taurus, and the Euphrates, or Frat of the present day; and on the south and south-east by the mountains called Masius, Niphates, and Gordiæi (the prolongation of the Taurus), and the lower course of the Araxes. On the east the country comes to a point at the confluence of the Syrus and Araxes.

2 Now known as the Kara-bel-Dagh, or Kut-Tagh, a mountain chain running south-west and north-east from the east of Asia Minor into the centre of Armenia, and forming the chief connecting link between the Taurus and the mountains of Armenia.

3 In B. v. c. 20.

4 He means, where the river Euphrates runs the farthest to the west.

5 Littré suggests that the reading should be "Aroei."

6 The modern Eraskh or Aras.

7 The modern Kur.

8 This district was bounded on the east by the Euphrates, on the north and north-west by the mountains Scodises, Paryadres, and Anti-Taurus, and on the south by the Taurus.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Cross-references to this page (7):
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APSARUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARACHO´SIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARME´NIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARMO´SOTA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CORA´XICI MONTES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PARYADRES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TIGRANOCERTA
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (5):
- Lewis & Short, Cappădŏcĭa
- Lewis & Short, Cappădox
- Lewis & Short, Cătăŏnĭa
- Lewis & Short, Leucŏsyri
- Lewis & Short, Thĕmiscȳra

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 9. (9.)—THE LESSER AND THE GREATER ARMENIA.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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Table of Contents:

CHAP. 9. (9.)—THE LESSER AND THE GREATER ARMENIA.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.