a tribe called Asiones, who latterly joined the Mæonians. It is thought likewise to have been first applied to the whole continent, after the Ionian colonists wandered from Greece to the shores of Asia or Lydia; when, from their being said by their countrymen to have settled in Asia, this name came finally to be applied to the continent itself. Asia Minor is sometimes called Asia, as is also that part of the peninsula which belonged to the Romans, and was by them afterwards named Asia Proconsularis. 3. In the early times, Asia seems to have been distinguished, as it is by us at the present day, merely by the relative term The East, or the country towards the Sun-rising, poc H 7' 'Héλióv Te1; the origin of the name Asia is derived by some from the Hebrew word Khazr, signifying the Central Land, but there seems little reason to justify this appellation. Some of the earlier authors make the Phasis the boundary of Asia towards Europe, as has been already shown in the previous chapter (Sect. 3); but the generally received notions removed it farther Westward, to the Tanais. There was also a considerable diversity of opinion with respect to the limit between Asia and Africa. The narrow Isthmus of Suez, extending from the head of the Arabian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, and pointed out by nature as the true line of demarcation between the two continents, did not escape the notice of the ancients; but, as they found here neither river nor mountain to serve as an actual barrier, they pushed the boundary farther Westward to the Nile. 4. Amongst the principal mountains of Asia we may mention M'. Taurus, now called Ramadan Oglu, Kurin, &c. which takes it's rise on the shores of the Mediterranean, in Sacrum Pr. C. Khelidonia, the S. E. promontory of Lycia: hence it runs with an Easterly direction through the whole Southern part of Asia Minor, crosses the Euphrates on the borders of Syria and Mesopotamia, and assumes in the last province the name of Masius Karadja Dag. Towards the head of the Tigris it joins M'. Niphates and the Carduchii Montes Jeudi M3, whence it takes à S. E. course to the great range of Zagros Aiagha Dag, on the confines of Media; this last subsequently traverses the whole S. part of Persia to the borders of India. In the Eastern part of Asia Minor there is a range of mountains, which, diverging from the Taurus, and running for some distance almost in a parallel line with it, is called the Anti-Taurus; it trends, however, to the North East, past the springs of the Euphrates, and finally connects itself with M. Caucasus. M'. Caucasus, which still preserves it's 4*Αψοῤῥοι δ' ἔπειτα πρὸς ἠῶ τ' ἡἑλιόν τε 5 Ardet Athos, Taurusque Cilix, et Tmolus, et Ete, 6 Ovid. Met. II. 217. potestas Herbarum, quidquid lethali germine pollens Claudian, in Ruf. I. 153. name, runs across the isthmus, between the Euxine and Caspian Seas, and is connected towards the South with several ranges of mountains; amongst these rises the lofty Ararat Agri Dag, in Armenia, upon which the ark is thought to have rested after the Deluge. The ridge, which strikes off hence to the Eastward, is known as Caspius M. or Elburz, in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, but it's continuation, through the N. part of Persia, is called Paropamisus and Caucasus Hindoo Coosh. It attains it's greatest elevation on the N. frontier of India, where it is called Emodi Montes, or the Himaleh Mountains, and is remarkable as being the highest known land in the whole world. The Imaus G. Altai M'. is a range of the Emodi M3., which quits them towards the springs of the Ganges and Indus, and stretches in a N. E. direction, across Scythia or Mongolia, till it joins the great ridge of Sayansk or Yablonnoy. The ancients appear to have known nothing concerning this last ridge of mountains; it separates Mongolia from Siberia, and after coasting the shores of the Eastern Ocean, terminates in East Cape, the E. extremity of the whole continent. 5. The elevations of these, and some other great mountains of Asia, above the level of the sea, will be found in the following table: SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL MOUNTAINS IN ASIA. 6. The principal countries in Asia known to the ancients were, Asia Minor, which still maintains it's name, at the W. extremity of the continent, between the Euxine, Ægæan, and Mediterranean Seas: to the South of it, lay Syria Syria, and still farther South, Arabia Arabia, the shores of which last are washed by the Indian Ocean. To the S. of the Caucasus, between the Euxine and Caspian Seas, and to the East of Asia Minor, were the provinces of Armenia, Colchis, Iberia, and Albania, now Armenia, Georgia, and Daughistan. Below these, to the East of Syria, and the upper part of Arabia, were the three provinces of Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia, now Kourdistan, Al Gezira, and Irak Arabi, which last extended to the Persian Gulf: they were watered by the two great rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and from their having formed the main part of the Assyrian Empire, they are sometimes mentioned collectively, under the name of Assyria. To the East of the Assyrian provinces lay the great Empire of Persia, now Persia and Cabul, which extended nearly as far East as the Indus; to it belonged the provinces of Media Irak Ajemi, Susiana Khuzistan, Persis Fars, Carmania Kerman, Parthia Khorasan, Hyrcania Astrabad, Ariana Cabul, and Gedrosia Mekran. 7. To the East of the Persian provinces was India, divided by the Ganges, into two parts: the Westernmost of these was called India intra Gangem, and corresponded generally with what we call India; the Easternmost was called India extra Gangem, and included Tibet, with the chief part of the Birman Empire. Beyond India, to the Eastward, were the dominions of the Sina or Chinese, beyond whose frontier the ancients appear to have possessed very little knowledge: they seem also to have been altogether unacquainted with the East India Islands, excepting Sumatra, which they called Iabadii I., and the Northern part of which alone they seem to have heard of. To the N. of the Sina was Serica, which was likewise a part of China and Chinese Tartary. To the W. of this, above India and Persia, were the vast yet little known regions of Scythia, now called Chinese Tartary and Tartary Proper; they were divided by M'. Imaus into Scythia intra, and Scythia extra, Imaum, the former being to the Westward. That part of Scythia intra Imaum, which bordered upon India, was inhabited by the powerful tribes of the Saca and Massagetæ: to the West of them were the two provinces of Sogdiana Bokhara, and Bactriana Balkh, which were only separated from the Persian province Ariana, by the range of the Paropamisus. Sarmatia Asiatica corresponded with the Western Part of Asiatic Russia, being divided from Sarmatia Europea by the R. Tanais. The ancients left the boundaries of the three enormous provinces Sarmatia, Scythia, and Serica, quite undetermined towards the North; indeed, they seem to have known but little about the countries themselves, excepting what they heard from the confused accounts of those travellers, who traded in silk and other Indian merchandize. 8. The various sizes of these countries, compared with each other, may be seen by the following table: 8 9. The principal rivers of Asia are, in Asia Minor, the Halys Kizil Irmak, which runs into the Euxine, and the Mæander7 Mendere, which runs into the Egæan Sea: in Syria, the Orontes (or Axius) Aaszy, flowing into the Mediterranean opposite Cyprus; and the Jordanes Jordan (or Sherya), which empties itself into the Dead Sea. There is no river of any consequence in Arabia; the longest is called the Aftan, and finds it's way into the Persian Gulf. In Sarmatia Asiatica, besides the Rha or Volga, which we have already mentioned as partly in Europe, there are the Hypanis Kuban, and Alonta Terek; the latter runs into the Caspian, the former into the Palus Mæotis. The two great rivers of Armenia, the Cyrus or Kur, and the Araxes or Aras, both enter the Caspian Sea. In Assyria, we find the Euphrates Euphrates (or Frat), and 7 Mæandros, toties qui terris errat in iisdem, 9 Ovid. Heroid. IX. 55. Jam princeps molitur iter, gentesque remotas Claudian. de III. Cons. Honor. 70. pontem indignatus Araxes. Virg. Æn. VIII. 728 the Tigris 10 Tigris (or Teer), which both flow into the Persian Gulf by one mouth. The Amardus Sufeed of Media, and the Socanda Attruck of Hyrcania, are small rivers; they run into the S. part of the Caspian Sea, the former on the West, and the latter on the East side. The two great rivers of Ariana, the Aria Heri, and the Etymandrus Heermund, terminate in inland seas, and never reach the ocean. Above these are the Oxus or Jihon, and the Iaxartes or Sihon, which both enter the Aral Sea, though it is supposed by many, that the former once ran into the Caspian: the Daix fl. Oural (or Jaik), is an unimportant river, though of some magnitude, which flows down from the Oural Ms. into the Caspian Sea. 10. In the N. W. part of India, is the famous Indus fl. Indus, which rises in the Emodi Montes, and, having broken through the Paropamisus or Indian Caucasus, enters the sea by several mouths. Below it, may be mentioned the Erymanthus Bunwas, Namadus Nerbuddah, and Nanaguna Tapty, which traverse the Western side of India, and discharge their waters into the Erythræan Sea: on the Eastern side of the Peninsula are the Chaberis Cauvery, Mesolus Kistna, Goaris Godavery, and Manada Mahanuddy, which all flow into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges 11 Ganges rises in the Emodi Montes (as does also it's great tributary, the Jomanes or Jumna), and, having separated the two immense provinces of India, empties itself into the Bay of Bengal, to which it formerly gave the name of Gangeticus Sinus. In India extra Gangem were the Dyardanes or Burrampooter, the great river of Tibet, which likewise runs into the Bay of Bengal; the Sabaracus or Irrawaddy, which flows through the Birman Empire into Sabaracus Sinus G. of Martaban; and the Serus Maygue, which runs through Siam into the Great Gulf of Siam. The Cotiaris fl. is now called the Cambodia R., from it's running through Cambodia into the China Sea. The Bautisus fl. Hoang-Ho or Yellow R. was the largest river in the world known to the ancients, though they had no notion of it's immense size, having been acquainted with only the upper part of it's course; it runs into the Yellow Sea. 10 Antè, pererratis amborum finibus, exul Virg. Ecl. I. 63. 11 Nec patria est habitata tibi: sed ad usque nivosum Ovid. Trist. V. iii. 23. |