Rha
(
Ῥά). Now the Volga; a great river of Asia, first
mentioned by Ptolemy, who describes it as rising in the north of Sarmatia, in two branches,
Rha Occidentalis and Rha Orientalis (the Volga and the Kama), after the junction of which it
flowed southwest, forming the boundary between Sarmatia Asiatica and Scythia, till near the
Tanaïs (Don), where it suddenly turns to the southeast, and falls into the
northwestern part of the Caspian (
Ptol.v. 9; vi. 14).