PARYADRES
PARYADRES (
Παρυάδρης,
Παρυάθρις, or
Παρυάρδης), a range of lofty and rugged mountains in the north of Pontus, which is connected with Mount Taurus and Mount Caucasus (
Strab. xi. p.497, xii. p. 548;
Plin. Nat. 5.27,
6.9,
11).
It commences at the western extremity of the Montes Moschici, proceeds in a south-western direction round Pontus, and there forms the frontier between Armenia and Cappadocia.
A more southern branch of the same mountain is the Scoedises. Ptolemy (
5.13. § § 5, 9) describes this mountain as containing the sources of the Euphrates and Araxes, and accordingly includes within its range Mount Abus, from which others make those rivers flow. The Paryadres contains the sources of only small rivers, of which the largest is the Absarus.
The mountain was in ancient times thickly covered with wood, and the population upon and about it consisted of robbers (
Strab. xii. p.548). Many parts of the mountain are extremely rugged, and almost inaccessible, whence Mithridates of Pontus built many of his treasure-houses there, and
[p. 2.555]when pursued by Pompey, concealed himself in its fastnesses.
In a climatic point of view the mountain divides Pontus into two distinct regions ; for while the north side is stern and cold, its southern side is delightfully warm. Hence the ancients called the point of transition in a pass between Trapezus and Satale, the Frigidarium.
The modern name of the mountain is generally
Kuttag, but it is also called
Kara Bel. (Tournefort,
Voyage i. lettre 18. p. 107.)
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