RHAGAE
RHAGAE (
Ῥαγαί, Arrian,
Anab. 3.30; Strab. xi. pp. 514, 524;
Ῥάγεια, Isidor. Char. § 7;
ἡ Ῥάγα,
Steph. B. sub voce Ῥάγαια,
Ptol. 6.5.4; Rhages,
Tobit, 1.14: Eth.
Ῥαγηνός), a great town of Media Magna, the capital of the province of Rhagiana, which is first known to us in history as the place to which the Jewish exiles were sent. (
Tobit, 1.14, 4.20, 9.2.)
It was situated in the eastern part of the country towards Parthia, one day's journey from the Pylae Caspiae (Arrian,
Arr. Anab. 3.20) and 10 days' march from Ecbatana (
Hamadán).
The name of the place is stated by Strabo to have been derived from the frequent earthquakes to which it had been subject, but this is contrary to all probability (
Strab. xi. p.514); he adds, also, that, like many other places in the neighbourhood, it had been built (or rather rebuilt) by the Greeks (p. 524).
In later times it appears to have been rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator, who called it Europus. (Strab.
l.c.) Still later it appears to have been again rebuilt by one of the house of Arsaces, who named it in consequence Arsacia. (Strab.
l.c.; Steph. B. sub voce In modern times the ancient name has returned; and the ruins of
Rhey, which have been visited and described by many travellers, no doubt represent the site of the ancient Rhagae. (Ker Porter,
Travels, vol. i. p. 358.) Pliny mentions a town of Parthia, which he calls Apameia Rhagiane (6.14.17). Some geographers have contended that this is the same as Rhagae; but the inference is rather that it is not.
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