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1 The Syrtes or 'Quicksands' are now called, the Lesser Syrtes the Gulf of Cabès, and the Greater the Gulf of Sydra. The country situate between the two Syrtes is called Tripoli, formerly Tripolis, a name which, according to Solinus, it owed to its three cities, Sabrata, Leptis, and Œa.
2 Marcus observes with reference to this passage, that both Hardouin and Poinsinet have mistaken its meaning. They evidently think that Pliny is speaking here of a route to the Syrtes leading from the interior of Africa, whereas it is pretty clear that he is speaking of the dangers which attend those who approach it by the line of the sea-coast, as Cato did, on his march to Utica, so beautifully described by Lucan in his Ninth Book. This is no doubt the same route which was taken by the caravans on their passage from Lebida, the ancient Leptis, to Berenice in Cyrenaica.
3 Those which we find at the middle of the coast bordering upon the Greater Syrtis, and which separate the mountains of Fezzan and Atlas from Cyrenaïca and Barca.
4 In its widest sense this name is applied to all the Libyan tribes inhabiting the Oases on the eastern part of the Great Desert, as the Gætulians inhabited its western part, the boundary between the two nations being drawn at the sources of the Bagrada and the mountain Usargala. In the stricter sense however, and in which the term must be here understood, the name 'Garamantes' denoted the people of Phazania, the modern Fezzan, which forms by far the largest oasis in the Grand Desert of Zahara.
5 Augylæ, now Aujelah, was an oasis in the desert of Barca, in the region of Cyrenaica, about 3 1/2° south of Cyrene. It has been remarked that Pliny, here and in the Eighth Chapter of the present Book, in abridging the account given by Herodotus of the tribes of Northern Africa, has transferred to the Augylæ what that author really says of the Nasamones. This oasis forms one of the chief stations on the caravan route from Cairo to Fezzan. It is placed by Rennell in 30°3′ North Lat. and 22°46′ East Long., 180 miles south-east of Barca, 180 west by north of Siwah, the ancient Ammonium, and 426 east by north of Mourzouk. Later authorities, however, place the village of Aujelah in 29°15′ North Lat. and 21°55′ East Long.
6 For an account of the Psylli see B. vii. c. 2. They probably dwelt in the vicinity of the modern Cape Mesurata.
7 Now Lake Lynxama, according to Marcus.
8 Marcus observes that in order properly to understand this passage we must remember that the ancients considered Africa as terminating north of the Equator, and imagined that from the Straits of Hercules the western coast of Africa ran, not towards the south-west, but slanted in a southeasterly direction to the Straits of Babelmandel.
9 The modern Tripoli.
10 A flourishing city with a mixed population of Libyans and Sicilians. It was at this place that Apuleius made his eloquent and ingenious defence against the charge of sorcery brought against him by his step-sons. According to some writers the modern Tripoli is built on its site, while other accounts make it to have been situate six leagues from that city.
11 Now called the Wady-el-Quaham.
12 Mannert is of opinion that this was only another name for the city of Leptis Magna or the "Greater Leptis" here mentioned by Pliny. There is little doubt that his supposition is correct.
13 The more common reading is Taphra or Taphara. D'Anville identifies it with the town of Sfakes.
14 Scylax identifies it with Neapolis or Leptis, and it is generally looked upon as being the same place as Sabrata or Old Tripoli.
15 Now called Lebida. It was the birth-place of the Emperor Septimius Severus. It was almost destroyed by an attack from a Libyan tribe A.D. 366, and its ruin was completed by the invasion of the Arabs. Its ruins are considerable.
16 Men of sea complexion," is the meaning of this Greek name. According to Marcus they dwelt between the Greater Leptis and the Lake Tritonis, at the present day called Schibkah-el-Loudeah. For a further account of the Lotophagi, see B. xiii. c. 32.
17 Two brothers, citizens of Carthage, who in a dispute as to their respective territories with the people of Cyrene, submitted to be buried alive in the sand, at the boundary-line between the two countries. Sallust (Jugurthine War) is the main authority for the story. It is also related by Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 7, and Valerius Maximus, B. v. c. 6, but from the Greek name of the brothers, meaning "lovers of praise," it is doubtful whether the story is not of spurious origin.
18 The Lake Tritonis mentioned in note11, p. 393.
19 Now called El Hammah, according to Shaw.
20 According to some accounts the goddess Pallas or Minerva was born on the banks of Lake Tritonis.
21 The modern Cape of Tajuni.
22 Now called Udina, according to Marcus.
23 Now called Tabersole, according to Marcus.
24 In the north of Byzacium, near the Bagrada and the confines of Numidia. It was the station of a Roman garrison, and considerable remains of it are still visible near the modern Zanfour.
25 Called Cannopissæ by Ptolemy, who places it to the east of Tabraca.
26 There is great doubt as to the correct orthography of these places, most of which can be no longer identified.
27 According to Marcus the present Porto Tarina.
28 Also called Achilla and Achulla, the ruins of which are to be seen at the modern El Aliah. It stood on the sea-coast of Byzacium, a little above the northern extremity of the Lesser Syrtis. It was a colony from the island of Melita, now Malta.
29 Now called El-Jemma, according to Marcus.
30 From it modern Tunis takes its name.
31 The birth-place of St. Augustin. It was to the north-west of Hippo Regius.
32 In the vicinity of this place, if it is the same as the Tigisis mentioned by Procopius, there were two columns to be seen in his day, upon which was written in the Phœnician language, "We fled from before the robber, Joshua the son of Nun."
33 There were two towns of this name in the proconsular province of Africa. The first was situate in the country of Zeugitana, five days' journey west of Carthage, and it was here that Scipio defeated Hannibal. The other bore the surname of Regia or Royal, from being the frequent residence of the Numidian kings. It lay in the interior, and at the present day its site bears the name of 'Zowarin' or 'Zewarin.'
34 The ruins of Capsa still bear the name of Cafsa or Ghafsah. It was an important city in the extreme south of Numidia, situate in an oasis, in the midst of an arid desert abounding in serpents. In the Jugurthine war it was the treasury of Jugurtha, and was taken and destroyed by Marius; but was afterwards rebuilt and made a colony.
35 They dwelt between the river Ampsaga or Wady-El-Kebir and the Tusca or Wady-Zain, the western boundary of the Carthaginian territory.
36 Dwelling to the east of the mountain Zalycus, now known as the Wanashrise, according to Shaw.
37 The ancients called by the name of 'Gætulians' all the people of Africa who dwelt south of the Mauritanias and Numidia, as far as the line which, according to their ideas, separated Africa from Æthiopia.
38 The Quorra most probably of modern geographers.
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- Cross-references to this page
(44):
- Harper's, Abrotŏnum
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ABRO´TONUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ACHILLA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), A´FRICA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ANTIOCHEIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARAE PHILAENO´RTUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ASPIS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ASSU´RAE
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AU´GILA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BORE´UM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CA´NDIDUM PROMONTORIUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CAPSA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CARTHA´GO
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CASTRA CORNE´LIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CINYPS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GAETU´LIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HIPPO DIA´RRHYTUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LEPTIS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LEPTIS MAGNA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LIBYPHOENI´CES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LOTO´PHAGI
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MATERENSE OPPIDUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MUSO´NES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), NIGEIR
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), OEA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHILAENI
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PSYLLI
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SABRATA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SIMITTU
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SY´RTICA REGIO or SYRTES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SYRTIS MAJOR
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TACAPE
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TAGASTE
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THAPSUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THENAE
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THUNU´DROMON
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THYSDRUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TIBIGENSE OPPIDUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TUBURBO MAJUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ULIZIBERA
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