NESAEA
NESAEA (
Νησαία), a district mentioned in two places in Strabo, with slightly differing descriptions: 1. as a country belonging to Hyrcania, and watered by the Ochus, now
Tedjen (xi. p. 509); 2. as a distinct and independent land (xi. p. 511).
The geographer probably meant to imply a narrow strip of land, whose boundaries were Hyrcania, Ariana, and Parthia respectively, and corresponding with the present
Khorásan. It may be identified with the existing
Nissa, a small town to the N. of the
Alburz chain of mountains, between
Asterábád and
Meshed. (Wilson,
Ariana, pp. 142--148.)
There has been some doubt as to the orthography of the name, which, in some of the editions, is called
Νισαία; but, on the whole, the above is probably the best.
It is not unlikely that the place called by Isidorus
Parthaynisa, “which the Greeks call Nisaea,” must also be identified with the present
Nissa. The same district answers to the “regio Nisiaea Parthyenes nobilis” in Pliny (
6.25. s. 29).
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