Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

A GENERAL INDEX to the Whole.

Ισορίας ἀρχαίας ἐξέρχεται μὴ κατανοει· ἐν αὐταῖς γὰρ ευρήσεις
ακόπως, ἅπερ ἕτεροι συνῆξαν ἐγκόπως.

IN RECTO DECVS

Printed for T. OSBORNE, in Gray's-Inn; A. MILLAR, in
the Strand; and J. OSBORN, in Pater-nofter Row.

M.DCC.XLVII,

221. f 156

[blocks in formation]

AN

Universal History,

FROM THE

Earliest Account of Time.

VOL. X.

BOOK II.

The GRECIAN and ASIATIC Hiftory.

T

СНАР. V.,

The Hiftory of the Cappadocians,

SECT. I.

The Defcription of Cappadocia.

HIS country was known to the antients by the name Name and of Syria or Affyria, and the inhabitants by that of divifion. Leucofyri. It borrowed the name of Cappadocia, according to Pliny b, from the river Cappadox; according to Heredianus, from one Cappadocus, the founder of this nation and kingdom. Others fuppofe the name of Cappadocia derived from fome barbarous word, whereof the meaning is unknown to us; for the river Cappadox is mentioned only by Pliny, and Cappadocus, the pretended founder of the nation, is fpoken of by none of the antient hiftorians. Cappadocia, in ancient times, comprised all that country which lies between mount Taurus and the Euxine fea; and was divided b HERODIAN. apud STEPHAN.

- Lib. vi. c. 3. VOL. X.

[blocks in formation]

Cities.

by the Perfians into two fatrapies or governments, by th Macedonians into two kingdoms; the one called Cappadocia Taurum, and Cappadocia Magna; the other Cappadocia ad Po tum, and commonly Pontus. Of the latter we have give the history already; of the former we are to write in th chapter. Cappadocia Magna, or Cappadocia, properly called, lies between the thirty-eighth and forty-first degre of north latitude; and was bounded by Pontus on the north; b Lycaonia, and part of Armenia Minor, on the fouth; by Gala tia, on the west; and by the Euphrates, and part of Armeni Minor, on the east. Under king Archelaus, and fome of h predeceffors, Cappadocia was divided, as Strabo informs u into ten prefectures, five of which lay near mount Taurus viz. Melitena, Cataonia, Cilicia, Tyanitis, Ifauritis; th other five comprehended the remaining part of the kingdom but Strabo leaves us in the dark as to their fituation, and th towns of note which they contained.

THE metropolis of all Cappadocia, in antient times, wa Mazaca or Eufebia, called afterwards Cæfarea by Tiberius, i honour of Auguftus. This latter name it ftill retains, bein called by the inhabitants Kefaria. It is built round a rock as Tavernier informs us, on the top of which ftands à caftle and is ftill a populous and confiderable city. It was the fe of the renowned St. Bafil, and its archbishop to this day hold the first rank among the prelates who are under the patriarc of Conftantinople. The other cities of note in Cappadocia are Comana, called Comana Cappadocia, to diftinguish it from an other city of the fame name in Pontus. This city was famou in antient times for a temple confecrated to Bellona, whof priefts and attendants of both fexes amounted, in Strabo's time to the number of fix thoufand, and upwards. The chief prieft was lord of the adjoining country, and, in honour, nex to the king, being commonly of the royal family. Nya in Chriftian times, the fee of Gregory, furnamed Nyffenus, an brother to St. Bafil. Nazianzum, the fee and place of nati vity of another Gregory, no lefs celebrated by the writers o ecclefiaftical history. Archelais, fo called from Archelau king of Cappadocia, who either founded, or repaired and em bellished it. Diocæfarea, placed by Pliny in Cappadocia, by others in Phrygia, and antiently called, as we read in Strabo, Cabria. Fauftinopolis, fo called in honour of Fauftina, wife to the emperor Antoninus. Cabiftra, mentioned by Tully in his letters. Pierium, memorable for the overthrow of Croefus by Cyrus, which was attended with the ruin of the Lydian kingdom.

Cic. lib. xv. epift. 11. ad fenat. & ad Attic. I. v. epift. 18.
THE

THE rivers of this country that deferve any notice, are, Rivers. the Melas, which indeed rifes in the western borders of Galatia, but paffes through the fouthern borders of this kingdom and Armenia, and falls into the Euphrates; the Halys, which rifes near Nazianzum; and, bending firft to the weft, and then to the north, paffes through Galatia and Paphlagonia, and difcharges itself into the Euxine fea, between Synope and Amifas; the Iris, now Cafalmac, which, as Strabo informs us, pafled through Amafia, his own country, and, receiving the Themifeyra, falls into the Euxine fea, not far from Amifus.

THIS Country produces excellent wines, and moft kinds of Soil and fruits; and was formerly rich in mines of filver, brafs, iron, climate. and alum; affording alfo great ftore of alabafter, crystal, jasper, and onyx-ftone. But it was chiefly celebrated by the antients for its breed of horses, which were, and still are, in great requeft. Some parts of Cappadocia are very mountainous and barren, the Antitaurus running through those provinces which border on the two Armenia's. In this part of Cappadocia ftands mount Argaus, of fuch an extraordinary height, that one may fee, as fome authors relate, from the top of it, the Euxine fea on one fide, and the Mediterranean on the other.

Cappadocia was probably peopled by Togarmah, the last Origin. fon of Gomer, and his defcendants. Bochart obferves, that the Cappadocians are faid by the fathers to be defcended from Caphtorim, the laft of the offspring of Mizraim, and that Caphtor is rendered by the feptuagint Cappadocia. In this, without all doubt, they followed the Jews, who explain thofe e names the fame way, as do the three Chaldee paraphrafts. But by Cappadocia, in thefe writings, is not to be understood Cappadocia in Afia Minor, as Bochart judged; but fome place t in Egypt, generally fuppofed, by the rabbies, to be Demyat or Demietta, commonly confounded with Pelufium.

[ocr errors]

As to the ftate of this nation in the early times, we are Govern quite in the dark. Gtefias, as quoted by Diodorus Siculus, tells ment. fus, that from the very beginning it was fubject to foreign princes. But that writer is no ways to be depended upon. Cappadocia was, without all doubt, a province of the kingdom of Lydia; and after the overthrow of Crafus paffed from the Lydians to the Perfians, to whom the Cappadocians paid an annual tribute, as Strabo writes, of fifteen hundred horfes, two thousand mules, and fifty thoufand fheep. The fit king of Cappadocia we find mentioned in hiftory is PharSee vol. i. p. 376, 377. BOCHART. phaleg. 1. iv. c. 31. f Rabbi SAADIAS & MAIMONIDES apud LIGHTFOOT. Oper. ii. P. 398. STRAB. Lxii. p. 370.

B3

maces,

« ZurückWeiter »