THE LESSER AND THE GREATER ARMENIA

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Armenia autem Maior incipit a Parihedris montibus, Euphrate amne, ut dictum est, aufertur Cappa- dociae et, qua discedit Euphrates, Mesopotamiae haut minus claro amne Tigri. utrumque fundit ipsa et initium Mesopotamiae facit inter duos amnes exiturae; quod interest ibi, tenent Arabes Orroei. sic finem usque in -Adiabenen perfert, ab ea transversis iugis inclusa latitudinem in laeva pandit ad Cyrum amnem transversa Araxen, longitudinem vero ad Minorem usque Armeniam, Absarro amne in Pontum defluente et Parihedris montibus, qui fundunt Absarrum, discreta ab illa.

Cyrus oritur in Heniochis montibus, quos alii Coraxicos vocavere, Araxos eodem monte quo Euphrates, VI p. intervallo, auctusque amne Vsi et ipse, ut plures existimavere, Cyro defertur in Caspium mare. oppida celebrantur in Minore Caesarea, Aza, Nicopolis, in Maiore Arsamosata Euphrati proximum, Tigri Carcathiocerta, in excelso autem Tigranocerta, at in campis iuxta Araxen Artaxata. universae magnitudinem Aufidius quinquagiens centena milia prodidit, Claudius Caesar longitudinem a Dascusa ad confinium Caspii maris XIII p., latitudinem dimidium eius Tigranocerta ad Hiberiam. dividitur, quod certum est, in praefecturas, quas strategias vocant, quasdam ex his vel singula regna quondam, barbaris nominibus CXX. claudunt eam montes ab oriente, sed non statim Cerauni nec Adiabene regio. quod interest spatii, Cepheni tenent; ab his iuga ultra Adiabeni tenent, per convalles autem proximi Armeniae sunt Menobardi et Moscheni. Adiabenen Tigris et montes invii cingunt. ab laeva eius regio Medorum est ad prospectum Caspii maris. ex oceano hoc, ut suo loco dicemus, infunditur, totumque Caucasis montibus cingitur. incolae per confinium Armeniae nunc dicentur.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Greater Armenia, beginning at the mountains known as the Paryadres, is separated, as we have already stated, from Cappadocia by the river Euphrates, and, where that river turns off in its course, from Mesopotamia, by the no less famous river Tigris. Both of these rivers take their rise in Armenia, which also forms the commencement of Mesopotamia, a tract of country which lies between these streams; the intervening space between them being occupied by the Arabian Orei. It thus extends its frontier as far as Adiabene, at which point it is stopped short by a chain of mountains which takes a cross direction; whereupon the province extends in width to the left, crossing the course of the Araxes, as far as the river Cyrus; while in length it reaches as far as the Lesser Armenia, from which it is separated by the river Absarus, which flows into the Euxine, and by the mountains known as the Paryadres, in which the Absarus takes its rise.

The river Cyrus takes its rise in the mountains of the Heniochi, by some writers called the Coraxici; the Araxes rises in the same mountains as the river Euphrates, at a distance from it of six miles only; and after being increased by the waters of the Usis, falls itself, as many authors have supposed, into the Cyrus, by which it is carried into the Caspian Sea.

The more famous towns in Lesser Armenia are Cæsarea, Aza, and Nicopolis; in the Greater Arsamosata, which lies near the Euphrates, Carcathiocerta upon the Tigris, Tigranocerta which stands on an elevated site, and, on a plain adjoining the river Araxes, Artaxata. According to Aufidius, the circumference of the whole of Armenia is five thousand miles, while Claudius Cæsar makes the length, from Dascusa to the borders of the Caspian Sea, thirteen hundred miles, and the breadth, from Tigranocerta to Iberia, half that distance. It is a well-known fact, that this country is divided into prefectures, called “Strategies,” some of which singly formed a kingdom in former times; they are one hundred and twenty in number, with barbarous and uncouth names. On the east, it is bounded, though not immediately, by the Ceraunian Mountains and the district of Adiabene. The space that intervenes is occupied by the Sopheni, beyond whom is the chain of mountains, and then beyond them the inhabitants of Adiabene. Dwelling in the valleys adjoining to Armenia are the Menobardi and the Moscheni. The Tigris and inaccessible mountains surround Adiabene. To the left of it is the territory of the Medi, and in the distance is seen the Caspian Sea; which, as we shall state in the proper place, receives its waters from the ocean, and is wholly surrounded by the Caucasian Mountains. The inhabitants upon the confines of Armenia shall now be treated of.