ASIA. may remark, that small mountainous or maritime CHAP. I. districts frequently embraced several languages, because the former were occupied by numerous independent tribes, and the latter by foreign settlers of various origin. On the other hand, throughout the vast plains of central Asia extensive regions might be traversed where a single language was spoken, with only occasional variations in its dialects. We may also notice that the same mountain chains, or mighty rivers, which formed the boundaries of different kingdoms, became also the boundaries of different languages. One speech prevailed from the Aegean to the Halys; another from the Halys to the Tigris; and again, another from the Tigris to the Indus and the Oxus. Languages of Asia In the interior of Asia Minor, as far as the Halys, Minor, from the prevailing speech seems to have been the antothe fays cient Phrygian, which was probably a branch of Semitic dialects between the Halys and Tigris. the Armenian. In the Greek colonies which lined the western coast the Greek language was habitually spoken, but the original speech of the country was apparently the Carian and its dialects, the Lydians, Mysians, and Carians all speaking dialects of the same general language. The northern half of the peninsula was occupied by colonies from Thrace, who settled in Bithynia and spoke their native tongue; their territory extending as far as the river Parthenius, (or Chati-su,) which separated them from the Paphlagonians, who spoke a language of their own, if indeed it were not a dialect of the Phrygian. In the southern half a still greater variety of languages appears to have prevailed, but with respect to these we possess no accurate information. Eastward of the Halys commenced the empire of a mighty language, which was spoken as far to the cast as the Tigris, and from the heights of Caucasus to the most southern coasts of Arabia. This was the Semitic. Its dialects were, the Cappadocian, on the right bank of the Halys; the Syrian, between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates; the Assyrian, on the farther side of the Tigris in Kurdistan, or the ancient Adiabene;' the Chaldaean, in Babylonia; ASIA. the Hebrew and Samaritan, in Palestine; the Phoe- CHAP. 1. nician, in the ports and colonies of Phoenicia; and lastly, the Arabic, which extended not only over the whole of the Arabian peninsula, but also over the steppes of Mesopotamia, which in all ages have been traversed by wandering hordes of Arabs. Thus we cannot doubt but that at some period anterior to recorded history, "one mighty race possessed these vast plains, varying in character according to the nature of the country they inhabited; in the deserts of Arabia pursuing a nomade life; in Syria applying themselves to agriculture and taking up settled abodes; in Babylonia erecting the most magnificent cities of ancient times; and in Phoenicia opening the earliest ports, and constructing fleets, which secured to them the commerce of the known world." lects be Indus. Lastly, between the Tigris and the Indus were Persian diaspoken the Persian dialects, which differed from the tween the Semitic not only in their vocabulary and phrase- Tigris and ology, but also in their elements and construction. Of these we may mention the Zend, or language of ancient Media, in which the books of Zoroaster were originally composed; the Pehlvi, spoken in the southern districts bordering on Assyria and Babylonia; and the Parsi, or ancient Persian, which appears to have swallowed up the others. Here then we finish our general survey of Asia, Conclusion. and now proceed to develope in detail the geography of its several divisions, devoting the next three chapters to an examination of Persian Asia, and then concluding the description of the continent by an account of those nations who were independent of the Persian rule. 1 This must not be confounded with the Assyria of Herodotus, who applies the name of Assyria to Babylonia. Herodotus included Assyria Proper, or Kurdistan, in the satrapies of Armenia and Matiene. chaps. iii. and iv. See CHAPTER II. ASIA. CHAP. II. - ASIA MINOR. -- Physical geography of the peninsula.-Different political divisions.Natural separation into an eastern and western division by the river Halys.-Divided into four satrapies by Darius Hystaspis. Difficulty in dividing the towns.-1. AEOLIS, IONIA, DORIS, CARIA, LYCIA, and PAMPHYLIA.-Aeolians, their eleven cities on the continent, and seven on the islands.-Ionians, their twelve cities.-United in the Panionian confederacy.-Mixture of the Ionians with other races.-Worship of the Heliconian Poseidon in the Panionium. - Miscellaneous notices. -Asiatic Magnetes. - Dorians, their five cities of the Triopian confederacy. Worship of Apollo at Triopium. Exclusion of Halicarnassus.-Carians, originally expelled from the islands by the Ionians and Dorians. Their inventions.-Believed themselves to be autochthones. United with the Lydians and Mysians in the worship of the Carian Zeus.-Topography of the interior.-Labranda, Termera, Cnidus, Pedasus.-Caunus, its inhabitants really autochthones.-Topography of the coast.-Priene, Myus, Miletus, Limeneïon, Assesus, Sanctuary of the Branchidae, river Maeander, Caryanda, Halicarnassus, Cnidus, the Isthmus, Calydna the Carian town, and Calydna the Dorian town.-Lycians, sprung from Crete.-Anciently named Termilae.-Their customs.-Heroic resistance to the Persians.-Oracle at Patara.-Phaselis. Lycian costume.-Milyans.-Pamphylians.-2. MYSIA and LYDIA. -Mysians, also named Olympieni.-Extent of the Mysia of Herodotus. -Topography of Mysia.-River Caicus, Mount Canae, Atarneus, Malene, Carina, Adramyttium, Thebes, Antandrus, Lamponium, Cape Lectos, river Scamander, Cape Segeium.-Ilium, inhabited by the Aeolians and Gergithae, Rhoetium, Ophryneium, Dardanus, Abydos, Percote, Lampsacus, Paesus, Parium, Placia, Scylace, Dascyleium, Cius, islands of Cyzicus and Proconnesus.-Lydians, their ancient empire.Sardis, the capital.-Rivers Hyllus and Hermus.-Gold-dust brought from Mount Tmolus by the river Pactolus.-Tumulus of Alyattes.Roads from Caria and Lydia to Phrygia.-Beautiful plane tree on the Lydian road.-Depraved manners of the Lydians.-Invented the art of coining money, retail dealing, and games of dice, knuckle bones, and ball. Topography of the coast.-Phocaea, its maritime enterprise and heroic resistance to Cyrus.-Magnesia, Smyrna, Clazomenae, Erythrae, Teos, Lebedos, Colophon, Ephesus, Coressus, Mycale.-Sculptures of Sesostris found in Ionia.-Identification of the monument between Sardis and Smyrna by modern travellers.-Its Aegyptian origin doubted.— Lasonians, Cabalians, and Hygennians.-3. HELLESPONT, PHRYGIA, BITHYNIA, PAPHLAGONIA, and CAPPADOCIA. Hellespontines. — Phrygians, more ancient than the Aegyptians.-Called Bryges when dwelling in Macedonia.-Topography of Phrygia.-Tract occupied by the Paeonians.-Gordium, Celaenae, sources of the Maeander and Catarrhactes river Marsyas, white columns.-Course of Xerxes from Celaenae to Lydia. — Ánana, salt lake, Colossae, river Lycus, Cydrara, boundary pillar between Phrygia and Lydia, Conium, Alabanda. -Thracians from the Strymon called Bithynians.-Mariandynians.-Paphlagonians. Syrians or Cappadocians.-River Halys.-Extent and limits of the Cappadocia of Herodotus.-Canal of Thales. Pteria. Critalla.-4. CILICIA. Cilicians, anciently named Hypachaeans.-Extent and limits of the Cilicia of Herodotus. ASIA. Physical of the pen THE great peninsula of Asia Minor is bounded on the north by the Euxine, west by the Aegean, and CHAP. II. south by the Mediterranean, and we may extend its eastern frontier to Armenia and the river Euphrates. geography The interior is a high plateau, bounded on the south insula. by the chain of Mount Taurus, and on the north by ranges of hills which, under the name of AntiTaurus, extend along the southern shores of the Euxine; and thus two mountain walls connect the plateau with that of Armenia. On its western side the plateau descends gradually to the shores of the Archipelago, forming several long and narrow val leys, watered by the Maeander, Caicus, Scamander, Hyllus, and Hermus, and these are the most beautiful and fertile portions of the peninsula. The western coast is as jagged and irregular as the opposite shore of Greece, and bold projecting promontories run out in the same manner far into the sea, and re-appear in numerous islands of more or less importance. On the other hand, the northern and southern coasts are characterized by few indentations, but present irregular outlines formed by huge semicircular sweeps. The western coasts were studded with Greek colonies, and included the territory of the luxurious Lydians; whilst the central highlands were occupied by a number of distinct nations, who, as contrasted with the Greeks, may be regarded as aborigines of the country. political Few subjects in ancient geography are more per- Different plexing than the divisions of Asia Minor at different divisions. periods. Under the Persians it was separated first into four satrapies, and subsequently into ten. The later Greeks however divided it into fourteen provinces. And as this arrangement has been generally ASIA. followed by geographers, it will be necessary to use CHAP. II. it for the illustration of the division into four satrapies made by Darius Hystaspes. The names and relative positions of the fourteen provinces will be best learnt from the following diagram.' paration in the river Halys. Natural se- Asia Minor as thus described may be separated to an eastern into an eastern and western division by the river and western Halys, (or Kizil Irmak,2) which we have already seen was supposed by Herodotus to flow through nearly the entire breadth of the peninsula. Prior to the Persian conquest, the eastern division was included in the empire of the Medes, whilst the western division, as far as the shore of the Aegean, formed the Lydian empire of Croesus. The Lycians in the south however still remained unsubdued, together with the independent kingdom of Cilicia.* Divided into four sa This entire country was divided by Darius Hystrapies by taspes into four satrapies, and is said by Herodotus Darius Hys- to have been occupied by thirty different nations." taspes. 1 This diagram has been taken, with some slight alteration, from that of D'Anville. 2 The Greek name of "Avg is derived from the salt country through which the river passes. Strabo says that its waters are of a salt and bitter taste. The Turkish name is Kizil, (Red,) such being the colour of the soil throughout much of its course. See Col. Chesney's Survey of the Euphrates and Tigris, to which I shall have frequent occasion to refer in developing the geography of Persian Asia. 3 See page 200. 4 i. 28, 74. 5 iv. 38. |