Arundell (i. p. 192). He remarks further: “Apamea may now be asserted to have been at _Deenare_ with as much confidence as that Ephesus or Sardis stood on the sites which still preserve their names. Apamea stood, we should add, nearly, though not quite, on the site of the ancient Celænæ. It suffered so severely from earthquakes, that the Roman tribute due from it was remitted, A.D. 53, for five years (Tacit. Ann. xii. 58).” Footnote 100: Mr. Arundell remarks the panthers are still (1834) occasionally found in the neighbourhood of Smyrna. [Illustration: COIN OF APAMEA CIBOTUS. ] But, besides the classical history of Apamea, which is well enough known, this place was accredited with a tradition referring to the Ark, which, though purely legendary, cannot be omitted here; the more so as the story of the Ark resting after the Flood on one of the heights near Apamea has been supposed by some to have given that city the title of “Cibotus,” or “Apamea of the Chest.”[101] Indeed, Mount Ararat was placed by some on the confines of Phrygia. The coin of Alexander Severus, of which we give a copy above, is supposed to refer to this story. On the reverse is the name of the people of Apamea, and, above, a square structure resting on a rock, and surrounded by water. In this box are two figures, male and female, and in front the word ΝΩΕ (Noe). It is, therefore, a fair presumption that the maker of the medal did mean to represent Noah and wife. Two other persons, also a man and a woman, stand in front of the supposed ark. If, as we believe, the Scriptural deluge took place in Babylonia, some features of its story might easily have found their way to Phrygia; while, independently of this, we know that, even in the days of St. Paul, there were Jewish synagogues in many of the great towns of Asia Minor. Moreover, during the 150 years between St. Paul and Alexander Severus, some, at least, of the more striking events recorded in the Bible must have become popularly known. Footnote 101: It ought to be added that the ancient name of Apamea, when the capital of Phrygia, was Celænæ, and that, in Roman times, though Laodicea Combusta was the residence of the proconsul, it was considered, commercially, inferior only to Ephesus. Laodicea was one of the towns privileged to strike those curious silver coins known by the name of _Cistophori_. Though we do not accept the Ark story as the origin of this name “Kibotus,” we cannot say that we attach much, if any, weight to many other derivations that have been proposed.