The rivers which run through Albania in their course to the sea are the Casius[227] and the Albanus,[228] and then the Cambyses,[229] which rises in the Caucasian mountains, and next to it the Cyrus, rising in those of the Coraxici, as already mentioned.[230] Agrippa states that the whole of this coast, inaccessible from rocks of an immense height, is four hundred and twenty-five miles in length, beginning from the river Casius. After we pass the mouth of the Cyrus, it begins to be called the ‘Caspian Sea;’ the Caspii being a people who dwell upon its shores. In this place it may be as well to correct an error into which many persons have fallen, and even those who lately took part with Corbulo in the Armenian war. The Gates of Iberia, which we have mentioned[231] as the Caucasian, they have spoken of as being called the ‘Caspian,’ and the coloured plans which have been sent from those parts to Rome have that name written upon them. The menaced expedition, too, that was contemplated by the Emperor Nero, was said to be designed to extend as far as the Caspian Gates, whereas it was really intended for those which lead through Iberia into the territory of the Sarmatæ; there being hardly any possibility of approach to the Caspian Sea, by reason of the close juxtaposition of the mountains there. There are, however, other Caspian Gates, which join up to the Caspian tribes; but these can only be distinguished from a perusal of the narrative of those who took part in the expedition of Alexander the Great. CHAP. 16.—ADIABENE. The kingdom of the Persians, by which we now understand that of Parthia, is elevated upon the Caucasian chain between two seas, the Persian and the Hyrcanian. To the Greater Armenia, which in the front slopes towards Commagene, is joined Sophene, which lies upon the descent[232] on both sides thereof, and next to it is Adiabene, the most advanced frontier of Assyria; a part of which is Arbelitis,[233] where Alexander conquered Darius, and which joins up to Syria. The whole of this country was called Mygdonia by the Macedonians, on account of the resemblance it bore to Mygdonia[234] in Europe. Its cities are Alexandria,[235] and Antiochia, also called Nisibis;[236] this last place is distant from Artaxata seven hundred and fifty miles. There was also in former times Ninus,[237] a most renowned city, on the banks of the Tigris, with an aspect towards the west. Adjoining the other front of Greater Armenia, which runs down towards the Caspian Sea, we find Atropatene,[238] which is separated from Otene, a region of Armenia, by the river Araxes; Gazæ[239] is its chief city, distant from Artaxata four hundred and fifty miles, and the same from Ecbatana in Media, to which country Atropatene belongs. CHAP. 17. (14.)—MEDIA AND THE CASPIAN GATES.