The kingdoms[496] of Parthia are eighteen in all: such being the divisions of its provinces, which lie, as we have already stated, along the Red Sea to the south, and the Hyrcanian to the north. Of this number the eleven, called the Higher provinces, begin at the frontiers of Armenia and the shores of the Caspian, and extend to the Scythians, whose mode of life is similar in every respect. The other seven kingdoms of Parthia bear the name of the Lower provinces. As to the Parthi themselves, Parthia[497] always lay at the foot of the mountains[498] so often mentioned, which overhang all these nations. On the east it is bounded by the Arii, on the south by Carmania and the Ariani, on the west by the Pratitæ, a people of the Medi, and on the north by the Hyrcani: it is surrounded by deserts on every side. The more distant of the Parthi are called Nomades;[499] on this side of them there are deserts. On the west are the cities of Issatis and Calliope, already mentioned,[500] on the north-east Europus,[501] on the south-east Maria; in the middle there are Hecatompylos,[502] Arsace, and Nisiæa, a fine district of Parthiene, in which is Alexandropolis, so called from its founder. (26.) It is requisite in this place to trace the localities of the Medi also, and to describe in succession the features of the country as far as the Persian Sea, in order that the account which follows may be the better understood. Media[503] lies crosswise to the west, and so presenting itself obliquely to Parthia, closes the entrance of both kingdoms[504] into which it is divided. It has, then, on the east, the Caspii and the Parthi; on the south, Sittacene, Susiane, and Persis; on the west, Adsiabene; and on the north, Armenia. The Persæ have always inhabited the shores of the Red Sea, for which reason it has received the name of the Persian Gulf. This maritime region of Persis has the name of Ciribo;[505] on the side on which it runs up to that of the Medi, there is a place known by the name of Climax Megale,[506] where the mountains are ascended by a steep flight of stairs, and so afford a narrow passage which leads to Persepolis,[507] the former capital of the kingdom, destroyed by Alexander. It has also, at its extreme frontier, Laodicea,[508] founded by Antiochus. To the east of this place is the fortress of Passagarda,[509] held by the Magi, at which spot is the tomb of Cyrus; also Ecbatana,[510] a city of theirs, the inhabitants of which were removed by Darius to the mountains. Between the Parthi and the Ariani projects the territory of the Parætaceni.[511] By these nations and the river Euphrates are the Lower kingdoms of Parthia bounded; of the others we shall speak after Mesopotamia, which we shall now describe, with the exception of that angle of it and the peoples of Arabia, which have been already mentioned in a former book.[512] CHAP. 30.—MESOPOTAMIA.