mountains and rivers of asia.

but of the indians i shall treat in a distinct work,647 giving the most credible accounts which were compiled by those who accompanied alexander in his expedition, as well as by nearchus,648 who sailed right round the great sea which is near india. then i shall add what has been compiled by megasthenes649 and eratosthenes, two men of distinguished authority. i shall describe the customs peculiar to the indians and the strange animals which are produced in the country, as well as the voyage itself in the external sea. but now let me describe so much only as appears to me sufficient to explain alexander’s achievements. mount taurus divides asia, beginning from mycale, the mountain which lies opposite the island of samos; then, cutting through the country of the pamphylians and cilicians, it extends into armenia. from this country it stretches into media and through the land of the parthians and chorasmians. in bactria it unites with mount parapamisus, which the macedonians who served in alexander’s army called caucasus, in order, as it is said, to enhance their king’s glory; asserting that he went even beyond the caucasus with his victorious arms. perhaps it is a fact that this mountain range is a continuation of the other caucasus in scythia, as the taurus650 is of the same. for this reason i have on a previous occasion called this range caucasus, and by the same 274name i shall continue to call it in the future. this caucasus extends as far as the great sea which lies in the direction of india and the east. of the rivers in asia worth consideration which take their rise from the taurus and caucasus, some have their course turned towards the north, discharging themselves either into the lake maeotis,651 or into the sea called hyrcanian, which in reality is a gulf of the great sea.652 others flow towards the south, namely, the euphrates, tigres, indus, hydaspes, acesines, hydraotes, hyphasis, and all those that lie between these and the river ganges. all these either discharge their water into the sea, or disappear by pouring themselves out into marshes, as the river euphrates653 does.