Book 11
14.6
The cities of Armenia are Artaxata, also called Artaxiasata, which was founded by HannibalThe Carthaginian. for Artaxias the king, and Arxata, both on the Araxes River, Arxata being near the borders of Atropatia, whereas Artaxata is near the Araxene plain, being a beautiful settlement and the royal residence of the country. It is situated on a peninsula-like elbow of land and its walls have the river as protection all round them, except at the isthmus, which is enclosed by a trench and a palisade. Not far from the city are the treasuries of Tigranes and Artavasdes,Father and son respectively, kings of Armenia. the strong fortresses Babyrsa and Olane. And there were other fortresses on the Euphrates. Of these, Artageras was caused to revolt by Ador, its commandant, but Caesar’s generals sacked it after a long siege and destroyed its walls.
14.7
There are several rivers in the country, but the best known are the Phasis and the Lycus, which empty into the Pontic Sea (Eratosthenes wrongly writes “Thermodon” instead of “Lycus”), whereas the Cyrus and the Araxes empty into the Caspian Sea, and the Euphrates and the Tigris into the Red Sea.
