Farther Observations upon the Phonicon, or Grove of Palms, as it is described by Strabo.

One of the first persons, who gave an account of this part of Arabia, was Artemidorus Ephesius, who lived about the time of Ptolemy Lathyrus, and his mother Cleopatra. He is mentioned by many authors with great credit, and is copied particularly by Strabo and Diodorus. And in the description which he gives, he seems to have followed a prior writer, Ariston, who was sent out by one of the antecedent Ptolemies purposely to make discoveries upon the two coasts of the Red-sea. The account which is given by Artemidorus, concerning that part of Arabia Deserta with which we are chiefly concerned, has already been mentioned. But as the ancient geographers are not always sufficiently clear, and as there seems likewise to be a mistake in Strabo, or at least in the present copies of that excellent writer, it will be proper to rectify what

1 Strabo, 1. 16. p. 1122.

* See Diodorus, 1. 3. p. 175. He was sent in the time of Ptolemy Euergetes, as we find intimated by the same author, 1. 3. p. 155.

is amiss, that the history may not be left in a state of uncertainty.

After that Artemidorus has given an account of the Ethiopians, and the western coast of the Red-sea from Arsinoe at the top down to the straits, now called Babel Mandel, where it terminates, he returns to the point where he began, to the apex of the western bay of the Red-sea (1ɛavεIGIV EIS T85 Agalas) to those Arabians, who occupied the opposite region to Clysma. And as there are very few objects upon that coast which merit geographical notice, he takes the first which presents itself, though at a distance from the point from which he sets out. This is * Posidium, a place sacred to the supposed sovereign of the sea, which I take to be another name for the Baalzephon of Moses. Next to this, Strabo, who copies Artemidorus, places the Phoenicon, where was the palm grove

ειθ' εξης

επι νησος 4 φωκαν, and next in order the Insula Phocarum. All this is as precise and in as just order as can be desired. But he at the same

time tells us of Posidium, the place dedicated

'Strabo, 1. 16. p. 1122.

3

• Ibid.

-συνεχη τε Ποσειδις Φοινίκωνα ειναι. Ibid.

Ibid. called now Teran; and Isle de Cab.

Ελανίτου μυχε.

to Neptune--- φησι δε ενδοτέρω κείσθαι τετο του It lay, as Artemidorus asserted, a good way within the Elanitic or Eastern Gulf. This seems impossible, and confounds all that has been said; for the sinus upon which these places were situated was the western, and called the Heroopolitan, and directly opposite to the Elantic. Strabo however goes on to inform us, that next after this island (Phocarum) a promontory extends itself, from whence the coast tends inward towards Arabia Petræa and the Nabatheans. Επ' Ελανίτις κολπος, και Ειτ' Nabaraia. Then, says the author, next in order comes the Elanitic gulf, and the Nabathean region. The promontory here spoken of is that which is called Pharan by Ptolemy, of which we have spoken before. He says, that the western part of this desert reached from the city Heroum, ? MEXPI 88 nara Çagai angwτηρις : and he also mentions κωμη φαραν, town or village of that name; from which probably the wilderness was denominated. Ptolemy adds, and with him Strabo, and all writers agree, that at this point the Sinus Ela

2

Strabo, 1. 16. p. 1122.

* P. 162. Stephanus speaks also of a city-agav wolis μεταξύ Αιγυπτε και Αραβίας.

nitis commenced; and they certainly describe it very truly. But how can Posidium, which had been mentioned before as being within the western sinus, and one of the first objects in the desert of Etham be referred to the opposite and eastern inlet, the Sinus Elanitis. There must be a mistake in Strabo, or in Artemidorus. I make no doubt but when Ariston and other travellers described this part of Arabia, they gave those names to the places which prevailed among the natives, before they were sophisticated by later writers. Instead of placing Posidium and the Grove of Palms (φοινικων) εν τῷ Ελανιτῳ κολπῳ, in the Elanite gulf; they placed it To Exquiry, or Exμr now, in the Sinus Elamitis, or gulf of Elim, so called from the natives.

There were very few places of any consideration on this coast, on account of the barrenness of the soil and the scarcity of water. The region however below Posidium near the Phoenicon, or palm groves, is described by Diodorus as being in those times populous, and frequented on account of the plenty of good water and the fertility of the soil. And it seems in still more early times to have been repute, as an ancient altar is mentioned of

of

unknown' characters, which witnessed its antiquity. As there is the greatest reason to think that this place was the Elim of Moses, and as it was the only district of consequence upon the coast, it is highly probable that it gave name to that part of the gulf, which from hence was by the natives called Sinus Elamites, or Elimites, the Gulf of Elim.

2

The mistake in the copies of Strabo has misled that excellent geographer * Mons. D' Anville, who accordingly places Posidium close by the promontory Pharan, the Ras Mohammed of the present times. Here is the extremity of the desert to the south, the very point below where the two gulfs on each side commence, and pass upwards, But this of all others could not be the place where Posidium was situated. For to whichever gulf it may have belonged, it is expressly said to have been---vdorega 78 μvx8, higher up and within the sinus; and, consequently could not have been at the bottom. Artemidorus introduces it

'Diodorus Siculus, 1. 3. p. 175.

* Ce promontoire formé par l' extrémité du continent, qui separe les deux golfes, est le Posidium, ou Neptunium, des mêmes auteurs, appelé Phara dans Ptolémée, &c. Memoirs sur l'Egypte, p. 237.