Book 14
5.11
Now thus far the seaboard as a whole, beginning at the Peraea of the Rhodians, extends towards the equinoctial east from the equinoctial west,i.e., straight east and west. and then bends in the direction of winter sunriseSouth-east. as far as Issus, and then forthwith takes a bend towards the south as far as Phoenicia; and the remainder extends towards the west as far as the Pillarsi.e., the Pillars of Heracles at Gibraltar. and there ends. Now the truth is that the actual isthmus of the peninsula which I have described is that which extends from Tarsus and the outlet of the Cydnus to Amisus, for this is the shortest distance from Amisus to the boundaries of Cilicia; and the distance thence to Tarsus is one hundred and twenty stadia, and the distance from there to the outlet of the Cydnus is no more than that. And in fact to Issus, and the sea near it, there is no other road from Amisus which is shorter than that through Tarsus, and Tarsus is not nearer to Issus than to the Cydnus;i.e., the outlet of the Cydnus, at Rhegma. and therefore it is clear that in reality this would be the isthmus; but still people call that which extends as far as the Gulf of Issus the true isthmus, thus betraying the facts because of the significance of the gulf. And it is because of this very thing that I, without making any accurate distinctions, represent the line from Rhodes, which I have prolonged to the Cydnus, to be the same as the line extending as far as Issus, and also assert that the Taurus extends in a straight line with that line as far as India.
