Book 2
5.25
To speak shortly, the southernmost point of Our Sea is the recess of the Greater Syrtes;The Sidra of the moderns. next to this Alexandria in Egypt, and the mouths of the Nile; while the most northerly is the mouth of the Dnieper, or if the Maeotis be considered to belong to the Euxine, (and it certainly does appear to form a part of it,) the mouth of the Don. The Strait at the Pillars is the most westerly point, and the most easterly is the said recess, in which DioscuriasIskouriah. is situated; and not, as Eratosthenes falsely states, the Gulf of Issus,The Gulf of Aïas. which is under the same meridian as AmisusSamsoun. and Themiscyra, and, if you will have it so, Sidene as far as Pharnacia.The ruins of this city are said to be called by the modern Greeks φεοͅνάκη or πλατένα indiscriminately. Proceeding thence in an easterly direction to Dioscurias, the distance by sea is above 3000 stadia, as will be seen more plainly in my detailed account of those countries. Such then is the Mediterranean.
5.26
We must now describe the countries which surround it; and here we will begin from the same point, whence we commenced our description of the sea itself.
5.26
Entering the Strait at the Pillars, Libya, as far as the river Nile, is on the right hand, and to the left, on the other side of the Strait, is Europe, as far as the Don. Asia bounds both these continents. We will commence with Europe, both because its figure is more varied, and also because it is the quarter most favourable to the mental and social ennoblement of man, and produces a greater portion of comforts than the other continents.
