Kitap 17
3.20
On a promontory called Pseudopenias is situated Berenice, near a lake Tritonis, in which is to be observed a small island with a temple of Venus upon it. There also is a lake of the Hesperides, into which flows a river (called) Lathon. On this side of Berenice is a small promontory called BoreionRas-Teyonas. (or North Cape), which with Cephalae forms the entrance of the Syrtis. Berenice lies opposite to the promontories of Peloponnesus, namely, those called IchthysCape Catacolo. and [Chelonatas],Groskurd justly supposes that the name Chelonatas (Cape Tornese) is here wanting in the text. and also to the island Zacynthus,Zante. at an interval of 3600 stadia. Marcus Cato marched from this city, round the Syrtis, in thirty days, at the head of an army composed of more than 10,000 men, separated into divisions on account of the watering-places; his course lay through deep sand, under burning heat. After Berenice is a city Taucheira,Tochira. called also Arsinoë; then Barca,The name has survived to the present day in that of the district of which it was the capital, the province of Barca, in the regency of Tripoli. The position of Barca is accurately described by Scylax, who places its harbour 500 stadia from Cyrene, and 620 from Hesperides, and the city itself 100 stadia from the sea. It stood on the summit of the terraces which overlook the west coast of the Greater Syrtis, in a plain now called El-Merjeh; and the same name is often given to the ruins which mark the site of Barca, but the Arabs call them El-Medinah. See Smith, art. Barca. formerly so called, but now Ptolemaïs; then the promontory Phycus,Ras-al-Razat or Ras Sem. Scylax here placed the gardens and lake of the Hesperides. which is low, but extends further to the north than the rest of the African coast: it is opposite to Taenarum,Cape Matapan, which is more than a degree and a half more to the east than Phycus. in Laconia, at the distanceIn b. viii. c. v. § 1, it is stated to be 3000. of 2800 stadia; on it there is also a small town of the same name as the promontory. Not far from Phycus, at a distance of about 170 stadia, is Apollonias, the naval arsenal of Cyrene; from Berenice it is distant 1000 stadia, and 80 stadia from Cyrene, a considerable city situated on a table-land, as I observed it from the sea.
