--254) gives the
more correct distance of fifty-three parasangs, each of 5000 paces,
(what paces?) between Erivan and Tauris.]

[Footnote 85: The expedition of Heraclius into Persia is finely
illustrated by M. D'Anville, (Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions,
tom. xxviii. p. 559--573.) He discovers the situation of Gandzaca,
Thebarma, Dastagerd, &c., with admirable skill and learning; but the
obscure campaign of 624 he passes over in silence.]

[Footnote 86: Et pontem indignatus Araxes.--Virgil, Aeneid, viii. 728.
The River Araxes is noisy, rapid, vehement, and, with the melting of the
snows, irresistible: the strongest and most massy bridges are swept away
by the current; and its indignation is attested by the ruins of many
arches near the old town of Zulfa. Voyages de Chardin, tom. i. p. 252.]

[Footnote 87: Chardin, tom. i. p. 255--259. With the Orientals,
(D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. p. 834,) he ascribes the foundation of
Tauris, or Tebris, to Zobeide, the wife of the famous Khalif Haroun
Alrashid; but it appears to have been more ancient; and the names of
Gandzaca, Gazaca, Gaza, are expressive of the royal treasure. The number
of 550,000 inhabitants is reduced by Chardin from 1,100,000, the popular
estimate.]

[Footnote 88: He opened the gospel, and applied or interpreted the first
casual passage to the name and situation of Albania. Theophanes, p.
258.]

[Footnote 89: The heath of Mogan, between the Cyrus and the Araxes, is
sixty parasangs in length and twenty in breadth, (Olearius, p. 1023,
1024,) abounding in waters and fruitful pastures, (Hist. de Nadir Shah,
translated by Mr. Jones from a Persian Ms., part ii. p. 2, 3.) See the
encampments of Timur, (Hist. par Sherefeddin Ali, l. v. c. 37, l. vi. c.
13,) and the coronation of Nadir Shah, (Hist. Persanne, p. 3--13 and the
English Life by Mr. Jones, p. 64, 65.)]

[Footnote 90: Thebarma and Ormia, near the Lake Spauta, are proved to
be the same city by D'Anville, (Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxviii. p.
564, 565.) It is honored as the birthplace of Zoroaster, according to
the Persians, (Schultens, Index Geograph. p. 48;) and their tradition is
fortified by M. Perron d'Anquetil, (Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. tom.
xxxi. p. 375,) with some texts from his, or their, Zendavesta. * Note:
D'Anville (Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. xxxii. p. 560) labored to
prove the identity of these two cities; but according to M. St. Martin,
vol. xi. p. 97, not with pe