enumeration of the countries of Asia, should wholly pretermit the mention of Æolis and Ionia; but that he comprehended them under the names of Mysia and Lydia: in which we see Adramyttium, and all the other cities downward unto Ephesus, to be placed by Scylax in his Periplus.

CHAP. II.

Of the Lydian Asia, and the seven metropolitical cities thereof.

THAT heretofore Lydia was called Meonia, and the Lydians termed Meonians: we read in Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Dionysius Afer, Strabo, Pliny, Stephanus Byzantinus, and others. And that Meonias was in the days of Homer named Asia, and the inhabitants thereof by Callinus (another poet, elder than Archilochus) in the Ionian dialect termed Ἠσιονῆες for 'Ασιονεῖς or Asians ; we find to have been the opinion of Demetrius Scepsius, who was equal in time unto Crates and Aristarchus the grammarian. Whereunto we may also add that of Euripides, in his Baccha:

̓Ασίας ἀπὸ γᾶς ἱερὸν Τμῶλον
̓Αμείψασα.

together with that which is related by Stephanus Byzan

2 Οἱ Λυδοὶ, Μήονες ἐκαλεῦντο τὸ πάλαι· ἐπὶ δὲ Λυδοῦ τοῦ ̓Ατυος ἔσχον τὴν ἐπωνυμίην, μεταβαλόντες τὸ οὔνομα. Herodot. lib. 7. sec. 74. pag. 542. ̓Από τευ ὁ δῆμος Λύδιος ἐκλήθη ὁ πᾶς οὗτος, πρότερον Μήων καλεόμενος. Id. lib. 1. sec. 7. pag. 4.

» Τῶν ποτὲ Μηόνων, νῦν δὲ Λυδῶν ὀνομαζομένων. Diodor. lib. 4.

• Μηονίη δ' ἐπὶ τῇσιν, ἐπ' ἀντολίην τετάνυσται Τμώλῷ ὑπ ̓ ἠνεμόεντι. Dionys. in Periegesi.

· Λυδοὶ, οἱ τότε Μήονες. Strabo, lib. 13. pag. 877.

Lydia, Mæonia ante appellata. Plin. lib. 5. cap. 29.

· Μαιονία, ἡ Λυδία. Stephan. et vice versa, in Græco-Latino Cyrilli Glossario. Λυδία, Mæonia.

5 Λέγοντος δὲ τοῦ Καλλίνου τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν Κιμερίων ἐπὶ τοὺς Ησιονῆας γεγονέναι, καθ ̓ ἣν αἱ Σάρδεις ἑάλωσαν, εἰκάζουσιν οἱ περὶ τὸν Σκήψιον ίαστι λέγεσθαι Ησιονεῖς, τοὺς ̓Ασιονεῖς. Τάχα γὰρ ἡ Μηονία, φησιν, ̓Ασία ἐλέγετο· καθ ̓ ὃ καὶ ̔́Ομηρος εἴρηκεν. Strabo, lib. 13. pag. 930, 931.

h Id. lib. 14. pag. 958.

i Id. lib. 13. pag. 907.

tinusk, Suidas', and the great Etymologist; that upon this Tmolus there was a city of Lydia seated, which had the name of Asia: and by Strabom, that betwixt the two Lydian mountains of Tmolus and Messogis lay the great Caystrian plain, which Homer calleth the Asian field, in that verse of the second of the Iliads:

̓Ασίῳ ἐν λειμῶνι, Καϋστρίου ἀμφὶ ῥέεθρα.

to which Virgil also hath relation in that of the first of his Georgicks:

―et quæ Asia circum

Dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Caystri :

and in the seventh of the Eneid:

Pulsa palus.

sonat amnis, et Asia longe

Whereunto the testimony of Eunapius may be referred likewise, who speaking of that admirably learned gentlewoman Sosipatra, saith that "she" was of that Asia which is about Ephesus, where the river Cayster running through the country, giveth his name to the plain by which it passeth."

It is further also reported by Strabo, that in this plain

* Ασία πολις Λυδίας παρὰ τῷ Τμώλῳ, ἐν ἡ τρίχορδος εὑρέθη κιθάρα. Stephan. de urbib. in Ασία.

1 Εἴρηται δὲ Ασιάτις ή τρίχορδος κιθάρα, ὅτι ἐν τῇ ̓Ασίᾳ πόλει τῆς Λυδίας (κειμένῃ ἐν Τμώλω τῆς Λυδίας) πρῶτον εὑρέθη. Suid. in 'Ασία, et etymologic. in 'Ασιάτις.

m Τῷ δὲ Καύστριανῷ πεδίῳ μεταξὺ πίπτοντι τῆς του μεσογειότητος (leg. Μεσσωγίδος) καὶ τοῦ Τμώλου, συνεχές ἐστὶ πρὸς ἕω τὸ Κιλβιανὸν πεδίον. Strabo, lib. 13. pag. 933. ̓Απὸ δὲ τριάκοντα σταδίων τῆς Νύσης ὑπερβᾶσι Τμῶλον τὸ ὄρος καὶ τὴν Μεσσωγίδα ἐπὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸν νότον μέρη, καλεῖται τόπος Λειμών. Id. lib. 14. pag. 961. Καστριος ποταμὸς τῆς Λυδίας, περι Μίλητον πλησίον Λυδίας παρ ̓ ὃ καὶ ὁ ̓́Ασιος λειμών. Vet. scholiast. Aristophanis, in Acharnen.

" 'Ην ἐκ τῆς περὶ ̓́Εφεσον ̓Ασίας, ὅσην Καΐστρος ποταμὸς ἐπιὼν καὶ διαῤῥέων γῆν τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τῷ πεδίῳ δίδωσι. Eunap. Sar

dian. in vita desii.

• Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν λειμῶνα ὀνομάζειν τὴν ποιητὴν φασὶν, ὅταν φῇ, ̓Ασίῳ

near unto the banks of the river Cayster, the inhabitants used to show the chapels dedicated to the honour of Caystrius, and of one Asias, whom the Etymologist noteth to have been sometime king of Lydia, and to have given the name unto this Asian field; or, as the Lydians themselves would have it, to the whole land of Asia: alleging further, that from this Asias, the son of Cotys, the son of Maneus, they had a tribe in their head city Sardis, which they called 'Ασιάδα, as is recorded by Herodotus.

Whether from this Asias the continent of Asia did take his denomination, or from the forementioned city of Lydia, or from Asia the wife of Prometheus, or from some other original, Stephanus Byzantinus leaveth us to inquire. But beside that the first vowel in Homer's Asia is long, and in the greater Asia (which Stephanus acknowledgeth him to have been ignorant of) is of a short quantity: no man can doubt, but the derivation of the name of Asia from a Lydian city, or from a Lydian king and hero, is far more properly applyable to Lydia itself, than to the whole continent either of the greater or the lesser Asia.

ἐν λειμῶνι· δεικνῦντες Καϋστρίου καὶ ̓Ασίου τινὸς ἡρῶα, καὶ τὸν Καύστρον πλησίον ἀποῤῥέοντα. Strabo, lib. 14. pag. 961. "Ετεροι δὲ τῶν ῥηθέντων ἡρώων, τὴν μὲν ̓Ασίαν Κότυος ἱστοροῦσιν υἱὸν, τὸν δὲ Καύστρον Πενθεσιλείας υἱὸν λέγουσι δὲ καὶ ἄρξαι Λυδίας τὸν ̓Ασίαν. Eustath. in Iliad. β. pag. 254. edit. Roman.

- Εκλήθη Ασίας ὁ λειμὼν, ἀπὸ ̓Ασίου τοῦ Κότυος, ὃς ἦν βασιλεὺς Λυδίας. Etymologic. magn. in "Ασιος.

4 Καὶ τούτου μὲν μεταλαμβάνονται τοῦ ὀνόματος Λυδοὶ· φάμενοι ἐπὶ ̓Ασιέω, τοῦ Κότυος, τοῦ Μάνεω, κεκλῆσθαι τὴν ̓Ασίην, ἀλλ ̓ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς Προμηθέος ̓Ασίας· ἀπό τευ καὶ τὴν ἐν Σάρδεσι φυλὴν κεκλῆσθαι ̓Ασιάδα. Herodot. lib. 4. sec. 45. pag. 300.

• Ασία ἡ ἤπειρος, οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ πόλεως Λυδίας, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ ̓Ασίου τοῦ Λυδοῦ, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ Προμεθέως γυναικὸς, ἢ ἀπὸ τὴν πολλὴν ἄσιν ἔχειν τουτέστιν ἰλύν. Stephan. de Urbib. in ̓Ασία.

· ̓Αγνοεῖ γὰρ Ομηρος τὴν Ασίαν, ὡς καὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην. Id. ibid.

t Yet it is long in "Ασις : whereof Stephanus, in 'Ασία· λέγεται καὶ ̓́Ασις. Ισθμὸς ἄνω τέταταὶ τις ὑπέρτατος ̓́Ασιδος αἴης· for so the place is to be restored out of Dionysius: whose verse this is, in his Periegesis, as those others also of the river Tanais. "Ος τε καὶ Εὐρώπην ἀποτέμνεται ̓́Ασιδος αἴης. Ες δύσιν Εὐρώπην, ἐς δ ̓ αὐγὰς ̓́Ασιδα γαῖαν. So Ovid likewise lib. 5. Metamorphos. Jam super Europen sublimis et Asida terram: and lib. 9. of Miletus et in Aside terra Moenia constituis.

For that Lydia was formerly" called Asia, is directly affirmed by the ancient scholiast of Apollonius Rhodius: and that the Asia mentioned in the New Testament was comprehended within the bounds of Lydia (containing in it, according to the above confirmed description, Æolis and Ionia) will quickly appear to those that carefully compare the Acts of the Apostles and the book of the Revelation together.

In the sixteenth chapter of the Acts, the journey of St. Paul and his company is by St. Luke thus described: "When they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in ASIA; after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia, came down to Troas." Where it may be observed, that the greater Phrygia, (through which they passed into Galatia) and Mysia Olympena (which was next adjoining unto Bithynia) and Hellespont, wherein Troas was situated, being all of them parcels of the Asia by the Romans properly so called, are yet expressly distinguished from Asia, in this more strict sense so denominated; as Caria likewise, wherein Miletus stood, appeareth to be by what we read in Acts, chap. 20. ver. 16, 17.

And as these are thus exempted by St. Luke; so the rest that remain of the proper Asia, together with the seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Revelation of St. John, are all of them comprehended within the limits of that Lydian Asia, whereof we have spoken. For, that Pergamus was a city of Lydia, is plainly affirmed by Xenophon" to whom Aristotle also may be added, in his book περὶ θαυμασίων ἀκουσμάτων, where he speaketh of a war sometime raised ἐν τοῖς περὶ Λυδίαν μετάλλοις τοῖς περὶ Πέργαμον. That Smyrna at first was possessed by

* Ασία τὸ πρότερον ἐκαλεῖτο ἡ Λυδία. lib. 2.

Scholiast. Apollon. Argonaut.

* Εἰς Καΐκου πεδίον ἐλθόντες, Πέργαμον καταλαμβάνουσι τῆς Λυδίας. Xenoph. de exped. Cyr. lib. 7.