Res Gestae

Neighbours to these lands are the Susiani, who have few cities. Conspicuous among them, however, is Susa, often the residence of the kings,[*](The kings spent the winter in Susa or Babylon (sometimes in Bactra); the summers in Ecbatana; cf. Strabo, xi. 13, 1, 5; xv. 3, 2.) and Arsiana, Sele, and Aracha. The others are small and little known. On the other hand, many rivers flow through this region; most notable among them are the Oroates, Harax, and Mosaeus, which along the narrow sandy tract that separates the Caspian from the Red Sea overflow into a great number of pools.

On the left Media extends, bordering on the Hyrcanian[*](Part of the Caspian.) Sea. Of this province we read that before the reign of the elder Cyrus and the growth in Persia’s power, it was the queen of all Asia, after it had overcome Assyria,[*](Under Arbaces in the reign of Sardanapalus, 876 B.C.) whose many provinces, changed in name to Agropatena, it possessed by the right of conquest.

It is a warlike nation, and most of all to be feared next to the Parthians, by whom alone it is surpassed, and its territory has the form of a rectangle. The inhabitants of these lands

Those who dwell on the western side of the lofty mountain Coronus[*](In Parthia.) abound in fields of grain and vineyards,[*](Polyb. v. 44, 1.) enjoy the fertility of a productive soil, and are rich in rivers and clear springs.

Their green meadows produce a noble breed of horses, on which their chiefs (as the writers of old say, and as I myself have seen) when entering battle are wont to ride full of courage. These horses they call Nesaean.[*](Cf. Herodotus, vii. 40; Strabo, xi. 13, 7; 14, 9. Others say that they were used only for the kings’ chariots.)