ἐν δὲ τῷ Ἀντιταύρῳ τούτῳ βαθεῖς καὶ στενοί εἰσιν αὐλῶνες, ἐν οἷς ἵδρυται τὰ Κόμανα καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἐνυοῦς ἱερὸν ἣν ἐκεῖνοι Μᾶ ὀνομάζουσι· πόλις δʼ ἐστὶν ἀξιόλογος, πλεῖστον μέντοι τὸ τῶν θεοφορήτων πλῆθος καὶ τὸ τῶν ἱεροδούλων ἐν αὐτῇ. Κατάονες δέ εἰσιν οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες, ἄλλως μὲν ὑπὸ τῷ βασιλεῖ τεταγμένοι, τοῦ δὲ ἱερέως ὑπακούοντες τὸ πλέον· ὁ δὲ τοῦ θʼ ἱεροῦ κύριός ἐστι καὶ τῶν ἱεροδούλων, οἳ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐπιδημίαν πλείους ἦσαν τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων, ἄνδρες ὁμοῦ γυναιξί. πρόσκειται δὲ τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ χώρα πολλή, καρποῦται δʼ ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν πρόσοδον, καὶ ἔστιν οὗτος δεύτερος κατὰ τιμὴν τῇ Καππαδοκίᾳ μετὰ τὸν βασιλέα· ὡς δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους ἦσαν οἱ ἱερεῖς τοῖς βασιλεῦσι. τὰ δὲ ἱερὰ ταῦτα δοκεῖ Ὀρέστης μετὰ τῆς ἀδελφῆς Ἰφιγενείας κομίσαι δεῦρο ἀπὸ τῆς Ταυρικῆς Σκυθίας, τὰ τῆς Ταυροπόλου Ἀρτέμιδος, ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ τὴν πένθιμον κόμην ἀποθέσθαι, ἀφʼ ἧς καὶ τοὔνομα τῇ πόλει. διὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ὁ Σάρος ῥεῖ ποταμός, καὶ διὰ τῶν συναγκειῶν τοῦ Ταύρου διεκπεραιοῦται πρὸς τὰ τῶν Κιλίκων πεδία καὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον πέλαγος.
In the Anti-Taurus are deep and narrow valleys, in which is situated Comana, and the temple of Enyus (Bellona). which they call Ma. It is a considerable city. It contains a very great multitude of persons who at times are actuated by divine impulse, and of servants of the temple. It is inhabited by Cataonians, who are chiefly under the command of the priest, but in other respects subject to the king. The former presides over the temple, and has authority over the servants belonging to it, who, at the time that I was there, exceeded in number six thousand persons, including men and women. A large tract of land adjoins the temple, the revenue of which the priest enjoys. He is second in rank in Cappadocia after the king, and, in general, the priests are descended from the same family as the kings. Orestes, when he came hither with his sister Iphigenia from Tauric Scythia, is thought to have introduced the sacred rites performed in honour of Diana Tauropolus, and to have deposited here the tresses (Coman, κόμην.) of mourning, from which the city had the name of Comana.
The river Sarus flows through this city, and passes out through the valleys of the Taurus to the plains of Cilicia, and to the sea lying below them.
διὰ δὲ τῆς Καταονίας ὁ Πύραμος, πλωτός, ἐκ μέσου τοῦ πεδίου τὰς πηγὰς ἔχων· ἔστι δὲ βόθρος ἀξιόλογος, διʼ οὗ καθορᾶν ἔστι τὸ ὕδωρ ὑποφερόμενον κρυπτῶς μέχρι πολλοῦ διαστήματος ὑπὸ γῆς, εἶτʼ ἀνατέλλον εἰς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν· τῷ δὲ καθιέντι ἀκόντιον ἄνωθεν εἰς τὸν βόθρον ἡ βία τοῦ ὕδατος ἀντιπράττει τοσοῦτον ὥστε μόλις βαπτίζεσθαι· ἀπλέτῳ δὲ βάθει καὶ πλάτει πολὺς ἐνεχθεὶς ἐπειδὰν συνάψῃ τῷ Ταύρῳ, παράδοξον λαμβάνει τὴν συναγωγήν· παράδοξος δὲ καὶ ἡ διακοπὴ τοῦ ὄρους ἐστὶ διʼ ἧς ἄγεται τὸ ῥεῖθρον· καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ῥῆγμα λαβούσαις πέτραις καὶ σχισθείσαις δίχα τὰς κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν ἐξοχὰς ὁμολόγους εἶναι συμβαίνει ταῖς κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν εἰσοχαῖς ὥστε κἂν συναρμοσθῆναι δύνασθαι, οὕτως εἴδομεν καὶ τὰς ὑπερκειμένας τοῦ ποταμοῦ πέτρας ἑκατέρωθεν σχεδόν τι μέχρι τῶν ἀκρωρειῶν ἀνατεινούσας ἐν διαστάσει δυεῖν ἢ τριῶν πλέθρων ἀντικείμενα ἐχούσας τὰ κοῖλα ταῖς ἐξοχαῖς· τὸ δὲ ἔδαφος τὸ μεταξὺ πᾶν πέτρινον, βαθύ τι καὶ στενὸν τελέως, ἔχον διὰ μέσου ῥῆγμα ὥστε καὶ κύνα καὶ λαγὼ διάλλεσθαι. τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ ῥεῖθρον τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἄχρι χείλους πλῆρες, ὀχετῷ πλατεῖ προσεοικός, διὰ δὲ τὴν σκολιότητα καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοσούτου συναγωγὴν καὶ τὸ τῆς φάραγγος βάθος εὐθὺς τοῖς πόρρωθεν προσιοῦσιν ὁ ψόφος βροντῇ προσπίπτει παραπλήσιος· διεκβαίνων δὲ τὰ ὄρη τοσαύτην κατάγει χοῦν ἐπὶ θάλατταν, τὴν μὲν ἐκ τῆς Καταονίας τὴν δὲ ἐκ τῶν Κιλίκων πεδίων, ὥστε ἐπʼ αὐτῷ καὶ χρησμὸς ἐκπεπτωκὼς φέρεται τοιοῦτος ἔσσεται ἐσσομένοις, ὅτε Πύραμος ἀργυροδίνης / ἠιόνα προχέων ἱερὴν ἐς Κύπρον ἵκηται / παραπλήσιον γάρ τι κἀκεῖ συμβαίνει καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, τοῦ Νείλου προσεξηπειροῦντος ἀεὶ τὴν θάλατταν τῇ προσχώσει· καθὸ καὶ Ἡρόδοτος μὲν δῶρον τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὴν Αἴγυπτον εἶπεν, ὁ ποιητὴς δὲ τὴν Φάρον πελαγίαν ὑπάρξαι πρότερον οὐχ ὡς νυνὶ πρόσγειον οὖσαν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ.
The Pyramus, which has its source in the middle of the plain, is navigable throughout Cataonia. There is a large subterraneous channel, through which the water flows underground to a great distance, and then may be seen springing up again to the surface. If an arrow is let down into the pit from above, the resistance of the water is so great that it is scarcely immersed. Although it pursues its course with great depth and breadth, it undergoes an extraordinary contraction of its size by the time it has reached the Taurus. There is also an extraordinary fissure in the mountain, through which the stream is carried. For, as in rocks which have burst and split in two parts, the projections in one correspond so exactly with the follows in the other that they might even be fitted together, so here I have seen the rocks at the distance of two or three plethra, overhanging the river on each side, and nearly reaching to the summit of the mountain, with hollows on one side answering to projections on the other. The bed between (the mountains) is entirely rock; it has a deep and very narrow fissure through the middle, so that a dog and a hare might leap across it. This is the channel of the river; it is full to the margin, and in breadth resembles a canal. But on account of the winding of its course, the great contraction of the stream, and the depth of the ravine, a noise, like that of thunder, strikes at a distance on the ears of those who approach it. In passing out through the mountains, it brings down from Cataonia, and from the Cilician plains, so great a quantity of alluvial soil to the sea, that an oracle to the following effect is reported to have been uttered respecting it: The time will come, when Pyramus, with its deep whirlpools, by advancing on the sea-shore, will reach the sacred Cyprus.
Something similar to this takes place in Egypt. The Nile is continually converting the sea into continent by an accumulation of earth; accordingly Herodotus calls Egypt a gift of the river, and Homer says, that the Pharos was formerly out at sea, not as it is at present connected with the mainland of Egypt.
τρίτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἱερωσύνη Διὸς Ἀσβαμαίου λειπομένη ταύτης, ἀξιόλογος δʼ ὅμως. ἐνταῦθα δʼ ἐστὶ λάκκος ἁλμυροῦ ὕδατος, ἀξιολόγου λίμνης ἔχων περίμετρον, ὀφρύσι κλειόμενος ὑψηλαῖς τε καὶ ὀρθίαις ὥστʼ ἔχειν κατάβασιν κλιμακώδη· τὸ δʼ ὕδωρ οὔτʼ αὔξεσθαί φασιν οὔτʼ ἀπόρρυσιν ἔχειν οὐδαμοῦ φανεράν.
[The third in rank is the Dacian priesthood of Jupiter, inferior to this, but still of importance.] There is at this place a body of salt water, having the circumference of a considerable lake. It is shut in by lofty and perpendicular hills, so that the descent is by steps. The water it is said does not increase in quantity, nor has it anywhere an apparent outlet.
πόλιν δʼ οὔτε τὸ τῶν Καταόνων ἔχει πεδίον οὔθʼ ἡ Μελιτηνή, φρούρια δʼ ἐρυμνὰ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρῶν τά τε Ἀζάμορα καὶ τὸ Δάσταρκον, ὃ περιρρεῖται τῷ Καρμάλᾳ ποταμῷ. ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἱερὸν τὸ τοῦ Κατάονος Ἀπόλλωνος καθʼ ὅλην τιμώμενον τὴν Καππαδοκίαν, ποιησαμένων ἀφιδρύματα ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ. οὐδὲ αἱ ἄλλαι στρατηγίαι πόλεις ἔχουσι πλὴν δυεῖν· τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν στρατηγιῶν ἐν μὲν τῇ Σαργαραυσηνῇ πολίχνιόν ἐστιν Ἧρπα καὶ ποταμὸς Καρμάλας, ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν Κιλικίαν ἐκδίδωσιν· ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἄλλαις ὅ τε Ἄργος ἔρυμα ὑψηλὸν πρὸς τῷ Ταύρῳ, καὶ τὰ Νῶρα ὃ νῦν καλεῖται Νηροασσός, ἐν ᾧ Εὐμένης πολιορκούμενος ἀντέσχε πολὺν χρόνον· καθʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ Σισίνου ὑπῆρξε χρηματοφυλάκιον τοῦ ἐπιθεμένου τῇ Καππαδόκων ἀρχῇ. τούτου δʼ ἦν καὶ τὰ Κάδηνα, βασίλειον καὶ πόλεως κατασκευὴν ἔχον· ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὅρων τῶν Λυκαονικῶν τὰ Γαρσαύιρα κωμόπολις· λέγεται δʼ ὑπάρξαι ποτὲ καὶ αὕτη μητρόπολις τῆς χώρας. ἐν δὲ τῇ Μοριμηνῇ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ ἐν Ὀυηνάσοις Διός, ἱεροδούλων κατοικίαν ἔχον τρισχιλίων σχεδόν τι καὶ χώραν ἱερὰν εὔκαρπον, παρέχουσαν πρόσοδον ἐνιαύσιον ταλάντων πεντεκαίδεκα τῷ ἱερεῖ· καὶ οὗτος δʼ ἐστὶ διὰ βίου, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ ἐν Κομάνοις, καὶ δευτερεύει κατὰ τιμὴν μετʼ ἐκεῖνον.
Neither the plain of the Cataonians nor Melitene have any city, but strongholds upon the mountains, as Azamora, and Dastarcum, round which runs the river Carmalas. There is also the temple of the Cataonian Apollo, which is venerated throughout the whole of Cappadocia, and which the Cappadocians have taken as a model of their own temples. Nor have the other provinces, except two, any cities. Of the rest, Sargarausene has a small town Herpa, and a river Carmalas, which also discharges itself into the Cilician sea. In the other provinces is Argos, a lofty fortress near the Taurus, and Nora, now called Neroassus, in which Eumenes sustained a long siege. In our time it was a treasure-hold of Sisinus, who attempted to take possession of the kingdom of Cappadocia. To him belonged Cadena, a royal seat, built after the form of a city. Situated upon the borders of Lycaonia is Garsauira, a village town, said to have been formerly the capital of the country.
In Morimene, among the Venasii, is a temple of Jupiter, with buildings capable of receiving nearly three thousand servants of the temple. It has a tract of sacred land attached to it, very fertile, and affording to the priest a yearly revenue of fifteen talents. The priest is appointed for life like the priest at Comana, and is next to him in rank.
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