§15.3.1μετὰ δὲ Καρμανίαν ἡ Περσὶς ἔστι, πολλὴ μὲν ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ τοῦ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ὀνομαζομένου κόλπου, πολὺ δὲ μείζων ἐν τῇ μεσογαίᾳ, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπὶ μῆκος τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ νότου καὶ τῆς Καρμανίας ἐπὶ τὰς ἄρκτους καὶ τὰ περὶ Μηδίαν ἔθνη.
After Carmania is Persis, extensive on the coast of the gulf named after it, but much greater in the interior, and especially in length from the south and Carmania toward the north and the tribes around Media.
τριττὴ δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ τῇ φύσει καὶ τῇ τῶν ἀέρων κράσει.
It is threefold both in its nature and in the temperature of its air.
ἡ μὲν γὰρ παραλία καυματηρά τε καὶ ἀμμώδης καὶ σπανιστὴ καρποῖς ἐστι πλὴν φοινίκων, ὅσον ἐν τετρακισχιλίοις καὶ τετρακοσίοις ἢ τριακοσίοις ἐξεταζομένη σταδίοις, καταστρέφουσα εἰς ποταμὸν μέγιστον τῶν ταύτῃ καλούμενον Ὀρόατιν·
For the coast is hot and sandy and deficient in crops except dates, being measured at about four thousand four hundred or three hundred stadia, and ending at a river, the greatest of those in these parts, called Oroatis.
ἡ δʼ ὑπὲρ ταύτης ἐστὶ πάμφορος καὶ πεδινὴ καὶ θρεμμάτων ἀρίστη τροφός, ποταμοῖς τε καὶ λίμναις πληθύει.
The region above this is fertile and level, and an excellent nurse of cattle, abounding both in rivers and in lakes.
τρίτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἡ πρὸς βορρᾶν χειμέριος καὶ ὀρεινή· πρὸς δὲ ταῖς ἐσχατιαῖς εἰσιν οἱ καμηλοβοσκοί.
The third region is that toward the north, wintry and mountainous; and near the frontiers are the camel-breeders.
μῆκος μὲν οὖν ἐστι κατʼ Ἐρατοσθένη τὸ ἐπὶ τὰς ἄρκτους καὶ * τὰς Κασπίους πύλας περὶ ὀκτακισχιλίων κατά τινας προπιπτούσας ἄκρας. λοιπὴ δʼ ἐστὶν ἐπὶ Κασπίους πύλας οὐ πλεῖον ἢ τῶν τρισχιλίων.
Now, according to Eratosthenes, the length toward the north and the Caspian Gates is about eight thousand stadia along certain projecting promontories; but the remaining part to the Caspian Gates is not more than three thousand stadia.
πλάτος δὲ τὸ ἐν τῇ μεσογαίᾳ τὸ ἀπὸ Σούσων εἰς Περσέπολιν στάδιοι τετρακισχίλιοι διακόσιοι, κἀντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς τῆς Καρμανίας ὅρους ἄλλοι χίλιοι ἑξακόσιοι.
The breadth in the interior, from Susa to Persepolis, is four thousand two hundred stadia, and from there to the borders of Carmania another one thousand six hundred stadia.
φῦλα δὲ οἰκεῖ τὴν χώραν οἵ τε Πατεισχορεῖς λεγόμενοι καὶ οἱ Ἀχαιμενίδαι καὶ Μάγοι· οὗτοι μὲν οὖν σεμνοῦ τινός εἰσι βίου ζηλωταί, Κύρτιοι δὲ καὶ Μάρδοι λῃστρικοί, ἄλλοι δὲ γεωργικοί.
The tribes that inhabit the country are those called Pateischoreis, the Achaemenidae, and the Magi; now these indeed are zealots of a certain dignified life, but the Cyrtii and Mardi are predatory, and others are agricultural.
§15.3.2σχεδὸν δέ τι καὶ ἡ Σουσὶς μέρος γεγένηται τῆς Περσίδος μεταξὺ αὐτῆς κειμένη καὶ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας, ἔχουσα πόλιν ἀξιολογωτάτην τὰ Σοῦσα.
Susis also has become almost a part of Persis, lying between it and Babylonia, and having Susa, a most noteworthy city.
οἱ γὰρ Πέρσαι κρατήσαντες Μήδων καὶ ὁ Κῦρος, ὁρῶντες τὴν μὲν οἰκείαν γῆν ἐπʼ ἐσχάτοις που ταττομένην, τὴν δὲ Σουσίδα ἐνδοτέρω καὶ πλησιαιτέραν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσιν, ἐνταῦθα ἔθεντο τὸ τῆς ἡγεμονίας βασίλειον·
For when the Persians and Cyrus conquered the Medes, seeing that their own country was situated near the frontiers, while Susis was further inland and closer to Babylonia and the other nations, they established the royal seat of their empire there.
ἅμα καὶ τὸ ὅμορον τῆς χώρας ἀποδεξάμενοι καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς πόλεως καὶ * κρεῖττον τὸ μηδέποτε καθʼ ἑαυτὴν τὴν Σουσίδα πραγμάτων μεγάλων ἐπήβολον γεγονέναι, ἀλλʼ ἀεὶ ὑφʼ ἑτέροις ὑπάρξαι καὶ ἐν μέρει τετάχθαι συστήματος μείζονος, πλὴν εἰ ἄρα τὸ παλαιὸν τὸ κατὰ τοὺς ἥρωας.
At the same time, they also welcomed the neighborly position of the country, the dignity of the city, and the still better fact that Susis had never by itself been capable of great achievements, but had always been subject to others and ranked as a part of a larger system, except perhaps in ancient times in the age of the heroes.
λέγεται γὰρ δὴ κτίσμα Τιθωνοῦ τοῦ Μέμνονος πατρός, κύκλον ἔχουσα ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι σταδίων, παραμήκης τῷ σχήματι· ἡ δʼ ἀκρόπολις ἐκαλεῖτο Μεμνόνιον·
For indeed it is said to be a foundation of Tithonus, the father of Memnon, having a circumference of one hundred and twenty stadia, and being oblong in shape; and its acropolis was called Memnonium.
λέγονται δὲ καὶ Κίσσιοι οἱ Σούσιοι· φησὶ δὲ καὶ Αἰσχύλος τὴν μητέρα Μέμνονος Κισσίαν.
The Susians are also called Cissians, and Aeschylus also calls the mother of Memnon Cissia.
ταφῆναι δὲ λέγεται Μέμνων περὶ Πάλτον τῆς Συρίας παρὰ Βαδᾶν ποταμόν, ὡς εἴρηκε Σιμωνίδης ἐν Μέμνονι διθυράμβῳ τῶν Δηλιακῶν.
And Memnon is said to have been buried near Paltus in Syria, by the river Badas, as Simonides has stated in his "Memnon," a dithyramb of the Delian collection.
τὸ δὲ τεῖχος ᾠκοδόμητο τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἱερὰ καὶ βασίλεια παραπλησίως ὥσπερ τὰ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου καὶ ἀσφάλτου, καθάπερ εἰρήκασί τινες· Πολύκλειτος δὲ διακοσίων φησὶ τὸν κύκλον καὶ ἀτείχιστον.
The wall of the city, the temples, and the palaces had been built, as some have said, in a manner very similar to those of the Babylonians, of baked brick and asphalt; but Polycletus says that its circumference is two hundred stadia and that it is without walls.
§15.3.3κοσμήσαντες δὲ τὰ ἐν Σούσοις βασίλεια μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ τὰ ἐν Περσεπόλει καὶ τὰ ἐν Πασαργάδαις ἐξετίμησαν· καὶ ἥ γε γάζα καὶ οἱ θησαυροὶ καὶ τὰ μνήματα ἐνταῦθα ἦν τοῖς Πέρσαις, ὡς ἐν τόποις ἐρυμνοτέροις καὶ ἅμα προγονικοῖς.
Although they adorned the palace in Susa more than any other, they honored no less those in Persepolis and Pasargadae; and the treasury, the treasures, and the tombs were there for the Persians, as being in places more secure and at the same time ancestral.
ἦν δὲ καὶ ἄλλα βασίλεια τὰ ἐν Γάβαις ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω που μέρεσι τῆς Περσίδος καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ταόκην λεγομένην·
There were also other palaces, that in Gabae in some of the upper parts of Persis, and that on the coast near the place called Taoce.
ταῦτα μὲν τὰ κατὰ τὴν τῶν Περσῶν ἀρχήν, οἱ δʼ ὕστερον ἄλλοις καὶ ἄλλοις ἐχρήσαντο, ὡς εἰκός, εὐτελεστέροις τισίν, ἅτε καὶ τῆς Περσίδος ἠλαττωμένης ὑπό τε τῶν Μακεδόνων καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ὑπὸ τῶν Παρθυαίων.
These, indeed, belonged to the time of the Persian empire; but those of later times used other and different palaces, and some of them more humble, as is natural, inasmuch as Persis had been diminished both by the Macedonians and still more by the Parthians.
καὶ γὰρ εἰ βασιλεύονται μέχρι νῦν ἴδιον βασιλέα ἔχοντες οἱ Πέρσαι, τῇ γε δυνάμει πλεῖστον ἀπολείπονται καὶ τῷ Παρθυαίων προσέχουσι βασιλεῖ.
For even if the Persians are ruled by their own king until now, they fall very far short in power and pay attention to the Parthian king.