Location information

Argaeus mountain

  Argaeus (Argaios: Argish, or Erjish Dagh), a lofty mountain in Cappadocia, at the foot of which was Mazaca. It is, says Strabo (p. 538), always covered with snow on the summit, and those who ascend it (and they are few) say that on a clear day they can see from the top both the Euxine and the hay of Issus. Cappadocia, he adds, is a woodless country, but there are forests round the base of Argaeus. It is mentioned by Claudian. (In Ruf. ii. 30.) It has been doubted if the summit of the mountain can be reached; but Hamilton (Researches, ii. 274) reached the highest attainable point, above which is a mass of rock with steep perpendicular sides,rising to a height of 20 or 25 feet above the ridge, on which he stood. The state of the weather did not enable him to verify Strabo's remark about the two seas, but he doubts if they can be seen, on account of the high mountains which intervene to the N. and the S. He estimates the height above the sea-level at about 13,000 feet. Argaeus is a volcanic mountain. It is the culminating point in Asia Minor of the range of Taurus, or rather of that part which is called Antitaurus.

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD)
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...