Birtha (Thapsacus)
Encyclopedia
Birtha was an ancient town to the southeast of Thapsacus
, which Ptolemy
(v. 19) places in 73° 40′ long., 35° 0′ lat. This place, the same as the Birtha of Hierocles
, has been confounded by geographers with the town
in the Commagene, which lies much further to the north.
Thapsacus
Thapsacus , meaning ford or passage) was an ancient town along the western bank of the Euphrates river that would now lie in modern Syria or Turkey. Thapsacus was the Greek and Roman name for the town...
, which Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
(v. 19) places in 73° 40′ long., 35° 0′ lat. This place, the same as the Birtha of Hierocles
Hierocles (author of Synecdemus)
Hierocles or Hierokles was a Byzantine geographer of the sixth century and the attributed author of the Synecdemus or Synekdemos, which contains a table of administrative divisions of the Byzantine Empire and lists of the cities of each...
, has been confounded by geographers with the town
Birtha (Commagene)
Birtha was an ancient town on the east bank of the Euphrates, at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs nearly north-south, and just below a sharp bend in the stream, where it follows that course after coming from a long reach flowing more from the west. This town has often been...
in the Commagene, which lies much further to the north.