| limbs, its E. part forming only a small body, which is in fact a part of that of Asia; while Asia forms a huge body, from which limbs project E., S., and SW., the body forming about 4-5ths of the whole. Of course the outlying islands must be regarded as detached limbs, and with these Asia is far more abundantly provided than either of the other continents. To trace in detail the features thus indicated is the province of a more general work than the present; but, in connection with ancient geography, it is important to observe the vast influence on the history and civilization of the world, which has resulted from the manner in which the adjacent parts of W. Asia, S. Europe, and N. Africa, with their projecting members and intersecting seas, are related to one another.
The structure of the great mass of the Asiatic - continent is peculiarly interesting. Its form is that of a four-sided figure, extending in length E. and W., and in breadth N. and S., but much wider on the eastern than on the western side. The reason of this is soon made evident. The map shows that the continent may be roughly divided into three portions, by two great mountain chains, running from W. to E., and continually diverging from each other. Both may be regarded, in a first rough view, as beginning from the N. and S. extremities of the Caspian. The N. chain, which we may call the Altai from the name of its chief portion, at first interrupted by extensive plains, follows a general, though irregular, direction, not far from the parallel of 50° N. lat., till about 110° E. long., where it strikes off NE. towards the extremity of the continent at Behring Strait. The other (which, for a like reason, we may call the Himalaya chain) diverges more steadily to the southward of its eastern course, till it reaches 100° E. long., where it meets a transverse chain running down from a still more easterly point of the N. chain, and extending southwards till it runs out into the ocean in the form of the Malay peninsula. These two great chains and the one which unites them on the east, are the margins or walls of a vast elevated plateau or table-land, attaining in some places a height of 10,000 feet, for the most part desert, included under the general name of Tartary, outside of which the other portions of the continent slope down to the surrounding seas, but in different modes. The Northern portion descends gradually in a wide and nearly unbroken tract of land to the Arctic Ocean; on the E., the masses of land, though more broken, are large, and round in their outlines; but on the south, where the mountain wall is highest, the descent from it is also the most sudden, and the tract of intervening land would be exceedingly narrow, were it not prolonged in the vast peninsula of India. How much of the natural advantages and political importance of India results from this formation, it u not our province to do more than hint at. But, westward of India, the descent from the great central plateau needs particular attention. Instead of falling in a gradual slope to the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, the land forms a distinct and much lower plateau (about 4000 feet high), called that ofIran, bordered on the S. by the mountains of Beloochistan and Persia, whence the range skirts the E. margin of the Tigris and Euphrates valley, to the mountains of Armenia. This lower table-land (of Iran) is separated on the E. from the valley of the Indus and the great plain of NW. India (the Panjab), by a range of mountains (the Soliman M.), which run N., meeting that part of the Himalaya | range, which b called the Indian Caucasus or Hindoo Koosh, at the NW. comer of the Panjab, NE. of Cabool, whence it continues towards the Altai range, cutting the plateau of Tartary into the two unequal parts of Independent and Chinese Tartary. The plateau of Iran is continued on the SW. in the highlands of Arabia, where it is terminated (for the present: for it ascends again in Africa) by the range of mountains which run parallel to the Red Sea, and are continued, in the Lebanon range, along the E. coast of the Mediterranean, till they join the Taurus and Amanus, which belong to the chain which borders the plateau of Iran on the south. Finally the peninsula of Asia Minor is formed by the western prolongations of the last-named chain, and of that of the Himalaya, under the names respectively of Taurus, for the chain along the S. side of the peninsula, and Antitaurus, Olympus, and other names, for the more broken portions of the northern chain. In fact the peninsula, from the Caucasus and Caspian to the Aegean, may be regarded as an almost continuous highland, formed by the union of the two chains. To what extent the ancients were acquainted with this mountain system, and by what names they designated its several parts, will be seen by reference to the articles Taurus, Antitaurus, Caucasus, Imaus, Emodus, &c. The general view now given will suffice to indicate the reasons why the history of Asiatic civilization has always been confined to so small a portion of the continent.
The seas, lakes, and rivers of Asia are described under the respective countries. [ P. S. ]
A'SIA (Άσία), a Roman provincial division of the country, which we call Asia Minor. The Roman province of Asia originated in the testamentary bequest of Attalus (B.C. 133), the last king of Pergamum, to the Romans; and after the rising of Aristonicus (B.C. 131 — 129) was put down, the province was formed (B.C. 129) in the usual way, by the consul M. Aquillius with the assistance of ten Roman commissioners. (Strab. p. M5.) Strabo observes that
the province was reduced to the same form of polity which existed in his time; but this gives no exact information as to the limits. Cicero (pro Flacco, c. 27) mentions "Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, and Lydia" as the component parts of the province. Within these limits Aeolis and Ionia were of course included; and probably the Dorian towns on the mainland. But the province was not originally so extensive. Phrygia, which had been in the possession of Mithridates VI, was declared free after it was taken from him. (Appian, Mithrid, c. 57.) Cicero (Verr. Act ii. 1. c. 38) speaks of Phrygia (Phrygiam totam) as one of the countries which Dolabella and his quaestor Verres plundered; and the province of Dolabella was Cilicia (B.C. 80).
In the republican period the province of Asia was generally governed by a Propraetor, who, however, is often called Praetor, and sometimes Proconsul. Upon the division of the provinces between Augustus and the Senate, the Senate had Asia, which was governed by a Proconsul. (Strab. p. 840.; Dion Cass. liii. 12.)
L. Cornelius Sulla, after the close of the Mithridatic war (B.C. 84), divided Asia Into 40 Regiones, a division which was made apparently for the purpose of raising money, and particularly the heavy contribution which Sulla had on Asia. (Plut. Sulla, c 25; Cic. ad Q. Fr. i. 1, 11, pro Flacco, c. 14). This province contained a large number of rich towns; five hundred are mentioned in the first |
