---
title: "Seven Books of History against the Pagans"
author: "Paulus Orosius"
translator: "S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)"
title_ru: "История против язычников"
title_fr: "Histoires contre les païens"
title_de: "Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 3 of 177
url: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/3/
cite: "Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026), Seven Books of History against the Pagans, section 3. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/3/"
---

# Seven Books of History against the Pagans

*Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)*

Russian: История против язычников · French: Histoires contre les païens · German: Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden

Augustine's pupil tells the whole of world history to prove that the Christian times are not the worst.

## 3. Book 1 · Chapter 2 · 1 of 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/3/#p-N

[¶0] Our ancestors held that the whole circle of the earth, fenced about by the border of the Ocean, was three-cornered, and they called its three parts Asia, Europe and Africa; though some have thought there are two, that is, Asia, and then Africa, which should be counted as part of Europe.

> Latin: 1 Maiores nostri orbem totius terrae, oceani limbo circumsaeptum, triquadrum statuere eiusque tres partes Asiam Europam et Africam uocauerunt, quamuis aliqui duas hoc est Asiam ac deinde Africam in Europam accipiendam putarint.

[¶1] Asia, girt by the Ocean on three sides, stretches across the whole breadth of the east.

> Latin: 2 Asia tribus partibus oceano circumcincta per totam transuersi plagam orientis extenditur.

[¶2] Towards the west, on its right, it touches Europe, which begins under the northern pole; on its left it lets Africa go; and below Egypt and Syria it has Our Sea, which we generally call the Great Sea.

> Latin: 3 haec occasum uersus a dextra sui sub axe septentrionis incipientem contingit Europam, a sinistra autem Africam dimittit, sub Aegypto uero et Syria mare nostrum quod Magnum generaliter dicimus habet.

*Note: Our Sea (mare Nostrum) and the Great Sea (mare Magnum) are both the Mediterranean.*

[¶3] Europe begins, as I said, in the region of the north, at the river Tanais, where the Riphaean mountains, turned away from the Sarmatian Ocean, pour out the river Tanais;

> Latin: 4 Europa incipit ut dixi sub plaga septentrionis, a flumine Tanai, qua Riphaei montes Sarmatico auersi oceano Tanaim fluuium fundunt,

[¶4] this river, passing the altars and boundary-marks of Alexander the Great that stand in the territory of the Rhobasci, swells the Maeotic marshes, whose vast overflow enters the Euxine Sea far and wide near the city of Theodosia.

> Latin: 5 qui praeteriens aras ac terminos Alexandri Magni in Rhobascorum finibus sitos Maeotidas auget paludes, quarum inmensa exundatio iuxta Theodosiam urbem Euxinum Pontum late ingreditur.

*Note: The Tanais is the Don, the Maeotic marshes are the Sea of Azov, and the Euxine is the Black Sea.*

[¶5] From there a long strait runs out by Constantinople, until this sea which we call Our Sea receives it.

> Latin: 6 inde iuxta Constantinopolim longae mittuntur angustiae, donec eas mare hoc quod dicimus Nostrum accipiat.

[¶6] In Spain the western Ocean is the boundary of Europe, particularly where the Pillars of Hercules are seen by the islands of Cadiz, and where the tide of the Ocean pours into the mouth of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

> Latin: 7 Europae in Hispania occidentalis oceanus termino est, maxime ubi apud Gades insulas Herculis columnae uisuntur et Tyrrheni maris faucibus oceani aestus inmittitur.

*Note: Gades is Cadiz, which stood on islands off the Spanish coast; the strait of Cadiz (fretum Gaditanum) is the Strait of Gibraltar.*

[¶7] Africa begins at the borders of Egypt and the city of Alexandria, where the city of Paraetonium lies, above this Great Sea which washes between all the regions and the lands in the middle.

> Latin: 8 Africae principium est a finibus Aegypti urbisque Alexandriae, ubi Parethonio ciuitas sita est, super mare hoc Magnum, quod omnes plagas terrasque medias interluit.

[¶8] From there, running through the places which the inhabitants call Catabathmos, not far from the camp of Alexander the Great and above Lake Chalearzus, and then along the borders of the Upper Avasitae, its boundary cuts across the Ethiopian deserts and reaches the southern Ocean.

> Latin: 9 unde per loca quae accolae Catabathmon uocant haud procul a castris Alexandri Magni et super lacum Chalearzum, deinde iuxta superiorum fines Auasitarum missa in transuersum per Aethiopica deserta meridianum contingit oceanum.

[¶9] The boundaries of Africa to the west are the same as those of Europe, namely the mouth of the strait of Cadiz.

> Latin: 10 termini Africae ad occidentem idem sunt qui et Europae, id est fauces Gaditani freti.

[¶10] Its farthest limit is Mount Atlas and the islands they call the Fortunate Isles.

> Latin: 11 ultimus autem finis eius est mons Athlans et insulae quas Fortunatas uocant.

[¶11] And since I have briefly given the general divisions of the threefold world, I shall take care, as I promised, to indicate the regions of the parts themselves.

> Latin: 12 Et quia breuiter generales tripertiti orbis diuisiones dedi, ipsarum quoque partium regiones, sicut pollicitus sum, significare curabo.

[¶12] Asia, at the middle of its eastern front, has on the Eastern Ocean the mouths of the river Ganges; on the left, the promontory of Caligardamana, below which, to the south-east, lies the island of Taprobane, from which point the Ocean begins to be called the Indian Ocean;

> Latin: 13 Asia ad mediam frontem orientis habet in oceano Eoo ostia fluminis Gangis, a sinistra promunturium Caligardamana, cui subiacet ad Eurum insula Taprobane, ex qua oceanus Indicus uocari incipit;

[¶13] on the right it has the promontory of Samara on Mount Imavus — where the Caucasus ends — below which, to the north-east, lie the mouths of the river Ottorogorra, from which the Ocean is called the Serican.

> Latin: 14 a dextra habet Imaui montis - ubi Caucasus deficit - promunturium Samarae, cui ad aquilonem subiacent ostia fluminis Ottorogorrae, ex quo oceanus Sericus appellatur.

[¶14] Within these bounds is India, which has on the west the river Indus, which is received by the Red Sea, and on the north the Caucasus range; the rest, as I said, is bounded by the Eastern and the Indian Ocean.

> Latin: 15 In his finibus India est, quae habet ab occidente flumen Indum, quod Rubro mari accipitur, a septentrione montem Caucasum; reliqua ut dixi Eoo et Indico oceano terminatur.

*Note: The Red Sea (mare Rubrum) in ancient usage takes in the whole Indian Ocean with its gulfs, not only the modern Red Sea.*

[¶15] It has forty-four peoples, not counting the island of Taprobane, which has ten cities, nor the very many other inhabited islands.

> Latin: 16 haec habet gentes XLIIII, absque insula Taprobane, quae habet decem ciuitates, et absque reliquis insulis habitabilibus plurimis.

[¶16] From the river Indus, on the east, to the river Tigris, on the west, lie these regions: Arachosia, Parthia, Assyria, Persis and Media, mountainous and rugged in terrain.

> Latin: 17 A flumine Indo, quod est ab oriente, usque ad flumen Tigrim, quod est ad occasum, regiones sunt istae: Arachosia Parthia Assyria Persida et Media, situ terrarum montuoso et aspero.

[¶17] They have the Caucasus range on the north, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf on the south, and in their midst the chief rivers Hydaspes and Arbis. In these regions there are thirty-two peoples.

> Latin: 18 hae a septentrione habent montem Caucasum, a meridie mare Rubrum et sinum Persicum, in medio autem sui flumina praecipua Hydaspem et Arbim. in his sunt gentes XXXII.

[¶18] But the whole is generally called Parthia, though the Holy Scriptures often call all of it Media.

> Latin: 19 sed generaliter Parthia dicitur, quamuis Scripturae Sanctae uniuersam saepe Mediam uocent.

[¶19] From the river Tigris to the river Euphrates is Mesopotamia, beginning in the north between Mount Taurus and the Caucasus.

> Latin: 20 A flumine Tigri usque ad flumen Euphraten Mesopotamia est, incipiens a septentrione inter montem Taurum et Caucasum.

[¶20] South of it comes Babylonia, then Chaldaea, and lastly Arabia Eudaemon, which stretches eastward in a narrow tract of land between the Persian and the Arabian Gulf.

> Latin: 21 cui ad meridiem succedit Babylonia, deinde Chaldaea, nouissime Arabia Eudaemon, quae inter sinum Persicum et Arabicum angusto terrae tractu orientem uersus extenditur.

[¶21] In these there are twenty-eight peoples.

> Latin: 22 in his sunt gentes XXVIII.

[¶22] From the river Euphrates, on the east, to Our Sea, on the west; and from the north, that is, from the city of Dagusa, which lies on the border of Cappadocia and Armenia not far from the place where the Euphrates rises, to Egypt and the far end of the Arabian Gulf —

> Latin: 23 A flumine Euphrate, quod est ab oriente, usque ad mare Nostrum, quod est ab occasu, deinde a septentrione id est a ciuitate Dagusa, quae in confinio Cappadociae et Armeniae sita est haud procul a loco ubi Euphrates nascitur, usque ad Aegyptum et extremum sinum Arabicum,

[¶23] which, to the south, stretches westward from the Red Sea, that is, from the Ocean, in a long, narrow channel crowded with rocks and islands — the land is generally called Syria. It has the very large provinces of Commagene, Phoenicia and Palestine, besides the Saracens and Nabataeans, whose peoples number twelve.

> Latin: 24 qui ad meridiem longo angustoque sulco saxis insulisque creberrimo a Rubro mari id est ab oceano occasum uersus extenditur, Syria generaliter nominatur, habens maximas prouincias Commagenam Phoeniciam et Palaestinam, absque Saracenis et Nabathaeis quorum gentes sunt XII.

[¶24] At the head of Syria is Cappadocia, which has Armenia on the east, Asia on the west, the Themiscyrian plains and the Cimmerian Sea on the north-east, and on the south Mount Taurus, below which lie Cilicia and Isauria as far as the Cilician Gulf, which faces the island of Cyprus.

> Latin: 25 In capite Syriae Cappadocia est, quae habet ab oriente Armeniam, ab occasu Asiam, ab aquilone Themiscyrios campos et mare Cimmericum, a meridie Taurum montem, cui subiacet Cilicia et Isauria usque ad Cilicium sinum, qui spectat contra insulam Cyprum.

[¶25] The region of Asia — or, to speak properly, Asia Minor — except for its eastern part, where it runs on towards Cappadocia and Syria, is surrounded on every side by sea: on the north by the Euxine, on the west by the Propontis and the Hellespont, on the south by Our Sea. There is Mount Olympus.

> Latin: 26 Asia Regio uel, ut proprie dicam, Asia minor absque orientali parte qua ad Cappadociam Syriamque progreditur undique circumdata est mari: a septentrione Ponto Euxino, ab occasu Propontide atque Hellesponto, ad meridiem mari Nostro. ibi est mons Olympus.

[¶26] Lower Egypt has on the east Syria Palaestina, on the west Libya, on the north Our Sea, and on the south the mountain called Climax, and Upper Egypt and the river Nile,

> Latin: 27 Aegyptus Inferior ab oriente habet Syriam Palaestinam, ab occasu Libyam, a septentrione mare Nostrum, a meridie montem, qui appellatur Climax, et Aegyptum superiorem fluuiumque Nilum,

[¶27] which seems to rise from the shore where the Red Sea begins, at the place called the trading-post of Mossylon; then, flowing a long way westward and forming in its midst an island named Meroë, it at last bends northward and, swollen by its seasonal floods, waters the plains of Egypt.

> Latin: 28 qui de litore incipientis maris Rubri uidetur emergere in loco, qui dicitur Mossylon emporium, deinde diu ad occasum profluens, faciens insulam nomine Meroen in medio sui, nouissime ad septentrionem inflexus, tempestiuis auctus incrementis plana Aegypti rigat.

[¶28] Some authors say that it has its source not far from Atlas and at once sinks into the sands;

> Latin: 29 hunc aliqui auctores ferunt haud procul ab Athlante habere fontem et continuo harenis mergi,

*Note: This is the theory of King Juba II of Mauretania, reported by Pliny the Elder (Natural History 5.51), that the Nile rises in western Mauretania and runs for part of its course underground.*

[¶29] then, after a short interval, it overflows into a vast lake, and from there glides eastward through the Ethiopian deserts as far as the Ocean, and, turning again to the left, comes down into Egypt.

> Latin: 30 inde interiecto breui spatio uastissimo lacu exundare atque hinc oceano tenus orientem uersus per Aethiopica deserta prolabi rursusque inflexum ad sinistram ad Aegyptum descendere.

[¶30] It is indeed true that there is a great river of this kind, which has such a source and such a course, and which truly breeds all the monsters of the Nile; the barbarians near its source call it Dara, while the other inhabitants call it Nuhul;

> Latin: 31 quod quidem uerum est esse huiusmodi fluuium magnum, qui tali ortu talique cursu sit et re uera omnia Nili monstra gignat; quem utique prope fontem barbari Dara nominant; ceteri uero accolae Nuhul uocant;

[¶31] but in the region of the peoples called Libyo-Egyptians, not far from that river which we said bursts forth from the shore of the Red Sea, it is received into an immense lake and swallowed up —

> Latin: 32 sed hic in regione gentium, quae Libyoaegyptiae uocantur, haud procul ab illo fluuio, quem a litore maris Rubri prorumpere diximus, inmenso lacu acceptus absumitur;

[¶32] unless perhaps it discharges by a hidden channel into the bed of the river that comes down from the east.

> Latin: 33 nisi forte occulto meatu in alueum eius, qui ab oriente descendit, eructat.

[¶33] Upper Egypt extends a long way towards the east. On its north is the Arabian Gulf, on its south the Ocean; on the west it begins from Lower Egypt, and on the east it is bounded by the Red Sea. There are twenty-four peoples there.

> Latin: 34 Aegyptus Superior in orientem per longum extenditur. cui est a septentrione sinus Arabicus, a meridie oceanus. nam ab occasu ex inferiore Aegypto incipit, ad orientem Rubro mari terminatur. ibi sunt gentes XXIIII.

[¶34] And since we have described the southern part of all Asia, it remains to set out the part that is left, from the east to the north.

> Latin: 35 Et quoniam meridianam partem uniuersae Asiae descripsimus, superest ut ab oriente ad septentrionem pars quae restat expediatur.

[¶35] The Caucasus range first rises between the Colchians, who live above the Cimmerian Sea, and the Albanians, who live by the Caspian Sea. All the way to the farthest east it appears to be a single ridge, but it has many names;

> Latin: 36 Mons Caucasus inter Colchos, qui sunt super Cimmericum mare, et inter Albanos, qui sunt ad mare Caspium, primum attollitur. cuius quidem usque in ultimum orientem unum uidetur iugum, sed multa sunt nomina;

*Note: The Albanians of the Caucasus, between the mountains and the Caspian (roughly modern Azerbaijan), not the Albanians of the Balkans.*

[¶36] and many would have this same ridge believed to be the Taurus range, because Mount Parcohatras in Armenia, lying between the Taurus and the Caucasus, is thought in fact to join the Taurus to the Caucasus;

> Latin: 37 et multi hoc ipsum iugum Tauri montis credi uolunt, quia re uera Parcohatras mons Armeniae inter Taurum et Caucasum medius continuare Taurum cum Caucaso putatur;

[¶37] but the river Euphrates shows that this is not so: pouring out from the foot of Mount Parcohatras and heading south, it leaves that mountain on its left and shuts off the Taurus on its right.

> Latin: 38 sed hoc ita non esse discernit fluuius Euphrates, qui, radice Parcohatrae montis effusus, tendens in meridiem, ipsum ad sinistram, Taurum excludit ad dextram.

[¶38] So the Caucasus proper, between the Colchians and the Albanians, where it also has its gates, is called Mount Caucasus;

> Latin: 39 itaque ipse Caucasus inter Colchos et Albanos, ubi et portas habet, mons Caucasus dicitur;

[¶39] from the Caspian Gates to the Armenian Gates, or to the source of the river Tigris, between Armenia and Hiberia, the mountains are called the Acroceraunians;

> Latin: 40 a portis Caspiis usque ad Armenias pylas uel usque ad fontem Tigridis fluminis inter Armeniam et Hiberiam montes Acrocerauni dicuntur;

[¶40] from the source of the Tigris to the city of Carrhae, between the Massagetae and the Parthians, it is Mount Ariobarzanes;

> Latin: 41 a fonte Tigridis usque ad Carras ciuitatem inter Massagetas et Parthos mons Ariobarzanes;

[¶41] from the city of Carrhae to the town of Cathippus, between the Hyrcanians and the Bactrians, it is Mount Memarmali, where amomum grows; the ridge next to it is called Mount Parthau;

> Latin: 42 a Carris ciuitate usque ad oppidum Cathippi inter Hyrcanos et Bactrianos mons Memarmali, ubi amomum nascitur; a quo proximum iugum mons Parthau dicitur;

[¶42] from the town of Cathippus to the village of Safris, between the Dahae, the Sacaraucae and the Parthyenae, it is Mount Oscobares, where the river Ganges rises and silphium grows;

> Latin: 43 ab oppido Cathippi usque ad uicum Safrim inter Dahas Sacaraucas et Parthyenas mons Oscobares, ubi Ganges fluuius oritur et laser nascitur;

[¶43] from the source of the river Ganges to the sources of the river Ottorogorra, which lie to the north, where the mountain-dwelling Paropanisadae live, it is Mount Taurus;

> Latin: 44 a fonte fluminis Gangis usque ad fontes fluminis Ottorogorrae qui sunt a septentrione, ubi sunt montani Paropanisadae, mons Taurus;

[¶44] from the sources of the Ottorogorra to the city of Ottorogorra, between the Hunnic Scythians and the Gandaridae, it is Mount Caucasus.

> Latin: 45 a fontibus Ottorogorrae usque ad ciuitatem Ottorogorram inter Chunos Scythas et Gandaridas mons Caucasus.