Hierus
| Author: Laxman Burdak, IFS (R). |
Hierus is a river of Asia mentioned by Pliny.[1]
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Heer = Hierus (Pliny.vi.5)
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[2] mentions The region of Colica, the nations of the Achæi, and other nations in the same parts.....
It was with these people that Mithridates13 took refuge in the reign of the Emperor Claudius: and from him we learn that the Thalli14 join up to them, a people who border on the eastern side upon the mouth15 of the Caspian Sea: he tells us also that at the reflux the channel is dry there. Upon the coast of the Euxine, near the country of the Cercetæ, is the river Icarusa16, with the town and river of Hierus , distant from Heracleium one hundred and thirty-six miles.
13 This was Mithridates, king of Bosporus, which sovereignty he obtained by the favour of the emperor Claudius, in A.D. 41. The circumstances are unknown which led to his subsequent expulsion by the Romans, who placed his younger brother Cotys on the throne in his stead.
14 Hardouin thinks that the Thalli inhabited the present country of Astrakan.
15 It was the ancient opinion, to which we shall find frequent reference made in the present Book, that the northern portion of the Caspian communicated with the Scythian or Septentrional ocean.
16 Mentioned only by Pliny. It is supposed to answer to the present Ukrash river; and the town and river of Hierus are probably identical with the Hieros Portus of Arrian, which has been identified with the modern Sunjuk-Kala.