Zoroande
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Zoroande was a place in Mesopotamia mentioned by Pliny.[1]
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Jorada = Zoroande (Pliny.vi.31).
Mention by Pliny
Pliny [2] mentions Tigris......... It (Tigris) then flows into Lake Arethusa6, the waters of which are able to support all weighty substances thrown into them, and exhale nitrous vapours. This lake produces only one kind of fish, which, however, never enter the current of the river in its passage through the lake: and in a similar manner, the fish of the Tigris will never swim out of its stream into the waters of the lake. Distinguishable from the lake, both by the rapidity and the colour of its waters, the tide of the river is hurried along; after it has passed through and arrived at Mount Taurus, it disappears7 in a cavern of that mountain, and passing beneath it, bursts forth on the other side; the spot bears the name of Zoroande.8 That the waters on either side of the mountain are the same, is evident from the fact, that bodies thrown in on the one side will reappear on the other.
6 Ritter has identified this with the modern lake Nazuk, in Armenia, about thirteen miles in length and five in breadth. The water at the present day is said to be sweet and wholesome.
7 Seneca, however, in his Quæst. Nat. B. vi., represents the Tigris here as gradually drying up and becoming gradually smaller, till it disappears.
8 This spot is considered by Parisot to be the modern city of Betlis.