Caspium mare

, or Hyrcānum , a large sea in the form of a lake, which has no communication with other seas, and lies between the Caspian and Hyrcanian mountains, at the north of Parthia, receiving in its capacious bed the tribute of several large rivers. Ancient authors a ure us that it produced enormous serpents and fishes, different in colour and kind from those of all other waters. The eastern parts are more particularly called the Hyrcanian sea , and the western the Caspian . It is now called the sea of Sala or Baku . The Caspian is about 680 miles long, and in no part more than 260 in breadth. There are no tides in it, and on account of its numerous shoals, it is navigable to ve els drawing only nine or ten feet of water. It has strong currents, and, like inland seas, is liable to violent storms. Some navigators examined it in 1708, by order of the Czar Peter, and after the labour of three years, a map of its extent was published. Its waters are described as brackish, and not impregnated with salt so much as the wide ocean. Hero dot us , bk. 1 , ch. 202 , . — Curtius , bk. 3 , ch. 2 ; bk. 6 , ch. 4 ; bk. 7 , ch. 3 .— Strabo , bk. 11 .— Mela , bk. 1 , ch. 2 ; bk. 3 , chs. 5 & 6.— Pliny , bk. 6 , ch. 13 .— Dionysius Periegetes , li. 50 .