The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

i. Cities (De civitatibus) 1. Frequentlywefinddissension
about who was responsible for the founding of
cities, to such an extent that not even the origin of the
city of Rome can accurately be known. Thus Sallust says
(War withCatiline 6), “As I understand it, at first the
Trojans, and with them the native peoples, first founded
and settled the city of Rome.” Others say the founding
was by Evander, as Vergil (Aen. 8.313):
Then King Evander, founder of the Roman citadel ...
Others, by Romulus, as (Vergil, Aen. 6.781):
Behold, my son, under his (i.e. Romulus’s) auspices that
illustrious Rome ...
2.Henceifnosureaccountofsogreatacityisavailable,
it is no wonder that there is some doubt about opinion
concerning other cities. Therefore we should not ignorantly
condemn the historians and commentators who
allege various things, for antiquity itself created the error.
It is indeed proper to treat briefly some cities concerning
which either the Sacred Scriptures or pagan histories
reliably report the origin.
3. BeforetheFlood,Cainwasthefirsttofounda
city, the city of Enoch in Naid, after the name of his
son, and he filled that city with only the throng of his
own descendants. 4. After the Flood, the giant Nimrod
(Nembroth)first founded the Mesopotamian city of
Babylon. Queen Semiramis of the Assyrians enlarged it,
and made the wall of the city with bitumen and fired
brick. Babylon takes its name from ‘confusion’, because
there the languages of those building the tower were
confused and mixed up. 1 5.The Jews say that Noah’s
son Shem (Sem), whom they call Melchizedech, was
the first to found a city after the Flood, Salem in Syria,
in which this same Melchizedech ruled. Afterwards the
Jebusites held it, from whom it got the name Jebus.
1 Isidore alludes to the common derivation of the ‘Babylon’ from
‘Babel’, and the common interpretation of ‘Babel’ as “confusion.”
2 The name ‘Jerusalem’ was regularly interpreted as “city of
peace,” as if from Hebrew ’ir shalom.
301
Book XV
Buildings and fields
(De aedificiis et agris)
Thus Jerusalem (Hierusalem) was named, from the coupling
of the two names Jebus (Iebus) andSalem. Later
it was called Hierosolyma by Solomon, as if it were
Hiero-solomonia (cf. , “holy”). It is also named by
the poets, incorrectly, Solyma, and later it was called
Aelia by Aelius Hadrian. [Within] it is also Zion, which
means “lookout” (speculatio) inHebrew, because it is
built on a height and looks out on things approaching
from afar. Jerusalem means “peaceable” (pacificus) in
our language. 2
Famous towns, and which men or women established
them (Oppida nobilia, qui vel quae constituerunt)
6. Dionysius (i.e. Dionysus, the god of wine), who is
also Father Liber, when as conqueror he walked through
India, founded the city Nysa next to the river Indus,
named it after his own name, and filled it with fifty thousand
people. 7. Medus, son of Aegius, built Media, and
from it his country of Media took its name. 8. Perseus,
son of Adea, founded the city Persepolis, capital of the
realm of Persia, very famous and stuffed with riches.
Persia (Persida)was also named from him 9.The Parthians
also founded Ctesiphon in Parthia in emulation of
the city of Babylon. 10.Theysaythat Memnon’s brother
established the city of Susa in Persia. It was named Susa
because it overlooks the river Susa. The royal palace of
Cyrusisthere, distinguished by its white and variegated
stone, with golden columns and paneled ceilings and
jewels, even containing a replica of the sky embellished
with twinkling stars, and other things beyond human
belief.
11. The Bactrians founded the city of Bactrum,
naming it after its river Bactros. 12. Carrhae, a city
of Mesopotamia beyond Edessa, was founded by the
Parthians. A Roman army was once slaughtered there,
and its general Crassus was captured. 13.Nimrod(Nembroth),
son of Chus, founded the Mesopotamian city
Edessa after he moved from Babylon, and he reigned
there. Formerly it was called Arach. He also built