HALYS, the largest river of Asia Minor, which, according to Herodotus (i. 72), rose in the mountains of Armenia, and after flowing through that part of Cappadocia called Cilicia, separated the Matieni from the Phrygians, and then the Syrians of Cappadocia from the Paphlagonians. Strabo (xii. 546) says that it rises in Great Cappadocia, but towards Pontica, and the vicinity of the district Camisene; it runs a great way from east to west, then turning to the north, traverses the country of the Galatæ and Paphlagonians. Pliny (vi. 2) makes it rise in Mount Taurus, and flow through Catonia and Cappadocia. Both of these accounts are correct; for the Halys, now Kızıl-Ermak, has two main branches, the one rising in the mountains of Taurus, and the other in those of Lesser Armenia. This river derived its name from some salt mines near which it flowed (Strab.), and, forming the boundary of the Median and Lydian empires in the times of Cæsus, is connected with the ambiguous oracle which led to the destruction of that prince. Tournefort describes it near its mouth as being as wide as the Seine at Paris. It has only one mouth, though modern maps give it several.