ORONTES, the most famous river in ancient Syria, rises at the foot of Anti-Libanus, winds along in a northerly course for 200 miles, and then taking a sudden bend near
Antioch in a south-westerly direction, flows over a space of 40 miles to the Mediterranean Sea. The notices of its fame in classical times are chiefly found in Strabo. His account is, that the river flowed for a part of its course under ground; that its name was derived from a certain Orontes who built a bridge over it; and that it had been originally called Typhon, from a fabulous dragon which, in his flight for shelter, wore out the channel of the stream with his trail, and opened up the fountain-head by his plunge into the earth. In the present day, the Orontes dwindles down into a paltry rivulet during the heat of summer. In winter, however, it becomes swollen by the melting of the mountain snows, and whirls along its deep and narrow bed with a restless rapidity which has gained for it its modern name of Aasi ("The Rebel").