From north to south it was comparatively narrow, being confined between the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the Caspian, on the one side, and the Euphrates and Persian Gulf on the other.

Its greatest width, which was towards the east, was about nine, and its least, which was towards the west, was about four degrees.

Its area was probably not much short of 500,000 square miles.

Thus it was as large as Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal put together.
In fertility its various parts were very unequal.

Portions of both Medias, of Persia, of Armenia, Iberia, and Cappadocia, were rich and productive; but in all these countries there was a large quantity of barren mountain, and in Media Magna and Persia there were tracts of desert.