Note 30 — PROMETHEUS CHAINED.

All commentators, from the scholiast downward, are naturally surprised at this mention of Arabia, when Prometheus is occupied in describing the countries bordering on the Euxine. Burges conjectures ᾽Αβάριος, which he supports with considerable learning. But although the name ᾽Αβάριδες (mentioned by Suidas) might well be given to those who dwelt in unknown parts of the earth, from the legendary travels of Abaris with his arrow, yet the epithet ἄρειον ἄνθος seems to point to some really existing nation, while ᾽Αβάριες would rather seem proverbial. Till, then, we are more certain, Æschylus must still stand chargeable with geographical inconsistency.