Note 3 — Chapter III
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Supposing Tripoly to be Oea, we must look for Abrotonum in some place as near to that city as possible; for the distance given by Scylax from Abrotonum to Leptis Magna will become more and more perplexing as we continue to place it farther to the eastward of Oea. Tagiura, under this supposition, is the site we should allow to Abrotonum; but the difficulties which we have stated are against such a conclusion, and we confess that we are unable to reconcile the contending authorities[a].
Neither Sabrata nor Oea (as we shall hereafter mention) appear to have existed in the time of Strabo: the first town which is mentioned by that geographer to the eastward of the Lesser Syrtis, after the lake Zuchis, and the town of the same name (famous for its purple dye and its salted provisions), is that of Abrotonum in question[b].
No distance is given by Strabo from Zuchis to Abrotonum; but the mention of a lake much smaller than that of Zuchis, immediately before Abrotonum, (as will be seen in the quotation below,) is consistent with the idea that Tagiura might be the place of the city intended; for we have stated that there is a lake a little to the westward of Tagiura; and although it is of tolerable size, it is nevertheless much smaller than that of Zuchis, which is estimated by Strabo at 400 stadia.