Zaitha

ZAITHA or ZAUTHA (Ζαυθζα, Zosim. 3.14), a small town or fortified place in Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates, to the SE. of Circesium. It is said by Ammianus to have been called Zaitha (or more properly Zaita) from the olive trees (23.5.7), which we must suppose grew there, though the climate is very hot for that tree. He adds that it was celebrated for the monument erected by the soldiers to the emperor Gordianus. Zosimus, on the other hand, places this monument at Dara (l. c.), in which Eutropius agrees with him (9.2). Ptolemy calls it Zeitha (Ζείθα, 5.18.2). [DURA]