NESAEA(Νησαία), a district mentioned in two places in Strabo, with slightly differing descriptions: 1. as a country belonging to Hyrcania, and watered by the Ochus, now Tedjen(11. p. 509); 2. as a distinct and independent land (11. p. 511). The geographer probably meant to imply a narrow strip of land, whose boundaries were Hyrcania, Ariana, and Parthia respectively, and corresponding with the present Khorásan. It may be identified with the existing Nissa, a small town to the N. of the Alburzchain of mountains, between Asterábádand Meshed. (Wilson, Ariana, pp. 142—148.)
There has been some doubt as to the orthography of the name, which, in some of the editions, is called Νισαία;but, on the whole, the above is probably the best. It is not unlikely that the place called by Isidorus Parthaynisa, which the Greeks call Nisaea,must also be identified with the present Nissa. The same district answers to the regio Nisiaea Parthyenes nobilisin Pliny (Plin. Nat. 6.25. s. 29).
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