Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1108

 10S4 TAENARUM. Ttienarus aperta uvihris, Lucan, ix. 3G.) There is a slight difference between Strabo and Pausaiiias in the position of the cave ; the former placing it near the temple, which agrees with present appear- ances (see below); the latter describing the cave it- self as the temple, before which stood a statue of Poseidon. Among the many dedicatory offerings to Poseidon the most celebrated was the brazen statue of Arion seated on a dolphin, which was still extant in the time of Pausanias. (Herod, i. 23, 24.) The temple was phmdered for the first time by the Aetolians. (Polyb. ix. 34.) Taenarum is said to have taken its name from Taenarus, a son either of Zeus or Icarius or Elatus. (Pans. iii. 14. §2; Steph. B. s. ».; Schol. ad Apoll. Rhud. i. 102.) Bochart derives the word from the Phoenician tinar "rupes" {Geoijmph. Sacra, p.459); and it is not improbable that the Phoenicians may have had a settlement on the promontory at an early period. Pausanias (iii. 25. § 4) mentions two harbours in connection with the Taenarian promontory, called respectively P.samathus (■*'ajua9oi}s),and the Har- bour OF Achilles (o Ai/j./ji' 'Ax'AAeios). Scylax (p. 17) also mentions these two harbours, and de- scribes them as situated back to back (d;'Ti7ri;7os). Strabo (viii. p. 373) speaks of the former of these two harbours under the name of Amathus ('A/xa- tfoCj), but omits to mention the Harbour of Achilles. It would appear that these two harbours are the Porto Quaylio and the port of Vathy mentioned above, as these are the two most important in the peninsula. Leake identifies Psamathus with Quaylio, and the Harbour of Achilles with Vathy, but the French Commission reverse these positions. We have, however, no doubt that Leake is correct; for the ancient remains above the Porto Quaylio, the monastery on the heights, and the cultivated slopes and levels, show that the Taenarian population has in all ages been chiefly collected here. Moreover, no ancient writers speak of a town in connection with the Harbour of Achilles, while Strabo and others describe Amathus or Psamathus as a irdAij. (Steph. B. s. V. 'Va/xadovs; cf. Aeschin. £]). 1 ; Plin. iv. 5. s. 8.) If we were to take the description of Scylax literally, Psamathus would be Porto Quaylio, and the Harbour of Achilles Poi-to Marmdri ; and accordingly, they are so identified by Curtius ; but it is impossible to believe that the dangerous creek of Marmdri is one of the two harbours so specifically mentioned both by Scylax and Pausanias. The remains of the celebrated temple of Poseidon still exist at Asomato, or KisttTnes, close to C. Matapdn on the eastern side. They now forni part of a ruined church; and the ancient Hellenic w^^ll may be traced on one side of the church. Leake observes that the church, instead of facing to the east, as Greek churches usually do, faces south- eastward, towards the head of the port, which is likely to have been the aspect of the temple. No remains of columns have been found. A few paces north-east of the church is a large grotto in the rock, which appears to be the cave through which Hercules was supposed to have dragged Cerberus ; but there is no appearance of any subterranean descent, as had been already remarked by Pausanias. In the neighbourhood there are several ancient cisterns and other remains of antiquity. There were celebrated marble quarries in the Taenarian peninsula. (Strab. viii. p. 367.) Pliny describes the Taenarian marble as black (xxxvi. TAGARA. 18. s. 29,22. s. 43); but Sextus Empiricus (Pyrrh. Ilypot. i. 130) speaks of a species that was while when broken to pieces, though it appeared yellow in the mass. Leake inquired in vain for these quarries. At the distance of 40 stadia, or 5 English miles, north of the isthmus of the Taenarian peninsula, was the town Taenarum or Taenarus, subse- quently called Caenepolis. (Koh'tjitoAis, Pans, iii. 25. § 9; Kcu.i'tj, Ptol. iii. 16. § 9; Plin. iv. 15. s. 16; Steph. B. s. v. Taiyapos; the same town is probably mentioned by Strab. viii. p. 360, under the corrupt form KtvaiStov.) It contained a temple of Demeter and another ot Aphrodite, the latter near the sea. The modern village of Kypdrisso stands on the site of this town. Some ancient remains and inscriptions of the time of the Antonines and their successors have been found here. On the door-posts of a small ruined church are two in- scribed quadrangular aTTjAai, decorated with mould- ings above and below. One of the inscriptions is a decree of the Taenarii, and the other is by the com- munity of the Eleuthero-Lacones (rh Koivhv tu'v 'EAevdepoAaKuvccv'). We have the testimony of Pausanias (iii. 21. § 7) that Caenepolis was one of the Eleuthero-Laconian cities ; and it would ap- pear from the above-mentioned inscription that the maritime Laconians, when they were delivered fiom the Spartan yoke, formed a confederation and founded as their capital a city in the neighbourhood of the revered sanctuary of Poseidon. The place was called the New Town (Caenepohs); but, as we learn from the inscriptions, it continued to be also called by its ancient name. For the inscriptions relating to Taenarum, see Bbckh, Tnscr. no. 1315 — 1317, 1321, 1322, 1389, 1393, 1483. (On the topography of the Taenarian peninsula, see Leake, Morea, vol. i. p 290, seq., Pcloponnesiaca, p. 175, seq. ; Boblaye, i?ecAe7'cAe5, tfc, p. 89, seq.; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 277, seq.) TAEZALI (Toi(,aAoi or Tal|oAoi, Ptol. ii. 3. § 15), a people on the eastern coast of Britannia Bai'bara. In their territory was the promontory called Tai^aAou aicpov (Jb. § 5), now Kinneirds Head. [T. H. D.] TAGAE (Toyai, Polyb. x. 29. § 3), a town in the northern part of Parthia, situated in the defiles of the chain of Labutas, visited by Antiochus in his war against Arsaces. It has been conjectured by Forbiger that it is the same place as Tape, mentioned by Strabo (xi. p. 508) as a royal palace in the ad- jacent province of Hyrcania ; but this conjecture seems unnecessary. Perhaps it may be represented by the present Dameyhan. [V.] TAGARA (Tayapa, Peripl. M. Erytlir. § 51, ed. Bliiller ; Ptol. vii. 1. § 82), one of the two principal emporia of the interior of the Deccan, ac- cording to the author of the Periplus. It is not certain what modern town now represents this ancient site, but there is a fair presumption in favour of Deoykir, which was the seat of govern- ment down to A. D. 1293, and which is now in ruins, close to Dowlatahad. (Vincent, Voyaye of Nearclms, ii. p. 413; Mannert, v. 1. p. 83; Ritter, Erdh. v. p. 513; Berghaus's Map.) Ptolemy, who places the town in Ariaca, probably copied from the author of the Periplus. It may be remarked that the distance given between Barygaza (^Beroach), Paethana (PytliaTi), and Tagara (^Deoyhir), are not reconcileable with the actual position of these places. [v.]