Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1115

 TAPPUAH. a town-hall, and public baths. (Procop. de Aedif. vi. 1.) Nearer Alesandreia was a smaller town of this name. (TaTTotreipisir At? <r 101' 'AAf|af5pei'aj,Sfe[jh. B. S.V.; V fuKpa, Strab. xvii. p. 800.) [W. B. D.j TAPPUAH or BETH-TAPPUAH, a city in Palestine, upon the mountains of Judah, not far from Hebron, which Robinson identities with the ancient villai^e of Teffick, lyins; in the midst of olive- f;rc)ves and vineyards. (Josh. xv. 53; Robinson, Bibl. Res. vol. ii. p. 71, 2nd eu.) There was another Tappuah in the plain of Judah (Josh. xv. 34); but which of these was the place conquered by Josiiua, cannot be determined. (Josh. xii. 17.) TAPRO'BANE (i) TairpuSdvn, Strab. i. 63, xv. 690, &c. ; Steph. B. s. v. ; Ptol. vii. 4 ; Plin. vi. 22. s. 24 ; Mela, iii. 77 ; Ov. ex Pont. i. 5. 80), a very lar^e island, now Ceylon.. It is situated to the SE. of tiie peninsula of Ilindostun. and is all but joined to the continent by a reef now called Adam's Bridge, and by an island called Ramisur or Ramisceram Cor, the Kiiipv of Ptolemy (vii. 1. § 11) and the Insula Soils of Pliny (vi. 22. s. 24). (Comp. Duncan, As. Res. v. p. 39 ; Kitter. Erdk. vi. p. 63.) Taprobane was not known to the writers of clas- sical antiquity before the time of Alexander the Great, and the various narrati^■es which have reached the West .subsequent to his invasion of the Panjdb, though often correct as to its natural productions, are sinjTularly erroneous as to its position, its size, and its shape. Thus Onesicritus estimates it at 5000 stadia, though whether this number implies length, breadth, or circumference, is not stated by Strabo (xv. p. 690). If the last, he is nearly correct, Rennell considering this to be about 660 miles. (See Map, and Memoir of India.) He adds that it was twenty days' sail from the continent — the ships being badly con- structed and unfit for sailing ; a view remarkably confirmed by Pliny, who notices the change in the length of the voyage owing to the improved kind of vessels, and the shallow character of the intervening strait (vi. 22. s. 24). Eratosthenes reduces the dis- tance to a navigation of seven days — the same time as Pliny states (/. c); but this is far too great (Strab. XV. p. 691), as it is really little more than 50 miles from its nearest shores to the mainland of fJindosidn. (Vincent, Voy. of Nearchus, i. p. 495; Boyd, in Ind. Ann. Regist. 1799.) Eratosthenes is still more erroneous in the position he assigns to the island, for he e.ttends it 8000 stadia in the di- rection of Africa (Strab. I. c), while the author of the Periplu^ M. Erythr. makes it reach almost to the coast of Azania (c. 61, ed. Miiller) — an error which has probably led to that of Edrisi, who has contounded C. Comorin with Afadagascar, and in his map has even placed this island to the E. of Ceylon. Strabo supposes that Ceylon is not less than Britain (ii. p. 130), and Ptolemy gives it a length of more than 1000 miles, and a breadth of more than 700 (i. 14. § 9, viii. 28. § 3). (Compare with this the Statement of JIarco Polo, which is, as to circum- ference, identical with Ptolemy, I.e.; and Caesar Frederick, ap. IlackluyCs Voy. ii. pp. 225 — 227.) The history of ancient Ceylon falls naturally into three heads: 1. What may be gathered from the writers who followed the march of Alexander. 2. Wiiat we may learn from the Roman writers. 3. What may be obtained from the Byzantines. Of the times preceding the invasion of India by Alexander we -have no distinct notice in cla.ssical history; yet it may be inferred from Pliny that tome report of its existence had reached the West, TAPROBANE. 1091 where he states that it had long been the opinion that Taprobane was another world, and bore the name of Antichthoiuis, but that it was determined to be an island about the aera of Alexander (vi. 22. s. 24): while it is not impossible that Herodotus may have heard some tradition on the subject, since he states that cinnamon is produced in those countries in which Dionysus was brought up (iii. Ill); from which passage, however, it cannot be determined whether the true cinnamon, that is the bark of the shrub, is intended, or some other kind of cassia. To the first class of writers belong Onesicritus, the companion of Alexander, Megasthenes and Dai- machus, who were si-nt as ambassadors by Seleucus to Sandrocottus (Chandragnpia^ and his son Ami- trochates (Amitraghdla), from whose memorials almost all that is jireserved in Strabo and in the earlier portion of the notice in Pliny has been taken. There is no reason to suppose that either Onesicritus or Megasthenes themselves visited this island; they probably collected, while in India, the narratives they subsequently compiled. The second class of writers are of the peiiod when the vast commerce of Alexandria had ex- tended to India subsequent to the death of Strabo, A. D. 24. (Groskurd, Proleg. in Sh-ab. i. p. 1 6.) Previous to this period, some few ships may have reached India from Egypt; but, from Strabo's own statement, they appear to have been those only of private individuals (I. c). Pliny, the writer of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Marcian of Hera- clea, Mela, and Ptolemy, belong to this class, and, in the fulness of their narratives, show clearly how much additional knowledge had been acquired dur- ing the extension of the power of the early empe- rors of Rome. Lastly, under the head of Byzantine writers, we have the remarkable account of the island in Cosmas Indicopleustes, the latest which belongs to the pe- riod of ancient or classical history. The most important notice is that of Pliny (I. c), who states that ambassadors from the island were received at Rome by the emperor Claudius, through the instrumentality of the freedman of a certain Annius Plocamus, who, after having been driven out of his course upon the island, remained there six months, and became intimate with the people and their rulers. He states that Plocamus landed at a port he calls Hippuros, which may be identified with the modern Kudremalai, which means the same in Sanscrit; and that the name of the king was Piuchia, evidently the Indian Rajah: he adds that the island contained 500 towns, the chief of which was called Palaesimundum, and a vast lake Megisba, from which flowed two rivers, one called Cydara (Kundara or Kadambo in the Annals, now Aripo). It is not possible accurately to deterndne what modern jilace is to be identified with Megisba, Imt the Mahawanso speaks of enormous works of this nature attributed to Vasabha and other early kings. (Mah. pp. 65, 210, 221, 215.) Pliny adds some astrononncal facts, which are not equally coincident with the truth; and remarks on the richness of the island in precious stones and metals, and on the fineness of the climate, which extended the life of man beyond its usual limits. We may mention also, that Diodorns tells a remarkable story, which luis been generally held to refer to Ceylon, though this is not cajiable of jiroof. According to him lambulus, the son of a merchant, on his way to the spice countries, was taken prisoner 4a 2