Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1133

 TAUEANITIUJI. Byzantium ; but it appears that the trae readinfr is Taura^ia. (Steph. B. s. v. ed. Slein.) [E. H. B.] TAURANI'TIUM, a district of Armenia JIajor lying N. of Ti£;ranocerta, in the direction of Ar- taxata. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 24; Cf. Moses Chor. i. 5; Eittcr, ErcUamde, x. p. 650, sq.) [T. H.D.] TAURA'SIA {Taurasi), an ancient city of Sani- nium, in the country of the Hirpini situated on the right banic of tlie river Calor, about IG miles above its junction with the Tamarus. The name of tlie city is known only from the inscription on the tomb of L. Scipio Barbatus, which records it among the cities of Samnium taken by him during the Third Samnite War. (Oreli. I7isa: 550.) It was probably taken by assault, and suffered severely, for no sub- sequent mention of the town occurs in history : but its territory (" ager, qui Taurasinorum fuerat"), which was doubtless confiscated at the same time, is mentioned long afterwards, as a part of the " ager publicus populi Romani," on which the Apuan Li- gurians who had been removed from their own abodes were established by order of the senate. (Liv. xl. 38.) Tliese Ligin-ians appear to have been settled in the plain in the banka of the Ta- marus near its junction with the Calor ; but there can be little doubt that the modern village of Tau- rasi, though 16 miles further S., retains the name, and marks (approximately at least) the site of the ancient Taurasia. Several modem writers identify these Taurasini Campi with the Arusini Campi near Beneventum, which were the scene of the defeat of Pyrrhus by JF. Curius Dentatus (Flor. i. 18; Oros. iv. 2), and the MiL'gestion is probable enough, though unsupported ■ TAUKAUNITES. [Bagraudanene.] TAURE'SIUM (Tavpi)(nov, Procop. de Aed. iv. 1. p. 266), a place in Moesia Superior, near Scupi or Justiniana Prima. It was situated in the Haemus, not far from the borders, and was the birthplace of the emperor Justinian. (Cf. Gibbon, vol. v. p. 79, ed. Smith.) [T. H. D.] TAUKl (Jadpoi, Strab. vii. p. 308), the inhabitants of the Chersonesus Taurica, or modern Crimea. 'I'hoy were probably the remains of the Cimmerians, Mho were driven out of the Chersonese by the Scy- thians. (Herod, iv. 11, 12; Heeren, /c/eew, i. 2. p. 271 ; JIannert, iv. p. 278.) They seem to have l"cn divided into several tribes : but the two main i]i'.i~ions of them were the nomad Tauri and the
 * iv Miiv authority. [Beneventum.] [E. H. B.]
 * i;Tricuitural. (Strab. vii. p. 31 1.) The former pos-

M'>sed the northern part of the country, and lived oil meat, mare's milk, and cheese prepared from it. rill- agricultural Tauri were somewliat more civil- isi d ; yet altogether they were a rude and savage ]"■ iple, delighling in war and plunder, and parti- ' iiliulj addicted to piracy, (lleiod. iv. 103 ; Strab. Nii. p. 308 ; Mela, ii. 1 ; Tac. Ann. xii. 17.) Never- tiiele.ss, in early times at least, they appear to have lifi'n united under a monarchical government (Herod, iv. 119). Their religion was particularly •i'luy and horrible, consisting of human sacrifices T virgin godde.ss, who, according to Ammianus I incllinus (xxii. 8. s. 34), was named Oi'eiloche, ili'iiigli the Greeks regarded her as identical with tlicir Artemis, and called her Tauropolos. (Soph. .[/'. 172; Eur. /;;/(. Tcmr. 1457; Diod. iv. 44; Ach. Tat. viii. 2 ; Strab. xiii. 535 ; Bijckh. Inscr. ii. p. 89.) These victims consisted of shipwrecked jHTsons, or Greeks that fell into their hands. After killing them, they stuck their heads upon poles, or, TAURICA CHERSONESUS. 1109 according to Ammianus {I. c), afnxed them to the wall of the temple, whilst they cast down the bodies from the rock on which the temple stood. (Herod, iv. 103 ; Ov. ex Pont. iii. 2. 45, seq., Trist. iv. 4. 63.) According to a tradition among the Tauri themselves, this goddess was Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon (Herod. I. c.) They had also a cus- toin of cutting off the heads of prisoners of war, and setting them on poles above the chimneys of their houses, which usage they regarded as a protection of their dwellings (/6). If the king died, all his dearest friends were buried with him. On the decease of a friend of the king's, he either cut off the whole or part of the deceased person's ear, according to his dignity. (Nic. Damasc. p. 160, Orell.) [T. H. D.] TAURIA'NUM (^Traviano), a. town on the W. coast of Bruttium, near the mouth of the river Me- taurus (^Marro). Its name is mentioned by Mela, who places it between Scylla and Metaurum. It was probably, therefore, situated to the S. of the river, while the town of Jletaurum was on its N. bank. Subsequently all trace of the latter disap- pears ; but the name of Tauriana is still found in the Tabula, which places it 23 miles S. of Vibo Valentia, (Mel. ii. 4. § 8 ; Tab. Pent.) It became the see of a bishop in the later ages of the Roman empire, and retained that dignity down to the time of Gregory VII., when the town had fallen into complete decay. Its ruins, however, still exist, and the site is said to retain the name of Traviano. (Holsten. Not. ad Cluver. p. 299; Romanelli, vol. i. p. 70.) There can be no doubt that the " Taurocntum oppidum " of Pliny (iii. 5. s. 10), which he mentions immediately after the " Metaurus amnis," is the same place that is called by Mela Taurianum. [E. H. B.] TAU'RICA CHERSONE'SUS (Jh Tavpwv, Xfp- crSvyjaos, Ptol. iii. Arg. 2, &c.), a peninsula stretch- ing into the Pontus Pluxinus from Sarmatia, or the country of the nomad Scythian.':, with which it is connected by a narrow isthmus, anciently called Taphrus, or Taphrae, now the isthmus of Perccop. The peninsula also bore the name of Cher.sonesus Scythica, and was sometimes styled simply Taurica. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 26 ; Scylax, i. p. 29, Huds.) It is now called the Crimea, from the once famous city of EsTci-Krim ; but since its incorporation with the Russian empire, the name of Taurica has also been again applied to it. The isthmus wdiich connects the peninsula with Sarmatia is so slender, being in some parts scarcely 40 stadia or 5 miles across (Strab. vii. p. 308 ; Clarke, Trav. ii. p. 314, 4th ed. 1816), as to make it probable that in a very remote period Taurica was an island. (Plin. I. c. ; c£. Pallas, Voijarjes, &c., ii. p. 2, Fr. Transl. 4to.) The ancients compared it with the Peloponnesus, botii as to size and shape (Strab. vii. p. 310; cf. Herod, iv. 99); and this coniparis.in is sufiiciently hajipy, ex- cept that Taurica throws out another smaller jieniii- sula on its E. side, the Bosporan peninsula, or penin- sula of Kertsch, which helps to form the S. boundary, or coast, of the Palus Maeotis. The Chersonese is about 200 miles across in a direct line from Cape Tardian, its extreme W. point, to the Straits oj /vVr?-t7/, and 125 miles from N. to S., from Pvrecnp ti> Cope Kikineis. It contains an area of about 10,050 square miles. Nearly three-fourths of Taurica consist of flat plains little elevated above tlw sea ; the remainder towards the S. is mouui- 4 B 3