Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1137

 TAUrJS. on descending; into tlie plains of Italy, found the Taurini on hostile terms with the Insubres, and, in consequence, turned his arms against them, took their principal city, and put the inhabitants to the sword. (Pol. iii. 60; Liv. xxi. 38,39.) Neither Polybius nor Livy mention the name of this city, but Appian calls it Taurasia (Annib. 5) : it was probably situated on the same site which was after- wards occupied by the Roman colony. The name of the Taurini is not once mentioned during the long wars of the Eomans with the Cisalpine Gauls and Ligurians, and we are ignorant of the time when they finally passed under the Roman yoke. Nor have we any precise account of the foundation of the Roman coliiny in their territory which assumed the name of Augusta Taurinorum, though it is certain that this took place under Augustus, and it was doubtless con- nected with bis final subjugation of the Alpine tribes in B.C. 8. From this time the name of the Tau- rini never again appears in history as that of a people ; but during the latter ages of the Roman Empire the city of Augusta Taurinorum seems to have been commonly known (as was the case in many instances in Transalpine Gaul) by the name of the tribe to which it belonged, and is called simply Taurini in the Itineraries, as well as by other writers. (Itm. Ant. p. 341; Ithi. liter, p. 5nG; Tab. Pent; Ammian. xv. 8. § 18.) Hence its modern name of Torino or Turin. This is the only city that we can a-^ign with any certainty to the Taurini. On the A'. their territory was bounded (at least in the days Augustus) by the Segusiani and the other tribes j.-> d(]ubtless marked by the station Ad Fines, situ- ated 18 miles from Augusta, on the road to Segusio (^Ilin. Ant. I.e.). But it appears probable that at an earlier period the nation of the Taurini was more widely spread, or their name used in a more com- prehensive sense, so as to comprise the adjoining passes of the Alps ; for Livy speaks of the Insubrian Gauls who crossed into Italy, " per Taurinos saltus- i|iii; invios Alpes transcenderunt" (Liv. v. 34), and Miabo, in enumerating, after Polybius, the passes a. iiiss the Alps, designates one of them as rr]v Sia 'l'Aiptvuii' (Strab. iv. p. 209.). Whether the pass licre meant is the Mo7it Genevre or the Afont Ceiiis (d nmch disputed point), it would not be included within the territory of the Taurini in the more re- stricted sense. [E. H. B.] TAURIS, ail island of the Ionian sea, between J'liarus and Corcyra, opposite to the NW. point of tin- peninsula of Hyllis and the mouth of the Naron. (Aiirt. B. A. 47.) Now Torcola. [T. H. D.] lAURISCL [NoRicuM, Vol. IL p. 447.] TAUKUEIS, TAUROE'NTIUJI {Tavpkis,Tav. poitniov: Eth. TavpoevTtos). Steph. 15. (s. v. Tau- poEis), who calls it a Celtic town and a colony of the Massaliots, quotes the first book of Arte- iiiiilorus' geography for a foolish explanation of the origin of the name. The place is mentioned by Caesar (B. C. ii. 4), who says " Tauroenta quod est castellum JMassiliensium perveniunt;" by Strabo (iv.pp.l80,184),byScymnus Chius,andby Ptolemy (ii. 10. § 8), who places it between Massilia and Citharistes Promontorium. D'Anville erroneously sujiposes that Caesar uses Tauroenta for the plural number ; but it is the accusative of Tauroeis. Strabo (iv. p. 184) enumerates the Massaliot settlements be- tween Massilia and the Varus in this order: Tauro- entium, Olbia, Antipolis, Nicaea. Mela (ii. 5) enume- rates the places on this coast in a different order TAUROMENIUM. 1113 from east to west: Athenopolis, Olbia, Taurois, Citharistes, and '• Lacydon Ma.ssiliensium portus." Ptolemy, as we have seen, places Tauroeis between Massilia and Citharistes. In theJIaritime Itin. the positions letween Telo Slartius {Toulon) and Im- madrus seem to be out of order [Imjiadku.s] ; and they are to be placed thus — Aemines {Embiez), Tanroeh (Taitretiti), Citharista [CixuAKisTAj.Car- sici {Cassis), Immadrus, Massilia. Geographers have been much divided in opinion on the site of Tauroeis, but the modern name seems to determine the place to be at the right of the entry of the buy of Clotat. [G. L.] TAUROME'Nimi (Tavpofi&iov : Eth. Tavpo- /xevirrjs, Tauromenitanus: Taormina), a Greek city of Sicily, situated on the E. coast of Sicily, about midway between Messana and Catana. It was only about 3 miles from the site of the ancient Naxos, and there is no doubt that Tauromenium did not exist as a city till after the destruction of Naxos by Dionysius of Syracuse, b. c. 403; but the circum- stances connected with its foundation are somewhat confused and uncertain. [Naxos.] It appears, however, from Diodorus that after the destruction of Naxos, the remaining inhabitants of that city were driven into exile, and its territory was assigned by Dionysius to the neighbouring Siculi. These, how- ever, did not re-occupy the site of the ancient city, but established themselves on a hill to the N. of it, which was called the hill of Taurus ((3 <pos 6 Ka- Xov/jLevoi Tavpos). Here they at first constructed only a temporary camp (in b. c. 396), but after- wards erected walls and converted it into a regular fortress or town, to which they gave the name of Tauromenium. (Diod. xiv. 58, 59.) The place was still in the hands of the Siculi in b. c. 394, and they held it against the efforts of Dionysius, who besieged the city in vain for great part of the winter, and though he on one occasion forced his way within the vvalls by a nocturnal surprise, was again driven out and repulsed with heavy loss. {lb. 87, 88.) But by the peace concluded in b. c. 392, it was expressly stipulated that Tauromenium should be subject to Dionysius, who expelled the greater part of the Siculi that had settled there, and supplied their place with his own mercenaries. {lb. 96.) From this time we hear no more of Tauromenium till B. c. 358, when we are told that Andromachus, the father of the historian Timaeus, brought to- gether all the remains of the exiled Naxians, who were still scattered about in different parts of Sicily, and established them all at Tauromenium. (Id. xvi. 7.) This is related by Diodorus as if it were a new foundation, and even as if the name had then first been applied to the city, which is in direct contra- diction with his former statements. What had be- come of the former inhabitants we know not, but there is little doubt that the account of this re- settlement of the city is substantially cornet, and that Tauromenium now for the first time became a Greek city, which was considered as tiiking the place of Naxos, thougii it did not occupy the same site. (Wesscling, ad Diod. xiv. 59.) Hcucc Pliny's expression, that Tauromenium had formerly been called Naxos (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14) is nearly, though not strictly, correct. The new settlement seems to have risen rapidly to prosperity, and was apparently already a consider- able town at the time of the expedition of Timoleon in B.C. 345. It was the first place in Sicily where that leader landed, having eluded the vigilance of
 * «ct to Cottius ; and their limit in this direction