Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1145

 TEIIAPHENES. TEHAPHENES. [Taiipanis.] TEICHIUM (Telx^ou), a town of Aetolia Epic- tetus, on the borders of Loeris, and one da)''s march from Crocyleiinn. (Thuc. iii. 96.) TEKOAH (0e/cae', 1 Maccab. ix. .33; QiKiia or QeKovf, Joseph. Vit. 75), a town of Palestine in Ju- dah, to the south of Bethlehem. It was the resi- dence of the wise woman who pleaded in behalf of Absalom; was fortified by Kelioboam; was the birth- place of the prophet Amos, and gave it,s name to the adjacent desert on the e.ast. (2 Sam. xiv. 2; 2 Chron. xi. 6; Ajno.% i. 1 ; 2 Chron. sx. 20; 1 Mace. ix. 33.) Jerome describes Tekoah as situated upon a hill, 6 miles south of Bethlehem, from which city it was visible. (Hieron. Prooem. in Amos. and Comm. in Jerem. vi. 1.) Its site still bears the name of Tekua, and is described by Robinson as an elevated hill, not steep, but broad on the top, and covered with ruins to the extent of four or five acres. These consist chiefly of the foundations of house.s built of squared stones; and near the middle of the site are the remains of a Greek church. (I'obin- iion,Bibl. Bes. vol. i. p. 486, 2nd ed.) TELA, a place of the Vaccaei in Hispania Tarra- conensis (Itin. Ant. p. 440). Variously identified with Forik-iilhis and Medina de Rio Seco. [T.H.D.] TE'LAJIUN (T€a/j.tav : Telamone), a city on the coast of Etruria, situated on a promontory be- tween the Jlons Argentarius and the mouth of the I'mbro (^Ombrone), with a tolerable port adjoinins; it. The story told by Diodorus of its having de- ricd its name from the hero Telamon, who accom- ]ianied the Argonauts on their voyage, maybe .<afely dismissed as an etymological fable (Diod. iv. .56). There seems no rea.son to doubt that it was origi- nally an Etruscan town, but no mention of its name occurs in history during the period of Etruscan in- dependence. It is first noticed in b. c. 22.5, when a great battle was fought by the Romans in its iininediate neighbourhood with an army of CLsalpine (iauls, who had made an irruption into Etruria, but v.rrn intercepted by the consuls C. Atilius and L. Atiiiilius in the neighbourhood of Telamon, and t.. tally defeated. They are said to have lost 40.000 men slain, and 10,000 prisoners, among whom was one of their chiefs or kings (Pol. i. 27—31). The h.ittle, which is described by Polybius in consider- alilu detail, is expressly stated by him to liave oc- > Hired "near Telamon in Etruria:" Frontinus, in >|ifaking of the same battle, places the scene of it I" ar Piipulonia {Sirat. i. 2. § 7), but the authority (if Polybius is certainly preferable. The only other iiiciition of Telamon that occm-s in history is in )'.. c. 87, when Marius landed there on his return iiom exile, and commenced gathering an army around liiiii. (Pint. Mai: 41.) But there is no doubt that it continued to exist as a town, deriving some importance from its port, throughout the period of till- Roman dominion. Its name is found both in ili'la and Pliny, who calls it " portus Telamon," wliile Ptolemy notices only the promontory of the name (TeAa/Utif aKfiof, Ptol. iii. 1. § 4; Plin. iii. 5. s. >^; Mel. ii. 4. § 9). The Itineraries prove that ii was still in existence as late as the 4th century ( Tab. Pent; Itin. Marit. p. .500, where it is called •■ I'lirtus Talamonis"); but from this tiine all trace ol' it disappears till the 14th century, when a castle vas erected on the site. This, with the mi.^erablc village which adjoins it, still bears the name of j'ibimone; and the shores of the bay are lined with ii'inainsof Roman buildings, but of no great interest ; 1)1,. II. TELLS. 1121 and there are no relics of Etruscan antiquity. (Den- nis's ^<r»r(«. vol. ii. p. 258.) [E. H. H.] TELCIirXES. [Rhodi-s, p. 7 13. J TELEBOAE. [Tapiiiak.] TELE'BOAS (6 Tj]e€6as ttoto^oj, Xen. Anab. iv. 4. § 3), a river of Arsnenia Major, a tributary of the Euphrates. Probably identical with the Ai:- sanias. ' [T. H. ]).] TELE'PHRIUS MONS. [Err.oF.A.] TELEPTE. [Thal.^.] TELE'SIA (TeAsffia: JCiJi. Telesinus: Tekae), a considerable city of Samnium, situated in the valley of the Calor, a short distance from its right bank, and about 3 miles above its confluence with the Vulturnns. It is remarkable that its name is never mentioned during the long' wars of the Romans with the S.'imnites, though the valley in which it was situated was often the theatre of hostilities. Its name first occurs in the Second Punic War, when it was taken by Hannibal on his first irrup- tion into Samnium, b. c. 217 (Liv. xxii. 13); but was recovered by Fabius in b. c. 214. (Id. xxiv. 20.) From this time we hear no more of it till it became an ordinary Roman municipal town. Strabo speaks of it as having in his time fallen into almost complete decay, in common with most of the cities of Samnium. (Strab. v. p. 250.) But we learn that it received a colony in the time of the Trium- virate (Lib. Colon, p. 238); and, though not men- tioned by Pliny as a colony (the name is altogether omitted by him), it is certain, from inscriptions, that it retained its colonial rank, and appears to have continued under the Roman Empire to have been a flourishing and considerable town. (Orell. /jwrr. 2626; Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 423; Mommsen, hi.icr. R.N. 4840 — 4915.) It was situated on the line of the Via Latina, or rather of a branch of that road which was carried froin Teauum in Campania through Allifiie and Telesia to Beneventnm (fiin. Ant. pp. 122, 304; Tab. Pent.), and this probably contributed to pre.'^erve it from ilecay. The ruins of the ancient city are still visible about a mile to the NW. of the village still called Tekse : the circuit of the walls is comjilete, inclosing a space of octagonal shape, not exceeding 1^ mile in circumference, with several gates, flanked by ma.ssive towers. The masonry is of reticulated work, and therefore probably not earlier than the lime of the Roman Empire. The only ruins within the circuit of the walls are mere shapeless mounds of brick; but outside the walls may be traced the vestiges of a circus, and some remains of an am- phitheatre. All these remains undoubtedly belong to the Roman colony, and there are no vestiges of the ancient Sanniite city. The jiresent village of Telr.w. is a very small and poor place, rendered desolate by malaria; but in the middle ages it was an episcopal .see, and its principal church is still dignified by the name of a cathedral. Its walls contain many Latin inscriptions, brought from the ancient city, the in- h.abitants of which migr.atcd to the later site in the ninth centuiy. (Craven, ^1 67-»'J5i, vul. ii. pp.173 — 175; (liustiidani, Iftziun. Topoff?: vol. ix. jip. 149, 150.) IVlcsia was remarkable as being the birthplace of the cekbrateil Samnite leader, during the Social War, Pontius 'I'elesinus; and it is probable (though there is no distinct authority for the fact) that it was also that of the still more celebrated C. Pon- tius, who defeated the l.'oniaus at the (.'audine Forks. (E. 11. ii.j TELIS. [RiwiNo.] 4c