Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1160

 lino TIIASOS. 107; Dioil. sii. 68), Stryme (HeroJ. vii. 118; 8uiti. s. V. SrptV')), Datum, and at a later period Crenides. (Bockli, PuM. Ecun. of Athens, p. 312, Ens;!, tr.) Herodotus, who visited Thasos, says tliat the most remarkable mines were those worked by the Plinenicians on the eastern side of the island between Aenyra and Cnenyra opposite Samotlirace, where a large mountain had been overturned in search of the gold. (Herod, vi. 47.) The Thasians appear to have been the only Greeks who worked the valuable mines in Thrace, till Histiaeus, the I^Iilesian, settled upon the Strymon and built the town of llyrcinus, about B.C. 511. (Herod, v. 11, 2.3.) After the capture of Miletus (b. c. 494), His- tiaeus made an un-^uccessful attempt to subdue Thasos (Herod, vi. 28), but the growing power of the Thasians excited the suspicions of Dareius, wiio commanded them in a. c. 492 to pull down their fortifications and remove their ships of war to Abdera, — an order which they did not venture to disobev. (Herod, vi. 46.) When Xerxes marched through Thrace on his way to Greece, the Thasians, on account of their possessions on the mainland, had to provide for the Persian army as it marched through their territories, the cost of which amounted to 400 talents (92,800Z.). (Herod, vii. 118.) After the defeat of the Persians, Thasos became a member of the confederacy of Delos; but disputes having arisen between the Thasians and Athenians re- specting the mines upon the mainland, a war ensued, and the Athenians sent a powerful force against the island under the command of Cimon, 1!. c. 465. After defeating the Thasians at sea, the Athenians disembarked, and laid siege to the city both by land and sea. The Thasians held out more than two years, and only surrendered in the third year. They were compelled to raze their for- tifications ; to surrender their ships of war ; to give up their continental possessions ; and to pay an im- mediate contribution in m.oney, in addition to their annual tribute. (Time. i. 100, 101 ; Diod. si. 70; i'lut. Cim. 14.) In B.C. 411 the democracy in Thasos was overthrown, and an oligarchical go- vernment established by Peisander and the Four Hundred at Athens ; but as soon as the oligarchy had got possession of the power they revolted from Athens, and received a Lacedaemonian garrison and harmost. (Thuc. viii. 64.) Much internal dis- sension followed, till at length in b. c. 408 a party of the citizens, headed by Ecphantus, expelled the Lacedaemonian harmost Eteonicus with his gar- rison and admitted Thrasybulus, the Athenian com- mander. (Xen. Hell. i. 1. §§ 12, 32, i. 4. § 9; Dem. c.Lept. p. 474.) After the battle of Aegos- potamos, Thasos passed into the hands of the Lace- daemonians ; but it was subsequently again de- pendent upon Athens, as we see from the disputes between Philip and the Athenians. (Dein. de Halon. p. 80; rhilipp.Epist. p. 159.) In the Roman wars in (ireece Thasos submitted to Philip V. (Polyb. xv. 24), but it received its freedom from the Romans after the battle of Cynoscephalae, b. c. 197 (Polyb. xviii. 27, 31 ; Liv. xsxiii. 30, 35), and continued to be a free (libera) town in the time of Pliny (iv. 12. s. 23). The city of Thasos was situated in the northern part of the island, and possessed two ports, of which one was closed. (Scylax, p. 27; Ptol. iii. 11. § 14.) It stood on three eminences ; and several remains of the ancient walls exist, intermixed with towers built by the Venetians, who obtained possession of THAUJIACL the island after the capture of Constantinople bv the Turks. In the neighbourhood is a large statue of Pan cut in the rocks. No remains have been discovered of Aenyra and Coenyra ; and the mines have long ceased to be worked. Archilochus describes Thasos as an " ass's backbone overspread with wild wood " (. . . i}56 8' Siar'' uvov pdxi-s earriKev, vArts aypias (iriaTecpris, Froym. 17. 18, ed. Schneidewin), a description which is still strikingly applicable to the island after the lapse of 2500 years, as it is composed entirely of naked or woody mountains, with only scanty patches of cultivable soil, nearly all of which are close to the sea-shore. (Grote, Hist, of Greece, vol. iv. p. 34.) The highest mountain, called Mount Ipsario, is 3428 feet above the sea, and is thickly covered with fir-trees. There is not enough corn grown in the island for its present population, wiiich consists only of 6000 Greek inhabitants, disperse:! in twelve small villages. Hence we are surprised to find it called by Dionysius (Perieg. 532) ArjixriTepos olkttJ ; but the praises of its fertility cannot have been written from personal observation, and must have arisen simply from the abundance possessed by its inha- bitants in consequence of their wealth. Thasos pro- duced marble and wine, both of which enjoyed con- siderable reputation in antiquity. (Athen. i. pp. 28, 32, iv. p. 129 ; Xen. Si/mp. 4.' § 41; Virg. Georg. ii. 91.) The cliief produce of the island at present is oil, maize, honey, and timber ; the latter, which is mostly fir, is the principal article of export. The coins of Thasos are numerous. The one figured below represents on the obverse the head of Dionysus, and on the reverse a figure of Hercules kneeling. (Prokesch von Osten, Denhwurdigheiten, vol. iii. p. 611, seq.; Cousinery, Voyage dans la Macedoine, Vol. ii. p. 85, seq. ; Griesbach, Iteise, vol. i. p. 210, seq. ; Journal of Geogr. Society, vol. vii. p. 64.) COIX OF TH.VSOS. THAUBA'SIUM (nin. Ant. p. 171; Thau- basteum, Not. Imp.), was a frontier town of Lower Aegypt, situated on the Canopic arm of the Nile, about 8 miles N. of Serapeium and the Natron Lakes. In Eoman times Thanbasium was the head-quarters of a company of light auxiliarv troops " II Ala Ulpia Afrorum." (Orelli, Inscript. no. 2552.) It is supposed to be at the modern Cheych-el-Nedy. (Champollion, VEgypte, vol. ii. p. 71.) [W. B. D.] 'I'HAU'JIACI (eavmKol: Eth. Oau^ua/cds), a town of Plitliiotis in Thessaly, was situated on the pass called Coela, on the road from Thermopylae and the iVIaliac gulf passing through Lamia. " At this place, says Livy, the traveller, after traversing rugged mountains and intricate valleys, comes sud- denly in sight of an immense plain like a vast sea, the extremity of which is scarcely visible. From the astonishment which it excited in the traveller, the city was supposed to have derived its name. It stood upon a lofty and precipitous rock. It was