Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1183

 THERA. i. e. B.C. 237, is absurd, as they are mentioned by Callinus and Herodotus, and must have existed even long before the time of those writers; but if we sup- pose a shglit error in the numerals in the textof Pliny (reading " Olympiadis cxsxxv anno quarto" instead of " Olympiadis cxxxv anno quarto "), we have the very year (b. c. 197) in which Eusebius and Justin place the appearance of Hiera. There can he little doubt, therefore, that PHny's authorities referred to this event, and that it was only through carelessness that he spoke of the appearance of Thera and Therasia in that year. Thus the first state- ment of Pliny may be reconciled with the accounts of Eusebius, Justin, and the other writers. The appearance of the second island, to which he falsely transfers the name of Hiera from the earlier occur- rence, must be placed in B.C. 67, according to the corrected chronology. This island no longer exists; and it must therefore either have been thrown uj) and disappeared again immediately, as was the case THEHA. IIJO in the eruption of 1650, or it was simply an addition to the ancient Hiera, of which there are some in- stances at a later period. It is apparently to this eruption that the statement of Posidonius quoted by Seneca, refers. The last statement of Pliny that a new island, named Thia, was thrown up 2 stadia from Thia in the consulship of M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus, on the 8th of July, is so exact that it seems hardly possible to reject it ; but here again is an error in the date. If we take the numbers as they stand, this event would have happened in a.ij. 3, or, according to the corrected numbers, in a. d. 43, whereas we know that M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus were consuls in a.d. 19. No other writer, however, speaks of an eruption of an island in this year, which, if it actually happened, must again have disappeared. IIoreover, it is strange that Pliny should have passed over the eruption of the real Thia, or Mikra Kammeni, which occurred in his life- time, in the consulship of Valerius Asiaticus, and in TIlEHAdlA ASPnONISI lAP OF TIIKBA AND THK SURltOLNDING Isr.ANPS. A. Shoal formed by the submarine volcanic eruption in l(i50. B. Entrance to the crater. C. Mount Elins. D. i>/«sfl-/'nMno and ruined city, probably 1 hera. H. Submarine ruins at Kamari, probably Oca. F. Kuins at Peiissa. G. C. F.ruviili. H, liiiins. prob.ibly nf i:ioiisi«. 1. Modern capital Tlina or I'hira. K. I'romontriry of Skaro. 1,. Merovonti. M. EpnncDneria, N. C. Kolumbii. 4 It 4