Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1201

 THRACIA. travcrspil it have been almost invariubly enr;np;ed in military enterprises, and too much occupied with their immediate objects to have either opportunity or inclination, even had they possessed the necessary qualifications, to observe and describe the natural features of the country. What adds to the difKeuIty ot" the writer on the classical geography of Thrace is the unfortunate loss of the whole of that por- tion of the seventh book of Strabo which was de- voted to the subject. Strabo, in several parts of his work, treats incidentally of Thrace: but this is a poor substitute for the more systematic account of it which has perished, and of which little more than a table of contents has been preserved in the meagre epitome which alone remains of it. In modern times, several travellers have en- deavoured, with various degrees of success, to explore the country ; and some of them have published the results of their investigations ; but it is evident from their very frequent disagreement as to the sites of the places which they attempt to identify with those mentioned in ancient writers, that as yet the neces- sary data have not been obtained ; and the Itiner- aries, instead of assisting, not seldom add to the difficulty of the task, and render its accomplishment almost hopeless. Jloreover, the extent of country examined by these travellers was very limited. " The mountainous region of Rhodope, bounded on the west by the Strymon, on the north and east by the Hebrus, and on the south by the Aegean, is a terra incognita, except the few Grecian colonies on the coast. Very few travellers have passed along or described the southern or king's road ; while the region in the interior, apart from th« highroad, was absolutely unexplored until the visit of M. Viquesnel in 1847. (Grote, I. c.) The results of this traveller's researches have not yet, we believe, appeared in a complete and connected form. His reports to the French minister by whom he was commissioned are published in the work already referred to ; but most of them are mere out- lines, written on the spot from brief notes. They contain much that is valuable and interesting ; but no one except their author could make full use of them ; and it is to be hoped that he may be able to employ the materials so ably collected in the com- position of a work that would dispel much of the obscurity that at present rests upon the country. II. Viquesnel was engaged little more than a year in Thrace, a period evidently insufficient for its complete ex]doration ; accordingly he seems to have devoted his principal attention to its geology, especially of the the mountain systems, above all in the district of Rhodope. According to Ami Bouc"s chart of the geological structure of the globe, copied in Johnston's Pliysicul Atlas, the three principal geological formations in Thrace are : (1) the crystalline schistous, compre- hending all the granitoid rocks ; this occupies the V. portion of the country, and a small district on the Euxine, immediately S. of the Haemus : (2) the tertiary, extending over the basin of the Hebrus : (.3) the primary stratifications, or the transition series, including the carboniferous formations ; this occupies the SE. part of the country, and a region S. of the Haemus, and W. of the tertiary formation above mentioned. Near the sources of the Bourghaz, Viquesnel found volcanic rocks (p. 21. "5). The surface of Thrace is, on the whole, decidedly mountainous, the vast plains spoken of by Virgil (^Aen. iii. l.'j) belonging to Moesia. From the great range of Haenms, three chains of mountains branch THRACIA. 1177 oft' towards the SB., and with their various rann- fications occupy nearly the entire country. The most westerly of these begins at the NV. extremity of the boundary line, and soon separates into two almost parallel ranges, the I'angaeus and I.'hodcqio, which are separated from each other by the river Nestus ; the Ibrmer filling up the whole space be- tween that river and the Strymon, the latter the district K. of the Nestus and SV. of the Hebrus. Both Paiigaeus and Rhodope extend down to the coast of the Aegean, and the latter is continued parallel to it as ftir E. as the Hebrus. The central offshoot of the Haemus branches off between the sources of the Hebrus and the Tonzus, and extends to their junction near Hadrianopoiis. The most easterly cliain diverges from the Haenms about 100 miles W. of the Euxine, to the W. shore of which it is nearly parallel, though it gradually approaches nearer to it from N. to S.: it extends as far as the Bosporus, and with its lateral offsiioots occupies nearly the whole country between the E. tributaries of the Hebrus and the Euxine. The central and E. ranges appear to have had no general distinctive names ; at least we are not aware that any occur in ancient writers : the modern name of the most east- erly is the Strandja-Dagh. A continuation of this range extends along the shore of the Propontis, and is now called the Tekir-Dagh. The loftiest peaks, among these mountains, belong to Rhodope, and attain an elevation of about 8500 feet (Viquesnel, p. 325) ; the summits of the Strnndja-Dagh, are 2600 feet high (Id. p. 314) ; those of tiie TeUr-Dagh, 2300 (Id. p. 315); the other mountains are fiom 2000 to fiOO feet in height (Id. pp. 314, 315). The Haemus is not more than 4000 feet high, in that portion of it which belongs to Thrace. It is obvious from these measure- ments that the statements of some of the ancients that the summits of the Thracian mountains were covered with eternal snow (QpriKwv upea VKpufvra, Hom. II. xiv. 227), and that from the highest jieuk of the Haemus the Adriatic and the Euxine could be seen, are mere fancies. Strabo (vii. pp. 313,317) points out the inaccuracy of this notion. An in- teresting account is given by Livy (xl. 21, 22) of the ascent of Haemus by Philip ., who shared in the popular belief in queslicn. Livy states jilainly enough his conviction that Piiilip's labour, which was far from .slight, was thrown away ; but he and his attendants were prudently silent upon the suliject, not wishing, says Livy, to be laughed at for their pains. Yet Florus, who alludes to the same cir- cumstance (ii. 12), but makes Perseus the mountain- climber, assumes that the king's object was iiccoin- plished, and that the bird's-eye view of his dnini- nions, obtained from the mountain top, a.ssistcd liim in forming a plan for the defence of his kingdom. with reference to his meditated war with Iiomc. Jlela too repeats the erroneous statement (ii. 2). The main direction of the rivers of Thrace is from N. to S., as might lie inferred from the Ibrcgoing ile- scription of its mountain system. The Strymon forui.s its W. boundary. In tiio lower jart of its course, it expands to a considerable width, and was called Lake Cercinitis, into which flowed a smaller river, the Angites (Ilcrod. vii. 113) ; next, towards the E., comes the Nestus ; then, in succession, the Travus, which falls into Lake Bistonis, the Schoenus, the ll(!)rus, the principal river of Thrace, and lastly the Mcl.as. All tiicsc rivers fall into the Aegean. Several small streams flow into tiic Hellespont and