Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/121

 KIR-MOAB. bravery in carrying it by sturm (Josh. xv. 1 G — 20). It belonged afterwards to the priests. (Josh. xsi. 15; 1 C/iron. vi. 58.) Debir is afterwards lost sight of; but from the indications already given, it appears to have been near Hebron, — but the site has not been made out. There was a second Debir in the tribe of Gad. (Josh. xiii. 26.) (Von Kaumer, J'alest. p. 1 82 ; Winer, s. v.) [E. B. J.] KIR-MOAB (rb Te?xos t^s McoaSirtSos, LXX.), "the stronghold of Moab." (/*'«. xvi.), called also Kiu- Hkueskth and Kin-HiciiiiS. (Isa. xvi. 7, 11; Jtr. xlviii. .31.) In the Chaldee vension and the Greek of the Apocrypha, it appears in the form of Kerakka- Jloab, and Characa (XdpaKa, 2 Mace. xii. 17). Under this latter name, more or less corrupted, it is men- tioned by I'tolemy (Xapdicuifia, v. 17. § 5; comp. XapaKfjkco€a, Steph. B.) and other writers, both eccle- siastical and profane, down to the centuries before the Crusades. (Abu-l-fe'da, Tab. Syr. p. 89; Schul- tens, Index ad Vit. Salad, s. t?.) The Crusaders found the name extant, and erected the fortress still known as Kerak, which, with that of Shubek, formed the centre of operations for the Latins E. of the Jordan. With the capture of these, after a long siege by Saladin, A. d. 1188, the dominion of the Franks over this territory terminated. (Wilken, die Kreuzz, vol. iv. pp. 244 — 247.) The whole of this district was unknown till a. d. 1806, when Seetzen (Zachs, Monatl. Con: xviii. pp.433, foil.) penetrated as far as Kerak. A fuller account of the ])lace is given by Burckhardt (Trav. pp. 379 — 387), by whom it was next visited in 1812; and another description is furnished by Irby and llungles (Ti-av. pp. 361 — 370), who followed in the .same direction in 1818. (Robinson, Bill. Res. vol. ii. pp. 566 — 571 ; Ritter, £rdkunde, vol. xv. pp. 916, 121.5.) [E.B.J.] KI6H0N. [CisON.] L. LABANAE AQUAE. [Aquae Lab.vnae.] LABEA'TES. [Labeatis Lacus.] LABEA'TLS LACUS, a large lake of Roman II- lyricimi, situated to the N. of Scodra, the chief city of the Lai'.eates (Liv. xliii. 21, xliv. 31, xlv. 26) or Labeatae. (Flin. iii. 26.) It is now called the lake of Scuta7'i, famous for the quantity of fish, especially of the " Cypriuus " family. The rivers, which drain the rocky district of Monte-Negro, discharge them- selves into this lake, which communicates with the sea by the river Barbana. (Wilkiason, Dahnatia, o. i. pp. 411,41.5,476.) [E. B. J.] LABl'CUMorLAVrCUM,sometimesalso(Liv.ii. 39, iv. 45) LAVrCI, (rh haSiKuv : Eth. AaSxavos, Labicanus and Lavicanus : La Colonna), an ancient city of Latium, situated at the foot of the north- eastern slope of the Alban hills, and distant about 15 miles from Rome. Its foundation was ascribed, according to a tradition reported by Sei-vius (ad Aen. vii. 796), to Glaucus, a son of Minos: and ^ irgil (I. c.) mentions it among the cities which sent assistance to king Latinus against Aeneas, so that he must have regarded it as more ancient than the Trojan settlement in Latium. But the cur- rent tradition, adopted by Dionysius, represented Labicum, in common with so many other Latin cities, as a colony of Alba. (Dionys. viii. 19 ; Uiodor. ap. Ettseb. Arm. p. 185.) Whatever was its origin, we know with certainty that it was one LABICUM. 105 of the cities of the Latin League, and as suck retained, do^vn to a late period, the right of par- ticipating in the sacrifices on the Alban ]Iount. (Dionys. v. 61 ; Cic. 2>ro Plane. 9.) It first appears in history as taking part in the league of the Latins against Rome previous to the battle of Regillus (Dionys. I. c), and is afterwards mentioned among the cities which are represented as taken in suc- cession by Coriolanus, during his campaign against the Romans. (Liv. ii. 39 ; Dionys. viii. 19.) It is not improbable that this legend represents the his- torical fact that Labicum, together with Bcjla, Pedum, and other places which figure in the same narrative, actually fell about that time into the hands of the Aequians, as Satricum, Corioli, and other towns further to the S., did into those of the Volscian.s. (Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 259.) But during the subsequent wars of the Romans with the Aequians, Labicum always appears as a Latin city : and from its position on the frontier of La- tium adjoining the Aequians, its name repeatedly occurs in the history of those contests. Thus, in B. c. 458, its territory was ravaged by the Aequiau general Gracchus : and in 418 we find the Labicans themselves abandoning the Roman alliance, and joining the Aequians, together with whom they established a camp on Mount Algidus. Their com- bined forces were, however, defeated by the Roman dictator Q. Servilius Priscus, and Labicum itself was taken by storm. In order to secure their new conquest against the Aequians the Roman senate sent thither a colony of 1500 Roman citizens, which appears to have maintained itself there, though at- tacked the very next 3'ear by the Aequians. (Liv. iii. 25, iv. 45—47, 49.) In it. c. 383, its territory was again ravaged by the Praeuestines, at that tiniu on hostile terms with Rome (Liv. vi. 21) ; and after a long interval, in B.C. 211, it once more sustained the same fate from the army of Hannibal. (Liv. xxvi. 9.) From this time the name of Labicum disappears from history, but we learn that it still existed as a municipium, though in a very poor and decayed condition, in the days of Cicero. (Cic. pro Plane. 9, de Leg. Agr. ii. 35.) Strabo, however, speaks of the town as in ruins, and Pliny mentions the population "ex agro Labicano" in a manner that seems to imply that, though they still formed a "populus" or community, the city no longer existed. (Strab. V. pp. 230, 237; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.) In like manner we find the " ager Labicanus " elsewliere mentioned, but no further notice of the town. (Suet. Caes. 83.) The inhabitants seem to have, under the Roman empire, congregated together afresh in the neighbourhood of the station on the Via La- bicana, called Ad Quintanas, and hence assun}ed the name of Lavicani Quintanenses, which we meet with in inscriptions. (OvbW.Inscr. 1 18, 3997.) The tenitory appears to have been one of great fertility, and was noted for the excellence of its grapes. (Sil. Ital. viii. 366 ; Jul. Capit. Clod. A Ibin. 1 ] .) The position of Labicum has been a subject of much dispute, having been placed by different writers at Valmontone, Zagarolo, and Lugnano^ But the precise statement of Strabo (v. p. 237) as to the course of the Via Labicana, together with the fact that he describes the ancient city as situated on a hill to the right of that roiid, about 120 stadia (15 Roman miles) from Rome, ought to have left no difficulty on the subject : and Holstenius long ago correctly placed the ancient city on the hill now