Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1257

 TRITON. Dia Tarraconensis, on the river Deva or Devales. (Jlela, iii. 1.) It is commonly identified with JIdtrico, which, however, does not lie on the Deva; and JIannert (i. p. 365) seeks it near Mondragon, in Guipuscoa. [T. H. D.] TRITON {oTp'nuv iroraixos, Ptol. iv. 3. § 19, &c.), a river of Libya, forming, according to Ptolemy, the boundary of the Regio Syrtica towards the W. It rose in Mount Vasalaetus, and, flowing in a northerly direction, passed through three lakes, the Libya J'alus, the lake Pallas, and the lake Tritouitia {ij TptTccviTis Xiixvr], lb.); after which it fell into the tea in the innermost part of the Syrtis Minor be- tween Macouiada and Tacape, but nearer to the hiltei-. The lake Tritonitis of Ptolemy is called, how- ever, by other writers Tritonis (J} Tpirwvls Aifivr], Ilerod. iv. 179). Herodotus seems to confound it with tlie Lesser Syrtis itself; but Scylax (p. 49), who gives it a circumference of 1000 stadia, de- scribes it as connected with the Syrtis by a narrow opening, and as surrounding a small island, — that called by llerodotus (ib. 178) Phla (*Ad), which is also mentioned by Strabo (xvii. p. 836), as con- taining a temple of Aphrodite, and by Dionysius. (Periei/. 267.) This lake Tritonis is undoubtedly the present Schibkah-el-Lovdjah, of which, accord- ing to Shaw (Travels, i. p. 237), the other two lakes are merely parts ; whilst the river Triton is the present El-Uammak. This river, indeed, is no longer connected with the lake (Shaw, lb.); a circumstance, however, which affords no essential ground for doubting the identity of the two streams; .since in those regions even larger rivers are some- times compelled by the quicksands to alter their course. (Cf. Ritter, Erdkunde, i. p. 1017). Scylax (I. c.) mentions also another island called Tritonos (TfiircDvos) in the Syrtis Minor, which last itself is, according to him, only part of a large Sinus Tri- tonites (TpiTCi-viTTjj koAttos). Some writers confound the lake Tritonis with the lake of the Hesperides, and seek it in other districts of Libya ; sometimes in Mauretania, m the neigh- bourhood of Mount Atlas and the Atlantic Ocean, sometimes in Cyrenaica near Berenice and the river Lathon or Lethon. The latter hypothesis is adopted by Lucan (ix. 346, seq.), the former by Diodorus Siculus (iii. 53), who also attributes to it an island iidiabited by the Amazons. But Strabo (Z. c.) especially distinguishes the lake of the Hesperides from the lake Tritonis. With this lake is connected the question of the epithet Tritogeneia, apphed to Pallas as early as the days of Homer and Hesiod. But though the Li- byan river and lake were much renowned ia an- cient times (cf. Aeschyl. £u7n. 293; Eurip. Ion, 872, seq.; Pmd. Pgth. iv. 36, &c.), and the appli- cation of the name of Pallas to the lake connected with the Tritonis seems to point to these African ■waters as having given origin to the epithet, it is nevertheless most probable that the brook Triton near Alalcomenae in Boeotia has the best preten- sions to that distinction. (Cf. Pausan. ix. 33. § 5 ; Schol. ad Apollon. Mod i. 109, iv. 1315; Jliiller, Orchomenos, p. 355 ; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 136, seq. ; Kruse, Hellas, vol, ii. pt. 1 p. 475. [T. H. D ] TRITON (Tp'tTQiv, Diod. v. 72), a river of Crete at the source of which Athene was said to have been oom. From its connection with the Omphalian plain, it is identified with the river discharging VOL. II. TROAS, 123.3 itself into the sea on the N. coast of the island which is called Platijperama, but changes its name to Ghicifiro as it approaches the shore. (Pashley, Travels, vol. i. p. 225.) [E. B. .1.] TRITON (TpiTcoy), a river of Boeotia. [Vol. I. p. 413, a.] TRITURRITA. [Pisae.] TRIVICUM (Trevico), a town of Samnium, in the countiy of the Hirpini, not far from the frontiers of Apulia. Its name is known to us only from Horace, who slept there (or at least at a villa in its immediate neighbourhood) on his well-known journey to Brundusium. (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 79.) It appears therefore that it was situated on the Via Appia, or the line of road then frequented from Rome to Brundusium. But this was not the same which was followed in later times, and is given in the Itineraries under that name, a cir- cumstance which has given rise to much confusion in the topography of this part of Italy. [Via ApriA.] There can be no doubt that Trivicum occupied nearly, if not exactly, the same site with the modern Trevico: the ancient road appears to have passed along the valley at the foot of the hill on which it was situated. It w.is here that stood the villa to which Horace alludes, and some remains of Roman buildings, as well as of the pavement of the ancient road, still visible in the time of Pratilli, served to mark the site more accurately. (Pratilli, Via Appia, iv. 10. p. 507; Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 350.) It ])robably never w.is a municipal town, as its name is «ot mentioned by any of the geo- graphers. [E. H. B.] TRIUMPILl'NI, an Alpine people of Northern Italy, who are mentioned by Augustus in the in- scription in which he recorded the final subjugation of the Alpine tribes {ap. Plin. iii. 20. s. 24). It appears from Pliny that the whole people was re- duced to skvery and sold together with their lands. According to Cato they were of Euganean race, as well as their neighbours the Camuni, with whom they are repeatedly mentioned in common. (Plin. I.e.) Hence there is little doubt that they were the inhabitants of the district still called Val Trompia, the upper valley of the 3Iella, and separate^ only by an intervening ridge of moun- tains from the Val Camonica, the land of the Camuni. [E. H. B.] TROAS (Tpuas, Tpoit), Tpoia, or 'lAias 77;), the territory ruled over by the ancient kings of Troy or Ilium, which retained its ancient and venerable name even at a time when the kingdom to which it had originally belonged had long ceased to exist. Homer himself nowhere describes the extent of Troas or its frontiers, and even leaves us in the dark as to how far the neighbouring allies of the Trojuns, .such as the Dardanians, who were governed by jjrinces of their own, of the family of Priam, were true allies or subjects of the king of Ilium. In later times, Troas was a part of Mysia, comprising the coast district on the Aegean from Cape Ledum to the neighbouriiood of Dardanus and Abydus im the Hel- lespont; while inland it extended about 8 gcograi.h- ieal miles, that is, as far as ]Iount Ida, so as to embrace the south coast of Jlysia opposite the island of Lesbos, together with the towns of Assus and Antandrus. (Hom. Jl. xxiv. 544; Herod, vii. 42.) Stnabo, from his well-known inclination to magnify the empire of Troy, describes il as extending from the Acsepus to the Caicus, and his view is adopted by t ho Scholiast on Apollonius Ehodius (i. 1115). In its 4k.