Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1359

 ZACYNTHUS. assisted Dion in liis expedition to Syracuse with the view of expelling the tyrant Dionysius, B.C. 357. (Diod. xvi. 6, seq. ; Plut. Dion, 22, seq.) At the time of the Koman wars in Greece we find Zacynthus in the possession of Philip of Macedon. (Polyb. v. 102.) In B.C. 211 the Roman praetor JI. Valerius Lae- vinus, took the city of Zacynthus, with the exception of the citadel. (Liv. xsvi. 24.) It was afterwards restored to Philip, by whom it was finally surren- dered to the Romans in B.C. 191. (Id. xxxvi. 32.) In the Mithridatic War it was attacked by Archelaus, the general of Jlithridates, but he was repulsed. (Appian, Mithr. 45.) Zacynthus subsequently shared the fate of the other Ionian islands, and is now subject to Great Britain. The chief town of the island, also named Zacyn- thus (Liv. xxvi. 14 ; Strab. x. p. 458 ; Ptol. iii. 14. § 13), was situated upon the eastern shore. Its site is occupied by the modern capital, Zante, but nothing remains of the ancient city, except a few columns and inscriptions. The situation of the town upon the margin of a semi-circular bay is very picturesque. The citadel probably occupied the site of the modern castle. The beautiful situation of the city and the fertility of the island have been celebrated in all ages (/caAct Tr6is a ZaKwdos, Theocr. Id. iv. 32 ; Strab., Plin., 11. cc.'). It no longer deserves the epithet of " woody," given to it by Homer (J,, c.) and Virgil (" nemorosa Za- cynthos," Aen. iii. 270) ; but its beautiful olive- gardens, vineyards, and gardens, justify the Italian proverb, which calls Zante the " flower of the Levant." The most remarkable natural phenomenon in Zante is the celebrated pitch-wells, which are accu- rately described by Herodotus (iv. 195), and are mentioned by Pliny (xxxv. 15. s. 51). They are situated about 12 miles from the city, in a small marshy valley near the shore of the Bay of Chieri, on the SW. coast. A recent observer has given the following account of them : " There are two springs, the principal surrounded by a low wall ; here the pitch is seen bubbling up under the clear water, which is about a foot deep over the pitch itself, with which it comes out of the earth. The pitch-bubbles rise with the appearance of an India-rubber bottle until the air within bur-^ts, and the pitch falls back and runs off. It produces about three barrels a day, and can be used when mixed with pine-pitch, though in a pure state it is comparatively of no value. The other spring is in an adjoining vineyard ; but the pitch dues not bubble up, and is in fiict only discern- ible by the ground having a burnt appearance, and by the feet adhering to the surface as one walks over it. The demand for the pitch of Zante is now very small, vegetable pitch being preferable." (Bowen, in Murray's Handhooh for Greece, p. 93.) The existence of these pitch-wells, as well as of numerous hot springs, is a proof of the volcanic ZALECUS. 1333 COIN OF Z.VCYNTIIUS. agency at work in the island ; to which it may be added that earthquakes are frequent. Pliny mentions Mt. Elatus in Zacynthus (" Mons Elatus ibi nobilis," Plin. /. c), probably Mt. Ukajm, which raises its curiously jagged summit to the height of 1300 feet above the eastern extremity of the bay of Zante. (Dodwell, Tour throwjh Greece, vol. i. p. 83, seq.) ZADRACARTA. [Tagae.] ZAGATIS (Zd7oT(s), a coast river in the E. part of Pontus, discharging itself into the Eusiiie about 7 stadia to the east of Athenae; probably the same river as the modern Sucka JJere. (Arrian, Peripl. P. E. p. 17; Anon. Ferh'^. P. E. y. 15.) [L. S.J ZAGO'RUS, or ZAGU'RUM (Zdywpos, or Zdyu- pov, Marcian. p. 73 ; Za-yeipa, Ptol. v. 4. § 5; Za- yapa, Arrian, Peripl. P. E. p. 15 ; Zacoria, Tab. Petit.), a town of Paphlagonia, on the coast of the Euxine, between Sinope and the mouth of the Halys, from the latter of which it was distant about 400 stadia. [L. S.] ZAGRUS MONS (6 Zaypos, rh Zaypov ipos, Polyb. V. 44 ; Ptol. vi! 2. § 4 ; Strab. xi. p. 522), the central portion of the great chain of mountains which, extending in a direction nearly N. and S. with an inclination to the W. at the upper end, connects the mountains of Armenia and the Caucasus with those of Susiana and Persis. It separates Assyria from Jledia, and is now represented by the middle and southern portion of the mountains of Kurdistan, the highest of which is the well known liowandiz. Kear this latter mountain was the great highroad which led from Assyria and its capital Nineveh into Media, and, at its base, was in all probability the site of the pass through the mountains, called by Ptolemy al tov Zdypov ttuAki (vi. 2. § 7), and by Strabo, 7] M7j5iK7j iri/Kri (xi. p. 525). Polybius notices the difliculty and danger of this pass (v. 44), which, from Colonel Rawlinson's narrative, would seem to have lost none of its dangers (Rawlinson, in Trans. Geogr. Soc. vol. x., Pass and Pillar of Keli- Shin). [V.] ZAITHA or ZAUTHA {Zavei, Zosim. iii. 14), a small town or fortitied place in Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates, to the SE. of Circesium. It is said by Ammianus to have been called Zaitha (or more pro- perly Zaita) from the olive trees (xxiii. 5. § 7), which we nmst suppose grew there, though the climate is very hot for that tree. He adds that it was celebrated for the monument erected by the soldieis to the emperor Gordianus. Zosimus, on the other hand, places this monument at Dara (J. c), in which Eutropius agrees with liim (ix. 2). Ptolemy calls it Zeitha (Zfiea, v. 18. § 2). [Duka.] [V.] ZALACUS {rh ZdAaKoy upos, Ptol. iy. 2. §§ 14, 19), a mountain chain of JIauretania near the river Chinalaph, the highest and most rugged branch of the Atlas in this neighbourhood. Now the Wan- nash-rcese or Gueneseris. (Cf. Shaw, Trarels, i. p. 74.) [T. H. D.] ZALDAPA (ZoASoTra, Procop. de Aed. iv. 11. p. 308), a town in the interior of Lower Mocsia. It is called Saldapa by Theophylact (2.'A5a7ra, i 8), and Zeldepa by Ilierocles. (ZeAScTra, p. 637). [T- H. D.] ZALE'CUS (ZciATj/fos, or ZdAitr/fos, in Ptol. v. 4. § 3), a sujall river on the coa;.t of Paphlagonia, dis- charging itself into the Euxine at a distance of 210 stadia west of the Halys. (Marcian. p. 73.) At its mouth there was a suiall town of the same name, about 90 stadia from Zagorus, or Zagorum (Anon. 4q 4