Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/139

 LAODICEIA. seats still perfectly horizontal, though merely laid upon the gravel), are well deserving of notice. Other buildings, also, on the top of the hill, are full of interest ; and on the east the line of the ancient wall may be distinctly traced, with the remains of a gateway ; there is also a street within and without the town, flanked by the ruins of a colonnade and numerous pedestals, leading to a confused heap of folleu ruins on the brow of the hill, about 200 yards outside the walls. North of the town, towards the Lycus, are many sarcophagi, with their covers lying near them, partly imbedded in the ground, and all having been long since rifled. " Amongst other interesting objects are tlie remains of an aqueduct, commencing near the summit of a low hill to the south, whence it is carried on arches of small square stones to the edge of the hill. The water must have been much charged with calcareous matter, as several of the arches are covered with a thick incrustation. From this hill the aqueduct crossed a valley before it reached the town, but, instead of being carried over it on lofty arches, as was the usual practice of the Romans, the water was conveyed down the hill in stone barrel-pipes ; some of these also are much incrusted, and some completely choked up. It traversed the yJain in pipes of the same kind ; and I was enabled to trace tliem the whole way, quite up to its former level in the town The aqueduct appears to have been overthrown by an earthquake, as the remaining arches lean bodily on one side, without being much broken " The stadium, which is in a good state of pre- servation, is near the southern extremity of the city. The seats, almost perfect, are arranged along two sides of a narrow valley, which appears to have been taken advantage of for this purpose, and to have been closed up at both ends. Towards the west are considerable remains of a subterranean passage, by which chariots and horses were admitted into the arena, with a long inscription over the entrance. .... The whole area of the ancient city is covered with ruined buildings, and I could distinguish the sites of several temples, with the bases of the columns still in situ The ruins bear the stamp of Roman extravagance and luxury, rather than of the stern and massive solidity of the Greeks. Strabo attributes the celebrity of the place to the fertility of the soil and the wealth of some of its inhabitants : amongst whom Hiero, having adorned the city with many beautiful buildings, bequeathed to it more than 2000 talents at his death." (Comp. Fellows, Journal written in Asia Minor, p. 280, foil. ; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 251, foil.) [L. S.] LAODICEIA AD LIBANUM {AaoUKua rj trphs Ai§dvQj), mentioned by Strabo (xvi. p. 755) as the commencement of the JIarsyas Campus, which extended along the west side of the Orontes, near its source. [JIarsyas Cajipus.] It is called Cabiosa Laodiceia by Ptolemy (Ka^ioio-a AaoSiKeia, v. 15), and gives its name to a district (AaodiK-nvr]), in which he places two other towns, Paradisus (ITapa- Seiaos) and Jabruda ("[dgpovSa). Pliny (v. 23), among other people of Syria, reckons " ad orientem I-aodicenos, qui ad Libanum cognominantur." [G.W.] LAODICEIA AD MARE', a city of Syria, south of Heracleia [Vol. I. p. 1050], described by Strabo (xvi. pp. 751, 752) as admirably built, with an ex- cellent harbour, surrounded by a rich country spe- cially fruitful in vines, the wine of which furnished its chief supply to Alexandria. The vineyards were LAPATIIUS. 123 planted on the sides of gently-sloping hills, which were cultivated almost to their summits, and ex- tended far to the east, nearly to Apameia. Strabo mentions that Dolabella, when he Qed to this city before Cassius, distressed it greatly, and that, being besieged there until his death, he destroyed many parts of the city with him, a. d. 43. [Diet. ofBioy. Vol. I. p. 1059.] It was Ijuilt by Seleucus Nicator, and named after his mother. It was furnished with an aqueduct by Herod the Great (Joseph. B.J..1. § 11), a large fragment of which is still to be seen. (Shaw, Travels, p. 262.) The modern city is named Ladiklyeh, and still exhibits faint traces of its former importance, not- withstanding the freqwnt earthquakes with which it has been visited. Irby and Mangles noticed that " the Marina is built upon foundations of ancient columns," and " there are in the town, an old gate- way and other antiquities," as also sarcophagi and sepulchral caves in the neighbourhood. {Travels, p. 223.) This gateway has been more fully de- scribed by Shaw (Z. c.) ami Pococke, as " a remark- able triumphal arch, at the SE. corner of the town, almost entire: it is built with four entrances, like the Forum Jani at Rome. It is conjectured that this arch was built in honour of Lucius Verus, or of Sep- timius Severus." (^Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 197.) Shaw noticed several fragments of Greek and Latin inscriptions, dispersed all over the ruins, but entirely defaced. Pococke states that it was a very inconsiderable place till within fifty years of his visit, when it opened a tobacco trade with Damietta, and it has now an enormous traffic in that article, for which it is far more celebrated than ever it was for its wine. The port is half an hour distant from the town, very small, but better sheltered than any on the coast. Shaw noticed, a furlong to the west of the town, " the ruins of a beautiful cothon, in figure like an amphitheatre, and capacious enough to receive the whole British navy. The mouth of it opens to the westward, and is about 40 feet wide." [G. W.] COIN OF LAODICEIA AD MARE. LAODICEIA (AaoSiKeta). 1. A town in Media, founded by Seleucus Nicator, along with the two other Hellenic cities of Apameia and Heracleia. (Strab. xi. p. 524 ; Steph. B. s. v.) Pliny (vi. 29) describes it as being in the extreme limits of Media, and founded by Antiochus. The site has not yet been identified. (Ritter, Erdhinde, vol. viii. p. 599.) 2. A town which Pliny (vi. 30) places along with Seleuceia and Artemita in Mesopotamia. [E. B. J.] LAPATHUS, a fortress near Mount Olympus. [ASCURIS.] LAPATHUS, LAPETHUS {AditaOos, Strab. xiv. p. 682; Adirrjeo^, Ptol. v. 14. § 4; Plin. v. 31 ; Ar-K-t)Qis, Scyl. p. 41 ; Adiridus, Hierocl.: Eth. Aa- irrjOivs, AairT]6ios : Lapil/io,Lapta'),a,io of Cyprus, the foundation of which was assigned to the Phoeni- cians (Steph. B. s. v.), and which, according to Nonnus