Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/169

 LECTUM. by the Jerusalem Itin. after Arausio (^Orange), and xiii. M.P. from it. D'Anville says that the distance is too great, for it seems that the place is at the passage of the small river Lez. [G. L.] LECTUM (t AiKTdv), a promontory in the south-west of Troas, opposite the island of Lesbos. It forms the south-western termination of Mount Ida. (Horn. II xiv. 294; Herod, ix. 114; Thucyd. viii. 101 ; Ptol. v. 2. § 4; Plm. v. 32 ; Liv. xxxvii. 37.) In the time of Strabo (xiii. p. 605, comp. p. 583) there was shown on Cape Lectum an altar, said to have been erected by Agamemnon to the twelve great gods ; but this very number is a proof of the late origin of the altar. Under the Byzan- tine emperors, Lectum was the northernmost point of the province of Asia. (Hierocl. p. 659.) Athe- naeus (iii. p. 88) states that the purple shell-fish, found near Lectum as well as near Sigeum, was of a large size. The modern name of Lectum is Baha, or Santa Maria. [L. S.] LE'CYTHUS (AijKvOos'), a town in the peninsula of Sithonia in Chalcidice, not far from Torone, with a temple to Athena. The town was attacked by Brasidas, who took it by storm, and consecrated the entire cape to the goddess. Everything was de- molished except the temple and the buildings con- nected with it. (Thuc. iv. 115, 116.) [E. B. J.] LEDERA'TA or LAEDERATA (AeSepara and AiTepard), a fortified place in Upper Moesia, on the high road from Viminacium to Dacia, on the river Morgus. It was a station for a detachment of horse archers. (Procop. de Aed. iv. 6; Tab. Pent; Notit. Imp., where it is called Laedenata.) Ruins of ancient fortifications, commonly identified with the site of Lederata, are found in the neighbourhood of Rama. [L. S.] LEDON (AeSwu; Etli. AeStJyTws), a town of Phocis, north of Tithorea, the birthplace of Philo- melus, the commander of the Phocians in the Sacred War. In the time of Pausanias it was abandoned by the inhabitants, who settled upon the Cephissus, at the distance of 40 stadia from the town, but the ruins of the latter were seen by Pausanias. Leake supposes that the ruins at Paled Fiva are those of Ledon. (Pans. x. 2. §2, x. 3. §2, x. 33. § I; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 89.) LEDRON (ATjSpoi'), a place in Cyprus, near Leu- cosia, which the ecclesiastical writers mention as a bishop's see. (Sozomen, //.£'. v. 10; Niceph. Callist. viii. 42; Engel, Kypros, vol. i. p. 152.) [E. B. J.] LEDUS, or LEDUM, as Mela (ii. 5) names it, a small river of Gallia Narbonensis. Festus Avienus {Ov. Marit. 590) names it Ledus. Mela speaks of the " Stagna Volcarum, Ledum flumen, castellum Latera." The Ledus is the Lez, which passes by Sextantio, to the east of MuntpeUier, and flows into the E'tang de ifaguelone or Perols below Latera, now Lates or Latte. Pliny (ix. 8) gives the name of Stagnum Latera to this E'tang, and he speaks of it as abounding in mullets, and describes the way of taking them. The mullet is still abundant there. Pliny places the Stagnum Latera in the territory of Nemausus (iVzrn&s), which is at some distance. But the E'tang and the Castellum Latera may be among the many small places (Plin. iii. 4) which were made dependant on Nemausus (Nemausiensibus attribnta). [G. L.] LEETA'NL [Laeetani.] LEGAE (Ari7ai, Strab. xi. p. 503 ; A^7€S, Pint. Pomp. 35), a people on the shores of the Caspian, situated between Albania and the Amazones, and LEGIO VII. GEMINA. 153 belonging to the Scythian stock. (Theophanes, ap. Strab. I. c.) The name survives, it has been con- jectured, in the modern Lesghi, the inhabitants of the E. region of Caucasus. (Comp. Potocki, Voyage dam les Steps cFAstrahJian, vol. i. p. 239.) [E. B. J.] LEGEDIA, in Gallia, is placed by the Table on a road from Condate (Rennes) to Coriallum, perhaps Cherbourg. It is 49 Gallic leagues from Condate to Legedia, and 1 9 from Legedia to Cosedia. None of the geographers agree about the position of Le- gedia. Walckenaer places it at Villebaudon, near Lezeau, in support of which there is some similarity of name. [G. L.] LEGEOLIUM, a town in Britain, mentioned in the Itinerary. At Castleford, in Yorkshire, the road from Isurium (^Aldborough) crosses the river Aire; and in this neighbourhood coins and other antiquities have been dug up. A camp, however, has yet to be discovered. Castleford is generally identified with Legeolium. Lagecium is the first station from York on the way to London, 21 miles from the former town, and 16 from Danum (^= Doncaster). This is from the 8th Itinerary. In the 5th Legeolium is exactly in the same po- sition. This identifies the two. [R. G. L. ] LE'GIO (^Aeyeuf), a town of Palestine mentioned by Eusebius and S. Jerome. Its importance is intimated by the fact that it is assumed by them as a centre from which to measure the distance of other places. Thus they place it 15 M. P. west of Nazareth, three or four from Taanach (^Onomast. s. vv. Nazareth, Tkaanach, Thanaach Caniona, Aphraim.') Eeland {Palaest. s. v. p. 873) correctly identifies it with the modern village Legune or el-Lejjun, " on the western border of the great plain of Esdraelon," — which Eusebius and S. Jerome designate, from this town, /ie'ya ■KiWiov A^yiiivos {Onomast. s. v. TaSadwv), — "where it already be- gins to rise gently towards the low range of wooded hills which connect Carmel and the mountains of Samaria." Its identity with the Megiddo of Scrip- ture is successfully argued by Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 177 — 180.) Megiddo is constantly joined with Taanach, and Lejjun is the requisite distance from the village of Taannuk, which is directly south of it. Both were occupied by Ca- naanitish sheikhs {Josh. xii. 21), both assigned to the half-tribe of IIanasseh, though lying within the borders of Issachar or Asher (xvii. 11; 1 Chron. vii. 29); both remained long unsubdued (Judges, i. 27). In the battle between Barak and Sisera " they fought in Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo," — which waters issue from a copious fountain, the stream from which turns several mills, and is an important tributary to the Kishon (Maundrell, Journey, March 22, p. 57.) This is probably the place mentioned by Shaw as the Ras-el- Kishon, or the head of the Kishon, under the south-east brow of Jlount Carmel. Three or four of its sources, he says, lie within less than a furlong of each other, and discharge water enough to form a river half as big as the Isis. (Travels, p. 274, 4to. ed.) It was visited and de- scribed by Mr. Wolcott in 1842. He found it to be an hour and 40 minutes from Taannuh (Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843, pp. 76 — 78.) The great caravan road between Egypt and Damascus passes through Lejjun; and traces of an old Roman road are to be seen to the south of the village. [G. W.] LEGIO Vn. GE'MINA (Itin. Ant. p. 395; Ai-y'ioiv f repfiaviKT], Ptol. ii. 6. § 30 : Leon), a