Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/184

 1C8 LEUCA. and hence gave the name of Leuternia to all the surroundinij district. The same story is told, with some variations, by the pseudo- Aristotle (cfe Mirab. 97); and the name of Leutarnia is found also in Lycophron (^Alex. 978), whose expressions, however, would have led us to suppose that it was in the neighbourhood of Siris rather than of the lapygian promontory. Tzetzes (rtcZ foe.) calls it a citi/ of Italy, which is evidently only an erroneous inference from the words of his author. The Laternii of Scylax, whom he mentions as one of the tribes that inhabited lapygia, may probably be only another form of the same name, though we meet in no other writer with any allusion to their existence as a real people. [E. H. B.] LEUCA, the name given by Pomponius Mela (i. 1 6), to a district on the west of Halicarnassus, between that city and Myndas. Pliny (H. N. v. 29) mentions a town, Leucopolis, in the same neighbourhood, of which, however, nothing else is known to us. [L. S.j LEUCADIA. [LErcAS.J LEUCAE or LEUCE (AeC/cai, AiVKT]), a small town of Ionia, in the neighbourhood of Phocaea, was situated, according to Pliny (v. 31), " in pro- montorio quod insula fuit." From Scylax (p. 37) we learn that it was a place with harbours. Accord- ing to Diodorus (xv. 18) the Persi.in admiral Tachos founded this town on an eminence on the sea coast, in B.C. 352 ; but shortly after, when Tachos had died, the Clazomenians and Cymaeans quarrelled about its possession, and the former succeeded by a stratagem in making themselves masters of it. At a later time Leucae became remarkable for the battle fought in its neighbourhood between the consul LiciniusCrassus and Aristonicus, B.C. 131. (Strab. xiv. p. 646; Justin, xxxvi. 4.) Some have supposed this place to be identical with the Leuconium mentioned by Thucydides (viii. 24) ; but this is impossible, as this latter place must be looked for in Chios. The site of the ancient Leucae cannot be a matter of doubt, as a village of the name of Lerke, close upon the sea, at the foot of a hill, is evidently the modern repre- sentative of its ancient namesake. (Arundell, Seven Churches, p. 295.) _ [L. S.] LEUCAE (Asi/Koi), a town of Laconia situated at the northern extremity of the plain Leuce, now called Phlnfki, which extended inland between Acriae and Asopus on the eastern side of the La- conian gulf. (I'olyb. v. 19; Liv. xxxv. 27; Strab. viii. p. 363 ; Leake, Morea, vol. i. p. 226, seq. ; Boblaye, Rtcherches, ifc. p. 95; Curtius, Pelqpon- nesos, vol. ii. p. 290.) LEUCAEUM, a town in Britain, mentioned in the Itinerary as being 15 miles from Isca Dumiuuii- orum, and 15 from Nidum. The difficulties involved in this list (viz. that of the 12th Itinerary) are noticed under Muridunum. The Monumenta Britcmnica suggests both Glastonbury in Somersetshire, and Vwghor in Glamorganshire. [R. G. L.] LEUCAS (Aeu/cds), a place in Bitliynia, on the river Gallus, in the south of Nicaea, is mentioned only by Anna Comnena (p. 470), but can be easily identified, as its name Lefke is still borne by a neat little town in the middle of the beautiful valley of theGallus. (Leake, AsiaMuwr, pp. 12,13.) [L.S.] LEUCAS, LEUCA'DIA (AeuKas, Thuc.,^Xen., Str.ab. ; Aeu/caSi'a, Time. Liv. : Eth. A€i>K:a'5ios), an island in the Ionian sea, separated by a narrow channel from the coast of Acarnania. It was ori- ginally part of the mainland, and as such is described by Homer, who calls it the Acte or peninsula of the LEUCAS. mainland. ('Aicttj Tjirelpoio, OcZ. xxiv. 377; comp. Strab. X. pp. 451, 452.) Homer also mentions its well-fortified town Nekicus (JSHipiKos, I. c.) Its earliest inhabitants were Leleges and Teleboans (Strab. vii. p. 322), but it was afterwards peopled by Acarnanians, who retained possession of it till the middle of the seventh century b. c, when the Corinthians, under Cypselus, founded a new town near the isthmus, which they called Leucas, where they settled 1000 of their citizens, and to which they removed the inhabitants of the old town of Nericus. (Strab. I. c. ; Scylax, p. 13 ; Thuc. i. 30 ; Plut. Them. 24 ; Scymn. Chius, 464.) Scylax says that the town was first called Epileucadii. The Corinthian colonists dug a canal through this isth- mus, and thus converted the peninsula into an island. (Strab. I. c.) This canal, which was called Dioryctus, and was, according to Pliny, 3 stadia in length {AidpvKTOS, Polyb. v. 5 ; Plin. iv. 1. s. 2), was after filled up by deposits of sand ; and in the Peloponnesian War, it was no longer available for ships, which during that period were conveyed across the isthmus on more than one occasion. (Thuc. iii. 81, iv. 8.) It was in the same state in B.C. 218 ; for Polybius relates (v. 5) that Philip, the son of Demetrius, had his galleys drawn across this isth- mus in that year ; and Livy, in relating the siege of Leucas by the Romans in B.C. 197, says, " Leucadia, nunc insula, et vadoso freto quod perfossum manu est, ab Acarnania divisa" (xxxiii. 17). Tlie sub- sequent restoration of the canal, and the construction of a stone bridge, both of which were in existence in the time of Strabo, were no doubt the work of the Romans ; the canal was probably restored soon after the Roman conquest, when the Romans separated Leucas from the Acarnanian confederacy, and the bridge was perhaps constructed by order of Augustus, whose policy it was to facilitate communications throughout his dominions. Leucadia is about 20 miles in length, and from 5 to 8 miles in breadth. It resembles the Isle of JIan in shape and size. It consists of a range of limestone mountains, terminating' at its north-eastern extremity in a bold and rugged headland, whence the coast runs in a south-west direction to the pro- montory, anciently called Leucates, which has been corrupted by the Italians into Cape Ducato. The name of the cape, as well as of the island, is of course derived from its tvhite cliffs. The southern shore is more soft in aspect, and more sloping and cultivated than the rugged rocks of the northern coast ; but the most populous and wooded district is that opposite Acarnania. The interior of the island wears everywhere a rugged aspect. There is but little cultivation, except wdiere terraces have been planted on the mountain sides, and covered with vineyards. The highest ridge of the mountains rises about 3000 feet above the sea. Between the northern coast of Leucadia and that of Acarnania there is at present a lagoon about 3 miles in length, while its breadth varies from 100 yards to a mile and a half. The lagoon is in most parts only about 2 feet deep. This part of the coast requires a more particular description, which will be rendered clearer by the accompanying plan. At the north-eastern extremity of Leucadia a lido, or spit, of sand, 4 miles in length, sweeps out towards Acarnania. (See Plan, A.) On an isolated point opposite the extremity of this sand- bank, is the fort of Santa Mmtrc, erected in the middle ages by one of the Latin princes, but rejiaii'ed