Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/208

 192 LIMNAE. this point it proceeds in a northera direction, under the name of Tetifelshecke (the Devil's Hedge), as far as Lorch, and is more or less interrupted. From Lorch onwards it does not present a continuous line, its course being efiaced in many parts ; but where it is visible it generally consists of a mound of between 6 and 7 feet in breadth, sometimes rising to the height of 10 feet ; and on its eastern side there runs along it a ditch or trench, which is called by the people the Schiveinejraben, perhaps a corruption of Suevengrahen (Ditch of the Suevi). In this state the limes runs as far as the Odenwald, from which point it changes its character altogether, for it con- sists of a succession of forts, which were originally connected by palisades. (Spart. Hadr. 12.) Re- mains of these forts (castella) are seen in many parts. At Ohernhurg this line of fortifications ceases, as the river Main in its northern course afforded suf- ficient protection. A little to the east of Aschajfeii- lurg, where the Maiii takes a western direction, the fortifications recommence, but at first the traces are not continuous, until some miles north of Nidda it reappears as a continuous mound raised on a founda- tion of stones. This last part is now known by the name of the Pfcddgraben, and its remains in some parts rise to a height of from 10 to 12 feet. It can be distinctly traced as far as Rheinhreitbach, in the neighbourhood of Bonn, where every trace of a northern continuation disappears behind the Sieben- gebirge. It is probable, however, that it was con- tinued at least as far as Cologne, where Tiberius Lad commenced the constraction of a limes. (Tac. Ann. i. 50.) Some have supposed that it extended even further north, as far as the river Lippe and the Caesia forest ; but from Tacitus {Germ. 32) it seems clear that it terminated near the river Sieg. This enormous line of fortitication was the work of several generations, and the parts which were first built appear to have been those constructed by Drusus in Mount Taunus. (Tac. Ann. i. .56; Dion Cass. liv. 33.) But Tiberius and the other em- perors of the first century constructed the greater part of it, and more especially Trajan and Hadrian. (Veil. Pat. ii. 120 ; Dion Cass. Ivi. 15; Eutrop. viii. 2; Spart. Hadr. 12.) Until the reign of Alexander Severus these limites appear to have eftectually pro- tected the Decumates agri; but after that time the Alemanni frequently broke through the fortifications. (J. Ca.)itQ. Maximin. 13; Flav. Vopisc. Prob. 13.) His successors, Posthumus, Lollianus, and Probus, exerted themselves to repair the breaches; yet after the death of Probus, it became impossible to prevent the northern barbarians from breaking through the fortifications; and about the end of the third cen- tury the Romans for ever lost their possessions in Germany south of the limes. (Comp. Wilhelm, Germanien, p. 290, &c.; Buchner, Reise cvuf der Teufelsmauer, "R^gsTishmg, 1820.) [L. S.] LIMNAE (^AiixvaC), a place on the frontiers of Messenia and Laconia, containing a temple of Arte- mis Limnatis, used jointly by the Messenians and Lacedaemonians. An outrage offered by the IMesse- niuns to some Lacedaemonian virgins at the festival of this goddess is said to have been the cause of the First Messenian War. (Strab. vi. p. 257, viii. p. 362 ; Pans. iii. 2. § 6, iv. 31. § 3.) The pos- session of this temple, and of the Ager Dentheliatis, the district in which it was situated, was a frequent subject of the dispute between the Lacedaemonians and Messenians down to the time of the Roman em- perors. (Tac. Ann. iv. 43.) The ruins of the LIMONUJL temple of Artemis Limnatis have been discovered by Ross, near the church of Panaglda Volimnidtissa, in the village of Volimnos ; but the topography of this district requires a more particular description, and will be found under Messeni^v. LIMNAE. [Spaeta.] LIMNAE A. 1. (^AifMuaia: Eth. Aifivoiios : Ker- vasard), a town in Acarnania at the SE. comer of the Anibraciot gulf, on the very frontier of Acar- nania towards Argos. There has been a dispute about its site, but the ruins at Kervasard are pro- bably the remains of Limnaea : some modern writers would place it more to the W., eitlier at Lutruki, or at Ruga. The former supposition, however, ap- pears to be the more coiTect, since we leam from Thucydides that Limnaea lay on the road from Ambracia and Argos Amphilochicum to Stratus, which could not have been the case if Limnaea lay to the W. of Kervasard. Philip III., king of Jla- cedonia, disembarked at Limnaea, when about to invade Aetolia. There is a marsh near Kervasard , two miles in length, from which Limnaea appears to have derived its name. (Thuc. ii. 80, iii. 105 ; Pol. V. 5 ; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 243, seq.) 2. A town of Histiaeotis in Thessaly, taken by the Romans in b. c. 191, was probably on the site of Kortikhi. (Liv. sxxvi. 13; l^eakc, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 512.) LlilNUS, an island off the roast of Ireland, men- tioned by Ptolemy (ii. 2), as lying to the east of Ireland, and being uninhabited. Pliny also mentions it (iv. 30). It is probably Lambay Island. How- ever, the Monumenta Britaymica not only suggests for Limnos (Ptolemy's Limntts) the modern names of Lanibay, Lymen, and Ramsey, but they also dis- tinguish it from LimuJis (Pliny's Limnos) which they make Dalkey. [R. G. L] LIMONE. [Leimone.] LI'MONUM or LEMONUM {M^lovov, Ptol. ii. 7. § 6: Poitiers'), the capital of the Pictones or Pictavi, one of the Celtic nations south of the Loire. The name is first mentioned in the eighth book of the Gallic war (viii. 26, 27.). At a later time, after the fashion of many other capital towns in Gallia, it took the name of the people, Pictavi, whence comes the modern name Poitiers. (Ammianus Marcellinus, xv. ] 1.) Though De Valois and others did not admit Limonum to be Poitiers, and fixed Augustoritum the capital of the Lemovices at Limoges, the evidence of the roads shows that Limonum must be Poitiers. Magnon, a writer of the 9th century, calls Poitiers by the name of Pictavus Limonum ; and inscriptions also found at Poitiers confirm the other evidence. There is a place called Viertx-Poitiers, more than 1 5 Roman miles north of Poitiers, but though it seems to have been an old town, it is quite a different place from the Poitiers which is the site of Limonum. The conquest of the Pictavi cost the Romans little trouble, we may suppose, for little is said of them. In B.C. 51, C. Caninius, a legatus of Caesar, came to the relief of Duratius, a Gaul and a Roman ally, who was blockaded in Limonum by Dumnaciis, the chief of the Andes. The siege was raised, and Dumnacus was subsequently defeated. The remains of the huge amphitheatre of Limo- num are described by M. Dufour, in his Histoire de Poitou (quoted in the Guide dti Voyageur, par Richard et Hocquart). M. Dufour found the walls of the amphitheatre three feet and a lialf below the present level of the soil. The walls are seven French feet thick. It is estimated that this amphitheatre