Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/213

 LISSUS. in the V. part of the island agrees very well with the supposition that its site was on the spot now called Ildghio Kjjrko. This place occupies a small hollow of the hills fiicinp: the sea, like a theatre. Near the church of the Panaghia are what appear to he vestiges of an ancient temple, consisting of granite columns, and white marble fragments, ar- chitraves, and pediments. Further on, appears to have been another temple, and a theatre. The tombs are on the SW. side of the plain. They are worked independent of the rock, with arched roofs. There are perhaps fifty of them. (Pashley, Trav. vol. ii. p. 88 ; Mus. Class. Ant. vol. ii. p. 298.) Of all the towns which existed on this part of the coast, Lissus alone seems to have struck coins, a fact which agrees very well with the evidence sup- plied by its situation, of its having been a place of some trading importance. The harbour is mentioned by Scylax (p. 18), and the types of the coins are either maritime, or indicative of the worship of Dic- fynna, as might have been expected on this part of the island The obverse of one coin bears the impress of the caps and stars of the Dioscuri, and its reverse a quiver and arrow. On the second coin the caps and stars are replaced by a dolphin, and instead of the quiver a female head, probably that of Artemis or Dictvnna. (Comp. Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 315.) ' [E. B.J.] LISSUS (AiViros, Strab. vii. p. 316 ; Ptol. ii. 16. § 5 ; Steph. P>. ; Hierocles ; Pent. Tab.'), a town of Illyricum, at the mouth of the river Drilo. Dionysius the elder, in his schemes for establishing settlements among the Illyrian tribes, founded Lissus. (Diod. XV. 13.) It was afterwards in the hands of the Illyrians, who, after they had been defeated by the Komans, retained this port, beyond which tlieir vessels were not allowed to sail. (Polyb. ii. 12.) B. c. 211, Philip of Macedon, having surprised the citadel Acrolissus, compelled the town to sur- render. (Polyb. viii. 15.) Gentius, the Illyrian king, collected his forces here for the war against Rome. (Liv. xlir. 30.) A body of Eoman citizens was stationed there by Caesar {B. C. iii. 26—29) to defend the town ; and Phny (iii. 26), who says that it was 100 M.P. from Epidaurus, describes it as " oppidum civium Romanorum." Constantine Porphyrogeneta (de Adm. Imp. c. 30) calls it 'EAitr- aos, and it now bears the name of Lesch. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 477; Schafarik, 5Zaf. Jft. voLii. p. 275.) [E. BJ.] LIST A (AiVra), a very ancient city of Central Italy, which, according to Varro {ap. Dion. Hal. i. 14), was the metropolis of the Aborigines, when that people still dwelt in the mountain valleys around Eeate. It was surprised by the Sabines by a night attack from Amiternum ; and the inhabit- ants took refuge in Reate, from whence they made several fruitless attempts to recover possession of their city; but faihng in this, they declared it, with the surrounding territory, sacred to the gods, and imprecated curses on all who should occupy it. This circumstance probably accounts for the absence of all other mention of it; though it would seem that its ruins still remained in the time of Varro, or at least that its site was clearly known. This has been in modern times a subject of much dispute. According to the present text of Dionysius, it was situated 24 stadia from Tiora, the ruins of which are probably those at Castore near Sta. Anatolia, in the upper valley of the Salto, 36 miles from Rieti. Bunsen accordingly places it at Sta. Anatolia itself, LITANOBRIGA. 197 where there are some remains of an ancient city. But Holstenius long ago p)inted out a site about 3 miles from Reate itself, on the road from thence to Civita Ducale, still called Monte di Lesta, where there still exist, according to a local antiquarian, Martelli, and Sir W. Cell, the remains of an ancient city, with walls of polygonal construction, and a site of considerable strength. The situation of these ruins would certainly be a more probable posi- tion for the capital of the Aborigines than one so far removed as Sta. Anatolia from their otiier settle- ments, and would accord better with the natural line of advance of the Sabines from Amiternum, which must have been by the pass of Antrodoco and the valley of the Velino. In this case we must understand the distance of 24 stadia (3 miles), as stated by Dionysius (or rather by Varro, whom he cites), as having reference to Eeate itself, not to Tiora. (Bunsen, Antichi Stahilimenti Jtalici, in Atm. d. Inst. Arch. vol. vi. p. 137 ; Cell's T(po- graphy of Rome, p. 472; Holsten. Not. in Clmer. p. 114.) [E.H.B] LISTRON (Aia-Tpuv'), a place in Epirus Nova, mentioned by Hierock'S with a fortress Alistrus ('AAiVrpos, Procop. de Aed. iv. 4). It is probably represented by the village and castle of Klisura, situated on the river Aous {Viosa'), which is men- tioned by Cantacuzenus (KAeitrofipa, ii. 32 ; comp. Anna Comnena, xiii. p. 390) in the fourteenth century, together with other places which are still to be recognised as having been the chief strong- holds in this part of Greece. [Aous.] (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 383.) [E. B. J.] LITA'BRUai. [Vaccaei]. LITANA SILVA, a forest in the territory of the Boians in Gallia Cispadana, memorable for the de- feat of the Roman consul L. Postumius, in b. c. 216. On this disastrous occasion the consul himself perished, with his whole army, consisting of two Eoman legions, augmented by auxiliaries to the amount of 25,000 men. (Liv. xxiii. 24 ; Frontin. Strat. i. 6. § 4.) At a later period it witnessed, on the other hand, a defeat of the Boians by the Eoman consul L. Valerius Flaccus, b. c. 195. (Liv. xxsiv. 22.) The forest in question appears to have been situated somewhere between Bononia and Pla- centia, but its name is never mentioned after the reduction of Cisalpine Gaul, and its exact site cannot be determined. It is probable, indeed, that a great part of the tract between the Apennines and the marshy ground on the banks of the Padus was at this time covered with forest. [E. H. B.] LITANOBRIGA, in Gallia, is placed by the An- tonine Itin. between Caesaromagus (^Beauvuis) and Augustomagus, which D'Anville supposes to be Sen- lis. According to his reading, the Itin. makes it xviii. Gallic leagues from Caesaromagus to Litano- briga, and iiii. from Litanobriga to Augustomagus. Walckenaer (^Geog. cfc, vol. iii. p. 55) makes the first distance xvi., and the second iiii. ; and he places Caesaromagus at Verherie, near the river Autone. The Table mentions no place between Caesaromagus and Augustomagus, but it makes the whole distance xxii. We may assume that Litanobriga was situ- ated at a ford or bridge over a river, and this river is the Oise. D'Anville first thought that Litanobriga might be Pont Sainte-Maxence, for a Eoman road from Beauvais, called Brunehaut, passes by Cler- mont, and joins a road from Pont-Sainte-Maxence. But the numbers in the Itins. fall short of the dis- tance between Beauvais and Senlis ; and accordingly o 3