Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/269

 MAGNUM PEOMONTORIU]I. decay at an early period, as it is not mentioned by any late writer. Appian (^Mithrid. 78, 115) speaks of it under both names, Eupatoria and Mag- nopolis, and Strabo in one passage (xii. p. 560) speaks of it under the name of Megalopolis. Euins of the place are said to exist some miles to the west of Sonnisa, at a place called Bughaz Eissan Kaleh. (Hamilton, Researches, i. p. 340.) [L. S.] MAGNUM PEOMONTORIUM Qrh fieya aKpai- rvptov, Ptol. vii. 2. § 7 ; Marcian, Pe?-i>?. p. 28), a promontory which forms the southern termination of the Chersonesus Aurea, in India extra Gangem, on the western side of the Sinus Magnus. Its modern name is C. Romania. Some have supposed that the Prom. Magn. represents another cape, either considerably to the NW., now called C. Pa- tani. Ptolemy's account of these far Eastern places is so doubtful, that it is impossible to feel sure of the evidence for or against the position of any place in the Aurea Chersonesus. [V.] MAGNUM PEOMONTORIUM, a promontory on the west coast of Lusitania (Mela, iii.l. § 6), probably the same which Strabo (iii. p. 151) and Ptolemy ii. 5. § 1) call rh BapSdpiov &Kpou, near the mouth of the Tagus. The passage in Strabo is corrupt; but according to the correction of Coray, approved of by Groskurd, the promontory was 210 stadia from the mouth of the Tagus, which makes it correspond with C. Espichel. Pliny also calls it Magnum or Olisi- ponense, from the town in its vicinity ; but he strangely confounds it with the Prom. Artabrum, on the NW. of the peninsula (iv. 21. s. 35). MAGMUM PROM. MAURETANIAE. [Mau- rktania] MAGNUS PORTUS. 1. (USpros /xdyvos, Ptol. ii. 4. § 7 ; comp. M.arcian. p. 41), a port-town of Hispania Baetica, between the town Abdara and the Prom. Charidemi. 2. (Meyas Xifiw, Ptol. ii. 6. § 4), a bay on the coast of the Gallaeci Lucenses, which is evidently the same as the Artabrorum Sinus. [Vol. I. p. 226, b.] 3. (Miyas ipii)v, Ptol. ii. 3. §§ 4, 33), a har- bour in Britain, opposite the island of Vectis, corre- sponds to Portsmouth. 4. (ndpTos yiayvos, Ptol. iv. 2. § 2 ; Mela, i. 5; Plin. V. 2 ; It. Anton, p. 13), a port-town of Mau- retania Caesariensis, on the road between Gilva and Quiza, described by Pliny as " civium Eomanorum op])idum." It is identified by Forbiger with Oran, of which the harboivr is still called Mars-el-Kihir, i. e., the great Harbour. 5. (Me7c»s ifxi]v, Ptol. iv. 6. § 6), a port on the west coast of Libya Interior, between the mouth of the river Daradus and the promontorv Eyssadium. MAGNUS SINUS (o ^670/ k6Kitos, Ptol. vii. 2. §§ 3, 5 ; Agathem. i. p. 53), the great gulf which runs up to the middle of the present king- dom of Ava, and is known by the name of the Gulf of Siam. The ancient geographers correctly placed China on the east of this gulf, though they had no very accurate notions relative to its latitude or longitude. On the west side was the Aurea Chersonesus. [V.] MAGO. [Baleakes, p. 374, a.] MAGON (6 Mo7aJi', Arrian, Ind. c. 4), a river mentioned by Arrifin as flowing into the Ganges on its left bank. It has been conjectured that it is the same as the present Ramguna. [V.] MAGONTIACUM. [Mogantiacum.] MAGOEAS, a river of Syria, under mount Li- banus, mentioned by Pliny (v. 20) apparently be- MAKKEDAH. 253 tween Sldon and Berytus, and probablv identical with the Tamyras of Strabo (xvi. p. 756), now Nahr-ed-Damur; though Dr. Eobinson suggests the Nahr-Beirut. (Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 433, 439.) [Tamyras.] [G. W.] MAGOEUJM SINUS (Maywv k6itos), a bay on the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf, in the country of the Themi, who joined the Gerraei on the north. (Ptol. vi. 7. § 54.) It is still marked by the modern town of Magas, and the ancient name is accounted for by Mr. Forster by the fact that " the ancient Themi are the Magian tribe of Beni-Temin, in all ages of Arabian history inhabitants of the gulf and city of Magas, — a deep bay, with its chief town of the same name, immediately above the bay of Katiff." (^Geogr. of Arabia, vol. ii. p. 215.) He maintains that the Magi of S. Matthew (ii. 1) were of this tribe, and from this country (vol. i. pp. 304—307). [Themi.] [G.W.] MAGRADA, a small river on the N. co.ast of Hispania Tarraconensis, now Uresmea. (Mela, iii. 1. § 10.) MAGYDUS (MdyvSos: Eth. Mayvlivs ; called MctcTTjSoy by Scylax, p. 39), a town of Pam- phylia, on the coast between Attaleia and Perge, and subsequently of episcopal rank, is probably the Mygdale (Mii75aAr;), of the Stadiasmus. There are numerous imperial coins of Magydus, hearing the epigraph MAFTAEnN. Leake identities it with Laara. (Ptol. v. 5. § 2 ; Hierocl. p. 679 ; Sta- diasm. §§ 201, 202; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 194 ; Cramer, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 278.) ]IAHANAIM (Mavdiix, LXX.), a place, and afterwards a town, on the east side of the Jordan, so named from the incident related in Genesis (xxxii. 2), where the word is translated, both by the LXX. and Josephus, TlapefiSoAal, and also by the latter &€ov ffTpaTdireSov (^Ant. i. 20. § 1). The following notices of its position occur in the Old Testament: — It was north of the brook Jabbok (Cew. I. c, comp. v. 22), in the borders of Bashan {Josh. xiii. 30), after- wards in the tribe of Gad (xxi. 38), but on the con- fines of the half-tribe of Manasseh (xiii. 29) as- signed to the Levites. (1 Chron. vi. 80.) It was the seat of Ishbosheth's kingdom, during the time that David reigned in Hebron (2 Sa7n. ii.), and there he was assassinated (iv.). When David fled from Absalom, he was maintained at Mahanaim by Bar- zillai, the aged sheikh of that district (2 Sam. xvii. 27, xix. 32); and it was apparently in the vicinity of this city that the decisive battle was fought in the wood of Ephraim between the royal troops and the rebels (xviii). A ruined site is mentioned in the Jebel 'Ajlun, under the name of Mahneh, which probably marks the position of Mahanaim. (E(jbin- son. Bib. Res. vol. iii. Appendix, p. 166.) [G.W.] MAIS, a station in Britain, so called upon an engraved bronze cup found at Rudge, in Wiltshire. From this name occurring with those of four other stations, all on the lineof the Great Wall, it is supposed to be identical with iIagna, or Magnis. [C. R. S.] MAIS (Mats), a river of India intra Gangem, flowing into the Sinus Barygazenus, now the Mahi. (Nearch. p. 24 ; Arrian, Periplus Maris Eryth- raei.) MAKKEDAH (MaKr)5d, LXX.,Euseb. ; MoKX'Sa, Joseph.), a city of the Canaanites in the south part of the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 41), governed by a sheikh. It was the first city taken by Joshua after the battle in Gibeon; and there it was that the five confeder.ate kings were found hid in a cave, which