Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/293

 MARITIMA INSULA. tlipre lias been found at Cids or Saint-BJaise, on tlie borders of the same lake, an inscription which mentions "Curator Maritimae, Sextumvir AugUfstalis Avaticorum," and he would fix the ]Iaritima Avati- corum of Pliny at this place. But he thinks that the JIaritima Colonia of Ptolemy is a different place from the Maritima Avaticorum of Pliny ; and he says that the measures of Ptolemy for Maritima Colonia fix the Anatili, whose capital this town was, between the mouths of the Rhone. Pliny also speaks of the Anatili (iii. 4), and Walckenaer says that he places them where Ptolemy does, or rather where he says that Ptolemy places them. But this is not so. Pliny places them east of the eastern branch of the Rhone, if his text can be understood. Nor is it true that Ptolemy places the Anatili or Avatici, what- ever may be the true name in his text, between the mouths of the Rhone; for Ptolemy places them east of the eastern branch of the Rhone, where Pliny places the Avatici. Walckenaer can find no place for Ptolemy's Maritima Colonia, except by hazarding & guess that it may have been Heraclea [Heraclea] at the mouth of the Rhone; but Ptolemy places the Maritima Colonia half a degree east of the eastern mouth of the Rhone. Walckenaer's examination of this question is very badly done. The site of Maritima at Saint-Blaise seems probable, for it is certain that a Roman town was there. Many re- mains, Roman bricks, and coins have been found at Saint-Blaise; and '' there are wharves on which there are still iron rings to fasten ships by " (Ukert, Gal- lien, p. 421). Ukerts authority seems to be the Statistique du Depart, des Bouches-du-Rhone ; but one can hardly suppose that any man can believe that iron rings exposed to the weather could last so Ioue:. [G. L.] MARITIMA INSULA. [Aegates.] MARITIMAE STATIO'NES ("T<?)aAo^ Zpixot, Ptol. iv. 4. § 3), a place on the coast-line of the Great Syrtis, a little to the N. of Automala (^Braiga). The position of Tabilba, where there are ruins, and inscriptions in the running hand of the Greeks of the Roman Empire, corresponds exactly with these naval stations. (Beechey, Expedition to the N. Coast of Africa, pp. 230—237.) [E.B.J.] MA'RIUM. [Arsinoe, p. 225, b.] MA'RIUS (Ma^i'os), a town of Laconia, belonging in the time of Pausanias to the Eleuthero-Lacones, was situated 100 stadia east of Geronthrae. It contained a sanctuary of all the gods and one of Artemis, and in each there were copious springs of water. It is represented by Main, which stands on the road from Gherdki (Geronthrae) over the moun- tains to Kremasii ; but, according to the French Commission, its real distance from Geronthrae is from 75 to 80 stadia, and not 100, as is stated by Pau- sanias. There are ruins of the ancient town about a mile and a half to the south of the modern village, and the place is still characterised by its abundant fountains. (Paus. iii. 21. § 7, 22. § 8 ; Boblaye, Recherclies, <f-c. p. 96 ; Leake, Peloponnesiaca, p. 362 ; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 303.) MARMA'RICA (^ MapfxapiKri), the sandy and barren district, which extends along the S. coast of the Mediterranean, from the valley of the Nile to tiie Cyrenaica, and is now called the Desert of Barhah, and divided by no certaui line of demarca- tion between the Pasha of Aegy]jt and the ruler of Tripoli. The Marmariuak {pi Map/xaplSai), a Libyan tribe, gave their name, which Niebuhr {f.ect. on Anc. Ethnog. and Geog. vol. ii. p. 336) MARMARICA. 277 derives from the word " Mar " = salt, with a re- duplication common to these languages, to the region they occupied. They appear as the principal indigenous tribe to the W. of Aegypt, between the age of Philip of Macedon, and the third century of the Christian aera (Scylax, c. 107, ed. Klausen ; Strab. ii. p. 131, xvii. pp. 798, 825, 838 ; Plin! V. 5; Joseph. B. J. ii. 16. § 4; Vopisc. Vit. Proh. c. 9), but are not mentioned by Herodotus ; it is probable that they were pushed into the interior of the country, by the Greek colonists of Cyrene, and afterwards recovered their ancient seats. In the reign of Magas of Cyrene, the Marmaridae revolted, and compelled that prince to give up his intention of attacking Ptolemy Philadelphus, and the Aegyptian frontier. (Paus. i. 7. §§1, 2.) The ancients dif- fered considerably in the limits they assigned to the Marmaridae : Scylax (I. c.) places them between Apis, and the Gardens of the Hesperides ; Pliny (I. c.) between Paraetonium, and the Greater Syrtis ; while Strabo (xvii. p. 838) extends their frontier to the S. as far as the Oasis of Ammonium {SivaK). Ptolemy (iv. 5. §§ 1 — 10) bounds the district Marmarica, on the E. by the Plinthinetic gulf, and on the W. by a line which is drawn through the town of Darnis {Dernn} ; he divides this region- according to the arrangement made by the Ptolemies when Cyrenaica became a dependency of Aegypt — into two parts, the E. of which was called Libycus NoMOS (Ai§u7js v6/j.os, § 4) and the W. Mar- MARicus NoMos {MapfiapiKfjs vd/xos; § 2) ; the line of separation was made by the Catabatiijius Magnus (Kard^aOfios /J-eyas, Polyb. xxxi. 26 ; Strab. pp. 791, 798, 825, 838; Stadiasm. p. 440 ; Salh Jug. 19; Mela, i. 8. § 2; Plin. v. 5; Oros. i. 2 ; Steph. B.) This elevation, which rises to the height of 900 feet, according to some authors separated Aegypt from Cyrenaica, and extends from the coast in a SSE. direction towards the O.isis of of Ammonium. Edrisi (vol. i. p. 125, ed. Jaubert.) calls it 'Akdbah el Sollom, or staircase descent, whence the port Solom and Soloume of most of the earlier "Portulani;" the modern name is 'Akdbah el Kibir. Further to the E., near Paraetonium, was the smaller inclination Catabathmus Mlnok (Strab. p. 838; Solin. 30), now called 'Akdbah el Sg'ir, the height of which is 500 feet. Shooting out into the sea, in the headland Ras el Kana'is, it takes a direction from N. to S. to the Oasis of Ghara. In the sea-board of this arid space, following the coast from E. to W., were the promontories of Deris (el Heyf); Hermaeum {Ras elKaanis); the harbour of Gyzis or Zygis {Mahadah); Paraetonium {Ras el Ilarzeit); Apis (Bonn Ajoubah') ; the little rocks called ScoPULi Tyndarei {el Chalry) ; Plyni Ps. {Ras Ilalem) ; Panormus {Mai-sah Saloum) ; Ardanis Prom. {Ras el Mellah), with the adjoin- ing harbour Menelai Ps. ; Antipyrgos {Tubritk); Petras Parvus {Magharat el Heabcs'), with its harbour Batraciius ; Aedonia Ps. {A'in el Gha- zdh), with the islands Aedonia and Platea {Bomba}, and Ciiersonesus {Ras et Tin.) Along the whole of this coast a road ran, the stations on which are given in the Peutinger Table. (Segm. viii.) One river, the Paliurus {UaKiovpos, Ptol. iv. 5. § 2: el Zemminth'), watering the district of AziRis, discharges itself into the sea at the Gulf of Boviba. The interior, which was occupied by the tribes of the Adykmaciiidae and Giu- CJAMMAE, is described under Oasis. Taposikis, Aris, and Paraetonium were tlie chief towns, of T 3