Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/316

 300 MAZICES. It dues not seem to have ever risen in ancient times to the rank of a city. Pliny mentions the yiver Mazara, as does Ptolemy also, but neither of them notice the town. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14 ; Ptol. iii. 4. § 5.) The existence of this last is, however, attested by the Itinerary, which correctly places it 12 miles from Lilybaeum (/<«». Ant. p. 89) ; but it was first raised to an important position by the Saracens in the 9th century, under whom it became the capital of the whole surrounding district, as it continued under the Norman rule. The western province of Sicily still bears the name of Val di Mazzara, but the town itself has greatly declined, though it still retains the rank of a city, and has about 10,000 inhabitants. (Fazell. de Reb. Sic. vi. 5. p. 2S4 ; Smyth's Sicily, p. 224.) A few sarco- ph.igi and inscriptions are the only remains of anti- quity extant there. The river M.vzaua, or JIazarus, as it is called by Diodorus (Md^apos, Diod. xiii. 54), is still called the Fiume di Mazzara. [E. H. B.] MAZICES (MaC'Kfs, Pt'-l. iv. 2. § 19; Mazas, Lucan, iv. 681 ; Claudiaii, Stil. i. 356), a people of Mauretania Caesariensis, who joined in the revolt of Firmus, but submitted to Theodosius, A. D. 373. (Amm. Marc. xxix. 5. § 17; Le 'Rea.n, Bas Empire, vol. iii. p. 471 ; comp. Gibbon, c. xxv.) [E. B. J.] ME'ARUS (nUpoi, Ptol. ii. 6. § 4; ]Iela, iii. 1. § 9), a small river on the N. coast of Hispania Tar- raconensis, flowing into the gulf of the Artabri, still called the Mero. MECIRIS, a town of Marmarica, which the Peu- tinger Table places at 33 M. P. to the E. of Pa- liurus ; the Antonine Itinerary has a town Micheka (one MS. reads Mecira), 20 M. P. to the E. of the same place ; its position must be sought in the Wady-er-Rima (Barth, Wanderungen, pp. 509, 549.) [E. B. J.] MECYBERNA mrKv§epva : Eth. MT]Kv§ep- valos, Steph. B. ; Scyl. p. 26 ; Scymn. 640), a town which stood at the head of the Toronaic gulf, which was also called Sinus Mecyueknaeus. (Plin. iv. 10 ; Pomp. Mela, ii. 3. § 1.) Mecyberna was the port of Olynthns (Strab. vii. p. 330), and lay between that town and Sermyle. (Herod, vii. 122.) It was taken from the Athenians by the Chalcidic Thracians (Thuc. v. 39), and surrendered to Philip before the siege of Olynthus. (Diod. xvi. 54.) The site nmst be sought at MoUvopyrrjo, where some remains of antiquity are said to be preserved. (Leake, North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 155.) [E. B. J.] MEDAVA (MTj'Sauo), a town of Arabia Petraea, placed by Ptolemy in long. 68° 30', lat. 30° 45', doubtless identical with Medeba or Madeba [BIa- deba], the letters av and a€ being identical in sound, and, consequently, used interchangeably, especially in proper names. (Ptoh v. 17. § 6.) [G.W.] MEDAURA (Ad Medera, Itin. Anton. ; Pent. Tab. ; Hygin. de Lim. p. 1 63 ; ' A/xfj.ai8apa al. 'Am^ieSepa, Ptol. iv. 3. § 30 : Eth. Jledaurensis), a town of Numidia, which had originally belonged to the kingdom of Syphax, but was annexed to that of Massinissa at the close of the Second Pu- nic War, and afterwards was colonised by a detach- ment of Roman veterans, when it attained consi- derable splendour. Appuleius was born at this place, where his father had been " duumvir," and calls him- tself " Seminuniida" and " Semigaetulus." (^Apolog. pp. 443, 444.) It lay on the road from Lares to Theveste, 48 M. P. from the former and 25 M. P. from the latter. At a river Ardatio, which flowed MEDIA. between this place and Theveste, Mazcecel defeated the Moorish chieftain Gildo. (Oros.vii.36; St. Martin, Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. v. p. 161 ; comp. Gibbon, c. xxix.) Justinian fortified and placed a garrison in this town, which Procopius (de Aed. vi. 6) calls AvjxiTepa. It is perhaps a different place from Madaura, to which Augustine was sent to be edu- cated (Co??/e55. ii. 3). "" [E. B. J.] MEDEBA. []SIadep.a.] MEDEN (M7j5eV, Procop. B. V. ii. 4), a town on the spurs of Mount Papua, in the inland country of Numidia. Gelimer, king of the Vandals retired to this fastness in a. d. 534, but was compelled to surrender to Pharas, chief of the Heruli. (Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. viii. p. 248; comp. Gibbon, c. xli.) [E. B. J.] ME'DEON (MeSeii*': Eth. MeSedvios). 1. Or BIedion (MeSi'o))/; Katiina), a town in the in- terior of Acarnania, on the road from Stratus and Phytia (or Phoeteiae) to Limnaea on the Am- braciot gulf. It was one of the few towns in the interior of the country which maintained its inde- pendence against the Aetolians after the death of Alexander the Great. At length, in B.C. 231, the Aetolians laid siege to Medeon with a large force, and had reduced it to great distress, when they were attacked by a body of Illyrian mercenaries, who had been sent by sea by Demetrius, king of Macedonia, in order to relieve the place. The Aetolians were defeated, and obliged to retreat with the loss of their camp, arms, and baggage. Medeon is again men- tioned in B. c. 191, as one of the Acarnanian towns, of which Antiochus, king of Syria, obtained posses- sion in that year. (Thuc. iii. 106 ; Polyb. ii. 2,3; Liv. XXX vi. 11, 12; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 575.) 2. A town of Phocis, destroyed along with the other Phocian towns at the termination of the Sacred War, and never again restored. (Pans. x. 3. § 2.) Strabo places it on the Crissaean gulf, at the dis- tance of 160 stadia from Boeotia (ix. pp. 410, 423); and Pausanias says that it was ne;ir Anti- cyra (s. 36. § 6; comp. Steph. B. s. v.). Leake places it at Dhesfina. (Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 548.) 3. An ancient town of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer (//. ii. 501), is described by Strabo as a de- pendency of Haliartus, and situated near Onchestus, at the foot of Mt. Phoenicium, from which position it was afterwards called Phoenicis (ix. pp. 410, 423; comp. Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. iv. 7. s. 12). It ap- pears to have stood near the lake, in the bay on the north-western side of Mount Fagd, between the site of Haliartus and Kardhitza. (Leake, Nwthern Greece, vol. ii. p. 215.) 4. A town of the Labeates, in Dalmatia in Illyri- cum. (Liv. xliv. 23, 32.) MEDERIACUM, in Gallia Belgica, is placed by the Antonine Itin. on a road from Colonia Trajana (Kelln) through Juliacum (Jidiei's) to Colonia Agrippina (Co^oiyne). It lies between Sablones and Teudurum (Tudder), and is supposed by some geo- graphers to be Meriim-Rurcmo'iide. [G. L.] ME'DIA (v M7)5ia : Eth. M^Sos: Adj. MtjSj- Kos), a country of considerable extent and import- ance, in the western part of Asia, between the Cas- pian Sea on the N. and the great rivers of Me- sopotamia on the W. It is by no means easy to determine what were its precise boundaries, or how much was comprehended under the name of Jledia. Thus Herodotus, who speaks repeatedly of the Sledes,