Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/333

 JI KG ARTS. begins to descend, we must place the Molurian rock (^ MoAoup^s), from which Ino or Leucothea threw herseh' with her son Melicertes (Palaemon) into the sea: and close by were the execrable rocks (evayels), from which Sciron used to throw strangers into the sea, and from which lie was himself hurled by The- seus. (Paus. i. 44. § 7, seq.) The tortoise at the foot of the rock, which was said to devour the rob- bers, was probably a rock called by this name from its shape, and which gave rise to the tale (^kuto, Tr)v Ko.ovfxivrv xcAcaj'Tjj', Diod. iv. 59). On the sum- mit of the mountain was a temple of Zeus Aphesius. On descending into the plain was the temple of Apollo Latous, near which were the boundaries of Megaris and the Corinthia. (Paus. i. 44. §§ 9, 10.) Megaris contained only one town of importance, Megara, with its harbour Nisaea, which have been already described. The other towns in the country were Aegosthena and Pegae (Doric Pagae), on the Alcyonian or Corinthian gulf; Tri- poDiscus and Rhus, in the interior; Phibalts, on the confines of Attica (Schol. ad Aristojjh. Acliarn. 802); and Piialycon and Polichne, of which the site is uncertain. There was also a fortress, Geraneia, situated on one of the mountains of this name, but its position is also uncertain (Scylax, p. 15; Piin. iv. 7. s. 11); it is apparently the same jilace as the Ereneia ('EpeVeia) of Pausanias (i. 44. § 5). Scylax mentions a place Aris, but instead of U-q-yai, Tiix"^ Tepdi'eia, "Apis, it has been conjec- tured that we ought to read U-qyal t6?xos, Fepd- veia &Kpts or &Kpa. Whether there was a place of the name of Isus in Megaris seems doubtful. [Isus.] (Reinganum, Das alte Megaris, Berlin, 1825; Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 181, seq.; hQixke, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 388, seq.) com OF megara. MEGARIS. [Megara.] ME'GARIS, a small island on the coast of Cam- pania, mentioned by Pliny (iii. 6. s. 12), who places it between Pausilypus and Neapcjlis; it can therefore be no other than the islet or rock now occupied by the Castel dell' Ovo. [Neapolis.] It is evidently the same which is called by Statins Megalia. (Stat. Silv. ii. 2. 80.) [E. H. B.] MEGIDDO. [Legio; JIagdolum.] MEGIDDO VALLIS, the western part of the vast plain of Esdraelon, at the northern foot of Mount Carmel, watered by the Kishon. [Es- DRAEt.ON ValLIS V. CamPUS.] [G. W.] MEGISTE (Mf7iVTr?), an island off the coast of Lycia, opposite to Antiphellus. It contained a town which, if the nading in Strabo (.iv. p. 666) be correct, was called Cisthene (Kiadvfv), but had perished before the time of Pliny (v. 35). There was also an excellent harbour, whieh appears to have been capable of containing a whole fleet. (Liv xxxvii. 22 ; comp. Steph. B. s. v., who calls the town Jlegiste ; Ptol. v. 3. § 9 ; Scylax, p. 39.) The island, which derived its name from the ftict that it is the largest of a group, is now called Kasteloryzo, or Castel Rosso. The island seems to have been colo- MELAENEAE. 317 nised by the Rhodians, or at least to have been in their possession, for inscriptions found there are composed in the Doric dialect. There are but few remains of ancient buildings. (Leake, Asia Minor p. 184; Fellows, Z?/cia, pp. 187, &c.) [L. S.] BIEGISTUS. [Macestus.] MEIACARIRE (Amm. Marc, xviii. 6, 10; MaiaKaptpl, Theophyl. Simoc. i. 13, ed. Bonn), a small place in Mesopotamia, mentioned by Ammianus and Theophylact. It appears to have been at no great distance from Amida. Ammianus states that it derived its name from certain cold springs which were there. (Cf. Booking, Nutit. JJignit. i. p. 418.) [V.] MEILICHUS. [Achaia. p. 13, b.] JMELA or MELLA, a river of Gallia Transpa- dana, still called the Mella, which rises in the Alps, flows through the Val Trompia, anciently the residence of the Triumpilini, enters the plain of Lombardy near Brixia, and foils into the Ollius (Oglio) more than 20 miles below that city. Ca- tullus speaks of it as flowing throiigh the city of Brixia, but this is an inaccuracy or a poetical license, as it passes, in fact, about a mile to the W. of it. [Brixia.] Both he and Virgil describe it as a placid and winding stream. (Catull. Ixvii. 33 ; Virg. G. iv. 278 ; Philargyr. ad he.) [E.H.B.] JIELAE. 1. A town of the Samnites, mentionid only by Livy (xxiv. 20), among the towns of the Caudine Samnites which were taken by Fabius in B.C. 214. The same author elsewhere (xxvii. 1) mentions a town of the Samnites which he calls Mei.es, and which was not taken till b. c. 210, by Marcellus. Nevertheless, it is probable that the same place is meant in both cases, but we have no clue to its position. 2. A town in the neighbourhood of Locri in Brut- tium, mentioned by Thucydides (v. 5), but other- wise wholly unknown. [Locki.] [E. H. B.] MELAENA {MiXaLva). 1. A promontory of Ionia, forming the north-western point of the penin- sula which is traversed by Blount Mimas. It was celebrated in ancient times for its quarries of mill- stones. (Strab. xiv. p. 645.) It is possible that this promontory, which is now called Kara-Buriin (the Black Cape), may be the same as the one called by Pliny (v. 31) Corynaeum Promontorium, from the town of Coryne, situated at the southern ex- tremity of Mount Mimas 2. A promontory of Bithynia, on the right hand on sailing through the Bosporus into the Euxine, between the rivers Rheba and Artane. (Apollon. Rhod. ii. 651; Oy]A. Argon. IIQ; Arrian, Feripl. p. 13; Blarcian, p. 69.) In the anonymous Periplus of the Euxine (p. 2), it is called KaAAiuaicpov, and Ptolemy (v. 1. § 5) calls it simply Bi6vvias &Kpov. Its modern name is Tshili. 3. The north-western promontoiy of the island of Chios (Strab. xiv. p. 645), now called Cape S. Nicolo. [L. S.] MELAENAE. [Attica, p. 329, b.] MELAENEAE or MELAENAE (MsAaiveoi, Paus.; MeAoii/ai, Rhian. ap. Steph. B. s. v.: Eth. MeXaivivs), a town of Arcadia, in the territory of Heraea, and on the road from liorac.-i to Megalopolis. It was distant 40 stadia from Buphagiuin. Pau- sanias says that it was founded by Melaeneus, the son of Lycaon, but that it was deserted in his time and overflowed with water. The ruins of Blelaeneae lie 4 or 5 miles eastward of Heraea, between the villages Kukora and Kakorcos, where arc the re-