Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/334

 318 MELAJIBIUM. mains of a Roman bath, which has also been a church, and is sometimes used as such, though it is said to be £;enerally iimndated, even in the dry season, which is in contbrmity with the account of Pausanias. The Peutin2;er Table specifies Melae- neae as distant 12 miles from Olympia ; but it does not mention Heraea, though a mucli more important place, and one which continued to exist long after Heraea: moreover, the distance of 12 miles applies to Heraea, and not to Melaeneae. (Paus. viii. 26. § 8, com p. V. 7. § 1, viii. 3. § 3; Steph. B. s. v.; Piin. iv. 6. s. 10; Leake, Pelopoiiiiesiaca, j). 2^ ; Boblaye, Recherches, cj-c. p. 159; Curtius, iWq/jo»- nesos, Vol. i. p. 356.) MELA'JIBIU.AI (MeAa^giof), a place in Pelas- giotis in Thessaly, near Scotussa, is mentioned in connection with the movements of the armies before the battle of Cynoscephalae. Leake places it near the sources of the Onchestus, at a place called Dederiani. (Polyb. xviii. 3, 6; Li v. s..iii. 6; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 473.) M1':LANCHLAP:NI (MeAaYxAoIyui). ^ "O^'i'l tribe, the name of which first appears in Hecataeus {ap. Steph. B.. Fr. 154, ed. Kiausen). In the geo- graphy of Herodotus (iv. 20, 100—103,107) they are found occupying the districts E. of the Androphagi, and N. of the Royal Scythians, 20 days' journey from the Palus JIaeotis ; over above them were lakes and lands unknown to man. It has been con- jectured that Herodotus may refer, through some hearsay statement, to the lakes Ladoga and Onega. There has been considerable discussion among geo- graphers as to the position which should be assigned to this tribe : it is of course impossible to fix this with any accuracy ; but there would seem to be reason to place them as far N. as the sources of the Volga, or even further. (Schafarik, Slav. Alt. vol. i. p. 295.) Herodotus expressly says that they did not belong to the Scythian-Scolotic stock, al- though their customs were the same. Tiie name, the " Black-cloaks," like that of their cannibal neigh- bours, the Anthropophagi, was applied to them by the Greeks, and was no corrupted form of any indi- genous appellation. A people bearing this name is mentioned by Scylax of Caryanda (p. 32) as a tribe of Pontus. Pomponius Jlela (i. 19. § 4) and Pliny (vi. 5) coincide with Scylax, who speaks of two rivers flowing through their territory, the Meta- soRis(M6rci(ra>pis), probably the same as the Thes- SYRIS (0e'cr(rupis,Ptol. v. 9. §§ 10, 30: Kamisiliar'), and the Aegipius (AiViirios: Kentichli). Diony- sius Periegeies (v. 309) places this people on the Bory.sthenes, and Ptolemy (v. 9. § 19) between the river Kha and the Hippici iMontes, in Asiatic Sar- matia ; but it would be a great error to found any observation concerning these ancient northern tribes upon either the Roman writers or Ptolemy, or to confuse the picture set before us by these geogra- phers, and the more correct delineations of Hero- dotus. For the Melanchlaeni of Ammianns (xxii. 8. § 31), see Alan I. [E. B. J.] Mf:LANDl'TAE(M6ai'5rTai),apeople of Thrace, mentioned onlv bv Xenoplion (^Anuh. vii. 2. § 32). MELANGEIA. [Mantinkia, p. 264, b.] MEI.A'NIA (MeAacia), a place on the coast of Cilicia, a little to the west of Celcnderi.s, perhaps on the site of the modern KizUman. (Strab. siv. p. 670.) From another passage of Strabo (xvi. p. 760), compared with Stephanus B. (s. v. Me- Aaivai), it v,'ould seem that the place was also called Melaenae. [L- S-] MELAS. MELANIPPE or MELANIPPIUM (MeAoz/'Trrrrj or MtAaci'Tnnoi'), a sm.all town on the coast of Lycia, on the western slope of Jlount Phoenicus, about 30 stadia from Cape Hieron, and 60 stadia south of Gagae, of which Leake {Asia Minor, p. 185) believes it to have been the port town. (Hecat. Fragm. 247 ; Steph. B. s. v., who erroneously calls it a river; Quint. Smyrn. iii. 232; Sladiasm, Mar. M. §§ 210, 211.) Fellows {Discoi in Lycia, p. 212) found a few tombs cutoutof the cliffs of the neighbourhood. [L. S.] MELANOGAETULI. [Gaetuua.J MELA'NTHIUS (MeAdvOios), a small river on the north coast of Pontns, forming the boundary between Pontus Polemoniacus and Cappadocius, and flowing into the Euxine a little to the east of Cotyora. (Plin. H.N. vi. 4; Arrian, Peripl. p. 17; Anonym. Peripl. p. 12; Tab. Pent., vihexe it is called Me- lantus.) It is probably the same river as that now bearing the name of Melet Irmak. (Hamilton, Re- searches, i. p. 267.) [L. S.] MELANTIAS (MeAavrias), a village of Thrace, on the river Athyras, and on the road from Heracleia to Byzantium, 18 miles from the latter. (7«. Ant. pp. 138, 230, 323, 332 ; Ammian. xxxi. 11 ; Agath. V. p. 158.) [A. L.] '"MELA'NTII SCO'PULI (MeAa'j/Tioi a/fOTreAoi), some rocks in the Aegaean sea, where Apollo ap- peared to the Argonauts, probably lay between Icaria and Myconus. (Strab. xiv. p. 636 ; ApoU. Rhod. iv. 1707 ; Scyl. p. 55 ; Hesvch. s. v. ; Apollod. i. 9. § 26 ; Stadiasm. §§ 252, 270.) ]IELAS (Me'Aas), the name of several rivers, so called from the dark colour of their water. 1. A small river of Arcadia or Achaia, described by Dionysius as flowing from Mount Erymanthus. (Dionys. Per. 416; Callim. in Jov. 23.) Strabo (viii. p. 386) confounds it with the Peirus or Pierus in Achaia; but the reading is probably corrupt. [Achaia, p. 14, a.] 2. A river of Boeotia. [Boeotia, p. 413, a.] 3. A river of Malis, which in the time of Herodo- tus flowed into the Maliac gulf, at the distance of 5 stadia from Trachis. It is now called the Mavra- Neria, and falls into the Spercheius, after uniting its waters with the Gurgo (Dyras), which also used to flow in ancient times into the Maliac gulf (Herod, vii. 198; Strab. ix. p. 428; Liv. xxxvi. 22; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 26.) 4. A river of Phthiotis in Thessaly, and a tribu- tary of the Apidanus. (Lucan, vi. 374; Vib. Sequ. de Flum. s. v. Apidanos; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 515.) 5. A river of Thrace, now called Saldatti or Scheher-Su, falling into a deep bay of the same name (Mc'Aas /cdAiros), which is bounded on the east by the .shore of the Thraciau Chersonesus. The modern name of the bay is the gulf of Saros. (Herod, vi. 41, vii. 58, 198; Strab. vii. p. 331; Liv. sxxiii. 40; Ptolem. iii. 11. §§ 1, 2; Mela,ii.2; Plin. iv. U.S. 18.) MELAS (Mf'Aas). 1. A small river of Cappa- docia, which had its sources on Mount Argaeus (Ptol. v. 6. § 8), and flowed in a north-western direction past the town of Mazaca, frequently over- flowing its banks and forming marshes. (Strab. xii. p. 538, &c.) It emptied itself into the river Halys, opposite the town of Siva. Strabo (Z. c.) erroneoubly describes the Melas as a tributary of the Euphrates, as has been shown by Hamilton in the Journal of the Geogr. Society, vol. viii. p. 149 (comp. his Re- searches, ii. p. 259, &c.). The river still bears a