Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/335

 JIELAS SINUS. name answerinc; to the ancient Melas, Kara-Su, that is, the Black River. 2. A navigable river in Pamphyh'a, flowing in a southern direction from Mount Taurus towards the sea, into which it emptied itself 50 stadia to the east of Side. (Plin. v. 22 ; Strab. siv. p. 667 ; Paus. viii. 28. § 2; Jlela, i. 14; Zo.siin. v. 16, vi. 3; Sta- diasm. Mar. Magn. §§ 193, 194.) Its modern name is Menavgat-Su. (Leake, Asia Minor, p. 196.) 3. A small river in Pontus Polemoniacu.s, in the country of the JIacrones. (Plin. vi. 4.) [L. S.] MELAS SINUS. [Melas, No. 5.] MELDI (MeASai, I'tol. ii. 8. § 1.5), a people of Gallia Celtica or Lup;dunensis in Ptolemy's time, whose chief place was latinum ; but the position which Ptolemy assigns to the Meldae and to latinum is very incorrect, if the Meldi are properly placed as neighbours of the Parisii and on the Matrona {Marne). Strabo is not clearer. He say.s(iv.p. 194: — " On both sides of the Sequana there are the Parish, who po.ssess an island in the river and a city Latecia, and Jleldae, and Lesovii, along the Ocean these ;" by which he perhaps means only the Lex- ovii, but he might mean to say that the Meldae were on the Ocean. Pliny (iv. 18) mentions in Lugduiiensis Gallia " Jleldi Liberi, Parisii, Tre- casses." From aH this we may in!er that the Jleldi were near the Parisii ; but we only obtain a certain result as to their position from that of latinum [Iatinum] and other evidence. Gregory of Tours speaks of the " Comitatus Jleldensis ;" the " terri- torium Meldicum " is mentioned in the Ge.-<ta of Dagobert I.; and in the Capitularies of Charlemagne the " Melcianus Pagus " is placed between the " Pa- risiacus '' and " Miludensis," or the Pagus of Melodu- iium ( il/f ?i(«), and as the Melcianus occupies the space between the two other Pagi, it must comprise the diocese of Jleaux. Thus we obtain with certainty the position of the Meldi. (D'Anville, Notice, (fc.) Caesar (i?. G. v. 5) mentions the Meldi once ; and the pas.sage has caused great difficulty. The name Meldi in Caesar's text is not certain. The MSS. have ]Iedi, Melui, Hedui, Meldi, and Belgae. Caesar, intending to invade Britannia a second time, ordered the legati who were set over his legions to get ships built in the winter of B. c. 55 — 54. All his legions were in the country of the Belgae during this winter (5. G. iv. 38) ; and it seems a proper inference that all these ships were built in the country of the Belgae. When Caesar in the spring of b. c. 54 came to the Portus Itius, he found all the ships there except sixty which were built " in Meldis." These ships being driven back by bad weather, had returned to the place from which they sailed. The wind which brought the other ships to the Portus Itius, which ships must h.ave come from the south, would not suit ships that came from the north and east ; and hence D'Anville justly concluded that these Meldi, whatever may be the true name, must have been north and east of Itius. A resemblance of words led him to find the name of the Meldi in a place which he calls Mcldfelt near Bruges. The true name of the place is Maldeghem. There is a place on the Schelde about a league from Oudenaerde, named Melden. which under the Empire was a Roman station (^Recueil d'Antiquites, <^c. ti-ou- vees dans la Flandre, par M. J. de Bast). This is certainly not very conclusive evidence for fixing the site of the Meldi ; if that is the right name. " Belgae " cannot be the true reading, because all the ships were built in the tciTitory of the Belgae ; and MELIBOEA. 319 Caesar's remark about the sixty would have no meaning, if he spoke of them as built " in Bel^is." If we cannot fix the site of these Jleldi, we can see that they are not the people on the Marne. Caesar could iiave no reason for building vessels so far up the river. If he did build any on the Seine, lie built them lower down. But it is clear that Caesar does not mean any vessels built on the Seine, for he says that these sixty were driven back to the place from which they came ; a remark which, if applied to ships built on the Seine, is without any meaning. Ukert {Gallien, p. 325) has made some objection to D'Anville's position of the Jleldi, and his objections may have some weight ; but his notion that Caesar's Meldi can be the Meldi on tho Marne shows that he did not understand Caesar's text. [G. L.] MELDIA (MeXSt'a), a town of Moesia Superior, on the road from Naissus to Sardica. {It. Ant. p. 135 : It. Hieros. p. 566.) [A L.] MELES (Me'Aijs), a small river of Ionia, flowing close by the walls of Smyrna, and discharging its waters into the Hermaean gulf. (Strab. xii. p. 554, xiv. p. 646.) The httle stream derives its cele- brity from its connection with the legends about Homer, and from a report about the healing powers of its waters. There was a tradition that near the sources of the river Jleles there was a cave in which Homer had composed his epic poems, whence he is sometimes called MfT)(nyevrjs. (Paus. vii. 5. § 6 ; Vit. Hom. 2 ; Stat. Sih: iii. 3. 60, 7. 33 ; Tibull. iv. 1. 200.) The belief in the healing power of its waters is attested by an inscription quoted by Arundell (Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 406) and Ha- milton {Researches, vol. ii. Append. No. 48). These circumstances are of some importance in identifying the river. It used to be supposed that a small, dirty, and muddy stream, flowing close by the modern town of Smyrna, was the same as the ancient Meles. But there is another stream, with bright and sparkling water, which ru.shes over its rocky bed near Bmirnonhat, and is still celebrated for its agreeable and wholesome qualities. Tra- vellers are now justly inclined to identify this river with the ancient Meles. This supposition is con- firmed by our more accurate kno'.vledge of the site of ancient Smyrna, which was on the north of the bay, while new Smyrna was on the south of it, at a distance of 20 stadia from the former; the site of the ancient place is still marked by a few ruins; and close by them flows the clear stream which we must assume to be the ancient Meles. (Comp. Hom. Hymn. viii.3;Ptol. v 2. § 7; Steph. B.s.r. MeAi7Toy k-i^Attos, accordins; to whom the river was also called Meletus ; Plin. V. 31 ; Hamilton, Researches, vol. i. p. 51, foil.) [L. S.] MELESSES, a people in the S. of Spain, upon whose confines was situated the rich city of Oringis, also called Aurinx. (Liv. xxviii. 3.) [Ai'rin.x'.] MELIBOCUS (jh MriXiSuKov opos), a mountain in the interior of Germany, above the Semanus Silva. (Ptol. ii. 11. § 7.) There can be little doubt that Melibocus is the ancient name for tlie Ilarz mountain, or the Thiiringer tcald, or for both. [L. S.] MELIBOEA, an island at the mouth of the Orontes in Syria, the sole authority for the existence of which appears to be a poetical myth of Oppianus. {Cyneget. ii. 1 1 5, &c.) [G. W ] MELIBOEA (MeAigoia: Ktli. MeAiSoevs). 1. An ancient tovrti of Magnesia in Thessaly, menticmcd by Homer as one of the places subject to Pliiloctetca