Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/338

 322 MELITONUS. tliis nor any other town existed in that district. I'liny (vi. 3), on the other hand, speaks of Melltene as a town built by the fabulous queen Semiramis of Assyria; both accounts may be reconciled by the supposition that tlie site of the town was formerly occupied by some castle or fort, such as we know to have existed in that country from early times. (Slrab. sii. p. 537.) The town was situated on the banks of a small tributary of the Euphrates, which was not far distant from Melitene, and in a very salubrious district. During the first century of the Christian era, the town was not of much importance (Tac. Ann. sv. 26); but Trajan raised it to the rank of a great city (Procop. de Aedif. iii. 4), and thence- forth it became a central point to which several roads converged. (/)!. Ant. pp. 157, 209, 211, 215.) The emperors Anastasius and Justinian also embellished the place and surrounded it with new walls. Ever since the reign of Titus, Melitene had been the station of the famous Christian Legio xii. fulminata; and after the division of Armenia into two provinces, it became the capital of Armenia Secunda. (Hierocl. p. 703; comp. Ptol. v. 7. § 5, viii. 17. § 39; Dion Cass. Iv. 23; Steph. B. s. ».; Plin. V. 20; Procop. de Bell. Pers. i. 17; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. V. 5.) In A. d. 577, the Romans gained a great victory over the Persian Chosroes I. near Melitene; and the place is frequently mentioned by the Byzantine writers. But at present it is in ruins, though it still bears its ancient name in the form of Malatia. [L. S.] MELITONUS, a station on the Egnatian Way, ■which the Jerusalem Itinerary places between He- racleia and Grande, at 13 M. P. from the former. Its position must be sought for not far from Filu- rina. Tafel {de Viae Egnat. Part. Occ. p. 40) thinks that the name should be ^vritten MeAir- T(iv. LE. B. J.J MELITTA (Me'AiTTa, Me'Aicro-a, Hecat. Fr. 327, ed. Klausen), one of the five factories which Hanno (p. 2, ed. Hudson) planted between Prom. Soloeis and the river Lixus, on the W. coast of Africa ; probably near the WadMessa. (Comp. ^f^m. de VAcad. des Inscr. vol. ssvi. p. 41.) [E. B. J.] MELIZIGARA {UiKi(iiydpa, Arrian, Peripl. p. 30), a commercial entrepot on the southern coast of Hindostdn, apparently nearly opposite to Ceylon. It is no doubt the same place which Ptolemy re- cords as an island under the name of Melizegyris or Milizigeris. (JAiXi^-riyvpis, MiXi^tyr^pis, vii. 1. § 95.) [V.] MELLA. [MELA.J MELLA'RIA. 1. (UtWapia, Pint. Serior. 12; Mellaria, Mela, ii. 6. § 9 ; Phn. iii. 1. s. 3 ; It. Anton. p. 407; Geogr. Rav. iv. 12 ; VliuAapia, Strab. iii. p. 140, in Kramer's ed., the old edd. have MeAAapia ; also yiivkapia, Marcian, p. 39 ; MevpaXia, Ptol. ii. 4. § 6 ; MrjAapia, Steph. B. s. v. BrjAos), a town of the Bastuli (Ptol. I. c), on the road between Calpe and Belon {It. Anton. I.e.'), possessing establishments for salting lish (Strab. I. c). It probably stood be- tween Tari/a and Val de Vacca, or was on the site of Val de Vacca itself. {Mem. de I'Acad. des Inscr. ixx p. 107 ; Philos. Transactions, xxx. p. 920.) 2. A town in the interior of Hispania Baetiea, belonging to the conventus Cordubensis, and on the road from Corduba to Emerita, probably the modern Fuente de la Ovejuna. (Plin. iii. 1. s. 3; It. Anton. p. 415, with Wesseling's note; Gruter, Inscr. p. 321. 10; Morales, Ant. p. 19; Florez, Esp. Sagr. ix. p. 20.) MELOS. JIELLISURGIS. a place in the road from Thes- salonica to Apollonia of Mygdonia, which occurs in two of the Itineraries {Itin. Anton.; Pent. Tab.), at a distance of 20 M. P. from Thessalonica. It still presen-es its ancient name in the usual Romaic form of Melissurgus, and is inhabited by honey- makers, as the word implies. (Leake, North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 461 ; Tafel, de Viae Egnat. Part. Orient. p. 5.) [E. B. J.] MELLOSEDUM or MELLOSECTUM, as it is also read, in Gallia Narbonensis, is placed in the Table on a route from Alpis Cottia {Mont Genevre) to Vienna ( Vienne). It is the next place before Catorissium [Catorissijjm], which lies between it and Cularo ( Grenoble). Mellosed um may be at or near the Bourg d'Oysans. [G. L.] MELOBOTEIRA (MTjAogJreipa), a name which was apphed to Edessa in Macedonia. (Steph. B. s. v. Alyai.) . [E. B. J.] MELODU'NUM {Melim), a town of the Senones in Gallia {B. G. vii. 58), on an island in the Se- quana {Seine). Though the termination dun seems originally to have signified a hill or height, it be- came a part of the name of some towns, which like Jlelodunum were not situated on any elevation. In the Antonine Itinerary Melodunum appears under the name Mecletum, and in the Table in the form Meteglum. The distance from Lutetia in the Itins. is 17 or 18 GaUic leagues. From Melodunum to Condate {Montereau-sur-Yonne) is 15 Gallic leagues [CoNDATE, No. 2]. The old Celtic town on the island was replaced by a castle, of which there are some remains. The present town of Melun is on the right bank of the Seine, about 28 miles from Paris by the road. In the text of Caesar {B. G. vii. 58) there is a reading " quiMetiosedo," where the common reading is " qui a Meloduno." The same variation occurs in c. 60 ; and in c. 61 " Metiosedum versus" appears to be the received reading. A careful study of Caesar will satisfy any person that Melun is meant in all these passages, whether the true reading in Caesar's text is Melodunum, Metiosedum, or some- thing else. Melodunum comes nearest to the modern form. Walckenaer places Metiosedum at the con- fluence of the Seine and Marne. The variety in the reading of this name appears also in the Itins., as shown above. The stratagem of Labienus on the Seine {B. G. vii. 58, &c.) is explained in the article Lutetia. [G. L.] MELOS (MtjAos : Eth. MijAio? : Milo), an island in the Aegean sea, and the most south-westerly of the Cyclades, whence it was called Zephyria by Aristotle {ap. Plin. iv. 12. s. 23; comp. Steph. B. s. v.), and was even placed by Strabo in the Cretan sea (x. p. 484). The latter writer says (/. c.) that ]Ielos was 700 stadia from the promontory Dictyn- naeum in Crete, and the same distance from the promontory Scyllaeum in Argolis. The island is ii'. reality 70 miles north of the coast of Crete, and 65 miles east of the coast of Peloponnesus. It is about 14 miles in length and 8 in breadth. Pliny and others describe it as perfectly round in shape ('' in- sularum rotundissima," Plin. I. c. ; Solin. c. 11 ; Isidor. Orig. siv. 6) ; but it more resembles the form of a bow. On the northern side there is a deep bay, which forms an excellent harbour. The island is said to have borne several names in more ancient times. Besides that of Zephyria given to it by Aristotle, it was also called Jlemblis by Aristides, Mimallis by Callimachus, Siphis and Acyton by