Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/365

 METELLINTOI. soon as the Carthaginian general discovered the arrival of Claudius, with an auxiliary force of 6000 foot and 1000 horse, he broke up his camp and re- treated in the night to the Metaurus, which was about 14 miles from Sena. He had intended to cross the river, but missed the ford, and ascended the right bank of the stream for some distance in search of one, till, finding the banks steeper and higher the further he receded from the sea, he was compelled to halt and encamp on a hill. With the break of day the Roman armies overtook him, and compelled him to a general engagement, without leaving him time to cross the river. From this account it is clear that the battle was fought on the right bank of the Metaunis, and at no great distance from its mouth, as the troops of Hasdrubal could not, after their night march from Sena, have proceeded many miles up the course of the river. The ground, which is well described by Aruold from personal inspection, agrees in general character with the de- scription of Livy ; but the exact scene of the battle cannot be determined. It is, however, certainly an en-or to place it as high up the river as Fossovibrone (Forum Sempronii), 16 miles from the sea, or even, as Cramer has done, between that town and the pass of the Furlo. Both he and Vaudoncoui't place the battle on the left bank of the Metaunis, which is distinctly opposed to the narrative of Livy. Appian and Zonaras, though they do not mention tbe name of the Metaurus, both fix the site of the Roman camp at Sena ; but the former has confounded this witJi Sena in Etruria, and has thence transferred the whole theatre of operations to that country. (Appian, A nnib. ,52 ; Zonar. ix. 9 ; Arnold's Rome, vol. iii. pp. 3G4 — 374; Vaudoncourt, Cumpagnes d'Annihal, vol. iii. pp. 59 — 64; Cramer's Itali/, vol. i. p. 260.) 2. (MeVaypoj), a river of liruttium, fluwing into the Tyrrhenian sea, between Medma and the Scyl- laean promontory. It is mentioned both by Pliny and Strabo; and there can be no doubt that it is the river now called the Marro, one of the most consi- derable streams in this part of Bruttinm, which flows into the sea about 7 miles S. of the Mesima, and 18 from the rock of Scilla. (Strab. vi. p. 256; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Eomanelli, vol. i. p. 66.) There was a town of the same name at its mouth. [Metau- RUM.] [E. H. B.] METELLI'NUM (/^ Anton, p. 416; Metelion, Geogr. Rav. iv. 44), or METALLI'KUiM (Colonia Metallinensis, Plin. iv. 21. s. 35), a Roman colony of Lusitania on the Anas, 24 lioman miles from Augusta Emerita, now Medellin. The modern town lies on the southern side of the river, so that the ancient town ought to have been included in Baetiea. Hence some modern writers have conjectured that the Anas may here have changed it." bed. The form of the name would lead to the supposition that the co- lony was founded by Metellus, in which case Metel- linum would be a more correct form than Jletal- linum. ilETEON, a town of the Labeate-, to which Gentius removed his wife and family. (Liv. xliv. 32 ; Medion, Geogr. Rav.) It may perhaps be represented by the village of Meterees in the Rieka district of Monte-Negro, to the N. of Lake Scutari. (Wilkinson, Dalmatia, vol. i. p. 552.) [E. B. J.] JIETIIA'NA (tu MiOava, Pans., Strab., et alii ; Meecov-n*, Thuc. iv, 45; Diod. xii. 65; Med-nvr], of Thucydides it was written MfOuv-rj, like the town METHANA. 340 Ptol. iii. 16. § 12 : Methana), a striking rocky peninsula, connected by a narrow isthmus with the territory of Troezen in Argolis, and containing a city of the same name. Pausanias describes Me- thana as an isthmus running far into the sea (ii. 34. § 1 ) ; Thucydides more correctly distinguishes be- tween the isthmus and chersonesus (iv. 45) ; ai}d Ptolemy also speaks of the chersonesus (iii. 16. § 12). The isthmus is only about 1000 feet broad, but it immediately spreads out equally on both sidas. The outline of the peninsula is grand and picturesque. The highest mountain, called Chelona, which is 2281 (French) feet above the level of the sea, is of a conical form, and was thrown up by a volcano. The whole peninsula bears marks of volcanic agency. The rocks are composed chiefly of that variety of lava called trachyte ; and there are hot sulphureous springs, which were used in antiquity for medicinal purposes. Pausanias speaks of hot baths at the distance of 30 stadia from the city of Methana, which were said to have first burst out of the ground in the time of Antigonus, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon, after a violent volcanic eruption. Pausanias adds that there was no cold water for the use of the bather after the warm bath, and that he could not plunge in the sea in consequence of the sea-dogs and other monsters. (Pans. I. c.) Strabo, in describing the same volcanic eruption to which Pausanias al- ludes, says that a hill 7 stadia high, and fragments of rocks as high as towers, were thrown up ; that in the day-time the plain could not be approached in consequence of the heat and sulphureous smell, while at night there was no unpleasant smell, but that the heat thrown out was so great that the sea boiled at the distance of 5 stadia from land, and its waters were troubled for 20 stadia (i. p. 59). Ovid de- scribes, apparently, the same eruption in the lines beginning " Est prope Pittheam tumulus Troezena " (ilfei. sv. 296), and says that a plain was upheaved into a hill by the confined air seeking vent. (Conip. hyeWs Principles of Geology, pp. 10, 11, 9th ed.) The French Commission point out the site of two hot sulphureous springs ; one called Vroma, in the middle of the north coast, and the other near a village Vromolimni, a little above the eastern shore. There are traces of ancient baths at both places ; but the northern must be those alluded to by Pau- sanias. The peninsula Methana was part of the teiTitory of Troezen; but the Athenians took possession of the peninsula in the seventh year of the Peloponne- sian War, b. c. 425, and fortified the isthmus. (Thuc. iv. 45.) There are still traces of an ancient fortification, renewed in the niiildle ages, and united by means of two forts. In the penin- sula there are Hellenic remains of three different mountain fortresses; but the capital lay on the west coast, and the ruins are near the small vil- lage of the same name. Part of the walls of the acropolis and an ancient town on the north side still remain. Within the citadel stands a chapel, containing stones belonging to an ancient building, and two inscriptions on marble, one of which refers .so called in JIacedonia." This form is now found in nil the existing M.SS. of Thucydides. But there can be no doubt that VliQava, which has prevailed down to the present day, is tlie genuine Doric form of the name.
 * Strabo says (viii. p. 374), " that in .50?«e copies