Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/375

 MINAEIACUJI. Iladramaut. Their country must Lave compre- liended the eastern half of the territory of Yafa, and the western half of the modern Hadramaut. So that Shibdm and Fi'riia, and the tonih of Iliid, and the wells of Bar/cut (Ptolemy's source of the Styx), which now form part of Hadramaut, pertained to the Jlinaei. (Kitter, Erdkunde von Arabien, i. pp. 278—284.) [G. W.] MINARIACUM, in Belgica, is placed on a road from Castellum (^Cassel) to Tuniacum {Tournai); and a road also ran from Castellum through Mina- riaciun to Nemetacum (^Arras). The distance is xi. (leagues) from Cassel, a well-known position, to Minariacum. D'Anville contends that the geogra- phers are mistaken in placing Minariacum at Jilei-- gheni, or, as the French call it, Merville, on the river Lys, instead of placing it at Esterre, also on the Lys. The distances as usual cause a difficulty, and there is nothing else that decides the question. An old Roman road leads from Cassel to Esteive, and Romnn coins have been found at Esterre. [G. L.] MINAS SABBATTHA (Mdvas 2agaT0a, Zosim. iii. 23), a small fortified work in Babylonia, which Zosiinus describes as, in his day, occupying the site of the celebrated Parthian capital Ctesiphon. Abiil- fcda (p. 253) speaks of a place in the neighbourhood called Sabath. [V.] MINA'TICUM. in Belgica, is placed by the An- tonine Itin. and the Table on a road from Bagacum {Bavai) to Durocortorum (Reims). It is placed in the Itin. between Catusiacum (^Ckaours) and Ausenna or Axuenna. [Axuenna.] Catusiacum is omitted in the Table, and Micaticum appears under the form Ninittaci, or Nintecasi, as DAnville writes it. Here, as in some other cases, the name in the Table appears to be more exact, for Ninittaci is Kizy le Comte, which stands on an old Roman road that leads from Ckaours to Reims. [G. L.] MI'NCIUS (M17K10S : Mincio), a considerable river of Gallia Cisalpiua, and one of the most im- portant of the northern tributaries of the Padus. (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20, 19. s. 23 ; Strab. iv. p. 209.) It has its sources in the Rhaetian Alps, at the foot of the Monte Tonale, from which it flows to the lake Benacus, or Logo di Garda, which is formed by the accumulation of its waters ; from thence it issues again at Peschiera (the ancient Ardelica), and has from thence a course of about 40 miles, till it falls into the Po near (Jovernolo, about 10 miles above Hostilia. In the upper part of its course it is a mere mountain torrent; but after it leaves the lake Benacus it is a deep and clear stream, which holds a slow and vrinding course through the low and marshy plains of this part of Cisalpine Gaul. It is characteristically described by Virgil, who dwelt on its banks. (Virg. Ed. vii. 13, Georg. iii. 15, Aen. x. 206.) In the immediate neigh- bourhood of Mantiia the waters of the Jlincius stagnate, so as to form shallow lakes 'of considerable extent, which surround that city on three sides, the fourth being also protected by artificial inundations. A battle was fought on the banks of the Jlincius in B.C. 197, between the consul Cornelius and the combined forces of the Insubres and Cenomani, in which the latter were entirely defeated, and their leailer, the Carthaginian H.amilcar, taken prisoner. (Liv. xxxii. 30.) At a much later period it was on the banks of the Alincius, near its confluence with the Padus, at a place called by Jornandes Acroventus, Mamboleius, that the celebrated inter- view took place between Pope Leo I. and Attila, MINIUS. 359 which led the king of the Huns to withdraw his forces from Italy. (Jornand. Get. 42 ; P. Diac. Hist. Miscell. xv. p. 549.) [E. H. B.l MINERVAE PEOMONTO'RIUM (jh 'AB-nvahv aKpwT-ripiov, Strab. : Punta della Campanella), a pro- montory on the coast of Campania, opposite to the island of Capreae, forming the southern boundary of the celebrated Crater or Bay of Naples. It is a bold and rocky headland, constituting the extremity of a mountain ridge, which branches off from the main mass of the Apennines near Nuceria, and forms a great mountain promontory, about 25 miles in length, which separates iho Bay of Naples iv{>m that of Paestum or Salerno. The actual headland de- rived its name from a temple of Minerva, situated on its summit, which was said to have been founded by Ulysses (Strab. v. p. 247) : it was separated by a channel of only 3 miles in width from the island of Capreae {Capri). On the S. side of the promontory, but about 5 miles from the extreme headland, are some small rocky islets now called Li Galli, very bold and picturesque in appearance, which were se- lected by tradition as the abode of the Sirens, and hence named the Sikenusae Insul.e (^eiprivova- ffat fijaoi, Ptol. iii. 1. § 79 ; Strab. v. p. 247 ; Pseud. Arist. Mirab. 110). From the proximity of these, according to Strabo, the headland itself was some- times called tlie Promontory of the Sirens (Seiprji'ouo-- awv UKpuiTripiov), but all other writers give it the more usual appellation of Promontory of Minerva, though Pliny adds that it had once been the abode of the Sirens ; and there was an ancient temple on the side towards Surrentum in honour of those my- thical beings, which had at one time been an object of great veneration to the surrounding population. (Strab. V. pp. 242, 247; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Pseud. Arist. /. c; Ovid. jMet. xv. 709; Mel. ii. 4. § 9; Liv. xlii. 20.) Tacitus in one passage calls the headland Surrentinum Promontorium, from its prox- imity to the town of Surrentum, from which it was only 5 miles distant; and Statius also speaks of the temple of Minerva as situated " in vertice Surren- tino." (Tac. Ann. iv. 67; Stat. Silv. v. 3. 165.) The Promontory of Minerva is a point of consider- able importance in the coast-line of Italy : hence we find it selected in B.C. 181 as the point of demarca- tion for the two squadrons which were appointed to clear the sea of pirates ; the one protecting the coasts from thence to Massilia, the other those on the S. as far as the entrance of the Adriatic. (Liv. xl. 18.) In B.C. 36 a part of the fleet of Augustus, under Appius Claudms, on its voyage from Misenum to Sicily, encountered a tempest in passing this cape, from which it suffered heavy loss. (Appian, B. C. Y. 98.) It is mentioned also by Lucilius as a point of importance in his vovage along the coast of Italy. (Lucil. Sat. iii. Fr. 10.') [E. H. B.] MI'NIO {Mignone), a small river of Etruria, flowing into the Tyrihenian sea, between Centum- cellae (Civita Vecehia) and Graviscae, and about 3 miles S. of the mouth of the JIarta. It is a trifling stream, though noticed by Virgil, as well as by Eu- tilius in his voyage along this coast; but Mela and the Geographer of Ravenna are the only geographical writers who deem it worthy of mention. (Virg. Aen. X. 183 ; Serv. ad loc. ; Rutil. Itin. i. 279; Mel. ii. 4. § 9 ; Geogr. Eav. iv. 32.) [E. H. B.J Ml'NIUS (IMiVios : Minlio), a river of Spain, rising in the north of Gallaecia, in the Cantabrian mountains, and falling into the Ocean. (Strab. iii. p. 153.) Strabo erroneously says that it is the A A 4