Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/378

 362 MISENUM. The name of the promontory of Misenum was de- rived, according to a tradition very generally adopted by the lioman writers, from the trumpeter of Aeneas, ■who was supposed to be buried there (Virg. Aen. vi. 163,212—235; Pro pert, iv, 18. 3; Sil. Ital. xii. 155; Stat. Silv.m. 1. 150; Mel. ii. 4. §9; Solin. 2. § 13). Another legend, iiowever, seems to have represented Misenus as one of the companions of Ulysses (Strab. V. p. 245). There is no trace of the existence of a town on the spot at an early period, though it is almost certain that its secure and land-locked port (already alluded to by Lycophron, Alex. 737) must have been turned to account by the Cumaeans during the period of their naval and commercial power. Before the close of the Roman Eepnblic the actual jiromontory of Misemim, as well as the neighbouring shores of Bauli and Baiae, was become a favourite site for the villas of wealthy Romans ; but it was not till the reign of Augustus that any considerable po- pulation was collected there. That emperor first in- troduced the custom of maintaining a fleet for the defence of the Tyrrhenian or Lower Sea, of which Misenum was made the permanent station (Suet. Aug. 49; Tac. Ann. iv. 5), as it continued through- out the period of the Empire. Thus we find the " classis Misenensis" continually alluded to by Ta- citus (Aim. xiv. 3, 62, xv. 51, Iliit. ii. 100, iii. 5G, &c.); and the elder Pliny was stationed at Mi- seiunn in command of the fleet, when the memorable emption of Vesuvius broke out, in which he perished, A.D. 79, and of which his nephew has left us so inte- resting an account (Ep. vi. 16, 20). At a much later period we find the establishment of a fleet at Misenum, with a legion specially organised for its service, referred to as a permanent institution, both by Vegetius and the Notitia. (Veget. v. 1, 2; Notit. JJign. ii. p. 118.) There can be no doubt that in cunsequence of this important establishment a con- siderable town grew up around the port of Misenum; and we learn from several inscrij)tions that it pos- sessed municipal privileges, and even bore the title of a colony. (Orell. Inscr. 3772; Mommsen, /. R. N. 2575 — 2577.) But the "Misenates," whose name frequently occurs in inscriptions, are in general the soldiers of the fleet (Milites classis j^raetoriae Mi- senatiuni, Mommsen, I. c. 2725, &c.), not the inha- bitants of the town. Before it became thus memorable as the station of the Roman fleet, ]Iisenum was remarkable in history for the interview between Octavian and Antony and Sextus Pompeius, in which the two former were re- ceived by Sextus on board his ship, and a treaty was concluded for the division of the fioman Empire be- tween the three contracting parties. It was on this occasion that his admiral Menas proposed to Pompey to cut the cables and carry the two triumvirs off to sea. (Plut. Ant. 32; Dion Cass, xlviii. 36; Veil. Pat. ii. 77.) At a somewliat earlier period Cicero notices it as having been infested by the Cilician pi- rates, who carried off from thence the daughters of M. Antonius, who had himself carried on the war against them. (Cic. pi-o Leg. Manll. 12.) We learn from Plutarch that C. Marius had a villa there, wiiich he describes as more splendid and luxurious than was suited to the character of the man (Plut. Mar. 34) ; nevertheless it was then far inferior to what it became in the hands of L. Lucullus, who subsequently purchased it for a sum of 2,500,000 denarii, and adorned it with his usual magnificence. It subsequently passed into the hands of the emperor Tiberius, who appears to have not unfrequently MITHRIDATIUM. made it his residence ; and who ultimately died there, on the 16th of March, a. d. 37. The villa itself is described as situated on the summit of the hill, commanding an extensive view over the sea ; but it is evident, from the account of its vast sub- structions and subterranean galleries, &c., that it must have comprised within its grounds the greater part of the promontory. (Plut. I. c, Lucull. 39 ; Seneca, Ep. 51 ; Tac. Ann. vi. 50; Suet. Tib. 72, 73 ; Dion Cass. Iviii. 28 ; Phaedr. Fab. ii. 36.) Besides this celebrated villa of Lucullus, we learn from Cicero that M. Antonius the orator had a villa at Misenum, and that the triumvir, his grandson, made it a frequent place of residence. (Cic. de Or. ii. 14, ad Att. x. 8, xiv. 20, Phil. ii. 19.) At a much later period Misenum became the place of exile or confinement of the unhappy Romulus Au- gustulus, the last emperor of the West, to whom the villa of Lucullus was assigned as a place of residence by Odoacer after bis deposition, A. d. 476. ( Jornand. Get. 46 ; Marcellin. Chron. p. 44.) Horace notices the sea off Cape Blisenum as celebrated for its echini or sea-urchins. (Hor. Sat. ii. 4. 33.) Some ruins, still extant near the summit of the hill, are in all probability those of the villa of Lu- cullus. Of the town of Misenum the remains are but inconsiderable ; they are situated on the S. side (jf the Porto di Miseno, at a place now called Casaluce ; while those of a theatre are situated at a spot called II Forno, a Httle further to the W., just where the inner basin or Mare Morto opens into the outer port. The two were separated in ancient times by a bridge of three arches, which has recently been replaced by a closed causeway, the effect of which has been to cause both the inner basin and outer harbour to fill up with great rapi- dity, and the latter has in consequence become almost useless. In the sides of the hill at the head of the port, and on the N. of the Mare Morto are excavated numerous sepulchres, which, as we learn from the inscriptions discovered there, are those of officers and soldiers of the fleet stationed at Mi- senum. Many of these inscriptions are of con- siderable interest, as throwing light upon the mi- litaiy and naval institutions of the Roman Empire. They are all collected by Mommsen {Inscr. Regn. A>f/;3. pp. 145— 154). [E. H. B.] MISE'TUS mL(T-nT6s:Eth. MtariTtos, Steph. B.), a town of Macedonia, the position of which is un- determined. [E. B. J.] MI'STHIUM (MiVfliof), a town of the mountain tribe of the Orondici in the north of Pisidia (Ptol. v. 4. § 12), and probably the same as the town of Mistheia, which Hierocles (p.625) places inLycaonia. The latter name occurs also in other late writers, as Theophanes {Chron. p. 320) and Nicephonis (c. 20). [L. S.] MISUA. [Carthago, Vol. I. p. 551, a.] MISULANL [MusuLANi,] MITHRIDA'TIS RE'GIO {v mepiSdrov x^pa, PtoL V. 9. § 19), a district of Asiatic Sarmatia, E. of the Hippici Monies. It derived its name from Mithridates, king of the Bosporus, whom Vaillant {Achaeinenidanmi Imper. vol. ii. p. 246) calls eighth of that name, and who fled to this country for refuge in the reign of the emperor Claudius. (Plin. vi. 5 ; Tac, Ann. xii. 15 ; Dion Cass.lx.8.) [E.B.J.] MITHRIDA'TIUM {mepiUnov), a fortress of the Trocrai, situated on the frontiers of Galatia and Pontus. After the subjugation of Pontus by the Romans, Pompey took Mithridatium from Pontus,