Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/386

 370 MOPSroM. It is 24 M. P. from Vapincum to Mons Seleucus, and 26 M. P. from Mons Seleucus to Lucus (Luc). The Jerusalem Itin. Las two Mutationes (Ad Fines, and Davianum) between Vapincum and the Mansio Mons Seleucus, and the whole distance is 31 M. P. The distances would not settle the position of Mons Seleucus, but the name is preserved in Saleon. The Biitie Mont-Saleon is only an abbreviation of the Bastida Montis Seleuci, a name that appears in some of the old documents of DavpMne. Many remains exist or did exist at Mons Seleucus ; certain evidence that there was a Roman town here. Magnentius was defeated A. d. 353 by Constantius at Mons Seleucus. (Tillemont, Histoire des Em- pereurs, vol. iv. p. 383.) The memory of the battle is preserved in several local names, as Le Champ VImpeiris, and Le Champ Batailks. (Ukert, Gal- lien, p. 448.) [G- L] MO'PSIUM (m6^iov: Eth. Mo'if-ios, Steph. B., Moi^eieus, a dialectic form of Mot|/i6i''s), a town of Pelasgiotis in Thessaly, situated upon a hill of the same name, which, according to Livy, was situated midway between Larissa and Tempe. Its rains are still conspicuous in the situation mentioned by Livy, Dear the northern end of the lake Karatjair or Nessonis. (Steph. B. s. v. ; Strab. ix. pp. 441, 443; Liv. xlii. 61, 67 ; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 377.) MOPSO'PIA. [Pamphyua.] MOPSO'PIA (Moi//o7n'a), an ancient name of Attica, derived from the hero Mopsopus or Mopsops. (Strab. iv. p. 397; Lycnphr. 1339; Steph. B. s.v.) MOPSUCRE'NE (Vlo^ov Kpv-^vri), a town in the eastern part of Cilicia, on the river Cydnus, and not far from the frontier of Cataonia to which Ptolemy (v. 7. § 7), in fact, assigns it. Its site was on the southern slope of Mount Taurus, and in the neigh- bourhood of the mountain pass leading from Cilicia into Cappadocia, twelve miles north of Tarsus. It is celebrated in history as the place where the em- peror Constantius died, a. d. 361. (Sozom. v. 1 ; Philostorg. vi. 5 ; Eutrop. x. 7 ; Amm. Marc. xxi. 29 ; Itin. Ant. p. 145, where it is called Namsucrone ; It. Hieros. p. 579, where its name is mutilated into Mansverine.) MOPSUE'STIA (M6i/ov iaria or Mo^oufffrla : Eth. Moi|/fOT7js), a considerable town in the extreme east of Cilicia, on the river Pyraraus, and on the road from Tarsus to Issus. In the earlier writers the town is not mentioned, though it traced its origin to the ancient soothsayer Mopsus ; but Pliny (v. 22), who calls it Mopsos, states that in his time it was a free town. (Comp. Strab. siv. p. 676 ; Cic. ad Fam. iii. 8 ; Steph. B. 5. v. ; Procop. de Aed. v. 5 ; Amm. Marc. xiv. 8 ; Phot. Cod. 176; Ptol. v. 8. § 7; It. Ant. p. 705; Hierocl. p. 705 ; It. Hieros. p. 680, where it is called Man- sista.) A splendid bridge across the Pyramus was built at Mopsuestia by the emperor Constantius. (Malala, Chron. xiii.) It was situated only 12 miles from the coast, in a fertile plain, called ^AK-^iov ireSioj'. (Arrian, Anab. ii. 5 ; Eustath. ad Dionys. COIN OF mopsuestia. MORGANTLA. Fer. 872.) In the middle ages the name of tlie place was corrupted into Mamista ; its present nanie is Messis or Mensis. Ancient remains are not men- tioned, and travellers describe Mensis as a dirty and uninteresting place. (h6ke, Asia Minor, p. 217; Otter's Reisen, i. c. 8.) [L. S.] MORBIUJI, in Britain, is mentioned in the Notitia as the quarters of a body of horse Cataphractarii (" praefectus equitum Cataphractariorum Morbio"). We are justified by an inscription in placing Mor- bium at Moresby near Whitehaven, where the re- mains of a Roman camp are yet to be traced. The inscription, preserved in a MS. of Dr. Stukeley, but not read by him, is upon a monument to the me- mory of a soldier of the Cataphractarii, which was found within the precincts of the Camp. [C.R.S.] MORDULAMNE (MopSouAa^ufrj, Ptol. vii. 4. § 5), a port on the eastern coast of Taprobane ( Ceylon'). The name is probably a corruption of the MSS., and ought to be Vi6phov Atfirtv or MSpSovXa Xi/U'/jj'. It is, perhaps, represented by the present Kattregam, where there are still extensive ruins. (Ritter, Erd- kunde, vi. p. 22 ; Davy, Account of Ceylon, p. 420.) [V.] MORGA'NTIA, MLTRGA'NTIA, or MORGA'N- TIUM (yiopyavrwv, Strab.; MopyavTivTj, Diod.: Eth. MopyavTluos. The name is variously written by Latin writers Slurgantia, Murgentia, and Mor- gentia; the inhabitants are called by Cicero and Pliny, ]Iurgentini), a city of Sicily, in the interior of the island, to the SV. of Catana. It was a city of the Siculi, though Strabo assigns its foundation to the Morgetes, whom he supposes to have crossed over from the southern part of Italy. (Strab. vi. pp. 257, 270.) But this was probably a mere inference from the resemblance of name ; Stephanus of Byzantium (5. v.), who is evidently alluding to the same tradition, calls Morgentium, or Morgentia (as he writes the name), a city of Italy, but no such place is known. [Morgetes.] Strabo is the only author who notices the existence of the Morgetes in Sicily ; and it is certain that when Morgantium first appears in history it is as a Siculian town. It is first mentioned by Diodorus in B.C. 459, when he calls it a considerable city (jroXiv a^idXayov, Diod. xi. 78): it was at this time taken by Ducetius, who is said to have added greatly to his power and fame by the conquest; but after the fall of that leader, it became again independent. We next hear of it in B. c. 424, when, according to Thucydides, it was stipulated, at the peace concluded by Hermocrates, that Morgantia (or Morgantina, as he writes the name) should belong to the Camarinaeans, they paying for it a fixed sum to the Syracusans. (Thuc. iv. 65.) It is impossible to understand this arrange- ment between two cities at such a distance from one another, and there is probably some mistake in the names.* It is certain that in B.C.- 396, Mor- gantia again appears as an independent city of the Siculi, and was one of those which fell under the arms of Dionysius of Syracuse, at the same time with Agyrium, Menaenum, and other places. (Diod. xiv. 78.) At a later period it afforded a refuge to Agathocles, when driven into exile from Syracuse, Karapaiois for Ka/xapivaiois : but the error is more probably in the other and less-known name. Per- haps we should read MoTVKavijv for VlopyavTiuiv lia the district of Motyca immediately adjoined that of Camarina.
 * It has been suggested that we should read