Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/389

 MOSCIII. culty in identifying it with Kesem, tlie last seaport we.stN^'ard of Cape Fartask, his " Syagros extrema." {Geogr. of Arabia, vo. ii. pp. 164. 178.) The posi- tion assigned it by D'Anville at the modern Aluscat is certainly untenable. (lb. pp. 167, 168, 224, 233, 234.) 2. A second harbour of this name is mentioned by the author of the Periplus, on the east of the Syagros Promontorium, in the large bay named by Ptolemy Sachalites Sinus (2axaA.iT7js k-oAttos), and east of the smaller one, named Omana (^Ofxava), by the author of the Periplus, who places this Moscha Portus 1100 stadia east of Syagros. He calls it a port appointed for the lading of the Sachalite in- cense {pfifxas atro^eSftyfjLeuos tov ^axaAirov i€<i- vov wphi iiJ.goriv), frequented by ships from Cane, and a wintering-place for late vessels from Limyrice and Barygaza, where they bartered fine linen, and corn, and oil for the native produce of this coast. Mr. Forster furnishes an ingenious etymological explana- tion of the recurrence of this name on the coast of the Sachalites Sinus. " The Arabic Moscha, like the Greek affKSs, signifies a hide, or sJiin, or a ba{/ of shin or leather blown vp like a bladder. Now, Ptolemy informs us that the pearl divers who fre- quented his Sums Sachalites (unquestionably the site of Arrian's Moscha Portus), were noted for the practice of swimming, or floating about the bay, supported by inflated hides or skins. Vliat more natural than that the parts frequented by these divers should be named from this practice ? . . . And hence, too, the name of the Ascitae of Ptolemy (' floaters on skins'), the actual inhabitants of his Moscha Portus immediately west of his Sudgros." It is a remarkable fact mentioned by modern travellers, that this practice still prevails among the fishermen on this coast; for "as the natives have but few canoes, they generally substitute a single inflated skin, or two of these having a flat board across them. On this frail contrivance the fisherman seats himself, and either casts his small hand-net or plays his hook and line." (Lieut. Wellsted, Travels in Arabia, vol. i. pp. 79, 80, cited by Forster, Arabia, vol. ii. p. 175, note*. ) The identification of Arrian's Moscha with the modern Ausera, is complete. Arrian reckons 600 stadia from Syagros across the bay which he names Omana. This measurement tallies exactly with that of the Bay of Seger, in Commodore Owen's chart of this coast ; and from the eastern extremity of this bay to Moscha Portus, Arrian assigns a dis- tance of 500 stadia, which measures with nearly equal exactness the distance to Ras-al-Sair (the Ausara of Ptolemy), situated about 60 Roman miles to the east of the preceding headland. The identity of the Moscha Portus of An-ian with the Ausara of Ptolemy is thus further corroborated. " Arrian states his Moscha Portus to have been the emporium of the incense trade ; and Pliny proves Ausara to have been a chief emporium of this trade, by his notice of the fact that one particular kind of incense bore the name of Ausaritis." (Plin. xii. 35 ; Forster, MOSCHI (MfJffxoi, Hecat. Fr. 188, ap. Stejjli. B. s. ».), a Colchian tribe, who have been identified with the Meshech of the prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 13; Rosenmiiller, Bibl. Alterthumsk, vol. i. pt. i. p 248). Along with the Tibareni, Mosynaeii, Macrones, and Mardae, they formed the 19 th sa- tr.apy of the Persian empire, extending along the SE. of the Euxine, and bounded on the S. by the lofty chain of the Armenian m.ountains. (Herod, iii. MOSELLA. 373 94, vii. 78.) In the time of Strabo (xi. pp. 497 — 499) MoscHicE (MocrxiK-TJ) — in which was a temple of Leucothea, once famous for its wealth, but plundered by Pharnaces and Mithridates — was divided between the Colchians, Albanians, and Iberians (comp. Jlela, iii. 5. § 4 ; Plin. vi. 4). Procopius {B. G. iv. 2), who calls them Meo-xoi, says that they were subject to the Iberians, and had embraced Christianity, the religion of their masters. Afterwards their district became the appanage of Liparites, the Abasgian prince. (Cedren. vol. ii. p. 770 ; Le Beau, Bus Empiire, vol. xiv. p. 355 ; St. Martin, Memoires sur VArmenie, vol. ii. p 222.) [E. B. J.] MO'SCHICI MONTES (jh MoaxiKo. Upr,, Strab. i. p. 61, xi. pp. 492, 497, 521, 527, xii. p. 548-, Plut. Po7np. 34; Mela, i. 19. § 13; Ptol. v. 6. § 13; Jloschicus M., Plin. v. 27), the name applied, with that of Paryadres, and others, to the mountain chain which connects the range of Anti-Taurus with the Caucasus. Although it is obviously im- possible to fix the precise elevation to which the ancients assigned this name, it may be generally described as the chain of limestone mountains, with volcanic rocks, and some granite, which, branching from the Caucasus, skirts the E. side of Imiretia, and afterwards, under the name of the Perengah Tdgh, runs nearly SW. along the deep valley of Ajirah in the district of Tchildir ; from whence it turns towards the S., and again to the W. along the valley of the Acampsis, to the V. of which, bearing the name of the Kop Tdgh, it enters Lesser Asia. (Ritter, Erdkwide, vol. x. p. 816 ; Ghesney, Exped. Enphrat. vol. i. p. 285.) [E. B. J.] MOSE in Gallia appears in the Table on a road from Durocortorum {Reims) to Meduantum. [Me- DUANTUM.] The place appears to be Mouzon on the Maas. D'Anville says that the place is called Mosomagus in the oldest middle age records. [G.L.] MOSELLA {Mosel, Moselle), a river of Gallia, which joins the Rhine at Coblem [Confluente.s]. In the narrative of his war with the Usipetes and Tenctheri Caesar {B. G. iv. 15) speaks of driving them into the water " ad confluentem Mosae et Rheni." One of the latest and best editors of Caesar, who however is singularly ignorant of geography, supposes this confluence of the Mosa and the Rhenus to be the junction of the Mosa and a part of the Rhenus which is mentioned by Caesar in another place (5. G. iv. 10; Mosa.) But this is impossible, as D'Anville had shown, who observes that the Usipetes [Menapii] had crossed the Rhine in the lower part of its course, and landed on the territory of the Menapii. Having eaten them up, the invaders entered the country of the Eburones, which we know to be between the Rhine and the Mosa, and higher up than the country of the Menapii. From the Eburones the Germans advanced into the Condrusi in the latitude of Liege ; and they were here before Caesar set out after them. {B. G. iv. 6.) Caesar's narrative shows that the Gemian invaders were not thinking of a retreat : their design was to penetrate further into Gallia, where they had been invited by some of the Gallic states, who hoped to throw otf the Roman yoke. After the defeat of the Germans on the river, Caesar built his wooden bridge over the Rhine, the position of which was certainly some- where between Coblenz and Andernach. The con- clusion is certain that this confluence of the Rhenus and the Mosa is the confluence of the Rhenus and the Mosella at Coblenz; and we must explain Caesar's BBS
 * . c. pp. 176, 177.) [G. W.]