Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/408

 392 MYUS. tain. It was probably but a small town, though strongly fortifiel, whence Philistus {ap. Stejjh. B. s. V.) culled it " a fortress of Sicily." It is con- spicuously mentioned during the First Punic War, when it was in the hands of the Carthaginians, and was besieged by the Romans, but for some time with- out success, on account of the great strength of its position; it was at length taken by the consul A. Atilius Calatinus in B.C. 258. The inhabitants were either put to the sword or sold as slaves, and the town itself entirely destroyed. (Pol. i. 24; Diod. xxiii. 9, Exc. Iloesch. p. 503; Zonar. viii.) It was, however, again inhabited at a later period, as we find the Mutustratini mentioned by Pliny among the municipal towns of the interior of Sicily. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14.) But no notice of its name occurs in the interval, and Cluverius (who has been followed by many modern geographers) would, therefore, identify Mytistratus w^ith Amestratus; an assumption for which there are certainly no sufficient grounds, both names being perfectly well attested. [Amestra- tus.] (Cluver. Sicil. p. 383.) [K. H. B.] MYUS(Mi/oDx: Eth. Muuvatos'), an Ionian town in Caria, on the southern bank of the Maeander, at a distance of 30 stadia from the mouth of that river. Its foundation was ascribed to Cydrelus, a natural son of Codrus. (Strab. xiv. p. 633.) It was the smallest among the twelve Ionian cities, and in the days of Strabo (xiv. p. 636) the population was so reduced that they did not fjrm a political commu- nity, but became incorporated with Jliletus, whither iu the «nd the Myu.sians transferred themselves, abandoning their own town altogether. This last event happened, according to Pausanias (vii. 2. § 7), on account of the great number of flios which an- noyed the inhabitants; but it was more probably on account of the frequent inundations to which the place was exposed. (Vitruv. iv. 1.) Myus was one of the three towns given to Themistocles by the Persian king (Tliucyd. i. 138; Diod. Sic. si. 57; Plut. Them. 29; Athen. i. p. 29; Nep. Them. 10.) During the Peloponnesian War the Athenians ex- perienced a check near this place from the Carians. (Thucyd. iii. 19.) Philip of Macedonia, who had obtained possession of Myus, ceded it to the Blag- nesiuus. Athen. iii. p. 78.) The only edifice noticed by the ancients at Myus was a temple of Dionysus, built of white marble. (Pans. I. c.) The mmense quantity of deposits carried down by the Maeander have considerably removed the coast-line, so that even in Strabo's time the distance between Myus and the sea was increased to 40 stadia (sii. p. 579), while originally the town had no doubt been built on the coast itself. There still are some ruins of Myus, which most travellers, forgetting the changes wrought by the Maeander, have mistaken for those of Miletus, while those of Heracleia have been mistaken for those of Jlyus. (Comp. Leake, Asia Minor, p. 239, &c.) The mistake is repeated by Sir C. Fellows (Journal of a Tour in As. Min. p. 263), though it had been pointed out long before his time. [L. S.J N. NAARDA (NoapSa, Ptol. v. 18. § 7; Steph. B. s. V.; NeopSa, Joseph. Ant. xviii. 12), a small place in Mesopotamia, near Sipphara. It is probably the same as that called in the Peutinger Table Naharra. Josephus speidcs (/. c.) of Nearda as a place in NABATAEI. Babylonia, possessing an extensive range of territory and defended from hostile attack by the Euphrates which flows round it. When Tiberius overthrew the Jews in the East, the remnant of that people took refuge in Naarda and Nisibis; and the former city long remained a place of refuge for the Jews. In the intermediate records of the Christian East we find occasional notices of this place, under the titles of Nahardeir and Beth-Nuhadra. Thus, in A. u. 421, a bishop of Nahardeir is mentioned (As- sem. Bibl. Orient, iii. p. 264); in A. d. 755, Jonas is bishop of Beth-Nuhadra (Assem. ii. p. Ill); and as late as A. v>. 1285, another person is recorded as " Episcopus Nuhadrensis." (Assem. ii. p. 249.) During all this period Nearda is included within the episcopal province of Mosul. Lastly, in the Travels of Benjamin of Tudela, which took place towards the end of the 12th century, the traveller mentions J going to " Juba, which is Pumbeditha, in Nehardea, S containing about two thousand Jews" (p. 92, ^ Asher's edit.); from which it appears that, at that period, Naarda was considered to comprehend a dis- trict with other towns in it. Pumbeditha and Sura were two celebrated Jewish towns situated near one another, at no great distance from Baghddd. [V.] NAARJIALCHA. [B.ujylonia, Vol. L p. 362, a.] NABAEUS (Na§a7oj, Ptol. ii. 3. §1), a river in the extreme north of Britannia Barbara or Caledonia, probably the Navern river, east of C. Wrath. NABALIA, in the text of Tacitus {Hist. v. 26), is a river in or near the Batavorum Insula, over which there was a bridge. During the war between Civilis and the Romans, there was a conference between Civilis and Cerealis on this bridge, which had been cut asunder for safety's sake, each party at the conference keeping on his own side of the river. It is uncertain if the name Nabalia is right; and if it is right, it is also uncertain what the river is. It must, however, be some stream about the lower part of the Rhine; and Walckenaer {Geoff. „ ij-c. vol. i. p. 296) conjectures that it is the Yssel m or eastern branch of the Rhine which flows into the " Zuycler Zee. Ptolemy (ii. 11. § 28) has a place Navalia (Nai/oAia) in Great Germania, the position of which, if we can trust the numbers, is on or near Ptolemy's eastern branch of the Rhine, whatever tliat eastern branch may be. [G. L.] NABATAEI {^aSaratot, 'Awaraw, Ptol. vi. 7. § 21; NaSdrai, Suid. s. v.; NavaTalot, LXX.; Naba- thae. Sen. Here. Oei. 160: the country, NaSa-raia, Strab.; Na€aT7]vy}, Joseph.), a numerous and import- ant peojile of Arabia Petraea, celebrated in the clas- sical geographers. Josephus describes the country as comprehending all from the Euphrates to the Red Sea, i. e. the whole of the northern part of the Arabian peninsula; and inhabited by the descendants of the 1 2 sons of Ishmael, from the eldest of whom, Nebaioth, this territory is supposed to have derived its name. This is confirmed by the authority of S. Jerome, three centm-ies later, who writes, " Nebaioth omnis regio ab Euphrate usque ad Mare Rubrum Nabathena usque hodie dicitur, quae pars Arabiae est." (Joseph. Ant. i. 13. § 4; Hieron. Comvient. in Genes, xxv. 13.) The only allusion to this people in the canonical Scriptures, supposing them identical, is by their patriarchal designation; and the mention of the " rams of Nebaioth," in con- nectiiin with the " flocks of Kedar" {Isa. Ix. 7), intimates that they existed as a distinct pastoral tribe. But they occur frequently iu history after