Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/420

 404 NAUSTALO. foundation of Aemona, at a distance of only 15 miles from Nauportus, the latter place lost its for- mer importance and decayed. During the insur- rection of the Pannonian legions after the death of Augustus, the town was plundered and destroyed. (Tac. I. c.) The place is now called Ober-Lay- hach; its Roman name Nauportus (from navis and porto) was connected with the story of the Argo- nauts, who were believed on their return to have sailed up the Ister to this place, and thence to have carried their ships on their shoulders across the Alps to the Adriatic. [L. S.] NAUSTALO, a place on the south coast of Gallia, west of the Rhodanus, mentioned in the Ora Mari- tima of Avienus (v. 613) — " Tum Jlansa vicus, oppidumqne Naustalo Et urbs." Tlie name Naustalo looks like Greek, and if it is genuine, it may be the name of some Greek settle- ment along this coast. Nothing can be determined as to the site of Naustalo further than what Ukert sa.ys (GaUkn, p. 412): it is somewhere between Cette and the Rhone. [G. L.] NAUSTATHJIUS (Navffraefxos), a port-town on the Euxine, in the western part of Pontus, on a salt lake connected with the sea, and 90 stadia to the east oS the river Halys. (Arrian, Pei'ipl. p. 16 ; Marcian. Heracl. p. 74 ; Anonym. Peripl. p. 9 ; Tab. Pent, where it is erroneously called Nautag- mus.) The Periplus of the Anonymus places it only 40 stadia east of the mouth of the Halys. Comp. Hamilton (Researches, i. p. 295), who has identified the salt lake with the modern Hamamli Ghieul; but no remains of Naustathmus have been found. [L. S.] NAUSTATHMUS QiavcrTa9/xos), an anchorage on the coast of Cyrenaica, 1 00 stadia from ApoUonia. (Scylax, p. 45; Stadiasm. § 56; Strab. xvii. p. 838; Ptol iv. 4. § 5; Pomp. Mela, i. 8. § 2.) It is identified with El-Htldl, which Beechey (Exped. to the N. Coast of Africa, p. 479) describes as a point forming a bay in which large ships might find shel- ter. The remains which have been found there indicate an ancient site. (Comp. Pacho, Voyage, p. 144; Barth, lFfWj(7«?'Mw^ew, pp. 461, 495 ; Thrige, Res Cyrenens. p 103.). [E. B. J.] NAUTACA (Nauraica, Arrian, Anab. iii. 28, iv. 18), a town of Sogdiana, in the neighbourhood of the Oxus {Jihoii), on its eastern bank. It has been conjectured by Professor Wilson that it may be the same as Nahsheb. {Ariana, p. 165.) [V.] NAXOS or N.XUS (No|os: Eth. Na|ios: Capo di Schiso), an ancient city of Sicily, on the E. coast of the island between Catana and Slessana. It was situated on a low point of land at the mouth of the river Acesines (Alcantara and at the foot of the hill on which was afterwards built the city of Tau- romenium. All ancient writers agree in represent- ing Naxos as the most ancient of all the Greek colonies in Sicily; it was founded the year before Syracuse, or B.C. 735, by a body of colonists from Chalcis in Euboea, with whom there was mingled, according to Ephorus, a certain number of lonians. The same writer represented Theocles, or Thucles, the leader of the colony and founder of the city, as an Athenian by birth ; but Thucydides takes no notice of this, and describes the city as a purely Chalcidic colony; and it seems certain that in later times it was generally so regarded. (Thuc. vi. 3; Ephor. ap. Strab. vi. p. 267; Scymn. Ch. 270—277; Diod. xiv. 88. Concerning the date of its found- NAXOS. ation see Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 1 64 ; Euseb. Chron. ad 01. 11. 1.) The memory of Naxos as the ear- liest of all the Greek settlements in Sicily was pre- served by the dedication of an altar outside the town to Apollo Archegetes, the divine patron under whose authority the colony had sailed ; and it was a custom (still retained long after the destruction of Naxos itself) that all Theori or envoys proceeding on sacred missions to Greece, or returning from thence to Sicily, should offer sacrifice on this altar. (Thuc. I. 0. ; Appian, B. C. v. 109.) It is singular that none of the writers above cited allude to the origin of the name of Naxos; but there can be little doubt that this was derived, as stated by Hellanicus (ap. Steph. B. s. v. XaA/ci's), from the presence among the original settlers of a body of colonists from the island of that name. The new colony must have been speedily joined by fresh settlers from Greece, as within six years after its first establishment the Chalcidians at Naxos were able to send out a fresh colony, which founded the city of Leontini, B.C. 730; and this was speedily followed by that of Catana. Theocles himself be- came the Oekist, or recognised founder, of the former, and Euarchus, probably a Chalcidic citizen, of the latter. (Thuc. I. c; Scymn. Ch. 283—286; Strab. vi. p. 268.) Strabo and Scymnus Chius both repre- sent Zancle also as a colony from Naxos, but no allu- sion to this is found in Thucydides. But, as it was certainly a Chalcidic colony, it is probable that some settlers from Naxos joined those from the parent country. (Strab. vi. p. 268; Scymn. Ch. 286; Thuc. vi. 4.) Callipolis also, a city of uncertain site, and which ceased to exist at an early period, was a co- lony of Naxos. (Strab. vi. p. 272 ; Scymn. Ch. I. c.) But notwithstanding these evidences of its early pro- sperity, we have very little information as to the early history of Naxos; and the first facts trans- mitted to us concerning it relate to disasters that it sustained. Thus Herodotus tells us that it was one of the cities which was besieged and taken by Hippo- crates, despot of Gela, about b. c. 498 — 491 (Herod. vii. 154); and his expressions would lead us to infer that it was reduced b} him under peraianent sub- jection. It appears to have afterwards successively passed under the authority of Gelon of Syracuse, and his brother Hieron, as we find it subject to the latter in B.C. 476. At that time Hieron, with a view to strengthen his own power, removed the inhabitants of Nasos at the same time with those of Catana, and settled them together at Leontini, while he repeopled the two cities with fresh colonists from other quar- ters (Diod. xi. 49). The name of Naxos is not spe- cifically mentioned during the revolutions that en- sued in Sicily after the death of Hieron ; but there seems no doubt that the city was restored to the old Chalcidic citizens at the same time as these were reinstated at Catana, B.C. 461 (Id. xi. 76); and hence we find, during the ensuing period, the three Chalcidic cities, Naxos, Leontini, and Catana, gene- rally united by the bonds of amity, and maintaining a close alliance, as opposed to Syracuse and the other Doric cities of Sicily. (Id. xiii. 56, xiv. 14; Thuc. iii. 86, iv. 25.) Thus, in B.C. 427, when the Leon- tini were hard pressed by their neighbours of Syra- cuse, their Chalcidic brethren afforded them all the assistance in their power (Thuc. iii. 86); and when the first Athenian expedition arrived in Sicily under Laches and Charoeades, the Naxians immediately joined their alliance. With them, as well as with the Rhegians on the opposite side of the straits, it is