Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/435

 NEONTEICHOS. nomeri (c. 10), it was built eight years later than Cvme, as a protection against the Pelasgians of Larissa. (Plin. v. 32 ; Herod, i. 149 ; Scyl. p. 28 ; Steph. B. s. v.) Remains of this town, says Cramer, ought to be sought for on the right bank of ihe Hennus, and above Quisel-Hissar, on the road from Smyrna to Berffamah. [L. S.] NEONTEICHOS (Neov ruxo^), a fortress on the coast of Thrace, mentioned by Scylax (p. 28) and by Xenophon (Anab. vii. 5. § 8), supposed to be the modern Ainad.yik. [T. H. D.] NEOPTO'LE JII TURRIS (NeoTrroAe^oy irvpyos, Strab. vii. p. 306), a place on the NV. coast of the Euxine, 120 stadia from the river Tyras, and the same distance from Cremnisci (^Anon. Peripl. p. 9), now Akkervian. [E. B. J.] NE'PETE (NeVcTaPtol.; NeTrira, Strab. : Eth. Nepesinus: Nepi), a city of Etruria, situated in the southern part of that province, at a distance of 30 miles from Rome and 8 miles E. of Sutrium. There is no doubt that it was an ancient Etruscan town, though certainly not a city of the first rank, and was probably a dependency of Veil. Hence we meet with no mention of the name, any more than of its neigh- boui- Sutrium, until after the tall of Veii; but from that period these two cities became places of much importance as the frontier fortresses of the Roman dominion on the side of Etruria (Liv. vi. 9). The name of Nepete is first mentioned in B. c. 386, when it was in alliance with Rome, and being attacked by the Etruscans, sent to sue for assistance from the Romans. But before the military tribunes Valerius and Furius could arrive to their support, the city had surrendered to the Etruscan arms, and was occupied with a strong garrison. It was, however, speedily re- taken, and the leaders of the party who had been in- strumental in bringing about the surrender were executed (Liv. vi. 9, 10). A few years later a more etfectual step was taken to secure its possession by sending thither a Roman colony. The establishment of this is fixed by Livy in B.C. 383, while Velleius Paterculus would date it 10 years later, or 17 years after the capture of Rome by the Gauls (Liv. vi. 2 1 ; Veil. Pat. i. 14). It was a Latin colony like most of those established at this period. In B.C. 297, Ne- pete is again mentioned as one of the frontier towns on this side against the Etruscans (Liv. x. 14); but with this exception we hear no more of it during the wars of the Romans in Etruria. In the Second Punic War it was one of the twelve Latin colonies which de- clared themselves exhausted with the burdens of the war, and unable to furnish any further supplies : for which it was punished, before the end of the war, by the imposition of double contributions (Liv. xxvii. 9, xxix. 15). From this time Nepete seems to have sunk into the condition of a subordinate provincial town. Like the other Latin colonies, it obtained the Roman franchise by the Lex Julia, in b. c. 90, and became from thenceforth a municipium; which rank it appears to have retained under the Empire, though it is said in the Liber Coloniarum to have received a colony at the same time with that sent to Falerii (Fest. s.v. Municipiurn,^. 127; Gruter,/n«c?'.p. 308. 2, p. 441. 7 ; Lib. Col. p. 217 ; Zumpt, de Colon. ]). 337). Its existence as a municipal town through- out the period of the Roman Empire is proved by in- scriptions as well as by Pliny, Ptolemy, and the Ta- bula (Strab. V. p. 226; Plin. iii. 5. s. 8-, Ptol. iii. 1. § ,50; Tab. Pent.- Orell. Inscr. 879, 3991); but no mention occurs of it in history till after the fall of the Western Empire, when it figures in the Gothic KERIGOS. 419 wars as a place of some importance from its streneth as a fortress, and was one of the last strongholds maintained by the Goths against Narses (Procop. £. G. iv. 34). It early became an episcopal see, a dignity which it has retiiined without intermissioii till the present time, though now but an msignificant town with about 1500 inhabitants. The only remains of antiquity now visible at I^epi are some ancient sepulchres hewn in the rock, and some portions of the ancient walls, much resembling in their construction those of Sutrium and Falerii. These are considered by Dennis as belonging to the ancient Etruscan city; but it is more probable that they date only from the Roman colony. (Dennis's Etruria, vol. i. p. Ill; Nibbv, DinlOTni. vol. ii. p. 398.) ^ ' [E. H. B.] NE'PHELIS (NecfieAis), a small town on the coast of Cilicia, situated, according to Ptolemy (v. 8. § 1), between Antioch and Anemurium; but if, as some suppose, it be the same place as the Ze(t>4Aiov mentioned in the Stadiasmus Maris Slagni (§§ 181, 182), it ought to be looked for between Selinus and Celenderis. Near the place was a promontory of the same name, where, according to Livy (xxxiii. 20), the fleet of Antiochus the Great was stationed, when, after reducing the towns of Cilicia as far as Selinus, he was engaged in the siege of Coracesium, and where he received the ambassadors of the Rhodians. (Comp. Leake, Asia Minor, p. 119.) [L. S.] NE'PHERIS Qiipepis), a natural fortress situ- ated on a rock, 180 stadia from the town of Car- thage. (Strab. xvii. p. 834.) [E. B. J.] NEPTU'NIUS MONS. [Pelokus.] NEQm'NUM. [Naenia.] NEREAE, a tribe, mentioned with several others, who are equally unknown, by Pliny, and placed by him in the neighbourhood of the Insula Pattalene, the modern Saurashtrun (vi. 20. s. 23). [V.] NERE'TUM, or NEPJTUM (NiipriTov, Ptol.: Eth. Neretinus: A'arrfo), a city of the Sallentini, in the ancient Calabria, mentioned both by Ptolemy and Pliny among the inland to-»Tis of that people. Its name is also found in the Tabula, which fixes its position 29 M. P. from JIanduria on the road to Uxentum (Ugento), and 20 M. P. from the latter city. These data enable us to identify it with cer- tainty with the modern town of Nardb, a con- siderable place about 9 miles N. of Gallipoli. It is clear from Pliny that it was a town of municipal rank, and the same thing is confirmed by inscrip- tions ; but there are no ancient remains at Nardb. (Plin. iii. 11. .s. 16; Ptol. iii. 1. § 76; Tab. Pent. ; Orell. Jnscr. 3108. Other inscriptions, with the name of munic, nerit. published by Muratori, vol. ii. pp. 1113, 1120, and by Romanelli, vol. ii. pp. 49, 50, are probably spurious. See Orelli, 138.) [E. H. B.] NE'RICUS. [Leucas.] NERIGOS. Pliny (iv. 16. s. 30), in speaking of the islands in the north of Britain, says that, according to some, Nerigos was the largest, and that from it people used to sail to Thule. As besides this pas- sage we have no other information, it is impossible, with absolute certainty, to say what island is meant; but as Norway is in Danish still called Norge, and in Swedish Norrige, it is now generally assumed that Nerigos is the modern Norway; the south- western headland of which, projecting into the sea, might easily lead the ancients to the belief that it was an island. In the same passage Pliny mentions the island of Bergi, which may possibly be only the E E 2