Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/437

 KEIIULUM. The territory of the Nervii did not extend beyond the hmits of the old diocese of Cambrai, which was, however, very large. The capital of the Nervii was Bagacum (Bai-ai), but Cambrai was also a town of the Nervii. [Camakacum.] NERULUII, a town in the interior of Lucania, mentioned by Livy during the wars of the Romans in that country, when it was taken by assault by the consul Aemilius Barbula, B.C. 317 (Liv. ix. 20). The only other notice of it is found in the Itineraries, from which we learn that it. was situated on the high- road from Capua to Khegium, at the point of junc- tion with another line of road which led from 'N'enu- sia by Potentia and Grumentum towards the fron- tiers of Bruttium {Itin. Ant. pp. 10,5, 110; Tah. Peut). The names and distances in this part of the Tabula are too corrupt and confused to be of any service : the Itinerary of Antoninus places it 14 miles (or according to another passage 16 miles) N. of Muranum, the site of which is clearly ar^certained. If the former distance be adopted as correct, it must have been situated at, or in the neighbourhood of, La Rotonda, near the sources of the river Lao (Hol.sten. Not. ad Cluo. p. 293 ; Romanelli, vol. i. p. 389). [E. H. B.] NERU'SII (Nepovaioi). This name of a people occurs in the Trophy of the Alps (Plin. iii. 20. s. 24), between the Oratelli and Velauni. Ptolemy (iii. 1. § 41) places them within his Italy among the JIaritime Alps. Their chief town was Vintium, which is Vence, on the west side of the Var, and not far from Nicaea (A7z2«). [G. L.] NESACTIUM (NfaaKTOv, PtoL), a town of Istria, situated to the E. of Pola, on the Flanaticus Sinus, and not far from the river Arsia, which was the boundary of Istria on this side. Hence Ptolemy calls it the last city of Italy. It is mentioned by Livy as a city of the Istrians before their conquest by Rome, and a strong fortress, so that it stood a long siege, and was only taken by the Roman consul C. Clau- dius Pulcber, by cutting off its supply of water (Liv. xli. 11). It afterwards appears both in Pliny and Ptolemy as a municipal town of Istria under the Romans, and seems to have survived the fall of the Western Empire, but the period of its destruction is unknown (Plin. iii. 19. s. 23; Ptol. iii. 1. § 27 ; Tab. Pent.; Anon. Rav. iv. 31). The fact of its proxi- mity to the Arsia (^Arsa^, combined with Livy's mention of a river Jhwinf/ by the walls, render it pro- bable that it was situated immediately on the right bank of the Arsia; but its exact site has not been determined. [E. H. B.] NESAEA (N7)<raia), a district mentioned in two places in Strabo, with slightly differing descrip- tions : 1. as a country belonging to Hyrcania, and watered by the Ochus, now Tedjen (xi. p. 509); 2. as a distinct and independent land (xi. p. 511). The geographer probably meant to imply a narrow strip of land, whose boundaries were Hyrcania, Ariana, and Parthia respectively, and con'espond- ing with the present Khurasan. It may be iden- tified with the existing Nissa, a small town to the N. of the Alburz chain of mountains, between As- teriibdd and Meshed. (Wilson, Ariana, pp. 142 — 148.) There has been some doubt as to the orthografihy of the name, which, in some of the editions, is called Nitrai'a; but, on the whole, the above is probably the best. It is not nnlikely that the place called by Isidorus Parthaynisa, " which the Greeks call Nisaea," must also be identified with the present NESTUS. 421 Nissa. The same district answers to the " regio Nisiaea Parthyenes nobilis " in Pliny (vi. 25 "s 29). [V.] NESCANIA, a municipal town in Hispania Bae- tica, stood on the site of the modern village El Valle de Abdelrtcis, 2 leagues W. from Antequera. It is still famed for its mineral springs, the existence of which in ancient times is attested by inscriptions. (Ukert, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 363.) [T. H. D.] NESIO'TIS (Nrj(Ti(iT(s x'^P'^, Ptol. v. 9. § 17), a district of Asiatic Sarniatia, formed by the windinss of the river Rha,and occupied by the Asaei, Materi, and Phtheirophagi. [E. B. J.] NESIS (^Nisida), a small island on the coa.st of Campania, between Puteoli and Neapolis, and di- rectly opposite to the extremity of the ridge called Mons Pausilypus (Seneca, Ep. 53). It may be con- sidered as forming the eastern headland of the bay of Baiae or Puteoli, of which Cape Misenum is the western limit. The island is of small extent, but considerable elevation, and undoubtedly constituted at a remote period one side of the crater of a vol- cano. This must, however, have been extinct before the period of historical memory; but it appears that even in the days of Statius and Lucan it emitted sulphureous and noxious vapours, which has long ceased to be the case (Stat. Sihj. ii. 2. 78; Lucan, vi. 90). It was nevertheless, like the adjoining hill of Pausilypus, a pleasant place of residence. Brutus had a villa there, where he was visited by Cicero shortly after the death of Cae.sar, and where they conferred, together with Cassius and Libo, upon their future plans (Cic. ad Att. xvi. 1 — 4). Pliny tells us that it w;is famous for its asparagus, a celebrity which it still retains (Plin. xix. 8. s. 42) ; but the wood which crowned it in the days of Statius (^Silv. iii. 1. 148), has long since disap- peared. [E. H. B.] NESIS (N^o-is, Arrian Peripl. p. 18), a small river, 60 stadia from the Borgys, which discharges itself into the Euxine by the Prom. Herculis, Cajje ConstantiousJci{ Cape A dler of Gauttier's map) . where there is now a river called Mezioumta. [E. B. J.} NESSON. [Nessonls Lacus.] NESSO'NIS LACUS (J) tieaawvh Ki/j-vv), a lake of Pelasgiotis in Thessaly, lying ea>t of La- rissa, now called Karatjair or MavpoXijxv-q. In summer it is only a marsh, and contains very little water, but in winter it is filled by the overflowing of the Peneius. When the basin is filled, its su- perfluous waters are conducted by a channel into the lake Boebeis, now called Karla. (Strab. ix. p. 440 ; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 445, vol. iv. p. 403.) Strabo regarded the lakes Nes- sonis and Boebeis as the remains of the great lake which covered Thessaly, before the waters found an outlet through the vale of Tempe to the sea ; but he is mistaken in saying that Nessonis is larger than Boebeis. (Strab. ix. p. 430.) Nessonis received its name from a town Nesson, which is mentioned only by Stephanus B. (s. v. Hiaaav'). NESTAEL [Nesti.] NESTANE. [JIantineia, Vol. IL p. 264, b.] NESTI, NESTAEI (NcVtoi, Scylax, p. 8; Ne- (TTOuoL, Eratosthenes, ap. Schol. Apolhm. lihod. iv. 1296), a people of Illyricum, with a town of the same name, near the river Nestus (Ne'crTos, Scylax, I. c; Artemidorus, ap. Steph.B. s.v.), which has been identified with the Kerka. [E. B. J.] NESTUS or NESSUS (NeVros, Scyl. pp. 8, 29; Scymn. 672; Pomp. Mela, ii. 2. §§ 2, 9; Phn. £ £ 3