Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/440

 424 NICAEA. to the E. of that river, was naturally included in Italy, and is accordingly so described by Strabo Pliny, and Ptolemy. (Strab. iv. p. 184; Plin. iii. 5. s.'T; Ptol. iii. 1.' § 2.) We have no account of its early history, beyond the fact that it was a colony of JIassilia, and appears to have continued always in a state of dependency upon that city. (Strab. iv. pp. 180, 184; Plin. I. c. Steph. B. s. f.) It was situated on the borders of the Ligurian tribes of the Oxybii and Deciates; and, as well as its neighbour Antipolis, was continually harassed by the incursions of these barbarians. In b. c.154 both cities were actually besieged by the Ligurians; and the Massilians, finding themselves unable to re- pulse the assailants, applied to Rome for assistance; the consul Q. Opimius. who was despatched with an army to their succour, quickly compelled the Ligurians to lay down their arms, and deprived them of considerable part of their territory, which was annexed to the dependency of JIassilia. (Pol. xxxui. 4, 7 ; Liv. Epit. xlvii.) From this time, nothing more is heard in history of Nicaea, which continued to belong to the jurisdiction of Massilia. and, even after it came to be subject to the Romans, and included geographically in Italy, was still for munici- pal purposes dependent upon its parent city. (Strab. iv. p. 184.) At a later period, the neve division of the provinces again transferred to Gaul the towns of Nicaea and Cemenelium, together with the whole district of the Maritime Alps, westward of the Tropaea Augusti. Hence, we find Nicaea described by Ammianus (xv. 11. § 15) as belonging to Gaul; and during the decline of the Empire, after it had become an episcopal see, the names of its bishops are found among the Gaulish prelates. It does not ap- pear to have ever been a town of much importance under the Roman Empire ; and was apparently eclipsed by the city of Cemenelium {Cimiez), in its immediate neighbourhood. But it had a good port, which must always have secured il some share of prosperity, and after the fiill of Cemenelium, it rose to be the most important city in this part of Gaul, and became the capital of an independent district called the Contado di Nizza (County of Nice). This eventually fell into the hands of the House of Savoy, and now forms part of the dominions of the king of Sardinia. Nice itself is a flourishing place, with about 30,000 inhabitants, but has no remains of antiquity. The ancient city probably occupied the heitrht, now the site of the castle, and the immediate neighbourhood of the port, which though small, is secure. Nice is situated at the mouth of the river Paglione, a considerable mountain torrent, evidently the stream called Paut.o by Pliny and Mela. (Plin. I.e.; Mel. ii. 4. §9.) About 2 miles E. of Nice is a deep bay or inlet between two rocky promontories, forming a spacious natural, harbour now known as the Gulf of Villa- franca, from a town of that name, which has however existed only since the 13th century. This is probably the Portus Olivula of the Maritime Itinerary (p. 504). The Anao Poetus of the same Itinerary is probably a small cove, forming a well-sheltered harbour for small vessels on the E. side of the headland, called Capo di S. Ospizio, which forms the eastern boundary of the Gulf of Villafranca. A similar cove a few miles further E. just below the modern village of Eza, is probably the Aasio Poetus of the same authority; but the distances given between these points are greatly overstated. [K. H. B.J NICER. 2. (NiVaia: Eth. NiKateus), a fortress of the Locri Epicnemidii, situated upon the sea, and close to the pass of Thermopylae. It is described by Aeschines as one of the places which commanded the pass. (De Fals. Lefj. p. 45, ed. Steph.) It was the first Locrian town after Alpenos, the latter being at the very entrance of the pass. The surrender of Nicaea by Phalaecus to Philip, in b. c. 346, made the JIacedonian king master of Thermopylae, and brought the Sacred War to an end. (Diod. xvi. 59.) Philip kept possession of it for some time, but subsequently gave it to the Thessalians along with Magnesia. (Dem. Phil. ii. p. 153, ed. Reiske; Aesch. c. Ctesiph. p. 73, ed. Steph.) But in b. c. 340 we ajain find Nicaea in the possession of Philip. (Dem. in Phil. Ep. p. 153.) According to Memnon (ap. Phot. p. 234, a., ed. Bekker ; c. 41 ; ed. Orelli) Nicaea was destroyed by the Phocians, and its in- habitants founded the Bithynian Nicaea. But even if this is true, the town must have been rebuilt soon afterwards, since we find it in the hands of the Ae- tolians during the Roman wars in Greece. (Polyb. X. 42, xvii. 1 ; Liv. xxviii. 5, xxxii. 32.) Subse- quently the town is only mentioned by Strabo (ix. p. 426). Leake identifies Nicaea with the castle of Pundonitza, where there are Hellenic remains. (^Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 5, seq.) 3. In Illyria. [Castr^v, Vol. I. p. 562, a.] 4. In Thrace. [Nicae.] NICAMA (Ni'ica/ia), a place on the SW. coast of India, called a metropolis by Ptolemy (vii. 1. § 12). It was in the district of the Bati, within the ter- ritoiy of king Pandion. It was very probably on the site of the present Cottopatam. [V.] NICA'SIA (NiKa(n'a),a small island near Naxos. (Steph. B. s. V.) NICEPHO'RIUJI {^i.K7]6^iov, Strab. xvi. p. 747; Plol. V. 18. § 6; Steph. B. s. v.), a place of considerable importance in Mesopotamia, on the river Euphrates. According to Isidorus (^Mans. Parth. i. ed. Miiller) and Pliny (v. 24. s. 21, vi. 26. s. 30), it owed its foundation to Alexander the Great : ac- cording, however, to Appian, to Seleacus I., which is much more likely {Syriac. c. 57). It is men- tioned by Dion Cassius (xl. 13) and by Tacitus {Ann. vi. 40), but simply as one of many towns founded by the ^Macedonians. Str.abo calls it a town of the Mygdonians in Mesopotamia (xvi. p. 747). Nothing is known of its intermediate history; but Justinian erected a fortress here (Procop. de Aedif. ii. 7); and the emperor Leo, who probably added several new works to it, is said to have changed its name to Leontopolis. (Cf. Hierocl. p. 715; and Chron. Edess. ap. Assemani. i. p. 405.) [V.] NICEPHO'RIUS, an affluent of the Tigris, which washed the walJs of Tigranocerta (Tac. Ann. xv. 4), now the Bitlis-chul, which rises at Bash Khan, on the S. of Jebel Nimrud, and W. of Lnhe Van. (Chesney, Exped. Etiphrat. vol. i. p. 18; Ritter, Erdlcunde, vol. x. p. 88.) Kiepert's map identifies it with the Jezedchane Su. [E. B. J.] NICER (the Neckar a tributary of the Rhine, having its sources not far from those of the Danube, and discharging itself into the Rhine in the neigh- bourhood of Manheim. Its course forms a sort of semicircle, as it first flows in a north-eastern and afterwards in a north-western direction. The Nicer is not mentioned until a late period of the Roman Empire. In a. d. 319, the emperor Valentinian had to make great efforts in turning some part of the