Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/441

 NICIA. river into a new channel for the purpose of protecting ' the walls of a fort erected on its banks from lieing undermined and washed away by its waters. (Amm. Marc, sxviii. 2 ; Vopisc. Proh. 13, where it is called Niger ; Auson. Mosell. 423 ; Sidon. Apollin. Paneg. adAvit. 324; Eumen. Paneg. Const. 13; Symmach. Laud, in Valent. ii. 9, 10.) The remains of Roman antiquities on the banks of the Nicer are verv numerous, and a few of its tributaries, such as the Armisia {Erms) and IMurra (^Murr), are men- tion ed in inscriptions found in the country. [L. S.] NTCIA. [Castra, Vol. I. p. 562, a.] NICIUM or NICIU (Niki'ou ixTirpoTroMs, Ptol. iv. .5. § 9), a principal town in the Nomos Proso- pites of Lower Aegypt, lay just above Jlomemphis and nearly midway between Memphis and Alex- Hn(l eia. It was one of the military stations on the main road between those cities which ran nearly parallel with the Canopic arm of the Nile. [Puoso- piTii.] [W. B. D.] NICOMEDEIA (NLKOixriSeM: Eth. NiKO/i7j5ei;s : Isnikmid or Ismid'), the capital of Bithynia, situated on the north-eastern coast of the Sinus Astacenus, a part of the Propontis. The town of Astacus, a little to the south-east ofNicomedeia,was destroyed, or greatly damaged, by Lysimachus; and some time after, B.C. 264, Nicomedes I. built the town of Nicomedeia to which the inhabitants of Astacus were transferred (Stepli. B. s. v.; Strab. xii. p. 563; Paus. v. 12. §5; Euseb. Chron. 01. 129. 1). The founder of the new city made it the capital of his kingdom, and in a short time it became one of the largest and most flourishing cities, and continued to prosper for more than six centuries. Pliny, in his letters to the em- peror Trajan, mentions several public buildings of the city, such as a senate-house, an aqueduct, a forum, a temple of Cybele, &c., and speaks of a great fire, during which the place suffered much {Epist. x. 42, 46). Respecting its rivalry with Nicaea, see Ni- CAEA. According to Pliny (v. 43), Nicomedeia was 622 niiles to the south-east of Chalcedon, while ac- cording to otliers it was only 60 or 61 miles distant (It. Ant. pp. 124, 140; It. Hieros. p. 572; Tab. Petit.') Under the Roman Empire Nicomedeia was often the residence of the emperors, such as Diocle- tian and Constantine, especially when they were en- gaged in war against the Parthians or Persians. (Aurel. Vict, de Caes. 39 ; Nicephor. vii. in fin.) The city often suffered from earthquakes, but owing to the munificence of the emperors it was always re- stored (Amm. Marc. xvii. 7 ; Philostorg. iv. p. 506). It also suffered much from an invasion of the Scy- thians (Amm. Blare, xxii. 9, 12, 13). The orator Libanius {Orat. 62, torn. iii. p. 337, ed. Reiske) mourns the loss of its thermae, basilicae, temples, gymnasia, schools, public gardens, &c., some of which were afterwards restored by Justinian (Procop. de Aed.x. 1; comp. Ptol. v. l.§3, viii. 17. §4; Hierocl. p. 691). From inscriptions we learn that in the later NICOPOLIS. 425 COIN OF NICOMEDEIA period of the empire Nicomedeia enjoyed the honour of a Roman colony (Orelli, Inscript. No. 1060). The city is also remarkable as being the native place of Arrian, the historian of Alexander the Great, and as the place where Hannibal put an end to his che- quered life. Constantine breathed his last at hi: villa Ancyron, near Nicomedeia (Cassiod. Chron. Const.; Philostorg. ii. p. 484). The modern Is7niu still contains many interesting remains of antiquity, respecting which see Pococke, vol. iii. p. 143, &c.; Description de V Asie Mineure, tom. i. ; comp. Rasche, Lexic. Rei Num. iii. 1. p. 1435, &c. [L. S.] NICO'NIS DROMUS (Ni/ctoros ^p6nos, Peripl. Mar. Ei-ythr. p. 9, ed. Hudson; ToviKr], Ptol. iv. 7. § 11; Niici, Ptol. i. 17. § 12), one of the " Runs" of Azania, on the E. coast of Africa, seven (days' stations) in all. Passing the Noti Cornu of Ptolemy (^EL-Khail), the voyager arrived at the " Strands " (^alyiuAoi), the Little and the Great, extending six days according to the Periplus, eight according to Ptolemy's autliorities, though he would reduce the distance to four natural days. The Little Strand, which occurs first, is doubtless the Se'if Tawil, or " Long Sword," of the Arab pilots, so called from its cuiTature. The Great Strand is probably the district now called Mert'if, " Dry Desert." These ha've an extent of 300 miles. Next comes the peopled shore where Ptolemy (i. 17. § 11) places 3 towns, Essina (^Ecrotva), the Sahapiunis PORTUS (^apamcovos op^os), and ToNlCE or Nici, the Nicon of the Periplus. These towns must he placed in the Bara Somauli, or the land of the Somauli, or Shmidli, a mild people of pastoral ha- bits, confined to the coast, which they occuiiy from the Red Sea to the river Juba. The " Port of Sa- rapion" corresponds with Marhah, while the " Run of Nicon" agrees with the point called Torre in Owen's map. (^Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar, performed in H. M. ships Leven and Barracouta, London, 1 833 ; comp. Cooley, Claudius Ptolemy and the Nile, p. 64.) [E. B. J.] NICO'NIUM (NiKwviov, Scylax, p. 29), a city of European Sarmatia, which Strabo (vii. p. 306) places at 180 stadia from the mouth of the Tyras, while the anonymous Coast-describer (p. 9) fixes it at 300 stadia from the Isiacoram Portus, and 30 stadia from the Tyras on the coast. Stej-hanus of Byzantium (s. v.) states that it was at the mouth of the Ister, but for "larpov, Tvpov should probably be read. Ptolemy (iii. 10. § 16) has removed it front the coast, and placed it too far to the N. Its posi- tion must be looked for near Ovidiopol. [E.B.J.] NICO'POLIS (NiKOTToAis : Eth. 'HikottoKltip), I. e. the " City of Victory." I. In Asia. 1 . A town of Bithynia, on the coast of the Bosporus, a few miles north of Chalcedon. (Plin. v. 43; Stcpli. B. s. V.) 2. A town in Cappadocia or Armenia Minor, founded by Pompey on the spot where he had gained his first decisive victory over Mithridates. (Strab. xii. p. 555 ; Appian, Mithrid. 101, 105 ; Dion Cass. XXXV. 33 ; Caes. Bell. Alex. 36; Plin. vi. 10.) It was situated in a valley of the river Lycus, a tribu- tary of the Iris {Acta Martyr, tom. iii. Jul. p. 46), at a distance of 100 miles to the north-west of Sa- tala, and 98 to tlie north-east of Sebastia. It was a populous town as early as the time of Strabo; but during the last period of the Empire it appears to liave suffered much, and its decayed walls were restored by Justinian. (Procop. de Aed. iii. 4; comp. Ptol. v. 7.