Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/617

 nilNTIAS. Euxine, and close to the town of Phileae. It has been variously identified with Inimakale, Mauro- molo, and Derkus. (Mela, ii. 2; Plin. iv. 11. s. 18, V. 32. s. 43.) [T. H. D.] PHI'NTIAS (*ii/Tias : Eth. Phintiensis: Ali- cata), a city on the S. coast of Sicily, situated at the mouth of the river Himera, about midway be- tween Agrigentum and Gela. It was not an ancient city, but was founded about 280 b. c. by Phintias, tyrant of Agrigentum, who bestowed on it his own name, and laid it out on a great scale, with its walls, temples, and agora. He then peopled it with the inhabitants of Gela, which he utterly destroyed, compelling the whole popuhition to migrate to his newly founded city. (Diod. xxii. 2, p. 495.) Phin- tias, however, never ruse to a degree of importance at all to be compared to that of Gela : it is men- tioned in the First Punic War (b. c. 249) as aftord- ing shelter to a Eoman fleet, which was, however, attacked in the roadstead by that of the Cartha- ginians, and many of the ships sunk. (Diod. xxiv. 1, p. 508.) Cicero also alludes to it as a seaport, carrying on a considerable export trade in corn. (Cic. Verr. iii. 83.) But in Strabo's time it seems to have fallen into the same state of decay with the other cities on the S. coast of Sicily, as he does not mention it among the few exceptions. (Strab. vi. p. 272.) Pliny, indeed, notices the Phintienses (or Phthinthienses as the name is written in some ilSS.) among the stipendiary towns of Sicily ; and its name is found also in Ptolemy (who writes it iOtvdia) ■ but it is strange that both these writers reckon it among the inland towns of Sicily, though its mari- time position is clearly attested both by Diodorus and Cicero. The Antonine Itinerary also gives a place called " Plintis," doubtless a corruption of Phintias, which it places on the road from Agri- gentum along the coast towards Syracuse, at the distance of 23 miles from the former city. {Itin. Ant. p. 95.) This distance agrees tolerably well with that from Girgenti to Alicata, though some- what below the truth; and it seems probable that the latter city, which is a place of some trade, though its harbour is a mere roadstead, occupies the site of the ancient Phintias. There is indeed no doubt, from existing remains on the hill immediately above Alicata, that the site was occupied in ancient times; and, though these have been regarded by local antiquarians as the ruins of Gela, there is little doubt of the correctness of the opinion advanced by Cluverius, that that city is to be placed on the site of Terranova, and the vestiges which remain at Alicata are those of Phintias. (Cluver. Sicil. pp. 200, 214. See also the article Gela.) The re- mains themselves are of little interest. [E. H. B.] PHINTON or PHINTONIS INSULA (*iV- Tuivos vijaos, Ptol.), a small island in the strait between Sardinia and Corsica, mentioned both by Pliny and Ptolemy. It is probably the one now called the fsola della Maddalena, the most con- siderable of the croup so situated. (Plin. iii. 6. s. 13; Ptol. iii. 3. §8.) [E. H. B.] PHLA (*A.d), an island in the lake Tritonis in the interior of Libya (Herod, iv. 178), which Ste- phanus B., copying from Herodotus, calls an island in Aegypt, confounding it with the island of Philae in the Nile. PHLEGRA. [Pallene.] PHLEGRAEI CAMPI. [Campania, p. 491, a.] PHLIUS (^AioCs: £th. ^.Kidaios, the territory ♦Aiofffa), an independent city in the north-eastern PHLIUS. 601 part of Peloponnesus, whose territoiy was bounded on the N. by Sicyonia, on the W. by Arcadia, on the E. by Cleonae, and on the S. by Argolis. This territory is a small valley about 900 feet above the level of the sea, surrounded by mountains, from which streams flow down on every side, joining the river Asopus in the middle of the plain. The mountain in the southern part of the plain, from which the principal source of the Asopus springs, was called Canieates (Kapi'cctTTjs) in antiquity, now Pohjfengo. (Strab. viii. p. 382.) The territory of Phlius was celebrated in antiquity for its wine. (Athen. i. p. 27, d.) According to Strabo (viii. p. 382), the ancient capital of the country was Araethyrea ('Apai- 6vp4a') on Mt. Celosse, which city is mentioned by Homer (II. ii. 571); but the inhabitants subse- quently deserted it and built Phlius at the distance of 30 stadia. Pausanias (ii. 12. §§ 4, 5), however, does not speak of any migration, but says that the ancient capital was named Arantia {'Apixuria), from its founder Aras, an autochthon, that it was after- wards called Araethyrea from a daughter of Aras, and that it finally received the name of Phlius, from Phlias, a son of Ceisus and grandson of Temenus. The name of Arantia was retained in the time of Pausanias in the hill Arantinus, on which the city stood. Hence the statement of grammarians that both Arantia and Araethyrea were ancient names of Phlius. (Steph. B. s. vv. 4>iovs, 'Apovria; Schol. ad A poll. Rhod. i. 115.) According to Stephanus B. (s. V. <}>Atoi}s) Phlius derived its name from Dio- nysus and Chthonophyle. Phlius was subsequently conquered by Dorians under Ehegnidas, who came from Sicyon. Some of the inhabitants mi- grated to Samos, others to Clazomenae; among the settlers at Samos was Hippasus, from whom Pytha- goras derived his descent. (Pans. ii. 13. § 1, seq.) Like most of the other Doric states, Phlius was governed by an aristocracy, though it was for a time subject to a tyrant Leon, a contemporary of Pytha- goras. (Diog. Laert. i. 12, viii. 8; Cic. Tii^c. v. 3.) Phlius sent 200 soldiers to Thermopylae (Herod, vh. 202), and 1000 to Plataea (ix. 28). During the whole of the Peloponnesian War it remained faithful to Sparta and hostile to Argos. (Thuc. v. 57, seq., vi. 105.) But before b. c. 393 a change seems to have taken place in the government, for in that year we find some of the citizens in exile who professed to be the friends of the Lacedaemonians. The Phliasians, however, still continued faithful to Sparta, and received a severe defeat from Ijjliicrates in the year already mentioned. So much were they weak- ened by this blow that they were obliged to admit a Lacedaemonian garrison within their walls, which they had been unwilling to do before, lest their alMes should restore the exiles. But the Lacedaemonians did not betray the confidence placed in them, and quitted the city without making any change in the government. (Xen. Hell. iv. 4. § 15, seq.) Ten years afterwards (b. c. 383) the exiles induced the Spartan government to espouse their cause; and with the fate of Mantineia before their eyes, the Phliasians thought it more prudent to comply with the request (jf tiie Spartans, and received the exiles. (Xen. IlelU v. 2. § 8, seq.) But disputes arising between the returned exiles and those who were in possession of the government, the former again appealed to Sparta, and Agesilaus was sent with an army in E. c. 380 to reduce the city. At this period Phlius contained 5000 citizens. Agesilaus laid siege to the city, which held out for a year and eight months.