Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/650

 634 PISCENAE. Actium, B.C. 31. (I'lut. Ant. 60.) It appears, however, to have been restored, and peopled with fre.sh colonists b}'^ Augustus, for we find it bearing in inscriptions the titles of " Colonia Julia Felix;" and though Pliny does not give it the title of a colony, its possession of that rank under the Empire is abundantly proved by inscriptions. (Plin. ii. 14. s. 19 ; Orell. hiscr. 81, 3143, 3698, 4069, 4084.) From the same authority we learn that it was a place of some trade, and that vessels were built there, so that it had a " Collegium F"abrorum Na- valium." (lb. 4084.) The port was undoubtedly formed by the mouth of the river, which still affords a harbour for small vessels. Its positinn on the great Flaminiun Way also doubtless secured to Pisaurum a certain share of prosperity as long as the Roman empire continued; but it was always inferior to the neighbouring Fanum Fortunae. (Mel. ii. 4. § 5; Ptol.'iii. 1. §22; Itin. Ant. pp. 100, 126 ; Itin. Ilier. p. 615 ; Tab. Pent.) During the Gothic Wars Pisaurum was destroyed by Vitiges, but partially restored by Belisarius (Procop. B. G. iii. 11) ; and rose again to prosperity under the exarchate of Kavenna, and became one of the cities of the Pentapolis. (Geogr. Kav. iv. 31 ; P. Diac. Hist. Lang. ii. 19.) The modern city of Pesaro is still a flourishing place ; but has no re- mains of antiquity, except numerous inscriptions, which have been collected and published with a learned commentary by the Abate Olivieri. {Mar- mora Pisaurensia, fol. Pisaur. 1738.) [E. II. B.] PISCENAE, enumerated by Pliny (iii. 4. s. 5) among the Oppida Latina of Gallia Xarbonensis. It is generally assumed to be represented by Pezenas in the district of Agatha (Ayde) near the Arauris (Hirault). Pliny (viii. 48. s. 73) speaks of a wool that was growu about Piscenae, which was more like hair than wool. [G. L ] PISGAH. [Nebo.] PISIDA, a muuicipium and station on the Ro- man road running along the coast-line of Syrtica, 20 M. P. from Gypsaria Taberna {Dahinan), and 30 M. P. from Villa Magna (Kelah). (Itin. Anton. ; Pent. Tab.) Ptolemy has a harbour, Pisindon Portus {riicTivSwi' Ai/xTJv, iv. 3. § 12), on the coast, which is represented by the harbour of Barekd or Brega. (Barth, Wuurlerungen, p. 271.) [E. B. J.] PISI'DIA (J] maiSiK-n : Eth. UiffiSat, Pisidae), a province in the south of Asia Minor, which was in the earlier times always regarded as a part of Phry- gia or Pamphylia, but was constituted a separate province in the division of the Roman empire made by Constantine the Great. It bordered in the east on Isauria and Cilicia, in the south on Pamphylia, in the west on Lycia, Caria, and Phrygia, and in the north on Phrygia Parorios; but it is almost impossible to mark the exact boundary lines, espe- cially fn the north and north-west, as the northern })arts of Pisidia are often treated as parts (jf Pliry- gia, to which they originally belonged, and from which they are sometimes called Phrygia Pisidica, or 4>pu- yia irphs niatSLav; but Amyntas separated them from Phrygia and united them with Pisidia. (Strab. xii. p. 570, &c.; PtoL v. 5. §§ 4, 8; Dionys. Per. 838, &c.: Plin. V. 24; Hierocl. pp. 662, &c., 679, &c.) The country, which was rough and moun- tainous, though it contained several fertile valleys and plains, which admitted of the cultivation of olives (Strab. l. c), was divided into several dis- tricts, with separate names. Tlie south-western district bordering on Lycia was called Jlilyas, and PISTORIA. another adjoining it bore the name of Cabalia. The mountains traversing Pisidia consist of ramifications of Mount Taurus, proceeding from Mount Cadmus in Phrygia, in a south-eastern direction, and assum- ing in the neighbourhood of Termissus the name of Sardemisus (Pomp. Mel. i. 14; Plin. v. 26), and on the borders of Milyas that of Climax. (Polyb. v. 72 ; Strab. xiv. p. 666.) These mountains contain the sources of the rivers Catarrhactes and Cestrus, which flow through Pisidia and Pamphylia into the bay of Pamphyha. The principal products of Pi- sidia were salt, the root iris, from which perfumes were manufactured, and the wine of Amblada, which was much recommended by ancient physicians. (Plin. xii. 55, xxi. 19, xxxi. 39; Strabo. xii. p. 570.) Pisidia also contained several lakes, some of which are as.--igned to Phrygia or Lycaonia, e. g. Coralis and Trogitis (Strab. xii. p. 568), the great salt lake Ascania, and Pu.sgusa or Pungusa, which is mentioned only by Byzantine writers. (Nicet. Citron. X. p. 50; Cinnam. Ilist. ii. 8.) The inhabitants of Pisidia must in a great mea- sure have belonged to the same stock as the Phrygians, but were greatly mixed with Cilicians and Isaurians. They are said to have at first been called Solymi (Steph. B. s.v.); they were warlike and free mountaineers who inhabited those parts from very remote times, and were looked upon by the Greeks as barbarians. They were never subdued by neighbouring nations, but frequently haras.sed the adjoining cotmtries by predatory inroads. (Xenoph. Anab. i. 1. § 11, ii. 1. § 4, &c.; Strab. ii. p. 130, xii. p. 569, xiv. pp. 670, 678 ; Liv. xxxv. 13.) Even the Romans were scarcely able to subdue these people, protected as they were by their mountains and ravines. After the defeat of Antiochus, Pisidia, was, with the rest of Asia, given to Eumenes, but had to be conquered by the Romans themselves, and then formed the beginning of what subsequently came to be the province of Cilicia, to which, about B. c. 88, the three Phrygian districts of Laodiceia, Apameia, andSynnada, were added. (Liv. Epit. 77; Cic. in Verr. i. 17,38.) Still, however, the Romans never established a garrison or planted a colony in the interior; and even the submission of the towns seems to have consisted mainly in their paying tribute to their rulers. The principal towns of Pisidia were, Astiocheia, Sagalassus, Teu- ittissijs, Selge, Peunelissus, Cibyea,Oe>'oanda, and BuBON. The mountainous parts of Pisidia are now inhabited by the Karamanians, a wild and rapacious people, whence the country is little vL-^ited by travellers, and consequently little known; but Pisidia in general corresponds to that portion of Asia Minor comprised within the government of Isbarteh. [L. S.] PISILIS (IIiViAis), a small town of Caria, be- tween Calinda and Caunus, of uncertain site. (Strab. xiv. p. 651.) [L. S.] PISINGARA or PINSIGARA (nimyydpa or ntvatydpd), a town of uncertain site in Armenia Minor. (Ptol. v. 7. § 4.) [L. S.] PISORACA, according to an inscription (Florez, Exp. Sagr. v. p. 37), a southern affluent of the river Durius in Hispania Tarraconensis, now the Pisu- trga. (Ukert, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 290.) [T.H.D.] PISSAEUil {Uia-cra'iov'), a town of Pelagonia in Epeirus, the exact site of which is unknown. (Po- lyb. v. 108; Steph. B. s. v.) PISSANTI'NI. [Dassaketae.] PISTOIIIA {niaTwpio. : Eth. Pistorieusis : Pis-