Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/651

 PISTYKUS. toja), a town of Etruria, situated in tlie noiihfin jiart of tliat province at the foot of the Apennines, and on the direct road from Florentia to Luca, at the distance of 25 miles from each of those cities. (/<m. Ant. p. 284.) We have no account of it as an Etruscan town, nor has it any remains which belong to that people : under the Romans it seems to Lave been an ordinary municipal town of no great importance. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8 ; Ptol. iii. 1. § 48 ; Itin. Ant. I. c.) Its name is known in his- tory only iu connection with the final defeat of Catiline, B. c. 62. That general had assembled his forces in the neighbourhood of Faesulae ; but on learning the discovery and failure of the conspiracy at Kome, he drew them off into the territory of Pistoria (in agrum Pistorienseni), with the view of making his escape across the Apennines into Cisal- pine Gaul. But finding his retreat on that side cut off by Metellus Celer, while he was closely pressed by the consul C. Antonius in his rear, he suddenly turned upon the latter and gave him battle, but was cut to pieces with the whole of his remaining forces. (Sallust. Cat. 57.) From this narrative it appears that the battle must have been fought in the mountains on the confines of the Pistorian ter- litory, which apparently adjoined that of Faesulae ; but we have no more precise clue to its locality. Pistoria is mentioned by Aminianus Marcellinus, at a late period of the Roman Empire, as one of the municipal towns of th« district called Tuscia Anno- naria (Amm. Marc, xxvii. 3. § 1) ; but it seems to have never been a place of much consideration in ancient times, and first rose to importance in the middle ages. Pistoja is now a considerable town, and the see of a bishop. [E. H. B.] PISTYRUS (niVrupo?), acity and lake in Thrace, which the army of Xerxes passed after crossing the Nestus. (Herod, vii. 109.) The lake is described by Herodotus as 30 stadia in circumference, full of fish, and exceedingly .salt. The town is called by Stephanus B. Pistirus or Bistirus (s. vv. niWipos, 'Bitrripos'). Others have the form Pisteira. (Ilio-- T6ipo, Harpocrat. p. 124. 11 ; Schol. ad Aesch. Pers. 2.) PISU'RGIA (ra TlKTOvpyia), a coast-town of Cilicia, between Celenderis and Seleucia, 45 stadia to the west of Cape Crauni, and to the right of the island of Crambusa. (Stadiasm. Mar. Mag. §§ 172, 173.) [L. S.] PISYE or PITYE (JlKri-r), Uirvr) : Eth. Ui- ffvr}Tris, riiTii'^TTjs), a town of Caria, of which the site is unknown. (Steph. B. s. v. ; Constant, de Them. i. 14, p. 38, ed. Bonn.) PITAIUM (Plin. v. 29 ; Xltrdov Tr(iA.is : Eth. Unaevs, Steph. B. s. v.), a town of Caria, of un- certain site. PITANE (nirdvri : Eth. TlnavaTos), an ancient city on the coast of Aeolis in Asia Minor, was situated near the mouth of the river ]'>enus on the bay of Elaea. It was one of the eleven ancient Aeolian settlements, and possessed considerable com- mercial advantages in having two harbours. (Herod, i. 149; Scylax, p. 37 ; Strab. xiii. pp. 581, 607, 614.) It was the birthplace of the academic philosopher Arcesilaus, and in the reign of Titus it suffered severely from an earthquake. (Oros. vii. 12; comp. Ptol. v. 2. § 5; Steph. B. s. v.- Plin. v. 32, xxxv. 49; Ov. Met. vii. 357.) The town is still men- tioned in Hierocles, and its site is universally iden- tified with the modern Tchandeli w Sanderli. Pliny (/. c.) mentions in its vicinity a river Canaius, whicii PITYUSA. f.35 is not noticed by any other writer; but it may pos- sibly be the river Pitanes, spoken of by Ptolemy (iii. 2. § 3), and which seems to derive its name from the town of Pitane. [L. S.] PITANE. [Sparta.] PITHECUSAE INSULAE. [Aenaria.] PITHOM. [Patumos.] PITINUM {Torre di Pitino), a town of the Vestini, known only from the Tabula Peutingeriana, which yJaces it on a line of road from Interocrea (AntroJoco) to Aveia. But the stations on each side of it, Prifernum and Eitili, are both unknown, and the distances probably corrupt. Hence, this itinerary affords us no real clue to its position. But Holstenius has pointed out that the name is retained by the To7-7-e di Pitino, about 2 miles N. of A quila, and has also shown that in the middle ages Pitinum still subsisted as a city, and was an episcopal see. (Tab. Peut. ; ]lo&en. Not. ad Cluver. p. 139; Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 280). [E. H. B.] PITULUM (Pitulanus: Piulo'), a town of Um- bria, mentioned only by Pliny (iii. 14. s. 19), who enumerates among the towns of that region the " Pitulani, cognomine Pisuertes et alii Mergentini." Both names are otherwise unknown, but according to Cluverius there is a village called Piolo in the Apennines between Camerino and Matilica, which probably retains the name of one or tiie other. (Cluver. Ital. p. 614.) [E. H. B.] PITYEIA (nnveia : Eth. nnvtvs), a town of Mysia, on the coast of the Propontis, between Parium and Priapus. It is mentioned even in the time of Homer. (//. ii. 829; comp. Apollon. Rhod. i. 933; Strab. xiii. 588; Steph. B. s. v.) It is said to have derived its name from the firs which grew there in abundance, and is generally identified with the modern Shamelik. [L. S.] PITYO'DES (niTuwSTjs), a small island in the Propontis off' the coast of Bithynia, near Cape Hyris, and 110 stadia to the north of Cape Acritas. (Plin. v. 44; Steph. B. s. v. Xinvovaaai, who speaks of several islands of this name, which is the same as niTuwSeis.) The island is probably the one now called Bojuk Ada, where Pococke (vol. iii. p. 147) found remains of an ancient town. [L. S.] PITYONE'SOS, a small island in the Saronic gulf, lying between Aegina and the coast of Epi- daurus, and distant 6 miles from the latter. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 19.) PITYUS (XliTvovs : Pitsunda), a Greek town in Asiatic Sarmatia, on the north-eastern coast of the BlacTi Sea, N. of Dioscurias, from which it was distant 360 stadia according to Artemidorus, and 350 according to Arrian. The real distance, how- ever, is underrated by these writers ; for from C. Iskuria (Dioscurias) to Pitsunda is not less than 400 stadia in a straight line. (Artemidor. ap. Strab. xi. p. 496 ; Arrian, Per. P. Eux. p. 18.) Artemi- dorus described it as the great Pityus, and Pliny as an " oppidum opulentissimum ;" but between the time of Artemidorus and Pliny it was destroyed by the Heniochi(Plin. vi. 5), whence Arrian mentions it only as a place for anchorage, and the name does not occur at all in Ptolemy. The town was after- wards rebuilt by the Romans, and is described by Zosimus (i. 32), in the histoiy of Gallienus, as a for- tress surrounded with a very great wall, and having a most excellent harbour. (Comp. Procop. B. Goth. iv. p. 473, ed. Bonn ; comp. C. Miiller, ad Arrian. I. c. ap. Geogr. Graec. Min. vol. i. p. 392.) PITYU'SA (Unvovaa or Unvovaua, a contr. of