Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/677

 rORPHYRITES MONS. rORPHYRI'TES MONS (nopc^upiV^s opos, Ptol. iv. 5. § 27), a long but not very lofty range of mountains which ran along the western shore of the Arabian Sea, nearly from lat. 26° to 27° N. To- wards the sea its siJes were abrupt, although occa- sionally scooped into serviceable harbours, e. g. the PortuB Albus and Philoteras. On the land side it sloped more gradually, breaking, however, the eastern desert with numerous bluffs and ridges, and sending forth its spurs as far as Tentyra and Antaeopolis S. and N. respectively. [W. B. D.l PO'RSULAE, another name for Maximiniano- polis. [Maximinianopolis.] PORTA AUGUSTA (Jldpra hvyoixna, Ptol. ii. 6. § 50), a town of the Vaccaei, in Hispania Tarra- conensis; perhaps Torqtwmada. [T. H. D.] PORTHMUS {u6p6fJios), a harbour in Euboea, belonging to Eretria, described by Demosthenes as opposite to Attica, is the modern Porto Bufalo, immediately opposite to Rhamnus, in the narrowest part of the Euboeaa channel, where the breadth is only two miles. It was destroyed by Philip, after expelling the Eretrians ; but its advantageous position close to the coast of Attica gave it im- portance for many centuries afterwards. {D&m.rhil. iii. pp. 119, 125, iv. p. 133, de Cor. p. 248 ; Plin. iv. 12. s. 21 ; Hierod. p. 645; Harpocrat. Phot. Suid. s.v. rtopSjUos; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 435.) PORTUS ABUCINI, is mentioned in the Notitia of the Gallic provinces as a place in " Provincia Maxima Sequanorum." It appears to be Port-sur- Saune. The district about Port was once called Pagus Portisiorum, whence the modern name Le Portois. [G. L.] PORTUS ACHAEORUM, a harbour in European Sarmatia, upon the coast of the Euxine, and upon the strip of land called the Dromos Achilleos. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 26.) [See Vol. I. p. 20, a.] PORTUS AEMINES, on the south coast of Gallia, is mentioned in the Maritime Itin. It is supposed to be near the small island Embies. (Ukert, Gallien, p. 428.) [G. L.] PORTUS AEPATIACI, is mentioned in the Notitia Imperii as being in Belgica Secunda : " Tribunus militum Nerviorum portu Aepatiaci." It is uncertain what place is meant. D'Anville (Notice, (fe.) has an article on it. [G. L.] PORTUS AGASUS. [Garganus.] PORTUS ALBURNUS. [Albuknus Mons.] PORTUS ARGOUS. [Ilva.] PORTUS ARTABRORUM. [Aktabuorum PoRTUS.] PORTUS AUGUSTI. [Ostia.] PORTUS COSANUS. [Cosa.] PORTUS DELPHINI (Plin. iii. 5. s. 7 ; Del- phinis, Itin. Ant. p. 293), a small port on the coast of Liguria, still called Porto Fino, situated at the SE. extremity of a great mountain promontory, which projects into the sea between Genoa and Sestri, and forms one of the most striking natural features of this part of the Ligurian coast. [E. H. B.] PORTUS ERIC IS. [Luna.] PORTUS GARNAE. [Garganus.] PORTUS HANNIBA'LIS, a town on the S. coa.st of Lusitania, not far from Lacobriga (Mela, iii. 1 ; Isid. Or. XV. 9), near ^Z6or, where there are traces of Punic ruins. (Florez, Esp. S. xiv. p. 211.) [T. H. D.] PORTUS HERCULIS. [Cosa.] PORTUS HERCULIS LIBURNI. [Pisae.] PORTUS HERCULIS MONOECL [Monoe- cus.] PORTUS VENERIS. 061 PORTUS ITIUS. [iTius.] PORTUS JULIUS. [LucKiNus Lacus.] PORTUS LUNAE. [Luna.] PORTUS MAGNUS. [Magnus Portus.] PORTUS MAURITII. [Liguria, p. 187.] PORTUS OLIVULA. [Nicaea.] PORTUS PISANUS. [Pisae.] PORTUS POMPONIANIS, of the Maritime Itin., seems to be one of the bays formed by the Pompo- niana Peninsula, and either that on the east side or that on the west side of the peninsula of Glens. The name Pomponianis Portus seems to confirm D'Anville's opinion about Pomponiana [Pompo- niana]. [G. L.] PORTUS SYMBOLON. [Symbolon Portus.] PORTUS TELAMONIS. [Telamo.] PORTUS TRAJANI. [Ostia.] PORTUS VENERIS {Port Vendre), on the south coast of France near the borders of Spain. The passage about Portus Veneris in Mela (ii. 5) is thus (ed. Is. Vossius) : " Turn inter Pyrenaei promuntoria Portus Veneris insignis fano." The words " insignis fano" are a correction of Vossius without any authority, which he has substituted for the words of the best MS., " in sinu salso." Port Vendre is in France, near CoUioure, a few miles south of the mouth of the Tech. Ptolemy (ii. 10. § 2) fixes the boundary of Nar- bonensis at the promontory on which stood the Aphrodisium or temple of Venus. Pliny (iii. 3) in his description of Hispania Citerior, after men- tioning Emporiae (Ampurias), says : " Flumen Tichis. Ab eo Pyrenaea Venus in latere promontorii altero xl. M." This river Tichis is the river which is near the site of Empori.ae (Amjmrias^ in Spain. D'Anville concludes that the promontorium of Pliny is the Promontorium Pyrenaeum of the Table, the modern Cap Creux, which projects into the Medi- terranean. This would be a fit place for the temple, for it was an ancient practice to build temples on bold headlands. But Pliny says " on the other," that is on the Gallic side of the promontorium ; and the distance of xl. M. P. from the river of Amptirias brings us to the position of Port Vendre. Accordingly D'Anville concludes that the temple of Venus was near the port of Venus ; and this would seem likely enough. This temple is apparently mentioned by Stephanus (s. v. ' AcppoStaids) ; and certainly by Strabo (iv. p. 178), who makes the coast of the Narbonensis extend from the Far to the temple of the Pyrenaean Venus, the boundary between Narbonensis and Iberia ; but others, he adds, make the Tropaea Pompeii the boundary of Iberia and Celtica. The Tropaea Pompeii were in a pass of the Pyrenees not far from the coast. In this passage Strabo simply says that the temple of the Pyrenaean Venus was fixed as the boundary of Gallia and Hispania by some geographers, but this passage does not tell us where the temple is ; and the distances which he gives in the same place (iv. p. 178) will not settle the question. But in another passage (iv. p. 181) he makes the Galaticus Sinus extend from a point 100 stadia from lIassilia " to the Aphrodisium, the promontory of Pyrene." It is plain that his promontory of Pyrene is Cap Creux, for this is a marked natural limit of the Gallic b;iy on the west ; and he also places the temple there. Cap Creiix is a natural boundary between Gallia and Hispania, and we may conclude that it was the ancient coast boundary. We know that Cervaria, which is south of Portus Veneris and u u 3