Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/683

 PRAETORIA AUGUSTA. expedition against Camicus in Sicily, in order to avenge the death of Minos (Herod, vii. 170). It was destroyed by the inhabitants of Hierapytna. (Strab. X. p. 479.) Agalhocles, the Babylonian, related that the Praesii were accustomed to sacritice swine before marriage. (Athen. ix. p. 376.) The ruins of Praesus are still called Praesus. (Pashley, Crete, vol. i. p. 290, seq.; Hock, Kreta, vol. i. p. 413, seq.) PRASIACA. 667 com OF PRAESUS OR PRIAKSUS. PRAETO'RIA AUGUSTA. [Augusta Prae- TORIA.] PRAETO'EIUJI. There were places of this name in Gallia, Hispania, and in other countries which the Romans occupied. A Praetorium is the residence of a praetor and the seat of the supreme court. The word was also used to signify a magnificent palatial building. The Table marks a Praetorium in Gallia, on a road from Augustoritum (^Limoges). At the Praetorium the road divides, one branch going to Augustonemetum ( Clermont Ferrand in Xhe Auve7-gne') and the other to Avaricum {Bourges). It is not possible to fix the site of this Praeto- rium. [G. L.] PRAETO'RIUJI. 1. A town in the territory of the Lacetani, in the NE. of Hispania TaiTaconensis, and on the road from Tarraco, in Gaul, to Barcino. {Itin. Ant. p. 398.) Usually identified with La lioca, where there are still considerable Roman re- mains. (Marca, Hisp. ii. 20.) 2. (JleTovapia, Ptol. ii. 3. § 1 7), a place in the most N. part of Britannia Romana, in the territory of the Parisi, whence tiiere was a separate road from the Roman Wall to Eboracum (/<m. Ant. pp. 464, 466.) It is supposed by Camden (p. 871) to be Beverley in Yorkshire ; by others it has been variously identified with Patringt07i, Hehbcrstow, Hornsea, Kingston, and Flamhorough. Some writers distinguish the Pe- tuaria of Ptolemy from the Praetorium of the Itine- rary; and Gale (/<m. p. 24) identifies the former place with Anldby on the Derwent. [T.H.D.] PRAETO'RIUM, AD (Jlpandipwv), a place in Upper Pannonia, south of the Savus, on the road from Siscia to Sirmium. (Tab. Peuting. ; Ptol. ii. 1.5. § 6.) It was probably a place where a court of justice was held for the inhabitants of the sur- rounding district, or it contained an imperial palace where the emperors put up when travelling in that country. [L. S.] PRAETO'RIUM AGRIPPI'NAE. This Prae- torium appears in the Table, and is distinguished by the representation of a large building. D'Anville conjectures that it may have taken its name from Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus and the luotiier of Nero, who gave her name to the Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). The Praetorium is placed above Lugdunum Batavorum (^Leiden) at the dis- tance of 11. D'Anville concludes that it is Room- Imrg near Leiden, where it is said that many Roman antiquities have been found. (Ukert, Gnllien p 533.) [G. L.] PRAETO'RIUM LATOVICO'RUM, a place in Upper Pannonia, on the site now occupied by Neu- stadte, on the river Gurk. (It. Ant. p. 259; Tab. Peuting., called simply Praetorium.) [L. S.l PRAETU'TII (npatro{nrm, Ptol. : Eth. Upai- TfTTiavds, Pol.; Praetutianus), a tribe of Central Italy, who occupied a district of Picenum, bounded by the river Vomanus on the S. and apparently by the stream called by Pliny the Albula on the N. This hist cannot be identified with certainty, and the text of Pliny is probably corrupt as well as confused. He appears to place the Albula N. of the Truentus; but it is certain that the Praetutii did not extend as far to the N. as the latter river, and it is probable that the stream now called the Salinello was their northern limit. We have no account of the origin of the Praetutii, or their relation to the Picentes, from whom they seem to have been regarded as to some extent a distinct people, though more frequently included under the one general appellation. The " Ager Praetutianus" is mentioned by Livy and Po- lybius, as well as by Pliny, as a well-known district, and Ptolemy even distinguishes it altogether from Picenum, in which, however, it was certainly gene- rally comprised. (Pol. iii. 88 ; Liv. xxii. 9, xxvii. 43 ; Plin. iii. 13. s. 18 ; Ptol. iii. 1. § 58.) But the name seems to have continued in general use, and became corrupted in the middle ages into Pru- tium and Aprutium, from whence the modern name of Abruzzo (now applied to all the northernmost pro- vinces of the kingdom of Naples) is generally thought to be derived. (Blondi Flavii, Italia Illustrata, p. 394.) The chief city of the Praetutii was Inter- amna, called for distinction's sake Praetutiana, which under the name of Teramo is still the chief town of one of the provinces of the Abruzsi. Ptolemy also assigns to them the town of Beregra. (Ptol. /. c.) Pliny mentions the " Ager Palmensis " in close connection with the Praetutii ("Ager Prae- tutianus Palmensisque," Plin. I. c.) ; but this appears to have been only a small district, which was cele- brated, as was the Praetutian region generally, for the excellence of its wines. (Plin, xiv. 6. s. 8; Dioscor. V. 19 ; Sil. Ital. xv. 568.) [E. H. B.J PRAS (npas: Eth. Tlpdyres), a town of Phthiotis in Thessaly, a little S. of Pharsalus. For its posi- tion see Narthacium. (Xen. Hell iv. 3. § 9, Ages. 2. § 5; Steph. B. s.v.) PRASIACA (UpaaiaKri, Ptol. vii. 1. § 53), a very extensive and rich district in the centre of Ilindostan, along the banks of the Ganges and the Sona, whose chief town was the celebrated Palibo- thra. The name of its inhabitants, which is written with slight differences in different authors, is most correctly given as Prasii by Strabo (xv. p. 702, 703), and by Pliny (vi. 19. s. 22), who states that their king supported daily no less than 150,000 foot, 30,000 horse, and 9000 elephants. Diodorus calls them Praesii (xvii. 93), as does also Plutarch. (Alex. 62.) In Curtius again they occur under the fomi of Pharrasii (ix. 2. § 3). It was to the king of the Prasii, Sandrocottus (Chandragiipta), that the famous mission of Mcgasthenes by Seleucus look place. (Phn. I. c; Curt. ix. 2; Appian, Sgr. 55; l'lat.Alex.62; Justin, xv. 4.) All authors concur in stating that this was one of the largest of tlie Indian empires, and extended through the richest part of India, from the Ganges to the Punjab. There can be no doubt that Prasii is a Graecised form for