Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/684

 C68 PRASIAE. the Sanscrit Prachlnas (meaning the dwellcis in the east). (Buhlen, Alte Indien, i. p. 33: Hitter, Erdkunde, vol. v. p. 460.) [V-] PRA'SIAE or BRA'SIAE {UpamaU Thuc. Strab. Aristoph. ; Upaaia, Scyl. p. 17; Ptol. iii. 17. § 10: Bpacriai, Pans.: Eth. Bpao-ictTTjs, Pans.; Ylpaaiivs, Steph. B.), a town on the eastern coast of Laconia, described by Pausanias as the farthest of the Eleu- thero-Laconian places on this part of the coast, and as distant 200 stadia by sea from Cyphanta. (Pans, iii. 24. § 3.) Scylas {l. c.) speaks of it as a city and a harbour. The name of the town was derived by the inhabitants from the noise of the waves (^pa^nv). It was burnt by the Athenians in the second year of the Peloponnesian War, b. c. 430. (Thuc. ii. 56; Aristoph. Pac. 242.) Also in b. c. 414 the Athenians, in conjunction with the Arrives, ravaged the coast near Prasiae. (Thuc. vi. 105.) In the Macedonian period Prasiae, with other La- conian towns on this coast, passed into the hands of the Argives (Polyb. iv. 36); whence Strabo calls it one of the Argive towns (viii. p. 368), though in another passage he says that it belonged at an earlier period to the Lacedaemonians (viii. p. 374). It was restored to Laconia by Augustus, who made it one of the Eleuthero-Laconian towns. (Pans. iii. 2L § 7, iii. 24. § 3.) Among the curiosities of Prasiae Pausanias mentions a cave where Ino nursed Dionysus ; a temple of Asclepius and another of Achilles, and a small promontory upon which stood four brazen figures not more than a foot in height. (Paus. iii. 24. §§ 4, 5.) Leake places Prasiae at St. Andreiu in the Thyreatis; but it more probably stood at Tyro, which is the site assigned to it by Bublaye, Ross, and Curtius. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 484 ; Bobiaye, Recherckes, §-c. p. 102 ; Ross, Reisen im Peloponnes, p. 165; Curtius, Pefo^ora- nesos, vol. ii. p. 306. [See Vol. I. pp. 727, b., 729, a.] PRASIAE, a demus in Attica. [Vol. I. p. 331, b.] PRASIAS LACUS. [Cercinitis.] PRASn. [Pkasiaca.] PRASO'DES SINUS (UpaaaiSris k6tos, Ptol. vii. 4. § 4), a gulf which Ptolemy places on the SW. side of the island of Taprobane or Ceylon. No such gulf can now be traced upon the outline of this island; and there would seem to be some confusion between the gulf and a sea to which the geogra- pher gives the same name of UpaauiSris, and which he makes extend along the parallel between the island of Menntluas {Zcmzibai- ?) a.ni the Gvlf of Siam (vii. 2. § 1). [V.] PRASUM PROMONTO'RIUM (Tlpaaov aKpco- Ti'ip'o", Ptol. i. 7. § 2, seq., vii. 3. § 6), or the C. of Leeks, was a headland in the region S. of Meroe, to which the ancient geographers gave the appella- tion of Barbarica. The position of Prasuin is un- known; for it is impossible to identify Prasum, the Green Promontory, with Cape Delgado, i. e. Cape Slender, which, as the name implies, is a mere line upon the water. Neither is it certain that Prasum, although a lofty rock, was a portion of the main- land at all, inasmuch as the coast oi Zim/ebar, where Prasum is probably to be found, is distinguished alike for the verdure of its projections and the bright green islands that stretch along and beyond them. Moreover, Agathemerus (p. 57) and Mar- cianus Heracleota (ap. Hudson, Geog.Min. i. p. 12) mention a sea in this region called, from its colour, Prasodes, the Green. The coaai and islands of PRIENE. Ziiigehar derive their rich verdant appearance from the prevalence of the bombyx or cotton-tree. All that is known of Prasum is that it was 100 or 150 miles S. of the headland of Rliapta, lat. 4° S., and a station for that obscure but active and remu- nerating trade which Aegypt under the Ptolemies and the Caesars carried on with the eastern em- poria of Africa. (Cooley, Claudius Ptolemy and the Nile, pp. 88—90.) [V. B. D.] PRASUS. [Praesus.] PRECIA'NI, a people of Aquitania, who sur- rendered to P. Crassus, Caesar's legatus in b. c. 56. We know nothing about them, and even the name is uncertain, for the MSS. write it in several different ways. (Caes. B. G. iii. 27.) [G. L.] PRE'LIUS LACUS, a lake mentioned only by Cicero (^pro Mil. 27), and in a manner that affords no indication of its position. But it is probable that it is the same which is called Lacus Aprilis in the Itineraries, and apparently Prills by Pliny [Aprilis Lacus], the modem Logo di Castlglione, on the coast of Etruria. (Cluver. Ital. p. 474.) [E.H.B.] PREMNIS. [Primis.] PREPESINTHUS {Xpii:4aiveos), an island in the Aegaean sea, one of the smaller Cyclades, lying between Oliaros and Siphnos. (Strab. x. p. 485; Plin. iv. 12. s. 22.) PRIA. [Gallabcia, p. 934, b.] PRIANSUS. [Peaesus.] PRIANTAE, a people of Thrace, on the Hebrus. (Plin. iv. 11. s. 18.) Forbiger (vol. iii. p. 1076)con- jectures that they may have inhabited the Bpioj/Ti/f^ mentioned by Herodotus (vii. 108). [T. H. D-J PRIA'PI PORTUS (npicJiriSoj KiiJ.i)v, Ptol. vii. 4. § 3), a port which Ptolemy pl.aces on the NW. side of the island of Taprobane ( Ceylon). Mannert imagines that it is represented by the present Ne- gomho. The name may not unnaturally have arisen from the Greeks having noticed at this place the prevalence of the Lingam or Phallic worship. [V.] PRIA'PUS (ITpiaTros: Eth. nptairrtpSs), a town of Mysia on the Propontis, situated on a headland on the spur of Mount Pityus. Some said that it was a colony of Miletus, and others regarded it as a settlement of Cyzicus : it derived its name from its worship of the god Priapus. It had a good harbour, and ruled over a territory which produced good wine. (Strab. xiii. p. 587; Thucyd. viii. 107; Pomp. Mela, i. 19; Plin. iv. 24, v. 40; Steph. B. s. v.; Geogr. Rav. ii. 18, v. 19; Arrian, Anab. i. 12. § 7.) Ruins of Priapus still exist neur Karaboa. (Richter, Wallfahrten, p. 425; Rasche, Lex. Num. iv. 1. p. 51.) ^ ^ [L.S.] PRIE'NE (npir]VT] : Eth. npnjvevs, Upirivtos), an Ionian city, near the coast of Caria, on the south- eastern slope of Mount Mycale, and on a little river called Gaeson, or Gaesus. It had originally been situated on the sea-coast, and had two ports, one of which could be closed (Scylas, p. 37), and a small fleet (Herod, vi. 6); but at the time when Strabo wrote (xii. p. 579) it was at a distance of 40 stadia from the sea, in consequence of the great alluvial deposits of the Maeander at its mouth. It was beheved to have been originally founded by Aepytus, a son of Neleus, but received afterwards additional colonists under a Boeotian Philotas, whence it was by some called Cadme. (Strab. xiv. pp. 633, 636; Paus. vii. 2. § 7; Eustath. ad Dionys. 825; Diog. Laiirt. i. 5. 2.) But notwithstanding this admixture of Boeotians, Priene was one of the twelve Ionian cities (Herod, i. 142; Aelian, V. H. viii. 5; Vitruv.