Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/685

 rPJFERNUM. iv. 1), and took a prominent part in the relijiious solemnities at the Panionia. (Strab. xiv. p. 639.) It was the native place of the philosopher Bias, one of the seven sages. The following are the chief cir- cumstances known of its history. It was conquered by the Lydian king Ardys (Herod, i. 15), and when Croesus was overpowered by Cyrus, Priene also was forced with the other Greek towns to submit to the Persians. (Herod, i. 142.) It seems to have been during this period that Priene was very ill-used by a Persian Tai)ules and Hiero, one of its own citizens. (Paus. I. c.) After this the town, which seems to Jiave more and more lost its importance, was a sub- ject of contention between the Milesians and Samians, when the former, on being defeated, applied for as- sistance to Athens. (Thucyd. i. 115.) The town contained a temple of Athena, with a very ancient statue of the goddess. (Paus. vii. 5. § 3; comp. Polyb. xxxiji. 12; Plin. v. 31.) There still exist very beautiful remains of Priene near the Turkish village of Samsoon ; its site is described by Chandler (Travels, p. 200, &c.) as follows: " It was seated on the side of the mountain, flat beneath flat, in gradation to the edge of the plain. The areas are levelled, and the communication is preserved by steps cut in the slopes. The whole circuit of the wall of the city is standing, besides several portions within it worthy of admiration for their solidity and beauty." Among these remains of the interior are the ruins of the temple of Athena, which are figured in the Ionian Ant'uiuities, p. 13, &e. (Comp. Leake, Asia Minor, pp. 239, 352; Fellows, Asia Min. p. 268, &c. ; Rasche, Lex. Num. iv. 1. p. 55; Eckbel, Doctr. Hei Num. vol. ii.. p. 536.) [L. S.] PEIVERNUM. 669 COIN OF PRIENE. PRIFERNUM, a town of the Vestini, mentioned only in the Tabula, which places it 12 miles from Pitinum, the same distance from Amiternura, and 7 miles from Aveia. {Tab. Pent.) But the roads in this district are given in so confused a manner, that notwithstanding these data it is impossible to fix its site with any certainty. It is placed by Romanelli (vol. iii. p. 283) in the neighbour- hood of Assergio, but this is little more than con- jecture. [E. H. B.] PRIMIS MAGNA and PARVA {Upifxis ixiyaKt), Tlp'ifiis fJ-iKpd, Ptol. iv. 7. § 19), the names of two towns in Aethiopia, situated upon the extreme or right bank of the Nile. Primis Magna, called simply Primis by Pliny (iv. 29. s. 35), and Prem- nis (Ilpfifivts) by Strabo (xvii. p. 820), was taken by the Roman commander Petronius in the reign of Augustus. After taking Premnis, which is de- scribed as a strong place, the Roman commander advanced against Napata. (Strab. I. c.) Pt(jlemy places it beyond Napata and just above Meroii. Hence it is identified with Ibrim. (Comp. Kenrick, Ancient Egypt, vol. ii. p. 464.) PHIMU'POLIS (npiixoviroMs, Condi. Chalced. pp. 127, 240; falsely TpifxoinroKis, Hierocl. p. 682, and npia/UouTToAts, Concil. £pkes. p. 528), a town in I'amphylia, the later name of Aspendus. (See W^esseling, ad Eierocl. p. 682.) PRINASSUS (Jl.piva(Tff6^ : Eth. Uptvaaaeis), a town in Caria, of uncertain site, taken by Philip v., king of Macedonia, and known also by its coins. (Polyb. svi. 11; Steph. B. s.v.; Sestini, p. 89; Cramer, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 217.) PRINOESSA, an island off the coast of Leucas, in Acarnania, mentioned only by Phny (iv. 12. s 19). PRINUS. [Mantineia, p. 264.] PRION (Jlpiojv'), a mountain in the island of Cos, which is about 2760 feet high. (Plin. v. 36.) From a scholion {ad Theocrit. vii. 45) it might be inferred that Oromedon was another name for Mount Prion; but according to another ancient com- mentator Oromedon was either a surname of some divinity, or the name of some wealthy and power- ful man. [L. S.] PRION (Tlpiwv), a river in Arabia. [Peionotus.] PRIO'NOTUS MONS (npniuorov 'opos), a moun- tain in the southern part of Arabia, in the territory of the Adramitae, identified by P^rster with Ras Broom, a headland forming the termination of a mountain chain and jutting out prominently into the ocean in long. 49°, about 35 miles NE. of Muglida. Prion was a river flowing into the sea near this promontory. (Ptol. vi. 7. §§ 10, 13 ; Forster, Arabia, vol. ii. p. 204, seq.) PRISTA (JlpKTTr), Ptol. iii. 10. § 10. where, however, some read TipniTri; called in the Itin. Ant. p. 222, Sexantaprista; in the Not. Imp. Sexaginta Prista; and in Procopius, de Aed. iv. 11, p. 307, 'E|ei'Ta7rpi(TTa), a place in Moesia Inferior, on the Danube, the station of the 5th cohort of the 1st Legio Ital. Identified with Rutsclnick. [T. H. D.] PRIVERNUM {Upiovepvov. jtW. Privernas -ittis : Piperno Vecchio), an ancient and important city of the Volscians, afterwards included, with the rest of the territory of that people, in Latium, in the more extended sense of the name. It was situated in the Volscian mountains, or Monti Lepini ; but not, like Setia and Norba, on the front towards the plain of the Pontine Marshes, but at some distance further back, in the valley of the Amasenus. Virgil repre- sents it as an ancient city of the Volscians, and the residence of Metabus, the father of Camilla {Aen. xi. 540); and there is no reason to doubt that it was originally a city of that people. Its name is not indeed mentioned during any of the earlier wars of the Volscians against Rome ; but on these occasions the name of the people is generally given collectively, and the brunt of the war naturally fell upon those cities which more immediately adjoined the frontiers of Latium. When the name of Privernum first ap- pears in history it is as a city of considerable power and importance, holding an independent position, and able not only to engage in, but to sustain, a war against Rome single-handed. In b. c. 358 the Pri- vernates drew upon themselves the hostility of Rome by plundering the lands of the Roman colonists who had been recently settled in the Pontine Plains. The next year they were attacked by the consul C. Mar- cius, their forces defeated in the field, and they them- selves cempelled to submit (Liv. vii. 15, 16). But though their submission is represented as an uncon- ditional surrender (deditio), they certainly con- tinued to form an independent and even powerful 'state, and only a few years afterwards again ventured to attack the Roman colonies of Norlia and Setia, for which they were speedily punished by the consul C. Plautius : their city is .said to have been taken, and two-thirds of their tcrritoiy forfeited. (Id. vii.