Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/691

 PRYMNESIA PRYMNE'SIA or PRYMNE'SUS (Upv/jLvrjaia, npvfivq(T6s : Eth. nfjvfivTjfftfvs), a small town in central Phryiria. (Ptol. v. 2. § 24; Hierocl. p. 677; Cone. Chalced. p. 673.) Pococke (^Travels, iii. c. 15) found an inscription containing the name of this town near AJiom Cara-hissar. Leake (^Asia Minor, p. 55) shows that the inscription does not refer to Prymnesia, but to some person whose name ended in menneas. No inference, therefore, can be drawn from it as to the site of that town. Franz (^Fuiif Inschriften, p .5) has proved, by incontrover- tible arguments from other inscriptions, that Prym- nesia must have been situated at Sekl-eUGhazi, between Eski-Shehr and Coniah, where a few re- mains of an ancient Greek town still exist. (Leake, Asia Minor, p. 2L) [L. S.] PRY'TANIS (lipuraj/ts), a small river in the east of Pontus, which has its sources in the Moschici Monies, and flows by the town of Abgabes. (Arrian, Peripl. P. £". p. 7; Anonym. Peripl. P. E. p. 15, where it is called Prytanes.) It is perhaps the same river as that called by Scylax (p. .32) Por- danis. [L. S.] PSACUM {^cLKov), a promontory on the NW. coast of Crete, forming the termination of Mt. Tityrus, now called C.Spada. (Ptol. iii. 15. § 8.) PSAMATHUS. [Taenarum.] PSAPHIS. [Attica, p. 330, a.] PSEBO'A or PSEBO CVegwa. Strab. xvii. p. 822 ; ^f§ui, Steph. B. s. v.), the modern Tsana, one of the enormous lakes S. of lleroii, which feed the principal tributaries of the Nile. The 10th parallel of N. latitude nearly bisects the lake Pseboa. Ac- cording to Stephanus, it was five days' journey from Aethiopia, i. e. from Axume. In the centre of the lake was a populous island — a depot of the ivory trade, and frequented also by the hunters of the Hippopotanms, the hides of which animal were ex- ported to Aegypt, and employed as coverings fur shields. On the E. and S. the lake was encom- passed by lofty mountains, which abounded in mi- neral wealth (Theophrast. de Lapid. p. 695, ed. Schneider), and whose periodical torrents, according to Agatharchides (c. 5. ap. Hudson, Geogr. Min.) poured their waters over the plains of the Trog- lodytes. [W. B. D.] PSELCIS QVeAKis, Strab. xvii. p. 820; Bin. Anion, p. 162; ^e'Ax'J, Aristid. Aegin. p. 512), was a town of the region Dodecaschoenus situated on the left bank of the Nile. Ori- ginally Pselcis was little more than a suburb of the older Aethiopian town Tachompso; but it speedily outgrew its parent, so that in process of time Ta- chompso was denominated Contra-Pselcis. In b. c. 23 the Aethiopian nation, alarmed by the approach of the Romans to their frontier, harassed the neigh- bourhood of Philae and Syene, and it became ne- cessary to repel their incursions. C. Petronius, accordingly, who had succeeded Aelius Gallus in the government of Aegypt, undertook to drive them back, and Pselcis was one of the towns which sub- mitted to him. (Strab. I. c. ; Dion Cass. liv. 5.) So long as the Romans maintained their hold on Northern Aethiopia, Pselcis was the permanent head- quarters of a troop of German horse. The modern hamlet of Dakkeh occupies a portion of the site of the ancient Pselcis. [W. B. D.] PSE'SSII, or PSESSI {"Viiaaioi, Ptol. v. 9. § 17; ^■naaoi, Apollod. ap. Steph. B. s.v.; in Plin. vi. 7, the old editions have Psesii, but Sillig reads Psessi; it appears from an inscription that Psessi is the PSOPIITS. C75 correct form, Inscr. in Jahn's Jahrhiicher, voL xxxvi. p. 225), a people in Sarmatia Asiatica, placed by Ptolemy between the lake Maeotis and the' Hippici Montes after the Siraceni. PSEUDOCE'LIS (y(vUK-nLs), a town of the Elisari in Arabia Felix, identified by some modern writers with Mochha. (Ptol. vi. 7. § 7.) PSEUDOPENIAS. [Kesperides.] PSEUDO'ST0BIOS(^l'6i;SdcrT0Mos ■norafjhs, Ptol vii. 1. §§ 8, 33, 83, 85, 86), a stream of western India, which Ptolemy describes as flowing from Mt. Bettigo near Coimhatore to the sea near Jliiziri.s {Mangalor). It cannot with certainty be identified with any existing river, especially as along that coast, between lat. 10° and 15°, there are a great number of streams which, flowing but a short dis- tance from mountains which approach the sea are little better than torrents. [V.] PSILE, a small island, forming one of a cluster, oflf the coast of Ionia, opposite to Clazomenae. (Plin. V. 31. s. 38.) PSILLIS QViWis), a small river on the coast of Phrygia, flowing into the Euxine between Artane and Calpe, and affording at its mouth a good road for small vessels. (Strab. xii. p. 543; Ptol. v. 1. § 5 ; Anonym. Peripl. P. £. p. 2 ; Plin. vi. 1 ; Anian, Peripl. P. E. p. 13, where it is called Psilis; Mari- cian, p. 69, where it is written Psillius; comp. Steph. B. s. V. 'AaKavia.) [L. S.] PSOPIilS (y(.>(pis: Eth. ■*'a)(f)i5ios), a city in the N'. extremity of Arcadia, bounded on the N. by Arcadia, and on the W. by Elis. It was a very ancient place. It is said to have been originally called Erymanthus, and its territory to have been ravaged by the Erymanthian boar. (Pans. viii. 24. § 2 ; Hecat. ap. Steph. B. s. v. 'Vaxpis ; Apollod. ii. 5. § 4.) It afterwards received the name of Phegia or Phegeia ('t>7;7ia, ^Tjyeia), apparently from the oaks {jprj-yol), which are still found upon the site of the town ; though the ancients, as usual, derived the name from an eponymous founder, Phegeus. (Steph. B. s. vv. ^I'lyeia, Vco(pis • Pans. I. c.) It was called Psophis by Echephron and Promachus, sons of Her- cules, who are said to have come from Sicily and given to the town this name after their mother Psophis. (Paus. I. c.) Psophis, while still called Phegia, was celebrated as the residence of Alemaeon, who fled thither from Argos, after slaying his mother, and married Alphesiboea, the daughter of Phegeus. (Paus. viii. 24. § 8 ; Diet. ofBiogr. s. v. Alcmaeon.) In consequence of their connection with Alemaeon, the Psophidii took part in the second expedition against Thebes, and refused to join the other Greeks in the Trojan War. (Paus. viii. 24. § 10.) Psophis is rarely mentioned in histoiy. In n. c. 219 it was in possession of the Eleians, and was taken by Philip, king of Macedonia, who was then in alliance with the Achaeans. In narrating this event Polybius gives an accurate description of the town. " Psophis," he says, " is confessedly an ancient foundation of the Ai'cadians in the district Azanis. It is situated in the central parts of Peloponnesus, but in the western corner of Arcadia, and adjoining the Achaeans dwelling furthest towards the west. It also overhangs conveniently the country of the Eleians, with whom the city was then in close alliance. Philip marched thither in three days from Caphyae, and encamped ujion the hills opposite to the city, where he could safely have a view of the whole city and the surrounding places. When the king observed the strength of the place, he was at a X . 2