Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/693

 PSYLLIUM. brought some of these people in his train vrhen he led the way into the depths of the de.^ert which skirts the Lesser Syrtis (I'lut. Cat. Min. 56 ; Lucan, is. 891) ; and Octarius made use of the services of these poison-suclvers, it was said, in order to restore his victim, Cleopatra, to life. (Dion Cass. li. 14; comp. Lucan, ix. 925.) [E. B. J.] PSY'LLIUM QVvhkiov, "VvWeiov, or •^vKXa), a fortified emporium on the coast of Bithynia, between Crenides and Tium. (Ptol. v. 1. § 7; Arrian, Peripl. P. E. 14.- Anonym. Peripl. P. E. p. 5; Marcian, p. 70; Steph. B. s. v. 'ViiKKa.; Tab. Peut- ing. erroneously calls it Scylleum.) [L. S.] PSYRA (yvpa), a small island in the Aegean .sea, to the north-west of Chios, at a distance of 50 stadia from Cape Melaenae in Chios, and having only 40 stadia in circumference. It was a lofty, rocky island, and contained on its south-east coast a small town of the same name. (Strab. xiv. p. 645; Plin. V. 36; Steph. B. s. v.; Hom. Od. iii. 171.) Its modern name is Ipsara. [L. S.] PSYTTALEIA {"VvTTaXeia), a small island off the Attic coast between Peiraeeus and Salamis. For details see Salamis. PTANDAPJS or PTANDARA, a place in Cap- padocia on the south-we.st of Arabissus. (/<. Ant. pp. 178, 180, 210, 212, &c., where we sometimes read the ablative Ptandari, and sometimes Ptan- daris.) [L. S.] PTA'RENUS {Urapivos, Arrian, Tnd. c. 4), a small tributary of the Upper Indus, which flows into that river a little above Peshawar. Lassen con- jectures that it is the present Burrindu. (Lassen, Map of Anc. India.') [V.] PTE'LEA, an ancient name of Ephesus. (Plin. V. 29. s. .31.) PTE'LEOS (nreAeos), a small lake in Slysia, near Ophiynium on the coast of the Hellesjiont (Herod, vii. 42; Strab. xiii p. 595; Schol. acZ Pto/. V. 2. § 3.) [L. S.] PTE'LEUM. I. (TlT^KeSv. Eth. nreAeaTTjs, nreAeouo-ios, XlreAeeus), a town of Thessaly, on the south-western side of Phtbiotis, and near the en- trance of the Sinus Pagasaeus. It stood between Antron and Halos, and was distant from the latter 110 stadia, according to Artemidorus. (Strab. ix. p. 433.) It is mentioned by Homer as governed by Protesilaus, to whom the neighbouring town of Antron also belonged. (//. ii. 697.) In B. c. 192, Antiochus landed at Pteleum in order to carry on the war against the Romans in Greece (Liv. xxsv. 43). In B. c. 171, the town, having been deserted by its inhabitants, was destroyed by the consul Licinius. (Liv. xlii. 67.) It seems never to have recovered from this destruction, as Pliny speaks of Pteleum only as a forest (" nemus Pteleon," Plin. iv. 8. s. 15). The form Pteleos is used by Lucan (vi. 352) and Mela (ii. 3). Pteleum stood near the modern village of Pteleo, or Fteliu, upon a peaked hill crowned by the remains of a town and castle of the middle ages, called Old Ftelio. On its side is a large marsh, which, as Leake observes, was probably in the more flourishing ages of Greece a rich and productive meadow, and hence the epithet of kfxfroiv", which Homer (Z. c.) has applied to Pteleum. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 341, seq.) 2. A town of Triphylia, in Elis, belonging to Nestor (H-im. //. ii. 594), is said by Strabo to have been a colony from the Thessalian Pteleum. This town had disappeared in Strabo's time ; but its un- PTOLEMAIS. C77 inhabited woody site was still called Pteleasimum. (Strab. viii. pp. 349, -350.) 3. A fortress in the territory of Erythrae, in Ionia. (Time. viii. 24, 31.) Pliny (v. 29. s. ,'51) mentions Pteleon, Helos, and Dorium as near Eryth- rae, but those places are confused by Pliny with the Triphylian towns in Homer {I. c). PTE'RIA (nrepia), the name of a town and dis- trict in Cappadocia, mentioned only by Herodotus (i. 76), who relates that a great battle was fought in this district between Cyrus and Croesus. Stephanus B. mentions Pterium, a town of the Medes, and Pteria, a tovni of Sinope (s. v. Ureptov). PTEROS, one of four islands — the other three being Labatanis, Coboris, and Sambracate — lying off the coast of the Sabaei in Arabia, and corre- sponding in number, and the last of the four in name, with the Sohar islands. (Plin. vi. 28. s. 32 ; PVster, Arabia, vol. ii. p. 230.) PTOLEDERMA (nroAeSep/xa), a town of the Eutresii, in Arcadia, which was deserted in conse- quence of the removal of its inhabitants to Megalo- polis. (Pans. viii. 27. § 3.) PTOLEMATS. 1. iJlroXetxais Ptol. iv. 5. § 57), a small town of the Arsinoite nome in ^Middle Aegypt. It was situated between Heracleopolis Magna and Arsinoe, near tlie point of junction be- tween the Bahr Jusef and the Nile. The modern village of El-Lahum occupies a portion of the site of the Arsinoite Ptolemais. 2. Ptolemais Theron (XlroXiixaCs Q-r]pwv, Ptol. i. 8. § 1, iv. 7. § 7, viii. 16. § 10 ; TlToKiixais, Strab. xvii. pp. 768 — 76 ; Agatharch. ap. Phot. pp.457 — 459, ed.Bekker; Ptolemais Epitheras, Plin. vi. 29. s. 34), was originally an Aethiopian village situated on the southern skirts of the forest which extended from the S. side of the Troglodytic Bere- nice to lat. 17° N. Its convenient situation on the coast of the Red Sea and in tlie heart of the region where elephants abounded induced Ptolemy Phila- delphus (b. c. 282 — 246) to occupy, enlarge, and fortify the village, which thenceforward was named Ptolemais after its second founder. Philadelphus, indeed, before he colonised this outpost of his king- dom, used every effort to persuade the Aetliiopian hunters [Elepiiantophagi] to abstain from the flesh of these animals, or to reserve a portion at least of them for the roy.il stables. But they re- jected his oifers, replying that for the kingdom of Aegypt they would not forego the pleasure of hunt- ing and eating elephants. Hitherto the Aegyjjtians had imported these animals from Asia, the Asiatic breed being stronger and larger than the African. But the supply was precarious: the cost of inqiort- ation was great; and the Aethiopian forests atlbrdcd an ample supply buth for war and the royal house- hold. As the depot of the elephant trade, including that also in hides and ivory, Ptolemais attained a high degree of prosperity, and ranked among the principal cities of Aethiopia. From its market it is probable that Carthage also derived its su].iily of elephants, since about the period of Phihidflphus' reign the Carthaginians employed these animals more frequently in war. (Liv. xvii. Epit. ; Florus, ii. 2. §28.) Ptolemais had, priiperlyspeaking.no harbour, and the Aegyptian vessels were compelled to run up to Berenice whenever the N. or E. winds prevailed: in the present day the Red Sea coast at this point i.s approachable only by boats. The roadstead of Pto- lemais, however, was partially sheltered from the E. winds by an island covered with olive-trees. In its X X 3