Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/717

 RIIAGAE. Hor. Carm. iv. 14. 15). Like all mountaineers, they cherished great love of freedom, and fought against the Romans with rage and despair, as we learn from Florus (iv. 12), who states that the Rhaetian women, wlio also took part in the war, after having spent their arrows, threw their own children in the faces of the Romans. Still, however, they were obliged to yield, and in b. c. 15 they were finally subdued, and their country was made a Roman province. During the later period of the Empire their territory was almost entirely depopu- lated; but it somewhat recovered at the time when the Ostrogoths, under Theodoric, took possession of the country, and placed its administration into the hands of a Dux (Euipp. Vit. S. Severini, 29; Cassiod. Var. iv. 4). After the death of Theodoric, the Boioarii spread over Rhaetia and Noricum, and the river Licus became the boundary between the Alemanni in Vindelicia, and the Boioarii in Rhaetia. (Egin. Vit. Carol. M. 11.) The more important among the various tribes mentioned in Rhaetia, such as the Lepontii, Vibeiu, Calucones, Vennones, Sarunetes, Isaeci, Brixentes, Genauni, Tri- DENTiNi, and EuGANEi, are discussed in separate articles. Tridentum was the most important among the few towns of the country ; the others are known almost exclusively through the Itineraries, two roads having been made through Rhaetia by the Romans, the one leading from Augusta Vinde- licorum to Comum, and the other from the same town to Verona; Paulus Diaconus, however, men- tions a few towns of the interior which were not situated on these high-roads, such as the town of Maia, which was destroyed in the eighth century by the fall of a mountain, and the site of which is now occupied by the town of Meran. [L. S.] RHAGAE ('Poyai, Arrian, Anab. iii. 30; Strab. xi. pp. 514, 524 ; 'Payeia, Isidor. Char. § 7 ; ^ 'Vdya, Steph. B. s. v.x 'Vayaia, Ptol. vi. 5. § 4; Rhages, Tobit, i. 14: Eth. 'PayrivSs), a great town of Media Magna, the capital of the province of Rhagiana, which is first known to us in history as the place to which the Jewish exiles were sent. {Tohit, i. 14, iv. 20, ix. 2.) It was situated in the eastern part of the country towards Parthia, one day's journey from tiie Pj'lae Caspiae (Arrian, Anab. iii. 20) and 10 days' march from Ecbatana {Hariiaddn). The name of the place is stated by Strabo to have been derived from the frequent earthquakes to which it had been subject, but this is contrary to all proba- bility (Strab. xi. p. 514); he adds, also, that, like many other places in the neighbourhood, it had been built (or rather rebuilt) by the Greeks (p. 524). In later times it appears to have been re- built by Seleucus Nicator, who called it Europus. (Strab. /. c.) Still later it appears to have been again rebuilt by one of the house of Arsaces, who named it in consequence Arsacia. (Strab. I. c. ; Steph. B. .<!. V.) In modern times the ancient name has returned; and the ruins of Eke>/, which have been visited and described by many travellers, no doubt represent the site of the ancient Riiagae. (Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 358.) Pliny men- tions a town of Parthia, which he calls Apameia Rliagianc (vi. 14. § 17). Some geographers have contended that tiiis is tlie same as Rhagae ; but the interence is ratlier that it is not. [V.] RHAGIA'NA. [Riiagae.] RHAMAE, a town in the interior of Thrace. (/</».. Jfieros. p. 5G8.) [T. H. D.] KH AMANl'TAE. l . ('Pa^cw/Trai. Strab. xvi. p. EHAMNUS. 701 782), supposed by Mr. Forster to be identical with the Rhabanitae of Ptolemy ('PaSavirai, vi. 7. § 24), whom that geographer places under Mount Climax. He says "their common position, north of Mount Climax, concurs with the resemblance of the two names to argue the identity" {Geog. of Arabia, vol. i. p. 68, note) ; but it is by no means clear that the Rhamanitae lay near Mount Climax. AH that Strabo says of them is, that Marsiaba, the limit of the expedition of Aelius Gallus, the siege of which he was forced to raise for want of water, lay in the country of the Rhamanitae ; but notiiing in geography is more difficult to determine than the situation of th.at town. [Marsyaba.] 2. A people of the same name is mentioned >y Pliny, as existing on the Persian Gulf, identical with the Anariti of Ptolemy and the Epimara- NITAE. [G. W.J RHAMIDAVA. [Dacia, p. 744, b.] RHAMNUS. 1. QVajxvoZs, -ovvros: Eth. 'Pafi- voiKTios, fem. 'Pa/xvovaia, 'Pafj.vouais), a demus of Attica, belonging to the tribe Aeantis (Steph. B., Harpocr., Suid., s. v.), which derived its name from a thick prickly shrub, which still grows upon the site. ('Paixuovs, contr. of ^afivoeis from pd/xvos.') The town stood upon the eastern coast of Attica, at the distance of 60 stadia from Marathon, and upon the road leading from the latter town to Oropus. (Paus. i. 33. § 2.) It is described by Scylax (p. 21) as a fortified place; and it appears from a decree in Demosthenes (pro Cor. p. 238, Reiske) to have been regarded as one of the chief fortresses in Attica. It was still in existence in the time of Pliny('-Rhamnuspagus,locusMarathon,"iv. 7.S. 11). Rhamnus was the birthplace of the orator Antipho [Diet, of Biogr. s. v.'] ; but it was chiefly celebrated in antiquity on account of its worship of Kemesis, who was hence called by the Latin poets Rhamnmia virgo and Rhammisia ilea. (Catull. Ixvi. 71; Claud. B. Get. 631 ; Ov. Mel. iii. 406, Trist. v. 8. 9; Stat. Silv. iii. 5. § 5.) The temple of the goddess was at a short distance from the town. (Paus. I. c; comp. Strab. ix. p. 399.) It contained a celebrated statue of Nemesis, which, according to Pausanias, was the work of Pheidias, and was made by him out of a block of Parian marble, wdiich the Persians had brought with them for the construction of a trophy. The statue was of colossal size, 10 cubits in height (Hesych. s. v.; Zenob. Prov. v. 82), and on its basis were several figures in relief. Other writers say that the statue was the work of Agoracritus of Paros, a disciple of Pheidias. (Strab. ix. p. 396; Plin. xxxvi. 5. s. 4. § 17, Sillig.) It was however a common opinion that Pheidias was the real author of the statue, but that he gave up the honour of the work to his favourite disciple. (Suid. s. t». ; Zenob. I.e.; Tzetz. Chit. vii. 960.) Rhamnus stood in a small plain, 3 miles in length, which, like that of Jlaratlion, was shut out from the re.st of Attica by surrounding mountains. Tlie town itself was situ- ated upon a rocky peninsula, surrounded by the sea fur two-thirds of its circumference, and connected by a narrow ridge with the mountains, which closely approach it on the land side. It is now called Uvrio-KaHro. (^OSpd-Kaarpo, a corrujition of ' Y.§pai6v-KaaTpov, .fews'-Castle, a name frequently applied in Greece to the ruins of llelk'nic fortresses.) It was about half a mile in circuit, and its remains are considerable. The principal gate was situated upon the narrow ridge already mentioned, and is still preserved ; and adjoining it is the southern wall,