Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/722

 706 RHEGIUM. and Bruttium, laying waste those provinces on his }iiai-ch, and made himself master of Rhegium, from whence he tried to cross over into Sicily, but, being frustrated in this attempt, retraced his steps as far as Consentia, where he died. {[list. Miscell. xiii. p. 535.) Somewhat later it is described by Cas- siodoras as still a flourishing place ( Var. xii. 1 4), and was still one of the chief cities of Bruttium in the days of Paulus Diaconus. {Hist. Lang. ii. 17.) During the Gothic wars after the fall of the West- ern Empire, Rhegium bears a considerable part, and was a strong fortress, but it was taken by Totila in A. d. 549, previous to his expedition to Sicily. (Procop. B. G. i. 8, iii. 18, 37, 38.) It subsequently fell again into the hands of the Greek emperors, and continued subject to them, with the exception of a short period when it was occupied by the Saracens, until it passed under the dominion of Robert Guiscard in A. D. 1060. The modern city of Reggio is still a considerable place, with a popu- lation of about 10,000 souls, and is the capital of the province of Calabria Ultra; but it has suffered severely in modern times from earthquakes, having been almost entirely destroyed in 1783, and again in great part overthrown in 1841. It has no re- mains of antiquity, except a few inscriptions, but numerous coins, urns, mosaics, and other ancient relics have been brought to light by excavations. Rhegium was celebrated in antiquity as the birth- place of the lyric poet Ibycus, as well as that of Lycus the historian, the father of Lycophron. (Suid. s. v. 'ISvKos ; Id. s. r. Avkos.) It gave birth also to the cele- brated sculptor Pythagoras (Diog. Laert. viii. 1. § 47 ; Paus. vi. 4. § 4) ; and to several of the minor Pytha- gorean philosophers, whose names are enumerated by lamblichus {Vit. Pyth. 267), but none of these are of much note. Its territory was fertile, and noted for the excellence of its wines, which were especially esteemed for their salubrity. (Athen. i. p. 26.) Cassiodorus describes it as well adapted for vines and olives, but not suited to corn, {Var. xii. 14.) Another production in which it excelled was its breed of mules, so that Anasilas the despot was repeatedly victor at the Olympic games with the chariot drawn by mules (aTrrivi]), and his son Leophron obtained the same distinction. One of these victories was celebrated by Simonides. (He- raclid. Polit. 25 ; Athen. i. p. 3 ; Pollux, Onomasl. V. 75.) Rhegium itself was, as already mentioned, the termination of the line of high-road which traversed the whole length of Southern Italy from Capua to the Sicilian strait, and was first constructed by the praetor Popilius in b. c. 134. (Orell. Inscr. 3308; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 6276 ; Ritschel, Mon. Epigr. pp. 11, 12.) But the most frequented place of passage for crossing the strait to Messana was, in ancient as well as in modern times, not at Rhegium itself, but at a spot about 9 miles further N., which was marked by a column, and thence known by the name of CoLUMNA Rhegina. {Itiu. Ant. pp. 98, 106, 111; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; T]'?Tiyivwv arvKis, Strab. v. p. 257.) The distance of this from Rhegium is given both by Pliny and Strabo at 12.^ miles or 100 stadia, and the latter places it only 6 stadia from the promontory of Caenys or Fimta del Pezzo. It must therefore have been situated in the neighbour- hood of the modern village of Villa San Giovanni, which is still the most usual place of passage. But the distance from Rhegium is overstated by both geographers, the Punta del Pezzo itself being less RHENUS. than 10 miles from Reggio. On the other hand the inscription of La I'olla (Forum Popilii) gives the distance from the place of passage, which it designates as " Ad Statuam," at only 6 miles. (Jlommsen, Inscr. R. N. 6276.) Yet it is pro- bable that the spot meant is really the same in both cases, as from the strong current in the straits the place of embarkation must always have been nearly the same. [E. H. B.] COIN OF RHEGIUM. RHEGMA ('PrJ7^a), the name of a lake or la- gune formed by the river Cydnus in Cilicia, at its mouth, about 5 stadia below Tarsus; the inhabit- ants of this city used it as their port. (Strab. xiv. p. 672; Stadiasm. Mar. Mag. §§ 155, 156, where it is called 'Prjy/ioi; It. Hieros. p. 579.) The two last authorities place the Ehegma 70 stadia from Tarsus, which may possibly refer to a parti- cular point of it, as the Rhegma was very exten- sive. [L. S.] RHEGMA. [Epimaranitae.] RHEI'MEA ('FeiMsa, Bockh, Inscr. no. 4590), a town of Auranitis, as appears from an inscription found by Burckhardt (Travels, p. 69) at Deir-el- Leben, situated three-quarters of an hour from the modern village of Rima-el-Luhf, where there stands a building with a flat roof and three receptacles for the dead, with an inscription over the door. (Biickli, Inscr. 4587 — 4589 ; comp. Buckingham, Arab Tribes. ^. 25G.) ^E. B.J.] RHEITHRUM. [Ithaca, p. 98, a.] RHEITI. [Attica, p. 328, a.] RHENI. [Reni.] RHENEIA. [Delos, p. 760.] RHENUS ('Ftj^os), one of the largest rivers in Europe, is not so long as the Danube, but as a commercial channel it is the first of European rivers, and as a political boundary it has been both in ancient and modern times the most important fron- tier in Europe. The Rhine rises in the mountains which belong to the group of the St. Gothard in Switzerland, about 46° 30' N. lat. There are three branches. The Vorder-Rhein and the Mittel-Rhein meet at Dissentis, which is only a few miles from their respective sources. The united stream has an east by north course to Reichenau, where it is joined by the Uinter-Rhein. At Cknr (Curia), which is below the junction of the Hinter-Rhein, the river becomes navigable and has a general northern course to the Bodensee or Lake of Con- stanz, the Lacus Brigantinus or Venetus. This lake consists of two parts, of which the western part or Untersee, is about 30 feet lower than the chief part, called the Lake of Consianz. The course of the Rhine from the Untersee is westward, and it is navigable as far as the falls of Schaffhaiisen, which are not mentioned by any of the ancient geographers. It is interrupted by a smaller fall at Laufenburg, and there is a rapid near Rheinfelden, 10 miles below Laufenburg. The course is still west to