Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/727

 RHIZONICUS SINUS. have retired among the Enchelees. (Scylax, I. c.) Whether the Phoenicians had reached the E. shore of the Adriatic does not appear, but it could only be from traces of Phoenician settlements that this term was assigned to his wanderings. (Wilkinson, Dal- matia, vol. i. p. 381; Neigebaur, Die Sud-Slaven, p. 30.) [E. B. J.] RHIZONICUS SINUS. [Rhizon.] RHIZO'PHAGI AETHIOPES ('PiC"<?>aT'«, Dio- dor. iii. 23 ; Strab. xvii. p. 770, seq. ; Ptol. iv. 8. § 29), one of the numerous tribes of Aethiopia, whom the Greeks named after the diet peculiar to them. The root-eating Aethiopians dwelt above Meroe, on either bank of the Astaboras {Tacazze), and de- rived their principal sustenance from a kind of cake or polenta, made from the reeds and bulrushes that covered that alluvial region. The roots were first scrupulously cleansed, then powdered between stones, and the pulp thus obtained was dried in the sun. The Rhizophagi are described as a mild and harmless race, living in amity with their neighbours, and, probably because they had nothing to lose, unmolested by them. Their only foes were lions, who sometimes com- mitted the greatest havoc among this unarmed race ; and their best friends, according to Diodorus (comp. Agatharch. ap. Hudson, Geog. Graec. Min. p. 37), were a species of gnat, or more probably gadfly, which at the summer solstice (v-nh rrji/ avaroX^v Tov Kvvhs) assailed the lions in such numbers, that they fled from the marshes, and permitted the Rhi- zophagi to recniit their losses. The site of this otscure tribe probably corresponds with that of the Shikos (Bruce, Travels, vol. iii. pp. 69 — 72), who now occupy the southern part of the territory of Tcika or Atbara, on the ujiper Tacazze. [W. B. D.] RHIZUS ('PiCoOs), a port-town of Pontus, at the mouth of the river Khizius, about 120 stadia to the east of the river Calus, and 30 stadia west of the mouth of the Ascurus. In the time of Procopius (^Bell. Goth. iv. 2) the place had risen to consider- able importance, so that Justinian surrounded it with strong fortifications. The Table mentions on its site a place under the name of Reila, which is pro- bably only a corruption of the right name, which still exists in the form of Rizeh, though the place is also called Irrish. (Comp. Procop. de Aed. iii. 4; Ptol. V. 6. § 6.) [L. S.] RHIZUS ('P<CoCs: £■</*. Vi^ovvnos), a town of Magnesia in Thessaly, whose inhabitants were transported to Demetrias upon the foundation of the latter city. (Strab. ix. pp. 436, 443 ; Steph. B. 5. v. ; Plin. iv. 9. s. 16.) We learn from Scylax (p. 24) that Rhizus was outside the Pagasaean gulf upon the exterior shore ; but its e.'jact position is uncer- tain. Leake places it at the ruins eastward of Nekhori (^Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 383). RJIOCCA ('PiSfc/ca), a town of Crete, where there was a temple to Artemis Rhoccaea (Aelian, N. A. xii. 22). Pococke (vol. ii. p. 247) found remains at the village which still bears the name of lihokka, to the S. of the ancient Methymna; and there can be little doubt but that this is the site of Rhocca, which, as is shown by Aelian (iV. A. xiv. 20), was near Methymna (Hock, Kreta, vol. i. p. 391; Pashley, Crete, vol. ii. p. 41.) [E.B.J.] RUODA or RHODUS ('P(55r?, Stcph. l. s. v.; Rhoda, Mela, ii. 6 ; Liv. xxxiv. 8 ; 'P(i5oy, Strab. xiv. p. 654; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 504; called by Ptol. ii. 6. § 20, 'PoS^TToAis, where we should pro- bably read 'PJStj ttcJAis), a Greek emporium on the coast of the Indigetae in Hispania Tarraconensis, RHODANUS. •11 founded according to Strabo (I. c.) by the Rhodians, and subsequently taken possession of by the Mas- siliots. It is the modern Rosas ; but tradition says that the old town lay towards the headland at San Pedro de Roda. (Ford, Handbook of Spain, p. 249 ; comp. Meurs. Rhod. i. 28 ; Marca, Hisp. ii. 18; Martin, Hist, des Gaules, p. 218; Florez, Med. iii. p. 114; Mionnet, i. p. 148.) [T. H. D.] RHO'DANUS ('PoSai/os: Rhone). The Rhone rises in Switzerland, in a glacier west of the pass of St. Gothard and south of the Gallenstock, a moun- tain above 12,000 feet high. It has a general course, first SW., then W. by S. as far as Martigny, the Octodurus of Caesar {B. G. iii. 1 ). The course from Martigny to the Lake of Geneva forms nearly a right angle with the course of the river above Martigny. The length of the valley through which the Rhone flows to the Lake of Geneva is above 90 miles. This long valley called Wallis, or the Val- lais, is bounded by the highest Alpine ranges: on the north by the Bernese Alps, which contain the largest continuous mass of snow and ice in the Swiss mountains, and on the south by the Le- pontian and Pennine Alps. The iate of Geneva, the Lacus Lemannus of the Romans [Lemanus], which receives the Rhone at its eastern extremity, is more than 1200 feet above the surface of the Mediterranean. The Luke of Geneva lies in the form of a crescent between Switzerland and Savoy. The convex part of the crescent which forms the north side is above 50 miles in length ; the concave or southern side is less than 50 miles in length. The widest part, which is about the middle, is 8 or 9 miles. The great- est depth, which is near some high cliflfs on the south coast, is stated variously by different author- ities, some making it as much as 1000 feet. The Rhone enters the lake at the east end a muddy stream, and the water flows out clear at the western extremity past Geneva, an ancient city of the Al- lobroges. [Geneva.] Below Geneva the Rhone runs in a rapid course and in a SW. direction past Fort VEcluse. Fort I'Fcluse is at the point described by Caesar (i?. G. i. 9) where the Juia overhangs tlie course of the Rhone. [Helvetii.] The river then runs south past Seyssel, and making a bend turns north .again, and flowing in an irregular western course to Lyon (Lugdunum) is joined there by the Saone, tlio ancient Arar [Akar; Lugdunuji]. The length of the course of the Rhone from the Lahe of Ge- neva to Lyon is about 130 miles. The Saone, as Caesar says, is a slow river, but the current is seen very plainly under the bridges in Lyon. The Rhone is a rapid stream, and violent when it is swelled by the rains and the waters from the Alpine regions. From Lyon the Rhone flows in a general r-outh- ern course. The direct distance is about 150 miles from Lyon to Aries (Arelate) where the river divides into two large branches which include the i.-.le of Carmagne. The whole course of the Rhone from the ice-fields of Switzerland to the low shores of the Mediterranean is above 500 miles. The valley of the lihone below Lyon is narrow on the west b.aiik as far as the junction of the Ar- diche, and it is bounded by high, bare, and rocky heights. Some of the hill slojes are planted with vines. All the rivers wjiich flow into the Rhone from the highlands on the west arc small: they are the Ardeche, Ceze, Gardon ('ardo), and some smaller streams. The left bank of the Rhone from z z 4