Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/78

 62 lONimi MAKE. Per. 92), are obviously mere etymological fancies. No trace of the name is found in the Homeric poems ; and it occurs for the first time in Aeschylus, though, from the poetic diction of that writer, it is not clear in what precise sense he employs the term iroynos fivxhs 'luvios. (Aesch. I. c.) Herodotus evidently employs the name 'lovtos koAttos, the Ionian ff'ilf, as synonymous with the Adriatic; and Thucydides likewise uses the term in the same sense, as is evi- dent from his expression, that " Epidamnus is a city on the right hand as you sail into the Ionian gulf" (i. 24). He also repeatedly uses the term 6 'Iovlos (with koAttos understood) in speaking of the passage from Corcyra to the lapygian promontory (vi. 30, 34, vii. 33); but in all these cases he refers only to the narrow sea, which might be considered as part of the same gulf or inlet with the entrance of the Adriatic. Scylax also, and even Scymnus Chins, employ the name of the Ionian gulf in the same sense, as sy- nonymous with the Adriatic, or at least with the southern part of it (Scyl. §§ 14, 27; Scymn. Ch. 133, 361) [Adriaticuji Mare]; while the name of the Ionian sea, in the more extended sense given to it by later geographers, as indicated at the com- mencement of this article, is not found in any early Greek writer. Polybius is the first extant author who uses the term in this sense, and gives the name of 'lovios TTopos to the .sea which extended from the entrance of the Adriatic along the coast of Italy as far as the promontorj- of Curinthus, which he con- siders as its southern limit. (Pol. ii. 14, v. 110.) Even here the peculiar expression of the Ionian strait sufiiciently shows that this was a mere ex- tension of the name from the narrow sea or strait at the entrance of the Adriatic to the more open sea to the S. of it. Hence we have no proof that the name was ever one in common use among the Greeks until it came to be established by the geographers; and even Strabo, who on these points often follows earlier authors, gives the name only of the Ionian gulf to the part of the sea near the entrance of the Adriatic, while he extends the appellation of the Sicilian sea (^LKeiKhv Tre'Aoyos) from the eastern shores of Sicily to those of the Peloponnese. He, as well as Polybius and Scymnus Chius, fixes the Acroce- raunian promontory as the limit between the Ionian and the Adriatic seas. (Strab. ii. p. 123, vii. pp. 316, 317.) Pliny uses the name of Ionium Mare very widely, or rather very vaguely ; including under that appellation the Mare Siculum and Creticum of the Greeks, as well as apparently the lower part of the Adriatic (Plin.iii. 8. s. 14, 26. s. 29, 30, iv. 11. s. 18), and this appears to have been the usage common in his day, and which is followed by the Latin poets. (Virg. view. iii. 211, 671 ; Ovid. Fast. iv. 565, &c.) Mela distinguishes the Ionian sea from the Sicilian, and applies the former name, in the sense now generally adopted by geographers, as that portion of the broad sea between the shores of Greece and those of Sicily, which lay nearest to the former. (Mel. ii. 4. § 1.) But all these names, given merely to portions of the Mediterranean which had no natural limits, were evidently used very vaguely and indefinitely; and the great extension given at a later period to the name of the Adriatic swallowed up altogether those of the Ionian and Sicilian seas [Adriaticuji Mare], or led to the employment of the former name in a vague and general sense, wholly diiferent from that in which it was originally applied. Thus Servius, commenting on the expres- sion of Virgil, " Insulae lonio in magno," where the JOPPA. true Ionium Slare is meant by the poet, says: — " Sciendum, Ionium sinum esse immensum. ab Ionia usque ad Siciliam, et hujus partes esse Adriaticum, Achaicum et Epiroticum." (Sei-y. ad A en. iii. 211.) On the other hand, the name of the Ionian gulf (6 'lo^ioj KoKiros) was still given in late times (at least by geographers), in a very limited sense, to that portion of the Adriatic immediately within the strait at its entrance. (Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 92, 389.) Ptolemy even applies the name of the Ionian sea (^IwvLov ireAayos, iii. 1. §§ 14, 15) in the same restricted manner. From the name of the Ionian sea has been derived that of the Ionian islands, now given to the group of seven principal islands (besides several smaller ones) which constitute an independent republic under t!ie protectorate of Great Britain; but there is no ancient authority for this appellation. [E. H. B.] JOPPA ('loTTTrTj.LXX.; Strab.xvi.p. 759; Ptol. V. 16. § 2. The form' Iotttj, Steph. B.; Dionys. v. 910; Joseph. Antiq. ix. 10. § 2; Sohn. 34, better suits the Phoenician original, which signifies " an eminence ; " comp. Mover's Phmizier, pt. ii. p. 1 7 7 ; Hitzig, Die Philistiier, pp. 131 — 134: Eth.'lo- TTITT/S, 'loTTflTi;?, 'lOTTTTla, 'loTTeia, 'lOTTfUy, 'loTTi's. The Hebrew name Japho is still preserved in the Arabic Yofa or Jaffa). A seaport town and haven on the coast of Palestine, situated on an eminence. The ancients asserted that it had existed before the Deluge (Pomp. Mela, i. 11. § 3; Plin. v. 14), and according to legend it was on this shore that An- dromeda was rescued by Perseus (Strab. I. c. ; Plin. I. c; comp. Hieron. in Jon. i.) from the monster, whose skeleton was exhibited at Rome by M. Ae- milius Scaurus during his famous curule aedileship (Plin. ix. 4). When the Israelites invaded Canaan it is mentioned as lying on the border of the tribe of Dan {Josh. xix. 40), and was the only port pos- sessed by the Jewish people, till Herod made the harbour at Caesarea. The timber from Lebanon intended for both the first and second temples was landed here (1 Kings, v. 9; 2 Chron. ii. 16 ; Ezra, iii. 7); and Jonah went to Joppa to find a ship going to Tarsbish (^Jon. i. 3). Judas Maccabaeus set the shipping on fire, because of the inhabitants having drowned 200 Jews (2 Mace. sii. 3 — 7). The town was afterwards taken by Jonathan (1 Mace. X. 74 — 76), but was not long retained, as it was again captured by Simon (xii. 34), and was strongly fortified by him (xiv. 5, xv. 28). It was annexed by Pompeius to the Eoman province of Syria, along with other towns which the Jews had held by grants from the predecessors of An-, tiochus (Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 4. § 4, comp. siii. 9. § 2), and was afterwards given to Herod by Julius Caesar (xv. 7. § 3), and remained part of the do- minions of Archelaus (xvii. 11. § 4). In the Xew Testament Joppa is mentioned in con- nection with the Apostle Peter (^Acts, ix. 36 — 43, X. 5, 18. xi. 5). During the Jewish war, this place, which had become a receptacle for pirates (Strab. xvi. p. 759), was taken by Cestius, and 8400 of the inhabitants were put to the sword. (Joseph. B.J.n. 18. § 10.) Vespasian afterwards utterly demolished the ruins of Joppa, to which great num- bers of persons had fled, and taken to piracy for subsistence. {B. J. iii. 9. §§ 2 — 5.) In the time of Constantine Joppa was the seat of a bishop, as well as when taken by the Arabians under Omar, A. D. 636; the name of a bishop occurs in the council held at Jerusalem a. d. 536. At the period