Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/83

 ISCA. most distinct notice of the road from Scaton, and, nine miles from Exeter, the locality called Street-way Head; the name street = road (^iclien nut throur/h a town or vilLtge) % strong eviiiente of the way being IJoman. Tesselated pavements and the foun- dations of Koman walls have been f<iunJ at Exeter, as well as other remains, showing that it was not only a Konian town, but a Roman town of im- ])<)rtancc, as it continued to be in the Saxon times, and as it had probably been in the British. 2. IscA h:'.GWsis=: Caerleon-on-Usk, is men- tioned in the 12th Itinerary, i.e. in the one where Isca Duinnoniorum occurs. The only town given by Ptolemy to the Silures, the jtnpulation of the jiarts to which Isca ^sometimes called by Uiter writers Isca SiluruMi) belongs, is Dullaeum. Tliis = Bur- riuin of the Itinerary, 8 luiman miles from Isca (= Usk, about 6 English miles from Caerhon.') Hence, Isca may have been a milit.-ry station of comparatively recent date. But there is a fur- ther complication. It is the Devonshire Isca to which Ptolemy gives the Second Legion (^Aeyiuiv Sevripa 2<§a(7T7)). '' This," remarks Ilcr.vley (and, perhaps, with truth), on the part of Ptolemy, is, " in my opinion, the only manifest and niaterial error committed by him in this part of England " (p. 462). Again: several inscriptions from the Wnll (^per lineam Valli) show that, when that was built, the second Legion was on the Scottish border, taking part in the work; the previous history of the legion being, that it came into Britain under tlic reign of Claudius, commanded by Vesj)asian. (Tac. Hist. iii. 44.) On the other hand, an inscription men- tioned by Horslcy, but now lost (p. 78), indicates their presence at Caerleon in the time of Sevems. As the Itinerary places them there also, we must suppose that this was their quarters until the times approaching the evacuation of Britain. When the Notitia was made, they were at Rutupiae (^liich- horo): l'RAia>OSlTU3 LEGIONIS II. ALGLST. KL'- Turis. The Roman remains found at Caerleon arc con- siderable. A late excavation for the parts about the Castle Jifound gave the remains of a Roman villa, along with those of a medieval castle, built, to a great extent, out of the materials of the former. In some cases the stucco preserved its colour. There was abundance of pottery, — Samian ware, ornamented with figures of combatant gladiators, keys, bowls, bronze ornaments, and implements. At Fil Bach, near Caerleon. tesselated pavements have been found, along with the foUowmg inscription: — diis ma- NIBVS T.4UIA VEU^AVIVS. VIXIT ANNOS SEXJV- GINTA QVINQVE. ET TADIVS EXUPEKTVS FILIVS %T[.T ANXOS TRIGINTA SEPTEil. DEF'J{TVS (s/c) KXPEDITIONE GEKMANICA. TADIA EXUPEKATA FILIA JIATltl ET TATRI PIISSIMA SECVS TV- 5IVLV3I PATuis Pos^^T. Othere, of less length, to the number of twenty, have also been found in the neighbourhood. (See Archaeologia Cambrensis ; Journal of British Archaeolofjical Association (passim); and Delineations of Roman Antiquities found at Caerleon, J. E. Lee.) [R. G. L.] ISCA, river. [Isaca.] ISCA'DIA (EicTKaSm), a town in the W. of Bae- tica, between the Baetis and the Anas, not far from Tucci. (Appian, Hisp. 68.) [P. S.] ISCHALIS, in Brit.ain, mentioned by Ptolemy (ii. 3. § 28) a.s one of the towns of the Belgae, i?«^A and Winchester ("TSara Qiptia, or Aquae Soils, and ISIS. 67 Venta) being the other two; identified, in the Monu- menta Britannica, with Ilchester. [Isca Dijino- Nioia-M.] [R. G. L.] ISCIIO'POLIS ('IiTxnVoAis), a small town on the coast of Pontus near Pharnacia, was in ruins even in the time of Strabo (sii. p. 548), but is still noticed by Ptolemy (v. 6. § 5). [L. S.] ISIACO'RUJI PORTUS Clo-mKiJj' Ai/x7V, Arrian, Peripl. p. 21, Anon. I'eripl. p. 9), a harbour on the Euxine sea, 380 stadia from the island at the mouth of the Borysthenes, and 1200 stadia from the Psilon (SuUna') mouth of the Danube. (Arrian, I. c.) It has been identified by Rennell ( Cci?^^;. Geog. vol. ii. p. 360) with Odessa. There is some dithcnlty in adjusting the discrepancies in detail; but the aggre- gate distance appears to be clearly enough made out. Thus, from the island to Odessus Arrian allows a distance of 80 stadia, and from Odessns to the port of the Istrians (^Idrpiavihv Xifxi^v') 2.")0 stadia, and thence to that of the Isiaci 50 stadia, 'i'he Oi)ESSLs("05)j(r(r(is)of Arri.an (for he jdaces Odessns at Varna) is probably a false reading, and is the .same sis the Orde.sls ('Op57)(Tos) of Ptolemy (iii. 5. § 29) and Pliny (iv. 12), situated njwn the river A.MACES, or the modern Ttligul, a large estuary which receives a river of the same name. As the interval in Arrian between Odessus (^Oi-desus) and the island is too short, so the next is too large; but the errors balance one another, and the harbour of the Isiaci agrees with that of Odessa within three quarters of a mile ; the ])ort of the Istrians may have lain to the X. of the bav of Odessa. [E. B. J.] ISIDIS OPPIDUM (Phn.'v. 10. s. 11). Near the city of Busiris, in the Aogyptian Delta, was situated a splendid temple of Isis, around which, besides the ordinary dwellings of the priests within the sacred precincts, gradually clustered a large and flourishing village, inhabited by the artisans and husbandmen who supplied the wants or tilled the lands of the inmates of the temple. These buildings formed ])robably the hamlet or town of Isis mentioned by Pliny. The modern village of Bahheyt, N. of the imcient city of Busiris. is supposed to cover the ruins of the Templnm Isidis. (Pococke, Travels in the East, vol. i. p. 34; Mnutoi, p. 304.) [Bu- siris.] [W. B. D.] ISIXISCA, a place in Rhaetia Secunda, on the ancient road between Augsburg and Salzburg. (Itin. Ant. pp. 236, 251, 257 ; Tab. Pent., where it is called Isunisca.) It is identified by some with Isen, and by others with a place near Helfendorf. [L. S.] ISIONDA ('Icrioj'Sa), a town in the south-west of Pisidia, a few miles to the north-west of Ter- messus. (Polyb. Exc. dc Leg. 31 ; Liv. xxxviii. 15.) Strabo (sii. p. 570), in enumerating the Pisidian towns, mentions one which he calls Sinda, a name which some editors believe to be a corrupt reading for Isionda; but, as there existed a town of the name of Sinda near Cibyra in Pisidian Phrygia, it would be hazardous to decide anything. (See Kramer's note on Strab. I. c.) Sir C. Fellowes {Asia Minor, p. 194) found extensive rem.ains of an ancient town on the top and side of one of the many isolated hills of the district, which he supposes to be the ruins of Isionda, but he does not mention any coins or in- scriptions in support of his conjecture. [L. S.] ISIS (o "Itrij), a navigable river on the east coast of the Euxine between the Acinasis and Mogrus, from each of which its distance amounted to 90 st^idia, while its mouth was 180 stadia south of that of the Phasis. (Arrian, Peripl. p. 7 ; Plin. vi. 4 5 f2