Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/90

 74 ISTPJANORUM POKTUS. lemy also mentions three towns, •which he places in the interior of the country, and names Pucinum, Piquentum (TltKovevTOv), and Alvum or Alvon ('AAoCoi'). Of these, Piquentum may be probably identified with Pinguente, a considerable place in the heart of the mountain district of the interior; and Alvon with Alhona (called Alvona in the Tabula), which is, however, E. of the Arsa, and therefore not strictly within the Roman province of Istria. la like manner the Pucinum of Ptolemy is evidently the same place with the " castellum, nobile vino, Pucinum" of Pliny (vii. 18. s. 22), which the latter places in the territory of the Cami, between the Timavus and Tergeste, and was perhaps the same with the modem Duino. Ningum, a place men- tioned in the Antonine Itinerary (p. 271) between Tergeste and Parentium, cannot be determined with any certainty. The Tabula also gives two names in the NW. part of the peninsula, Qiiaeri and Silvo (Silvum), both of which are wholly unknown. The same authority marks three small islands off the coast of Istria, to which it gives the names of Sepo- mana(?), Orsaria, and Pullaria: the last is men- tioned also by Pliny (iii. 26. s. 30), and is probably the rocky iskind, or rather group of islets, off the harbour of Pola, now known as Li Brioni. The other two cannot be identified, any more than the Cissa of Pliny (I.e.): the Absyrtides of the same author are the larger islands in the Golfo di Qiiar- nero, which belong rather to Liburnia than to Istria. [Absyrtides.] The extreme southern promontory of Istria, now called Punta di Promontore, seems to have been known in ancient times as the Promontorium PoLATicuM (aKpwTripiov UoAaTucdv, Steph. B. s. i rioAa). Immediately adjoining it is a deep bay or harbour, now known as the Golfo di MedoUno, which must be the Portus Planaticus (probably a coiTuption of Flanaticus) of the Tabula. The Geographer of Ravenna, writing in the seventh century, but from earlier authorities, mentions the names of many towns in Istria unnoticed by earUer geographers, but which may probably have grown up under the Roman empire. Among these are Hu- mago, still called Umago, Neapolis (Citta Nuova), Ruvignio (Rovigno'), and Piranou (Pirano), all of them situated on the W. coast, with good ports, and which would naturally become places of some trade during the flourishing period of Istria above alluded to. (Anon. Ravenn.'iv. 30, 31.) [E. H. B.] ISTRIANORUM PORTUS. [Isiacorum Portus.] ISTRIA'NUS (^Iffrpiavds, Ptol. iii. 6. § 3), a river of the Tauric Chersonese, which has been iden- tified with the Kuulc Tep. (Forbiger, vol. iii. pp. 1117,1121.) [E. B. J.] ISTRO'POLIS, ISTRIO'POLIS, HISTPJO'PO- LIS ('IcTTpoTroAis, 'Icrrpia t:6Kis, or simply "IcrTpos : Jstere), a town of Lower Moesia, at the southern extremity of lake Halmyris, on the coast of the Euxine. It was a colony of Miletus, and, at least in Strabo's time, a small town. (Strab. vii. p. 319 ; Plin. iv. 18. 24 ; Mela, ii. 2; Eutrop. vi. 8; Herod. ii. 33 ; Arrian, Perip. Eux. p. 24 ; Geog. Rav. iv. 6 ; Lycoph. 74 ; Ptol. iii. 10. § 8; Scymn. Fragm. 22 ; Steph. B. s. V. ; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8 ; Hierocl. p. 637.) But the frequent mention of the place shows that it must have been a commercial town of some import- ance ; of its history, however, nothing is known. Some modern writers have identified it with Kiu- stenza or Kostendtije, the ancient Constantiana, ITALIA. which, however, was in all probability situated to the south of Istropolis. [L. S.] ISTRUS {"larpos), a Cretan town which Arte- midorus also called Istkona. (Steph. B. s. w.) The latter form of the name is found in an inscription (op. Chishull, Antiq. Asiat. p. 110). The site is placed near Minoa: "Among the ruined edifices and columns of this ancient city are two immense marble blocks, half buried in the earth, and measuring 54 by 15 feet." (Cornelius, Greta Sacra, vol. i. p. 1 1 ; ap. Mils. Class. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 273; comp. Hock, Kreta, vol. i. pp. 17, 421.) [E. B. J.] COIN OF ISTRUS. ISTURGI (Andvjar la Vieja), a city of His- pania Baetica, in the neighbourhood of Illiturois. (Inscr. ap. Florez, £sp. S. vol. vii. p. 137.) The Ipasturgi Triumphale of Pliny (iii. 1. s. 3) is probably the same place. (Ukert, vol. ii. pt. 1. pp. 380,381.) [f'-S.]- ISUBRIGANTUM. [Isurium.] ISU'RIUM, in Britain, first mentioned by Pto- lemy (ii. 3. § 16) as a town of the Brigantes. It then occurs in two of the Itineraries, the 1st and 2nd. In each, it lies between Cataractonium and Eboracum {Catterick Bridge and YorV). Isubri- gantum, in the 5th Itinerary, does the same. In the time of the Saxons Isurium had already taken the name of Eald-hurg {Old Towii), out ot which has come the present name Aldborougk, near Boroughbridge, with which it is undoubtedly identi- fied. Roman remains, both within and without the walls, are abundant and considerable at Aldhoroiigh ; the Stodhart (or Studforth), the Red Hill, and the Borough Hill, being the chief localities. Tesselated pavements, the foundations of large and spaciou.s buildings, ornaments, implements, Samian ware, and coins with the names of nearly all the emperors from Vespasian to Constantine, have given to Isurium an importance equal to that of York, Cirencester, and other towns of Roman importance. [R. G. L.] ISUS ("lo-os), a spot in Boeotia, near Anthedon, with vestiges of a city, which some commenta- tors identified with the Homeric Nisa. (Strab. ix. p. 405 ; Hom. Jl. ii. 508.) There was apparently also a town Isus in Megaris ; but the passage in Strabo in which the name occurs is corrupt. (Strab. I.e.) ITA'LIA ('IraAia), was the name given in an- cient as well as in modern times to the countiy still called Italg ; and was applied, from the time of Au- gustus, both by Greek and Latin writers, in almost exactly the same sense as at the present day. It was, however, at first merely a geographical term ; the countries comprised under the name, though strongly defined by natural limits, and common na- tural features, being from the earliest ages peopled by different races, which were never politically united, till they all fell under the Roman yoke, and were gradually blended, by the peiTading influence ot Roman institutions and the Latin language, into one common nationality.