Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/256

 240 asixdum: a considerablo body of water, as described bj Tha- cjdides in the above passage. A carious monament etill extant near Helomm is commonly supposed to have been erected to commemorate the victory of the Syracusans on this occasion; but it seems too &r from the river to have been designed for such an object. [Hblorum.] Plutarch tells us {Nic. 28), that the S3rracusans instituted on the occasion a festival called Atmaria-j and it is said that this is still celebrated at the present day, though now converted to the honour of a saint. (Smyth's Sicilg, p. 179; FazeU. de Beb. Sic. iv. I. p. 198 ; Cluver. SicU, p. 184.) [E. H. B.] ASINDUM. [AsiDO.] A'SINE C^ffltmi: Eth, 'Aaiycuor, 'Affwre^s). 1. A town in the Argeia, on the coast, is mentioned by Homer (/t ii. 560) as one of the places subject to Diomedes. It is said to have been founded by the Diyopes, who originally dwelt on ML Parnassus. In one of the early wars between the Lacedaemonians and the Argives, the Asinaeans joined the former when they invaded the Argive territory under their king Nicander; but as soon as the Lacedaemonians returned home, the Aigives laid siege to Asine and razed it to the ground, sparing oiUy the temple of the PythaSus Apollo. The Asinaeans escaped by sea; and the Lacedaemonians gave to them, after the end of the first Messenian war, a portion of the Messenian territory, where they built a new town. Nearly ten centuries after the destruction of the city its > ruins were visited by Pausanias, who found the temple of Apollo still standing. (Pans, ii.36. § 4, iii. 7. §4, iv. 14. § 3, 34. § 9, seq.; Strab. viii. p. 373.) Leake places Asine at 7V>2e^, where a peninsular maritime height retains some Hellenic remains. The description of Pausanias, who mentions it (ii. 36. § 4) immediately after Didymi in Hermionis, might lead us to place it fnrther to the east, on the confines of Epidauria; but, oa the other hand, Stinbo (viii. p. 373) places it near Nauplia; and Pausanias him- self pro<xeds to describe I/cma, Temenium, and Nauplia immediately after Asine. Perhaps Asine ought to be placed in the plain of Jrij which is farther to the east. The geographers of the French Commission place Asine at Kdndia^ a village between Tolon and /r», where they found some ancient re- mains above the village, and, at a mile's distance from it towards /r», the ruins of a temple. But, as Leake observes, " the objection to Kdndia for the site of Asine is, that it is not on the sea-shore, as Pausanias states Asine to have been; and which be repeats (iv. 34. § 12) by saying tliat the Messenian Asine, whither the Asinaei of Argolis migra^, after the destruction of their city by the Argives, was situated on the sea-side, in the same mamier as Asine in Ai^golis." (Leake, Pehpotmeaiaca, p. 290, se.|.; Boblaye, Reckerchet, ^. p. 61.) ^ 2. A town in Messenia, which was built by the Dryopes, when they were expelled from Asine in the Areola, as related above. (Paus. U, cc.) It stood on the western side of the Messenian gulf, which was sometimes called the Asinaean gulf, from this town ('Aff ivaios k6tos, Strab. viii. p. 359 ; Asinaeus Sinus, Plin. iv. 5. s. 7). Asine was distant 40 stadia north of the promontoiy Acritas, 40 stadia from Co- lonides (Pans. iv. 34. § 12), 15 miles from Methona, and 30 miles from Messene (7Vi6. Peut.), Its site is now occupied by Koronij which is situated upon a hill jutting out into the sea above C. GcMo (the ancient Acritas). The ancient town of Corone was situated further north ; and it has been reasonably con- %' • ASMIEAFJL jectored that the inhabitants of Corone lemoved' from their town to the deserted site of Asine, and carried with them their ancient name, — such a migration of names not being uncommon in Greece. (Boblaye, JRechercheSj ^. p. 112; Leake, Peloponn. p. 195.) The Messenian Asine continued to be a place of considerable importance from its foundation at tho close of the first Messenian war till the sixth century of the Christian era, when it is mentioned by Hierocles. It is spoken of by Herodotus (viii. 73) as a town of the Diyopes, and its name occurs in the history of the Peloponnesian war, and in subsequent events. (Thuc. iv. 13, 54, vi. 93; Xen. BeU. vii. 1. § 25.) When the Messenians rettimed to their own country after the battle of Leuctra, b. c. 37 1, the Asinaeans were not molested by them ; aiid even in the time of Pausanias they still gloried in the name of Dryopes. (Paus. ii. 34. § 11.) 3. An Asine in Laconia is mentioned by Stralio (viii. p. 363) as situated between Amathus (a false reading for Psamathns) and Gythinm; and Stepha- nus B. («. V.) speaks di a Laoonian as well as of a Messenian Asine. Polybius (r. 19) likewise relates that Philip, in his invasion of T.aoonia, sufiered a re* pulse before Asine, which appears from his narrative to have been near Gythium. But notwithstanding these authorities, it may be questioned whether there was a town of the iiame of Asine in Lac(uiia. Pau- sanias, in describing the same event as PolytMos, says that Philip was repulsed before Las, which originally stood on the summit of Mt. ^ Asia." (Paus. iii. 24. § 6.) There can therefore be no doubt that the " Las " of Pausanias and the ** Adne " of Polybius are the same place; and the resemblance between the names ** Asia " aind ^ Asine ** probably led Poly- bius into the error of calling Las by the latter name; an error which was the more likely to arise, because Herodotus and Thucydides speak of the Messenian Asine as a town in Laconia, since Messenia formed a part of Laconia at the time when they wrote. The error of Polybius was perpetuated by Strabo and Stephanus, and has found its %'ay into most modem works. (Boblaye, Jiecherchetj 4^, p. 87; Leake, MoreOf vol. i. p. 279.) ASI'SIUM {'Atritriov: but AiVfo-ioi', Ptd. iii. 1. § 53, and Alfftov m Strab. v. p. 227, is probably a corruption of the same name: JSth, 'AataTfos, Asisinas, -atis), a town of Umbria, situated on the western side of the Apennines, about 12 miles E. of Perusia, and 20 S. of Iguvium. Its name is found both in Pliny and Ptolemy, and its municipal rank and consideration are attested by inscriptions. Procopiui (iii. 12. p. 326) mentions it as a strong fortress, which was besieged and taken by Totila. The modem city of Atsisi (celebrated as tho birth-place of St. Francis) retains the ancient site, as well as name, and contains, beudes numerous inscriptions and other minor antiquities, the well- preserved portico of an ancient temple, now con- verted into that of a church. Some remains of a Roman aqueduct and baths are also visible. (Plin. iii. 14. s. 19; Ptol. iii. 1. S 53; OreU. Inscr, 1250; Bampoldi, Corografia delT Italia^ vol. L p, 139.) [E. H. B.] ASMABAEUS. [Tyana.] ASMIRAEA {'Aatupala), a district of Serica, N. of the Asmiraa M. (rk *A(rfxip<ua ipv)t ^th a city of the same name (Ptol. vL 16. §§ 2, 3, 5, 6; Amm. Marc zxiii. 6) ; perhaps KhtmU or Hami, a considerable emporium of Chinese Tartary, in 42^ 30' N. hit, and 93® 40' E. long. [P. &] . ^ ^ he ^ I * N'