Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/267

 ASTYPALAEA. jku c ii lwa AsfypabM (/. c.) as 88 nules in drcum- The Island consists of two laige rocky united in the centre bj an Isthmos, which in ha namnmtt part is 00I7 450 or 500 feet across. On tlM K. and & the sea enters two deep bays be- tween the two katres of the island; and the town, which bore the same name as the isbind, stood on the weatem sideof the soatheni bay. To the S. and £. of this baj lie severs] desert islands, to which Orid (^Ar.Amt. fi. 82) aUndes in the line: — "dnctaqne pseosb Astypalaea vadU.'* From the castle of the town there ia an eztensire prospect. Towards the E. may beaeen Cos, Nisyros, and Telos, and tofwards the & in clear weather Cases, Garpathus, and Crete. Of the hisloiy of Astypalaea we have hardly any aoooont. Stephanos says that it was originally caUed Pynha, when the Carians possessed it, then Pylaea, next the Table of the Gods (Stw rp^f(a aa Bocoant of its verdore, and lastly Astypslsea, from the mother of Ancaens. (Comp. Paos. vii. 4. § 1.) We lean fran Scymnus (551) that Astypalaea was a cekay of the Mcgazians, and Ovid mentions it as of the islands sobdued by Minos. ('' Astypaleia ifeL TiL 461.) In b. c. 105 the Romans «wfin«lH! an alliance with Astypalaea (BSckh, Inter, VQLn.B.S485X adistinction probably granted to the isknd in consfgnmre of Its excellent harboorsaad of its eentcal position among the European and Asiatic ielBiidsof tfaeAegaean. Under the Roman emperors Astypalaea was a " libera dvitas." (Plin. /. c.) The modem town contains 850 hooses anid not fBte 1500 inhabitants. It belongs to Tnrkey, aid is snhject to the Pashah of Rhodes, who aSkm* the inhabitants, however, to govern themselves, only rKatiing fran them the small yeariy tribute of 9500 piastres, or about 60/. sterling. This small town eoDtains an extrsordinazy number of churches and cbap>4s, sometimes as many as six in a row. They are built to a great extent from the ruins of the aadmt temples, and they contain numerous in- acriptloDs. In eveiy part of the town there are seen rspitah of wJumns and other ancient remains. We lewn Irem inscripticins that the ancient city con- txined many temples and other ancient buOdin^. The frTonrite hero of the island was Cleomedes, of whoae romantic ht»tory an account is given elsewhere. {DieL of Biogr. art CUomedu.) Cicero probably Wil l i wnH s Achilles with this Cleomedes, when he says (jde XaL Dear. iiL 18) that the Astypalaeenses wanfaip Achilles with the greatest veneration. SefEenader related that a couple of hares having been bnoght into Astypalaea from Anaphe, the idand beeame so overrun with them that the inha- obliged to consult the Delphic oracle, their hunting them with dogs, and that in this way more than 6000 were caught in one year. (Athen. ix. p. 400, d.) This tale is a coun- terpart to the one about the brace of partridges in- trodneed finom Astypakea into Anaphe. [Astapue.] PEsj (viiL 59) says that the muscles of Astypalaea wvre wy oefebnited; and we learn from Ross that they axe still taken off the coast. (Roes, Reiaen auf dbi GriecA Jmtdn, vol. ii. p. 56, seq.; for inscrip- see Bocfch, Itucr. n. 2483, seq.; Ross, Inter. ii. 153, seq.) 3. A town in Samoa, according to Stephanus (a. ».), said by othen to be either the acropolis of tJbe city of Samos (Polyaen. Strat. i. 23. § 2), or the mam of half of the city. (E^rm. M.) 4. A town in the island of Cos, which the inka- ATABYBIUM. 25 1 bitants abandoned in order to baQd Cos. (Strab. xiv. p. 658; Steph. B.) 5. A pramontoiy in Caria, near Myndus. (Strab. xiv. p. 657.) A'STYRA ("AffTvpa, "Airrvpov: £th, 'Atrrwpn* yos)^ a small town of Myna, in the phun of Thebe, between Antandros and Adramyttium. It had a temple of Artemis, of which the Antandrii had the superintendence. (Strab. p. 613.) Artemis had hence the name of Astyrene or Astirene. (Xen. Hell iv. 1. § 41.) There was a lake Sapra near Astyra, which communicated with the sea. Pansanias, from his own observation (iv. 35. § 10), describes a spring of bhick water at Astyia; the water was hut. But he pkoes Astyra in Atameus. [ATAUfKua] There was, then, either a place in Atameus called Astyra, with warm springs, or Pausanias has made SMne mistake; for there is no doubt about the posi- tion of the Astyra of Strabo and MeU (i. 19). Astyra vras a deserted place, according to Pliny's authorities. He calls it Astyre. There are said to be coins of Astyra. Strabo (pp. 591, 680) menfaons an Astyra above Abydns in Troas, once an independent ci^, but in Stiabo*s time it was a ruined place, and belonged to the inhabitants of Abydus. There were once gold mines there, but they were nearly exhausted in Strabo's time. [G. L.] ATABYTtlUM CAra«4»oi/, Steph. B. Hesych.; a mountain of Galilee, on the borders of Zebulon and Issachar. (Joth, xix. 22; Joseph. Antiq. v. 1. § 22.) It stands out alone towards the SE. from the high land around Nazareth; while the north-eastern arm of the great plain of Esdraelon sweeps around its base, and extends far to the N., forming a broad teact of table-land, bordering upon the deep Jordan valley and the basin of the Lake Tiberias. It was before Mount Tabor that Deborah and Barak as- sembled the warriors of Israel before their great battle with Sisera. (Judget^ iv. 6, 12, 14; Joseph. Antiq. V. 5. § 3.) The beauty of this mountain aroused the enthusiasm of the Psalmist, when he selected Tabor and Hermon as the representatives of the hills of his native land; the former as the most graceful; the hitter as the loftiest. {Pt. Ixxxix. 12: comp. Jer. xlvi. 18; Hot. v. 1.) In b. c 218 Antiochus the Great ascended the mountain, and came to Ata- byrinm, a phice lying on a breast-formed height, having an ascent of more than 15 stadia; and by stratagem and wile got possession of the city, which he afterwards fortified. (Polyb. v. 70. § 6.) About 53 B. c. a battle took place here between the Roman forces under the proconsul Gabinius, and the Jews under Alexander, son of Aristobulus, in which 10,000 of the hitter were shun. (Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 6. § 3, B. J.IS.% 7.) In the New Testament Mount Tabor is not mentioned. In later times Josephus (B. J. ii. 20. § 6, Vita, § 37) relates that he had himself caused Mt Tabor to be fortified, along with various other phu»s. He describes the mountain as having an ascent of 30 stadia (Rofinus reads 20 sta- dia, which corresponds better with the 15 stadia of Polybius, and is nearer the truth). On the N. it was inaccessible, and the summit was a phtin of 26 stadia in circumference. The whole of this cir- cuit Josephus enclosed with a wall in forty days, in which time the inhabitants had to bring water and materials from below, since they had only rain- water. (A J. iv. 1. § 8.) Still later, when Jo- sephus had himself fallen into the hands of the
 * lTaSvpio¥ LXX. ; SaS^p : JebeUet- T(ir)j or Tabor,