Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/328

  canal haying been excavated by Xerxes, it is probable that the central part was afterwards filled up, in order to allow a more ready passage into and out of the peninsula. In many places the canal is still deep, swampy at the bottom, and filled with rushes and other aquatic plants: the rain and small springs draining down into it from the adjacent heights afford, at the Monte Santo end, a good watering place for shipping; the water (except in very dry weather) runs out in a good stream. The distance across is 2500 yards, which agrees very well with the breadth of twelve stadia assigned by Herodotos. The width of the canal appears to have been about 18 or 20 feet; the level of the earth nowhere exceeds 15 feet above the sea; the soil is a light clay. It is on the whole a very remarkable isthmus, for the land on each side (but more especially to the westward) rises abruptly to an elevation of 800 to 1000 feet." (Penny Cyclopaedia, vol. iii. p. 23.)

About 1½ mile north of the canal was Acanthus [], and on the isthmus, immediately south of the canal, was Sane, probably the same as the later Uranopolis. [.] In the peninsula itself there were five cities,, , , , , which are described under their respective names. To these five cities, which are mentioned by Herodotus (l. c.), Thucydides (l. c.) and Strabo (vii. p. 331), Scylax (s. v. ) adds Charadriae, and Pliny (l. c.) Palaeorium and Apollonia, the inhabitants of the latter being named Macrobii. The extremity of the peninsula, above which Mt. Athos rises abruptly, was called Nymphaeum, now ''Cape St. George (Strab. vii. p. 330; Ptol. iii. 13. § 11.) The peninsula was originally inhabited by Tyrrheno-Pelasgians, who continued to form a large part of the population in the Greek cities of the peninsula even in the time of the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. l. c.''). (Respecting the peninsula in general see Leake, Northern Greece, vol iii. p. 114; Bowen, Mount Athos, Thessaly, and Epirus, London, 1852, p. 51, seq.; Lieuts. Smith and Wolfe, Sibthorp, IL. cc.)

 A'THRIBIS, A'THLIBIS (Herod. ii. 166; Ptol. iv. 5. §§ 41, 61 ; Plin. v. 9. s. 11; Steph. Byz. s. v. : Eth. or ), the chief town of the Athribite nome, in Lower Egypt. It stood upon the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, and near the angle where that branch diverges from the main stream. Ammianus Alarcellinns reckons Athribis among the most considerable cities of the Delta, in the 4th century of our era (xxii. 16. § 6). It seems to have been of sufficient importance to give the name Athribiticus Fluvius to the upper portion of the Tanitic arm of the Nile. It was one of the military nomes assigned to the Calasirian militia under the Pharaohs. Under the Christian Emperors, Athribu belonged to the province of Augustaomica Secunda.

The Athribite nome and its capital derived their name from the goddess Thriphis, whom inscriptions both at Athribis and Panopolis denominate " the most great goddess." Thriphis in associated in wor- ship with Amun Khem, one of the first quatemicm of deities in Egyptian mythology; but no repre- sentation of her has been at present identified Wilkinson (Manners and Customs, &c., vol. iv. p. 265) supposes Athribis to have been one of the Uon-h^ed goddesses, whoso special names have not been ascertained.

The ruins of Atrieb or Trieb, at the point where the modern canal of Moueys turns off from the Nile, represent the ancient Athribis. They consist of extensive mounds and basements, besides which are the remains of a temple, 200 feet long, and 175 broad, dedicated to the goddess Thriphis (Coptic Athreb%), The monks <^ the White Monastery, about half a mile to the north of these ruins, are traditionally acquainted with the name of Attrib, although their usual designation of these ruins is Medeenet Ashaysh. An inscription on one of the fallen architraves of the temple bears the date of the ninth year of Tiberius, and contains also the name of his wife Julia, the daughter of Augustus. On the opposite face of the same block are found ovals, including the names of Tiberius Claudius and Caesar Germanicus: and in another part of the temple is an oval of Ptolemy XIL, the eldest son of Ptolemy Auletes (b.c. 51 — 48). About half a mile from Athribis are the quarries from which the stone used in building the temple was brought; and below the quarries are some small grotto tombs, the lintels of whose doors are partially preserved. Upon one of these lintels is a Greek inscription, importing that it was the ** sepulchre of Uermeius, son of Archibius." He had not, however, been interred after the Egyptian &shion, nnoe his tomb contained the deposit of calcined bones. Vestiges also are found in two broad paved causeways of the two main streets of Athribis, which crossed each other at right angles, and probably divided the town into four main quarters. The causeways and the ruins generally indicate that the town was greatly en- larged and beautified under the Macedonian dynasty. (ChompoUion, tEgypte, voL ii. p. 48 ; Wilkinson, Egypt and Thebes, p. 393.)

 ATHRYS. [.]

 ATHYRAS, a river of Thrace between Selymbria and Byzantium. (Ptol. iii. 11. § 6; Plin. iv. 11. 8. 18. § 47, Sillig; Pliny calls it also Pydaras.)

 ATILIA'NA. [.]

 ATI'NA (: Eth. Atinas, ātis). 1. An ancient and important cidty of the Volscians, which retains its ancient name and position, on a lofty hill near the sources of the little river Melpis {Melfa), and about 12 miles SE. of Sora. Virgil speaks of it as a great and powerful city (Atina potens, Aen.'' vii. 630) long before the foundation of Rome, and Martial also terms it "prisca Atina" (x. 92. 2.): the former poet seems to consider it a Latin city, but from its position it would appear certain that it was a Volscian one. It had, however, been wrested from that people by the Samnites when it first appears in history. In B.C. 313 it was (according to some annalists) taken by the Roman consul C. Junius Bubuicus (Liv. ix. 28); but in B.C. 293 we again find it in he hands of the Samnites, and its territory was ravaged by the consuls, but no attack made on the town. (Id. X. 39.) We have no account of its final reduction by the Romans, but it appears to have been treated with severity, and reduced to the condition of a praefectura, in which it still continued even after its citizens had been admitted to the Roman franchise. But notwithstanding its inferior position, it was in the days of Cicero a flourishing and populous town, so that he draws a favourable contrast between its population and that of Tusculum, and says that it was not surpassed by any praefectura in Italy. (Cic. pro Planc. 8.) It was the birthplace of his friend and client Cn. Plancius, and was included in the Terentine tribe.

