Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/386

 368 BAETIS. the distance of 900 stadia (90 geog. miles); the former statement implying, as Strabo observes, a farther extension of the Celtibeii to the S. than is nsnally assigned to them. It might be supposed that Polybius referred to the chief affluent of the Baetis, the Guadalimar^ which has one of its sources near that of the Anas, in the same mountun ; but this supposition is excluded by the distance he gives. Pliny (iii. 1. s. 3) makes a very precise statement ; that the Baetb rises in the province of Tarraco- nensis, not, as some said, near the town of Mentisa [Mbntesa], but in the Tngiensis Saltus, near the source of the Tader (5^iira), which waters the territory of Carthago Nova. Turning westward, he adds, it enters the province, to which it gives its name, in the district of Ossigitania [Ossigi]. So also Stnibo (p. 162) says, that it flows out of Ors- TANIA into Baetica. Small at first, says Pliny, it receives many rivers, from which it takes both their waters and their &me ; and, flowing smoothly through its pleasant bed, it has many towns both on the right and on the left. Of its tributaries be- sides the two already mentioned the most important were, on the right side, flowing from the N., the Menoba (^Gu€uliamar)f near its mouth; and, on the left, the Sinoulis (Xenil), Of the numerous cities on its banks, the most important were Cob- DUBA (^Cordova), about 1200 stadia from the sea ; Ilifa; and Hispalis (SevUla), nearly 500 stadia from the sea. From a little above the first of these it was navigable by river boats (irorofJoir (rir(i^«o-, from the second by smidl vessels (6}<Kdfftv iKdr- TOfft), and from the third by large ones (^iAxdiriv k^ioyois: Strab. iii. p. 142). The country through which it flows, the fairest portion of the romantic Andaluciaf was famed of old for its beauty, fertility, and wealth. It is well described by Strabo (7. c). The river runs near the N. edge of its own buui, at the foot of Marianus, the spurs of which were full of mineral treasures, chiefly silver, which was most abundant in the parts near Hipa'and Sisapon; while copper and gold were found near Cotinae; and tin in the river itself. (Eustath. ad Dion. PerUg. 337.) On its left, or S. side, extended the great pitun of Andalucia, rising up towards the Sierra Nevada^ abounding in the finest fruits, trees, and arable culture. The banks of the river, and the islands in it, were cultivated to the highest pitch (^|€fp7a<rTat »fpiTT»y). The wool of the countay was famed among the Romans for its excellence and the brilliancy of its colour. (Mart. viii. 28, ix. 62, xii. 100; Juv. xii. 40.) The length of the Baetis was reckoned at 3000 stadia. (Marcian. Heracl. PeripL p. 40; Aethic. Ister, Cosmograph. p. 17; it is, in £(ict, about 300 miles). In its lower course, some distance below Hispalis, it is described as forming a lake, out of which it flowed in two arms, enclosing an island 100 stadia or more in breadth, in which some placed the ancient city of Tabtessus. (Strab. iii. p. 140; Mela, iii. 1 ; Pans., Eustath., Avien. IL cc. ; Ptol. i. 12. § 11, 14. § 9, ii. 4. § 5.) There has since been a considerable alteration. The upper, or W. mouth, which fell into the Ocean near Asta (Ptol.), still remains, but the E. branch, the mouth of which was near Gades {Cadiz), no longer reaches tSe sea, but joins the other arm near its mouth, forming, with it and an intermediate arm, two islands, Ida Mayor and Igla Menor. Strabo (iii. p. 174) and other writers refer to the circumstances of the tides extending to a considerable distance np the river. BAGACUM. Respecting a town of the same name, mentioned only by Strabo (ii p. 141), see Hispalis. [P. S.] BAE'TIXJS (Bofrtos), a river of the conntiy of the Cinaedocolptae, on Uie west coast of Arabia, in the modem Hedjaz. (Ptol. vi 7. §§ 5, 13.) Di<>> dorus Siculus describes it as flowing through the midst of the country of the Deb (Ac^at), the proper native name (s«netimes written Ae^cSou) for the tribe which Ptolemy draignates by its Greek $obriquet. Diodorus (iii. 44) describes it as so rich in gold dust, that the alluvial deposit at its mouth glittered wiUi the precious metal; but the natives, he adds, were quite ignorant of the method of work- ing it. (Conf. Strab. xvi. p. 1104.) That the Bar- diiloi IB the modem representative of the Baetius is proved by the fact that it is the only stream of the Hedjaz whose waters reach the sea, and that it flows through the country of the Zeb^fde tribe (a branch of tiie great Harb nation), whose name and positioo exactly correspond with the Debedae of Agathar- cides. (Forster, Arabia, vol. L p. 73, ii. pp. 130 —134.) This stream falls into the Red Sea at Jidda ; but the accounts of its predous metalliferoos deposits are commonly supposed to be mythical, as no traces of gold, are now to be found in the peninsula, " ni dans les vivitoes, ni dans les mines.** (Niebuhr, Description de TArabie, p. 124.) [G. W.] BAE'TULO, or BAETULLO, a small river of Hispania Tarraconensis, on the £. coast, between the Iberus and the Pyrenees, with a small town of the same name, on the sea-^ore near its mouth, an oppidum dvivm Romanorwn. (Mela, ii. 6. § 3; Piin. iii. 3. s. 4.) The river a the Beaoe, and the town Baddona, a little E. of Barcelona, (Mura- tori, p. 1033. a. 3; Florez, Esp. S, xxiv. 56, xxix. 31; Marca Hisp. ii. 15, p. 159; Ukert, vol. ii. pt. 1. pp. 292, 421.) [P-S.] BAETU'RIA (^ BcuTovpfa), the N. and N.W. part of Hispania Baetica, along the river Anns (Guadiana)f and S. of it as far as the Marianus M. {Sierra Morenay, a district consisting chiefly of arid plidns. (Strab. iii. p. 142 ; Liv. xxxix. 29 ; Appian. Hitp. 68; Plin. iii. 1. s. 3.) [P. S.] BAGA. [VACCA.J BAGACUM {Bavag)f a town of the Nervii, a Belgic people. In the text of Ptolemy it is generally Baganum, which is an error. Ptolemy only mentions this town of the Nerrii, from which circumstoncr, and its being the centre of so many roads, D'AnviJfo concludes that it was the chief town of the Nervii. The following Roman roads met here : from Tumacuni {Toumat)y Camaracum {Cambrai), Durocortomm {Rheims)i Atuatuca Tungrorum {Tongemy llie remains of two other roads are nearly entire : one to Tablae {Ablas), in tiie Insula Batavomm, passing by Mons and Antnterp ; and the other to Augusta Veromanduoram {St. Quentin), called the Ckaussee de BrvtiehatU. Bast {Recwil dAntiquites^ &c) says that eight Roman roads met at Bavsy. An in- scription was found at Bavag in 1 716, which records the visit of Tiberius to Gallia before he was emperor, from which we may conclude that tlie place existed then, though the name is not mentioned in the mscrip- tion. (Walckenaer, GiograpMe, &c. p. 473.) This seems to be the visit to Gallia mentioned by Velleins (ii. 104). Bagacum, under the empire, was a flou- rishing place, but it is supposed to have been de- stroyed by the northern invaders about the close of the fourth century of our aera, and it is now a small town. Many Roman remains have been dis- interred in modem times. The site of the circus