Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/393

 BALESIUH. aet up on end; and a spiral pJtfa on the outside leads to the snmmit of the monndj From this arrange- ment, and from their being generally erected on ele- vated spots, they are sapposed to have been used as watch-towers. The Boman remains have been al- mast dcetrojed by the Vandal conqnerors; the prin- cipal ruin is that of an aqueduct near Pollentia. (Wenisdorf, Antiq, Baleow. Dameto, Hiat. of the Balearie Kingdom ^ Armstrongs Mmorea.) [P.S.] fiALE'SIUM, or BALETIUM, a town of Gala- bria, mentioned by Pliny (ill. 11. s. 16), who enu- merates the name between Lupiae and CaeUnm, is evidently the same place which is called Balek- TI17M in the Tabula (Valkntia in the Itin. Hiero- soL, pu 609)| and VALEnux by Mek (ii. 4), all which authorities ]dace it between Brundusium and Lupiae. Its site is clearly identified by the remains of a ruined town still visible near S. Pieiro VemotieOf a village on the road from Brin' did to Leooey abmit 12 miles from the former, and 16 from the latter city. The site u still called Balao or Vakrio^ and is traversed by an ancient Roman road, still known to the peasantry of the neighbourhood as the Via Trajana. Vases, inscrip- tions, and other renuuns of antiquity have been dis- covered here, but the circuit of the ancient walls indicates that it was only a small town. (Galatens, de Situ Jap^giae, pp. 73, 74 ; Bomanelli, vol. ii. p. 79 ; Mommsen, U, I. DidUkU, p. 60.) [E. H. B.] BALISSUS (BcAio-o-of, Pint. Crats, 23), a small river in Mesopotamia, below Carrhae, where the first battle took place between the soldiers of Crassns and the Parthians; and where Publius, the son of Crassus, and many of his men, were cut off. The name of this river appears under various forms, but there can be no doubt that the Balissus of Plutarch, the Bellas of Ammianus (zziii. 3), and the Bilecha (jaiXrtxa) of Isid.Char. (p. 3), are one and the same stream. It flowed in a westerly duection from the Chaboras {KkMr past Gallinicum, and fell into the Euphrates. Its present name b said to be Bdikhe, (Forbiger, voL iL p. 628.) [V] BALLA, or VALLA (BdAAo, Steph. B. #. t>.; CM^Xm, Ptol. iiL 13. § 40: Eth, BoAAoiOf, Steph.; VaUaeus, Plin. iv. 10. s. 17), a town of Macedonia, placed in Pieria by Ptolemy and Pliny, the mha- bitants of which were renaoved to Pythlum. (Steph. t c.) As Pythium was in PerrhaeHa, at the south- western foot of the Pierian mountains, Leake places Balla in the mountainous part of Pieria, and sup- poses that Velvendo may have derived its name fhxn it In that case it would be a different place from the Bala of the ToMe, which stood about midway between Dium and fierrhoea. (Leake, Nortkem Greece^ voL iii. p. 425.) BALO'MUM (BAhMfiov), the name of part of the sea -coast of Gedroeia. It is not mentioned, except by Arrian {Tnd. 23) in his account of the voyage of Kearchus, and cannot now be identified. (Vincent, Navig. of Ind. Oeean^ vol. i. p. 249.) [V.] BALONGA (BaA<fyyo: Pahang^ the chief city of the " Pirates' country " (Aiyarfii' x«^P«)» on the Sinus Magnus, on the E. coast of the peninsuki of India extra Gangem. (PtoL vii. 2. § 7 ; he also places a BaX&yKa in the Aurea Chersonesus, vii. 2. § 25.) [P. S.] BALSA {BdXffa: Etk. Balsenses, Tavtra), a considerable town of Lusitania in Spain, on the S. coast It was the first station W. of the Anas, after Esnris at the river's mouth, at the distance of 24 M. P. (It AnL p. 426.) It belonged to the Lu- BANACHA. 875 sitahi (PKn. iv. 21. s. 85), car to the TuidiiK. (Ptok ii. 5. § 2.) Pliny enumerates its people among the stipendiarii ; its coins show that it was a munici- pium, with the epithet of Felix. (Plin., It.AnLj Ptol. IL cc, ; Mela, iii. 1 • Marc. Heiacl. p. 42 ; Geogi Bav. iv. 43; Sestini, Med, p. 3; Mionnet, SuppU vol. i. p. 3; Besendi, AtUiq. LuiiL iv. p. 197; Flo* rez, Esp. S. vol. ziv. pp. 201, 209; Ukert, vol. iL pt. 1. p. 388.) [P. S.] . BAXTL^. Three days* sail from the coast of Scythia lay an island of immense majepoitude, called Baltia ; this being the name which Pliny found in Xenophon of Lampsacus. Pytheas, on the other hand, called it Basilia. (Plin. zxxviL 7. s. 11.) For tiie confusion on this point, see Basilia. Whatever may be the uncertainties as to the exact geographical position of the ancient Baltia, the word itselif is important as being the origin of our term BaUie, Little less certain is its Slavonic or Lithu- anian origin, since so little is it German that, ex- cept in England, the usual name foi the Baltic, amongst the Gothic nations, is the E<ut-SeA, This helps us in certain points of criticism. In the first place, it suggests an explanation of the ambiguities of the early writers, who took their names frmn two sources. If BaUia was Slavonic, the name n<rria/ot {Eattmen)j who dwelt on its coast, was German. Yet each is found in Pytheas. Hence the likelihood of two names to the same locality, and the confusion arising therefirom. Again, the &ct of the name being strange to the present Germans makes the assumption of an erroneous application of it all the more likely. Name for name, nothing represents the ancient Baltia so closely as the Great and the Little Belts between the Dimish isles and Jutland. But these are the names of straits of loater, not of islands of land. Yet the present writer beUeves that the Baltia of Pytheas was the island of Fgen wSeaiand (one or both), and that the name Baltia is retained in that of the waters that bound them. He would not, however, believe this, if there had been no change in language. Had that been uniform from the be- ginning, the confusion which he assumes would have been illegitimate. Another speculation connects itself with the root Bait-, In the article Ayabi, a principle which will bear a wide application has been suggested. It is as follows: iohen the name of a non-historical m- dindual coincides vnth that of an historictU popu- lation {or locaUty^t the individual is to be considered as am epongmus. Now, the l^ends of the country of the Getae connected them with the Guttones of the Baltic; indeed, when thename Goth became prominent, the original seat of the stock was laid on that sea, sometimes on the southern coast in the amber-coun- try, sometimes aa fiir north as Scandinaria. More than this, the two royal lines were those of the Bait" ungs {Baltidae')f and the ^md^ungs (^AnuUidae), For a Balt^ or an Anudj as real personages, we look in vain. Populations, however, to which they were Epongmif we find in the two localities Baltia and Abalus — associated localities in the accredited mother-country. [R. G. L.] BALYRA {BaX^pa, Pans. iv. 33. § 3), a tribu- tary of the Pamisus in Messenia. [PuMinue ] > • BAMBOTUS. [Libya.] BANACHA (Bdvaxa^ or, according to another reading, Nachaba), a city of that part of Arabia Petraea which was situated towards Mesopotamia. (PtoL V. 19. § 7.) Forster takes it to be equivalent to Beni-Nachath, i. e. the sons of Nahatb, one of the n D 4