Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/398

 380 BARNA. (p. 119); the distance is ccrrectiv given at 60 R miles. [E. H. B.] COIN OF BARIUM. BARNA (Bdpya, Arrian. Ind, 27), a small village at which the fleet of Nearchus halted for a short time. It was the next place to Balomura, and is probabl/ the same as the Badara (Baidpa FtSfM- alas) of Ptolemy, (vi. 21. § 5.) (Vincent, Navig. of Indian Ocean, vol. i. p. 250.) [V.] BARNUS (Bapyovs), a town on the Via Egnatia, and apparen Ij upon the confines of Illyria and Ma- cedonia, between Lychnidus and Heracleia. (Polyb. ap. Strab. vii. p. 322.) Leake, however, conjectures that it may be the same place as Amissa, B being a common Macedonian prefix. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 316.) [Armisba.] BAROMACL [Caesaromaqus.] BARSAMPSE (Bapcrdfuf^), a place mentioned by Ptolemy (v. 18. § 5) as being on the E. bank of the Euphrates. Lat 36° 15', long. 72«> 20'. Ritter (Erdkmdej vol. x. p. 1000) fixes its position S.E. of Betham-maria at the spot where the Euphrates makes a bend to the W. opposite to the caves and ruins of El Akatin. The name is Syrian, and has been identified as Beth-Shemesb, or Temple of the Sun. [E.B.J.] BARSITA. [BoRSiPPA.] BARYGA'ZA, BABYGAZE'NUS SINUS. [In- dia.] BASA or BASAG, a place on the south coast of Arabia, mentioned only by Plinj (vi. 28. s. 32), perhaps identical with Ptolemy's Abisa or Abissagi, a city situated on the Gulf of Salachitae, near the Straits of the Persian Gulf. This ancient site Forster identifies with Abtua^ a town at the eastern ex- tremity of the Gulf of Bassas, between Harmin and Ras-al-Had, under the Palheiros Mountains, which he conceives to be the Didymi mcmtes of Pto- lemy. (AraWa, vol.iLpp.182, 235.) [G. W.] BASANITES MONS (Bflurovfrou XlOov 6pos, Ptol. iv. 5. § 27), formed a portion of the rocky bounds 17 of the Nile Valley to the east It lay about lat. 23° N., between Syene and Berenice on the Red Sea. In its immediate neighbourhood were pro- bably the Castra Lapidariorum of the Notitia Imperii The stone (Bcio-avos), from which the mountain de- rived its name, was the Lapis Lydius of Pliny (xxxvL 20. § 22), and was used in architecture for cornices of buildings, for whetstones, and also in the assay of metals. Geologists doubt whether the Ba- sanus were basalt or hornblende. [W. B. D.] BASANTE, a town in Lower Pannonia, called ad Basante in Peutinger. Table, whereas in several Itineraries (i4fit p. 1 3 1, Hier, p. 563) and by Ptolemy (ii. 16. § 8) it is called Bassiana (Baa-crlaya.^ Ruins of the pUoe are still existing near the village of Dobrincze. [L. S.] BASHAN (Bcur^y, Baa-ay7Tis sometimes repre- sented as identical with Batanaea; but as Bashan was comprehended in the country called Peraea by Josephus,~> which be extends from Machaerus to BASTA. Pella, and evefl north of that — (for he reckons Gadara as the capital of Peraea, B. J. iv. 7. § 3), and Peiaea is distinguished from Batanaea {Am. xvii. 13. § 4, B, J. iii. 3. § 5), they are certainly distinct. It was inhabited by the Amorites at the period of the coming in of the children of Israel, and on the conquest of Og, was settled by the half- tribe of Manasseh. (Numb. xxL 33—35, xxxii.; Beut. iii. 1 — 17.) It extended from the brook Jabbok (Zurka) to Mount Hermon {GdteUeah- Skeikh)y and waff divided into several districts, of which we have particular mention of " the country of Argob," — afterwards named from its conqueror « Bashan-havoth-Jwr" (/&. v. 13, 14),— and Edrei, in which was situated the royal city Astaroth. (Deut. i. 4, Joth. xiii. 12, 29--31.) It was cele- brated for the excellency of its pastures; and the sheep and oxen of Bashan were proverbial. (DeuL xxxii. 14; Psal. xxii. 12; Ezek. xxxix. 18; A maty iv. 1.) For its civil history see Peraea. [G.W.] BASI'LIA. 1. (Batel, or B6le), in the Swiss canton of Bdle, Is first mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus (xxx. 3), who speaks of a fortress, Robur, being built near Basilia by the emperor Valentinian L A.D. 374. After the ruin of Augusto Rauracorum {Augst), Basilia became a place of importance, and in the Notitia it is named Civitas Basiliensium. It is not mentioned in the Itineraries or the Table. 2. This name occurs in the Antonine Itin. be- tween Durocortorum (/SAetnw), and Axuenna [Axuenna], and the distance is marked x. from Durocortorum and xii. from Axuenna. D'Anville (Notice) makes a guess at its position. [G. L ] BASI'LLA. The island which Pytheas called Aba- lus, Timaeus called Basilia. (Plin. xxxm 7. s. 1 1 .) It produced amber. On the other hand, the Baltia of Pytheas was the Basilia of Tunaeus. Zeuss (p. 270) reasonably suggests that, although there is a c(Hifusion in the geography which cannot be satis* £HCtorily unravelled, the word Basilia is the name of the present island Oetel. [Baltia and Mentono- MON.] [R. G. L.] BA'SILIS (BcutiAii, BeuriKis : Eth, BcuriKhiis), a town of Arcadia in the district Parrhasia, on the Alpheius, said to have been founded by the Arcadian king Cypselus, and containing a temple of the Eleu- sinian I>emeter. It is identified by Kiepert in his map with the CypseU mentioned by Thucydides (v. 33). There are a few remams of Basilis near Ktf- parissia. (Pans. viii. 30. § 5; Athen. p. 609, e.; Steph. B. 8. v.; Leake, AforeOj vol. il p. 293; Ross, ReiMn im Petopotmes, vol. i. p. 89.) [Cypsela.Q BASSAE. [Phigaua.] BASSIANA- [Basante.] BASTA, a town of Calabria, described by Pliny (iii. 11. s. 16) as situated between Hydruutura and the lapygian Promontory. Its name is still re- tained by the little village of Vaste near Poggiardo, about 10 miles SW. of Otranto, and 19 from the Capo deUa Leuca (the lapygian Promontory). Galateo, a local topographer of the 16th century, speaks of the remains of the ancient city as visible in his time ; while witliont the walls were numerous sepulchres, in which were discovered vases, arms, and other objects of bronze, as well as an inscription, curious as being one of the most considerable rcUcs of the Messapian dialect (Galateo, de Situ laptf- giae, pp. 96, 97 ; Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 30, 31 ; Grutcr, Inscr. pp. 145-5; Mommscn^ Unter Italischen Dia- lekte, p. 52—56.) 5^/ ?v^//n;y^//i^yv.^^ * /^^S^