Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/400

 S82 BATAVI. that the island of the Batavi was formed by the Waalj or the branch from the Rhine, the Mosa, and the main stream of the Rhme, so that the Ocean would boond the island on the west; bat this is not what he says, according to some texts (see Schnei* dor's CaetoTj iv. p^ 326). Tacitus {Ana. ii. 6) de- scribes the Rhine as diriding into two streams at the point where the Batavian territor|r begins (apud principom agri Batavi), and c(mtinuing its rapid oourse, under the same name, to the Ocean. The stream on the Gallic side, which is wider and less rapid, reeeives from the natives the name Vahalis, which name is soon ehanged to that of Hosa, bj the outlet of which river it enters the same Ocean as tiie Rhine— We may infer from this passage that Tacitus conceived the island as formed by the main branch of the Rhine, by the other branch called the Vahaiis, which flows into the Mosa, by the coarse of the Mosa to the sea, after it had received the Vahalis, and by the Ocean on the west. And the interpretation, which is the trne meaning of his words, is confirmed by another passage {Hist. iv. 12), in which he says that the Ocean was the western boundaiy of the idand (a fronte). Pliny (iv. 15) makes the Insula Bata> vorum nearly 100 M. P. in length, which b about the distance from the fort of ScherJxruckanZj where the first separation of the Rhine takes place, to the mouth of the Maas, This fort was built on the site of a fort named Herispick, which place, as we learn from a writer of the ninth century, was at that time the point of separation of the Rhine and Waal, which are described as surrounding the '* Provinda Batua.** (Walckenaer, OSog. &&, vol. i. p. 493.) The result of all these authorities appears to be that the island was formed by the bifurcation of the Rhine, the northern branch of which enters the sea at Katwyck, a few miles north of Leyden, by the Waal, and the course of the Sriaas after it has re- ceived the Waal, and by the sea. The Waal seems to have undergone considerable changes, and the place of its junction with the Bfaas may have varied. Walckenaer, following Oudendorp's text, endeavours to explain the passi^ in Caesar, who, according to that text, says that the ^ Mosa .... having received a portion of the Rhine, which is called Vahalis, and makes the In.sula Batavorum, flows into the Ocean, and it is not further from the Ocean than Ixxx. M.P., that it passes into the Rhenus." But Walckc- naer's attempt is a failure, and he helps it out by slightly altering Oudendorp's text, which he pro- fe^ed to follow. Though Caesar's text is uncertain, it is hardly uncertain what he means to say. The first writer who calls this island Batavia is Zosimus (iii. 6), and he says that in the time of Constantius (a. d. 358), this island, which was once Roman, was in the possession of the Salii, who were Franks. Batavia was no doubt the genuine name, which is preserved in Betuwe^ the name of a district at the bifurcation of the Rhine and the Waal. The Canninefates, or Canninefates (Pliu. iv. 15; Tac. HisL iv. 15), a people of the same race as the Batavi, also occupied the island, «id as the Batavi seem to have been in the eastern part, it is supposed that the Canninefates occupied the western part. The Canninefates were subdued by Tiberius in the rrign of Augustus. (Veil. Pat. ii. 105.) The chief place was Lugdunum {Leyden). This name, Lugdunum, is Celtic as well as Ba- tavodurum, the other chief town of the island, which confirms the supposition that the Celticnation BATHYS. originally extended as far north as the mouth and lower count) of the Rhine; and Tacitus {Hitt iy. 12) states this dislinctly. In the time of Nero (Tac. Ann.x. 20) the Roman commander Coibalo, who was in ^e isknd, employed his soldiers who had nothing to do, in digging a canal to unite the Rhme and the Maas. It was 23 M. P. in length, or 170 stadia according to Dion Cassius (Ix. 30). It ran from Lugdunum post Delft to the Maas below Rotterdam^ and entered the Maag at or near Vkumdmgen. A Roman road ran from Leyden through Trajec^tum {Utrecht) to Bui^inatio, ap- poreiidy a word that contains the Teatonic element, hurgj and the site of Bui^ginatio seems to be that of Schenken-schanz. [Q. L.] BATAVODUTIUM, a pkce on the Rhine (Tac Hist. V. 20), where the Romans had a legion, the Secunda, during the war with Civilis. The name Batavo-dur, um means a Batavian place on a stream. The site is generally supposed to be what was called Dorestade in the middle ages, and now Wyck-te-Durstede, which is in the angle farmed by the Leek and the Kromme Rhyn, a position which ia consistent with the attempt of the German auxiliaries of Civilis to destroy a bridge at Batsvodurum, if we suppose that they came from the German or north side of the Rhine to attack the place. Some geo- graphers fix Batavodurum at Noviomagus, generally supposed to be Nymegen^ in favour of which some- thing may be said. [G. L.] BATAVO'RUM INSULA. [Batavi.] BATAVOTtUM aPPIDUM, is mentioned in Tacitus (Hi$t. v. 19), as it stands in most texts. Civihs, after being defeated by the Romans at Vetera, and not being able to defend the " Batavorum Op- pidum" retreated into the Batavorum Insula. If Nymegen were Batavodurum, the Batavorum Op- If we read in Tacitus {Hist. v. 19) " Oppida Bata- vorum," as one MS. at least has, there must have been Batavian towns out of the Insula as well as in it ; and this may be so, as LipsivB contends, and cites in support of his opinion Tacitus {Hist. iv. 1 2). Batenburg^ on the right bank of the Maas, and neariy due west of Nymegen^ will suit very well the position of the Oppidum Batavorum, so far as the events mentioned in Tacitus show : and in this cas« also we have a Batavian town which is not within the Insula. [G. L.] BATHINUS, a river of Dalmatia in lllyricum, the situation of which is unknown. (Veil. Pat. ii . 1 1 4.) BATHOS {Bd0os a place of Arcadia in the dis- trict Parrhasia, between Trapezus and Basilis. Near to a neighbouring fountain called Olympias fire was seen to issue from the ground. In the ravine, which Pausanias indicates by the name baihosj the earth Burnt for several years about 30 or 40 years ago, but without any flames. (Pans. viii. 29. § 1 ; Ross, Heisen m PehpowMS^ vol. i. p. 90.) BATHY'NIAS (Botfi5waO, » river in Thrace, emptying itself into the Propontis not far from Byzantium. (Plin. iv. 18; Ptoi iii. 11. § 6.) This river is probably the same as the one called Bathyrsus by Theophanes (voL v. p. 340, ed. Bonn), and Bithyas by Appian {Mithrid. 1). [L. S.] BATHYS (Bo^^s), a small river on the coast of Pontus, 75 stadia north of the Acampsis (Arr. p. 7), and of course between that river and the Phasis. It is also mentioned by Pliny (vi. 4), who places only one stream between it and th3 Phasis. [G. L.]
 * Hdum and Batavodurum might be the same place.