Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/420

 402 BIESSL small city <>f Crete which the const-describer (Geogr. Graec. Minor, ed. Gail, vol. ii. p. 495) places at some distance from the sea, midway between Hiera- pytna and Leben, the most eastern of the two ports of Gortyna. The Blenna of the Peutinger Table, which is placed at 30 M. P. from Arcadia, and 20 M. P. from Hiorapytna, is no doubt the same as Biennus. In Hierocles, the name of this city occars under the form of Bienna. The contest of Otus and Ephialtes with Ai'es is said to have taken place near tliis city. (Homer, //. v. 315 ; Steph. B. $. r.) From this violent conflict the city is said to have derived its name. Mr. Pashley, in opposition to Dr. Cramer, who supposes that certain ruins sud to be found at a considerable distance to the E. of Hcujhii Saranta may represent Biennus, fixes the site at VidnoSj which agrees very %vell with the indications of the coast-describer. (Pashley, Travels^ vol. i. p. 267.) [E. B. J.] BIESSI (BUtnroi, Ptoi. iii. 5. § 20), a people of Sarmatia Europaea, on the N. slope of M. Carpates, W. of the Tagri, probably in the district about the city of Biecz in Galatia. (Forbiger, vol. iii. p. 1122.) [P-S.] BIGERRA (Biyt^^), a city of the Bastetani, in the £. of Uispania Baetica. (Liv. xxiv. 41 ; Ptol. ii. 6. § 6 1 .) Ukert identifies it with Becerra, N. of Cazorla. (^Geogr. vol. ii. pt I. p. 410.) [P.S.] BIGERRIO'NES, a people of AquiUnia, who, among others, surrendered to Crassus, the legatus of Caesar, in b. c. 56. (/i. G. iii. 27.) Pliny (iv. 19) calls them Begerri. The name still exists in Bigorre, a part of the old division of Gascogne. It contains part of the high Pyrenees. The capital was Turba, first mentioned in the Notitia, which was afterwards called Tarria, Tarba, and finally Tarbes. The territory of the Bigerriones also contained Aquensis Vicus, now Bagneres. [G. L.] Bl'LUILlS (Bl€iis, Stmb. iii. p. 162; Bi€is, Ptol. ii. 6. § 58; Belbili, Geogr. Rav. iv. 43), the second city of the Celtiberi in Hispania Tarraco- nensis, next in importance to Segobriga, but chiefly celebrated as the birthplace of the poet Martial, who frequently mentions it with a mixture of affection for it as his native home, and of pride in the honour be luui conferred on it, but not too without some apology for the rude sound of the Celtiberian names in the ears of his friends at Rome. (iv. 55, x. 103, 104, xii. 18.) The city stood in a barren and rugged country, on a rocky height, the base of which was washed by the river Salo, a stream celebrated for its power of tempering steel ; and hence Bilbilis was renowned for its manufacture of arms, although, ac- cording to Pliny, it had to import iron from a dis- tance. It also produced gold. (Mart. i. 49. 3, 12, reading, in the fonner line, aguU for equi$; iv. 55. 11—15, X. 20. 1, 103. 1, 2, foil. 104. 6, xii. 18.9; Plin.xxxiv. 14. s. 41 ; Justin, xliv. 3, where the river Biibilis seems to mean the Salo.) It stood on the high road fixim Augusta Emerita to Caesaraugusta, 24 M. P. NE. of the baths named from it [Aquau Bilbitaxae], and 21 M. P. SW. of Nertobriga ({tin. Ant. pp. 437, 439). Under the Roman empire it was a municipium, with the surname of Augusta (Martial. X. 103. 1.) The neighbourhood of Bilbilis was tor some time the scene of the war between Sertorius and Metellus (Strab. iii. p. 162.) Several of its coins exist, all under the emperors Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula, with the epigraphs Bilbili, Bilbilis, and Mux. Augusta. Bilbilis. (Florez, Med. vol. i. pp. 169, 184; Miounct, vol. i. p. 30, Snppl. vol. i. BIETHA- p. 55; Sestini, p. 108; Eckhel, vol. i. pp. 3.5, 36; Rasche, s. v.) The site of Bilbilis is at Bambola, near the Moorish city of Calatayud(Job*i CVwf/c), which is built in great part out of its ruins (Rader, €ui MartiaL p. 124; Ukert, vol. ii. pt i. pp. 460, 461 ; Ford, Handbook of Spain, p. 529). [P. S.] BIXBILIS, the river, mentioned very vaguely by Justin (xi. iv. 3), is probably the Salo. [P. S.] BILLAEUS (BiAAaios), a river of Bithynia, which is the modem FUgaa. [Bithysia.] Near the mouth of the river was the Greek town of Tios. The Billaeus is certainly a considerable stream, but the whole course does not appear to be accurately known at present. It is mentioned by Apollonias (ii. 792), and in the Periplus of Marcianus (pp. 70, 71), and by Arrian (Peripl. p. 14). In his list of Bithynian rivers, Pliny's text (v. 82) has Lilacus, which may be intended for Billaeus. [6. L.] BI'NGIUM (Bingen)y a Roman station on the Rhine, at the junction of the Nava {Nahe) and the Rhine. It is mentioned by Tacitus in his history of the war of Civilis, {fJitt. iv. 70.) Julian re- paired the fortifications of Bingium while be was in Gallia. (Amm. Marc, xviii. 2.) The Antonine Itin. mentions Vincum on a road from Confluentes (Coblenz) to Treviri (Trier) and Divodnrum. (Metz)^ and as it makes the distance xxvi Gallic leagues from Confluentes to Vincum, we must suppose that Vincum is Bmgium; for the Table makes viii from Confluentes to Bontobrice, ix from Bontobrice to Vosavia, and ix from Vosavia to Bingium, the sum total of which is xxvl The Itinerary and the Tabic both agree in the number xii between Bingen and Moguntiacnm, or Mainz. [G. L.] BIRTH A. 1. (BlpBa, PtoL v. 18; Virta, Amm. Marc. XX. 7. § 17 : Tekrit), an ancient fortress on the Tigris to the S. of Mesopotamia, which was said to have been built by Alexander the Great. It would seem, from tiie description of Ammianus (L c), to have resembled a modern fortification, flanked by bastions, and with its approaches defended by out- works. Sapor here clcsed his campaign in a. i>. 360, and was compelled to retire with considerable loss. D'Anville (Geog. Anc. vol. ii. p. 416) iden- tifies this place with Tekrit^ in which Gibbon (vol. iii. p. 205) agrees with him. St Martin (note on Le Beau, vol. ii. p. 345) doubts whether it lay bo much to the S. The word Birtha in Syriac means a castle or fortress, and might be applied to many places. From the known position of Dura, it has been inferred that the remarkable passage of the Tigris by Jovian in a. d. 363 took place near TekriL (Amm. Mare. xxv. 6. § 12; Zosim. iii. 26.) To- wards the end of the 14th century, this impregnable fortress was stormed by Taimur-Bec. The ruins of the castle are on a perpendicular cliff over the Ti- gris, about 200 feet high. This insulated cliff is separated from the town by a broad and deep ditch, which was no doubt filled by the Tigris. At the foot of the castle is a large gate of brick-work, which is all that remains standing; but round the summit of the cliff the walls, buttresses, and bas- tions are quite traceable. There are the ruins of .a vaulted secret staircase, leading down from the heart of the citadel to the water's edge. (Rich, Kurdistan, vol. ii. p. 147; comp. Joum. Geog. Soc. voL ix. p. 448; Chesncy, Exped. Euphrat. voL L pp. 26, 27 ; Bitter, Erdkunde^ vol. x. p. 222.) 2. A town on the E. bank of the Euphrates, at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs nearly N. and S., and just below a sharp bend in the