Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/479



BYRSA. [.]

 BYSNAEI (, Steph. s. v.), a tribe of Bebryces. [.]

 BYZACE'NA. [.]

 BY'ZACII. [.]

 BYZA'CIUM, BYZACE'NA (sc. regio provincia:, Procop. B. V. ii. 23, de Aed. vi. 6; , Steph. B., , Polyb. iii. 23, , Polyb. ap. Steph. B.; , Ptol. iv. 3. § 26: Eth. , , Strab. ii. p. 131, , Byzacii, Byzaceni), a district of N. Africa, lying to the S. of , and forming part of the Carthaginian territory, afterwards the S. part of the Roman province of Africa, and at last a distinct province.

In the exact position of the later Byzacium, Herodotus (iv. 194, 195) places a Libyan people called the Gyzantes (, others read ), who possessed the art of making artificial honey, in addition to the plentiful supply furnished by the bees of the country, and who painted themselves red, and ate apes, which were abundant in their mountains. (Comp. Eudoxus ap. Apol. Dysc. de Mirab. p. 38.) They dwelt opposite to the island of Cyraunis, which, from the description of Herodotus, can be none other than Cercina (Karkenah). Thus their position corresponds exactly with that of Byzacium, a district still famous for its natural honey, and where, as in other parts of Tunis, a sort of artificial honey is made from the date-palm: monkeys, too, are numerous in its mountainous parts. As to the name, the later writers place the Byzantes or Byzacii in the same position, and Stephanus (s. v. ) expressly charges Herodotus with an error in writing for. There is, therefore, little doubt that in the name of this Libyan people we have the origin of that of Byzacium. The limits of Byzacium under the Carthaginians, and its relation to the rest of their territory, have been explained under (p. 68, b.); and the same article traces the political changes, by which the name obtained a wider meaning, down to the constitution of the separate province of Byzacium, or the Provincia Byzacena, as an imperial province, governed by a consularis, with Hadrumetum for its capital. This constitution is assigned to Diocletian, on the authority of inscriptions which mention the as early as A.D. 321 (Gruter, pp.362, No. 1, 363, Nos. 1, 3; Orelli, Nos. 1079, 3058, 3672). This province contained the ancient district of Byzacium, on the E. coast, a part of the Emporia on the Leaser Syrtis, and W. of these the inland region which originally belonged to Numidia. It was bounded on the E. by the Mediterranean and Lesser Syrtis; on the N. it was divided from Zeugitana by a line nearly coinciding with the parallel of 36° N. lat; on the W. from Numidia by a S. branch of the Bagradas; on the SE. from Tripolitana, by the river Triton; while on the S. and SW. the deserts about the basin of the Palus Tritonis formed a natural boundary. The limits are somewhat indefinite in a general description, but they can be determined with tolerable exactness by the lists of places in the early ecclesiastical records, which mention no less than 115 bishops' sees in the province in the fifth century. (Notit. Prov. Afr,, Böcking, N.D. vol. ii. pp. 616, foll.) Among its chief cities were, on the S. coast, beginning from the Lesser Syrtis,, , , , , and , the capital: and, in the interior, , , , , , besides , and , which, according to the older division, belonged to.  BYZANTES. [.]

 BYZA'NTIUM. [.]

 BYZE'RES (Bi;C77p«s), a nation in Pontus. Ste- phanus («. v.), who mentions the Byzeres, adds tliat there is a Bviripuchs Xi/ui^f, whence we might infer that the Byzeres were on the coast, or at least pos- sessed a place on the coast. Strabo (p. 549) men- tions several savage tribes which occupied the inte- rior above Trapezus and Phamacia — the Tibareni, the Cheldsei, the Sanni who were once called Ma- crones, and others. He adds, that some of these barbarians were called Byzeres; but he does not say, as some interpret his words, that Uiese Byzeres were the same as the Heptacometae. Dionysius {Perieg. 765) mentions the Byzeres in the same verse with the Becheires or Bechiri. The name of the people must have been well known as it occurs in Mela (i. 19), and in Pliny (vi.3); but there are no means of fixing their position more precisely than Strabo has done.

<section end="BYZERES" /> <section begin="CABALEIS" />CA'BALEIS. [.]

<section end="CABALEIS" /> <section begin="CABALIS" />CA'BALIS (Ko^oAir, Ka«aAAif, KaJSaXU: Eth. Ko^oAc^f, KoSdAioi), a people of Asia Minor. Herodotus (iii. 90) mentions the Cabalii in the same nome (the second) with the Mysi, Lydi, Lasonii, and Hygenneis. He places the Milyeis in the first nome with the Lycians, Carians, and others. In another passage (vii. 77) he speaks of " Cabelees the Maeonians " (Ka^i^A^c; ol VLiitovts)^ and says that they are called Lasonii. Nothing can be got from these two passages. Strabo (p. 629) speaks of tlie Cibyratis and Caballis: in another pkce (p. 631) he says that the Cibyratae are said to be descendants of those Lydians who occupied the Caballis ; and again, *' they say that the Cabaleis were Solymi." Strabo admits the difficulty of giving an exact account of this and some other parts of Asia, partly owing to the Romans not making their political divisions according to peoples, but adopting a different principle in determining their Conventus Juridici. Pliny (v. 27) places Cabalia in the in- terior of Lycia, and names its three cities Genoanda, Balbum, and Bubon; and Ptolemy (v. 3) assigns the same three cities to Carbalia, which manifestly ought to be Cabalia. We thus obtain in a general way the position of Cabalia or Cabalis, if we can ascertain tlie sites of these cities, and they have been determined of late years [Balbura; Bubon; Oenoanda]. The map which accompanies Spratfs Lycia places Balbura not far below the source of the Indus of Lycia, Bubon not far from the source of the Xanthus, and Oenoanda lower down on the same river. But Ptolemy has also Carbalia, that is Ca- balia, in Pamphylia (v. 5), to which he assigns many towns — Cretopolis, Termessus, and even a town Milyas ; and Pliny again (v. 32) makes a part of Galatia border on the Cabalia of Pamphylia. Stephanus mentions only a city Cabalis ; though he quotes Strabo who, indeed, speaks of " Cibyra the great, Sinda, and Caballis," and perhaps he means to say that there is a city Caballis. From all this confusion we can now extract the fact that there were three cities at least, which have been enume-<section end="CABALIS" />