Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/627

 CHIMAERA. is nothing more than a stream of inflammable gas issuing fiom a orevioe, such as is seen in several places in the Apennines." It is likelj enongh that the stoiy of the Chimaem in the Iliad (yi. 179) had its origin in this phe- nomenon. Servius (ad Aen.^ 288, ** flammisqne armata Chimaera") gives a cnrions explanation of the 'passage in Virgil. He correctly places the fire on the top of the moantain; but adds, there are lions near it ; the middle part of the mountain abounds in goats, and the lower part with serpents ; which is obviously an attempt to explain the passage of Homer (oomp. Ovid. Met. ix. 647, &c.) Stnibo connects the fable of the Chimaera with the mountain of Cragus in Lycia ; and he says that there is, not fiur off, a ravine called Chimaera, which opens into the interior from the sea (p. 665). This is not the ChiraaeFa of Ctesias, which is near Phaselis. [G.L.] CHIMAERA (Xlfuupa : Khimdrd), a town of Epeims in the district Chaonia, now gives its name to the Acrocerannian mountains, at the foot of which H stands. At Kkimdra may be seen several pieces of Hellenic work, which serve as foundations to some of the modem houses. (Piin. iv. 1 ; Procop. de Aedif. iv. 4; Leake, Nordem Grttcs, vol. L pp. 7, 82, 89, seq.) CHIME'RIUM. [Cheimbrium.] CHrNALAPH (XimAd^, Ptol. iv. 2. § 5; VR. Xii4^aX : Shellif)t the largest river of Bftturetania Cassariensis, and, next to the Malva, of all N. Africa, 18 yet only mentioned by Ptolemy, who places its source in M. Zaiacns. Its chief sources are in Jebei Amurf above 34^ K.lat, whence it flows nearly N. to about 36° 2(/ N. lat., and there turning W. waters the great valley of the Lesser Atlas, which forms ooe of the most important inland districts of Algeria, and in which, upon the river, are the towns of Mili- ana (Maliaoa) and OrUantmUe (Castellum Tingi- tanum). [P. S.] CHINNERETH (Kcrcp^^, LXX.), a fenced city of the tribe of Naphthali (JofA. xix. 35.) It was apparently situated near the Sea of Tiberias, which in the earlier books is called the Sea of Chinnereth (iVfitmi. xxxiv. 1 1 ; Deut. iil. 17 ; Joth. xii. 3), and " the plains south of Chinneroth " {Jo^k. xi. 2) is the great valley of the Jordan — the iiiya v9?Sloy of Joaephns. It was supposed by S. Jerome and others to be the ancient representative of the city Tiberias, and certamly Roland's argument is not valid against this theory. {Palaut. pp. 161, 724.) [G. W.] CHIOS (X(or : Etk, Xlot, contracted from XlXot-, Adj. Xtxuc6s: Khio^ Scio; SM Adasti, as the Turks call it, or SakUadaai^ according to other authorities), an island of the Aegean, opposite to the peninsula in which Erythrae was situated. The various fanciful reasons fbr the name are collected by Stephanus (s. v. Xios: comp. Paus. vii. 6. § 4). The earlier names of the island were Aethalia, Borording to Ephorus quoted by Pliny (v. 31), and Macris, an epithet probably derived from its form, and Pityusa or Pine island, firom the pine forests. (Plin. I e. ; Strab. p. 589.) A strait 5 miles wide in the narrowest part sepa- rates the island from the miunland of Asia. Seen from the sea to the NE. "the bold and yellow mountains of Scio form a striking outline against the blue sky " (Hamilton, Keaearches^ tfc vol. ii. p. 5). Chios lies from north to south, and its ex- treme length is about 32 miles. The greatest width, which is in the northern part, is about 18 miles ; and in the narrowest jnrt, which is somewhat nearer CHIOS. 609 to the soutliem than the northern extremity, it is only about 8 miles wide. The circuit (ircpfirAovf) according to Strabo (p. 645) is 900 stadia; but Pliny msJces it 125 Roman miles, or 1,000 stadia; and Isidorus, whom he quotes, nmkes it 134. The real circuit is about 110 English miles by the maps. Piuiy's 125 miles may be nearly exact. The area may be somewhat about 400 square miles, English, or about thrice tho area of the Isle of Wight. Clin- ton very erroneously makes it only 257 square miles (Fasti, Pop. of Ancient Greece, p. 411). Strabo's description commences on the east side of the island, where the chief town, Chios, was situated, which had a harbour capable of hold' ing 80 ships. His periplus is southwards. He next mentions the Posidium, now Cape Mastico, the southern point of the island ; then Phanae (Tbuc. viii. 24), where there was a deep recess, a temple of Apollo, and a grove of palm-trees. There was also a point or headland at Phanae (Steph. s, v. ^dU'oi), which Ptolemy also mentions under the name Phanaea. Livy (xliv. 28) mentions the Promon- torium Phanae as a convenient place to sail from to Macedonia. It seems to correspond to Port MeHa, on the western coast. After Phanae, proceeding northward along the west coast, Strabo mentions Notium, a beach which was adapted for hauling up ships ; and then Laii, a beach of the same character, whence the distance to the city of Chios, on the opposite coast, was 60 stadia. The position of Laii is fixed by this description at or near a place marked Port Altmtha in some maps. Groskurd (TransL Strab. vol. iii. p. 26) proposes to change this name to Lalnus, or LaTni, " the stony shore.** According to Koray, who was a native of Smyrna, the Greeks still call this coast, with the harbour Mesta, which belongs to it, by the name of Lithilimena ; and he remarks that the isthmus at this part is the nar- rowest But th'is is not true of Port Mesia, for the island contracts several miles north of that point. The periplus from the town of Chios to Laii is 360 stadia (Strab.). The real distance is about 60 miles, and Strabo's measure is incorrect. Strabo mentions no other place on the west coast, till he comes to the promontory Melaena, opposite to the island of Psyra (Ptara), which island be placoi only 50 stadia from the cape, which is too little, for it is 11 or 12 miles. Melaena seems to be Cape S. Nicola. After the promontory Melaena comes the Ariusia, a rocky shore without harbours, about 300 stadia in length ; but this tract produced the best of all the Greek wines. Then, the mountain Pelinaeus, the highest summit in the island. This is Mt. Elias, a common name for mountains in the Greek archipelago. The island has a marble quany. This is the sum of Strabo's incomplete description of Chios. He makes the distance from Chios to Lesbus 400 stadia ; but the nearest points are not more than 30 miles apart. The northern part of Chios is the most rugged and mountainous, but all the island is uneven, and the epthet TtaaraKdwtra in the Homeric Hymn, quoted by Thucydides (iii. 104), is appropriate. It is a rocky island, generally ill provided with water, and nun comes seldom. It produces, however, some com and good wine. The wine was exported to Italy under the name of Vinum Arvisium in Pliny's time (xiv. 7), and it is often mentioned by the Roman writers. The Arvisia which produced this fine A wine, is the Ariusia of Strabo. (See Vib. Sequester, p. 289, ed. Oberlin). The country about Phanae 'i J R R V.'