Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/633

 GIBYRA. place, which vna aboat 100 stadia in drcuit. It grew powerful under a good constitutioni and the villages extended from Pisidia and the adjoining ^lyas into Ljcia, and to the Peraea of the Rho- dians [Caria]. When the three neighbouring towns of BnboD, Balbnra [Bubon; Bausdra], and Oe- noanda were joined to it, this confederation was called Tetn^is. Each town had one vote, but Oibyra had two votes ; for Cibjra alone could muster S0,000 infantiy and 2000 cavahy. It was always under tyrants, but the government was moderate. This form of government terminated under Moagetes, for Morena put an end to it, and attached Balbnra and Bubon to the Lycians. The conventus of Cibyra, however, still remained one of the greatest in Asia. The Cibyratae had four languages, the Pisidian, the Hellenic, the language of the Solymi and of the Lydians; but there was no trace of the Lydian lan- guage in Lydia. It was a peculiarity of Cibyra that the iron was eauly cut with a chisel, or other sharp tool (see Groskunl's Note, TransL Slrab. vol. iL p. 633, where he unnecessarily make a distinction between ropn^Bai and ropvtitaBai). The first part of this extract from Strabo is not quite clear. Strabo (p. 629) does not fix the position of Ci- byra precisely. After mentioning Antiochia on the Maeander as being in Caria, he says, "to the south the great Cibyra, Sinde, and the Cabalis, as far as Taurus and Lycia." Ptolemy (v. 3) places Cibjrra in Great Phrygia, and assigns the three cities of Bubon, Bal- bnra, and Oenoanda to the Cabalis of Lycia, which is consistent with Strabo. The latitude of Ptolemy as it stands in his text is at least 1^ 40^ too fiur north. The site is now ascertained (Spratt, Zycta, vol. i. p. 256) to be at Hortocm, on the Horzoom Tehf^ a branch of the Dcdaaum Tehy^ or Indus, in about 37^ 10' N. Ut. The phice is identified by inscriptions on the spot. " The ruins cover the brow of a hill between 300 and 400 feet above the level of the plain, and about half a mile dustant from tlie village of Horzoom." The material for the buildings was got from the limestone in the neighbourhood; and many of them are in good condition. One of the chief buildings is a theatre, in fine preservation: the diameter is 266 feet. The seats command a view of the Cibyratic plain, and of the mountains towards the Milyas. On the platform near the theatre are the ruins of several large buildings sup- posed to be tem^es, " some of the Doric and others of the Cmnthian order." On a block there is an inscription, Koicrapctfy Kiivpofretv ^ fiooXri koi 6 9ii/Hbff from which it appears that in the Roman period the dty had also the name Caesarea. The name Kmcaptvy appears on some of the coins of Cibyra. A large building about 100 yards from the theatre is supposed to have been an Odeum or music theatre. There are no traces of city walls. The stadium, 650 feet in length and 80 in breadth, Is at the lower extremity of the ridge on which the city stands. The hill side was partly excavated to maike room for it; and on the side formed out of the slope of the hill *' wers ranged 21 rows of seats, which at the upper extremity of the stadium turned so as to make a theatre-like termination." (View in Spratt^B LtfcitL) This part of the stadium is very perfect, but the seats on the hill side are much dis- placed by the shrubs that have grown up between them. The seats overlook the plain q£ Cibyra. The seats on the side opposite to the bill were marble blocks placed on a low wall built along the edge of the terrace, formed by cutting the side of the hill. CIBYRA. 615 Near the entrance to the stadium a ridge runs east- ward, " crowned by a paved way, bordered on each side by sarcophagi and sepulchral monum^ts. At the entrance to this avenue of tombs was a massive triumphal arch of Doric architecture, now in ruins." The elevation of the Cibyratic plain is estimated to be 3500 feet abdve the level of the sea. It pro- duces com. The sites of Balbnra, Bubon, and Oe- noanda, which is on the Xanthns, being now ascer- tained, we can form a tolerably correct idea of the extent of the Cibyratis. It comprised the highest part of the basin of the Xanthus, and all the upper and probably the middle part of the basin of the Indus, for Shiibo describes the Cibyratis as reaching to the Rhodian Peraea. The great range of Cadmus (^Bdba Dagh said to be 8000 feet Ugh, bounded it on the west, and separated it from Caria. The upper part of the basin of the Indus consists of numerous small valleys, each of which has its little stream. Pliny's brief description (v. 28) has been derived from good materiiUs: ''the river Indus, which rises in the hills of the Cibyratae, receives sixtv perennial rivers, and more than a hundred tor- rents." Cibyra is first mentioned by Livy (xzxviii. 14) in his history of the operations of the consul On. Manlius, who approached it from the upper part of the Maeander and through Caria. He probably advanced upon it by the valley of Karaoohy through which the present road leads from the Ciby- ratis to Laodicea (nearDentJs/ee). Manlius demanded and got from Moagetes, the tyrant of Cibyra, 100 talents and 10,000 medimni of wheat Livy says that Moagetes had under him Syleum and Alimne, besides Cibyra. It is conjectured (Spratt, Lyciaj vol. i. p. 254) that this Alimne may be identified with the remains of a large town on an island in the lake of 6^ bursar, which island is connected with the mainland by an ancient causeway. This lake lies in the angle between the Canlares [Caulabes] and the river of Cibyra. The last tyrant of Cibyra, also named Mosgetes, was the son of Pancrates (Polyb. xxx. 9). He was put down by L. Licinius Murena, probably m B. c. 84, when his territory was divided, and Cibyra was attached to Phiygia. Pliny states that twenty- five cities belonged to the Jurisdictio or Conventus of Cibyra; and he adds that the town of Cibyra be- longed to Phiygia. This, like many other of the Roman political arrangements, was quite at variance with the physical divisions of the country. Laodicea on the Lycus was one of the chief cities (^ this Con- ventus. Under the Romans, Cibyra was a place of great trade, as it appears (Hor. Ep, L 6. 33). Its position, however, does not seem very &vourable for commerce, for it is neither on the sea nor on a great road. We may conclude, however, that the Roman negotiatores and mercatores found something to do here, and probably the grain of the valley of the Indus and the wool and iron of Cibyra might furnish articles of commerce. Iron ore is plentiful in the Cibyratis. We know nothing of any artists of Ci- byi-a, except two, whom Cicero mentions ( Verr, ii. 4. c. 13), who were more famed for their knavery than for arUstic skill. Cibyra was much damaged by an earthquake, in the time of Tiberius, who re- commended a Senatus Consultnm to be enacted for relieving it from pajrment of taxes (trUnUufn) for three years. In this passage of Tacitus (ilnn. iv. 13), it is called "civitas Cibyratica apud Asiam." [Asia, p 239.] Three Greek inscriptions from Cibyra are printed BR 4