Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/96

 80 AGEIGENTUn. prosent daj om of the chief Boarce* of prosperily to airgaiti ; hut its miiiM of salt (etiU wotked at * ptuw called Aboranffi, about 8 miles north of the citj), an alluded ta both bj Flinj and SoUnus. (Mia. H. X. xuL 7. s. 41 ; Soiio. 5. g§ IB, 19.) Sevend writan also notica ■ Snmtaia id the imme- diate DOGbboarbiwd of (lie dtj, which produced Petrolenm or mineral oil, oomidered to ba of great efficocj u a medicament for cattle and sheep. The Kurce still exists in a gudcn not Eu from Gii^d, nod is frequentlf resorted to bj the peasanta & the came pnipoe*. (Dioscorid. i, 1 00 ; Plin, ff. If, ixxt. 15. 8. 51 i Solin. 5. § 32 i Faiell. ,U ffeS. SeW. vi, p. 261 ; Fetrara, Campi FlegreidillaSidiia, p. 43,} A mora remarkable object is the mnd volcano (now called hj the Arabic itame of ifaccaivhbd) ahoiit railea N. of GirgerUi^ the ^^enomena of which ai described b; Solinns, but unnoticed bj any preriona KTiler. (Sohn:6. g 34; FaicIL p. 363; Fe to. p. 44; Smyth's 5in7y, p. 213.) Among; the nomerone distingtiidied dtl» wliian Agrigeutum (^ave birth, the most cotupcnoua is tii& philusopher Fmpedocies : among his ountem' purnries we maj mention the rhetoriclaii Pohis, and the phjatcian Acroo. Of earlier dale than tbese waa the comic poet Deinolochns, the puf^I, Ijut tbo historian of the First Punic War, ig the latest gcntum. The extant arehitectural remains of Agrigenhim hare been already noticed in speaking of its ancient edifices. B«id» these, numenma fragznenta of buildings, xoae of Greek and others of Roman date, an ecitlertd orcr the Hla of the ancieat citr : and great Diunbers of sepnldiies have tieen excavated, some in the plain bdoH the city, othen within ita nalLa. The painted vas» found in these tonba greatljr exceed in nmnl>er and varietj those oaVBTRl in eny other Sicilian dty, and rival those of Campania and Apulia. But with this exeeption oomparstively leii works of art have been discuvered. A sarcophagus of marble, now preserved in the cathedral of Girgaiti, on which is represented the story of Phaedra and Hippoljtua, haa been greatly extolled hy many tra- vellers, but its merits are certainly over-rated. Then exist uader the hill occnjned by the modem dty eitmsive cataeombt or excavatiaDS in the rock, which have been referred hy many writera to the ancient Kcnnians, or ascribed to Daedalus. It ii probable that, like the very similar eicavationa at Syracuse, they were, in fact, comtmcted merely in the process of quarrying (tone for building purposes. The coins of Apigentum. which are very nume- rous and of beautiful workmanship, present as thni common type an eagle on the one side and a cralf on the other. The one hero figtmd oi which the c:i^le is represented as toanng a har« belonga nn- AGI'BIUU. doubtedly to (he moat flourishing period of Agfi- gcQtine history, that immediately preceding the siq^ and capture of the city by the Carthaginiana, B. c 406. Other ooins of the same period have a victories at the Olympic g«ii«, [E. H. B.] AGRI'KIUM (A'xplfiof), a town of Aetolia, Mtn- atcd towards the NB. of Aetolia, near the Achieloui. Ita poadon ia quite uncertain. From ita nante wv might conjecture that it waa a town of the Agraei; bat the narrative in Polytaus (v. 7) woold imply that it was not so fiki north. In D. C 314 we find Agrinjum in alliance with the Acamaniaos, when Cassander marched to the assistance of the latter agunat the Aetolians. Aa soon as Caaeander returned to Hacedonia, Agrinium waa besieged by the Aeto- liaiu,aiidcapital^ed; bat theAetoliana treacberooEly pot to dealJi the greater part <£ the inbabilants. (Diod. xix. 67, 68) Leake, NorOum Gretce, voL L p. ise.) AQBIO'PHAQI (Peripl. Hic. Er. p. 3). wen the same people u the Crei^a^ v fleah-eaters of Aethiopa Troglodytica. In enmmer they drove their herds down to the pastures td the Astaboras ; in the rainy season they returned to the Aethiopian nxnntains east of that river. Afl tli«r name and diet imply they were hunters and herdsmen. [Axf THioi-iA.] rW.B. D.l AGRIPPINENSIS COLONIA. [Couoni.] AGYLLA [Cabkb.] AGY'RIUH (^Ky6pwr: Eth. 'AYi^inui Agyri- nensis), a city i^ the ulterior of Siaij now called S. Filippo dAryirh. It was aitaated on the aommib of a steep and lofty hill, between Euna and Centoripa, and wa£ dictant IS Roman milea from the former, and 13 from the latter. (Tab. Pent. The Iliii. Ant. p. 93, enoDeotisly gives only 3 jot the former dia- lance.) It was r^^arded aa one of the most aocienb oiliai of Sidiy, and aocording to the mythical tradi- tions rf the ioliabilanta was visited by Hencles on hia wnnderings, who was received by the inhaiutante with divine honours, and instituted various sacred rites, which contiimed to be obeorved in the days <£ Diodonia. (Diod- tv. 34.) Historically speaking, it appears to have been a Siceliaa dty, and did not re- ceive a Greek cohuy. It ia first meatiaaed m b. c. 404, when it was imder the goremnMnt of a ptitm of the name li Agyris, who was on terms of friend- ■ alliatKe with Konyrina rf Syiacnse, and im on variona ociasona. Agyria exleodcd ion over many of the neighbouring tovns and fortreosee of the interior, so as to be&mie the Pill prince in Sicily ailer Dionysins him- self, and the ci^ of Agyrium is said to have been at 0,000 ciliams. (Diod. liv. 9, 78, 95.> During the iuvaiion of the Carthagmiaaa under Mago in B. c. 393, Agyris continued atoidfast to the al- hance d Dionyaoa, and contributed essential serviai ■ the Carthaginian general (Id-iiv, 95, 96.) hia time we hear no mor» of Agyjis or his city during the rragn <£ Dionyana, bat in a. a 339 we find Agyrium under the yoke cf a deepot mmed Apdllouiadea, who waa cempeiled by Hmdeoo to aln dicAle hia power- The inhabitants were now declared Syncusan dtizeua; 10,000 new cdonista receival ' D its exten^ve and fertile territory, and the dty itself waa adorned with a magnificent theatre and other public buildings. (Diod. xvi. 83, 83.) bter period it became subject to Phintias, king of Agrigeutum i but was one of the first citkn