Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/104

 ERAVISCL S. A river of Attica. [Attica, p. 323, b.] 3. Amrthgr OM-me nt Uh Burucng in Adiaii. [Achaia, p. 13, b,] ERAVISCL [AbAvisci.] EBBESSUS or HER6ESSUS ('E/it > ptice cillcd Paataiica, hollj dcso The s . A tatm or fifftnss not lar rrom Agrigentam, «bicb wBi mad< ok of bj the Bamans daring the liege of that dt;, b. C. 262, U ■ plKe,of deposit for tbeir pcoTiaiou uid milituy atorea. (FoL i. IS.) At a later period of the aiegr, Uanno the Cartha- ginian j>eaenl made hinudf master of the place, and naa thai eoableii to reduce the Romiuu to grvai difficolliea bj catting off their snpplie*. (Pol. Lc.) Bat after the M of AgrigenCom the Carthaginiana irete no longer able to nuiatjun poasessioa of Er- bSBoa, whidi Iras abandoned by the iababitants, pntbUily from fear of the Bonan Tengeance. (Diod. ziiii. 9. p. S03.) These are the only notices which appear to rder to the tonn in question; it was pro- bablj' a place of inferior importance, and a mere de- pandenej on Agri^entom. Its euict site cannot be determined; bnt Faaello ia probabl; right, in regard to ita genenl poeitian, in placing it near the upper ixmrse of the Haljcns. S. A dtj in the E. of Sicilj, on the confines of tbe t«nitari« of Leootini and Syracuse. It was erl- dentlya pUceof more importance than the preceding one, and maj therefbn he fairly aaanmed to be the place meant where no further designation ia added. It is Grat mentioned in n. c. 404 as a city of the £HcnIl,wbich had fnmiahed assistance to the Cartha- einian army during the eiege of Syracuse, and was in consequence one of the first pkcea againtt which Cionyaina turned bis arms after the condntion of pace with Carthage. (Diod. liv. 7.) But the ■ndden defection of hia own troops recalled him in haste to Syracuse; and some yeara after we Bud Erbesaus ■till muntiuuing its independence, and concluding a tnat^ with Dimyains. (Id. ib. 78.) So further notice tJ it ia found till the time of Agathoclea, when it wa» occupied by that tyrant with a Earriaon, which In B.C. 309 was expelled by the citizens witb the aaaialaace of the Agrigenlinea and tbeir allies under Xenodlcus. (ld.ii.31.) In the Second Pnnic Wi Erbeaaus is again mentioned; it was the place i which Hippocratea and Epicydes fled for refuge from Leontini.and from whence they succeeded in eidting the defection fint of the Syracusan force sent agaim ' ihem, and ultimately of the city itself. (Liv. ui 30,31; Paus.TL I!, g 1.) Erbeasna on thia oi caaion eaponied the Carthaginian alliance, bnt was awn recovered by Marcellus. (Id. 35.) We have 90 acconnt of ila fortnnea under the Boman rule, but it was prt^bly a mere dependency of SjracuK, as the name is not once mentioned by Cicero. The Herbeaseuses, however, reappear in Pliny aa an inde- pendent conimuniq' ; both he and Ptolemy place them in the interior of the iaiand, but afford no further clue to the pcaitJon. (Plin, iii. 8. E Ptd. UL 4. f 13; Pbilist. ap. Stepb. B. ». o.) From the passages of Uiodorus and Livy it ia that Etbcaina was situated inland from Syn and not Teiy remote from Leontini : hence thi ibUge oF subterranean dwelbngs excavated in the cliffs of solid bat soft calcareona rock, similar to these in the Vol dlipica near JHodica, The date of these excavations is very uncertain, tbongb they are generally regarded as of great antiquity. (Faiell. dt Reb. Sic. i. 2. f. 494; Amic. Let. Top. Sic. voL iL p. 176.) [E. H. B.l ERCTA at ERCTE (4 BlpitH,, Pol. ; 'EpinV, Diod.), a monntun on the N. coast of Sicily, in the immediate neighbourhood of Panonnns, now called Xonte PtUtgrmo. It ia a mmark^le isolated mountwn mass, liaing to the height of 1950 feet above the sea, which washes its foot on Ibe E. and N., while on the other two aides it rises abraptly from the pbun near Panonnns, a broad atrip of which separates it entirely from the monntung on the W. of that city. It thus constitutes a kind of natural fortress, b^g bounded on three sidei by lofty per- pendicular clifls, the only approach b«ng on the S. aide, being the toffn of PaleniiOj where a steep ^g- lag road baa been cratstmcted in modern limes, leading np to the convent of Sta. Saialia, near the Bummit of the mountain, a shrine now visited by crowds of pilgrims, whence the name of JUonte FdUgriao. No mention is found of the locality befcjre the time of Pyrrhua, when it waa occuj^ed by the Carthaginians aa a fortma or fortified poet, but was taken by assault iiy the Epelrot king. (Diod. uii. 10, Etc H. p. 498.) Ita chief Celebris, how- ever, dates from the First Punic War, towards Iht