Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/247

988 but the name of the latter is thought to be preserved in that of Lanyareo, a castle in the valley of the Polcevera; and it is evident that both tribes must have bordered on that valley, the most considerable in the neighborhood of Genoa, and opening out to the sea immediately to the W. of that city. The name of this river, which is called Porcifera by Pliny (3.5. s. 7), is variously written PORCOBERA and PROCOBEBRA in the inscription, which was itself found in the valley of the Polcevera, about 10 miles from Genoa. The orthography of that document is throughout very irregular; and the ethnic forms Genuates and Genuenses, as well as Langates and Langenses, are used without any distinction. (The inscription itself is published by Gruter, vol. i. p. 204, and Orelli, Inscr., 3121; and from a more accurate copy by Rudorff, 4to., Berlin, 1842; and Egger, Reliq. Latini Sermonis, p. 185.)

On the E. of Genua flows the river now called the Bisagno, which must be the same with the FERITOR of Pliny (l.c.); it is a less considerable stream than the Polcevera, and is always dry in summer.

No ancient authority affords any countenance to the orthography of Janua for Genua, which appears to have come into fashion in the middle ages, for the purpose of supporting the fabulous tradition that ascribed the foundation of the city to Janus. This form of the name is first found in Liutprand, a Lombard writer of the tenth century. (Cluver. Ital. p. 70). [E.H.B] GENU'NII (Γενουνία ηοῖρα), in Britain, mentioned only by Pausanias, who states that Antoninus “deprived the Brigantes in Britain of a great portion of their land, because with arms they had overrun the territory of the Gehunii, who were tributary to the Romans” (8.43.4.) [R.G.L]

GENU´SIUM (Eth. Genusinus: Ginosa), a town of Apulia, not far from the frontiers of Lucania. It is mentioned by Pliny (3.11 s. 16). and by the author of the Liber de Coloniis (p. 262), of whom the latter reckons it among the towns of Calabria; but Pliny is correct in assigning it to Apulia. The site is marked by the modern town of Ginosa, which retrains the. name. It is about 15 miles from the gulf of Tarentum, and 10 from Matera. [E.H.B]

GE´NUSUS (Vib. Seq. p. 10; Pent. Tab.: GENESIS, Geog. Rav.), a river of Illyricum, upon the lines of which Appius Claudius had his camp when he was employed against Gentius, at the same time that the consul Aemilius was carrying on the war against Perseus in Macedonia, B.C. 168. (Liv 44.30.) Caesar (B.C. 75, 76; Lucan 5.462), while attempting to effect a junction with the division of Calvinus, on the frontiers of Epirus and Thessaly, crossed this river. It is the river now called Tjerma, or Skumnbi. The latter is obviously a corruption of Seampis, at or near Elbasán. The branch of the Genusus, upon which that town is situated, may have been named Scampis as well as the town, and by a common kind of change may have superseded the name. of Genusus as that of the entire course of the stream below the junction. (Leake, Trav. in North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 280.) [E.B.J]

GEPHY´RA (Γέφυρα, Γφυρεῖς), a place in Attica at the bridge over the Cephissus, on the sacred road from Athens to Eleusis, where the initiated assailed passengers with vulgar abuse and raillery, hence called ψεφυρισμοί. (Strab. ix. p.404; Suid. s. v. Γεφυρίζων; Hesych. sub voce Γεφυρισταί.）

GE´PIDAE, GEPIDI (Γήπαιδες), one of the principal tribes of the Goths. They are first mentioned by Vopiscus (Prob. 18). After their first migration, they are said to have settled in the country between the Oder and the Vistula, from which they expelled the Burgundiones. In the fifth century we find them, under their king Ardaric, joining the hosts of Attila, with whom they traversed Gaul, and afterwards settled in Dacia, on the banks of the Danube. As they were retarded as dangerous neighbours to the Eastern Empire, Justinian invoked the aid of the Langobardi against them. The consequence of this was that the Gepidae and their kingdom were destroyed. (Paul. Diac. 1.27; Exceirpt. e Menand. Historia, pp. 303, 310, 340, 387, ed. Bekker and Niebuhr; Procop. B. G. 4.5; comp. Latham, Epileg to Tac. Germ. p. lxxxvi.) [L.S]

GERAE. [ERAE.]

GERAEA [LUSITANIA.]

GERAESTICUS [ERAE.]

GERAESTUS (Γεραιστός: Eth. Γεραίστιος), a promontory of Euboea, forming the south-west extremity of the island, now called Cape Mandíli. There was a town on this cape, with a celebrated temple of Poseidon, and at its foot there was a well-frequented port, which seems to have been small, though Livy, as Leake observes, calls it “nobilis Euboeae portus.” (Hom. Od. 3.177; Hdt. 8.7. 9.105; Thuc. 3.3; Xen. Hell. 3.4. 4, 5.4.61; Strab. x. p.446; Steph. B. sub voce Liv. 31.45, Plin. Nat. 4.12. s. 21; Mela, 2.7; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 423.)

GERANDRUS (Γέρανδρος), a town. of Cyprus near Soli, where a peculiar kind of marble was found. (Apoll. Dysc. Hist. Mirab. xxxvi.; Engel, Kypros, vol. i. p. 157.) [E.B.J]

GERANEIA [MEGARIS.]

GERANTHRAE [GEPRONTHRAE.]

GERAR (Γέραρα), a town and country of the Philistines, situated between Cadesh and Shur, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned for many years. (Gen. 20.1, &c., 26.1, &c.) According to S. Jerome it was situated 25 miles south of Eleutheropolis (Betogabra). (Onomast. s. v.; Reland, Palaest. p. 804.) Its site was recovered by Mr. Rowlands in 1843, and is thus described: “From Gaza our course was to Khalasa; on our way we discovered ancient Gerar. We had heard of it at Gaza under the name of Joorf-el-Gerám (the ‘Rush’ or ‘Rapid of Gerâr’ ), which we fund to lie three hours SSE. of Gaza, within Wady-Gaza, a deep and broad channel, coming down from the SE., and receiving, a little higher up than this spot, Wady-es-Sheriah, from the ENE. Near Joorf-el-Gerâr are traces of an ancient city, called Khirlet-el-Gerar ( ‘The ruins of Gerar’ ). Our road beyond to Khalasa lay along a plain slightly undulated. This plain must be the land of Gerar.” (Williams, Holy City, vol. i. appendix; p. 464.) [G.W]

GERASA (Γέρασα: Eth. Γερασηνός), a city of Coelesyria, according to Ptolemy (5.15); reckoned to the Decapolis by Pliny, for it is clear that Gerasa must be substituted for Galasa, as by Harduin. (Plin. Nat. 5.18.) It is associated with Philadelphia, as the eastern boundary of Peraea, by Josephus (B. J. 3.2), and mentioned in conjunction with Pella and Scythopolis (1.4; 2.19). But, according to Ptolemy, it was 35 miles from Pella. Its site is marked by the very extensive ruins of Gerash, about 35 miles east of the Jordan, at the eastern extremity of the land of Basihan, and on the borders of the great desert of--the Hauvan. It is remarkable, con-