Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/288

 HALU& and u the subject of an oration which is included among the works of Demoethenes, but which was ascribed, even by the ancients, to Hegesippus, who was the head of the embassy sent bj the Athenians to Philip to demand restitation of Halonnesus. [See J>ieL oj Biogr, Vol. I. p. 989.] Halonnesns lies between Sdathus and Peparethus, and appears to be the same island as the one called Scopelus (2«r($- irtXor) by Ptolemy (iii. 13. § 47) and Hierocles (p. 643, Wessel.), which name the central one of those three islands still bears. Strabo (ix. p. 436) speaks of Sciathus, Halonnesiis, and Peparethus without mentioning Scopelus ; while in the lists of Ptolemy and Hierocles the names of Sciathus, Sco- pelus, and I^eparethus occur without that of Halon- nesus. Halonnesus is also mentioned by Pliny (ir. 12. 8. 23), MeU (ii. 7X and Stephanus B. (t. 9.); but they do not speak of Scopelus. The modem island tA Skopdo is one of the most flourish- ing in the Aegaean, in consequence of its wines, which it exports in large quantities. (Leake, North- em Greece, yoI. iii. p. Ill, seq. ; Fiedler, Betee dureh Griechenlandy vol. iL p. 13, seq.) HALUS or ALUS (6 or i^ 'AAot, '^AAoj : Eth, 'AAcus), a tovm of Phthiotis in Thessaly, mentioned by Homer. (/^ iL 682.) It b described by Strabo as situated near the sea, at the extremity of Mount Othrys, aboTe the phun called Crocium, of which the part around Halus was called AthamantiTmi,from Athamas, the reputed founder of Halus. (Strab. is. pp. 432, 433.) Strabo also says that the river Amphrysus, on tiie banks of which Apollo is said to have fed the oxen of Admetus, flowed near the walls of Halus. [Amphrtbub.] Halus is like- wise mentioned by a few other writers. (Herod. viL 173; Dem. de Fait, Leg. p. 392; Mek, ii. 3; Plin. iv. 7. 8. 14.) Leake places Hiilus at Kefdhri, which is situated at a short distance from the sea on a projecting extremity of Mt. Othiys above the Crocian plain, exactly as Strabo has described. "A Hellenic citadel occufned the summit of the pnjecting height; and remains of the walls are seen also on the northern slope of the hill, having short flanks at intervals, and formed of masonry which, although massive, is not so accurately united as we generally find it in the southern provinces of Greece. The walls may be traced also on the de- scent to the south-east, and seem to have been united at the foot of the hill to a quadrangular inclosure situated entirely in the plain, and of which the northern side followed the course of the stream, and the western the foot of the height. The walls of this lower inclosure are nine feet and a half thick, are flanked with towers, and their masonry, wherever traceable, is of the most accurate and reguUr kind; two or three courses of it still exist in some places." (Leake, Northern Greece, voL iv. p. 336.) HALUS, a small pkce in Assyria, probably in the neighbourhood of Artemita, mentioned only by Tacitns(ilfm. vi.41). [V.] HALYCUS CAXvKos : Platant), a considerable river of Sicily, which rises neariy in the centre of the island, and flowd towards the SW. till it enters the sea close to the site of Heracleia Minoa. Its name was evidently derived from the salt or brackish quality of its waters, a circumstance common to those of the PhUani and of the Fiume SdUo (the ancient Hlmera), and arising from the salt springs which abound in this part of Sicily. It obtained coDsideiable historical importance from the circum- HAMAE. 1029 stance that it long formed the eastem boundary of the Carthaginian dominions in Sicily. This was first established by the treaty oondnded, in B.c. 383, between that people and Dionysins of Syracuse (Died. XV. 17) : and the same limit was again fixed by the treaty between them and Timoleon (Id. xvi. 82). It would appear, however, that the city of Heracleia, situated at its mouth, but on the left bank, was in both instances retained by the Cartha- ginians. The Halyons is again mentioned by Dio- dorus in the First Punic War (b.o. 249), as the station to which 'the Carthaginian fieet under Car- thalo retired after its unsuccessful attack on that of the Romans near Phintias, and where they awaited the approach of a second Boman fleet under the consul L. Junius. (Died. zxiv. 1. ; £xc Hoesch. p. 508.) Polybius, who relates the same events, does not mention the name of the river (Polyb. i. 53) : but there is certainly no reason to suppose (as Mannert and Forbiger have done) that the river here meant was any other than the well-known Halycus, and that there must therefore have been two rivers of the name. Heracleides Ponticus, who mentions the landing of Minos in this part of Sicily, and his alleged foundation of Minoa, writes the name Lycus, which is probably a mere false reading for Halycus. (Heracl. Pont. § 29, ed. Schneidewin.) Though a stream of c nsiderable magnitude and importance, it is singular that its name is not men- tioned by any of the geographers. [E. H. B.] HALTS (*AAvf, sometimes "AAvf : KitU Irmakj i. e. the **ted. river"), the principal river of Asia Minor, has its sources in the Armenian mountains which form the boundary between Pontus and Ar- menia Minor, that is, at the point where the heights of Scoedises and. Antitaurus meet (Herod, i. 72 ; Strab. xiL p. 546 ; Dionys. Perieg. 786 ; Ov. ex Pont. iv. 10. 48.) At first its course has a south- western direction, traversing Pontus and Cappadoda; but in the latter country it turns to the north, and, continuing in a north-eastern direction, discharges itself by several mouths into the EuxinOi the latter part of its course forming the boundary between Paphlagonia in the west, and Galatia and Pontus in the east. (Strab. xii. p. 544 ; PtoL v. 4. § 3 ; Arrian, PeripL 16.) According to Strabo, the river Halys received its name from the salt-wcn-ks in its vicinity (pp. 546, 561); but this is probably incorrect, as the name is often written, without the aspiration, Alys (Eustath. ad Dionjf*. Per. 784). Pliny (vi. 2), making this river come down from Mount Taurus and flow at' once from south to north, appears to con- found the Halys with one of its tributaries (^fechel Irmak). According to Xenophon {Anab. v. 6. § 9), the breadth of the Halys is at least 2 stadia. At the time of the greatness of the Lydian empire the Halys formed the boundary between it and Persia, and on its banks Cyrus gained the decisive victory over Croesus. (Heivd. i. 53, 75, 84; Justin, L 7; Cic. de Div. ii. 56; Lncan, iii. 272.) The impor- tance of the river is attested by the fact that Asia is frequently divided by it into two parts, Asia cis and Asia tranM Halyn. (Strab. xii. p. 534, xvii. p. 840.) Respecting the present condition of the river, see Hamilton's Ruearckes, vol. i. pp. 297, 324, 41 1, vol. iL p. 240 [L. S,] HAMAE, a place in Campania, between Capua and Cumae, where the Capuans were in the habit of assembling annually for a solemn religious festival ; an occasion of which they endeavoured to make use during the Second Punic War (o. c. 215) to reduce du 3