Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/311

 1D52 HEBAEUM. Parthey, not only to the mountains abont Enna, bat to the great calcareous hills which extend from thence to the S.E. and fill op the greater part of the Vol di Noio, The natoral characters of that part of Sicily mnst always have been essentially different from those of the monntainons region of the north. [E. H. B.] HERAEUM ('H/xuby; Karcadt), a town on the Thracian coast of the Propontis, a little to the east of Bisanthe. (Herod. Iv. 90; Steph. B. 9. v.) In some of the Itineraries, the place is called Hiereum or Erton. I L. S.] HERAEUM. [CoRiNTHus, p. 685, b. J HERA'TEMIS ('HpaTCAus, Arrian, Ind. c.39), a eanal in Persis, menUoned by Arrian as cut from a larger river at no great distance. This river was probably the Padai^us mentioned in the same chap- ter by the Greek historian. The canal terminated at the sea; but we are not aware that any traces of it now remain, unless the Khore-esseri of D'An- yille's map represents it, which is possible. [V.] HERBANUM, a town of Etmria, the name of which is found only in Pliny's list of the towns in the interior of that country. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8.) It has been generally assumed, but entirely without authority, to be the place called Urbs Vetus by Paulas Diaoonus (iv. 33), a name which has been probably corrupted into that of the modem city of Orvieto, The Urbi- ventum of Prooopius (OupSiStyrov, B. G, ii. 20), which he describes as a strong fortress, very difficult of access, is probably the same place with the Urbs Vetus of Panlus. Orvieio certainly occupies the site of an ancient Etruscan town, as is proved by tombs and antiquities discovered there, and the name of Urbs Vetus could obviously not have been the original one ; but the identification of Urbs Vetns with Herbanum is mere ccxijecture. (Dennis, Etrmia, vol. i. p. 526.) [E. H. B.] HERBESSUS. [Erbessus.] HE'RBITA ( Ep^xTo, Steph. B., Ptol.: Eth,*Ef>ei' r€U0Sj Herbitensis), a city of the interior of Sicily, in the northern part of the island, and on the southern slope of the Heraean mountains. It was a city of the Siculians, and is first mentioned about 445 B.G., when it was subject to the rule of a prince, or despot, named Archonides, who co-operated witii Ducetius, chief of the Siculi, in founding his new settlement at Gale Acte. (Diod. xii. 8.) [Calacte.] In b.c. 403, it was besieged by Dionysius of Syracuse, but with- out effect ; and several years after we find it still maintaining its independence against tliat monarch. Meanwhile Archonides, who was still ruler of the city, proceeded to extend his power by founding the colony of Alaesa, on the north coast of the island. (Died. xiv. 15, 16, 78.) Diodorus tells us that the citizens of Alaesa, having subsequently attained to great prosperity [Alassa], disdained to acknow- ledge th«r descent from so inferior a city as Her- bita ; but the latter seems to have been by no means an unimportant place. Its name does not again occur in history, but Cicero calls it " honesta et 00- piosa dvitas" (Verr. iii. 32); it had a fertile and extensive territory, which was cultivated with great care, and produced abundance of com : the inhabi- tants were diligent and active agriculturists (summi aratores), and a quiet, fragal race. They, however, suffered severely from the exactions of Verres ; so that the number of the cultivators (aratores) was reduced from 257 to 120, and their territory ren- dered almost desolate. (Cic. Verr. iii. 18, 32—34, &.) Herbita is still mentioned among the towns of HEBCULAKEUK. Sidly both by Pliny and Ptolemy : but after this a]f trace of it disappears, and the data for fixing its po- siuon are sufilciently vagae. Ptolemy sppean to place it between Agyrium and Leootini, but tlia other towns with which it is associated by Cicero and Diodorus would point to a more northeiij foddm : and Cluverins is probably right in pladnsr it at Si- cotiay a town about 10 miles NW. of & FU^p9 tTA rgirb (Agyrium), or rather at a place called iS^per- ling<L, about 2 miles W. of it, in a more eferated aitaa- tion, and now nninhabited. (Plin. iii. 8. a. 14 ; Ptd. iu. 4. § 13 ; Cluver. SidL p. 329.) [£. H. B.] HERCULA'NEUM (the forai HeiculaiiM ap- pears to be erroneous: in the passage of Ciceio (otf AtU vii. 3. § 1) generally cited in support of it, the true reading seems to be ** Aecalauun:" see Orel), ad he. 'H/kCkXcioi', Strab.; 'HpKmOJanur, Dion Cass.: Etk. Hercnlanensis: Eroolanoy, a town of Campania, situated on the gulf called the Crater (the Bay of Naples), and at the foot of Mt. Vesiivii& The circumstanora attending its discovery have reo- dered its name (ar VMxn celebrated in modexn tiznes than it ever was in antiquity, when it certainly never rose above the condition of a second-class town. It was, however, a phu» of great antiqaity: its origia was ascribed by Greek tradition to Hercuks, who wm supposed to have founded a small city cm the spat,ta which he gave his own name. (Dionys. L 44.) Heaos it is called by Ovid ** Herculea urba" (^MeL xv. 711). But this was doubtless a mere inference from the name itself, and we have no account of any Greek colony there in historical times, though it is pcobahls that it must have received a considerable nrdxtme at least of a Greek population, from the ndghboiirii^ cities of Neapolis or Cumae: and there b no dodbt of the extent to which Greek influences had pervaded the manners and institutions of its inhabitants, is common with those of all this part of Campaaia. Straho's account of its eariy hbtoiy is confbaed; 1» tells us it was at first occupied (as well as its ne^h- bour Pompeii) by Oscans, afterwards by TynhcniaQS and Pelasgians, and after this by the Samnite& (v. p. 247.) It b doubtful whether he here means fay Tyrrhenians the Etruscans, or rather uses the two names of Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians as nvriy synonymous: but there seems no reason to dcmbttfaa fact that Herculaneum may have been at eoe time a Pebsgic settlement, and that its popubtion, previoM to Its conquest by the Sanrmites, was partlj of IV bsgic and partly of Oscan extraction Its name, and the legends which connected it with Heicnksy may in tlib case have been originally Pelasf^ and subsequently adopted by the Greeks. It fell into the hands of the Sanmites in common with the le^ of Campanb (Strab. I. e.): and thb b all that we know of its history previous to its pasang under the Roman dominion. Nor have we any particular ao- count of the time at which this tock place; fur th^ Herculaneum mentioned by Livy (x. 45) as havii^ been taken by the consul Carvilius from the SMwnj^ f^^ in B. c. 293, must certainly be another town of the name situated in the interior of Samninm, thoogh we have no further clue to its position. The only occasion on which it pbys any part in histocr b during the Social War, when it took up amw again^ the Bomans, but was besieged and taken by F. Didioa, supported by a Hirpinian legion under Minatiua Magius. (Veil. Pat. ii. 16.) It has been aupfMsed that a body of Roman colcinbts was afVerwards esta- blished there by Sulla (Zumpt, de Col p. 259), but there is no proof of this^ It wems, however, to have