Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/320

 HERODEIUM. eaniMt be fixed with any oertaintj, and thej pro- bably Taried at different times, as did those of the neighboaring Volsdana. The only cities which we can awign to them with certainty are, AnaqniAy the capital or chief city of the league, Ferentimum, Alatrivm, and Vrrvlae, to which may be added the eniall town of Cafitulcm, and^ probably also Tkbbia. Frusino appean to have been a Vol- Bcian rather than a He mican town, thoagh it may have originally belonged to the latter people. Bat it is evident from a passage of Livy, in which he tells OS that oil the itates of ike ffemicam ('*omnes Her- nici nominis popnli,** iz. 43), besides the foor above mentioned, joined in the war against Rome, that there mnst have been several other towns of suiB- cient importance to have taken part in the war, and in the assembly which preceded it, as independent fitates. And it b at least a pknsible inference of Niebohr's, that, of the 47 cities stated by Dionysius to have taken part in the sacrifices on the Alban Mount, 16 must have belonged to the Hemicans. It u however probable that tliese were for the most part merely little mountain towns, of which we are unable to point out either the names or localities. Stnbo's statement (v. p. 231) that the Hemicans dwelt near to Lanuvium and Alba and Rome itself, is utterly unintelligible, and is probably nothing more than a mere mistake. The country of the Hemicans is well characterised by Virgil in a single line, where he speaks of the Ital. iv. 226, viii. 393). The mountains on the N. of the valley of the Trerus are everywhere watered with beautiful streams, and clothed with magni- ficent woods of oak and chesnut, which render them one of the most beautiful regions of the Apennines. They are separated from the range of the Volscian mountains, the Mcntes Lepini, by the broad and fertile valley of the SaecOy which communicates with the plains of Latium by the pass or opening below Praenesto. Towards the interior the Hernican mountains rise in a lofty group or range which eepa^ rates the vall^ of the ^coo and the upper course of the Anio from the waters of the Liris. Besides the Trbrus or Saeco, the only other stream in the land of the Heraici of which the ancient name is preserved to us, is the Coaas (K^of, Strab. v. p. 237), still called the Com, which flows beneath the walk of AkUri and /Vonnone, and joins the Saceo about 5 miles below the latter city. [E.H.B.] HERODEIUM. ('Hp<6«cior, 'Hp^io^ *Hp<68ia, Snid. i. 9.) 1. A city and ibrtress of Palestine, erected by Herod the Ghreat, and situated about 60 stadia from Jerusalem, and not far from Tekoa. (Joseph. Antiq. zv. 9. § 4, B.J, I 21, § 10, B.J. iv. 9. § 5.) Here on a hill of moderate haght having the form of a woman's breast, and which he raised still higher, or at least fashioned by artificial means, Herod erected a fortress with rounded towers, having in it apartments of great strength and splendour. The difficult ascent was overcome by a flight of two hundred steps of hewn stone. At the foot of the mountain he built other palaces for himself and his friends, and caused water to be brought thither from B distance in krge quantity and at great expense. The whole plain around was also covered with buildings, forming a large city, of which the hill snd fortress constituted the acropolis. (Joseph. /. c.) It was to this place apparently, that the body oif Herod was brought for burial, 200 stadk from Jericho, where he died. (Joseph. Antiq. xvil 8. § 3, HEROOPOLIS. 1061 B, J. i. 33. § 9.) This dty was so important that one of the toparchies afterwards took the same name, and Pliny (^ Herodium cum oppido illustri ejusdem nominis," v. 15) mentions it as a town of gi^at note. It does not occur either in Ptolemy or Eusebius and Jerome. The " Frank Mountain," with which Herodium has been identified, bears in Arabic the name of eUFtareidity a diminutive of tlie word signifying Paradise. The mountain has not been usually as- cended by travellers ; among those who speak of having been upon it are. Von Troilo, Nau. Le Brun, Pococke, Irby and Mangles, and some others. Dr. Robinson (Ruearchetj vol. ii. pp. 169— 175), whose account has been here followed, describes it as rising steep and round, precisely like a volcanic cone, but truncated. The height above the base cannot be less than from 300 to 400 feet, and the base itself has at least an equal elevation above the bottom of Wadif Ortasin the SW., towards which there u a mora general descent. There are tracei of terraces around the foot of the mountain, but not higher up; nor is there any road to tlie top or fosse upon the S., as described by Pococke (TVor. voL ii. pt. i. pp. 42, fd.). The top of the mountain, constituting a circle of 750 feet in circmnference, u inclosed by the ruined walk of a circukr fortress, built of hewn stones of a good size, with four massive round towen standing at each one of the cardinal points. Either the ruins have formed a mound round the droumference, or the middle part of the indosure was once excavated; it u now considerably deeper than the circumference. The tower upon the £. k not so thoroughly destroyed as the rest^ and in it a magazine or cktero may still be seen. The present name of the " Frank Mountain** k known only among the Franks, and k founded on a report that thk post was maintained by the Crusaders for 40 years after the fall of Jerusalem; but the silence of the historians of the 'Crusades, and the small size of the position, lead to the conclusion that this was a legend of the fifteenth century, when, in a.d. 1433, the story first appears, in Fdix Fabri {Evagatorwm: de Monte Rama et ejtu Oppido forHuimo, vol. ii. pp. 335 — 337), and has bie«n repeated under dif- ferent forms by subsequent travellers. An earlier mention of thk mountain than the tiroes of Herod, or indeed any mention of it in the Scriptures, cannot be assumed with any certainty. Pococke has suggested that it may have been the Beth-Haccerem of the prophet Jeremkh (vi. 1), where the children of Benjamin were " to set up a sign of fire." while they blew the trumpets in Tekoa. Jerome {Comm, in Jer. vi. 1) also says that there was a village called Bethacbarma, situated on a mountain between Tekoa and Jerusalem. If Beth- aocarem was indeed succeeded by the fortress and dty of Herod, it is difficult to see why Jerome, who usually emj^oys the Greek names by preference, shouM here and elsewhere make no allusion to the more important Herodium. (Reknd, Pa/iae^fma, vol. U. p. 820; Von Raumer, PaidsHna, pp. 220~ 464; Ritter, Erdhmde^ vol. xv. pt. i. pp. 61 7~ 624; Hirt Ueber die Bave Nerodes det Grots. Abhand der Berl Akad. 1816-1817, p. 5.) 2. Another fortress of the bame name was built by Herod on a mountain towards the Arabian fron- tier (ry wfiis 'A/Hi3tay Spu : Joseph. B.J.h2. § 10), not *^ of Arabk," as Dr. Robinson (^Retearcket, vol. ii. p. 173) says. [E. B. J.] HEROOTOLIS ('Hm^v w<{Xit or H/x^, Strab. 3 y3
 * ro8cida rivis Hernica saza" {Aen, vii. 684; Sil.