Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/361

 1103 HTDRUSSA. at the month or entrmnce of the Adriatic: Pliny states the width of the strait which separated it firom the opposite coast near ApoUonia at 50 M. P., which is just about the truth ; and this accords also with Strabo's statement, that it was 400 stadia (50 M. P.) from H/dmntum to the isUnd of Sason near the Acroceraunian Promootoiy. Pliny adds a strange storj, that Pyrrhns had at one time formed ^e project of closing up the passage with a bridge of boats, and that the same idea had been taken up at a later time hj 11. Varro, in the war against the pirates. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16 ; Strab. vL p. 281; lUA. u. 4. § 7 ; PtoL iiL 1. § 14.) Strabo speaks of Hydruntum as in his time but a amuM place (wo/dxt^t ^ e.); but it scans to haye riben into a consideiable municipal town under the Roman em- pire (Orell. Inter, 2570 ; Lib. CoL p. 262), and increased gradually in importance as Brundusium declined. [Bbumdusium.] In the fourth cen- tury it appears to ha^e become the usual place of passage, not only to Greece, but to ApoUonia, Dyrrhachium, and thence to Constantinople; so that the Itineraries all give the routes of com- munication between Italy and the East upon this Buppoeition. (Jtin. AfU. pp. 115, 323, 329 ; Itin. JJariL ^ 489; Itin, ffier, p. 609.) The same state of things continued also after the fall of the 'Western Empire : hence, during the wars of the Goths with Bielisarius and Narses, Hydruntum as- sumes an importance yery different from what it possessed in Roman times. (Procop. B, V. L 1, JB, G. iii. 30, &c, where the name is corruptly written Apvovs.) It was one of the last cities in the S. of Italy which remained in the hands of the Greek emperors, from whom it was not finally wrested till the 11th century. The modem town of Otranto is a poor decayed place, though still the see of a bishop: it was taken and plundered in 1480 by the Turks; a caUmity which it has never re- covered. Galateo, a local historian, who saw it pre- vious to that event, describes it as then a flourishing and populous place, though, like Tanmto, occupying only the citadel or arx of the ancient city : the circuit of the ancient walls could be distinctly traced, inclosing a space of 11 stadia, and fortified with towers; but, be adds, " all this is now levelled with the ground.'* Recent travellers have found no ves- tiges of antiquity but the pavement of the Via Trajnna, and some marble columns and mosaic pavements in the present cathedraL A ruined church of St. Nicholas is supposed to occupy the site of an ancient temple. (Galateo, de Situ la' pygia/ty pp. 47 — 50 ; RomanelU, voL 11. pp. 1 10, 1 1 1 ; Craven, TraveU, pp. 142—144.) Though in such a decayed condition, Otranto still gives name to the province, which is known as the Terra cU Otranto, and includes the whole of the lapygian or Cabbrian peninsuhL The little river Idro, the sluggish waters of, which enter the harbour of OiratUOj is evidently the stream called in ancient times the Hydrus, whose name has been preserved to os in a line of Lucan (v. 375). [E. H. B.] HYDRUSSA('T8pou(r<ra),fn island off the western coast of Attica, now called Pratonin. (Strab. iz. p. 398; Leake, Demi ofAtticaf p. 56.) HYELE. [Veua.] HYETTUS ('rrrrr6s : EtK T^ttioj), a village of Boeotia, said to have been founded by the Argive Hyettus, contained in the time of Pausanias a temple of Asclepius, frequented by the sick for the cure of HYLE. thar diseases, where the deity cooUmied to ht ww- shipped in the fonn of a rude stone. Pawnwssars that Olmones was situated 12 stadia to the kft of Copae, and Hyettus 7 stadia from OlmoiKa. FoRh- hammer places OluMmes on the small islaDd of Frei»> Tani in the lake Copais, and Hyettus wXStrantiu tlie west of this island, where some anrifwt rains an found on a small hill jutting oat into the Uce. (Paus. iz. 24 § 3, iz. 36. I 6 ; Sceph. B. a. ».; Foichhammer, BtUenika, p. 178.) HYGRES ('Typctf, Ptd. iiL 5. § 13X a pboe on the N. coast of the Palus Mseotb bKwtaeu t^ rivers Lycus and Pontes. [^E. B. J.] HYLA, a port at the head of the bay of Srhanms, in Garia. (Pomp. Mela, L 16 ; Plin. t. 29, what some read Hyda^ [L. &] HYLAEA CTAoTir, TX^, Steph. B.), the pcsia- snla which lies to the NW. of Tanrica, faautA. by the lower part of the Bovysthenes, the Euune, tl» gulf of Carcinitis, and the river Hypacyria, which flows through it. According to Heradptns (It. 9, 16, 54, 76), it is a woody regkm lying to the £. of the Borysthenes (^Dnieper)^ of which Pliiiy makes mention: " Inde silvestris regie, Hylaenm mave, qaa alluitur, oqgnominavit " (iv. 12). It would seen t» be indicated by Pomponius Mela: " Hypacaris per Nomadas evdvitur, Silvae deinde sunt, qua maxi- mas hae terrse ferunt" (ii. 1. § 45: oomp. S^nm. Fr, 105; Awm. PeripL p. 3> It b uncertain whether there lemain any traces of this woodland. Some old maps present the name of the Black Forest in the very same place; and this may have had a much wider eztent in eailter times. From the communications of several travellen, how- ever, it appears that there is no wood now, although the fact of its having once existed is the popular traditions of the oountiy; the woody country occur till the hanks oS the river Don are reached. (Heeren, Jdeem^ toL L pt. 2. p. 272; tnma. vol. iL pi 8.) It has been identified with the great phun of Jaaiofflouk in the steppe ot the Nogai. (Rennell, Geog, of Herod. toL i. p. 83; Potocki, Vogage dant lee Stqte dAetrathan, toL L p. 179 iKoiw, Mim.de PAcad.de St. PiterabLToLx. p. 655 ; Kohl, Sid RmteUmd, vol. i. p. 75.^ [E-BJ.] HYLAETHUS or HYLAETUS (^Aoiffos or Locris near the eastern firontier of Aetolia into &e Corinthian gulf. Leake supposes it to be the modem MomSf and to have derived its name from Hyle^ a town in Phocis mentioned by Stephanos B. (IKcae- arch. 67 ; Steph. B. «. v. "TXii ; Leake, NartUr* Greece^ vol. ii. p. 619.) [Hyle, Na 2.j HYLE (*TA97 : Eih. TAoms). 1. An aociait town in Boeotia, situated upon the lake Hyfica, which derived its name from this place. (Horn. IL iL 500, Y. 708, viL 221; Strab. iz. ppi 407, 406; Nonn. Diongt, ziii. 66; Plin. iv. 7. a. 12; Steph. B. of it as if he seemed to believe that it was the native place of Pindar (iKi^apor o6 ro$4oi^i tiaem Boim> r/^ff ^TAax,Mo8ch. iii. 89); but this is in oppoaitifln to all other ancient authorities. The site of fiyle is uncertun, and is variously placed by modern aatbo- rities. Leake supposes it to be represented by the Paleokaetro on the height between the northern end of the lake and the foot of Mount Paled. Uliichs jdaces it at the southern end of the lake, near the mouth of the river Ismenus. (Leake, Norlhem Greece, vol. ii. p. 313; Ubichs, Rciaen m Grieehetk" land, p. 257.)
 * TXaiTos), a river in Locris Ozolis, flowing thnn^h
 * 1) . 0.) Mosdius, who calb the town Hjlae, ipeaks