Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/37

 778 DIOS HIEBON. or 790 sUdUt to the MW. of the PfaanB, and 2S60 stadia firom Trapezua (Arrian, L &). The wild tribes of the interior, whose barbanms idiom was nnintelligible to one another, made this thor great trading phux. The Greeks were so astonished at the maltipUdty of languages which they encoim- tered, and the want of skUfol interpreters was so strooglj felt, that some asserted that 70 different tongnes were spoken in the maricet of Dioscnrias. (Strab. zi. p. 497.) Timosthenes, the historian, had exaggerated the amount to 300, but Plinj (^), who qnotcs him, contents himself bj saying that the traden required 130 interpreters. (Comp. Gibbon, /// il£» "^^^ i v. p. 102.) In B. a 66, when Mithridates was cwnpeDed to plange into the heart of Colchis (rem the pursuit of Pompeins, he crossed the Phasis and took up his winter quarters at Dioscnrias, where he cdlected additional troops and a small fleet (Appian, Mithr, 101.) Upon or near the spot to which the twin sons of Leds gave their name (Mela, L 19. § 5 ; comp. Amm. Marc. xziL 8. § 24) the Bomans built Sjebabtopous (Steph. B. ; t^ncop. B.G. W. 4), which was deserted in the time of Plinj {L e.) but was afterwards garrisoned by Justinian (i^rocop. Aed, ill 7). The Sotebiopous (Const PorpL de Adm. In^. c. 42) of later times has been identi- fied with it The position of this place must be looked for near the roadstead of Jtkuria. Chardin (Trav. pt i. pp. 77, 108) described the coast as un- inhabited except by the Mengrelians, who oome to traffic on the same spot as their Colcbian ancestors, and set up their tents or booths of boughs. For a curious coin of Dioscnrias, which, from ^e antiquitj of its workmanship, is inferred to be older than the age of Hithridates, see Basche, tqL ii. pt i. p. 318. [E.B.J.] DIOS HIEBON (Aihs 'Itp^: Etk Aioaupirns), a small place in Ionia between Lebedus and Colophon. Stephanus B. («. e.) cites Phlegon as his authority for the Ethnic name. The position which Stephanua assigns to the place, seems to agree with the narra- tive in Thncydides (viii. 29), where it is mentioned. Arundell {DitcoveneSy &c. vol i. p. 36) says that the name of the river Cayster occurs (m the medals of DioB Hieron, from which he oondndes that it was not Teiy fer ^om the river. It is poesible that there was another town of the name in Lydia and on the Cayster. Pliny (r. 29) makes the Dios- hieritae belong to the oooventus of Ephesus ; and Ptolemy (r. 2) places it high up the valley of the Cayster, if we can trust his numbers. The epigraph on the coins is Aio<n€p9tTU¥. [G. L.] DIO'SPOLIS MAGNA. [Thebab.] DIO'SPOLIS PABVA. There were two cities in Egypt bearing the appellation of the Lesser Town of Ammon-Zeus. 1. In the Thebaid, lat 26° 3' N. {Ai6(nroXit 4i fiurpd, Strab. xviii. p. 814; Ptol. iv. !». § 67; Diospolis, It Antonin. p. 159; Jovis Oppidum, Plin. v. 9. s. 10.), the chief town of the Nomos Diospolites. The Lesser Diopolis was seated on the left bank of the mie, opposite to Chenobos- cium, and nearly midway betweoi Abydus and Ten tyra. Pococke (Traveis^ vol. i. p. 140), D'Anville {Menunre stir VEgypte, p. 186), and Champollion VEgypU, vol. i. 238) identify this town with the modem village of How or Hti, Immediately below Diospolis began the canal or ancient branch of the Nile, — the Bakr^vtuf^ or Biver of Joseph, which flows between the Nile and the Libyan hills to the entrance of the Arainoite Nome {tl-Fyoum). 2. The modem Xjydda (Strab. xviii. p. 802) was DlTATTimi, seated in the marshes of the Ddta,cwiof tbs Fhat- nitic arm of the NUe. It was an inoonaidsnMe piaoe, and is mentioned only bj Straba [W. B. D.] DIO'SPOLIS (AufcnraAif). l.InBitfaynia. [Dia.] 2. In Lydia. (Steph. B. «. 0.) [G. L.] DIO'SPOLIS (A«a<nr«Xis), the dasncal name of Ltdda, a city of the tribe of Beojannn, sitaated fai the great phJn of Sharon, which is probably iden- tical with the Sarona of the Acts (ix. 35), with which Lydda is joined. Built by Shamed, the de- scendant of Benjamin (1 CAron. viii. 13), it recovered by that tribe after the captivity {NAem. xi. 35), and is noted in the New Testament histevj for the healmg of Eneas by St Peter. {Aett, Ix. 32 — 35.) It was taken and destroyed by the pro- consul Cestius Gallns on his march to Jemsaiem, dr. A. D. 65. (JosepL A J: iL 19. s. 1.) St Jerome mentions the fact of the change of name (** Lyddam venam in Diospolin,'' EpU, Pamlat)^ and it is assumed by him and Eusebius as an important geographical terminus in the Onomastkon. In the Christian annals of the middle ages it is renowned as the burial pbioe of the head of St Geoige, and the town is designated by his name in the Chranides of the Crusades, and j<Mned with Bamleh, from whidi it is not more than two miles distant on the north. It has retained its ancient name throughont, un- changed, among the natives, and is now known onlj as I^dd. It is a considerable village, situated in the midst of palm trees, and still shows large traces of the Cmaadere* cathedral of St. Geoige. It has besn an episcopal see from very early times, and a synod of the bishops of Palestine was held there A. d. 415, in which the heresiarch Pelagius contrived, by mis- representation, to procure his acquittal from the charge of heresy. (Williams, HoUji City, voL L p. 263, folL; see Bohinson, Bib. Res, vol. iii. pp. 49 —55.) [G. W.] DIPAEA (Aivcua: Eth. Anrouc^), a town of Ai^ cadia in the district Maenalia, through whose temtoiy the river Helisson flowed. • Its inbiMtants removed to Megalopolis on the foundation of the latter d^. It b frequently mentioned on account of a battle fought in its neighbourhood between the Lacedae- monians and all the Arcadians except the Blanti- neians, sometime between b. g. 479 and 464. (Pans, in. 11. § 7, viii. 8. § 6, 27. § 3, 30. §. 1, 45. § 2; Herod, ix. 35.) Leake supposes that the ruins near Zkivia represent Dipaea; but since Pausanias does not mention Dipaea in his description of Maenalia, although he notices every insignificant place, Bosa remarks that it is improbable that Pausanias should have passed over Dipaea, if these ruins really bekn^ to the latter, since they are still very considerable. Boss regards them as the remains of Maenalns. (Leake, Morea^ vol. ii. p. 52; Boss, Reimn im P^ lopormeSf vol. i. p. 1 18.) DIPOENA. [Arcadia, p. 193, No. 12.] DIBCE. [Thebab.] DIBPHE, DIBPHYS, or DIBPHOSSUS. [Eu- BOBA.] DISCELADOS (Mela, ii. 7. § 13), an ishnd lying off the coast of Illyricum ; it fell to the Neretscha- nian braneh of the Servian Shves, and is now called ir/t<, or, in Italiaiv ifWe(2a. (Scfaa&rik, .S^. ^/t vd. iL p. 267.) [E,B.J.] DITATTIUM CAerrdriw) is one of the dties of the Sequani, in Gallia, which Ptdemy mentkms (ii. 9); and he places it before Vesontio (Beson^on). There is nothing to show the site, except Ptdemy's position, which is useless. D'Anville thinks that