Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/62

 ECHEDAMEIA. pheei At which the genenl ooogress of the depaties from the Volscian cities aesembled, and where the booty captnred At IxHignU lud Satricam was de- posited for safety. (Dionjs. Tiil. 5, 36.) Daring the sabsequent long-continued straggle of the Aequians and Volscians against Rome, Eoetra is repeatedly mentioned: it appears to ha^e been one of the Volsdan cities nearest to the Aeqoians, and which tabsequentlj aflbrded a prnnt of junction for the two allied nAtions. In Aocordanoe with this, we find Q. FaMos Yibnlamis, in the CAmpaign of B.C. 459, affcer defeating the Aeqnians on Mount Algidas, sd- ranoing AgaiasI fioetra, the territory of which he lidd waste, but without yenturihg to attack the city itself. (lir. iS. 4, 10; Diooys. z. 21.) On this oocasioo we axe sspressly told that Ecetra was at Hbh time ths most important dty of the Volscians, and eocnpied the most advantageons sitaation (Dionys. ke,}: hence the Roman armies repeatedly adopted the same tactics, that of the one consul marching by Algidos upon Ecetra, the other along the low country near the coast upon Antium. (lAv, (yi 31.) After the GaISc War, when the Volscian power was beginning to decline, Ecetra and Antium appear to ha^e assumed a positioa in some degree independent of the other cities, and, from their prox- imity to Rome, as well as their importance, seem to have generally borne the brunt of the war; but there is no authority for Nlebuhx's assumption, that where we find the Volscians mentioned at this period we must understand it of these two cities only. (Nieb. ▼ol. ii. p. 583.) The last occasion on which Ecetra is cHrtedjf named by Livy is in the campaign of B.C. 378 (vi. 81): we have no Account of its conquest or destruction, but its name totally disappears from this period, and is only met with apiin in Pliny*s list ef the extinct cities (^ Latium. (Plin. iiL 5. s. 9.) The only clue to its position is what we may gather from the passages above cited, that it was BttUAted on the ME. frontier of the Volscians^ towards the Aequians and Mt Algidus: and, in accordance with this, an incidental notice in Livy (iv. dl) speaks of a pitched battle with the Volscians " between Fe- rentinum and Ecetra." The suggestion of Abeken, that it was situated at Monie Fortino^ aod that the ranuuns of ancient walls visible on the summit of the bill above that town (ascribed by Gell and Nibby to Aitena) are those of the citadel of Ecetra, is at least highly plausible. (Abeken, Mittel Italian, p. 75.) The ruins are described by Gell (Top. of jeome, p. 110) and Nibby (DvUomi, vol. I p. 263.) The site is still known as La Civka; and the posi- tion of this hill, forming a kind of advanced post, projecting from the great mass of the Volscian moun- tains. And fiusing both the AequiAUS and Mt Algidus, precisely corresponds with the part assigned to Ece- txm in the Roman history. [E. H. B.] ECHEDAMEIA CEx«S4^ui a town of Phocis, destroyed m the Sacred War. Its site is unknown : it is enumerAted by PAusAnlAS between Medeon And Ambryssus. (Paus. x. 3. § 2.) ECHETIDAE. [AiTiCA, p. 825, b.] ECHETLA CExerAa: Eth, *Ex«TAon»r, Steph. B.), A city or fortress of Sicily, on the confines of the SyracusAn territory. It is first mentioned by Diodo- ms, who tells us thAt it was occupied in b. c. 309 (during the Absence of AgAthocles in AfricA) by a body of troops in the Syracuaan service, who fh>m thence Uud waste the territories of Leontini and Ca- marina. But it was soon after reduced, notwith- ftanding the strength of its positioDi by Xenodicus ECHINADE& 80S of Agrigentom, who restored it to fibetty. (Diod. XX. 32.) It is again mentioned by Polybius (i. 15) as a place situated on the ccmfines of the Syracusan territory (as this existed under Hieron II.), and that of the Carthaginians : it was besieged by tiie Romans at the outset of the First Punic War. These are the only notices found of Echeth, and the name is not mentioned by Cicero or the Geographers. But the above data point to a situation in the interior of the island, somewhere W. of Syracuse; hence Fa- zello And Cluver are probably correct in identifying it with a place called OcchiUa or Oechda, about 2 miles from the modem town of GrMt Michek] and 6 milss £. of CaUagirvne^ where, according to Fa- zello, considerable ruins were still visible in his time. The town occupied the summit of a lofty and pred- S'tous hill (thus agreeing with the expressions of iodorus of the strong position of Echetla), and eon- tinned to be inhabit till 1693, when it suffered severely from an earthquake; and the inhabitants consequently migrated to the plain below, where they founded the town of Gran MieheU. (FazelL X. 2, pp. 446, 450 ; Amie. Lex, Topog. Sic vol. ii. p. 1 50 ; Cluver. SkiL p. 360.) [E. a B.] ECHIDOTIUS CEx«««pof, Scyl. p. 26; »Ex<- 9vpoft P^l* ii^ 13' § ^)i * souJl river of Bfaoe- donia, which rises ia the Crestonaean territory, and after flowing through Mygdonia empties itsdf into a lagoon dose to the Axius (Herod, vii. 124, 127). It is now called the Gallihd: GaHicum was the name of a place situated 16 M. P. from Thessa- lonica, on the Roman road to Stobi (Peut Tab.'). It is probable that when the andent name of the river fell into disuse, it was replaced by that of a town which stood upon its banks, and that the road to Stobi followed the valley of the Echidoms. (Leake, Norlhem Greece^ vol. iiL pp. 437, 439.) [£• B. J.l ECUl'NADES (oi 'Extroi n}<roi, Horn.; at numerous islands off the coast of Aeamania, several of which have become united to the mainland by the alluvial deposits ofi the river. Herodotus says that half of the islands had been already united to the mainland in his time (iL 10) ; and Thucydidea expected that this would be tluB case with all of them before long, since they lay so ckse together as to be easily connected by the alluvium brought dowB by the river (iL 102). This expectation, however, has not been fulfilled^ which Pausanias attribitfed (viii 2^ § 11) to the Acheloos bringing down less alluvium in consequence of the uncul- tivated condition of Aetolia ; but there can be little doubt that it is owing to the increasing depth of the sea, which prevents any perceptible progrsis being made. The Echinades are mentioned by Homer, who says tliat Meges, son of Phyleus, led 40 shipe to Troy from *'Dulichium and the sacred isUoda EdUnae,. which are situated beyond the sea, oppodte Elis." (Bom. II u. 625.) Phyleus was the son (^ Augeas, kia^ of the Epeians in Elis, who emigrated to Bnlfchitmi because he had incurred his father's anger. In the Odyssey Dnlicfaium is fiiequently mentioned along with Same, Zacynthus, and Ithaca as one of the islands subject to Ulysses, and is cele- brated for its fertility. (Horn. Od. L 245, ix. 24, xiv. 397, xvL 123, 247 ; Hymn, m ApolL 429 ; noX^vpor, Od. xiv. 335, xvi. 396, xix. 292.) The site of Dulichium gave rise to much dispute in antiquity. Hellanicus supposed that it was the andent name of CephalleniA; And Andron, that it 3f 2
 * Exiy^s rijcroi, Herod., Thuc, Strab.), a group of