Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/8

 • mOiturj DAMASCUS. Idw la itm bid much {tnpataoce i Biaidcs whicJi, ita political sod a tUtr tha time «{ Alaundar the Gnat mt eclipsed bj AntiDch and other cities fbandud bj tba Seleuddae; which ma]' iiirlha aixount fn the ■cantj mticee of it that occur in ciuaicai anthoni. Stnbo deecribea it u tiii IfuJXaTot, (rxiiir ti ml tnfartctJmi tAh tuirf Mtri t4 Il<pff«<( (ivi. |i. TS6). Plinj uje tbat according to some it «u tedtODcd as one of the citin of the Dccapolis (v. 18). He cnlj fbnher mentioiu it for its als- best«r (uiri. 18), It i», however, atracge that so Tenowned a atj, t]» aabject of each aitnmgant eukgr in the poema and nmaiicea of the Orientala, ■hODld be ahiiDst oiuioticed in the clusical poeta; Ibe " ventoea Danuucits'' of Lncan — certainl; not ■ well' chaen ejithEt — being the inm of thai tribute lo thie moet raiuu-kable and beaotifbl dty (iii. SI 5). In the annals of the chnrch it ia noted fiv tlie tamnauD and firet pieBcliing of the apostle St. PanI, which >jnchroniiied with the Dccapatino it the alj bj the ethnaich Df Aietaa, the king apparently i^ Aralna or Petrs. (a Cor. li. 33.) Ae Ihe erent la ■M chmnicled bj anj hiatonan, the circnnistiuieei ODder wluch thiipet^ king had come into pcaeeenon ef'ie impurlant a place aie very doubtful; bnt it ia Eertain that it waa aabject to the Soman rule until lb« nigD of Beradina, when it waa taken bj the Sarwoia in the 13th year of the Hijin (A. n. 634), fran which time, ae if to cmpeniate for ita tnnpo- nu7 eclifee, it haa been the delifht and gloj of the Eaat. and celebrated b; the Arabian poeta a< tin termtnai Faradiafi. Damaacna, now called EiShan, ia aitnated at the diataoce of two dajra' jotmwy, or about 60 milea fti»n the coaat of the Hei^teiTaDean, not fa frnn (he eaatem b«e of the range of Antdlibunia, and at the weiitem otremitj <t the gnat desot of El-Haurm (Aoianitia), which eitenda weetward to the En- jbatea, aoil soalhward to the Arabian peninsula. It praenle the peculiar pbenmceDon of a dtj in the nudet tf gardens, watered bj nnmemna atmina. It ia auTtounded bj a wall, which ia bowerer in a ■tate of ruinoua decay, and scarcely definea the limita between tba city and ita Babaiba. In IMS, the pc^lation of DamascOB waa stated at 111,551, of which nnmbs aboat 11,000 were Chriatiaoa, and 5000 Jews. It is gareiiied by a pasha, whoae rale eitenda from the Eaphratea to the Jordan, and from the licinitf of Aleppo to the confiiKe of Anbia. The " Mesa and Phaiw, Tivera of DaraaseEU," an of fieriptnre eeiebrily (3 Kingt. t. 13), and both Strato and Pliny mention the Cbryeorroa, to which the latter ascribes the fertility of the toil {" Da- maseiun ex epoto rignia amne Chryeoroa fertilem ") ; and Strabo remarkg that " ita waleis are almost large extent of deep soil " (^ cc,y. There are, in bet, aa the writer aacertjuned, two copioua vmrcea in the nstom nols of AntilibiinDa. the Baroda and the Phrge. Of these, the Baroda is &r the most copioos, and being dirided into numeroos ritaleti on emerging from the moontains abore the litj, watera ila innnmerable gardens. The water, bowerer, ia Dot gocd for dd^ng, and the inbatutanta of Ibe nlUgea akmg its ccorse in the Wadg Baroda are subject to goitre. Eren the poor of Damascns do not ordinarily drink this water. Thie is probably tha Abana of Scripture. The Pharpar is represented by the Phfge, a smaller stream of delidoua water, whoH aonire waa eipkned by Foeock. It emerges DAKNIL' 74» fimi Un mamtain nuige through the aame Tallay aa the Samda, and ia CDndncted by aqnedocts and gipea to all nita of the dty for (he purpose of aopplyiog the inbabitants with drinking water. The scanty snrplna of the two stroams tbnns B small lake beknr the dty, called Bahr-d-Mer}. [G. W.] DAUA'SIA (AivHWls), a fistifisd torn in Vin- delicia, which Strabo (y. p. 30G) ngaids aa the acnpolia of the Licattii. The place tio« generally identified with it it Hohfuemht^ in Uie npper valley of the Khine, though some beiiere it to be the more ancient name of jlit^iiffa Ctniicticiipum. [L.&] DAUASSI HONT£S (tJi A^uurira Spt,, PioL rii. 2. § 18), an eaataiuapliraf the Himalaya Moiin- tains in Nipil, in the district of " India intra Gangom.' fV.] DAUA'STIUH iAaiiiarwr), a town in Epeirna, which Strabo mentions as poaaeesing dhrer mines (yiL p. 326). The naoM of this town occurs in no other ancient n-riter ; but there are sereral cwne ex- tant, bearing (ho etugmph Aofnurrmtr. which were DA'HKn, in Scotland, mentioned by Ptolemy as !:^ng to the north-east of the Selgorae. The diiS- cnlties that attend the fliatiai of the exact locality of this people may best be coilected from the text as given in full ; — "Partly, along the northern nde, nnder the promontory of the same name, dwell the Novantae, amongst whom are tbeae dties — Louco- pbia and Kedgonium ** (according to another and pnjbabiy a better reading, Rerigcsiiam). " South of these, the Selgovae, amongst whom are these towns — Caihantorigom, Uielnm, Cord»,Trimontium. To the ostward of these, but more U> the north, are the Damnii, amongst whom are these towns — Colania, Vanduaria, Coiia, Alanna, Lindum, Victoria. The Gad«ii more northern, the Ottadim more sonthem, amongst whom are these towns —^ Cnria, Bnme- nium. Neit to the Damnonii, towards the eoit, bnt moie DOtthflra, and to the eaat of the promontorr E|ndimn, ar« the Epidii," &c Hole than one text of Ptolemy, as welt, perhaps, ■a the context itself, justifies us ia connecting the Qadeni and Ottadini with the Selgovae rather than with the Damnii^ i. e., in making the first named of (hose two populations the me to which the Gadeiu and Ottadini lie ncoth atid sonth. But this will not