Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/689

 BITHOOR BITSCH 669 BITHOOR, or Bittoor, a town of Hindostan, province of Allahabad, on the Ganges, 21 m. N. W. of Cawnpore; pop. about 9,000. As a religious city it enjoys high repute, and every year in November and December is the scene of a festival. Besides a number of Hindoo tem- ples, it has magnificent ghauts, or flights of steps, on the brink of the sacred river, where the priests and worshippers of Brahma perform their prescribed ablutions. One of these ghauts is held to have been honored by the presence of Brahma himself, who there sacrificed a horse after creating the universe. A pin fixed in one of the steps, and believed to have drop- Ghaat on the Ganges. ped from the god's slipper on that occasion, is an object of deep veneration. For a long period this town was the residence of the chiefs of the Mahrattas, the last of whom died without issue in 1851. His estate then reverted to the East India company, to the exclusion of the claim of an adopted son, Dhundoo Punt, who was, however, permitted to occupy the town, and is known by his title of the Nena Sahib. He became the leader of the sepoy mutineers in 1857-'8. In July, 1857, Gen. Havelock drove the Nena from the town and dismantled it ; it was subsequently reoccupied by the mutineers, and after a well fought battle again taken by llavelock, Aug. 10. BITHYNIA, an ancient country of Asia Mi- nor, bounded N. by the Euxine, E. by Paphla- gonia, S. by Phrygia and Galatia, and W. by the Propontis and Mysia, and comprising the N. E. portions of the Turkish eyalet of Kho- davendigiar. According to Herodotus, the Bi- thyni came from the banks of the Strymon in Thrace, having been expelled thence by a more powerful horde ; and Thucydides and Xenophon corroborate this statement by call- ing their descendants Bithynian Thracians. The Bithynians maintained their independence till they were subdued by Croesus, king of I Lydia. On the overthrow of the Lydian mon- ! archy they passed under the power of the Per- i sians, and their country became a part of the satrapy of Phrygia. In later times, however, it was itself constituted into a satrapy, and even a native dynasty sprang up in it. After tha defeat of the Persians on the Granicus, Bithy- nia fell under the sway of the Macedonians. On the death of Alexander the Great, Bas, the son of Botiras, a native chief, vanquished Calantus, the Macedonian governor, and took possession of Bithynia for himself and his pos- terity. Nicomedes, the fourth in descent from Botiras, was the first of this dynasty who as- sumed the title of king. The kingdom of Bithynia endured for over two centuries. Its last king was Nicomedes III., who, having no children, bequeathed his dominions to the Ro- mans, 74 B. 0. The Romans annexed Bithy- nia first to the province of Asia, and then to that of Pontus. In the reign of Augustus it was separated from the latter, and, together with the western part of Paphlagonia, consti- tuted a proconsular province. The inland districts of Bithynia were mountainous and woody, embracing the Bithynian Olympus ; but the country near the coast consisted for the most part of fertile plains, which were studded with villages. Its chief river was the Sanga- rius (now Sakaria), which traversed it from south to north. Among its towns were Nico- media and Prusa (Brusa), successively capitals, Heraclea, Chalcedon, and Nicsea. BITON AND CLEOBIS, in Greek legend, sons of Cydippe, priestess of Juno at Argos. On one occasion, the oxen which dragged the chariot of the priestess not being at hand, they drew their mother to the temple, a distance of about five miles. Cydippe prayed to Juno to grant to them in reward what was best for mortals. That night the brothers slept in the temple, and never awoke. This was the great- est boon the goddess could grant. BITONTO (anc. Butuntum), a town of S. Italy, in the province and 10m. W. of Ban ; pop. in 1872, 24,978. It is handsomely built, and has a fine cathedral and a large orphan asylum. A victory was gained here by the Spaniards over the Austrians, May 25, 1734, which gave the former possession of the kingdom of Naples. The ancient Butuntum is only known from coins. BITSCH (Fr. Sitehe), a town and fortress of Alsace-Lorraine, formerly belonging to the French department of Moselle, 35 m. N. W. of Strasburg ; pop. in 1866, 2,740. The fort is on an isolated rock, defending one of the main roads through the Vosges, with bomb-proof casemates hewn from the solid rock, and is well supplied with water. Before the late Franco- German war it contained 90 guns. It was in vested by the German forces in August, 1870, and in September suffered a severe bombard- ment. It however held out until the prelim- inaries of peace were signed, when together with the territory in which it is situated it was ceded to the Germans. The town contains