u

selene ".

near Ephesus, (V.38.) and Ptolemy, (p. 136.) PoroThis town is known to us as a bishop's see in the seventh century. (Hierocl. p. 686.) Pliny Sandaleon names besides the following islets, Sandaleon, Leucæ, a group of five; Cydonea, one of them, was remarkable for a hot source. (V. 39.)

insula.

Leuca in

sulæ. Cydonea insula. Arginusæ.

The Arginusæ, so celebrated in Grecian history for the naval victory gained by the ten Athenian generals over the Spartan fleet, but so barbarously and ungratefully turned against them by their own countrymen, are three small islands, situated close to the promontory of Cane, and about 120 stadia from Mitylene. Thucydides leads us to infer there was a spot of the same name on the neighbouring coast of Æolis. (VIII. 101. Diod. Sic. XIII. 98. Cf. Xen. Hell. I. 6, 19. seq. Plin. V. 39. Harpocr. v. 'Apywoũσαι.)

u The coins of this town in- latter variably, I believe, exhibit the TON.

form, ΠΟΡΟΣΕΛΗΝΕΙSestini, p. 75.

SECTION III.

BITHYNIA.

Origin and history of the Bithynians-Boundaries of the province under the Roman empire-Description of the coast on the Propontis-Interior of the country around mount Olympus and the lake Ascanius-Nicæa and Nicomedia, with the adjoining bays-Chalcedon and the Thracian Bosphorus-The Euxine-Coast of that sea as far as the Sangarius—The Mariandyni and Caucones-Interior of eastern Bithynia. THE early revolutions which Asia Minor seems to have experienced in regard to its population, both before the Trojan war and immediately after that period, render it, as Strabo justly observes, a matter of no small intricacy to assign to contiguous nations their distinctive limits and proper territories. The Greek geographer has felt this to be peculiarly the case with the province of Bithynia, which appears to have been successively occupied, with varying boundaries, by the Phrygians, Mysians, and Bithynians. The latter people, as their name sufficiently attests, became the permanent possessors of the country; but this event cannot be considered as prior to the siege of Troy, since Homer nowhere mentions the Bithynians, but invariably designates the people of that country by the name of Mysians and Phrygians. (II. B. 862. N. 792. Strab. XII. p. 565.) Strabo has also proved that the Mysians not only

occupied the shores of the lake Ascanius and the plains of Nicæa, but that they extended as far as Chalcedon and the Thracian Bosphorus. (XII. p. 566.) Though we cannot precisely fix the period at which the Bithyni settled in the fertile district to which they communicated their name, we can have no doubt as to the country from whence they came, since the testimony of antiquity is unanimous in ascribing to them a Thracian origin. Herodotus in particular asserts, that according to their own traditions they came from the banks of the Strymon, and having been driven from their country by the Teucri and Mysi, crossed over into Asia. (VII. 75.) Thucydides also and Xenophon expressly term them Bithynian Thracians. (Thuc. IV. 75. Xen. Hell. I. 3, 2. III. 2, 2.) The latter writer traversed their country on his return into Greece with the ten thousand, and had ample opportunities of knowing, both from their customs and language, that they were of the same great family with the Thracians of Europe. (Anab. VI. 4, 1.) Some geographers have noticed a distinction to be observed in regard to this people, namely, that the appellation of Bithyni was properly applicable to the inland population, while that of the coast took the name of Thyni. (Apoll. Rhod. II. 462. Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 793. Plin. V. 32.) But historically speaking, it is of little value, and may therefore safely be neglected. The Bithynians, as Herodotus informs us, were first subjected by Croesus. (I. 28:) On the dissolution of the Lydian empire they passed under that of Persia, and their country became the seat of a satrapy, sometimes known in history by the title of Dascylium, sometimes of the Hellespont,

but more commonly of Bithynia. The people lived principally in villages; the only considerable towns being situated on the coast, and inhabited by Greek colonists. This state of things lasted till the death of Alexander, who had taken military possession of the country after the defeat and expulsion of the Persian troops from the peninsula.

On the decease of the king of Macedon we find Botirus, the son of Dydalsus, a Thracian chief, seizing upon Astacus, a Greek town on the sea-coast, and after defeating Calantus, the officer who commanded the Macedonian forces in the country, establishing an independent principality which he transmitted, through his lineal descendants Bas and Xipoetes, to Nicomedes, son of the latter, who after the death of Lysimachus first assumed the title of king of Bithynia. (Memn. Exc. ap. Phot. p. 720. seq.) He gave his name to the city of Astacus, which from henceforth was called Nicomedia, and became the capital of the new kingdom. (Pausan. V. 12.) Nicomedes was succeeded by his son Prusias, surnamed Zeilasa, (Polyb. XXXVII. 2, 1.) and he again by Prusias, the Hunter, who was long engaged in war with Attalus, king of Pergamum, and is well known in history for having abandoned Hannibal to his pursuers, when that great man sought refuge at his court from the animosity and vindictiveness of the Romans. (Liv. XXXIX. 46-51.) This sovereign had extended considerably the limits of the Bithynian empire by the accession of some important towns conceded to him by his ally, Philip of Macedon, (Strab. XII. p. 563. Liv. XXXII. 34.) and several advantages gained over the Byzantians and king

a See Schweighæuser's note to this fragment.

Attalus; but the latter was finally able to overcome his antagonist, by stirring up against him his own son Nicomedes, who, after drawing the troops from their allegiance to his father, caused him to be assassinated. (Liv. Epit. L. Justin. XXXIV. 4.) Nicomedes, after this unnatural crime, ascended the vacant throne, and reigned for several years. He was succeeded by his son Nicomedes Philopator, who found himself engaged not long after his accession in a war with Mithridates; and though he was supported by the Roman forces, he was compelled, after sustaining repeated defeats, to fly from his dominions, and abandon them to his victorious enemy. (Appian. Bell. Mithr. c. 7-20.) On his death, which occurred soon after these events, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people, and, in pursuance of this arrangement, Bithynia, after the overthrow of Mithridates, was annexed to the empire. (Liv. Epit. XCIII. Plut. Cæs. §. 3.) Like other Asiatic sovereigns, the kings of Bithynia are said to have been sensual and effeminate. (Polyb. XXXVII. 2. Cic. Verr. V. 11.) The interior of the country was mountainous and woody; (Xen. Anab. VI. 5. Nicet. Chon. p. 128.) but near the sea it was covered with rich and fertile plains, thickly spread with towns and villages. The produce consisted in grain of every sort; wine, cheese, figs, and various kinds of wood. (Xen. Anab. VI. 4, 4. Strab. XII. p. 565. Plin. XI. 42.)

Bithynia, properly so called, is confined to the west by the Rhyndacus, which separates it from Mysia, and to the east by the river Sangarius; but if we include within its limits, as most geographers have done for the sake of convenience, the districts