Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/25

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

ICT0DURU5I.

Probably, however, there is a confusion between the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Tortland, the Scilly Isles, and the isle just mentioned; since the name is suspiciously like Vectis, the physical conditions heiiif; different. This view is confirmed by the text of Pliny (iv. 30), who writes, " Timaeus historicus a Britannia introrsus sex dierum navipatione aljesse dicit insulam Mictim in qua candidum plumbum proveniat ; ad earn Britannos vitiUbus navii;iis corio circumsutis navigare." [R. G. L.]

ICTODURUM, in Gallia. Tlie Antonine Itin. places Caturiges (Chorges) on the road between Ebrodunum (Embrun) and Vapincum {Gap): and the Table adds Ictodurum between Caturigomagus, which is also Chorges, and Vapincum. We may infer from the name that Ictodurum is some stream between Chorges and Gap ; and the Table places it half-way. The road distance is more than the direct line. By following the road from either of these places towards the other till we come to the stream, we shall ascertain its position. D'Anville names the small stream the Vence; and Walckenaer names the site of Ictodumm, La Bastide Vieille. [G. L.]

ICULISMA, a place in Gallia, mentioned by Ausonius {Ep. XV. 22) as a retired and lonely spot where his friend Tetradius, to whom he addresses this poetical epistle, was at one time engaged in teaching : —

" Quondam docendi munere adstrictum gravi
Iculisma cum te absconderet."

It is assumed to be the place called Civitas Ecolis- mensium in the Notitia Prov. Gall., which is Angou- Icme, in the French department of CItarente, on the river Charente. [G. L.]

ICUS (*Ikoj : Eth-'lKios), one of the group of islands off the coast of JIagnesia in Thessaly, lay near Peparethus, and was colonised at the same time by the Cnossians of Crete. (Scymn. Chius, 582; Strab. is. p. 43fi ; Appian, B. C. v. 7.) The fleet of Attains and the Khodians sailed past Seyms to Icus. (Liv. xxxi. 45.) Phanodemus wrote an account of this insignificant island. (Steph. B. «. f.) It is now called Sarakitio. (Leake, Xorthem Greece, vol. iii. p. 312.)

IDA, IDAEUS MONS iv 'IStj, ISo: Ida), a range of mountains of Phrygia, belonging to the system of Mount Taurus. It traverses western Mysia in many branches, whence it was compared by the ancients to the sculopendra or miUiped (Strab. xiii. p. 583), its main branch extending from the south-east to the north-west; it is of considerable height, the highest point, called Gargarus or Gargaron, rising about 4650 feet above the level of the sea. The greater part is covered with wood, and contains the sources of innumerable streams and many rivers, whence Homer {11. viii. 47) calls the mountain 7roi»7ri'5o^. In the Homeric poems it is also described as rich in wild beasts. (Comp. Strab. siii. pp. 602, 604 ; Horn. //. ii. 824, vi. 283, viii. 170, xi. 153, 196 ; Athen. xv. 8; Hor. Od. iii. 20. 15; Ptol. V. 2. § 13; Plin. v. 32.) The highlands about Zeleia formed the northern extremity of Jlount Ida, while Lectum formed its extreme point in the south-west. Two other subordinate ranges, parting from the principal summit, the one at Cape Rhoeteum, the other at Sigeum, may be said to enclose the territory of Troy in a crescent ; while another central ridge between the two, separating the valley of the Scamander from that of the Simois, gave to IDALIA, IDALIUM. 13 the whole the form of the Greek letter 6. (Dcmetr. ap. Strab. xiii. p. 597.) The principal rivers of which the sources are in Mount Ida, are the Simois Scamander, Granicus, Aesepus, Rhodius, Caresus, and others. (Horn. //. xii. 20, foil.) The hiijhest peak, Gargarus, affords an extensive view over the Hellespont, Propontis, and the whole surrounding country. Besides Gargarus, three other high peaks of Ida are mentioned: viz. Cotylus, about 3500 feet high, and about 1 50 stadia above Scepsis ; Pytna ; and Dicte. (Strab. xiii. p. 472.) Timosthenes (ap. S/ejJi. B. s. ?'. 'AAc|av5p€ia) and Strabo (xiii. j). 606) mention a mountain belonging to the range of Ida, near Antandi-us, which bore the name of Alexandria, where Paris (Alexander) was believed to have pronounced his judgment as to the beauty of the three goddesses. (Comp. Clarke's Travth, ii. p. 134; Hunt's Joum.nl in Walpole's Turkey, i. jj. 120; Cramer's Asia Mimr, i. 120.) [L. S.]

IDA 05v, Ptol. iii. 17. § 9 ; Pomp. Mela, ii. 7. §12; Plin. iv. 12, xvi. 33 ; Virg. Ae». iii. 105; Solin. ii.; Avien. 676; Prise. 528), the central and loftiest point of the mountain range which traverses the island of Crete throughout the whole length from W. to E. In the middle of the island, where it is broadest (Strab. x. pp. 472, 475, 478), Mt. Ida lifts its head covered with snow. (Theophrast. //. P. iv. 1.) The lofty summits tenninate in three peaks, and, like the main chain of which it is the nucleus, the offshoots to the N. slope gradually towards the sea, enclosing fertile plains and valleys, and form by their projections the numerous bays and gulfs with which the coast is indented. JIt. Ida, now called Psiloviti, sinks down rapidly towards the SE. into the extensive ]>lain watered by the Lethaeus. This side of the mountain, which looks down ufwn the plain of Mesara, is co- vered with cypresses (comp. Theophrast. de Vent. p. 405; Dion. Pericg. 503; Kustath. ad. he), pines, and junijjers. Mt. Ida was the locality assigned for the legends connected with the history of Zeus, and there was a cavern in its slopes sacred to that deity. (Diod. Sic. V. 70.)

The Cretan Ida, like its Trojan namesake, was connected with the working of iron, and the Idaean Dactyls, the legendary discoverers of metallurgy, are assigned sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other. Wood was essential to the operations of smelting and forging; and the word Ida, an appellative for any wood-covered mountain, was used perhaps, like the German berg, at once for a mountain and a mining work. (Kenrick, Aegypt of Herodotus, p. 278; Hock, Kreta, vol. i. p. 4.) [E. B. J.]

I'DACUS ('ISaxos), a town of the Thracian Chersonese, mentioned by Thucydides (viii. 104) in his account of the manoeuvres before the battle of Cynossema, and not far from Arriiiaxa. Although nothing whatever is known of these places, yet, as the Athenians were sailing in the direction of the Propontis from tlie Aegaean, it would appear that Idacus was nearest the Aegaean, and Arrhiana further up the Hellespont, towards Sestus and the Propontis. (Arnold, ad he.) [E. B. J.]

IDALIA, IDA'LIUM ('iSoAioi/ : Eth. 'iSoAevy, Steph. B. ; Phn. v. 31), a town in Cyprus, adjoining to which was a forest sacred to Aphrodite; the poeis who connect this place with her worship, give no indications of the precise locality. (Theocr. Id. xv. 100; Virg. Aen. i. 681, 692, x. 51; Catull. Pd. ,t Thet. 96; Propert. ii. 13; Lucan, viii. 17.) EiiL-t-l (Kypros, vol. i. p. 153) identifies it with Dalin, de-