of mountains which enclose the valley of Coele-Syria Proper. (Strab. xvi. p. 754; Ptol. v. 15. § 8; Plin. v. 20.) The Hebrew name of Lebanon (Λίβανος, LXX.), which has been adopted in Europe, and signifies " white," from the white-grey colours of the limestone, comprehends the two ranges of Libanus and Antilibanus. The general direction of Antilibanus is from NE. by SW. Nearly opposite to Damascus it bifurcates into diverging ridges; the easternmost of the two, the Hermon of the Old Testament (Jebel esh-Sheikh), continues its SW. course, and is the proper prolongation of Antilibanus, and attains, in its highest elevation, to the point of about 10,000 feet from the sea. The other ridge takes a more westerly course, is long and low, and at length unites with the other bluffs and spurs of Libanus. The E. branch was called by the Sidonians Sirion, and by the Amorites Shenir (Deut. iii. 9), both names signifying a coat of mail. (Rosenmüller, Alterth. vol. ii. p. 235.) In Deut. (iv. 9) it is called Mt. Sion, "an elevation." In the later books (1 Chron. v. 23; Sol. Song, iv. 8) Shenir is distinguished from Hermon, properly so called. The latter name in the Arabic form, Sŭnîr, was applied in the middle ages to Antilibanus, north of Hermon. (Abulf. Tab. Syr. p. 164.) The geology of the district has not been thoroughly investigated; the formations seem to belong to the upper Jura formation, oolite, and Jura dolomite; the poplar is characteristic of its vegetation. The outlying promontories, in common with those of Libanus, supplied the Phoenicians with abundance of timber for ship-building. (Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. iii. p. 358; Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. ii. p. 434; Raumer, Palästina, pp. 29—35; Burkhardt, Travels in Syria ; Robinson's Researches, vol. iii. pp. 344, 345.) [ E. B. J. ]
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age in immediate contrast with the Egyptian style. Its ruins, which the Copts call EntSnehf at the vil- lage of Shelk-Abadeh, attest, by the area which they fill, the andent grandeur of the dty. The di- rection of the prindpal streets may still be traced. One at least of them, which ran from north to south, had on either side of it a corridor supported by columns for the convenience of foot-passengers. The walls of the theatre near the southern gate, and those of the hippodrome without the walls to the east, are still extant At the north-western ex- tremity of the dty was a portico, of which four columns remain, inscribed to " Good Fortune," and bearing the date of the 14th and last year of the rdgn of Alexander Sevems, A. d. 235. As far as can be ascertained fnMn the space covered with mounds of masonry, Antinoopolis was about a mile and a half in length, and nearly half a mile broad. Near the Hippodrome are a well and tanks apper- taining to an andent road, which leads from the eastern gate to a valley bdiind the town, ascends the mountains, and, passing through the desert by the Wddee Tarfa, jdns the roads to the quarries of the Mans Porphyrites. (Wilkinson, Topography of Thebes, p. 382.) The Antinoite nome was frequently exposed to the ravage of invading armies; but they have inflicted less havoc upon its capital and the ndgbouring Her- mopolis than the Turkish and Egyptian governments, which have converted the materials <^ these dties into a lime-quarry. A little to the south of Anti- noopolis is a grotto, the tomb of Thoth-otp, of the age of Sesortasen, containing a representation of a colossus fastened on a sledge, which a number of men drag by ropes, according to ihe usual mode adopted by tibe Egyptian masons. This tomb was discovered by Irby and Mangles. There are only three sOver coins of Antinous extant (Akerman, Roman ConUy i. p. 253); but the number of temples, busts, statues, &c. dedicated to his memory by Hadrian form an epoch in the declining art of an- tiquity. (Origen, in CeUwn, iii.; Euseb. Hitt Ecelee. iv. 8.) yf. B. D.] AKTrNUM, a dty of the Marsians, still called Civiia dAnHnOy situated on a lofty hill in the npper valley of the Liris (now called the Voile di Roveto about 15 miles from Sora and 6 from the Lake Fudnus, from which it is, however, separated by an intervening mountain ridge. It is mentioned only by Pliny (iii. 12. § 17), who enumerates the An- iTATES among the dties of the Marsians; but the true form of the name is preserved to us by numerous inscriptions that have been discovered in the modern village, and from which we learn that it must have been a mnnidpal town of considerable importance. Besides these, there remain several portions of tho andent walls, of polygonal construction, with a gate- way of the same style, which still serves for au en- trance to the modern village, and is called Porta Campanile. The Roman inscriptions confirm the I testimony of Pliny as to the city being a Marsic ono (one of them has " populi Antinatium Marsorum "); but an Oscan inscription which has been found there is in the Yolscian dialect, and renders it probable that the dty was at an earlier period occupied by that people. (Mommsen, Unter-ItaUschen Dialekte, p. 321.) It has been supposed by some writers to be the " castellnm ad lacum Fncinum " mentioned by Livy (iv. 57) as conquered from that people in B. c. 408; but this is very doubtfiiL (Bomandli, |
Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/157
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