BITU'RIGES. Liyy (y. 34) represents the Bituriges as the chief people of Gallia Celtica in the time of Tarquinios Priscus. They gave a king to the Celtic nation, and his name was Ambigatus. Livy calls the Celtae the third part of Gallia, in which he follows Caesar's division (i. I); but in the time of Ambigatns, the name Celtica most have comprehended what was afterwards Gallia Narbonensis, and perhaps all Transalpina Gallia. Howerer, the list of peoples whom Livy represents as emigrating into Italy under Bellovesus, the nephew of Ambigatus comprehends only those who were within the limits of Caesar's Celtica; and among the emigrants were Bitoriges. In Caesar's time (vii. 5) the Bitoriges were under the supremacy of the Aedoi, and the boundary between them was the upper part of the Ligeris or Loire, below the junction of the Loire and the Allier. D'Anville makes the territory of the Bituriges correspond to the old diocese of Bourges which extended beyond the province of Berri into a part of Bourbonnois, and even into Touraine. The Bituriges were altogether within the basin of the Loire, and part of the course of the Indre, and the greater part of that of the Cher were within their territory. Caesar describes their capital Avaricum (Bourges), as almost the finest town in all Gallia (tu. 15).
At the commencement of the insurrection under Vercingetorix (b.c.52), when Caesar was preparing to attack Avaricum, above twenty cities of the Bituriges were burnt in one day, with the consent of the Gallic confiaderates, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Romans. The Bituriges intreated earnestly that Avaricum might be excepted; and finally, against the opinion of Vercingetorix, it was resolved that Avaricum should be defended against Caesar. [Avaricum.]
These are the Bituriges to whom Strabo (p. 190) and Pliny (iv. 19) give the name of Bituriges Cubi. The same appears on the naumachia of Lyon, where it indicates the place which was reserved for the representatives of these people at the games; and it occurs in several other inscriptions. The Bituriges had iron mines in their territory (Strab. p. 191); and Caesar (B. G. vii. 22), when describing the siege of Avaricum, speaks of the people as skilled in driving galleries, and in the operations of mining, as they had great iron works (magnae ferrariae) in their country. (Comp. Butilius, Itin. i. 351 : "Non Biturix largo potior strictura metallo.") Pliny (xiv. 2) speaks of the good quality of the Bituric wines, and also Columella; but they may perhaps be speaking of the wines of the Bituriges Vivisci.
The Bituriges were included in the extended province of Aquitania [Aquitania], and Pliny calls them "liberi," a term which implies a certain degree of independence under Roman government, the nature of which is now well understood.
[G. L.]
BITU'RIGES CUBI. [Bituriges.]
BITU'RIGES VIVISCI. Strabo (p. 190) says that the Garonne flows between the Bituriges called Iosci and the Sautones, both of which are Celtic nations; for this nation of the Bituriges is the only people of a different race that is settled among the Aquitani, and is not reckoned among them; and they have for their place of trade Burdigala (Bordeaux), Caesar does not name them. In Pliny (iv. 19) the name is Ubisci, and in Ptolemy it is Vibisci in the old Latin translation. Ausonius (Mosella, v. 438) has the form Vivisci: "Vivisca ducens ab origine gentem." An inscription is also mentioned as having been found at Bordeaux with the words : " Genio civitatis Bit. Viv.;" but it is of doubtful authority. Ptolemy mentions another city of the Vivisci, which he calls Noviomagus; but the site is uncertain.
The limits of the old diocese of Bordeaux are said to indicate the extent of the territory of the Vivisci, part of which was east of the Garonne. It was included in the present department of Gironde. Pliny calls these Bituriges also ** liberi." It was a wine country in the Roman period, as it is now.
[G. L.]
BIZO'NE ((
Greek characters): Eth. (language characters)), a town of
Lower Moesia on the coast of the Euxine, between
Callatis and Apollonia, which is said to have been
destroyed by an earthquake. (Strab. i. p. 54, vii.
p. 319; Pomp. Mela, ii. 2. 5; Plin. iv. 18; Steph.
Byz. s. v. Arrian, Peripl. p. 24, who calls it Bizon,
and the Geogr. Rav. iv. 6, who calls it Bizoi.)
[L. S.]
BIZYA ((Greek characters): Eth. (language characters)), a town in Thrace, the capital of the tribe of the Asti. (Steph.
Byz. s. v.; Solin. 10; Plin. iv. 18.)
[L. S.]
BLABIA. [Blavia.]
BLAE'NE ((Greek characters)), a fertile tract which Strabo
(p. 562) places in the neighbourhood of the range of
Olgamys. [Bithynia.] He mentions it with
Domanitis, through which the Amnios flows, but
he gives no further indication of its position.
[G.L.]
BLANDA ((Greek characters)), a city of Lucania, mentioned
by Ptolemy among the inland toWns of that province;
but placed both by Pliny and Mela on or near the
coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The former writer
includes it in Bruttium, but this seems to be a mistake: Livy, who mentions Blanda among the towns
which had revolted to the Carthaginians, but were
recovered by Fabius in b. c. 214, expressly calls it a
Lucanian city. (Liv. xxiv. 20; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10;
MeL ii. 4; Ptol. iii. 1. § 70.) The Tab. Pent,
also places it on the road along the coast of Lucania:
the adjoining names are corrupt; but if the distance
from Cerilli may be depended upon, we may place
Blanda at or near the modern Maratea, a small
town on a hill about a mile from the Gulf of Policastro, where there are said to be some ancient
remains. It is 12 miles SE. of Policastro (the
ancient Buxentum), and 16 N. of the river Laus,
the frontier of Lucania. (Holsten. Not. in Cluver.
p. 288; Romanelli, vol. i. p. 379.)
[E. H. B.]
BLANDO'NA (Itn. Ant.) or BLANO'NA ((Greek characters), Ptol. ii. 17. § 10), a town of Libumia in Illyricum, on the road between ladera and Scardona.
BLARIACUM is placed in the Table between Atuaca, which is supposed to be Caesar's Aduatuca (Tongern) and Noviomagus (Nymegen). It is 42 Gallic leagues or 63 Roman miles from Atuaca to Blariacum, which seems to correspond to Blerick on the left bank of the Maas, in the Dutch province of Limburg.
[G. L.]
BLASCON ((Greek characters)). Strabo (p. 181) places
this small island close to the Sigium hill, or Sitium,
as it should be read, which divides the Gallicus Sinus
into two parts. (Groskurd, Trans. Strab. i. p. 312.)
The name Sctium or Sititum appears in the modern
