Balka, ^hich corresponds nearlj with the tribe of Qad, but as this is south of et-Saltj its situation hardlj suits that of Betonim, though there is a
striking similarity in the names. (Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. iii. p. 169 of the Appendix.) [ G. W. ]
BEUDOS VETUS, a town of Phrygia, whidi Livy (xxxviii. 15), when describing the march of Manlius, places five Roman miles from Synnada, and
between Synnada and Anabura. Hamilton {He-
searcheSj &c vol. i. p. 467) is inclined to fix it at
J^iki (Old) Kara Eistar, which " is situatad about
.1 or 6 miles due north of the great plain of Phrygia
Paroreius, throughout which are considerable re-
mains of ancient monuments and inscriptions." But
JBeiad, a phice N£. of Eski Kara Hiuar, may be
Beudos, for the names are the sam% (Leake, Asia
Minor ^ pw 56.) If the site of Synnada could be cer-
tainly ascertained, we might determine, perhaps, that
of Beudos. [Synnada.] [ G. L. ]
BEVE (Bcvn: Eth, Bci/euor), a town in Lyncestis in Macedonia, situated on the river Bevus, a tributary of the Erigon, and probably the southern branch of the latter river. (Steph. B. s.v. Liv.
xxxi. 33 ; Leake, Northern Greece^ vol. iii. pp. 310, 314.)
BEZABDA (J&nCMn Jezireh-rbn-'Omar), a
Roman fortress situated on a low sandy island in the
llgris, at about 60 miles below the junction of its
£. and W. branches, about three miles in circum-
ference, and surrounded on all sides by mountains.
According to Ammianus Marcellinus (xx. 7. § 1)
the ancient name was Phoenicia. As it was situated
in a territory occupied by the tribe of the Zabdeni,
it owed its name of Besabda, a corruption of the
Syriac words Beit-Zabda, to this circumstance. The
Romans granted it the privileges of a municipal
town ; and in the reign of Gonsitantius it was gar-
risoned by three legions, and a great number of
native archers. It was besieged by Sapor a.d. 360,
and captured. On account of the obstinate resistance
of the inhabitants, a fearful massacre followed, in
which neither women nor children were spared.
Nine thousand prisoners, who had escaped the car-
nage, were transplanted to Persia, with their bishop
Heliodoms and all his clergy.
The exiled church continued under the super-
intendence of bis successor Dausus, who, a.d. 364,
received the crown of martyrdom along with the
whole of the clergy. (^Acta Mart. Sjpr.j Asseman,
vol. i. p. 134—140.)
Oonstantius made an unsuccessful attempt to
recover this fortress. (Amm. Marc. xx. 11. § 6;
>filman's Gibbon^ vol. iii. p. 207; Le Bean, Bas
Empire, vol. ii. p. 340.) The Saphe (Sa^wj) of Ptolemy (v. 18) which he places between Dorbeta And Debe, has been identified by some with Bezabda. (Comp. iatpdj Plut LucuU. 22.) Mr. Alnsworth {Joutnud Rojfol Geog. Society, vol. xi. p. 15) assigns Jlisn Kei/a to Saphe, and Jedreh to Deba. The fortress occupies the greater part of the island, and is defended by a wall of bkick stone, now fallen into decay. (Kinneir, Travels^ p. 450; Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. L p. 19; Ritter, Erdtunde, vol. i. p. 146 ; St. Martin, 3fem. eur I Armenia, voL x. p. 162.)
BEZEK (BcC(K, BcC<^Ki}), a city of the Canaanite^
at the time of the entering in of the children of
Israel ; the capital of a district which gave its name
to one of the petty kitigs or sheikhs of the country.
(Judg, i. 4, 5.) It Is only mentioned again in
BIBRACTE.
1 Sam, xi. 8, though it may be doubted whether
these two are identical, as the former was in Judah,
and the latter apparently in Benjamin. Eusebius
and St. Jerome (^Onom. e. v.) mention two cities of
that name, near each other, 17 miles from Neapolis,
on the road to Scythopolis. But these cannot
represent either of the Scripture sites. The Greeks
mention a place in the eastern borders <tf the diocese
of Bethlehem, now called Beletza, which they say was
formerly Bezek : this would be in Judah. (Williams's
Holy City, vol. i. Appendix, p. 493.) [ G. W. ]
BEZER (Bosor and Bosora, Boo-^, B<{<ropa), the
southernmost of the three cities of refuge, on the
east of Jordan, in the wilderness, in the plain
country, belonging to the Reubenites (DeuL iv. 43,
JodL XX. 8), assigned to the priests (xxi. 36).
There is no further clue to its site, and it is mis-
placed by Eusebius, who confounds it with Bozra.
Bossora and Bosor occur as two distinct cities in
1 Maoc. V. 26, large and strong, — but are thero
placed in Gilead (comp. verses 27, 36). As, how-
ever, Bosor is mentioned as the first city to which
Judas came after quitting the Nabathaeans, it was
apparently the southernmost of all the cities named;
it was, moreover, in the wUdemen (verse 28; comp.
Josephus, Ant xii. 8. § 3), and therefore very pro-
bably the City of Refuge, in which case GUead
must be taken in a wider sense in the passages
above cited.[ G. W. ]
BIABANNA (Bia^cCya and Bimwira^a, Ptol. vl 7),
a town in the interior of Arabia Felix, 76^ 30
23° O' of Ptolemy. Identical in position with the
modern B%Man, on the south of the mountains
Sumama (the Zametus of Ptolemy), mentioned by
Captain Sadlier. (MS. Journal cited by Forster,
Arabia^ vol. ii p. 313, note, comp. p. 250.) [G. W.]
BIAS (Bias), a small river of Messenia, f:illiug
into the sea between the Pamisus and Corone. (Pans,
iv. 34. § 4.)
BIBACTA (Bi^oKTo, Arrian, Indie, 21), an
island two stadia from the coast of Gedrwia, and
opposite to a harbour named by Nearchus Alexa$idri
Partus. The whole district round it was called San-
gada. (AnwL, Indie 21.) It appears to be the r^
same as the Bibaga of Pliny (vi. 21. s. 23), the de- X
scription of shell fish mentioned by him as found ^^^
there applying to the notice of its productions ii^ ^ ^
Arrian. Its present name is Chiiney Isle, It is
called Camelo in Purchas*s Voyages, and in the Por-
tuguese Map, in Thevenot's Collection. (Vincenty
Voyage of Nearchus^ vol. i. p. 199.) [V.]
BIBE, a place in Gallia, which the Table fixes
between CiUagum {ChailU) and Durocortorum
{Reims). D'Anville (Notice, <fc.) gives reasons for
supposing that the site may be Ablois, a large
houx^, which is separated from the Mame by a high
hill. [ G. L. ]
BIBLIS (Biexli), a fountain in the territory of >^ >>^
Miletus. (Paus.vii.5. §10,viL24. §5.)
BIBRACTE (Auiun), the chief town of the^ ^^
Aedui, as it is called by Caesar (B. G. i. 23 ; vii. / 5^
55, 63), is the town which afterwards had the / J^
name of Augustodunum. It is not possible to find I ^^
any site for Bibracte except Augustodunum; the"'^^'^
position of which is well fixed at Autvn by the
itinerary measures from Bourges and Chdhns-sur-
Saone.
