Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/7

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

748 DALMATIA. The tiaine III jricnm is however mdra properlj ap- plied to the long and mumm tract of ooontij which lies betifMn the Save and the Adriatic, and Dal- mataa after its final inocvporatian into the Boinan province mnst be referred to the article nnder that head [Illtiucum]. Dahnataa was the native country of Diocletian, and its capital Salooa {Spc^- lairo) will alwajs be fionoos as having been the place to which that emperor retired. At the divi- aioD of the empire between Arcadius and Honorins, the important and warlike prsefectore of lllyricnm was divided between the West and the East; Dahna- tia with Noricnm and Pannonia fell to the lot of the former. About A.D. 461, Dahnatia was exposed to the inroads of the Snevi, bnt the intrepid Marod- limis maintained the power of the Bomans against the barbarians, and occopied the profvinoe in an in- dependoit position with the title of patrician of the West (Procop.JBea.FafM£iiLi6.) Theodoric,the great emperor o^ the Ostro-Goths, supported hj Zeno, emperor of the East, wrested it fnm Odoacer; and it b sud that an iron mine in Dalmatia famished the victors with one of the chief reqoisites of war. (Cassiod. Var. iii. ep. 25.) In A.D. 535, it was conquered for the Lower Empire by the imperial armies, r^ained by the Ostro-Goths, and again re- covered by Belisarins. Under Justinian the limits of Dalmatia were ad- Tanoed to the E. over Pannonia;'and it was divided into maritime and inland Dalmatia: the former ex* tending from Istria through Libomia, Dalmatia, and N. Albania, with the adjacent islands; and the latter lying to the E. of the range of mountains known nnder the name of Albius, Bebius, Aidius, or the mo- dem PnAog TKDgi, and Scardus. It was, however, with difficulty preserved for the Byzantine empire, and was subjected to the inroads of the Gepidae, and then of the Lombards. The great Heraclins, in pursuance <^ his statesmanlike plan of establishing a permanent barrier in Europe against the encroa<£ments of the Avars and Slaves, induced the Serbs or W. Slaves, who occupied the conntiy about the Carpathians, to abandon their ancient seats and move down into the provinces between the Danube and the Adriatic. Though independent, these people, whei) they had made their footing in Dalmatia, for a long period considered themselves as owing a degree of terri- torial allegiance to the Lower Empire. (Const. Porph de Adm, Imp, 31 — 36.) The modem history of Dalmatia commences with these relations established by Heradius and the W. Slaves, who entered the country under the various names of Servians, Croatians, Karentins, Zachlumians, Terbunians, Diocleans, and Decatrians. (Schafarik, Slav. J ft. vol. iL p. 237.) The following is a list of Dalmatian towns, the chief of which are mentioned elsewhere. On the coast: — Sicum, Praetorium, Tragnrium, Salona, CoL Julia Martia, £petinm,Oneam, Inmonia, Piguntia, Lanreata, Dalluntum, Rhausium, Epi- daurus, Rhizus, Cattarus, Butua, Ascrivium, Old- nium, Nymphaenm, Lissus. In the interior, in the direction from NW. to SE.: — Pelva, Dal minium, Aequum, Promona, Ratanea, Andetrium, Sdovia, Seretium, Sinotinm, Tilurium, Ad liatricem, Staneclum, Dioclea, Narona, Glindi- tiones, Salluntum, Varo, Grabaea, Nalata, Birzimi- nium, Sinna, Medion, Scodra, Picaria,Sphentzanium, D<nradum. (Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Ikdmatia and MonUnegrOy 2 vols. 1848; Kohl, Reum in Igbrim, JJalnuUien, ti. MoiUategrOf 2 vds. 1850 ; Neige- DAJIASCD& baner. Die SmUiavm «. deren IJtnder, 1851 ; Co* sani, Dalmaziaj 2 vols. 1846; Pannonioa, Ittyriem uJkimatiem, 2 vols. 1816.) [E. B. J.] DALMl'NIUM, DELMI'NIUM ( AaVor, Strab. vH. p. 315; AcXfJrioy, PtoL ii. 16. § 11; ^ikfuw, Steph. B. ; Eustath. ad Dion. Peritg. 95), the an- cient capital of Dalmatia, from which the Dal- matians, after their separation from the other II- lyrians, derived their name. (Appian, JU. 11.) Though strongly fortified, it was taken by C. Ilga- lus the consul, in b. c. 156, and was set on fire by means of a contrivance very much resembling this Greek fire of the middle ages. (Appian, L c.) In B. a 135, P. Sdpio Nasica destroyed the walls and public builduigB. (Strab. 2. e.) After this, ezccpi in the notice of Ptolemy (JL c), no more is heard of the city. The district in the neighbourhood was in later times called Dakn (Aa^y, Const. Poqih. de. Adm. Imp. c 30), and is the present plain of Dmmmo or Dmmo in the HerzegMna, to the £. of ZioMb (Schafarik, Slav, Alt voL ii. p. 267; Neigebaoer, Die SudMlaoem, p. 21.) [E. B. J.] DA'MALIS (AciMa^it), eeems to be the point near Chrysopolis [Chrtsopous] named Bos or Bous (Bovr) by Polybius (iv. 43). Here, accoidmg to the legend, lo landed when she croesed the strait. It was also called Damalis, or the heifer, and Airian, quoted by Eustathios {ad Dionge. Per, 140) has a story about it [G. L.] DAMASCUS (Aofuuric^f : Eth. AatuurKtfw&s : the territoiy ^ Aa^ioo-inrnQ, the capital dty of ^lia, both in andent and modem times, though its pr»- eminenoe was disputed during the classical period by Antioch. It is an exceedingly andent dtj, being mentioned first in the htstory of Abraham's pnnoit of the defeated kings ( Gen, xiv. 1 5) ; and his steward Eliezer was a native of Damascus (xv. 2). Josephoa ascribes its foundation to Uz, a grandson of Shem {Ant. L 6. § 3). During the penod of the Hebrew monirchy it was the " head " or capital of Syria (ZmmA, viL 8), and the Syrian king is called the king of Damascus (2 Chron. xxiv. 23). Bnt during the straggles between these ndghboonng kingdoms it occasionally fell into the hands of the IsrMlites. Thus ** David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David " (2 Sam. viii. 6 ; 1 Chron. xviiL 6), after he had de- feated Hadarezer, king of Zobah, to whom the '* Syrians of Damascus "had allied themselves. The fact that Tadmor in the wilderness [Palmtba] was built by Solomon (2 Chron. viii. 4), which fhr- ther gives countenance to the very andent and con- sistent tradition of his connection with Baalbek [Heuopolis], proves that David's son and snc- cessor retained posscbsion of sonthem Syria; bat Damascus was during this time subject to Bezon, n vassal of Hadarezer. (1 A'iii^ffXi. 23 — ^25.) Subse- quently to the dividon of the Hebrew kingdom, car. b. o. 900, we find " a Hebrew quarter " in Damascus ceded by treaty to Ahab by Benhadad (1 Kings, xx. 34), and the dty was at length recovered to Israd by Jeroboam, son of Joash, iang of Israd (dr. b. c. 822). (2 Kings, xiv. 28.) The alliance of Syria with Israd against Jndah led Ahaz to call in the aid of TiglathpUeser, king of Assyria, who, in oods»> quence, ^ went up against Damascus and took it^ and carried the people of it captive to Kir " (cir. b. a 740), according to the prophecy of Amos, delivered about fifty years bef(nre the event (2 Kings, xvi. 9 ; Amos, i. 5.) From this time it followed the for- tunes of the Assyrian empire, but does not appear at