Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/391

BALCEA. Lycian town, the site of which is fixed (Spratt's Lycia, vol. L p. 267) at Katara on both sides of the Katara Soo^ the most northern branch of the Xanthos. The acropolis hill is about 300 feet above the plain of Katara, and the plain is 4500 feet above the level of the sea. The ruins occupy a consider- able space on both sides of the stream. There are two thea^ies at Balbura; one is on the south side of the acropolis hill, and the other is in a hollow in the front of the mountain on the south side of the stream; the hollow in the mountain formed the cavea. There are also remains of several temples at Kakav; and of Christian churches. The Ethnic name BoA^ovpc^s occurs on two inscriptions at least at Katara, The site was discovered by Hoskyn and Forbes. The name Balbura is a neuter plural. (Steph «. V. BdXSovpa.) There was a district Cabalia (Phn. V. 27), named Gabalis by Strabo (p. 631), which contained Balbura and two other cities, Bubini and Oenoanda. [Cabalzs.] (Hoskyn and Leake, in London Geog. Jour. voL xii. p. 143; Spratt's Lffcia.) [G. L.] BALCE'A {fiakKtia, Steph. B. 8. v.) is placed by Stephanos about, that is near, the Propontis. It is mentioned by Pliny (v. SO), who places it in Teu- thraala, a district wMch contains Pergamum. His position, therefore, difiers altogether from that which Is vaguely assigned by Stephanns. [G. L.] BALEAllES (JiaXXiapus, Diod. v. 17, EnsUth. ad Dion. 457; Baiapfif, BoXrapfSfS, Steph. B.; BaAeap(5c5, Strab.; BoAAmpfScr, Ptol. ii. 6. §78; Bacap£ai, Agathem.; BoAcpdu ilfroi iyinvaU, the Iberian name, according to Dion Cass. ap. Tzetz. adiAfcoph. 633; Valeriae, Geog.Bav. v. 27: £th. BoAcopcis, &c, Baleares, Balearici, sing. Balearis: Polybius expressly says that the islands and the people were called by the same name [iii. 33] : the fbriiis with e are generally used by the Romans, those with i by the Greeks, but BcUiares also occurs on Latin inscriptions [Gruter, p. 298. 3; Gori, iii. p. 173, No. 214, and in some MSS.]), or GYMNE- SIA£ (Tvfiyrioiai : Eth. rvfivfljaioSf fem. rvfu^crio, Tvfitmialsy Steph. B.), a group of islands in the If editerranean, lying off that part of the E. coast of Spain, which is between the rivers Sucro (TYm'a) and Iberns (Ebro)^ £. of the PiTYuaAE, and (roughly speaking) between 39^ and 40^ N. lat, and between 2^° and 4j^^ E. long. The number of jslaods in the group is stated differently: some make them seven (Eustath. /. c.) ; some mention only one (Steph. B. s. v.; Strab. IL p. 123, ^ Tv/a- mala^ where, however, Groskurd and Kramer read al Tv^urnaiai), but nearly all the ancient writers used the term to include merely the two large islands called the Greater^ Balearis Major (^ /mI^mv), and the Lesser^ Balkaris Minor Qi iKdrruv)y or, as they were callft.1 in the Byzantine period, Majorica and Minobxca (Moi^^/uicd re Koi MwSpuca : Procop. J9. K i. 1, ii. 5; Zonar. ^nn. ix. p. 435), whence the common modem names, Majorca and Minorca^ or in Spanish MaUorca and Minorca. It should be remembered that the Balearic group, in the modem sense of the word, includes also the PiTYUSAK of the ancients, namely Ebnsns (/rtsa), and Colubraria or Ophiusa (Formentera Indeed, the passage in Strabo (iii. p. 167), t&t ttkv Utrv^ owfoas ido Kol rdf rv/jorfialas 9i^ (KoKodat koI BaMapidas) has been taken as if the words in the parentheus referred to both groups : but that they BALEARES. 373 only refer to the Gymnesiae is pretty clear, both from the consent of other writers, and from anotlier passage of Strabo himself (xiv. p. 654). Lycophron calls the islands XoipdSes^ from their rocky natun*. {Cassand. 633; comp. Tzet2. adloc.') There were various traditions respecting their population, some of a very fabulous complexion. The story, preserved by Lycophron (I c, Eustath. ad Dion. Perieg. I. c), that certain shipwrecked Boeo- tians were cast naked on the islands, which were therefore called Gymnesiae (Jiih rh yufivobs koI iiX^aiyovSy ixti 4^fyfx^^)i ^ evidently invented to account for the name. There is also a tradition that the islands were colonized from Rhodes after the Trojan war (Strab. xiv. p. 654 : the Rhodians, like the Baleares, were celebrated s'lingers: Sil. Ital. iii. 364, 365: — " Jam cui Tlepolemus sator, et cui Lindus origo, Funda bella ferens Balearis et alite plumbo.") At all events, they had a very mixed population, of whose habits several strange stories ai'e told (Diod., Strab., Eustath., U. cc): that they went naked, or clothed only in sheep-skins (Tzetz. ad Lycopkr. I. c.) — whence the name of the islands (an instance of a fact made out of an etymology), — until the Phoenicians clothed them with broad-bordered tunics (Strab. p. 168 : this seems the true sense of the passage; see Groskurd's note: it is usually under- stood to mean that the Baleares invented the latus clatnUf and so it was understood by Eustathius, whose note is chiefly taken from Strabo; others make them naked only in the heat of summer, Tzetz. ad Ly- cophr. I, c.) : that they lived in hollow rocks and artificial caves: that they were remarkable for their love of women, and, when any were taken captive by pirates, they would give three or four men as the ransom for one woman : that they had no gold or silver coin, and forbade the importation of the precious metals, so that those of them who served as merce- naries took their pay in wine and women instead of money. Their peculiar marriage and funeral cus- toms are rehited by Diodorus (v. 18). The Baleares were, however, chiefly celebrated for their skill as slingers, in which capacity they served, as mercenaries, first under the Carthaginians, and afterwards under the Romans. They went into battle ungirt, with only a small buckler, and a javelin bumt at the end, and in some cases tipt with a small iron point; but their effective weapons were their slings, of which each man carried three, wound round his head (Strab. p. 168; Eustath. I. c), or, as others tell us, one round the head, one round the body, and one in the hand. (Diod. /. c. ; Tzetz. ad Lycopkr. I, c.) The three sliiigs were of different lengths, for stones of different sizes; the largest they hurled with as much force as if it were flung from a catapult ; and they seldom missed their mark. To this exercise they were trained from infancy, in order to eam their livelihood as mercenary soldiers. It is said that the mothera only allowed their children to eat bread when they had stmck it off a post with the slmg. (Strab., Diod., U>cc.'^ Flor. iii. 8; Tzetz. ad Lycopkr. l.c.^ The Greek and Roman writers generally derive the name of the people from their skill as slingere (jBoAcopctr, from $dKoi) ; but Strabo assigns to the name a Phoenician origin, observing that it was the Phoenician equivalent for the Greek yvfunjraSj tliat is, light -armed soldiers. (Strab. xiv. p. 654.) Though his explanation be wrong, his main fact ia B D 3