Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/667

COLTA. foportfl, the water flowed by a subtemaeflii channel for half a mile, the soft cmst having been in all pro- babilitj subsequently broken up by an earthquake. In the hollow below the bridge are several mills, which are turned by the petrifying stream of the Aksu; in consequence of the rapid aocumn]ati<m of calcareous matter, it has been frequently necessary to change their position; they would otherwise be soon choked up, and buried in the calcareous silt deposited round them by the spray and overflowings cf the mill stream." This very clear and instructive explanation, founded on the examination of the spot by a practised eye, leaves no doubt about the oon- cluaioD, that this is the spot within Colossae which Herodotus describes, though, as Hamilton ob- serves, it may still be doubted whether the Lycus is the river which now flows through the centre of the pUin, or the Ak-m. This, however, is not very material : one of these streams is certunly the Lycus. The passage in Pliny (xzxi. 2) is now fully ex- plained : " at Colossae there is a stream, into which if bricks are thrown, they come out stones." Hamil- ton observes that the Ak^tUy which joins the Tchoruk in the centre of the town, would soon cover a brick with a thick incnistati(m, and even fill the pores by infiltmtion. This is, no doubt, what Pliny means. Colossae vras one of the early Christian churches of Asia, and the apostle Paul addressed one of his epistles to the people of this pUce. It does not appear from the epiiftle that he visited Colossae, and an expression (i. 3, 4) has been cited to show that he had not been there; and also another (ii. 1). But the want of words to prove directly that he was at Colossae, does not justify the conclusion that he never was there, especially as we know that he went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia. The epigraph oa the coins of Colossae is ^fuis KoXocarivtcv, [G. L.] COLTA (rcl K^Ara, Arrian, Tndic. 26), a small place on the coast of Gedrusia, visited by the fleet of Kearchus. Its position is uncertain. [V.] COLTHE'NE (KoX^nn^, Ptol. v. 13), a district in the E. of Armenia, on the banks of the Araxes. St. Martin {Mim, mr VArmeme, vol. L p. 127) iden- tifies it with Koghtken in V€abouiragan, (Cump. Bitter, Erdkunde, vol. x. p. 547.) [E. B. J.] OOLUBRA'RIA. [Baleares.] COLUMBA. [Balxarbs.] COLY'EBGIA (KwAvc^ta), a promontoij of Argolis, placed by Pausanias (ii. 34. § 8) between Bncephahi and Bnporthmus; but as there are no promontories on this coast, Leake conjectures that Colyergia may have been the eastern cape of the island of Hydreia. (PefopotmeMoca, p. 285, seq. ; eomp. Boblaye, Redt^rchett &c., p. 60.) COLYTUS. [CoLLYTus.] COMANA. 1. bf PoKTus (KA/iam rh h r^ TTorry, or K^iom rh IIoKrucd: G^timendb), a place in Pontus above Phanoroea, as Strabo says (p. 557), who has a long notice of tMs place. Ptolemy (v. 6) fixes it in Pontus Galaticus, but it afterwards belonged to Pontus Polemoniacus. Justinian pUced it in one of the four divisions of Armenia, which division he called the Second Armenia, as appears from one of his NoveUae {Nov, 3 1 . c 1 ). The Table places Comana on a itMd that runs east from Tavium, but it is not possible to make much of this route. Strabo (p. 547) describing the course of the river Iris says, that it flows from the country called Phaaaroea, and has its sources in Pontus itself: its ooone is through Comana Pontica, and through the COMANA. 649 fertile plain Daximonitis to the west : it then tuma to the nortli at Gaziura. We thus learn that it was in the upper valley of the Iris, and we know from Gre^orius of Nyssa that it was near Neocaesarea {Nilacar), In the book on the Alexandrine War (c. 35), a lofly range of hills, covered with fbmts, is said to extend from Pontic Comana to Armenia Minor, which range divides Cappadocia from Armenia. Hamilton (^Rutarckta^ fe., vol i. p. 450) discovered at a place called Gfminek on tiie Tocat-w^ the modem name of the Iris, some remains of an ancient town, and part of a bridge apparently of Roman construction. There seems no doubt that Gwnenek is the site of Comana Pontica. It is about seven miles north-east of Toeai. Pliny simply speaks of Comana as a Manteium, or the seat ik an oracle (vi. 3). It is stated that it appears from inscrip- tions to have got the name of Hieroeaesarea under the Romans (Forbiger, vol. ii. p. 428, note), the prefix Hiero or ** sacred," indicating the character of the pUu;e. The position of Comana made it a great mart (^ifiwopuov) for the merchants that came from Armenia. Comana was dedicated to the same goddess as Comana in Cappadocia, and was said to be a colony or settlement from the Cappadocian city. The religious ceremonial was nearly the same in both places, and the priests had like privili^es. Under the early kings of Pontus, there were annually two great processions in honour of the goddess, on which occasions the chief priest wore a diadem, and he was next in dignity to the king. Dorylaus, the son of a sister of the Doi^Iaus who was an ancestor of Strabo's mother, once held the high-priesthood of Comana, which Mithridates the Great gave him. After Cn. Pompeius succeeded L. LucoUos in the command in these parts, he gave the high -priest- hood to Archelaus, and he added to the lands of the temple a district of 60 stadia, by which expression Strabo probably means all the country round the temple within 60 stadia. ArcheUus was sovereign of the people within these limits, and he was the owner <^ all the hieroduli, or temple slaves, wiUiin the dty of Comana ; but he had not the power o( selling them. These sh&ves seem to have been attached to the soiL Thdr number was not less than 6000. This Arehelaos vras the son of the Archelaus who was honoured by L. Sulla and the Roman senate, aa Strabo has it, and he was the friend of A. Gabinius. His father waa, in fact, the best commander that Mithridates ever had. The son Archelaus, the priest, contrived to many Be* renice, the elder sister of Cleopatra, whose fother, Ptolemaeus Anletes, had been driven out of Egypt ; and Archelaus had a six months' reign with her. He fell in battle against Gabinius, who restored Auletes (b a 55). Archelaus was succeeded in the priesthood by his son Archelaus (Strabo, pp. 558, 796), but C. Julius Caesar, who came into Pontus after defeating Phamaces, gave the priesthood to Lycomedes (Appian, Mitkrid, c. 121), who received an addition of territory, as Strabo says. The author of the Alexandrine War (c 61) says, that it was the priesthood of Comana in Cappadocia that Caesar gave to Lycomedes. It seems that he is perhaps mistaken as to the Comana, but it is dear that he means the Comana in Cappadocia. In a previous chapttf (c. 35) he Iiad spoken of Comana in Pontus. He knew that there were two places fX the name; and in c. 66 it w certain, both from his description of the place, and the rest of the narrative, that he