Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/69

$10 ELAEUS. Jufltuiiiii fortified this important posttioa (Pro- oop. Aed, vr. 16), the site of which has heen fixed bj D'Anville {Mem. de VAead. da Inter, toI. zxviii. pi 338) to the S£. of the promontory of ifot- tuma, [£• B. J.] ELAEUS ("EAoiof ), a town of Aetolia, belonging to Galjdon, was stronglj fortified, having received all the neoessaiy monitions firom king Attains. It was taken bj PhiUp V., king of Maoedonia, b. o. 219. Its name indicattes that it was sitoated in a majnshj district; and it most have been on the coast to hare received supplies from Attains. We maj therefore place it near Metokmghi, (Poljb. v. 65 ; Emse, HdUu, vol. iL pt. ii. p. 262.) ELAEUS ('EAcuoOf : Eth. *£Aaioi^ios). 1. A damns of Attica. [Attica, p. 330, b.] 2. A town in tiie Argeia, mentioned onlj bj Apollodoms (iL 5. § 2) and Stephanos B. («. «.). From the statement of the fonner writer we maj coDdnde that it coold not have been frr firom Lema, since Herades, after he had succeeded in catting off the immortal head of the Hjdra, is said to have buried it by the side of the way leading firom Lema to Elaens. The nmains of this town have been ijond in the onfireqnented road leading firom Lema toHysiae. (Ross,/2ewelltmPe2cyN»ft»e«, p.l55,seq.; Boblaye, Redureket^ p. 49.; Gartins, JPdopomn/uoi^ voL iL p. 372.) 3. A town in Chaonia in Epeims, mentiooed only by Ptolemy (iii. 14. § 7), hot probably situated in the plain Elaeon, of whidi Livy speaks (zliii. 23). Leake sopposes this plain to have been that between Argkifrdifutro and lAbdkhovo^ and that the town of EJaeos stood on the heights, opposite to Arghyr6' hoitrOj where it is said that some remains of Hel- lenic walls still exist (Leake, Northern Greeeey ▼oL ii. p. 75.) ELAEUSSA. [Elsusa.] ELAH, a valley in the tribe of Jodah, near the oonntiy of the Philistines, notorioos for the conflict between David and Goliath. (1 Sam. xvii.) The name is omitted by the LXX. in v. 2, and translated IB verae 19 (^k rp KotKdSi rris 9pvos). The valley lay ^ between'Soooh and Azekah " (v. I ), the former of which is identified by the modem village of Shu- weikek, and thos fixes the valley of Elah to the modem " Watfy-eB-SmU. ** It took its name Ekh of old firom the Terebinth (Botm.), of which the largest specimen we saw in Palestine still stands in the vicinity, jost as it now takes its name eg-Simt (SM) firom the acacias which are scattered in it" (BobinsoD, Bib. Ret. voL ii. p. 350.) No valoe what- ever can be attached to the tradition which has marked part of the Wady BeSt Hanina, on the road from JaJBk to Jerosalem, as the ancient valley of Elah ; a tradition, like many others in Palestine, which consults the convenience of pilgrims, rather than historical or ge(^^phical accoracy. [G.W.] ELAIUS or ELAEUS MONS. [Phioalba. ] ELAPHITES INS., a group of small ibUuids off the coast of Ulyricom (Plio. iii. 26) which bore this name from their soppoBed resemblance to a stag, of which Giupcm formed the head, the small Huda the neck. Mezzo the body, and Calamotta the haunches, the tail being completed by the rock of Grebmi or PeUini. They are well cultivated, and, producing abundance of excellent wine and oil, are considered . the most valuable part of the Bagusan territory, to which they were annexed A. D. 1080 by Sylvester, kmgof Dalmatia. (W'HikmBciQjDalmaiiaandMonte- negro, vol i. p. 267.) [E. B. J.] ELATEIA. ELAPHITIS. Pliny (v. 31) gives ilns name t0 one of the small islands about Ghios. [G. L^] ELAPHONNE'SUS ('EAa^^os), or dear island," an island of the Propontis, with a good har- boor. (Scykx, p. 35.) Strabo says (p. 588): " Am yon ooast along firom Paiinm to Pria^His, there Is eld Proooonesns and the island now called ProooBnesaa." Pliny (v. 32) says that *' Ebiphoonesos is m tliB Propontis, in front of CjTicus, imenee the marble of Gyzicus; it was also called Nevris and PreconnasoB." Now, as Prooonnesns was noted fiv its aiariile qnanies (Stnb. p. 588), which 80|^ied materiali for the buildings of Gyzicus, it is plain that Plkijr takes Elaphonnesus to be the Prooouiesas of Stiabok The name Procoonesos probably means the same as Elaphoonesus («]f»ojc). Stephanos (s; v. 'AXdvii) describes HaloDa as aii island close to Gysieos, wUch was also eaUed NebriB and Prochone. In the passage of Stephanos the common reading is Ncufir, as it is in Pliny's text (Nevris) ; bnt it is corrected by Haidoin (PUn. ▼. 42, Notae) and by Meineke (ed. StepL> Plmrf plaices in the Propontis an island Hakne, with m town; and then is an island now called ^ioM, whidb is separated from the nocth-westcni extremity of tiis peninsula of Cyzieus by a narrow channeL Sobib geognphers assume this island to be EbphoBnesaSy which is manifestly a mistake. The text of Ste- phanos identifies Hakoe with Nebris and ProdionBy from which we can eoodode nothing; and the pas- sage in Strabo is snch that it is possible he wmj mean to speak only of one Jshuid. Pliny's s t atc m w t is free from all ambiguity, and probably true. [G. L.3 ELATELA ('EA(ircia: Eth. 'EXwrci^). 1. A city of Phocis, and the most important place in the country after Delphi, was situated " aboot the middle of the great fertile basin which extends near 20 miles from the nanrows of the Cephiasos below Amphi- cleia to those which are at the entrance into Boeotia.* (Leake). Hence it was admiraUy pbced for ooB^ mending the passes into Southern Greece from lit. Oeta, Mid benme a post of great militaiy in^or- tance. (Strah. ix. p. 424.) Pansanias describes it as situated over against Ajuphicleia, at the distance of 180 stadia from the latter town, on a geatijr rising slope in the plain of the Cephissos (x. 34. § 1.) Ekiteia is not mentioned by Homer. Its in- habitants claimed to be Arcadians, deriving thehr name from Elatus, the son of Areas. (Pans. l. ol) It was burnt, along with the other Phocian townsy by the army of Xerxes. (Herod. viiL 33.) When Philip entered Phocis in b. a 338, with the pre- fessed object of conducting the war against Am- plussa, he seized Ekteia and began to restore its fortificatioDs. The alarm occasicmed at Athens bgr the news of this event shows that tiiis place was then regarded as the key of Southern Greece. (Dens. de Cor. p. 284: Asschin. tn Ctes. p. 73; Diod. xvL 84.) The subsequent history of Elateia is given in some detail by Paossnias (2.C.). It snoceesfiiUy resisted Gassander, but it was taken by Philip, the son of Demetrius. It remained fiiithfiil to Philip when the Romans invaded Greece, and was taken fay assault by the Romans in B. c. 198. (Liv. xxzii. 24.) At a later time the Romans declared the town to be free, because the inhabitantB had npulsed aa attack which Taxiles, the general of MithridatoSy had made upon the place. Among Uie objects worthy of notice in Elateia^ Pansanias mentions the agoca, a temple of Asdepina containing a beardless statue of the god, a thiaatn^