middle ages. The first, on the 3rd of May 1241, was fought between the fleet of the emperor Frederick II. Hohenstaufen, surnamed Stupor Mundi, in alliance with Pisa, against a Genoese squadron bringing a number of English, French and Spanish prelates to attend the council summoned to meet at the Lateran by Gregory IX. Three Genoese galleys were sunk and twenty-two taken. Several of the prelates perished, and many were carried prisoners to the camp of the emperor. The second, fought on Sunday the 6th of August 1284, was of higher historical importance. It was a typical medieval sea-fight, and accomplished the ruin of Pisa as a naval power. The long rivalry of that city and of Genoa had broken out for the last time in 1282, the immediate cause being the incompatible claims of the two cities to sovereignty over the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. The earlier conflicts of the war in 1282, 1283 and the spring of 1284, had been unfavourable to Pisa. Though the city was united with the Catalans and with Venice in hostility to Genoa, and though it had chosen a Venetian, Alberto Morosini, as its Podestà, it received no help from either. The Genoese, who had the larger and more efficient fleet, sent their whole power against their enemy. When the Genoese appeared off Meloria the Pisans were lying in the river Arno at the mouth of which lay Porto Pisano the port of the city. The Pisan fleet represented the whole power of the city, and carried members of every family of mark and most of the great officers of state. The Genoese, desiring to draw their enemy out to battle, and to make the action decisive, arranged their fleet in two lines abreast. The first was composed according to Agostino Giustiniani of fifty-eight galleys, and eight panfili, a class of light galleys of eastern origin named after the province of Pamphylia. Uberto Doria, the Genoese admiral, was stationed in the centre and in advance of his line. To the right were the galleys of the Spinola family, and of four of the eight “companies” into which Genoa was divided—Castello, Piazzalunga, Macagnana and Son Lorenzo. To the left were the galleys of the Dorias, and of the other four companies, Porta, Soziglia, Porta Nuova and Il Borgo. The second line of twenty galleys, under the command of Benedetto Giacaria (or Zaccharie), was placed so far behind the first that the Pisans could not see whether it was made up of war-vessels or of small craft meant to act as tenders to the others. Yet it was near enough to strike in and decide the battle when the action had begun. The Pisans, commanded by the Podestà Morosini and his lieutenants Ugolino della Gherardescha and Andreotto Saraceno, came out in a single body. It is said that while the archbishop was blessing the fleet the silver cross of his archiepiscopal staff fell off, but that the omen was disregarded by the irreverence of the Pisans, who declared that if they had the wind they could do without divine help. They advanced in line abreast to meet the first line of the Genoese, fighting according to the medieval custom to ram and board. The victory was decided for Genoa by the squadron of Giacaria which fell on the flank of the Pisans. Their fleet was nearly annihilated, the Podestà was taken, and Ugolino fled with a few vessels. As Pisa was also attacked by Florence and Lucca it could never recover the disaster. Two years later Genoa took Porto Pisano, and filled up the harbour. The count Ugolino was afterwards starved to death with several of his sons and grandsons in the manner made familiar by the 32nd canto of Dante’s Inferno.
See Annali della repubblica di Genova, by Agostino Giustiniani (ed. Canepa, Genoa, 1854). (D. H.)
MELOS (mod. Milo), an island of the Aegean Sea (Cyclades
group), at the S.W. corner of the archipelago, 75 m. due E. from
the coast of Laconia. From E. to W. it measures about 14 m.,
from N. to S. 8 m., and its area is estimated at 52 sq. m. The
greater portion is rugged and hilly, culminating in Mount Elias
in the west (2538 ft.). Like the rest of the cluster, the island
is of volcanic origin, with tuff, trachyte and obsidian among its
ordinary rocks. The natural harbour, which, with a depth
diminishing from 70 to 30 fathoms, strikes in from the north-west
so as to cut the island into two fairly equal portions, with
an isthmus not more than 114 m. broad, is the hollow of the principal
crater. In one of the caves on the south coast the heat is
still great, and on the eastern shore of the harbour there are hot
sulphurous springs. Sulphur is found in abundance on the top
of Mount Kalamo and elsewhere. In ancient times the alum of
Melos was reckoned next to that of Egypt (Pliny xxxv. 15 [52]),
and millstones, salt (from a marsh at the east end of the harbour),
and gypsum are still exported. The Melian earth (γῆ Μηλιάς)
was employed as a pigment by ancient artists. Orange, olive,
cypress and arbutus trees grow throughout the island, which,
however, is too dry to have any profusion of vegetation. The
vine, the cotton plant and barley are the main objects of cultivation.
Pop. (1907), 4864 (commune), 12,774 (province).
The harbour town is Adamanta; from this there is an ascent to the plateau above the harbour, on which are situated Plaka, the chief town, and Kastro, rising on a hill above it, and other villages. The ancient town of Melos was nearer to the entrance of the harbour than Adamanta, and occupied the slope between the village of Trypete and the landing-place at Klima. Here is a theatre of Roman date and some remains of town walls and other buildings, one with a fine mosaic excavated by the British school at Athens in 1896. Numerous fine works of art have been found on this site, notably the Aphrodite of Melos in the Louvre, the Asclepius in the British Museum, and the Poseidon and an archaic Apollo in Athens. The position of Melos, between Greece and Crete, and its; possession of obsidian, made it an important centre of early Aegean civilization. At this time the chief settlement was at the place now called Phylakopi, on the north-east coast. Here the excavations of the British school cleared many houses, including a palace of “Mycenaean” type; there is also a town wall. Part of the site has been washed away by the sea. The antiquities found were of three main periods, all preceding the Mycenean age of Greece. Much pottery was found, including examples of a peculiar style, with decorative designs, mostly floral, and also considerable deposits of obsidian. There are some traditions of a Phoenician occupation of Melos. In historical times the island was occupied by Dorians from Laconia. In the 6th century it again produced a remarkable series of vases, of large size, with mythological subjects and orientalizing ornamentation (see Greek Art, fig. 9), and also a series of terra-cotta reliefs.
Though Melos inhabitants sent a contingent to the Greek fleet at Salamis, it held aloof from the Attic league, and sought to remain neutral during the Peloponnesian War. But in 416 B.C. the Athenians, having attacked the island and compelled the Melians to surrender, slew all the men capable of bearing arms, made slaves of the women and children, and introduced 500 Athenian colonists. Lysander restored the island to its Dorian possessors, but it never recovered its former prosperity. There were many Jewish settlers in Melos in the beginning of the Christian era, and Christianity was early introduced. During the “Frankish” period the island formed part of the duchy of Naxos, except for the few years (1341–1383) when it was a separate lordship under Marco Sanudo and his daughter.
Antimelos or Antimilo, 512 m. north-west of Milo, is an uninhabited mass of trachyte, often called Eremomilo or Desert Melos. Kimolos, or Argentiera, less than 1 m. to the north-east, was famous in antiquity for its figs and fuller’s earth (Κιμωλία γῆ), and contained a considerable city, the remains of which cover the cliff of St Andrews. Polinos, Polybos or Polivo (anc. Polyaegos) lies rather more than a mile south-east of Kimolos. It was the subject of dispute between the Melians and Kimolians. It has long been almost uninhabited.
See Leycester, “The Volcanic Group of Milo, Anti-Milo, &c.," in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc. (1852); Tournefort, Voyage; Leake, Northern Greece, iii.; Prokesch von Osten, Denkwürdigkeiten, &c.; Bursian, Geog. von Griechenland, ii.; Journ. Hell. Stud. xvi., xvii., xviii.; Excavations at Phylakopi; Inscr. graec. xii. iii. 197 sqq.; on coins found in 1909, see Jameson in Rev. Num. 1909, 188 sqq. (E. Gr.)
MELOZZO DA FORLÌ (c. 1438–1494), Italian painter, the first
who practised foreshortening with much success, was born at
Forlì about 1438; he came, it is supposed, of a wealthy family
named Ambrosi. In all probability, Melozzo studied painting
under Piero de’ Franceschi, of Borgo St Sepolcro; he seems also
to have been well acquainted with Giovanni Santi, the father of
