Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/449

I S S I S T 433 Roman times rose to some reputation for its school. In the 5th century the Christian community established there by Stremonius was overthrown by the fury of the Vandals. During the religious wars of the Reformation, Issoire suffered very severely. Merle, the leader of the Protestants, captured the town in 1574, and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. The Roman Catholics retook it in 1577, and the ferocity of their retaliation may be inferred from the inscription lei fut Issoire, carved on a pillar which was raised on the site of the town. In the contest of the Leaguers and Henry IV. Issoire, hardly recovered, sustained further sieges, and has never wholly regained its early prosperity. ISSOUDUN, chief town of an arrondissement iu the department of Indre, France, is situated on the The ols, 17 miles N.E. of Chateauroux, and 145 miles S. of Paris. It is the seat of the usual Government and public offices ; and there are also chambers of agriculture and of arts and manufactures, a communal college, a public library, a de partmental prison, a hospital, an orphanage, and several religious and benevolent institutions. Among the interest ing buildings are the church of St Cyr, combining various architectural styles, with a fine porch and window, the Hotel de la Prefecture, the chapel of the Hotel Dieu, and the Palais de Justice, begun in 1856. Of the fortifications with which the town was formerly surrounded the "White Tower, a massive cylindrical building of the 13th century, alone remains. Issoudun has quarries of lithographic stone, tanneries, grain, woollen, and saw mills, and manufactures of brass, linen, parchment, steam-engines and machinery, cutlery, and cloth. It carries on trade in lithographic stones, grain, wine, iron, cattle, and horses. The popula tion in 1876 was 11,293. Issoudun, in Latin duxellodunum, Exoldunum, or Isoldunum, existed in Roman times. It has suffered severely from conflagra tions; a very destructive one in 1651 was the result of an attack on the city in the war of the Fronde. Louis XIV. rewarded the staunch fidelity of the city to him by several privileges. ISTAL1F. See AFGHANISTAN, vol. i. p. 230. ISTHMIAN GAMES, one of the four great Panhellenic festivals, were held on the Isthmus of Corinth. An ancient ceremony of the worship of Melicertes or Melkarth, intro duced by the Phoenician traders who frequented the isthmus from the earliest time, was afterwards modified by the Old Ionic worship of Poseidon ; and at the festival the heroes Neleus and Sisyphus received honour along with the two deities. About 582 B.C., the festival was arranged after the analogy of the Olympian and Pythian games, but was celebrated every two years. The festival was managed by the Corinthians ; and after the city was destroyed by Mum- mius (146 B.C.) tli3 presidency passed to the Sicyonians until Julius CaBsar restored Corinth. The Athenians were closely connected with the festival, and had the privilege of proedria, the foremost seat at the games, while the Eleans were absolutely excluded from participation. The games included gymnastic, equestrian, and musical con tests ; and the prize was a crown made at one time of parsley, at a later period of pine. ISTIB or ISIITIB, a town of European Turkey, in the eyalet of Nish (Macedonia), a few miles south-east of Uskub, situated at a height of 590 feet on a small stream of its own name, which joins the Bregalnitza, a tributary of the Vardar. It is estimated to contain from 15,000 to 20,000 houses, and possesses several fine mosques, a number of fountains, and a large bazaar. A small syenitic knoll to the north-west is crowned by the ruins of an old castle. Istib is the ancient Astibas. ISTRIA (anciently also Ilistria, in German Istrien, and formerly Jlisterreich), a margraviate of Austria, forming the southern part of the Kiistenland crownland, is contained in the peninsula which, bounded on the north by the dis tricts of Trieste, Gorz, and Carniola, stretches southwards into the Adriatic Sea, between the Gulf of Trieste (Sinus Tergestinus), and the Gulf of Quarnaro (Sinus Flanaticns). The area of the official district, which includes Veglin, Cherso, Lussino, and other smaller islands on the south-east coast, is 1908 square miles, of which 1545 belong to the peninsula itself. The surface is mountainous, especially in the north and east regions, which are occupied by olF- shoots from the Julian Alps. Monte Maggiore (4573 feet) in the north-east is the highest summit. The Quieto in the west and the Arsa in the east, neither of which is navigable, are the principal streams. The west coast abounds in convenient bays and harbours, of which Tola, an imperial naval station, is the chief ; but the steep and rocky east coast is beset with shallows and islets, and is much exposed to the prevailing winds, the Sirocco from the south-south-east and the Bora from the north-east. The climate of Istria, although it varies with the varieties of surface, is on the whole warm and dry. The soil is not unfertile, but its resources are far from being fully developed. About one half of the total area- is occupied with scanty grass and pasture land, while timber and the various annual crops divide the remainder in different pro portions. Wheat, oats, potatoes, and rye are grown in the north, and in the south wheat, maize, rye, olives, vines, and melons. The harvest of 1872 yielded 46,410 bushels of wheat, 157,385 of rye, 165,800 of oats, and 158,200 of maize ; and the value of the total agricultural produce was 950,000. Beech and oak timber (good for shipbuilding), gall-nuts, oak-bark, and cork are also produced. The minerals include coal, alum, quartz, and good building stone. Many of the inhabitants are engaged in a sea faring life, in fishing, and in preparing salt for fish- curing. Shipbuilding, sheep and cattle rearing, and the manufacture of oil, wine, and bricks are also noteworthy industries. The best sorts of wine are made near Capo d Istria, Muggia, Isola, Parenzo, and Dignano ; and the oil of Istria was famous even in Roman times. The trade of the peninsula is unimportant. The roads are fairly numerous, and a railway, lately opened, with a branch to Rovigno, connects Pola with Trieste. Istria is divided into the six government districts of Capo d Istria, Parenzo, Pisino, Pola, Volosca, and, for the islands, Lussino. The estates of Istria, which meet at Parenzo, consist of 3 bishops, 5 representatives of the landed proprietors, 8 representatives of the towns, 12 representatives for the other and rural communities, and 2 representatives of the chamber of commerce at Rovigno. Two-thirds of the people are Slavs, although among these there are many differences of dress and dialect. The remaining third, on the coast and in the towns, is almost entirely Italian. The population in 1869 was 254,905, of whom 35,917 belonged to the islands : 278,218 was the official estimate at the end of 1879. The modern Istria occupies the same position as the ancient Istria or Histria, known to the Romans as the abode of a fierce tribe of Illyrinn pirates. It owed its name to an old belief that the Danube (Ister, in Greek) discharged some of its water by an arm entering the Adriatic in that region. The Istrians, protected by the difficult navigation of their rocky coasts, were only subdued by the Romans in 177 B.C. after two wars. Under Augustus the greater part of the peninsula was added to Italy, and, when the seat of empire was removed to Ravenna, Istria reaped many benefit* "from the proximity of the capital. After the fall of the Western empire it was pillaged by the Longobardi and the Goths ; it was annexed to the Frankish kingdom by Pippin in 789 ; and about the middle of the 10th century it fell into the hands of the dukes of Carinthia. Fortune after that, however, led it successively through the hands of the dukes of Meran, the duke of Bavaria, and the patriarch of Aquileia, to the republic of Venice. Under this rule it remained till the peace of Campo Formio in 1797, when Austria acquired it, and added it to the north-eastern part which had fallen to her share so early as 1374. By the peace of Pressburg, Austria was in 1805 compelled to cede Istria to France, and the department of Istria was formed ; but in 1813 Austria again seized it, and has retained it ever since. Saggio cli libUoyrafia Istriana (Capodistria, 18G4) contains a classified bibliography of the province. XIII. 55