or, as it is called by the natives, Birs Nemroud | Egypt, north of Memphis, supposed to have been found("The hill of Nimrod"). “If any building,” says he, ed by the Persians during the reign of Cambyses. may be supposed to have left any considerable traces, A quarter, retaining the name of Baboul or Babilon, it is certainly the pyramid or tower of Belus; which, in the town of Old Cairo, marks its position. (Ptol., by its form, dimensions, and the solidity of its con- 4, 5.-Strab., 555.-Joseph., Ant. Jud., 2, 5.) struction, was well calculated to resist the ravages of BABYLONIA, a large province of Upper Asia, of time; and, if human force had not been employed, which Babylon was the capital. It was bounded on would in all probability have remained to the present the north by Mesopotamia and Assyria; on the west day in nearly as perfect a state as the pyramids of by Arabia Deserta; on the south by the Sinus PersiEgypt. Even under the dilapidations which we know cus; and on the east by the Tigris. According to it to have undergone at a very early period, we might Ptolemy (5, 20), it comprised Chaldea, Amordacia, reasonably look for traces of it after every other ves- and, at the most flourishing period, a part of Mesopotige of Babylon had vanished from the face of the tamia and Assyria. The modern name is Irak Araearth. The whole height of the Birs Nemroud above bi, or Babeli. Babylonia is a dry steppe or tablethe plain, to the summit of the brick wall on its top, land, but enjoys a delightful climate. It was and still is 235 feet. The brick wall itself, which stands on is one of the most fruitful lands in the world. Hethe edge of the summit, and was undoubtedly the face rodotus (1, 193) gives the following account of its ferof another stage, is 37 feet high. In the side of the tility. "All the country about Babylon is, like Egypt, pile, a little below the summit, is very clearly to be divided by frequent canals; of which the largest is seen part of another brick wall, precisely resembling navigable, and, beginning at the Euphrates, has a the fragment which crowns the summit, but which southeastern direction, and falls into the river Tigris, still encases and supports its part of the mound. on which the city of Nineveh formerly stood. No This is clearly indicative of another stage, of greater part of the known world produces so good wheat; but extent. The masonry is infinitely superior to anything the vine, the olive, and the fig-tree, they do not even of the kind I have ever seen; and, leaving out of the attempt to cultivate. Yet, in recompense, it abounds question any conjecture relative to the original desti- so much in corn, as to yield at all times two hundred nation of this ruin, the first impression made by the fold, and even three hundred fold when it is most fruitsight of it is, that it was a solid pile, composed in the ful. Wheat and barley carry a blade full four digits in interior of unburned brick, and perhaps earth or rub- breadth; and though I well know to what a surprising bish; that it was constructed in preceding stages, height millet and sesame grow in those parts, I shall and faced with fine burned bricks, having inscriptions be silent in that particular; because I am well assured on them, laid in a very thin layer of lime cement; that what has already been related concerning other and that it was reduced by violence to its present ru- fruits, is far more credible to those who have never inous condition. The upper stories have been forcibly been at Babylon. They use no other oil than such as broken down, and fire has been employed as an in- is drawn from sesame. The palm-tree grows over all strument of destruction, though it is not easy to say the plain; and the greater part bears fruit, with which precisely how or why. The facing of fine bricks has they make bread, wine, and honey." The products partly been removed, and partly covered by the falling are nearly the same now as they were in ancient times, down of the mass which it supported and kept to- The southwestern part of Babylonia was called Chalgether. The Birs Nemroud is in all likelihood at dea. In the more extensive sense of the word, Babpresent pretty nearly in the state in which Alex-ylonia was the most important satrapy of the Persian ander saw it; if we give any credit to the report empire, and comprised both Assyria and Mesopotamia. that 10,000 men could only remove the rubbish, pre- (Plin., 5, 12.-Îd., 6, 26.—Id., 18, 45.—Strab., 358, paratory to repairing it, in two months. If indeed it &c.) required one half of that number to disencumber it, the state of dilapidation must have been complete. The immense masses of vitrified brick which are seen on the top of the mount, appear to have marked its summit since the time of its destruction. The rubbish about its base was probably in much greater quantities, the weather having dissipated much of it in the course of so many revolving ages; and possibly portions of the exterior facing of fine brick may have disappeared at different periods." (Second Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon, p. 165, seqq., Lond., 1839.) The account of Sir Robert Ker Porter is also exceedingly interesting. As regards the opinion generally entertained, that all traces of the walls of Babylon had disappeared, it may be remarked, that Buckingham considers the hill or mound of Al Hheimar to be a portion of the ancient wall. This mound is about ten miles east of Hillah. It appears to consist of a solid mass of brickwork, and is of an oval form, its length being from north to south. It is from 80 to 100 feet thick at the bottom, and from 70 to 80 high. On the summit is a mass of solid wall, about 30 feet in length by 12 to 15 in thickness, bearing marks of being broken and incomplete on every side. The bricks obtained from the ruins of Babylon are celebrated among antiquaries for the inscriptions stamped upon them. These inscriptions are in the cuneiform or Babylonian character: some-Porphyrion, Schol. ad Horat., l. c.) four, and even seven lines. Grotefend, Burnouf, and Lassen have done much towards deciphering these. (Heeren, Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 325, seqq.-Mansford's Script. Gazetteer, p. 58, seqq.)-II. A city of BABYRSA, a fortified castle near Artaxata, where were kept the treasures of Tigranes and Artabanus. (Strab., 364.) BACCHE, the priestesses of Bacchus. (Vid. Bacchantes.) BACCHANALIA, festivals in honour of Bacchus at Rome, the same as the Dionysia of the Greeks. (Vid, Dionysia.) BACCHANTES. The worship of Bacchus prevailed in almost all parts of Greece. Men and women joined in his festivals dressed in Asiatic robes and bonnets; their heads, wreathed with vine and ivy leaves, with fawnskins (veбpides) flung over their shoulders, and thyrsi, or blunt spears twined with vine-leaves, in their hands, they ran through the country, shouting Io Bacche! Euoi! Iacche ! &c., swinging their thyrsi, beating on drums, and sounding various instruments. Indecent emblems were carried in procession, and the ceremonies often assumed a most immoral character and tendency. The women, who bore a chief part in these frantic revels, were called Baccha, Manades, Thyia des, Euades, &c. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 216.) BACCHIUS and BITHUS, two celebrated gladiators of equal age and strength, who, after conquering many competitors, engaged with each other and died of mutual wounds; whence the proverb to express equality, Bithus contra Bacchium. (Horat., Serm., 1, 7, 20. BACCHUS, son of Jupiter and Semele daughter of Cadmus Jupiter, enamoured of the beauty of Semele, visited her in secret. Juno's jealousy took the alarm, and, under the form of an old woman, she came to Semele, and, by exciting doubts of the real character | prevalent. Thus, Diodorus gives us, probably from of her lover, induced her, when next he came, to ex- the cyclograph Dionysius, the following narrative. act a promise that he would visit her as he was wont Ammon, a monarch of Libya, was married to Rhea, a to visit Juno. An unwary promise was thus drawn daughter of Manus; but meeting, near the Ceraunian from the god before he knew what he was required to mountains, a beautiful maiden named Amalthea, he perform; and he therefore entered the bower of Sem- became enamoured of her. He made her mistress of ele, with the lightning and thunder flaming, flashing, the adjacent fruitful country, which, from its resemand roaring around him. Overcome with terror, bling a bull's horn in form, was named the Western Semele, who was now six months gone with child, horn, and then Amalthea's horn, which last name was expired in the flames, and Jupiter, taking the babe, afterward given to places similar to it in fertility. thus prematurely born, sewed it up in his thigh. In Amalthea here bore him a son, whom, fearing the jealdue time it came forth, and Jupiter, then naming it ousy of Rhea, he conveyed to a town named Nysa, Bacchus (in Greek Dionysus), gave it to Mercury to situated not far from the Horn, in an island formed by convey to Ino, the sister of Semele, with directions the river Triton. He committed the care of him to to rear it. Juno, whose revenge was not yet satiated, Nysa, one of the daughters of Aristaus, while Minerva caused Athamas, the husband of Ino, to go mad; and was appointed to keep guard against the assaults of Jupiter, to save Bacchus from the machinations of his Rhea. This delicious isle, which was precipitous on spouse, changed him into a kid, under which form all sides, with a single entrance, through a narrow glen Mercury conveyed him to the Nymphs of Nysa, by thickly shaded with trees, is described in a similar whom he was reared. When he grew up, he discov- manner with Panchaia and other happy retreats of the ered the culture of the vine, and the mode of extract- same nature. It had verdant meads, abundant springs, ing its precious liquor; but Juno struck him with mad- trees of every kind, flowers of all hues, and evermore ness, and he roamed through great part of Asia. In resounded with the melody of birds. (Compare MilPhrygia Rhea cured him, and taught him her religious ton, P. L., 4, 275, seqq.) After he grew up, Bacrites, which he now resolved to introduce into Greece. chus became a mighty conqueror, according to this While passing through Thrace, he was so furiously legend, and a benefactor of mankind, by whom he was attacked by Lycurgus, a prince of that country, that he finally deified.-Though the adventures of Bacchus was obliged to take refuge with Thetis, in the sea. were occasionally the theme of poets, especially of the But he inflicted on the monarch severe retaliation. dramatists, they do not appear to have been narrated in (Vid. Lycurgus.) When Bacchus reached Thebes, continuity, like those of Hercules, until after the dethe women readily received the new rites, and ran cline of Grecian poetry. It was in the fifth century wildly through the woods of Citharon. Pentheus, the of the Christian era that Nonnus, a native of Panoporuler of Thebes, however, set himself against them; lis, in Egypt, made the history of Bacchus the subject and Bacchus caused him to be torn to pieces by his of a poem, containing forty-eight books, the wildest mother and his aunts. He next proceeded to Attica, and strangest that can well be conceived, more rewhere he taught Icarius the culture of the vine. (Vid.sembling the Ramayuna of India than anything to be Icarius, Erigone.) At Argos the rites of Bacchus were received, as at Thebes, by the women, and opposed by Perseus, son of Jupiter and Danaë. Jove, however, reduced his two sons to amity, and Bacchus thence passed over to Naxos, where he met Ariadne. On his way to this island he fell into the hands of Tyrrhenian pirates, who bound him with cords, intending to sell him as a slave. But the cords fell from his limbs, vines with clustering grapes spread over the sail, and ivy, laden with berries, ran up the masts and sides of the vessel. The god, thereupon assuming the form of a lion, seized the captain of the ship, and the terrified crew, to escape him, leaped into the sea and became dolphins. The pilot alone, who had taken the part of Bacchus, remained on board; the god then declared to him who he was, and took him under his protection. The expedition of Bacchus into the East is also celebrated. In the Baccha of Euripides the god describes himself as having gone through Lydia, Phrygia, Persia, Bactria, Media, Arabia, and the coast of Asia, inhabited by mingled Greeks and barbarians, throughout all which he had established his dances and religious rites. India, in particular, was the scene of his conquests. He marched at the head of an army composed of both men and women, all inspired with divine fury, and armed with thyrsi, clashing cymbals, and other musical instruments, and uttering the wildest cries. His conquests were easy and without bloodshed; the nations readily submitted, and the god taught them the use of the vine, the cultivation of the earth, and the art of making honey. Bacchus was also fabled to have assisted the gods in their wars against the giants, having assumed on that occasion the form of a lion. He afterward descended to Erebus, whence he brought his mother, whom he now named Thyone, and ascended with her to the abode of the gods. (Apollod., 3, 5, 3.-Diod. Sic., 3, 62.Id., 4, 25.-Horat., Od., 2, 19, 29.)-Like every other portion of the Grecian mythology, the history of the wine-god was pragmatised when infidelity became found in ancient or modern occidental literature. It forms a vast repertory of Bacchic fable. (Vid. Nonnus.)-Bacchus was represented in a variety of modes and characters by the ancient artists. The Theban Bacchus appears with the delicate lineaments of a maiden rather than those of a young man; his whole air and gait are effeminate; his long, flowing hair is, like that of Apollo, collected behind his head, wreathed with ivy or a fillet; he is either naked or wrapped in a large cloak, and the nebris, or fawn's skin, is sometimes flung over his shoulders; he carries a thyrsus, and a panther generally lies at his feet. In some monuments Bacchus appears bearded, in others horned (the Bacchus-Sebazius), whence in the mysteries he was identified with Osiris, and regarded as the Sun. For another legend relative to the horns with which he is depicted, consult the article Ammon. He is sometimes alone, at other times in company with Ariadne or the youth Ampelus. His triumph over the Indians is represented in great pomp. The captives are chained, and placed on wagons or elephants, and among them is carried a large crater full of wine. The god himself is in a chariot drawn by elephants or panthers, leaning on Ampelus, preceded by Pan, and followed by Silenus, the satyrs, and Manades, on foot or on horseback, who make the air resound with their cries and the clash of their instruments. The Indian Bacchus is always bearded. It is with reason that Sophocles styles Bacchus many named (πohvívvμoç, Antig., 1115), for in the Orphic hymns alone we meet with upward of forty of his appellations. The etymology of the most common one, Bacchus, has been variously given; it appears, however, to be only another form for lacchus. (Vid. Iacchus.) Some make it the same with Bagis, one of the names of the Hindu deity Schiva. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 212, seqq.)Modern writers are much divided in opinion respecting the origin of the worship of Bacchus, and many arguments have been urged in support of its having come from a Grecian source. A dispassionate view 249 of the subject, however, will lead, we think, to the con- ing back into Egypt, under the reign of Psammetichus, BACCHYLIDES, a lyric poet of Ceos, nephew to Simonides. He flourished about 450 B.C. and was regarded as one of the most celebrated poets of his day. Bacchylides shared with Pindar the favour of King Hiero at the court of Syracuse. That his poetry was but an imitation of one branch of that of Simonides, cultivated with great delicacy and finish, is proved by the opinion of ancient critics; among whom Dionysius adduces perfect correctness and uniform elegance as the characteristics of Bacchylides. His genius and art were chiefly devoted to the pleasures of private life, love, and wine; and, when compared with those of Simonides, appear marked by greater sensual grace and less moral elevation. Among the kinds of choral songs which he employed, besides those of which he had examples in Simonides and Pindar, we find erotic ones. The elaborate and brilliant execution which is peculiar to the school of Simonides, appears also in the productions of Bacchylides, especially in the beautiful fragment in praise of peace. The structure of Bacchylides' verses is generally very simple; nine tenths of his odes, to judge from the fragments, con see in those odes of Pindar, which were written in the Doric mode. We find in his poems trochaic verses of great elegance; as, for example, a fragment, preserved by Athenæus, of a religious poem, in which the Dioscuri are invited to a feast. (Athen., 11, p. 500, b.) Bacchylides wrote in the Doric dialect. Many fragments of his pieces occur in Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Athenæus, Clemens of Alexandrea, and particularly in Stobæus. The fragments of Bac cavlides are found in the collections of Neander, H. | metrius established his dominion in India, where, about Stephens, Orsini, and Brunck. A more complete edition of them appeared in 1822, from the Berlin press, by C. F. Neue, in 8vo. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 1, p. 287.-Mohnike, Lit. der Gr. und R., p. 336.-Lit. Anc. Gr., c. 14, § 13, in Libr. Us. Knowl.) this time (perhaps as a consequence of the expedition of Antiochus III., B.C. 205), there appear to have been several Greek states. Menander was followed, about B.C. 181, by Eucratidas, under whom the Bactrian kingdom acquired its greatest extent; for, after defeating the Indian king Demetrius, who had attacked him, he, with the assistance of the Parthian conqueror Mithradates (Arsaces VI.), took India from Demetrius and annexed it to the Bactrian kingdom, B.C. 148. He was, however, on his return, murdered by his son, who is probably the Eucratidas who is afterward named. This latter was the ally and chief adviser of the expedition of Demetrius II. of Syria against the Parthians, B.C. 142; and therefore, on the victorious resistance of Arsaces VI., robbed of a part of his territory, and soon after overpowered by the nomadic nations of Middle Asia; upon which the Bactrian kingdom became, as such, extinct, and Bactria itself, with the other countries on this side the Oxus, became a booty to the Parthians. (Compare Bayer, Historia BACENIS, a wood in Germany, generally supposed to be a part of the Hercynia Silva, and to have been situate in the vicinity of the Fulda, or Vol, which flows into the Visurgis. It separated the territories of the Catti from those of the Cherusci, and appears to be the same with the Buchonia of later writers. (Cas., B. G., 6, 10-Mannert, Geogr., vol. 3, p. 183, 417.) BACTRA, the capital of Bactria, situate on the river Bactrus, a tributary of the Oxus. It is now Balkh, in the country of the Usbeck Tatars. It was likewise called Zariaspe and Zariaspa. (Plin., 6, 16.) This place has been a rendezvous of caravans from the remotest antiquity, and at this point it probable that commerce united Eastern and Western Asia. To this place the natives of Little Thibet, which Herod-regni Græcorum Bactriani, Petrop. 1738, 4to.-Heeotus and Ctesias call Northern India, brought the valuable woollens of their country, and likewise the gold which they procured from the great desert of Cobi. The tales which they told to the Western Asiatics of these wonderful regions might be a little exaggerated, or perverted through the medium of an interpreter. (Long's Anc. Geogr., p. 13.-Compare Heeren, Ideen, vol. 1, pt. 3, p. 408, seqq.)-On the origin of the Bactrians and their connexion with the great Zend race, consult the remarks of Rhode, in his Heilige Sage der Baktrer, &c., p. 60, seqq. ren's Anc. History, p. 315, seqq., Bancroft's transl.) BACTRUS, a river of Bactria, running into the Oxus. It flowed by the capital Bactra, and is supposed to be the same with the modern Anderab. (Curt., 7, 4.— Polyan., Strat., 7, 11.) BACUNTIUS, a river of Pannonia, in the immediate vicinity of Sirmium. It fell into the Savus or Save. The modern name is Bosset or Bossut. (Plin., 3, 25.) BADIA, a town of Hispania Bætica, supposed to be the present Badajoz. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 1, p. 447.-Cellarius, Geogr. Antiq., vol. 1, p. 67.) BADUHENNE Lucus, a grove in the country of the Frisii, where 900 Romans were killed. (Tacit., Ann., 4, 73.) It is thought to have been situated in modern West Friesland. The name is supposed to be derived from that of the goddess Pada, and the modern name is given by some as Holt Pade. (Alting, Not. Batav. et Fris. Ant., vol. 1, p. 14.) BACTRIA and BACTRIANA, & country of Asia, bounded by Aria on the west, the mountains of Paropamisus on the south; the Emodi Montes on the east; and Sogdiana on the north. Bactriana now belongs to the kingdom of the Afghauns, or Caubulistan. Its proximity to Northern India, and the possession of a large river, the Oxus, with fertile lands, made it, in very remote ages, the centre of Asiatic commerce, and the BÆBIA LEX, I. was enacted for the election of six point of union for all the natives of this vast continent. prætors and four during alternate years. (Liv., 40, 44.) (Vid. Bactra.) It would seem also, in very early times,II. Another law by M. Bæbius, a tribune of the peoto have been the seat of a powerful empire long prior to that of the Medes or Persians. (Compare Bähr, ad Ctes., p. 93.)-This country became remarkable at a later age for the Greek kingdom which was founded in it. The Bactrian kingdom arose almost at the same time with the Parthian, B.C. 254; yet the mode of its origin was not only different (for it was here the Grecian governor himself, who made himself independent, and therefore had Grecians for his successors), but also the duration, which was much less. Solitary fragments of the history of this kingdom have only been preserved, and yet it seems at one time to have extended to the banks of the Ganges and the borders of China. The founder of this kingdom was Diodatus or Theodotus I. (B. C. 254), as he broke from the Syrian sway in the time of Antiochus II. He appears to have been master of Sogdiana as well as Bactria. He also threatened Parthia, but after his death (B.C. 243) his son and successor, Theodotus II., closed a peace and alliance with Arsaces II., but was deprived of his throne by Euthydemus of Magnesia, about B.C. 221. The attack of Antiochus the Great, after the termination of the Parthian war, was directed against him, but ended in a peace, in which Euthydemus, on giving up his elephants, retained his crown, and a marriage between his son Demetrius and a daughter of Antiochus was agreed upon. Demetrius, although he was a great conqueror, appears not to have been king of Bactria, but of Northern India and Malabar, of which countries the history is now closely connected with that of Bactria, although all the accounts are but frag. mentary. To the throne of Bactria, Menander succeeded, who extended his conquests to Serica, as De ple, against largesses and bribery. (Non. Marcell., de propr. Serm., c. 7, n. 19, p. 749.-Liv., 40, 19.) BÆTICA. Vid. Hispania. BÆTIS, a river of Spain, from which a part of the country received the name of Batica. (Vid. Hispania.) Its sources were surrounded by the chain of Mons Orospeda. At its mouth was the island of Tartessus, the name of which was anciently also applied to the river, previous to that of Bætis. (Strab., 148.) According to Steph. Byz.. the natives called this river Perkes (IIépkns); but according to Livy (28, 22), Certis. Bochart derives the name Bætis from the Punic Bitsi, "marshy." So also Perkes is deduced by him from Berca," a marsh," in the same language. In illustration of these etymologies, he states that the Bætis forms marshes three times in its course. The appellation Certis, as found in Livy, he considers a mere corruption from Perkes. (Bochart, Geogr. Sacr., 1, 34.) Others, however, derive Certis from the Oriental Kiriath, "a town," from the great number which it watered in its course. (Consult Oberlin., ad Vib. Sequest., p. 15.-Tzschucke, ad Mel., 3, 1, vol. 3, pt. 3, p. 15.) The modern name of the Bætis is the Guadal quiver, which is a corruption from the Arabic Wadial-Kiber, or "the Great River." (Plin., 3, 1.-Lucan, Phars., 2, 589.-Stat. Sylv., 7, 34, &c.) BAGISTANUS, a mountain of Media, southwest of Ecbatana, and sacred to Jupiter. Here Semiramis formed a park or garden of twelve stadia in circumference, and cut her image on the face of the rock. (Diod. Sic., 2, 13.—Isid., Charac., p. 6.) Alexander is said to have visited the spot. (Diod. Sic., 17, 110.) It will be observed that the first part of the name, Bagis, is an appellation of the Hindoo Schiva, and is also re- | once collected on the hills behind it in aqueducts and garded by some as the source whence the Greek name reservoirs, now spreading and oozing down the declivBacchus is derived. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 5, pt. 2, ities, and settling in the hollows below. In a warm p. 165, seq.) climate all stagnant water becomes putrid during the hot months. (Vol. 3, p. 14, in notis.) BALA, a surname of Alexander, king of Syria. (Justin, 35, 1.) BALANEA, a town of Syria, north of Aradus, now Belnias. (Plin., 5, 20.) BAGOAS, I. an Egyptian eunuch at the court of Artaxerxes Ochus, remarkable for his bravery and military talents. In concert with Memnon, he brought Egypt, which had revolted, under the Persian sway again. Ochus, however, having shocked his religious prejudices by his conduct towards the deified animals of BALBINUS, I. a Roman alluded to by Horace, who Egypt, Bagoas destroyed him (vid. Artaxerxes III.), speaks of his singular taste in admiring a female and placed Arses, the monarch's youngest son, on the named Agna, deformed by a polypus in the nostrils. throne. He, however, soon destroyed this young (Horat., Serm., 1, 3, 40.)-II. Decimus Cælius, a prince also. He then called to the throne Darius Co- Roman, proclaimed emperor by the senate with Pupiedomanus, whom he attempted to poison not long after. nus, on the death of the Gordians, A.D. 237. He But Darius, discovering the artifice, made him drink was murdered by his own soldiers after a year's reign. the poison himself.—It is believed that this is the same (Jul., Capitol. in Gord.-Herodian, 7, 10, 6, &c.) Bagoas who, during the reign of Ochus, entered the BALEARES, a name applied anciently to the islands temple of Jerusalem, to avenge the brother of John, of Majorca and Minorca, off the coast of Spain. The whom the latter had slain in the temple, as a compet-name Baleares is of Greek origin, derived from ßáλitor for the high-priesthood. The name Bagoas is 2ev," to throw" or "cast," and it alludes to the resaid to be equivalent to "eunuch." (Biogr. Univ.,markable skill of the inhabitants in using the sling. vol. 3, p. 216.)-II. A favourite eunuch of Alexan- | According to Florus (3,8), this was their only weapon, der's. (Curt., 6, 5, 23.—Plut., Vit. Alex., c. 67.—and they were taught to use it from early boyhood, Lemaire, ad Curt., l. c.) BAGRADAS, I. a river of Africa, flowing between Utica and Carthage in former days, though at present their situation as regards it is materially altered. It makes encroachments on the sea like the Nile, and hence its ancient mouth is now circumscribed by mud, and become a large navigable pond. (Vid. Carthago and Utica.) The genuine form of the ancient name is thought to be found in Polybius, namely, Maxápaç, Mákpas, or Máxap (Schweigh, ad Polyb., 1, 75, 5); and with this, in a measure, the Bovkápaç of Strabo coincides. The origin of the name is to be traced to the Punic Macar, "Hercules," so that Macaras will mean "the river of Hercules." Gesenius condemns Bochart's derivation from Barca or Berca, "a marsh." (Gesen., Monum. Phơn., p. 420.) The modern name of the river is the Mejerda. (Ptol., 6, 4.) their daily food being withheld from the young until they had hit a certain mark pointed out to them. The same writer describes them as an uncivilized race, addicted to piratical habits. The Romans drew from these islands their best slingers. Each Balearian went to battle supplied with three slings. (Flor., l. c. Id., 3, 22.-L., Epit., 60.) The Greeks also called these islands Gymnesia (Tvμvnoíai), either because, according to Diodorus, the inhabitants were youvoi, naked, in summer, or because, according to Hesychius, they went to battle armed only with a sling, youvres being used in Greek to denote lightarmed troops. By many, Ebusus, now Ivica, is ranked with the Baleares, according to the authority_of Vitruvius. The larger of these islands was called Balearis Major, hence Majorca, and the smaller Balearis Minor, hence Minorca. In the former was Palma, which still retains the name. In the latter was Portus Magonis, so called by the Carthaginians from Mago, one of their generals, now slightly corrupted into Port Mahon. (Strab., 450.-Diod. Sic., 5, 17. BALIUS, a horse of Achilles. (Hom., N., 16, 146.) Vid. Achilles. BAIE, a city of Campania, on a small bay west of Neapolis, and opposite Puteoli. It was originally a village, but the numerous advantages of its situation soon rendered it much frequented and famous. Its foundation is ascribed in mythology to Baius, one of-Pliny, 3, 5.) Q. Cæcilius Metellus conquered the companions of Ulysses. The cause of the rapid these islands for the Romans, and hence obtained the increase of Baiæ lay in the fruitfulness of the surround- surname of Balearicus. They were thereafter coning country, in the beauty of its own situation, in the sidered as forming part of Hispania Tarraconensis. rich supply of shell and other fish which the adjacent (Flor., 3, 8.) waters afforded, and, above all, in the hot mineral springs which flowed from the neighbouring mountains, and formed a chief source of attraction to invalids. BALNEA (baths) were very numerous at Rome, (Compare Florus, 1, 16.-Plin., 31, 2.-Senec., Ep., private as well as public. It was under Augustus 51-Josephus, Ant. Jud., 18, 14.-Cassiod., 9, cp. that baths first began to assume an air of magnificence, 6.) Baie was first called Aqua Cumanæ. Numer- and were called Therma, or "hot baths," although ous villas graced the surrounding country, and many they also contained cold ones. An incredible number were likewise built on artificial moles extending a great of these were built throughout the city. Authors distance into the sea. It is now, owing to earthquakes reckon above 800, many of them built by the emperors and inundations of the sea, a mere waste compared with the greatest splendour. The chief were those with what it once was. The modern name is Baia. of Agrippa, near the Pantheon, of Nero, of Titus, of Many remains of ancient villas may be seen under the Domitian, of Caracalla, Antoninus, Dioclesian, &c. / water. "The bay of Baiæ," observes Eustace, "is Of these splendid vestiges still remain. The Roa semicircular recess, just opposite the harbour of Poz-mans began their bathing with hot water, and ended zuolo, and about three miles distant from it. It is lined with ruins, the remains of the villas and the baths of the Romans; some advance a considerable way out, and, though now under the waves, are easily distinguishable in fine weather. The taste for building in the waters and encroaching on the sea, to which Horace alludes, is exemplified in a very striking manner all along this coast." (Classical Tour, vol. 2, p. 406.) The same traveller, in commenting on the insalubrity of Baie at the present day, remarks as follows: "The present unwholesomeness of Baia and its bay, if real, must be ascribed partly to the streams and sources with cold. The cold bath was in great repute after Antonius Musa restored Augustus to health by its means, when he was attacked by a dangerous malady; but it fell into discredit after the death of the young Marcellus, which was occasioned by the very injudicious application of the same remedy. (Sueton., Aug., 59.-Id. ib., 81-Plin., 29, 1.-Dio Cass., 53, 30.) In the magnificent Thermæ erected by the emper. ors, not only were accommodations provided for hundreds of bathers at once, but spacious porticoes, rooms for athletic games and playing at ball, and halls for the public lectures of philosophers, for rhetoricians and |