better adapted for a citadel than any other, as being separated from the rest, and at one angle of the site; but Curtius supposes it to have stood upon the hill of the theatre, as being the only one with a sufficiently large surface on the summit to contain the numerous buildings which stood upon the Acropolis. The latter opinion appears the more probable; and the larger hill, cleared from its surrounding rubbish, surrounded with a wall, and crowned with buildings, would have presented a much more striking appearance than it does at present. The chief building on the Acropolis was the temple of Athena Chalcioecus, the tutelary goddess of the city. It was said to have been begun by Tyndareus, but was long afterwards completed by Gitiadas, who was celebrated as an architect, statuary, and poet. He caused the whole building to be covered with plates of bronze or brass, whence the temple was called the Brazen House, and the goddess received the surname of Chalcioecus. On the bronze plates there were represented in relief the labours of Hercules, the exploits of the Dioscuri, Hephaestus releasing his mother from her chains, the Nymphs arming Per-eus for his expedition against Medusa, the birth of Athena, and Amphitrite and Poseidon. Gitiadas also made a brazen statue of the goddess. (Paus. iii. 17. §§ 2, 3.) The Brazen House stood in a sacred enclosure of considerable extent, surrounded by a stoa or colonnade, and containing several sanctuaries. There was a separate temple of Athena Ergane. Near the southern stoa was a temple of Zeus Cosmetas, and before it the tomb of Tyndareus; the western stoa contained two eagles, bearing two victories, dedicated by Lysander in commemoration of his victories over the Athenians. To the left of the Brazen House was a temple of the Muses; behind it a temple of Ares Areia, with very ancient wooden statues; and to its right a very ancient statue of Zens Hypatus, by Learchus of Rhegium, parts of which were fastened together with nails. Here also was the oxvwua, a booth or tent, which Curtius conjectures to have been the oйnua où μéya, d hν тоû iepoù (Thuc. i. 134), where Pausanias took refuge as a suppliant. Near the altar of the Brazen House stood two statues of Pausanias, and also statues of Aphrodite Ambologēra (delaying old age), and of the brothers Sleep and Death. The statues of Pausanias were set up by order of the Delphian Apollo to expiate his being starved to death within the sacred precincts. (Paus. iii. 17. § 2-18. § 1.) The Agora was a spacious place, surrounded, like other Greek market-places, with colonnades, from which the streets issued to the different quarters of the city. Here were the public buildings of the magistrates, the council-house of the Gerusia and senate, and the offices of the Ephori, Nomophylaces, and Bidiaei. The most splendid building was the Persian stoa, which had been frequently repaired and enlarged, and was still perfect when Pausanias visited the city. The Agora contained statues of Julius Caesar and Augustus: in the latter was a brazen statue of the prophet Agias. There was a place called Chorus, marked off from the rest of the Agora, because the Spartan youths here danced in honour of Apollo at the festival of the Gymnopaedia. This place was adorned with statues of the Pythian deities, Apollo, Artemis, and Leto; and near it were temples of Earth, of Zeus Agoraeus, of Athena Agoraea, of Apollo, of Poseidon Asphaleius, and of Hera. In the Agora was a colossal statue representing the people of Sparta, and a temple of the Moerae or Fates, near which was the tomb of Orestes, whose bones had been brought from Tegea to Sparta in accordance with the well-known tale in Herodotus. Near the tomb of Orestes was the statue of king Polydorus, whose effigy was used as the seal of the state. Here, also, was a Hermes Agoraeus bearing Dionysus as a child, and the old Ephoreia, where the Ephors originally administered justice, in which were the tombs of Epimenides the Cretan and of Aphareus the Aeolian king. (Paus. iii. 11. §§ 2—11.) The Agora was near the Acropolis. Lycurgus, it is said, when attacked by his opponents, fled for refuge from the Agora to the Acropolis; but was overtaken by a fiery youth, who struck out one of his eyes. At the spot where he was wounded, Lycurgus founded a temple of Optiletis* or Ophthalmitis, which must have stood immediately above the Agora. Plutarch says that it lay within the temenos of the Brazen House; and Pausanias mentions it, in descending from the Acropolis, on the way to the so-called Alpium, beyond which was a temple of Ammon, and probably also a temple of Artemis Cnagia. (Plut. Lyc. 11; Apophth. Lac. p. 227, b.; Paus. iii. 18. § 2.) The Agora may be placed in the great hollow east of the Acropolis (Map, 2). Its position is most clearly marked by Pausanias, who, going westwards from the Agora, arrived immediately at the theatre, after passing only the tomb of Brasidas (iii. 14. § 1). The site of the theatre, which he describes as a magnificent building of white marble, has been already described. The principal street, leading out of the Agora, was named Aphetais ('Aperats), the Corso of Sparta (Map, dd). It ran towards the southern wall, through the most level part of the city, and was bordered by a succession of remarkable monuments. First came the house of king Polydorus, named Booneta (Bowvnra), because the state purchased it from his widow for some oxen. Next came the office of the Bidiaei, who originally had the inspection of the race-course; and opposite was the temple of Athena Celeutheia, with a statue of the goddess dedicated by Ulysses, who erected three statues of Celeutheia in different places. Lower down the Aphetais occurred the heroa of Iops, Amphiaraus, and Lelex,-the sanctuary of Poseidon Taenarius, a statue of Athena, dedicated by the Tarentini, -the place called Hellenium, so called because the Greeks are said to have held counsel there either before the Persian or the Trojan wars, the tomb of Talthybius, an altar of Apollo Acreitas,- -a place sacred to the earth named Gaseptum, a statue of Apollo Maleates, and close to the city walls the temple of Dictynna, and the royal sepulchres of the Eurypontidae. Pausanias then returns to the Hellenium, probably to the other side of the Aphetais, where he mentions a sanctuary of Arsinoe, the sister of the wives of Castor and Pollux; then a temple of Artemis near the so-called Phruria (Þpoúpia), which were perhaps the temporary fortifications thrown up before the completion of the city walls; next the tombs of the Iamidae, the Eleian prophets, sanctuaries of Maro and Alpheius, who fell at Thermopylae,-the temple of Zeus Tropaeus, built by the Dorians after conquering the Achaean inhabitants of Laconia, and especially the Amyclaei,-the temple *So called, because onтíλo was the Lacedaemonian form for opeɑλμɔí, Plut. Lyc. 11. of the mother of the gods,—and the heroa of Hippo- | lytus and Aulon. The Aphetais upon quitting the city joined the great Hyacinthian road which led to the Amyclaeum. (Paus. iii. 12. §§ 1—9.) In the nasia, one of which was dedicated by a certain The next most important street leading from the Agora ran in a south-easterly direction. It is usually called Scias, though Pausanias gives this name only to a building at the beginning of the street, erected by Theodorus of Samos, and which was used even in the time of Pausanias as a place for the assemblies of the people. Near the Scias was a round structure, said to have been built by Epimenides, containing statues of the Olympian Zeus and Aphrodite; next came the tombs of Cynortas, Castor, Idas, and Lynceus, and a temple of Core Soteira. The other buildings along this street or in this direction, if there was no street, were the temple of Apollo Carneius, who was worshipped here before the Dorian invasion,—a statue of Apollo Aphetaeus, a quadrangular place surrounded with colonnades, where small-wares (pŵnos) were anciently sold, an altar sacred to Zeus, Athena, and the Dioscuri, all surnamed Ambulii. Opposite was the place called Colona and the temple of Dionysus Colonatas. Near the Colona was the temple of Zeus Euanemus. On a neighbouring hill was the temple of the Argive Hera, and the temple of Hera Hypercheiria, containing an ancient wooden statue of Aphrodite Hera. To the right of this hill was a statue of Hetoemocles, who had gained the victory in the Olympic games. (Paus. iii. 12. § 10-iii. 13.) Although Pausanias does not say that the Colona was a hill, yet there can be no doubt of the fact, as Koλva is the Doric for кoλúvŋ, a hill. This height and the one upon which the temple of Hera stood are evidently the heights NW. of the village of Psy-taniston formed by the Trypiótiko and the Eurotas. chikó between the Eurotas and the plain to the S. of the theatre (Map, C.). After describing the streets leading from the Agora to the S. and SE. Pausanias next mentions a third street, running westward from the Agora. It led past the theatre to the royal sepulchres of the Agiadae. In front of the theatre were the tombs of Pausanias and Leonidas (iii. 14. § 1). South of the Dromus was a broader level, which was called Platanistas, from the plane-trees with which it was thickly planted. It is described as a round island, formed by streams of running water, and was entered by two bridges, on each of which there was a statue of Hercules at one end and of Lycurgus at the other. Two divisions of the Spartan Ephebi were accustomed to cross these bridges and fight with one another in the Plataniston; and, though they had no arms, they frequently inflicted severe wounds upon one another. (Paus. iii. 15. § 8, seq.; Lucian, Anachars. 38; Cic. Tusc. Quaest. v. 27.) The running streams surrounding the Plataniston were the canals of the Trypiotiko, which were fed by several springs in the neighbourhood, and flowed into the Eurotas. Outside the city was the district called Phoebaeum, where each division of the Ephebi sacrificed the night before the contest. The Phoebaeum occupied the narrow corner south of the Pla Pausanias describes it as near Therapne, which was situated upon the Menelaium, or group of hills upon the other side of the Eurotas, mentioned below, The proximity of the Phoebaeum to Therapne is mentioned in another passage of Pausanias (iii. 19. § 20), and by Herodotus (vi. 61). The heroum of Cynisca, the first feinale who conquered in the charistrace in the Olympic games, stood close to the Plataniston, which was bordered upon one side by a colonnade. Behind this colonnade there were several heroic monuments, among which were those of Alcimus, Enaraephorus, of Dorceus, with the fountain Dorceia, and of Sebrus. Near the latter was the sepulchre of the poet Alcman; this was followed by the sanctuary of Helena and that of Hercules, with the monument of Oeonus, whose death he here avenged by slaying the sons of Hippocoon. The temple of Hercules was close to the city walls. (Paus. iii. 14. § 8-15. § 5.) Since the poet Alcman, whose tomb was in this district, is described as a citizen of Mesoa [Dict. of Biogr., art. ALCMAN], it is probable that this was the position of Mesoa, the name of which might indicate a tract lying between two rivers. (Comp. Μεσηνή —ὑπὸ δύο ποτάμων - μεσαζομένη, Steph. B. s. v. Meσońvn.) From the theatre Pausanias probably went by the hollow way to the Eurotas, for he says that near the Sepulchres of the Agiadae was the Lesche of the Crotani, and that the Crotani were a portion of the Pitanatae. It would appear from a passage in Athenaeus (i. p. 31) that Pitane was in the neighbourhood of the Oenus; and its proximity to the Eurotas has been already shown. [See above, p. 1026, a.] It is not improbable, as Curtius observes, that Pitane lay partly within and partly without the city, like the Cerameicus at Athens. After proceeding to the tomb of Taenarus, and the sanctuaries of Poseidon Hippocurius and the Aeginetan Artemis, Pausanias returns to the Lesche, near which was the temple of Artemis Issoria, also called Limnaea. Issorium, which is known as a stronghold in the neighbourhood of Pitane (Polyaen. ii. 1. § 14; Plut. Ages. 32), is supposed by Curtius to be the hill After reaching the SE. extremity of the city, to the north of the Acropolis (Map, C.). Leake, as we Pausanias returns to the Dromus. Here he mentions have already seen, regards this hill as the Acropolis two ways: the one to the right leading to a temple itself, and identifies the Issorium with the height of Athena Axiopoenus, and the other to the left to above the ruined amphitheatre or circus. Pau- another temple of Athena, founded by Theras, near sanias next mentions the temples of Thetis, of which was a temple of Hipposthenes, and an ancient Demeter Chthonia, of Sarapis, and of the Olympian wooden statue of Enyalius in fetters. He then deZeus. He then reached the Dromus, which was scribes, but without giving any indication of its poused in his day as a place for running. It extended sition, the painted Lesche, with its surrounding along the stream southwards, and contained gym-heroa of Cadmus, Oeolycus, Aegeus, and Amphile chus, and the temple of Hera Acgophagus. He | vi. 5. § 27.) The account of Xenophon illustrates afterwards returns to the theatre, and mentions the a passage of Pausanias. The latter writer, in dedifferent monuments in its neighbourhood; among scribing (iii. 19. § 7) the road to Therapne, menwhich were a temple of Poseidon Genethlius, heroa tions a statue of Athena Alea as standing between of Cleodacus and Oebalus, a temple of Asclepius, the city and a temple of Zeus Plusius, above the near the Booneta, the most celebrated of all the right bank of the Eurotas, at the point where the temples of this god in Sparta, with the heroum of river was crossed; and as only one bridge across the Teleclus on its left; on a height not far distant, an Eurotas is mentioned by ancient writers, there can ancient temple of Aphrodite armed, upon an upper be no doubt that the road to Therapne crossed the story of which was a second temple of Aphrodite bridge which Xenophon speaks of, and the remains Morpho; in its neighbourhood was a temple of Hi- of which are still extant. Therapne stood upon laeira and Phoebe, containing their statues, and an the Menelaium or Mount Menelaius, which rose egg suspended from the roof, said to have been that abruptly from the left hand of the river opposite the of Leda. Pausanias next mentions a house, named south-eastern extremity of Sparta. (Meveλáïov, Chiton, in which was woven the robe for the Amy- Polyb. v. 22; Meveλάelov, Steph. B. s. v.; Meneclaean Apollo; and on the way towards the city laius Mons, Liv. xxxiv. 28.) The Menelaium has gates the heroa of Cheilon and Athenaeus. Near been compared to the Janiculum of Rome, and rises the Chiton was the house of Phormion, who hospi- about 760 feet above the Eurotas. It derived its tably entertained the Dioscuri when they entered the name from a temple of Menelaus, containing the city as strangers (Paus. iii. 15. § 6—16. § 4.) From tombs of Menelaus and Helen, whither solemn prothese indications we may suppose that the Amyclaean cessions of men and women were accustomed to reroad issued from this gate, and it may therefore be pair, the men imploring Menelaus to grant them placed in the southern part of the city. In that bravery and success in war, the women invoking case the double temple of Aphrodite probably stood Helen to bestow beauty upon them and their chilupon one of the heights of New Sparta. dren. (Paus. iii. 19. § 9; Herod. vi. 61; Isocr. Encom. Hel. 17; Hesych. s. v. 'Exévia, OepuπvαTídia.) The foundations of this temple were discovered in 1834 by Ross, who found amongst the ruins several small figures in clay, representing men in military costume and women in long robes, probably dedicatory offerings made by the poorer classes to Menelaus and Helen. (Ross, Wanderungen in Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 13, seq.) The temple of Menelaus is expressly said to have been situated in THERAPNE (Oeрáπνη, Oeрáпνai; Theramne, Plin. iv. 5. s. 8), which was one of the most ancient and venerable places in the middle valley of the Eurotas. It was said to have derived its name from a daughter of Lelex (Paus. iii. 19. § 9), and was the Achaean citadel of the district. It is described by the poets as the lofty well-towered Therapne, surrounded by thick woods (Pind. Isthm. i. 31; Coluth. 225), where slept the Dioscuri, the guardians of Sparta. (Pind. Nem. x. 55.) Here was the fountain of Messeis, the water of which the captive women had to carry (Paus. iii. 20. § 1; Hom. İl. vi. 457); and it was probably upon this height that the temple of Menelaus stood, which excited the astonishment of Telemachus in the Odyssey.. Hence Therapne is said to have been in Sparta, or is mentioned as synonymous with Sparta. (Θεράπναι, πόλις Λακανική, ἥν τινες Σπάρτην φασίν, Steph. Β. s. v. ; ἐν Σπάρτῃ, Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. ii. 162, Pind. Isthm. i. 31.) It is probable that further excavations upon this spot would bring to light some tombs of the heroic ages. The Phoebaeum, which has been already described as the open space on the right bank of the Eurotas [see p. 1028, b.], contained a temple of the Dioscuri. Not far from this place was the temple of Poseidon, surnamed Gacaochus. (Paus. iii. 20. § 2.) Pausanias next mentions a temple of Lycurgus; behind it the tomb of his son Eucosmus, and an altar of Lathria and Alexandra: opposite the temple were monuments of Theopompus and Eurybiades, and the heroum of Astrabacus. In the place called Limnaeum stood the temples of Artemis Orthia and Leto. This temple of Artemis Orthia was, as we have already remarked, the common place of meeting for the four villages of Pitane, Mesoa, Cynosura, and Limnae. (Paus. iii. 16. § 6, seq.) Limnae was partly in the city and partly in the suburbs. Its position to the N. of the Dromus has been mentioned above; and, if an emendation in a passage of Strabo be correct, it also included a district on the left bank of the Eurotas, in the direction of Mt. Thornax (Td Auvatov κατὰ τὸν [Θόρνα]κα, Meineke's emendation instead of [Op]ka, Strab. viii. p. 364). The most ancient topographical information respecting Sparta is contained in the answer of the Delphic oracle to Lycurgus. The oracle is reported to have directed the lawgiver to erect temples to Zeus and Athena, and to fix the seat of the senate and kings between the Babyca and Cnacion. (Plut. Lyc. 6.) These names were obsolete in the time of Plutarch. He says that the Cnacion was the Oenus, now the Kelefina; and he also appears to have considered the Babyca a river, though the text is not clear; in that case the Babyca must be the Trypiótiko, which forms the southern boundary of the city. It appears, however, from the same passage of Plutarch, that Aristotle regarded the Babyca as a bridge, and only the Cnacion as a river; whence he would seem to have given the name of Cnacion to the Trypiotiko, and that of Babyca to the bridge over the Eurotas. The left, or eastern bank of the Eurotas, was not occupied by any part of Sparta. When Epaminondas invaded Laconia in B. c. 370 he marched down the left bank of the Eurotas till he reached the foot of the bridge which led through the hollow way into the city. But he did not attempt to force the passage across the bridge; and he saw on the other side a body of armed men drawn up in the temple of Athena Alea. He therefore continued his march along the left bank of the river till he arrived opposite to Amyclae, where he crossed the river. (Xen. Hell. After the power of Sparta was destroyed by the battle of Leuctra, its territory was exposed to invasion and the city to attack. The first time that an enemy appeared before Sparta was when Epaminondas invaded Laconia in B. C. 390, as already related. After crossing the river opposite Amyclae, he marched against the city. His cavalry advanced as far as the temple of Poseidon Gaeaochus, which we have seen from Pausanias was in the Phoebaeum. We also learn from Xenophon that the Hippodrome was in the neighbourhood of the temple of Poseidon, and | consequently must not be confounded with the Dromus. The Thebans did not advance further, for they were driven back by a body of picked hoplites, whom Agesilaus had placed in ambush in the sanctuary of the Tyndaridae (Dioscuri), which we likewise know from Pausanias was in the Phoebaeum. (Xen. Hell. vi. 5. §§ 31, 32.) In B. c. 362 Epaminondas made a daring attempt to surprise Sparta, and actually penetrated into the market-place; but the Spartans having received intelligence of his approach, the city had been put into a state of defence, and Epaminondas again withdrew without venturing upon an assault. (Xen. Hell. vii. 5. SS 11-14; Polyb. ix. 8; Diod. xv. 83.) In B. c. 218 Philip unexpectedly entered Laconia, descended the vale of the Eurotas by the left bank of the river, passing by Sparta, and then laid waste the whole country as far as Taenarus and Malea. Lycurgus, the Spartan king, resolved to intercept him on his return: he occupied the heights of the Menelaium with a body of 2000 men, ordered the remaining forces of Sparta to be ready to take up their position between the city and the western bank of the river, and at the same time, by means of a dam, laid the low ground in that part under water. Philip, however, contrary to the expectation of Lycurgus, stormed the Menelaium, and brought his whole army safely through the pass, and encamped two stadia above the city. (Polyb. v. 17-24.) In B. c. 195 Quinctius Flamininus attacked Sparta, because Nabis, the tyrant of the city, refused obedience to the terms which the Roman general imposed. With an army of 50,000 men Flamininus assaulted the city on its three undefended sides of Phoebaeum, Dictynnaeum, and Heptagoniae. He forced his way into the city, and after overcoming the resistance which he met with in the narrow ways at the entrance of the city, marched along the broad road (probably the Aphetais) leading to the citadel and the surrounding heights. Thereupon Nabis set fire to the buildings nearest to the city walls, which compelled the Romans to retreat. But the main object of Flamininus had been answered, for three days afterwards Nabis sent his son-in-law to implore peace. (Liv. xxxiv. 38, 39.) The position of the Phoebaeum has been already explained. The Dictynnaeum was so called from the temple of Artemis Dictynna, which Pausanias describes as situated at the end of the Aphetais, close to the walls of the city (iii. 12. § 8). Leake thinks that the name of the village of Kalagonia may be a corruption of Heptagoniae; but it is more probable that the Heptagoniae lay further west in the direction of Mistrá, as it was evidently the object of Flamininus to attack the city in different quarters. The small stream which encloses Sparta on the south, now called the Trypiótiko or river of Magúla, is probably the ancient Tiasa (Tíaoa), upon which stood the sanctuary of Phaëna and Cleta, and across which was the road to Amyclae. (Paus. iii. 18. § 6.) Leake, however, gives the name of Tiasa to the Pandeleimona, the next torrent southwards falling into the Eurotas. With respect to the gates of Sparta, the most important was the one opposite the bridge of the Eurotas: it was probably called the gate to Therapne. Livy mentions two others, one leading to the Messenian town of Pharae, and the other to Mount Barbosthenes (xxxv. 30). The former must have been upon the western side of the city, near the village of Magúla. Of the southern gates the most important was the one leading to Amyclae. In this article it has not been attempted to give any account of the political history of Sparta, which forms a prominent part of Grecian history, and cannot be narrated in this work at sufficient length to be of any value to the student. A few remarks upon the subject are given under LACONIA. The modern authority chiefly followed in drawing up the preceding account of the topography of Sparta is Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 219, seq. Valuable information has also been derived from Leake, Morea, vol. i. p. 150, seq., Peloponnesiaca, p. 129, seq. See also Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. ii. p. 220, seq.; Ross, Wanderungen in Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 11, seq.; Expédition scientifique de Morée, vol. ii. p. 61, seq.; Boblaye, Recherches, fc., p. 78, seq.; Beulé, E'tudes sur le Peloponèse, p. 49, seq. SPARTA'RIUS CAMPUS (πaртápiov redíov, Strab. iii. p. 160), a district near Carthago Nova in Hispania Tarraconensis, 100 miles long and 30 broad, which produced the peculiar kind of grass called spartum, used for making ropes, mats, &c. (Plin. xix. 2. s. 8) It is the stipa tenacissima of Linnaeus; and the Spaniards, by whom it is called esparto, still manufacture it for the same purposes as those described by Pliny. It is a thin wiry rush, which is cut and dried like hay, and then soaked in water and plaited. It is very strong and lasting, and the manufacture still employs a large number of women and children. It was no doubt the material of which the Iberian whips mentioned by Horace (Epod. iv. 3) were composed. (See Ford, Handb. of Spain, p. 168.) From this district Carthago Nova itself obtained the surname of "Spartaria." [T. H. D.] SPARTO'LUS (ápтwλos, Thuc. ii. 79, v. 18; Steph. B.), a town of the Chalcidic peninsula, at no great distance from Olynthus (Isaeus, de Dicaeogen. Haered. p. 55), under the walls of which the Athenian forces were routed, B. C. 249. It belonged to the Bottiaeans, and was perhaps their capital, and was of sufficient importance to be mentioned in the treaty Letween Sparta and Athens in the tenth year of the Peloponnesian War. [E.B.J.] SPAUTA (Σπaûтα), a lake in Media Atropatene, which is intensely salt, so as to cause the itch on the bodies of persons who have unwittingly bathed in it, with injury also to their clothes (Strab. xi. p. 523). Its present name is the Sea of Urumiah. Its earliest Armenian name is said to have been Kaputan, or Kaputan Chow, whence the Greek form would seem | to have been modified. (L. Ingigi, Archaeol. Armen. i. p. 160; St. Martin, Mémoires, i. p. 59.) It is probably the same as the MapTiarǹ Xiuvn of Ptolemy (vi. 2. § 17). Many travellers have visited it in modern times. (Tavernier, i. ch. 4; Morier, Sec. Voy. ii. p. 179.) [V.] SPELAEUM, a place in Macedonia which Livy says was near Pella (xlv. 33). SPELUNCA (Sperlonga), a place on the coast of Latium (in the more extended sense of that name), situated between Tarracina and Caieta. The emperor Tiberius had a villa there, which derived its name from a natural cave or grotto, in which the emperor used to dine, and where he on one occasion very nearly lost his life, by the falling in of the roof of the cavern (Tac. Ann. iv. 59; Suet. Tib. 39). The villa is not again mentioned, but it would appear that a village had grown up around it, as Pliny mentions it in describing the coast (locus, Speluncae," Plin. iii. 5. s. 9), and its memory is still preserved by a village named Sperlonga, on a rocky point about 8 miles W. of Gaëta. Some Roman remains are still visible there, and the cave belonging to the Imperial villa may be identified by some remains of architectural decoration still attached to it (Craven's Abruzzi, vol. i. p. 73). [E. H. B.] SPEOS ARTE'MIDOS, the present grottoes of Beni-hassan, was situated N. of Antinoe, in Middle Aegypt, on the eastern bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° 40' N. The name is variously written: Peos in the Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 167, Wesseling); Pois in the Notitia Imperii; but Speos is probably the true form, implying an excavation (σméos) in the rocks. Speos Artemidos was rediscovered by the French and Tuscan expedition into Aegypt early in the present century. It was constructed by some of the Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty in a desert-valley running into the chain of Arabian hills. The structure as a whole consists of a temple, and of between thirty and forty catacombs. The temple is dedicated to Pasht, Bubastis, the Artemis of the Greeks. (Herod. ii. 58.) The catacombs appear to have served as the general necropolis of the Hermopolite nome. For although Hermopolis and its district lay on the western bank of the Nile, yet as the eastern hills at this spot approach very closely to the stream, while the western hills recede from it, it was more convenient to ferry the dead over the river than to transport them across the sands. Some of these catacombs were appropriated to the mummies of animals, cats especially, which were worshipped by the Hermopolitans. In the general cemetery two of these catacombs merit particular attention: (1) the tomb of Neoopth, a military chief in the reign of Sesortasen I. and of his wife Rotei; (2) that of Amenheme, of nearly the same age, and of very similar construction. The tomb of Neoopth, or, as it is more usually denominated, of Rotei, has in front an architrave excavated from the rock, and supported by two columns, each 23 feet high, with sixteen fluted facelets. The columns have neither base nor capital; but between the architrave and the head of the column a square abacus inserted. A denteled cornice runs over the architrave. The effect of the structure, although it is hardly detached from the rock, is light and graceful. The chamber or crypt is 30 feet square, and its roof is divided into three vaults by two architraves, each of which was originally supported by a single column, now vanished. The walls are painted in compartments of the most brilliant colours, and the |