kind in Sicily. His usurpation is referred by Eusebius to the 43rd Olympiad, or B. c. 608. (Arist. Pol. v. 10, 12; Euseb. Arm. vol. ii. p. 109.) Leontini appears to have retained its independ

identical with Nahr-ed-Dâmur, half way between Beyrút and Saida, Lion's town and river should be looked for south of this, and north of Sidon. The only stream in this interval is Nahr-el-Auly, called also in its upper part Nahr Barúk, which Dr. Robin-ence till after B. C. 498, when it fell under the yoke son has shown to be the Bostrenus Fluvius. [BoSTRENUS.] This, therefore, Mannert seemed to have sufficient authority for identifying with the Leontes. But the existence of the Litány-a name supposed to be similar to the Leontes-between Sidon and Tyre, is thought to countenance the conjecture that Ptolemy has misplaced the Leontes, which is in fact identical with the anonymous river which Strabo mentions near Tyre (p. 758), which can be no other than the Litany (Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 408 -410, and notes). No great reliance, however, can be placed on the similarity of names, as the form Leontos is merely the inflexion of Aéwv, which was not likely to be adopted in Arabic. It is far more probable that the classical geographer in this, as in other cases, translated the Semitic name. [See CANIS and LYCUS.] Besides which the Litány does not retain this name to the coast, but is here called Nahr-el-Kâsimiyeh, the Casimeer of Manndrell (March 20, p. 48; Reland, Palaestina, pp. 290, 291.) [G. W.]

LEONTI'NI (AeovTivoɩ: Eth. AEOVTIVOS: Lentini), a city of Sicily, situated between Syracuse and Catana, but about eight miles from the seacoast, near a considerable lake now known as the Lago di Lentini. The name of Leontini is evidently an ethnic form, signifying properly the people rather than the city itself; but it seems to have been the only one in use, and is employed both by Greek and Latin writers (declined as a plural adjective*), with the single exception of Ptolemy, who calls the city AeóvTIOV or Leontium. (Ptol. iii. 4. § 13.) But it is clear, from the modern form of the name, Lentini, that the form Leontini, which we find universal in writers of the best ages, continued in common use down to a late period. All ancient writers concur in representing Leontini as a Greek colony, and one of those of Chalcidian origin, being founded by Chalcidic colonists from Naxos, in the same year with Catana, and six years after the parent city of Naxos, B.C. 730. (Thuc. vi. 3; Scymn. Ch. 283; Diod. xii. 53, xiv. 14.) According to Thucydides, the site had been previously occupied by Siculi, but these were expelled, and the city became essentially a Greek colony. We know little of its early history; but, from the strength of its position and the extreme fertility of its territory (renowned in all ages for its extraordinary richness), it appears to have early attained to great prosperity, and became one of the most considerable cities in the E. of Sicily. The rapidity of its rise is attested by the fact that it was able, in its turn, to found the colony of Euboea (Strab. vi. p. 272; Scymn. Ch. 287), apparently at a very early period. It is probable, also, that the three Chalcidic cities, Leontini, Naxos, and Catana, from the earliest period adopted the same line of policy, and made common cause against their Dorian neighbours, as we find them constantly doing in later times.

The government of Leontini was an oligarchy, but it fell at one time, like so many other cities of Sicily, under the yoke of a despot of the name of Panaetius, who is said to have been the first instance of the

*Polybius uses the fuller phrase Tv Acovτίνων πόλις (vii. 6).

of Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela (Herod. vii. 154): after which it seems to have passed in succession under the authority of Gelon and Hieron of Syracuse; as we find that, in B.C. 476, the latter despot, having expelled the inhabitants of Catana and Naxos from their native cities, which he peopled with new colonists, established the exiles at Leontini, the possession of which they shared with its former citizens. (Diod. xi. 49.) We find no special mention of Leontini in the revolutions that followed the death of Hieron; but there is no doubt that it regained its independence after the expulsion of Thrasybulus, B. C. 466, and the period which followed was probably that of the greatest prosperity of Leontini, as well as the other Chalcidic cities of Sicily. (Diod. xi. 72, 76.) But its proximity to Syracuse became the source of fresh troubles to Leontini. In B. C. 427 the Leontines found themselves engaged in hostilities with their more powerful neighbour, and, being unable to cope single-handed with the Syrasans, they applied for support not only to their Chalcidic brethren, but to the Athenians also, who sent a fleet of twenty ships to their assistance, under the command of Laches and Charoeades. (Thuc. iii. 86; Diod. xii. 53) The operations of the Athenian fleet under Laches and his successors Pythodorus and Eurymedon were, however, confined to the part of Sicily adjoining the Straits of Messana: the Leontines received no direct support from them, but, after the war had continued for some years, they were included in the general pacification of Gela, B. C. 424, which for a time secured them in the possession of their independence. (Thuc. iv. 58, 65.) This, however, did not last long: the Syracusans took advantage of intestine dissensions among the Leontines, and, by espousing the cause of the oligarchy, drove the democratic party into exile, while they adopted the oligarchy and richer classes as Syracusan citizens. The greater part of the latter body even abandoned their own city, and migrated to Syracuse; but quickly returned, and for a time joined with the exiles in holding it out against the power of the Syracusans. But the Athenians, to whom they again applied, were unable to render them any effectual assistance; they were a second time expelled, B. C. 422, and Leontini became a mere dependency of Syracuse, though always retaining some importance as a fortress, from the strength of its position. (Thuc. v. 4; Diod. xii. 54.)

In B. C. 417 the Leontine exiles are mentioned as joining with the Segestans in urging on the Athenian expedition to Sicily (Diod. xii. 83; Plut. Nic. 12); and their restoration was made one of the avowed objects of the enterprise. (Thuc. vi. 50.) But the failure of that expedition left them without any hope of restoration; and Leontini continued in its subordinate and fallen condition till B. c. 406, when the Syracusans allowed the unfortunate Agrigentines, after the capture of their own city by the Carthaginians, to establish themselves at Leontini. The Geloans and Camarinaeans followed their example the next year: the Leontine exiles of Syracuse at the same time took the opportunity to return to their native city, and declare themselves independent, and the treaty of peace concluded by Dionysius with Himilco, in B. c. 405, expressly stipulated for the

ticularly from Centuripa. (Ib. iii. 46, 49.) Strabo also speaks of it as in a very declining condition, and though the name is still found in Pliny and Ptolemy, it seems never to have been a place of importance under the Roman rule. (Strab. vi. p. 273; Mel. ii. 7. § 16; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 13.) But the great strength of its position must have always preserved it from entire decay, and rendered it a place of some consequence in the middle ages. The modern city of Lentini, which preserves the ancient site as well as name, is a poor

suffers severely from malaria. No ruins are visible on the site; but some extensive excavations in the rocky sides of the hill on which it stands are believed by the inhabitants to be the work of the Laestrygones, and gravely described as such by Fazello. (Fazell. de Reb. Sic. iii. 3.)

freedom and independence of Leontini. (Diod. xiii. 89, 113, 114; Xen. Hell. ii. 3. § 5.) This condition was not long observed by Dionysius, who no sooner found himself free from the fear of Carthage than he turned his arms against the Chalcidic cities, and, after reducing Catana and Naxos, compelled the Leontines, who were now bereft of all their allies, to surrender their city, which was for the second time deserted, and the whole people transferred to Syracuse, B. C. 403. (Id. xiv. 14, 15.) At a later period of his reign (B. C. 396) Dionysius found himself compelled to appease the discontent of his mer-place, though with about 5000 inhabitants, and cenary troops, by giving up to them both the city and the fertile territory of Leontini, where they established themselves to the number of 10,000 men. (Id. xiv. 78.) From this time Leontini is repeatedly mentioned in connection with the civil troubles and revolutions at Syracuse, with which city it seems to have constantly continued in intimate relations; but, as Strabo observes, always shared in its disasters, without always partaking of its prosperity. (Strab. vi. p. 273.) Thus, the Leontines were among the first to declare against the younger Dionysius, and open their gates to Dion (Diod. xvi. 16; Plut. Dion. 39, 40). Some years afterwards their city was occupied with a military force by Hicetas, who from thence carried on war with Timoleon (Ib. 78, 82); and it was not till after the great victory of the latter over the Carthaginians (B. C. 340) that he was able to expel Hicetas and make himself master of Leontini. (Ib. 82; Plut. Timol. 32.) That city was not, like almost all the others of Sicily, restored on this occasion to freedom and independence, but was once more incorporated in the Syracusan state, and the inhabitants transferred to that city. (Diod. xvi. 82.)

The situation of Leontini is well described by Polybius: it stood on a broken hill, divided into two separate summits by an intervening valley or hollow; at the foot of this hill on the W. side, flowed a small stream, which he calls the Lissus, now known as the Fiume Ruina, which falls into the Lake of Lentini, a little below the town. (Pol. vii. 6.) The two summits just noticed, being bordered by precipitous cliffs, formed, as it were, two natural citadels or fortresses; it was evidently one of these which Thucydides mentions under the name of PHOCEAE, which was occupied in B. c. 422 by the Leontine exiles who returned from Syracuse. (Thuc. v. 4.) Both heights seem to have been fortified by the Syracusans, who regarded Leontini as an important fortress; and we find them alluded to as "the forts" (rà ppoúpia) of Leontini. (Diod. xiv. 58, xxii. 8.) Diodorus also mentions that one quarter At a later period the Leontines again figure as an of Leontini was known by the name of "The New independent state, and, during the wars of Agathocles Town” (ỷ Néɑ wódis, xvi. 72); but we have no with the Carthaginians, on several occasions took means of determining its locality. It is singular part against the Syracusans. (Diod. xix. 110, xx. that no ancient author alludes to the Lake (or as it 32.) When Pyrrhus arrived in Sicily, B. C. 278, is commonly called the Biviere) of Lentini, a sheet they were subject to a tyrant or despot of the name of water of considerable extent, but stagnant and of Heracleides, who was one of the first to make his shallow, which lies immediately to the N. of the submission to that monarch. (Id. xxii. 8, 10, Exc. city. It produces abundance of fish, but is conH. p. 497.) But not long after they appear to have sidered to be the principal cause of the malaria from again fallen under the yoke of Syracuse, and Leon-which the city now suffers. (D'Orville, Sicula, tini was one of the cities of which the sovereignty was secured to Hieron, king of Syracuse, by the treaty concluded with him by the Romans at the commencement of the First Punic War, B. C. 263. (ld. xxiii. Exc. H. p. 502.) This state of things continued till the Second Punic War, when Leontini again figures conspicuously in the events which led to the fall of Syracuse. It was in one of the long and narrow streets of Leontini that Hieronymus was assassinated by Dinomenes, B. C. 215 (Liv. xxiv. 7; Polyb. vii. 6); and it was there that, shortly after, Hippocrates and Epicydes first raised the standard of open war against Rome. Marcellus hastened to attack the city, and made himself master of it without difficulty; but the severities exercised by him on this occasion inflamed the minds of the Syracusans to such an extent as to become the immediate occasion of the rupture with Rome. (Liv. xxiv. 29, 30, 39.) Under the Roman government Leontini was restored to the position of an independent municipal town, but it seems to have sunk into a state of decay. Cicero calls it "misera civitas atque inanis" (Verr. ii. 66); and, though its fertile Leontini was noted as the birthplace of the cele. territory was still well cultivated, this was done almost brated orator Gorgias, who in B. c. 427 was the wholly by farmers from other cities of Sicily, par-head of the deputation sent by his native city to

p. 168; Smyth's Sicily, pp. 157, 158.)

The extraordinary fertility of the territory of Leontini, or the LEONTINUS CAMPUS, is celebrated by many ancient authors. According to a tradition commonly received, it was there that wheat grew wild, and where it was first brought into cultivation (Diod. iv. 24, v. 2); and it was always regarded as the most productive district in all Sicily for the growth of corn. Cicero calls it "campus ille Leontinus nobilissimus ac feracissimus," " uberrima Siciliae pars," "caput rei frumentariae," and says that the Romans were accustomed to consider it as in itself a sufficient resource against scarcity. (Cic. Verr. iii. 18, 44, 46, pro Scaur. 2, Phil. viii. 8.) The tract thus celebrated, which was known also by the name of the LAESTRYGONII CAMPI [LAESTRYGONES], was evidently the plain extending from the foot of the hills on which Leontini was situated to the river Symaethus, now known as the Piano di Catania. We have no explanation of the tradition which led to the fixing on this fertile tract as the abode of the fabulous Laestrygones.

(Diod. xii. 53; | nophon of Ephesus. (Ephesiaca, iv. p. 280, ed. [E. H. B.] Bipont.) [W. B. D.] LEPETYMNUS (AeTéruuvos, called Lepethymnus or Lepethymus by Pliny, v. 31. s. 39; the MSS. vary), a mountain in the northern part of Lesbos, near Methymna. Plehn states (Lesbiac. Lib. p. 9) that it is the highest mountain in the island: but this does not appear to be consistent with modern surveys. Its present name is said to be Mont S. Theodore. The sepulchre and tomb of the hero Palamedes are alleged to have been here. (Tzetzes, Lycophr. Cassandr. 1095; Philostr. Heroic. p. 716, Vit. Apollon. Tyan. iv. 13. 150, also 16. 154.) In Antigonus of Carystus (c. 17) there is a story given, on the authority of Myrsilus the Lesbian, concerning a temple of Apollo and a shrine of the hero Lepetymnus, connected with the same mountain. Here, also, according to Theophrastus (De Sign. Pluv. et Vent. p. 783, ed. Schneid.), an astronomer called Matricetas made his observations. [J. S. H.]

favour of Philip, who thus obtained possession of the
place. (Polyb. iv. 77, 79, 80.) In the time of Pau-
sanias the only monument in Lepreum was a temple
of Demeter, built of brick. In the vicinity of the
town was a fountain named Arene. (Paus. v. 5. §6.)
The territory of Lepreum was rich and fertile. (Xápa

whole we may safely place them in the group of the
Alps, of which the Mont St. Gothard is the centre,
and from which the Rhone and the Rhine, as well
as the Reuss and the Ticino, take their rise. The
name of Val Levantina, still given to the upper
valley of the Ticino, near the foot of the St. Gothard,
is very probably derived from the name of the Le-evdaíuwv, Strab. viii. p. 345.)
pontii. Their chief town, according to Ptolemy,
was Oscela or Oscella, which is generally supposed
to be Domo d' Ossola; but, as the Lepontii are
erroneously placed by him in the Cottian Alps, it is
perhaps more probable that the town meant by him
is the Ocelum of Caesar (now Ureau), which was
really situated in that district. [OCELUM.]

The name of ALPES LEPONTIAE, or Lepontian Alps, is generally given by modern geographers to the part of this chain extending from Monte Rosa to the St. Gothard; but there is no ancient authority for this use of the term.

[E. H. B.]

The ruins of Lepreum are situated upon a hill, near the modern village of Strovitzi. These ruins show that Lepreum was a town of some size. A plan of them is given by the French Commission, which is copied in the work of Curtius. They were first described by Dodwell. It takes half an hour to ascend from the first traces of the walls to the acropolis, which is entered by an ancient gateway. "The towers are square; one of them is almost entire, and contains a small window or arrow hole. A transverse wall is carried completely across the acropolis, by which means it was anciently divided into two parts. The foundation of this wall, and part of the elevation, still remain. Three different periods of architecture are evident in this fortress. The walls are composed of polygons: some of the towers consist of irregular, and others of rectangular quadrilaterals. The ruins extend far below the acropolis, on the side of the hill, and are seen on a flat detached knoll." (Dodwell, Tour through Greece, vol. ii. p. 347: Leake, Morea, vol. i. p. 56; Boblaye, Recherches, fc. p. 135; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 84.)

LE'PSIA (Lipso), a small island of the Icarian sea, in the north of Leros, and opposite to the coast of Caria. It is not mentioned by any ancient author except Pliny (H. N. v. 34). [L. S.]

LEPTE (Aεπtikỳ aкра, Ptol. iv. 5; Plin. vi. 29 s. 34), the modern Ras-el-Auf, in lat. 23° N., was a headland of Upper Egypt, upon the confines of Aethiopia, which projected into the Red Sea at Sinus Immundus (Foul Bay). It formed the extremity of a volcanic range of rocks abounding in mines of gold, copper and topaz. [W. B. D.]

LEPTIS, a town of Hispania Baetica, mentioned only in the Bell. Alex. 57, where the word is perhaps only a false reading for LAEFA, near the mouth of the Anas. [P.S.]

LE'PREUM (7ò Aéπpeov, Scyl., Strab., Polyb.; Aéжpeos, Paus., Aristoph. Av. 149; Aéπpiov, Ptol. iii. 16. § 18: Eth. Aexpeάrns), the chief town of Triphylia in Elis, was situated in the southern part of the district, at the distance of 100 stadia from Samicum, and 40 stadia from the sea. (Strab. viii. p. 344.) Scylax and Ptolemy, less correctly, describe it as lying upon the coast. Triphylia is said to have been originally inhabited by the Cauconians, whence Lepreum is called by Callimachus (Hymn. in Jov. 39) Καυκώνων πτολίεθρον. The Caucones were afterwards expelled by the Minyae, who took possession of Lepreum. (Herod. iv. 148.) Subsequently, and probably soon after the Messenian wars, Lepreum and the other cities of Triphylia were subdued by the Eleians, who governed thein as subject places. [See Vol. I. p. 818, b.] The Triphylian cities, however, always bore this yoke with impatience; and Lepreum took the lead in their frequent attempts to shake off the Eleian supremacy. The greater importance of Lepreum is shown by the fact that it was the only one of the Triphylian towns which took part in the Persian wars. (Herod. ix. 28.) In B. c. 421 Lepreum, supported by Sparta, revolted from Elis (Thuc. v. 31); and at last, in 400, the Eleians, by their treaty with Sparta, were obliged to relinquish their authority over Lepreum and the other Triphyliau towns. (Xen. Hell. iii. 2. $25.) When the Spartan power had been broken by the battle of Leuctra (B. c. 371), the Spartans endeavoured to recover their supremacy over Lepreum and the other Triphylian towns; but the latter protected themselves by becoming members of the Arcadian confederacy, which had been recently founded by Epaminondas. (Xen. Hell. vi. 5. § 2, seq.) Hence Lepreum is called an Arcadian town by Scylax and Pliny, the latter of whoin erroneously speaks both of a Leprion in Elis (iv. 5. s. 6), and of a Lepreon in Arcadia (iv. 5. s. 10). Pausanias also states that the Lepreatae in his time claimed to be Arcadians; but he observes that they had been subjects of the Eleians from ancient times,-that as many of them as had been victors in the public games were proclaimed as Eleians from Lepreus,and that Aristophanes describes Lepreus as a city of the Eleians. (Paus. v. 5. §3.) After the time of Alexander the Eleians again reduced the Triphylian cities, which therefore were obliged to join the Aetolian league along with the Eleians. But when Philip, in his war with the Aetolians, marched into Triphylia, the inhabitants of Lepreum rose against the Eleian garrison in their town, and declared in a naval station.

VOL. II.

*

LEPTIS (Liv. xxxiv. 62; Caes. B. C. ii. 38; Hirt. Bell. Afr. 6, 7, 9, 62; Mela, i. 7. § 2; Plin. v. 4 s. 3), also called by later writers, LEPTIS MINOR or PARVA (Aéπtis ý μíkpa, Ptol. iv. 3. § 10; Leptiminus or Lepte Minus, Itin. Ant. p. 58; Tab. Peut.; Geogr. Rav. iii. 5 v. 5: Eth Leptitani: Lemta, Ru.), a city on the coast of Byzaciun, just within the SE. headland of the Sinus Neapolitanus, 18 M. P. SE. of Hadrumetum, and 33 M. P. NE. of Thysdrus, and one of the most flourishing of the Phoenician colonies on that coast, notwithstanding the epithet PARVA, which is merely used by late writers to distinguish it from the still more important city of LEPTIS MAGNA. It was a colony of Tyre (Sall. Jug. 19; Plin. l. c.), and, under the Carthaginians, it was the most important place in the wealthy district of EMPORIAE, and its wealth was such that it paid to Carthage the daily tribute of a Euboic talent. (Liv. l. c.) Under the Romans it was a libera civitas, at least in Pliny's time: whether it became a colony afterwards depends on the question, whether the coins bearing the name of LEPTIS belong to this city or to Leptis Magna.

* Derived from a Phoenician word signifying

M