the African continent. The E. part of this basin is interrupted by Cyprus alone, and was divided into the Carpathian, Pamphylian, Cilician, and Syrian

seas.

The third or Aegean portion is bounded to the S. by a curved line, which, commencing at the coast of Caria in Asia Minor, is formed by the islands of Rhodes, Crete, and Cythera, joining the Peloponnesus not far from Cape Malea, with its subdivisions, the Thracian, Myrtoan, Icarian, and Cretan seas.

From the Aegean, the "White Sea" of the Turks, the channel of the Hellespont leads into the Propontis, connected by the Thracian Bosporus with the Euxine: to the NE. of that sheet of water lies the Palus Maeotis, with the strait of the Cimmerian Bosporus. The configuration of the continents and of the islands (the latter either severed from the main or volcanically elevated in lines, as if over long fissures) led in very early times to cosmological views respecting eruptions, terrestrial revolutions, and overpourings of the swollen higher seas into those which were lower. The Euxine, the Hellespont, the straits of Gades, and the Internal Sea, with its many islands, were well fitted to originate such theories. Not to speak of the floods of Ogyges and Deucalion, or the legendary cleaving of the pillars of Hercules by that hero, the Samothracian traditions recounted that the Euxine, once an inland lake, swollen by the rivers that flowed into it, had broken first through the Bosporus and afterwards the Hellespont. (Diod. v. 47.) A reflex of these Samothracian traditions appears in the "Sluice Theory" of Straton of Lampsacus (Strab. i. pp. 49, 50), according to which, the swellings of the waters of the Euxine first opened the passage of the Hellespont, and afterwards caused the outlet through the Pillars of Hercules. This theory of Straton led Eratosthenes of Cyrene to examine the problem of the equality of level of all external seas, or seas surrounding the continents. (Strab. I. c.; comp. ii. p. 104.) Strabo (i. pp. 51, 54) rejected the theory of Straton, as insufficient to account for all the phenomena, and proposed one of his own, the profoundness of which modern geologists are only now beginning to appreciate. "It is not," he says (L. c.), "because the lands covered by seas were originally at different altitudes, that the waters have risen, or subsided, or receded from some parts and inundated others. But the reason is, that the same land is sometimes raised up and sometimes depressed, so that it either overflows or returns into its own place again. We must therefore ascribe the cause to the ground, either to that ground which is under the sea, or to that which becomes flooded by it; but rather to that which lies beneath the sea, for this is more moveable, and, on account of its wetness, can be altered with greater quickness." (Lyell, Geology, p. 17; Humboldt, Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 118, trans., Aspects of Nature, vol. ii. pp. 73-83, trans.)

The fluvial system of the Internal Sea, including the rivers that fall into the Euxine, consists, besides many secondary streams, of the Nile, Danube, Borysthenes, Tanais, Po, Rhone, Ebro, and Tyras. The general physics of this sea, and their connection with ancient speculations, do not fall within the scope of this article; it will be sufficient to say that the theory of the tides was first studied on the coast of this, which can only in poetical language be called "a tideless sea." The mariner of old had his charts and sailing directories, was acquainted

"

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with the bewildering currents and counter-currents of this sea, — the " Typhon" (Tuv), and the "Prester" (pnoτhp), the destroyer of those at sea, of which Lucretius (vi. 422-445) has given so terrific a description, and hailed in the hour of danger, as the "Dioscuri" who played about the mast-head of his vessel (Plin. ii. 437; Sen. Nat. Quaest. ii.), the fire of St. Elmo, "sacred to the seaman.' Much valuable information upon the winds, climate, and other atmospheric phenomena, as recorded by the ancients, and compared with modern investigations, is to be found in Smyth (Mediterranean, pp. 210-302). Forbiger's section upon Physical Geography (vol. i. pp. 576655) is useful for the references to the Latin and Greek authors. Some papers, which appeared in Fraser's Magazine for the years 1852 and 1853, upon the fish known to the ancients, throw considerable light upon the ichthyology of this sea. Recent inquiry has confirmed the truth of many instructive and interesting facts relating to the fish of the Mediterranean which have been handed down by Aristotle, Pliny, Archestratus, Aelian, Ovid, Oppian, Athenaeus, and Ausonius.

4. Historical Geography.-To trace the progress of discovery on the waters and shores of this sea would be to give the history of civilisation,-"nullum sine nomine saxum." Its geographical position has eminently tended towards the intercourse of nations, and the extension of the knowledge of the world. The three peninsulas-the Iberian, Italic, and Hellenic-run out to meet that of Asia Minor projecting from the E. coast, while the islands of the Aegean have served as stepping stones for the passage of the peoples from one continent to the other; and the great Indian Ocean advances by the fissure between Arabia, Aegypt, and Abyssinia, under the name of the Red Sea, so as only to be divided by a narrow isthmus from the Delta of the Nile valley and the SE. coast of the Mediterranean.

"We," says Plato in the Phaedo (p. 109, b.), "who dwell from the Phasis to the Pillars of Hercules, inhabit only a small portion of the earth in which we have settled round the (Interior) sea, like ants or frogs round a marsh." And yet the margin of this contracted basin has been the site where civilisation was first developed, and the theatre of the greatest events in the early history of the world. Religion, intellectual culture, law, arts, and manners- -nearly everything that lifts us above the savage, have come from these coasts.

The earliest civilisation on these shores was to the S., but the national character of the Aegyptians was opposed to intercourse with other nations, and their navigation, such as it was, was mainly confined to the Nile and Arabian gulf. The Phoenicians were the first great agents in promoting the communion of peoples, and their flag waved in every part of the waters of the Internal Sea. Carthage and Etruria, though of less importance than Phoenicia in connecting nations and extending the geographical horizon, exercised great Influence commercial intercourse with the W. coast of Africa and the N. of Europe. The progressive movement propagated itself more widely and enduringly through the Greeks and Romans, especially after the latter had broken the Phoenico-Carthaginian power.

on

In the Hellenic peninsula the broken configuration of the coast-line invited early navigation and commercial intercourse, and the expeditions of the Samians (Herod. iv. 162) and Phocaeans (Herod.

1. 163) laid open the W. coast of this sea. During the period of the Roman Universal Empire, the Mediterranean was the lake of the imperial city. Soon after the conclusion of the First Mithridatic War, piracy, which has always existed from the earliest periods of history to the present day in the Grecian waters, was carried on systematically by large armies and fleets, the strongholds of which were Cilicia and Crete. From these stations the pirates directed their expeditions over the greater part of the Mediterranean. (Appian, Bell. Mithr. 92: Plut. Pomp. 24.) Piracy, crushed by Pompeius, was never afterwards carried on so extensively as to merit a place in history, but was not entirely extirpated even by the fleet which the Roman emperors maintained in the East, and that cases still occurred is proved by inscriptions. (Böckh, Corp. Inser. Graec. nn. 2335, 2347.) The Romans despised all trade, and the Greeks, from the time of Hadrian, their great patron, till the extinction of the Roman power in the East, possessed the largest share of the commerce of the Mediterranean. Even after the Moslem conquests, the Arabs, in spite of the various expeditions which they fitted out to attack Constantinople, never succeeded in forming a maritime power; and their naval strength declined with the numbers and wealth of their Christian subjects, until it dwindled into a few piratical squadrons. The emperors of Constantinople really remained masters of the sea. On all points connected with this sea, see Admiral Smyth, The Mediterranean, London, 1854.

[E. B. J.]

INTEROCREA ('IvтEрокрéα, Strab.), a small town or village of the Sabines, between Amiternum and Reate. It was placed on the Via Salaria, at the junction of its two branches, one of which led eastwards to Amiternum, the other, and principal one, up the valley of the Velinus, to Asculum. It is now called Antrodoco, and is a position of great military importance, from its commanding the entrance to the two passes just mentioned, which must in all ages have formed two of the principal lines of communication across the Apennines. It seems, however, to have been in ancient times but a small place: Strabo calls it a village; and its name is otherwise found only in the Itineraries, which place it at 14 M. P. from Reate, a distance that coincides with the position of Antrodoco. (Strab. v. p. 228; Itin. Ant. p. 307; Tab. Peut.) Its ancient name is evidently derived from its position in a deep valley between rugged mountains; for we learn from Festus (p. 181, ed. Müll.) that Ocris was an ancient word for a mountain: and it is interesting to find this form still preserved in the name of the Montagne di Ocra, a lofty and rugged group of the Apennines, near Aquila. (Zannoni, Carta del Regno di Napoli, 3. fol.)

[E. H. B.]

INTERPROMIUM, a village of the Marrucini, forming a station on the Via Claudia Valeria between Corfinium and Teate. It is repeatedly mentioned in the Itineraries, but the distances are variously given. (Itin. Ant. pp. 102,310; Tab. Peut.) The line of the ancient highroad is, however, well ascertained, and the position of Interpromium is fixed by ancient remains, as well as mediaeval records, at a place on the right bank of the Aternus, just below the narrow gorge through which that river flows below Popoli. The site is now marked only by a tavern called the Osteria di S. Valentino, from the little town of that name on the hill above; it is distant 12 Roman miles from Corfinium (S. Pellino),|

and 13 from Teate (Chieti), or 21 from Pescara, at the mouth of the Aternus. (Holsten. Not. ad Cluv. p. 143; D'Anville, Analyse de l'Italie, p. 178; Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 117.) An inscription also mentions Interpromium under the name of Pagus Interprominus (Orell. Inscr. 144; Romanelli, l. c.); it is called "Interpromium vicus" in the Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 102), and was evidently a mere village, probably a dependency of Teate. [E.H.B.] INTIBILI. 1. [EDETANI.] 2. A town of Hispania Baetica, near Illiturgis, the scene of a battle gained by the Romans over the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War. (Liv. xxiii. 49; Frontin. Stratag. iii. 3.) [P.S.] INUI CASTRUM. [CASTRUM INUI.] INYCUM or INYCUS (IVUKOV, Steph. B., but IVUкos, Herod.: Eth. 'Ivukivos), a town of Sicily, situated in the SW. of the island, on the river Hypsas. It is principally known from its connection with the mythical legends concerning Minos and Daedalus; the capital of the Sicanian prince Cocalus, who afforded a shelter to the fugitive Daedalus against the Cretan monarch, being placed by some writers at Inycum, and by others at Camicus. (Paus. vii. 4. § 6; Charax, ap. Steph. B. v. Kapinós.) It is mentioned in historical times by Herodotus as the place of confinement to which Scythes, the ruler of Zancle, was sent by Hippocrates, who had taken him prisoner. (Herod. vi. 23, 24.) Aelian, who copies the narrative of Herodotus, represents Scythes as a native of Inycum; but this is probably a mistake. (Ael. V. H. viii. 17.) Plato speaks of Inycum as still in existence in his time, but quite a small place (xwplov návu σμikpóv); notwithstanding which he makes the sophist Hippias boast that he had derived from it a sum of 20 minae. (Plat. Hipp. M. p. 282, e.) It is evident that it always continued to be an inconsiderable place, and was probably a mere dependency of Selinus. Hence we never again meet with its name, though Stephanus tells us that this was still preserved on account of the excellence of its wine. (Steph. B. 8. v. "Ivuкov; Hesych. s. v.) Vibius Sequester is the only author that affords any clue to its position, by telling us that the river Hypsas (the modern Belici) flowed by it (Vib. Sequest. p. 12, according to Cluver's emen dation); but further than this its site cannot be determined. [E. H. B.]

IOBACCHI. [MARMARICA.]

IOL, afterwards CAESAREA (Ἰωλ Καισάρεια, Ptol. ii 4. § 5; Kaιodpeia, Strab., &c.), originally an obscure Phoenician settlement on the N. coast of Africa, became afterwards famous as the capital of Bocchus and of Juba II. [MAURETANIA.] The latter king enlarged and adorned the city, and gave it the name of Caesarea, in honour of his patron Augustus. Under the Romans it gave its name to the province of Mauretania Caesariensis, of which it was the capital. It was made a colony by the emperor Claudius. Under Valens it was burnt by the Moors; but it was again restored; and in the 6th century it was a populous and flourishing city. It occupied a favourable position midway between Carthage and the Straits, and was conveniently situated with refe.ence to Spain, the Balearic islands, and Sardinia; and it had a natural harbour, protected by a small island. To the E. of the city stood the royal mausoleum. (Strab. xvii. p. 831; Dion Cass. lx. 9; Mela, i. 6. § 1; Plin. v. 2. s. 1; Eutrop. vii. 5; Itin. Ant. pp. 5, 15, 25, 31; Oros. vii. 33; Ammian. xxix. 5; Procop. B. Vand. ii. 5.)

Caesarea is now identified, beyond all doubt, with the magnificent ruins at Zershell on the coast of Algier, in a little more than 20 E. long. The Arabic name is simply an abbreviation of Caesarea Iol; a fact clear to the intuitive sagacity of Shaw, and which, in connection with the statements of the ancients, led that incomparable traveller to the truth. Unfortunately, however, nearly all subsequent writers preferred to follow the thick-headed Mannert, who was misled by an error in the Antonine Itinerary, whereby all the places along this coast, for a considerable distance, are thrown too far to the W.; until the researches which followed the French conquest of the country revealed inscriptions which set the question at rest for ever. There exist few stronger examples of that golden rule of criticism:-"Ponderanda sunt testimonia, non numeranda." (Shaw, Travels, vol. i. pt. 1. c. 3; Barth, Wanderungen, p. 56; Pellissier, in the Exploration Scientifique de l'Algérie, vol. vi. p. 349.) [P. S.] IOLAI or IOLAENSES (Ióλaot, Paus.; 'IoAάelot, Diod.; 'Ioλaeîs, Strab. v. p. 225), a people of Sardinia, who appear to have been one of the indigenous or native tribes of the island. According to Strabo, they were the same people who were called in his day Diagesbians or Diagebrians (AlaYn6peîs or Alaynσbeîs), a name otherwise unknown: and he adds that they were a Tyrrhenian people, a statement in itself not improbable. The commonly received tradition, however, represented them as a Greek race, composed of emigrants from Attica and Thespiae, who had settled in the island under the command of Iolaus, the nephew of Hercules. (Paus. x. 17. § 5; Diod. iv. 30, v. 15.) It is evident that this legend was derived from the resemblance of the name (in the form which it assumed according to the Greek pronunciation) to that of Iolaus : what the native form of the name was, we know not; and it is not mentioned by any Latin author, though both Pausanias and Diodorus affirm that it was still retained by the part of the island which had been inhabited by the Iolai. Hence, modern writers have assumed that the name is in reality the same with that of the Ilienses, which would seem probable enough; but Pausanias, the only writer who mentions them both, expressly distinguishes the two. That author speaks of Olbia, in the NE. part of the island, as one of their chief towns. Diodorus represents them, on the contrary, as occupying the plains and most fertile portions of the island, while the district adjoining Olbia is one of the most rugged and mountainous in Sardinia. [E. H. B.] IOLCUS (Ιωλκός, Ep. Ιαωλκός, Dor. Ἰαλκός: Eth. Ἰώλκιος, fem. Ιωλκίς, Ιωλκίας), an ancient city of Magnesia in Thessaly, situated at the head of the Pagasacan gulf and at the foot of Mt. Pelion (Pind. Nem. iv. 88), and celebrated in the heroic ages as the residence of Jason, and the place where the Argonauts assembled. [See Dict. of Biogr. artt. JASON and ARGONAUTAE.] It is mentioned by Homer, who gives it the epithets of UKTIμérn and eupúxopos (Il. ii. 712, Od. xi. 256). It is said to have been founded by Cretheus (Apollod. i. 9. § 11), and to have been colonised by Minyans from Orchomenos. (Strab. ix. p. 414.) Iolcus is rarely mentioned in historical times. It was given by the Thessalians to Hippias, upon his expulsion from Athens. (Herod. v. 94.) The town afterwards suffered from the dissensions of its inhabitants, but it was finally ruined by the foundation of Demetrias in

B. C. 290, when the inhabitants of Iolcos and of other adjoining towns were removed to this place. (Strab. ix. p. 436.) It seems to have been no longer in existence in the time of Strabo, since he speaks of the place where Iolcos stood (8 rŷs 'Iwλkoû tómos, ix. p. 438).

The position of Iolcos is indicated by Strabo, who says that it was on the road from Boebe to Deinetrias, and at the distance of 7 stadia from the latter (ix. p. 438). In another passage he says that lolcos is situated above the sea at the distance of 7 stadia from Demetrias (ix. p. 436). Pindar also, as we have already seen, places Iolcos at the foot of Mt. Pelion, consequently a little inland. From these descriptions there is little doubt that Leake is right in placing Iolcos on the steep height between the southernmost houses of Volo and Vlakho-makhalá, upon which stands a church called Episkopi. There are at present no ancient remains at this place; but some large squared blocks of stone are said to have formerly existed at the foot of the height, and to have been carried away for the construction of buildings elsewhere. Moreover, it is the only spot in the neighbourhood which has any appearance of being an ancient site. It might indeed appear, from Livy (xliv. 12, 13), that Iolcus was situated upon the coast; but in this passage, as well as in Strabo (ix. p. 436), the name of Iolcos seems to have been given to this part of the coast as well as to the city itself. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 379; Mézières, Mémoire sur le Pelion et l'Ossa, p. 11.)

JOMANES (Plin. vi. 17. s. 21), the most important of the affluents of the Ganges, into which it flows near the city of Allahabad (Pratishthána). There can be no doubt that Arrian means the same river when he speaks of Iobares (Ind. c. 8); and Ptolemy expresses nearly the same sound, when he names the Diamuna (vii. 1. § 29). It is now calied the Jamuna or Jumna. The Jumna rises in the highest part of the Himalaya, at no great distance from the sources of the Sutledge and Ganges, respectively, in the neighbourhood of Iamunávatári (Jumnotri), which is probably the most sacred spot of Hindu worship. It enters the Indian plain country at Fyzabad, and on its way to join the Ganges it passes the important cities of Dehli (Indraprastha) and Agra (Crishmapura), and receives several large tributaries. These affluents, in order from W. to E., are the Sambus (Arrian, Ind. c. 4), (probably the Carmanvati or Cambal), the Betwa (or Vetravati), and the Cainas (Arrian, l. c.; Plin. vi. 19. s. 21: now Cayana or Céna). The last has been already mentioned as one of the tributaries of the Ganges. [V.]

IOMNIUM. [MAURETANIA.]

ION (Ir), a river of Tymphaea in Thessaly, rising in the Cambunian mountains, and flowing into the Peneius: now river of Krátzova. (Strab. vii. p. 327; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv p. 546.). ION MONS. [LIBYA.] IONES. [IONIA.]

IO'NIA (Iavía), also called Ionis, the country of Asia Minor inhabited by Ionian Greeks, and comprising the western coast from Phocaca in the north to Miletus in the south. (Herod. i. 142; Strab. xiv. init.; Plin. v. 31.) Its length from north to south, in a straight line, amounted to 800 stadia, while the length of its much indented coast amounted to 3430; and the distance from Ephesus to Smyrna, in a straight line, was only 320 stadia, while along the coast it reached the large number of 2200. (Strab.

xiv. pp. 632, 665.) Towards the inland, or the east, Ionia extended only a few miles, the towns of Magnesia, Larissa, Tralles, Alabanda, and others, not belonging to it. Ptolemy (v. 2) assigns much narrower limits to Ionia than his predecessors, for, according to him, it extended only from the Hermus in Lydia to the Maeander in Caria; so that Phocaea and Miletus would not belong to Ionia. According to a generally received tradition, the Ionian colonies on the west coast of Asia were founded after the death of Codrus, the last king of Attica, about 1. C. 1044, or, according to others, as early as B. C. 1060, about 60 years after the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. The sons of Codrus, Neleus and Androclus, it is said, being dissatisfied with the abolition of royalty and the appointment of their eldest brother Medon to the archonship, emigrated, with large numbers of Attic Ionians and bands from other parts of Greece, into Asia Minor. (Strab. xiv. p. 633, foll.; Paus. vii. 2.) Here, in one of the most beautiful and fertile parts of the earth, they founded a number of towns,-partly expelling and partly subduing the ancient inhabitants, who consisted mainly of Maeonians, Carians, and Pelasgians. (Herod. i. 142; Paus. vii. 2; Pherecyd. Fragm. 26; Dionys. Per. 822, &c.) As a great many of the original inhabitants remained in the country as subjects of the conquerors, and as the latter had gone to Asia as warriors, without women, the new colonies were not pure Greek; but still the subdued nations were not so completely different as to render an amalgamation into one nation impossible, or even very difficult. This amalgamation with different tribes also accounts for the fact that four different dialects were spoken by the Ionians. (Herod. l. c.)

The towns founded by the Ionians - which, though independent of one another, yet formed a kind of confederacy for common purposes-amounted to twelve (dwdekáπoλis), a number which must not be regarded as accidental. These towns, of which accounts are given in separate articles, were: PHOCAEA, ERYTHRAE, CLAZOMENAE, TEOS, LEBEDOs, COLOPHON, EPHESUS, PRIENE, MYUS, MILETUS, and SAMOS and CHIOS in the neighbouring islands. (Strab. xiv. p. 633; Aelian, V. H. viii. 5.) Subsequently, about B. c. 700, Smyrna, which until then had belonged to Aeolis, became by treachery a member of the Ionian confederacy, which henceforth consisted of thirteen cities. (Herod. i. 149; Paus. vii. 5; Strab. I. c.) These Ionian colonies soon rose to a high degree of prosperity, and in many respects outstripped the mother-country; for poets, philosophers, historians, and artists flourished in the Ionian cities long before the mother-country attained to any eminence in these intellectual pursuits. All the cities of Ionia formed independent republics, with democratical constitutions; but their common affairs were discussed at regular meetings held at Panionium (Пaviúviov), the common centre of all the Ionian cities, on the northern slope of Mount Mycale, near Priene, and about three stadia from the coast. (Herod. i. 141, 148; Strab. xiv. p. 639; Mela, j. 17; Plin. v. 29.) These meetings at Panionium appear to have given rise to a permanent town, with a Prytaneum, in which the meetings were held. (Steph. B. s. v.) The political bond which held the Ionian cities together appears to have been rather loose, and the principal objects of the meetings, at least in later times, were religious worship and the celebration of games. The cities continued to enjoy their increasing prosperity and their independence

until the establishment of the Lydian monarchy. The attacks upon the Ionian colonies began even in the reign of Gyges, so that one city after another was conquered, until, in the reign of Croesus, all of them became subject to the Lydians. When Lydia became the prey of the Persian conqueror Cyrus, in B. C. 557, Ionia also was obliged to acknowledge the supremacy of Persia; but the new rulers scarcely interfered with the internal affairs of the cities and their confederacy; all they had to do was to pay tribute, to send their contingents to the Persian armies, and to submit to satraps and tyrants, the latter of whom were Greek usurpers who set themselves up in their native cities, and were backed by the Persian monarchs. But the Ionians, accustomed to liberty, were unable to bear even this gentle yoke for any length of time, and in B. C. 500 a general insurrection broke out against Persia, in which the Athenians and Eretrians also took part. The revolt had been planned and organised by Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, and Aristagoras, his son-in-law. The Ionians burned and destroyed Sardes, the resi dence of the Persian satraps, but were then routed and defeated in a bloody battle near Ephesus. In B. C. 496 all the Ionians were again reduced, and compelled to assist the Persians with men and ships in the war against Greece. In the battle of Mycale, B. C. 479, the Ionians deserted from the ranks of the Persians and joined their kinsmen, and thus took the first step to recover their independence, which ten years later was fully secured by the battle on the Eurymedon. They then entered into a relation with the Athenians, who were to protect them against any further aggression from the Persians; but in consequence of this they became more or less dependent upon their protectors. In the unfortunate peace of Antalcidas, the Ionians, with the other Asiatic Greeks, were again made over to Persia, B. C. 387; and when the Persian monarchy was destroyed by Alexander, they became a part of the Macedonian empire, and finally fell into the hands of the Romans. The highest prosperity of Ionia belongs to the period of the Lydian supremacy; under the rule of Macedonia it somewhat recovered from its previous sufferings. Under the Romans the Ionian cities still retained their importance as commercial places, and as seats of art and literature; but they lost their political life, and sank down to the condition of mere provincial towns. The last traces of their prosperity were destroyed under the barbarous rule of the Turks in the middle ages. During the period of their greatest prosperity and independence, the Ionian cities sent out numerous colonies to the shores of the Black sea and to the western coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. (Comp. Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vol. ii. chap. 12, pp. 94, 115, 120, &c.; Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. ii. pp. 229253.) [L. S.] IO'NIUM MARE ('Ióviov πéλayos, Ptol.), was the name given by geographers to the sea which bathed the western shores of Greece, and separated them from those of Sicily and Southern Italy. The appellation would seem to date from a very early period, when the Ionians still inhabited the shores of the Corinthian gulf, and the part of the Peloponness subsequently known as Achaia; but we have no evidence of its employment in early times. The legends invented by later writers, which derived it from a hero of the name of Ionius or Ion, or from the wanderings of Io (Aesch. Prom. 840; Tzetz.ad Lycophr. Alex. 630; Steph. B. s. v.; Eustath. ad Dionys.