and it was in great part by the assistance of a body of mercenary troops from Morgantia and other towns of the interior, that that tyrant succeeded in establishing his despotic power at Syracuse, B. C. 317. (Justin. xxii. 2; Diod. xix. 6.) Morgantia is repeatedly mentioned during the Second Punic War. During the siege of Syracuse by Marcellus it was occupied by a Roman garrison, and great magazines of corn collected there; but the place was betrayed by the inhabitants to the Carthaginian general Himilco, and was for some time occupied by the Syracusan leader Hippocrates, who from thence watched the proceedings of the siege. (Liv. xxiv. 36, 39.) It was ultimately recovered by the Roman general, but revolted again after the departure of Marcellus from Sicily, B. C. 211; and being retaken by the praetor M. Cornelius, both the town and its territory were assigned to a body of Spanish mercenaries, who had deserted to the Romans under Mericus. (Id. xxvi. 21.) Morgantia appears to have still continued to be a considerable town under the Roman dominion. In the great Servile insurrection of B. C. 102 it was besieged by the leaders of the insurgents, Tryphon and Athenion; but being a strong place and well fortified, offered a vigorous resistance; and it is not clear whether it ultimately fell into their hands or not. (Diod. xxxvi. 4, 7. Exc. Phot. pp. 533, 534.) Cicero repeatedly mentions its territory as one fertile in corn and well cultivated, though it suffered severely from the exactions of Verres. (Cic. Verr. iii. 18. 43.) It was therefore in his time still a municipal town, and we find it again mentioned as such by Pliny (ii. 8. s. 14); so that it must be an error on the part of Strabo, that he speaks of Morgantium as a city that no longer existed. (Strab. vi. p. 270.) It may, however, very probably have been in a state of great decay, as the notice of Pliny is the only subsequent mention of its name, and from this time all trace of it is lost. The position of Morgantia is a subject of great uncertainty, and it is impossible to reconcile the conflicting statements of ancient writers. Most authorities, however, concur in associating it with the Siculian towns of the interior, that border on the valleys of the Symaethus and its tributaries, Menaenum, Agyrium, Assorus, &c. (Diod. xi. 78, xiv. 78; Cic. Verr. l. c.; Sil. Ital. xiv. 265); and à more precise testimony to the same effect is found in the statement that the Carthaginian general Mago encamped in the territory of Agyrium, by the river Chrysas, on the road leading to Morgantia. (Diod. xiv. 95.) The account of its siege during the Servile War also indicates it as a place of natural strength, built on a lofty hill. (Diod. xxxvi. 1. c.) Hence it is very strange that Livy in one passage speaks of the Roman fleet as lying at Morgantia, as if it were a place on the sea-coast; a statement wholly at variance with all other accounts E COIN OF MORGANTIA. of its position, and in which there must probably be some mistake. (Liv. xxiv. 27.) On the whole we may safely place Morgantia somewhere on the borders of the fertile tract of plain that extends from Catania inland along the Simeto and its tributaries; and probably on the hills between the Dittaino and the Gurna Longa, two of the principal of those tributaries; but any attempt at a nearer determination must be purely conjectural. There exist coins of Morgantia, which have the name of the city at full, MOPгANTINÊN: this is unfortunately effaced on the one figured in the preceding column. [E. H. B.] MORGE'TES (Mópyntes), an ancient people of southern Italy, who had disappeared before the period of authentic history, but are noticed by several ancient writers among the earliest inhabitants of that part of the peninsula, in connection with the Oenotrians, Itali, and Siculi. Antiochus of Syracuse (ap. Dionys. i. 12) represented the Siculi, Morgetes and Italietes as all three of Oenotrian race; and derived their names, according to the favourite Greek custom, from three successive rulers of the Oenotrians, of whom Italus was the first, Morges the second, and Siculus the third. This last monarch broke up the nation into two, separating the Siculi from their parent stock; and it would seem that the Morgetes followed the fortunes of the younger branch; for Strabo, who also cites Antiochus as his authority, tells us that the Siculi and Morgetes at first inhabited the extreme southern peninsula of Italy, until they were expelled from thence by the Oenotrians, when they crossed over into Sicily. (Strab. vi. p. 257.) The geographer also regards the name of Morgantium in Sicily as an evidence of the existence of the Morgetes in that island (Ibid. pp. 257. 270); but no other writer notices them there, and it is certain that in the time of Thucydides their name must have been effectually merged in that of the Siculi. In the Etymologicon Magnum, indeed, Morges is termed a king of Sicily: but it seems clear that a king of the Siculi is intended; for the fable there related, which calls Siris a daughter of Morges, evidently refers to Italy alone. (Etym. M. v. Zipis.) All that we can attempt to deduce as historical from the legends above cited, is that there appears to have existed in the S. of Italy, at the time when the Greek colonists first became acquainted with it, a people or tribe bearing the name of Morgetes, whom they regarded as of kindred race with the Chones and other tribes, whom they included under the more general appellation of the Oenotrians. [OENOTRIA.] Their particular place of abode cannot be fixed with certainty; but Strabo seems to place them in the southern peninsula of Bruttium, adjoining Rhegium and Locri. (Strab. vi. p. 257.) [E. H. B.] MORGINNUM, in Gallia Narbonensis, is placed by the Table on the road from Vienna (Vienne) to Alpis Cottia, and 14 M. P. short of Cularo (Grenoble). The place is Moirans. [G. L.] MORI'AH. [JERUSALEM.] MORICAMBA (Moрikáμen, Ptol. ii. 3. § 3), an estuary of Britain, Morecambe Bay, on the coast of Lancashire. [C. R. S.] MORIDU'NUM, in Britain, placed both by the Antonine Itin. and Geogr. Rav. near Isca of the Dumnonii (Exeter): it was one of the stations termed mansiones and mutationes, probably the latter its site has by no means been agreed upon by topographers, and three or four localities have been MO'RIUS. [BOEOTIA, Vol. I. p. 412, b.] MORON (Mopwv), a town of Lusitania upon the Tagus, which Brutus Callaïcus made his headquarters in his campaign against the Lusitanians. (Strab. iii. p. 152.) Its exact site is unknown. MORONTABARA (τὰ Μοροντάβαρα, Arrian, Indic. c. 22), a place on the coast of Gedrosia, at no great distance W. of the mouths of the Indus, noticed by Arrian in his account of Nearchus's expedition with the fleet of Alexander the Great. It does not appear to have been satisfactorily identified with any modern place. [V.] MOROSGI, a town of the Varduli in Hispania Tarraconensis, identified by Ukert with St. Sebastian, which, however, more probably represents Menosca. (Plin. iv. 20. s. 34; Ukert, ii. 1. p. 446; Forbiger, iii. p. 80.) MORTUUM MARE. [PALAESTINA.] MORTUUM MARE. [SEPTENTRIONALIS OCEANUS.] MORYLLUS. [MYGDONIA.] Extremique hominum Morini." (Aen. viii. 727.) between Andomatunum (Langres) and Tullum MOSA in Gallia is placed by the Antonine Itin. It has been shown in the article MENAPII that on the north the Morini were bounded by the Menapii. On the west the ocean was the boundary, and on the south the Ambiani and the Atrebates. The eastern boundary cannot be so easily determined. The element of Morini seems to be the word mor, the sea, which is a common Flemish word still, and also found in the Latin, the German, and the English languages. Caesar, who generally speaks of the Morini with the Menapii, has fixed their position in general terms. When he first invaded Britannia he went into the country of the Morini, because the passage from there to Britain was the shortest (B. G. iv. 21). In the next expedition, B. c. 54, he sailed from Portus Itius, having ascertained that the passage from this port to Britain was the most commodious. Portus Itius is in the country of the Morini [ITIUS PORTUS]. Ptolemy (ii. 9. § 8) mentions two cities of the Morini, Gesoriacum or Bononia (Boulogne), and Taruenna (Thérouenne), east of it, in the interior. If we add Castellum Morinorum (Cassel), in the interior, south of Dunkerque, "we see that, besides the diocese of Boulogne, the territory of the Morini comprises the new dioceses of St. Omer and Ypern, which succeeded to that of Tournai." (D'Anville.) But if Cassel is not within the limits of the Morini, their territory will not be so extensive as D'Anville makes it. [MENAPII.] Caesar's wars with the Morini were more successful than with the Menapii. A large part of the territory of the Morini did not offer such natural obstacles as the land of the Menapii. The marshes of the Morini would be between Calais and Dunkerque. The force which the Morini were supposed to be able to send to the Belgic confederation in B. C. 57 was estimated at 25,000 men. Though most of the Morini were subdued by Caesar, they rose again in the time of Augustus, and were put down by C. Carinas (Dion Cassius, li. 21). When Bononia was made a Roman port, and Taruenna a Roman town, the country of the Morini would become Romanised, and Roman usages and the Roman language would prevail. There were Roman roads which terminated at Bononia and Castellum. An inscription mentions the Decemviri of the Colonia Morinorum, but it is unknown what place it is. [G. L.] (Toul). It is 18 M. P. from Andomatunum to MOSA (Maas), a river of Gallia, which Caesar supposed to rise in the Vosegus (Vosges) within the limits of the Lingones. (B. G. iv. 10.) This passage of Caesar, in which he speaks of the Mosa in the lower part of its course receiving a part of the Rhine, called Vahalis (Waal), is very obscure. This matter is discussed in the article BATAVI. Dion Cassius writes the word in the form Móσas (xliv. 42); and Ptolemy (ii. 9. § 3) has the form Máσa in the genitive. Caesar (B. G. vi. 33) says that the Scaldis (Schelde) flows into the Mosa; a mistake that might easily be made with such knowledge of the coast of Belgium and Holland as he possessed. The only branch of the Mosa which Caesar mentions is the Sabis (Sambre), which joins the Maas on the left bank at Charleroi in Belgium. The Maas, called Meuse by the French, rises about 48° N. lat. in the Faucilles, which unite the Côte d'Or and the Vosges. The general course of the Maas is north, but it makes several great bends before it reaches Liège in Belgium, from which its course is north as far as Grave, where it turns to the west, and for 80 miles flows nearly parallel to the Waal. The Maas joins the Waal at Gorcum, and, retaining its name, flows past Rotterdam into the North Sea. The whole length of the Maas is above 500 miles. [G. L.] MOSAEUS (Múσaios, Ptol. vi. 3. § 2), a sinall stream, placed by Ptolemy between the Eulaeus and the Tigris. It is probably the same as that called by Marcian (p. 17) the Mayaios. It was, no doubt, one of the streams which together form the mouths of the Tigris, and may not impossibly be the same which Pliny names the Aduna (vi. 27, 31), and which he appears to have considered as a feeder of the Eulaeus. [V.] MOSCHA PORTUS (Μόσχα λιμήν). 1. Α harbour on the S. coast of Arabia, near the extreme east of the ADRAMITAE, or more properly of the Ascitae, since the next named place is "Syagros extrema" (Zúaypos &xpa), and the Ascitae extended from Syagros mons to the sea. (Ptol. vi. 7. p. 153, comp. p. 154). Mr. Forster thinks there is no diffi -was culty in identifying it with Kesem, the last seaport | 94, vii. 78.) In the time of Strabo (xi. pp. 497 westward of Cape Fartask, his "Syagros extrema."-499) MOSCHICE (MoσxikŃ) -in which was a (Geogr. of Arabia, vol. ii. pp. 164. 178.) The posi- temple of Leucothea, once famous for its wealth, but tion assigned it by D'Anville at the modern Muscat plundered by Pharnaces and Mithridates is certainly untenable. (Ib. pp. 167, 168, 224, 233, divided between the Colchians, Albanians, and 234.) Iberians (comp. Mela, iii. 5. § 4; Plin. vi. 4). Procopius (B. G. iv. 2), who calls them Méoxo, says that they were subject to the Iberians, and had embraced Christianity, the religion of their masters. Afterwards their district became the appanage of Liparites, the Abasgian prince. (Cedren. vol. ii. p. 770; Le Beau, Bus Empire, vol. xiv. p. 355; St. Martin, Mémoires sur l'Armenie, vol. ii. p. 222.) [E. B. J.] 2. A second harbour of this name is mentioned by the author of the Periplus, on the east of the Syagros Promontorium, in the large bay named by Ptolemy Sachalites Sinus (Zaxaλírns Kóλπos), and east of the smaller one, named Omana (Ouava), by the author of the Periplus, who places this Moscha Portus 1100 stadia east of Syagros. He calls it a port appointed for the lading of the Sachalite incense (ὅρμος ἀποδεδειγμένος τοῦ Σαχαλίτου λιβά vov прès éμ¤оλýν), frequented by ships from Cane, and a wintering-place for late vessels from Limyrice and Barygaza, where they bartered fine linen, and corn, , and oil for the native produce of this coast. Mr. Forster furnishes an ingenious etymological explanation of the recurrence of this name on the coast of the Sachalites Sinus. "The Arabic Moscha, like the Greek aσkós, signifies a hide, or skin, or a bag of skin or leather blown up like a bladder. Now, Ptolemy informs us that the pearl divers who frequented his Sinus Sachalites (unquestionably the site of Arrian's Moscha Portus), were noted for the practice of swimming, or floating about the bay, supported by inflated hides or skins. What more natural than that the parts frequented by these divers should be named from this practice? And hence, too, the name of the Ascitae of Ptolemy (floaters on skins'), the actual inhabitants of his Moscha Portus immediately west of his Suágros." It is a remarkable fact mentioned by modern travellers, that this practice still prevails among the fishermen on this coast; for "as the natives have but few canoes, they generally substitute a single inflated skin, or two of these having a flat board across them. On this frail contrivance the fisherman seats himself, and either casts his small hand-net or plays his hook and line." (Lieut. Wellsted, Travels in Arubia, vol. i. pp. 79, 80, cited by Forster, Arabia, vol. ii. p. 175, note*.) The identification of Arrian's Moscha with the modern Ausera, is complete. Arrian reckons 600 stadia from Syagros across the bay which he names Omana. This measurement tallies exactly with that of the Bay of Seger, in Commodore Owen's chart of this coast; and from the eastern extremity of this bay to Moscha Portus, Arrian assigns a distance of 500 stadia, which measures with nearly equal exactness the distance to Ras-al-Sair (the Ausara of Ptolemy), situated about 60 Roman miles to the east of the preceding headland. The identity of the Moscha Portus of Arrian with the Ansara of Ptolemy is thus further corroborated. "Arrian states his Moscha Portus to have been the emporium of the incense trade; and Pliny proves Ausara to have been a chief emporium of this trade, by his notice of the fact that one particular kind of incense bore the name of Ausaritis." (Plin. xii. 35; Forster, l. c. pp. 176, 177.) [G. W.] MOSCHI (Mór xoi, Hecat. Fr. 188, ap. Steph. B. 8. v.), a Colchian tribe, who have been identified with the MESHECH of the prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 13; Rosenmüller, Bibl. Alterthumsk, vol. i. pt. i. P 248). Along with the Tibareni, Mosynaeii, Macrones, and Mardae, they formed the 19th satrapy of the Persian empire, extending along the SE. of the Euxine, and bounded on the S. by the lofty chain of the Armenian mountains. (Herod. iii. MO'SCHICI MONTES (rà Moσxiкà öpη, Strab. i. p. 61, xi. pp. 492, 497, 521, 527, xii. p. 548, Plut. Pomp. 34; Mela, i. 19. § 13; Ptol. v. 6. § 13; Moschicus M., Plin. v. 27), the name applied, with that of Paryadres, and others, to the mountain chain which connects the range of Anti-Taurus with the Caucasus. Although it is obviously impossible to fix the precise elevation to which the ancients assigned this name, it may be generally described as the chain of limestone mountains, with volcanic rocks, and some granite, which, branching from the Caucasus, skirts the E. side of Imiretia, and afterwards, under the name of the Perengah Tagh, runs nearly SW. along the deep valley of Ajirah in the district of Tchildir; from whence it turns towards the S., and again to the W. along the valley of the Acampsis, to the W. of which, bearing the name of the Kop Tagh, it enters Lesser Asia. (Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. x. p. 816; Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. i. p. 285.) [E. B. J.] MOSE in Gallia appears in the Table on a road from Durocortorum (Reims) to Meduantum. [MEDUANTUM.] The place appears to be Mouzon on the Maas. D'Anville says that the place is called Mosomagus in the oldest middle age records. [G.L.] 66 MOSELLA (Mosel, Moselle), a river of Gallia, which joins the Rhine at Coblenz (CONFLUENTES]. In the narrative of his war with the Usipetes and Tenctheri Caesar (B. G. iv. 15) speaks of driving them into the water "ad confluentem Mosae et Rheni." One of the latest and best editors of Caesar, who however is singularly ignorant of geography, supposes this confluence of the Mosa and the Rhenus to be the junction of the Mosa and a part of the Rhenus which is mentioned by Caesar in another place (B. G. iv. 10; Mosa.) But this is impossible, as D'Anville had shown, who observes that the Usipetes [MENAPII] had crossed the Rhine in the lower part of its course, and landed on the territory of the Menapii. Having eaten them up, the invaders entered the country of the Eburones, which we know to be between the Rhine and the Mosa, and higher up than the country of the Menapii. From the Eburones the Germans advanced into the Condrusi in the latitude of Liège; and they were here before Caesar set out after them. (B. G. iv. 6.) Caesar's narrative shows that the German invaders were not thinking of a retreat: their design was to penetrate further into Gallia, where they had been invited by some of the Gallic states, who hoped to throw off the Roman yoke. After the defeat of the Germans on the river, Caesar built his wooden bridge over the Rhine, the position of which was certainly somewhere between Coblenz and Andernach. The conclusion is certain that this confluence of the Rhenus and the Mosa is the confluence of the Rhenus and the Mosella at Coblenz; and we must explain Caesar's mistake as well as we can. It is possible that both rivers were called Mosa; and Mosella or Mosula, as Florus has it, seems to be a diminutive of Mosa, but that reading is somewhat doubtful. (Florus, iii. 10. ed. Duk.) There is no variation in Caesar's text in the passage where he speaks of the confluence of the Rhenus and the Mosa. (Caesar, ed. Schneider.) Several of the affluents of the Mosel are mentioned in the ancient writers, and chiefly by Ausonius: the Sura (Sour), Pronaea (Prum), Nemesa (Nims), Gelbis (Kill), Erubrus (Ruver), Lesura (Leser), Drahonus (Drone), Saravus (Saar), and Salmona (Salm). The Mosella is celebrated in one of the longer poems of Ausonius, who wrote in the 4th century A. D. The vine at that time clothed the slopes of the hills and the cliffs which bound this deep and picturesque river valley in its course below Trier: "Qua sublimis apex longo super ardua tractu, Et rupes et aprica jugi, flexusque sinusque Vitibus adsurgunt naturalique theatro." (v. 154.) There is a German metrical translation of this poem by Böcking with notes. The Mosel rises on the western face of the Vosges, and its upper course is in the hill country, formed by the offsets of the mountains. It then enters the plain of Lorraine, and after passing Tullum (Toul), it is joined by the Meurthe on the right bank. From the junction of the Meurthe it is navigable, and has a general north course past Divodurum (Metz), and Thionville, to Augusta Trevirorum (Trier or Trèves). From Trier its general course is about NNE. with many great bends, and in a bed deep sunk below the adjacent country, to its junction with the Rhine at Coblenz. The whole course of the river is somewhat less than 300 miles. It is navigable for steamboats in some seasons as far as Metz. A Roman governor in Gallia proposed to unite the Mosella and the Arar (Saône) by a canal, and thus to effect a navigation from the Mediterranean to the North Sea [GALLIA TRANSALPINA, Vol. I. p. 967.] [G. L.] MOSTE'NI (Moorηvol), a town of Lydia in the Hyrcanian plain, south-east of Thyatira, and on the road between this latter town and Sardis. In A. D. 17, Mosteni and many other towns of that country were visited by a fearful earthquake. (Ptol. v. 2. § 16; Tac. Ann. ii. 17; Hierocl. p. 671, where it is erroneously called Muστnun or MóσTiva; Concil. Chalc. p. 240. where it bears the name Movσrývn.) Its exact site is unknown. (Comp. Rasche, Lex. Num. iii. 1. p. 869, &c.) [L. S.] MOSYCHLUS. [LEMNOS.] MOSYNOECI, MŪSSYNOECI, MOSYNI, MOSSYNI (Μοσύνοικοι, Μοσσύνοικοι, Μοσυνοί, Μοσσvvoi), a tribe on the coast of Pontus, occupying the district between the Tibareni and Macrones, and containing the towns of CERASUS and PHARNACIA. The Mosynoeci were a brave and warlike people, but are at the same time said to have been the rudest and most uncivilised among all the tribes of Asia Minor. Many of their peculiar customs are noticed by the Greeks, who planted colonies in their districts. They are said to have lived on trees and in towers. (Strab. xii. p. 549.) Their kings, it is said, were elected by the people, and dwelt in an isolated tower rising somewhat above the houses of his subjects, who watched his proceedings closely, and provided him with all that was necessary; but when he did anything that displeased them, they stopped their supplies, and left him to die of starvation. (Xen. Anab. v. 4, § 26; Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1027; Diod. xiv. 30; Scymnus, Fragm. 166.) They used to cut off the heads of the enemies they had slain, and carry them about amid dances and songs. (Xen. Anab. iv. 4. § 17; v. 4. § 15.) It is also related that they knew nothing of marriage (Xen. Anab. v. 4. § 33; Diod. I. c.), and that they generally tattooed their bodies. Eating and drinking was their greatest happiness, whence the children of the wealthy among them were regularly fattened with salt dolphins and chestnuts, until they were as thick as they were tall (Xen. Anab. v. 4. § 32). Their arms consisted of heavy spears, six cubits in length, with round or globular handles; large shields of wicker-work covered with ox-hides; and leather or wooden helmets, the top of which was adorned with a crest of hair. (Xen. I. c., v. 4. § 12; Herod. vii. 78.) The fourth chapter of the fifth book of Xenophon's Anabasis is full of curious information about this singular people. (Comp. also Strab. xi. p. 528; Hecat. Fragm. 193; Steph. B. s. v. ; Herod. iii. 94; Scylax, p. 33.; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8; Orph. Argon. 740; Mela, i. 19; Tibull. iv. 1. 146; Curtius, vi. 4, 17; Plin. vi. 4; Val. Flacc. v. 152; Dionys. Per. 766.) [L. S.] MOTE NE. [OTENE.] MOTYA (MOTún: Eth. Morvaîos: S. Pantaleo), a city on the W. coast of Sicily, between Drepanum and Lilybaeum. It was situated on a small island, about three quarters of a mile (six stadia) from the mainland, to which it was joined by an artificial causeway. (Diod. xiv. 48.) It was originally a colony of the Phoenicians, who were fond of choosing similar sites, and probably in the first instance merely a commercial station or emporium, but gradually rose to be a flourishing and important town. The Greeks, however, according to their custom, assigned it a legendary origin, and derived its name from a woman named Motya, whom they connected with the fables concerning Hercules. (Steph. B. s. v.) It passed, in common with the other Phoenician settlements in Sicily, at a later period under the government or dependency of Carthage, whence Diodorus calls it a Carthaginian colony; but it is probable that this is not strictly correct. (Thuc. vi. 2; Diod. xiv. 47.) As the Greek colonies in Sicily increased in numbers and importance the Phoenicians gradually abandoned their settlements in the immediate neighbourhood of the new comers, and concentrated themselves in the three principal colonies of Solus, Panormus, and Motya. (Thuc. 1. c.) The last of these, from its proximity to Carthage and its opportune situation for communication with Africa, as well as the natural strength of its position, became one of the chief strongholds of the Carthaginians, as well as one of the most important of their commercial cities in the island. (Diod. xiv. 47.) It appears to have held, in both these respects, the same position which was attained at a later period by Lilybaeum. [LILYBAEUM.] Notwithstanding these accounts of its early importance and flourishing condition, the name of Motya is rarely mentioned in history until just before the period of its memorable siege. It is first mentioned by Hecataeus (ap. Steph. B. s. v.), and Thucydides notices it among the chief colonies of the Phoenicians in Sicily, which still subsisted at the period of the Athenian expedition, B. c. 415. (Thuc. vi. 2.) A few years later (B. C. 409) when the Carthaginian army under Hannibal landed at the promontory of Lilybaeum, that general laid up his fleet for security in the gulf around Motya, while he advanced with his land forces along the coast to attack Selinus. (Diod. xiii. 54, 61.) After the fall of the latter city, we are told that Hermocrates, the Syracusan exile, who had established himself on its ruins with a numerous band of followers, laid waste the territories of Motya and Panormus (Id. xiii. 63); and again during the second expedition of the Carthaginians under Hamilcar (B. c. 407), these two cities became the permanent station of the Carthaginian fleet. (Id. xiii. 88.) It was the important position to which Motya had thus attained that led Dionysius of Syracuse to direct his principal efforts to its reduction, when in B. C. 397 he in his turn invaded the Carthaginian territory in Sicily. The citizens on the other hand, relying on succour from Carthage, made preparations for a vigorous resistance; and by cutting off the causeway which united them to the mainland, compelled Dionysius to have recourse to the tedious and laborious process of constructing a mound or mole of earth across the intervening space. Even when this was accomplished, and the military engines of Dionysius (among which the formidable catapult on this occasion made its appearance for the first time) were brought up to the walls, the Motyans continued a desperate resistance; and after the walls and towers were carried by the overwhelming forces of the enemy, still maintained the defence from street to street and from house to house. This obstinate struggle only increased the previous exasperation of the Sicilian Greeks against the Carthaginians; and when at length the troops of Dionysius made themselves masters of the city, they put the whole surviving population, men, women, and children, to the sword. (Diod. xiv. 47-53.) After this the Syracusan despot placed it in charge of a garrison under an officer named Biton; while his brother Leptines made it the station of his fleet. But the next spring (B. C. 396) Himilcon, the Carthaginian general, having landed at Panormus with a very large force, recovered possession of Motya with comparatively little difficulty. (Id. ib. 55.) That city, however, was not destined to recover its former importance; for Himilcon, being apparently struck with the superior advantages of Lilybaeum, founded a new city on the promontory of that name, to which he transferred the few remaining inhabitants of Motya. (Diod. xxii. 10. p. 498.) From this period the latter altogether disappears from history; and the little islet on which it was built, has probably ever since been inhabited only by a few fishermen. The site of Motya, on which earlier geographers were in much doubt, has been clearly identified and described by Captain Smyth. Between the promontory of Lilybaeum (Capo Boéo) and that of Aegithallus (S. Teodoro), the coast forms a deep bight, in front of which lies a long group of low rocky islets, called the Stagnone. Within these, and considerably nearer to the mainland, lies the small island called S. Pantaleo, on which the remains of an ancient city may still be distinctly traced. Fragments of the walls, with those of two gateways, still exist, and coins as well as pieces of ancient brick and pottery-the never failing indications of an ancient site- -are found scattered throughout the island. The circuit of the latter does not exceed a mile and a half, and it is inhabited only by a few fishermen; but is not devoid of fertility. (Smyth's Sicily, pp. 235, 236.) The confined space on which the city was built agrees with the description of Diodorus that the houses were lofty and of solid construction, with narrow streets (σTEVwnoi) between them, which facilitated the desperate defence of the inhabitants. (Diod. xiv. 48, 51.) It is a singular fact that, though we have no account of Motya having received any Greek population, or fallen into the hands of the Greeks before its conquest by Dionysius, there exist coins of the city with the Greek legend MOTTAION. They are, however, of great rarity, and are ap parently imitated from those of the neighbouring city of Segesta. (Eckhel, vol. i. p. 225.) [E. H. B.] MOTYCA, or MU'TYCA (Móтovка, Ptol.: Eth. Mutycensis, Cic. et Plin.: Modica), an inland town in the SE. of Sicily, between Syracuse and Camarina. It was probably from an early period a dependency of Syracuse; and hence we meet with no mention of its name until after the Roman conquest of Sicily, when it became an independent municipium, and apparently a place of some consequence. Cicero tells us that previous to the exactions of Verres, its territory (the "ager Mutycensis") supported 187 farmers, whence it would appear to have been at once extensive and fertile. (Cic. Verr. iii. 43, 51.) Motyca is also mentioned among the inland towns of the island both by Pliny and Ptolemy; and though its name is not found in the Itineraries, it is again mentioned by the Geographer of Ravenna. (Plin. iii. 8. § 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 14; Geogr. Rav. v. 23.) Silius Italicus also includes it in his list of Sicilian cities, and immediately associates it with Netum, with which it was clearly in the same neighbourhood. (Sil. Ital. xiv. 268.) There can be no doubt that it is represented by the modern city of Modica, one of the largest and most populous places in the Val di Noto. It is situated in a deep valley, surrounded by bare limestone mountains, about 10 miles from the sea. Ptolemy notices also a river to which he gives the name of Motychanus (Morúxavos TоTаuós), which he places on the S. coast, and must evidently derive its name from the city. It is either the trifling stream now known as the Fiume di Scicli, which rises very near Modica; or perhaps the more considerable one, now known as Fiume di Ragusa, which flows within a few miles of the same city. [E. H. B.] MOTYUM (Móтvov), a small town or fortress of Sicily, in the territory of Agrigentum. It was besieged in B. C. 451 by the Siculian chief Ducetius, and fell into his hands after a battle in which he defeated the Agrigentines and their allies; but was recovered by the Agrigentines in the course of the following summer. (Diod. xi. 91.) No other mention of it is found, and its site is wholly unknown. [E. H. B.] MOXOE'NE, one of the five provinces beyond the Tigris, ceded by Narses to Galerius and the Romans, and which Sapor afterwards recovered |