is a plain country, and contains no mountain range except the Vosges. The hills that bound the basin of the Mosel are inconsiderable elevations. The tract of the Ardennes (the Arduenna Silva), is rugged, but not mountainous. There is also the hilly tract along the Maas between Dinant and Liège, and north and east as far as Aix-la-Chapelle. The rest is level, and is a part of the great plain of Northern Europe. habits a little; all which expresses as great a degree of uniformity among peoples spread over so large a surface as could by any possibility exist in the state of civilization at that time. Strabo, besides the Commentarii of Caesar, had the work of Posidonius as an authority, who had travelled in Gallia. When Augustus made a fourfold division of Gallia, B. C. 27, which in fact subsisted before him in Caesar's time,-for the Provincia is a division of Gallia independent of Caesar's threefold division (B. G. i. 1),—he enlarged Aquitania [AQUITANIA], and he made a division named Lugdunensis, of which Lugdunum (Lyon) was the capital. Strabo's description of this fourfold division is not clear, and it is best explained by considering the new division of Gallia altogether. [GALLIA.] Strabo, after describing some of the Belgic tribes, says (p. 194), "the rest are the peoples of the Paroceanitic Belgae, among whom are the Veneti." The word Paroccanon the sea. He also mentions the Osismi, who were neighbours of the Veneti. This passage has been used to prove (Thierry, Hist. des Gaulois, Introd.) that these Paroceanitic Belgae, the Veneti and their neighbours, and the Belgae north of the Seine, were two peoples or confederations of the same race; and as the Veneti were Celts, so must the Belgae north of the Seine be. It might be said that Strabo here uses Belgae in the sense of the extended Belgian division, for he clearly means to say that this division comprehended some part of the country between the Loire and the Seine, the western part at least. But his account of the divisions of Gallia is so confused that it cannot be relied on, nor does it agree with that of Pliny. It is certain, however, that some changes were made in the divisions of Gallia between the time of Augustus and the time of Pliny. [GALLIA.] [G. L.] Caesar (B. G. i. 1) makes the Belgae distinct from the Celtae and Aquitani in usages, political constitution, and language; but little weight is due to this general expression, for appears that those whom Caesar calls Belgae were not all one people; they had pure Germans among them, and, besides this, they were mixed with Germans. The Remi told Caesar (B. G. ii. 4) that most of the Belgae were of Gerinan origin, that they had crossed the Rhine of old, and, being attracted by the fertility of the soil, had settled in the parts about there, and ex-itic is the same as Caesar's Armoric, or the peoples pelled the Galli who were the cultivators of those parts. This is the true meaning of Caesar's text: a story of an ancient invasion from the north and east of the Rhine by Germanic people, of which we have a particular instance in the case of the Batavi [BATAVI]; of the Galli who were disturbed, being at that remote time an agricultural people, and of their being expelled by the Germans. But Caesar's words do not admit any further inference than that these German invaders occupied the parts near the Rhine. The Treviri and Nervii affected a German origin (Tacit. German. 28), which, if it be true, must imply that they had some reason for affecting it; and also that they were not pure Germans, or they might have said so. Strabo (p. 192) makes the Nervii Germans. The fact of Caesar making such a river as the Marne a boundary between Belgic and Celtic peoples, is a proof that he saw some marked distinction between Belgae and Celtae, though there were many points of resemblance. Now, as most of the Belgae were Germans or of German origin, as the Remi believed or said, there must have been some who were not Germans or of German origin; and if we exclude the Menapii, the savage Nervii, and the pure Germans, we cannot affirm that any of the remainder of the Belgae were Germans. The name of the Morini alone is evidence that they are not Germans; for their name is only a variation of the form Armorici. came. Within the time of man's memory, when Caesar was in Gallia, Divitiacus, a king of the Suessiones, was the most powerful prince in all Gallia, and had established his authority even in Britain (B. G. ii. 4). Belgae had also passed into Britain, and settled there in the maritime parts (B. G. v. 12), and they retained the names of the peoples from which they The direct historical conclusion from the ancient authorities as to the Belgae, is this: they were a Celtic people, some of whom in Caesar's time were mixed with Germans, without having lost their national characteristics. Caesar, wanting a name under which he could comprehend all the peoples north of the Seine, took the name of Belgae, which seems to have been the general name of a few of the most powerful peoples bordering on the Seine. Strabo (p. 176), who makes a marked distinction between the Aquitani and the rest of the people of Celtica or Gallia Transalpina, states that the rest have the Gallic or Celtic physical characteristics, but that they have not all the same language, some differing a little in tongue, and in their political forms and BELGAE. A British population, is first mentioned under the name of Belgae by Ptolemy (ii. 3. § 28). Caesar's notice extends only to the fact of the interior of the island being inhabited "by those who are recorded to have been born in the island itself; whereas the sea-coast is the occupancy of immigrants from the country of the Belgae, brought over for the sake of either war or plunder. All these are called by names nearly the same as those of the states they came from-names which they have retained in the country upon which they made war, and in the land whereon they settled." (B. G. v. 12.) How far do Caesar and Ptolemy notice the same population? Ptolemy's locality, though the exact extent of the area is doubtful, is, to a certain degree, very definitely fixed. The Belgae lay to the south of the Dobuni, whose chief town was Corincum (Cirencester). They also lay to the east and north of the Durotriges of Dor-setshire. Venta (Winchester) was one of the towns, and Aquae Sulis (Bath) another. Calleva (Silchester) was not one of them: on the contrary, it belonged to the Attrebatii. This coincides nearly with the county of Wilts, parts of Somerset and Hants being also included. It must be observed that the Belgae of Ptolemy agree with those of Caesar only in belonging to the southern part of Britain. They are chiefly an inland population, and touch the sea only on the south and west; not on the cast, or the part more especially opposite Belgium. It must also be observed that Wilts is the county where the monumental remains of the ancient occupants of Britain are at once the most numerous and characteristic. But the Belgic area of Britain may be carried further eastwards by considering the Attrebatii as a Belgic population; in which case Belgae is a generic term, and Attrebatii the specific name of one of the divisions it includes; and by admitting the evidence of Richard of Cirencester we may go further still. [BIBROCI.] To this line of criticism, however, it may be objected, that it is as little warranted by the text of Caesar as by that of Ptolemy. The Belgae of Caesar require Kent and Sussex as their locality: those of Ptolemy, Wilts and Somerset. The reconciliation of these different conditions has been attempted. An extension westward between the times of the two writers has given one hypothesis. But this is beset with difficulties. To say nothing about the extent to which the time in question was the epoch of conquests almost exclusively Roman, the reasons for believing the sources of Ptolemy to have been earlier than the time of Caesar are cogent. In the mind of the present writer, the fact that Ptolemy's authorities dealt with was the existence in Britain of localities belonging to populations called Belgae and Attrebatii; a fact known to Caesar also. Another fact known to Caesar was, the existence of Belgic immigrants along the shores of Kent and Sussex. Between these there is as little necessary connection as there is between the settlements of the modern Germans in London, and the existence of German geographical names in -sted, -hurst, &c., in Kent. But there is an apparent one; and this either Caesar or his authorities assumed. Belgae and Attrebates he found in Kent, just as men from Delmen-horst may probably be found at present; and populations called Belgae and Attrebates he heard of in parts not very distant just as men of Gould-hurst or Mid-hurst may be heard of now. He connected the two as nine ethnologists out of ten, with equally limited data, would have done,-logically, but erroneously. The professed Keltic scholar may carry the criticism further, and probably explain the occurrence of the names in question-and others like them-upon the principle just suggested. He may succeed in showing that the forms Belg- and Attrebat-, have a geographical or political signification. The first is one of importance. The same, or a similar, combination of sounds occurs in Blatum Bulg-ium, a station north of the Solway; in the Numerus A-bule-orum stationed at Anderida; and in the famous Fir-bolys of Ireland. Two observations apply to these last. Like the Attacotti [ATTACOTTI], they occur only in the fabulous portion of Irish history. Like the -libet in such words as quodlibet, quibus-libet, the Bolg is unflected, the fir- only being declined-so that the forms are Fir-Bolg (Belgae), Feroib-Bolg (Belgis). This is against the word being a true proper name. Lastly, it should be added, that, though the word Belgae in Britain is not generic, it is so in Gaul, where there is no such population as that of the Belgae, except so far as it is Nervian, Attrebatian, Menapian, &c. That the Belgae of Britain were in the same ethnological category with the Belgae of Gaul, no more follows from the identity of name, than it follows that Cambro-Briton and Italian belong to the same family, because each is called Welsh. The truer evidence is of a more indirect nature, and lies in the fact of the Britannic Belgae being in the same category with the rest of the Britons, the rest of the Britons being as the Gauls, and the Gauls as the continental Belgae. That the first and last of these three propositions has been doubted is well known; in other words, it is well known that good writers have looked upon the Belgae as Germans. The Gallic Belgae, however, rather than the Britannic, are the tribes with whom this question rests. All that need be said here is, that of the three Belgic towns mentioned by Ptolemy (Ischalis, Aquae Sulis, and Venta), none is Germanic in name, whilst one is Latin, and the third eminently British, as may be seen by comparing the Venta Silurum and the Venta Icenorum with the Venta Belgarum. [R. G. L.] BELGICA. [GALLIA.] BELGINUM. [GALLIA.] BELGIUM. [BELGAE.] BELIAS. [BALISSUS.] BELION. GALLAECIA.] BELISAMA (Aestuarium), in Britain, mentioned by Ptolemy (ii. 3. § 2) as south of Morecambe (Morecame Bay), and, consequently, most probably the mouth of the Ribble, though Horsley identifies it with that of the Mersey. [R. G. L.] BELLI (Beλλoí), one of the smaller tribes of the Celtiberi, in Hispania Tarraconensis, with the powerful city of Segeda (Zeyýðn), the revolt of which commenced the Celtiberian War. (Polyb. xxxv. 2; Appian. de Reb. Hisp. 44, 45.) [P.S.] BELLINTUM, a place in Gallia, marked in the Jerusalem Itin. between Avignon and Arles. The distance identifies it with Barbentane, according to D'Anville, and with Lauzac, according to others. [G. L.] BELLOCASSES. [VELLOCASSES.] BELLOVACI (BeλXoáкoi, Strabo, p. 195), a Belgic people, the first of the Belgae in numbers and influence (B. G. ii. 4, 8; vii. 59). It was reported to Caesar that they could muster 100,000 armed men. [BELGAE.] Their position was between the Somme (Samara) and the Seine, S. of the Ambiani, E. of the Caleti, and W. of the Suessones. It is conjectured that the small tribe of the Sylvanectes, E. of the Oise, who are not mentioned in Caesar, were in his time included among the Bellovaci. The whole extent of the territory of the Bellovaci probably comprehended the dioceses of Beauvais and of Senlis. Ptolemy mentions Caesaromagus (Beaurais) as the capital of the Bellovaci in his time. The only place that Caesar mentions is Bratuspantium. [BRATUSPANTIUM.] [G. L.] BELON (Béλwr, Strab. iii. p. 140, Steph. B.: Eth. Beλários, comp. s. v. Bλos), or BAELON (Baíλwv, Ptol. ii. 4. § 5; Marc. Herac. p. 40; Geogr. Rav. iii. 42; coins), a city on the S. coast of Hispania Baetica, at the mouth of a river of the same name (probably the Barbate), which Marcian places between 150 and 200 stadia S. E. of the Prom. Junonis (C. Trafalgar). The city was a considerable port, with establishments for salting fish; and it is 6 m. p. W. of Mellaria and 12 E. of BESIPPO (Itin. Ant. p. 407, where it has the surname Claudia), at the entrance of the Fretum Gaditanum (Straits of Gibraltar) from the Atlantic (Mela, ii. 6; Plin. iii. 3. s. 1), directly opposite to Tingis, in Mauretania, and was the usual place of embarcation for persons crossing over to that city (Strab. I. c.), the distance to which was reckoned 30 Roman miles (Plin. v. 1), or 220 stadia (Itin. Ant. p. 495). Its ruins are still seen at the place called Belonia, or Bolonia, 3 Spanish miles W. of Tarifa. There is a coin with the epigraph BAILO. (Philos. Trans. vol. xxx. p. 922; Florez, Med. de Esp. vol. ii. p. 635, vol. iii. p. 152; Mionnet, vol. i. p. 7, Suppl. vol. i. p. 14; Eckhel, vol. i. p. 16; Ukert, vol. ii. 343.) Sestini, p. 33; pt. 1, pp. 295, [P.S.] BELSI'NUM, a place marked in the Antonine Itin. between Climberris (Auch) and Lugdunum Convenarum (St. Bertrand de Comminges). Belsinum is probably the Besino of the Table. D'Anville supposes that the site may be Bernet; others take it to be Masseure: but neither distances nor names seem to enable us to fix the site with certainty. [G. L.] BELSI'NUM (Béλowov, Ptol. ii. 6. § 58), a city of the Celtiberians, in Hispania Tarraconensis, afterwards called Vivarium. Its site is marked at Vivel, near Segarbe in Valencia, by Roman ruins and inscriptions. (Laborde, Itin.de l'Espagne, vol. ii. p.346, 3rd ed.) [P.S.] BELU'NUM or BELLUNUM (Beλoûvov), a considerable town in the interior of Venetia, still called Belluno. It was situated in the upper valley of the Plavis (Piave), about 20 miles NE. of Feltria, and almost on the borders of Rhaetia. It was probably in ancient as well as modern times the capital of the surrounding district. (Plin. iii. 19. s. 23; Ptol. iii. 1. §30; P. Diac. vi. 26; Orell. Inscr. 69.) [E.H.B.] BELUS (Bŋλeús), called also Pagida by Pliny (v. 19), a small river of Palestine, described by Pliny as taking its rise from a lake named Cendevia, at the roots of Mount Carmel, which after running five miles enters the sea near Ptolemais (xxxvi. 26) two stadia from the city, according to Josephus. (B. J. ii. 2. § 9.) It is chiefly celebrated among the ancients for its vitreous sand, and the accidental discovery of the manufacture of glass is ascribed by Pliny to the banks of this river, which he describes as a sluggish stream, of unwholesome water, but consecrated by religious ceremonies. (Comp. Tac. Hist. v. 7.) It is now called Nahr Na'mân; but the lake Cendevia has disappeared. It is an ingenious conjecture of Reland that its ancient appellation may be the origin of the Greek name for glass, veλds, or valós. (Balaest. p. 290.) [G. W.] BEMBINA. [NEMEA.] this part of the lake into two nearly equal portions. The river Mincius issues from its SE. extremity, where stood the town of ARDELICA, on the site of the modern fortress of Peschiera. Most ancient writers speak of the Mincius as having its source in the lake Benacus (Serv. ad Aen. x. 205; Vib. Seq. pp. 6, 14; Isidor. Orig. xiii. 19), but Pliny tells us that it flowed through the lake without allowing their waters to mix, in the same manner as the Addua did through the Larian Lake, and the Rhone through the Lacus Lemannus. (ii. 103. s. 106.) It is evident, therefore, that he must have considered the river which enters the lake at its northern extremity, and is now called the Sarca, as being the same with the Mincius, which would certainly be correct in a geographical point of view, though not in accordance with either ancient or modern usage. According to the same author vast quantities of eels were taken at a certain season of the year where the Mincius issued from the lake. (Plin. ix. 22. s. 38.) Several inscriptions have been found, in which the name of the BENACENSES occurs, whence it has been supposed that there was a town of the name of Benacus. But it is more probable that this name designates the population of the banks of the lake in general, who would naturally combine for various purposes, such as the erection of honorary statues and inscriptions. The greater part of these have been found at a place called Toscolano, on the W. bank of the lake, about 5 miles N. of Salò; the ancient name of which is supposed to have been Tusculanum. (See however Orelli, 2183.) It appears to have had a temple or sanctuary, which was a place of common resort from all parts of the lake. The name of Benacus occurs in an inscription found at S. Vigilio on the opposite shore, as that of the tutelary deity of the lake, the "Pater Benacus" of Virgil. (Rossi, Memorie di Brescia, pp. 200, 201; Cluver. Ital. p. 107.) The modern town of Garda, from whence the lake derives its present appellation, appears from inscriptions discovered there to have been inhabited in Roman times, but its ancient name BENA'CUS LACUS (Bývaкos xíuvn, Strab.: is unknown. [E. H. B.] Baivanos, Ptol.), a lake in Cisalpine Gaul, at the BENAMERIUM (Впvvaμaphμ), a village of Pafoot of the Alps, formed by the river Mincius, nowlestine to the north of Zorah (q. v.) mentioned only called the Lago di Gurda. (Plin. iii. 19. s. 23; by Eusebius and St. Jerome. (Onomast. s. v. NeVirg. Aen. x. 205.) It is the largest of all the κηρίμ, lege Νεμερίμ.) [G. W.] lakes in Italy, greatly exceeding both the Lacus Larius and Verbanus in breadth and superficial extent, though inferior to them in length. Strabo, on the authority of Polybius, states its length at 500 stadia, and its breadth at 130 (iv. p. 209): but the former distance is greatly exaggerated, its real length being less than 30 G. miles, or 300 stadia: its greatest breadth is nearly 10 G. miles. The northern half of it, which is pent in between lofty and very precipitous mountains, is however comparatively narrow: it is only the southern portion which expands to the considerable breadth above stated. The course of the lake is nearly straight from NNE. to SSW., so that the north winds from the high Alps sweep down it with unbroken force, and the storms on its surface exceed in violence those on any other of the Italian lakes. Hence Virgil justly speaks of it as rising into waves, and roaring like the sea. (Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens Benace marino, Virg. G. ii. 160; Serv. ad loc.) The shore at its southern extremity is comparatively low, being bounded only by gently sloping hills, from which projects a narrow tongue of land, forming the beautiful peninsula of SIRMIO, which divides BENAVENTA. [ISANNAVATIA.] BENE (Bývn: Eth. Bnvaîos), a town of Crete, in the neighbourhood of Gortyn, to which it was subject, only known as the birthplace of the poet Rhianus. (Steph. B. s. v. Bývn; Suid. s. v. 'Plavós.) BENEHARNUM, a place first mentioned in the Antonine Itin. It is placed 19 Gallic leagues, or 28 M. P., from Aquae Tarbellicae (Dax), on the road to Toulouse. But the road was circuitous, for it passed through Aquae Convenarum; and between Beneharnum and Aquae Convenarum the Itin. places Oppidum Novum (Naye on the Gave), 27 M. P. from Beneharnum. Another road from Caesar Augusta (Saragossa) to Beneliarnum, passes through Aspa Luca (Pont l'Esquit) and Iluro (Oléron), on the Gave d'Oléron. Iluro is 18 M. P. from Beneharnum. If then we join Oléron and Naye by a straight line, we have the respective distances 18 and 27 M. P. from Oléron and Naye to Beneharnum, as the other sides of the triangle. Walckenaer, on the authority of these two routes and personal observation, places Beneharnum at Vieille Tour to the E. of Maslac; Reichard, at Navarreins; and D'Anville places it near Orthez. Walckenaer's site is at Cas telnon, between Maslac and Lagor, in the depart- | Roman consul Q. Fulvius. (Liv. xxii. 13, xxiv. 14, 16, xxv. 13, 14, 15, 17; Appian, Annib. 36, 37.) And though its territory was more than once laid waste by the Carthaginians, it was still one of the eighteen Latin colonies which in B. C. 209 were at once able and willing to furnish the required quota of men and money for continuing the war. (Liv. xxvii. 10.) It is singular that no mention of it occurs during the Social War; but it seems to have escaped from the calamities which at that time befel so many cities of Samnium, and towards the close of the Republic is spoken of as one of the most opulent and flourishing cities of Italy. (Appian, B. C. iv. 3; Strab. v. p. 250; Cic. in Verr. i. 15.) Under the Second Triumvirate its territory was portioned out by the Triumvirs to their veterans, and subsequently a fresh colony was established there by Augustus, who greatly enlarged its domain by the addition of the territory of Caudium. A third colony was settled there by Nero, at which time it assumed the title of Concordia; hence we find it bearing, in inscriptions of the reign of Septimius Severus, the titles "Colonia Julia Augusta Concordia Felix Beneventum." (Appian. I. c.; Lib. Colon. pp. 231, 232; Inscr. ap. Romanelli, vol. ii. pp. 382, 384; Orell. Inscr. 128, 590.) Its im BENEVENTUM (Bevebertós, Steph. B. App.; BEVEOVEVTÓ, Strab. Ptol.: Eth. Beneventanus: Benevento), one of the chief cities of Samnium, and at a later period one of the most important cities of Southern Italy, was situated on the Via Appia at a distance of 32 miles E. from Capua; and on the banks of the river Calor. There is some discrepancy as to the people to which it belonged: Pliny expressly assigns it to the Hirpini; but Livy certainly seems to consider it as belonging to Samnium Proper, as distinguished from the Hirpini; and Ptolemy adopts the same view. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Liv. xxii. 13; Ptol. iii. 1. § 67.) All writers concur in representing it as a very ancient city; Solinus and Stephanus of Byzantium ascribe its foundation to Diomedes; a legend which appears to have been adopted by the inhabitants, who, in the time of Procopius, pretended to exhibit the tusks of the Caly-portance and flourishing condition under the Roman donian boar in proof of their descent. (Solin. 2. § Empire is sufficiently attested by existing remains 10; Steph. B. s. v. ; Procop. B. G. i. 15.) Festus, and inscriptions; it was at that period unquestionably on the contrary (s. v. Ausoniam), related that it was the chief city of the Hirpini, and probably, next to founded by Auson, a son of Ulysses and Circe; a Capua, the most populous and considerable of tradition which indicates that it was an ancient Au- Southern Italy. For this prosperity it was doubtless sonian city, previous to its conquest by the Samnites. indebted in part to its position on the Via Appia, But it first appears in history as a Samnite city just at the junction of the two principal arms or (Liv. ix. 27); and must have already been a place branches of that great road, the one called afterwards of strength, so that the Romans did not venture to the Via Trajana, leading from thence by Equus Tuattack it during their first two wars with that peo- ticus into Apulia; the other by Aeculanum to Veple. It appears, however, to have fallen into their nusia and Tarentum. (Strab. vi. p. 283.) [VIA hands during the Third Samnite War, though the APPIA.] The notice of it by Horace on his journey exact occasion is unknown. It was certainly in the from Rome to Brundusium (Sat. i. 5, 71) is familiar power of the Romans in B. c. 274, when Pyrrhus to all readers. It was indebted to the same circumwas defeated in a great battle, fought in its imme-stance for the honour of repeated visits from the diate neighbourhood, by the consul M'. Curius. (Plut. Pyrrh. 25; Frontin. Strat. iv. 1. § 14.) Six years later (B. C. 268) they sought farther to secure its possession by establishing there a Roman colony with Latin rights. (Liv. Epit. xv.; Vell. Pat. i. 14.) It was at this time that it first assumed the name of Beneventum, having previously been called Maleventum (Maλóevтov, or Maλebevrós), a name which the Romans regarded as of evil augury, and changed into one of a more fortunate signification. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Liv. ix. 27; Fest. s. v. Beneventum, p. 34; Steph. B. s. v.; Procop. B. G. i. 15.) It is probable that the Oscan or Samnite name was Maloeis, or Malieis, from whence the form Male. ventum would be derived, like Agrigentum from Acragas, Selinuntium from Selinus, &c. (Millingen, Numism. de l'Italie, p. 223.) As a Roman colony Beneventum seems to have quickly become a flourishing place; and in the Second Punic War was repeatedly occupied by Roman generals as a post of importance, on account of its proximity to Campania, and its strength as a fortress. In its immediate neighbourhood were fought two of the most decisive actions of the war: the one in B. C. 214, in which the Carthaginian general Hanno was defeated by Ti. Gracchus; the other in B. C. 212, when the camp of Hanno, in which he had accumulated a vast quantity of corn and other stores, was stormed and taken by the emperors of Rome, among which those of Nero, Trajan, and Sept. Severus, are particularly recorded. (Tac. Ann. xv. 34.) It was probably for the same reason that the noble triumphal arch, which still forms one of its chief ornaments, was erected there in honour of Trajan by the senate and people of Rome. Successive emperors seem to have bestowed on the city accessions of territory, and erected, or at least given name to, various public buildings. For administrative purposes it was first included, together with the rest of the Hirpini, in the 2nd region of Augustus, but was afterwards annexed to Campania and placed under the control of the consular of that province. Its inhabitants were included in the Stellatine tribe. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Mommsen, Topogr. degli Irpini, p. 167, in Bull. dell' Inst. Arch. 1847.) Beneventum retained its importance down to the close of the Empire, and though during the Gothic wars it was taken by Totila, and its walls rased to the ground, they were restored, as well as its public buildings, shortly after; and P. Diaconus speaks of it as a very wealthy city, and the capital of all the surrounding provinces. (Procop. B. G. iii. 6; P. Diac. ii. 20; De Vita, Antiq. Benev. pp. 271, 286.) Under the Lombards it be came the capital of a duchy which included all their conquests in Southern Italy, and continued to maintain itself as an independent state long after the fall of the Lombard kingdom in the north. (an old Latin form for Beneventor-um), must have been struck after it became a Latin colony. Other coins with the legend "Malies," or Maliesa," have been supposed to belong to the Samnite Maleventum. (Millingen, Numismatique de l'Anc. Italie, p. 223; Friedländer, Osk. Münz. p. 67.) [E. H. B.] 6000000 COIN OF BENEVENTUM. BENI. [BENNA.] BENJANIN. [PALESTINA.] The modern city of Benevento is still a consider- | able place with about 13,000 inhabitants, and contains numerous vestiges of its ancient grandeur. The most conspicuous of these is a triumphal arch erected in honour of the emperor Trajan in A. D. 114, which forms one of the gates of the modern city, now called Porta Aurea. It is adorned with bas-reliefs representing the exploits of the Emperor, and is generally admitted to be the finest monument of its class existing in Italy; both from the original merit of its architecture and sculpture, and from its excellent state of preservation. Besides this there exist the remains of an amphitheatre, portions of the Roman walls, and an ancient bridge over the Calor; while numerous bas-reliefs and fragments of sculpture (some of them of a very high order of merit), as well as Latin inscriptions in great numbers are found in almost all parts of the city. Some of these inscriptions notice the public buildings existing in the city, among which was one called the "Caesareum," probably a kind of Curia or place for the assemblies of the local senate; a Basilica, splendid porticoes, and Thermae, which appear to have been erected by the Emperor Commodus. Others contain much curious information concerning the various "Collegia," or corporations that existed in the city, and which appear to have been intended not only for religious or commercial objects, but in some instances for literary purposes. (De Vita, An. tiq. Benev. pp. 159-174, 253-289; Inscr. Benev. BERCORATES, a people of Aquitania (Plin. iv. p. 1-37; Orell. Inscr. 3164, 3763, 4124-4132, 19), or Bercorcates in Harduin's text. The name &c.) Beneventum indeed seems to have been a appears to exist in that of the Bercouats, the inhaplace of much literary cultivation; it was the birth-bitants of a place once named Barcou, now Jouanon, place of Orbilius the grammarian, who long continued to teach in his native city before he removed to Rome, and was honoured with a statue by his fellow-townsmen; while existing inscriptions record similar honours paid to another grammarian, Rutilius Aelianus, as well as to orators and poets, apparently only of local celebrity. (Suet. Gram. 9; De Vita, 1. c. pp. 204-220; Orell. Inscr. 1178, 1185.) The territory of Beneventum under the Roman empire was of very considerable extent. Towards the W., as already mentioned, it included that of Caudium, with the exception of the town itself; to the N. it extended as far as the Tamarus (Tammaro), including the village of Pago, which, as we learn from an inscription, was anciently called Pagus Veianus ; on the NE. it comprised the town of Equus Tuticus (S. Eleuterio, near Castel Franco), and on the E. and S. bordered on the territories of Aeculanum and Abellinum. An inscription has preserved to us the names of several of the pagi or villages dependent upon Beneventum, but their sites cannot be identified. (Henzen, Tab. Aliment. Baebian, p. 93-108; Mommsen, Topogr. degli Irpini, p. 168-171.) The ARUSINI CAMPI, mentioned by several writers as the actual scene of the engagement between Pyrrhus and the Romans (Flor. i. 18; Frontin. Strat. iv. 1. § 14; Oros. iv. 2), were probably the tract of plain country S. of the river Calor, called on Zannoni's map Le Colonne, which commences within 2 miles of Beneventum itself, and was traversed by the Via Appia. They are erroneously placed both by Florus and Orosius in Lucania; but all the best authorities place the scene of the action near Beneventum. Some writers would read " Taurasini," for Arusini in the passages cited, but there is no authority for this alteration. The annexed coin, with the legend BENVENTOD BENNA, or BENA (Bévva: Eth. Bevvaios, Steph. B.), a town in Thrace, from which one of the Ephesian tribes appears to have derived its name. (Guhl, Ephesiaca, p. 29.) Pliny (iv. 11. s. 18) speaks of a Thracian people of the name of Beni. BENNA, seems to have been a place in Phrygia Epictetus, between Kutaich and Azani, as is inferred from an inscription found by Keppel with the words TOIS BEVVITAIS at Tatar-Bazarjek. (Cramer, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 17.) [G. L.] BERA. [BEER.) in the canton of Born, in the department of Gironde. (Walckenaer, Géog. &c. vol. ii. p. 241.) [G. L.] BEREBIS, BOREVIS and VEREIS (Bepsis), a town in Lower Pannonia, identified by some with the modern village of Brecz, and by others with a place near Györgg, on the right bank of the Drave. (Ptol. ii. 16. § 6; Geogr. Rav. iv. 19; Itin. Ant. p. 130; Itin. Hier. p. 562; Tab. Peuting.) [L. S.] BERECYNTUS (Βερέκυντος: Εth. Βερεκύνται), a city of Phrygia, according to Stephanus (s. v.). But this town, and the Castellum Berecynthium of Vibius Sequester (p. 18, ed. Oberlin), on the Sangarius, are otherwise unknown. The Berecyntes (Strab. p. 469) were a Phrygian nation, who worshipped the Magna Mater. A district named Berecys is mentioned in a fragment of Aeschylus, quoted by Strabo (p. 580); but Aeschylus, after his fashion, confused the geography. Pliny (v. 29) mentions a Berecyntius tractus" in Caria, which abounded in boxwood (xvi. 16); but he gives no precise indication of the position of this country. [G. L.] BERECYNTUS. [IDA.] BEREGRA (Bépeypa: Eth. Beregranus), a town of Picenum, mentioned both by Pliny and Ptolemy among the places in the interior of that province. The latter reckons it one of the towns of the Praetutii, but we have no clue to its precise position. Cluverius would place it at Civitella di Tronto, about 10 miles N. of Teramo, which is at least a plausible conjecture. (Plin. iii. 13. s. 18; Ptol. iii. 1. § 58; Cluver. Ital. p. 746.) The Liber Coloniarum (p.259) mentions the "Veragranus ager among those of Picenum, a name evidently corrupted from "Beregranus." [E. H. B.] 77 BERENICE. 1. (Beрevíkn, Strab. xvi. p. 770, xvii. p. 815; Plin. vi. 23, 26, 29, 33; Steph. B. 8. v.; Arrian. Peripl. M. Rub.; Itin. Antonin. p. 173, f.; Epiphan. Haeres. lxvi. 1: Eth. Bepers |