Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Various locations for destination: "KYRINAIKI Ancient country LIBYA".
Pentapolis came to be used of the five cities Apollonia, Cyrene, Ptolemais, Taucheira, and Berenice
Augila (ta Augila: Eth. Augilitai, Steph. B.; Augilai, Ptol.; Augilae
or Augylae, Mela and Plin.: Aujelah), an oasis in the desert of Barca, in the
region of Cyrenaica, in N. Africa, about 3 1/2° S. of Cyrene. Herodotus mentions
it as one of the oases formed by salt hills (olonoi halos), which he places at
intervals of 10 days' journey along the ridge of sand which he supposes to form
the N. margin of the Great Desert. His distance of 10 days' W. of the oasis of
Ammon is confirmed by Hornemann, who made the journey with great speed in 9 days;
but the time usually taken by the caravans is 13 days. In the time of Herodotus
the oasis belonged to the Nasamones who then dwelt along the shore from Egypt
to the Great Syrtis; and who, in the summer time, left their flocks on the coast,
and migrated to Augila to gather the dates with which it abounded. (Herod. iv.
172. 182: in the latter passage some MSS. have Aigila.) It was not, however, uninhabited
at other seasons, for Herodotus expressly says, kai anthropoi peri auton oikeousi.
Mela and Pliny, in abridging the statement of Herodotus, have transferred to the
Augilae (by a carelessness which is evident on comparison) what he says of the
Nasamones. (Mela, i. 4, 8; Plin. v. 4, 8.) They place them next to the Garamantes,
at a distance of 12 days' journey. (Plin.) Ptolemy (iv. 5. § 30) mentions the
Augilae and the Nasamones together, in such a manner as to lead to the inference
that the Nasamones, when driven back from the coast by the Greek colonists, had
made the oasis of Augila their chief abode. Stephanus Byzantinus calls Augila
a city.
The oasis, which still retains its ancient name, forms one of the
chief stations on the caravan route from Cairo to Fezzan. It is placed by Rennell
in 30° 3' N. lat. and 22° 46' E. long., 180 miles SE. of Barca, 180 W.
by N. of Siwah (the Ammonium), and 426 E. by N. of Mourzouk. Later authorities
place Aujilah (the village) in 29° 15' N. lat. and 21° 55' E. long. It
consists of three oases, that of Aujilah, properly so called, and those of Jalloo
(Pacho: Mojabra, Hornemann) and Leshkerrehi, a little E. and NE. of the former,
containing several villages, the chief of which is called Aujilah, and supporting
a population of 9000 or 10,000. Each of these oases is a small hill (the kolonos
of Herodotus), covered with a forest of palm-trees, and rising out of an unbroken
plain of red sand, at the S. foot of the mountain range on the S. of Cyrenaica.
The sands around the oasis are impregnated with salts of soda. They are connected
with the N. coast by a series of smaller oases. Augila is still famous for the
palm-trees mentioned by Herodotus and by the Arabian geographer Abulfeda. An interesting
parallel to Herodotus's story of the gathering of the date harvest by the Nasamones
occurs in the case of a similar oasis further to the E., the dates of which are
gathered by the people of Derna on the coast.
According to Procopius (Aedif. vi. 1), there were temples in the oasis,
which Justinian converted into Christian churches. There are still some traces
of ruins to be seen.
(Rennell, Geography of Herodotus, vol. ii. pp. 209, 212, 213, 271; Hornemann,
Journal of Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk; Heeren, Researches, &c., African Nations,
vol. i. p. 213; Pacho, Voyage dans la Marmarique, p. 272.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Automala (Automala, Strab. ii. p. 123; Automalax, Ptol. iv. 4. § 3; Automalaka, Steph. B., Eth. Automalakites and Automalakeus; Automalai, Diod. Sic. xx. 41), a border fortress of Cyrenaica, on the extreme W. frontier, at the very bottom of the Great Syrtis, E. of the Altars of the Philaeni; very probably the Anabucis of the Antonine Itinerary, 25 M. P. E. of Banadedari (the Arae Philaenorum, p. 65). Modern travellers have discovered no vestige of the place. It is mentioned by Diodorus, in connection with the difficult march of Ophellas, to support Agathocles in the Carthaginian territory; and in its neighbourhood was a cave, said to have been the abode of the child-murdering queen Lamia. (Diod. l. c.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(ta Ouelpa ore, Ptol. iv. 4. § 8), a range of mountains on the W. borders of Cyrenaica,
in which were the sources of the river Lathon.
Giglius (to Giglion oros, vulgo GigioW), a mountain in the interior
of Cyrenaica. (Ptol. iv. 3. § 20.)
Boreum, Borion (Boreion akron), (Ras Teyonas), a promontory on the W. coast of Cyrenaica, forming the E. headland of the Greater Syrtis, and the W. boundary of the Cyrenaic Pentapolis, being a little SW. of Hesperides or Berenice. (Strab. xvii. p. 836; Plin. v. 4.; Ptol. iv. 4. § 3; Stadiasm. p. 447, where the error of 700 for 70 is obvious; Barth, Wanderungen, &c. p. 365). Adjacent to the promontory was a small port; but there was a much more considerable sea-port town of the same name, further S., which was inhabited by a great number of Jews, who are said to have ascribed their temple in this place to Solomon. Justinian converted the temple into a Christian church, compelled the Jews to embrace Christianity, and fortified the place, as an important post against the attacks of the barbarians (Itin. Ant. p. 66; Tab. Peut.; Stadiasm. l. c.; Procop. Aedif. vi. 2). The exact position of this southern Boreum is difficult to determine. (Barth, l. c. Syrtes.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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