NISIBIS, a city of Mesopotamia, at this day called _Nesibin_.
NOLA, a city of Campania, on the north-east of Vesuvius. At this place Augustus breathed his last: it retains its old name to this day.
NORIc.u.m, a Roman province, bounded by the Danube on the north, by the _Alpes Noricae_ on the south, by Pannonia on the east, and Vindelicia on the west; now containing a great part of Austria, Tyrol, Bavaria, &c.
NOVESIUM, a town of the Ubii in Gallia Belgica; now _Nuys_, on the west side of the Rhine, in the electorate of _Cologne_.
NUCERIA, a city of Campania; now _Nocera_.
NUMIDIA, a celebrated kingdom of Africa, bordering on Mauritania, and bounded to the north by the Mediterranean; now _Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli_, &c. the eastern part of the kingdom of _Algiers_. Syphax was king of one part, and Masinissa of the other.
O.
OCRICULUM, a town of Umbria, near the confluence of the Nar and the Tiber; now _Otricoli_, in the duchy of _Spoletto_.
ODRYSae, a people situated in the western part of Thrace, how a province of European Turkey.
OEENSES, a people of Africa, who occupied the country between the two Syrtes on the Mediterranean. Their city was called _Oea_, now _Tripoli_.
OPITERGIUM, now _Oderzo_, in the territory of Venice.
ORDOVICES, a people who inhabited what we now call _Flintshire, Denbighshire, Carnarvon_, and _Merionethshire_, in North Wales.
OSTIA, formerly a town of note, at the mouth of the Tiber (on the south side), whence its name; at this day it lies in ruins.
P.
PADUS, anciently called _Erida.n.u.s_ by the Greeks, famous for the fable of Phaeton; it receives several rivers from the Alps and Apennine, and, running from west to east, discharges itself into the Adriatic. It is now called the Po.
PAGIDA, a river in Numidia; its modern name is not ascertained.
D"Anville thinks it is now called _Fissato_, in the territory of _Tripoli_.
PALUS MaeOTIS; see MaeOTIS.
PAMPHYLIA, a country of the Hither Asia, bounded by Pisidia to the north, and by the Mediterranean to the south.
PANDA, a river of Asia, in the territory of the _Siraci_; not well known.
PANDATARIA, an island of the Tuscan Sea, in the Sinus Puteola.n.u.s (now _il Golfo di Napoli_), the place of banishment for ill.u.s.trious exiles, viz. Julia the daughter of Augustus, Agrippina the wife of Germanicus, Octavia the daughter of Claudius, and many others. It is now called _L"lsle Sainte-Marie_, or _Santa Maria_.
PANNONIA, an extensive country of Europe, bounded by Maesia on the east, by Noric.u.m on the west, Dalmatia on the south, and by the Danube to the north; containing part of _Austria_ and _Hungary_.
PANNONIAN ALPS. See ALPS.
PAPHOS: there were two towns of the name, both on the west side of the island of Cyprus, and dedicated to Venus, who was hence the _Paphian_ and the _Cyprian_ G.o.ddess.
PARTHIA, a country of the Farther Asia, with Media on the west, Asia on the east, and Hyrcania on the north.
PATAVIUM, now _Padua_, in the territory of Venice.
PELIGNI, a people of Samaium, near Naples.
PELOPONNESUS, the large peninsula to the south of Greece, so called after _Pelops_, viz. _Pelopis Nesus_. It is joined to the rest of Greece by the isthmus of Corinth, which lies between the Egean and Ionian seas. It is now called the _Morea_.
PENNINae ALPES. See ALPS.
PERGAMOS, an ancient and famous city of _Mysia_, situate on the Caicus, which runs through it. It was the residence of Attalus and his successors. This place was famous for a royal library, formed, with emulation, to vie with that of Alexandria in Egypt. The kings of the latter, stung with paltry jealousy, prohibited the exportation of paper. Hence the invention of parchment, called _Pergamana charta_.
Plutarch a.s.sures us, that the library at Pergamos contained two hundred thousand volumes. The whole collection was given by Marc Antony as a present to Cleopatra, and thus the two libraries were consolidated into one. In about six or seven centuries afterwards, the volumes of science, by order of the calif Omar, served for a fire to warm the baths of Alexandria; and thus perished _all the physic of the soul_. The town subsists at this day, and retains the name of _Pergamos_. See Spon"s Travels, vol. i.
PERINTHUS, a town of Thrace, situate on the Propontis, now called _Heraclea_.
PERUSIA, formerly a princ.i.p.al city of Etruria, on the north side of the Tiber, with the famous _Lacus Trasimenus_ to the east. It was besieged by Augustus, and reduced by famine. Lucan has, _Perusina fames_. It is now called _Perugia_, in the territory of the Pope.
PHARSALIA, a town in Thessaly, rendered famous by the last battle between Pompey and Julius Caesar.
PHILADELPHIA: there were several ancient towns of this name. That which Tacitus mentions was in Lydia, built by Attalus Philadelphus; it is now called by the Turks, _Alah Scheyr_.
PHILIPPI, a city of Macedonia, on the confines of Thrace; built by Philip of Macedon, and famous for the battle fought on its plains between Augustus and the republican party. It is now in ruins.
PHILIPPOPOLIS, a city of Thrace, near the river _Hebrus_. It derived its name from Philip of Macedon, who enlarged it, and augmented the number of inhabitants.
PICENTIA, the capital of the _Picentini_, on the Tuscan Sea. not far from Naples.
PICENUM, a territory of Italy, to the east of Umbria, and in some parts extending from the Apennine to the Adriatic. It is now supposed to be the _March of Ancona_.
PIRaeEUS, a celebrated port near Athens. It is much frequented at this day; its name, _Porto Lione_.
PISae, a town of Etruria, which gave name to the bay of Pisa, _Sinus Pisa.n.u.s_.
PLACENTIA, a town in Italy, now called _Placenza_, in the duchy of Parma.
PLANASIA, a small island near the coast of Etruria, in the Tuscan Sea; now _Pianosa_.
POMPEII, a town of Campania, near Herculaneum. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of Nero.
POMPEIOPOLIS: there were anciently two cities of the name; one in Cilicia, another in Paphlagonia.
PONTIA, an island in the Tuscan sea; a place of relegation or banishment.
PONTUS, an extensive country of Asia Minor, lying between Bithynia and Paphlagonia, and extending along the _Pontus Euxinus_, the Euxine or the Pontic Sea, from which it took its name. It had that sea to the east, the mouth of the Ister to the north, and Mount Haemus to the south. The wars between Mithridates, king of Pontus, and the Romans, are well known.
PRaeNESTE, a town of Latium to the south-east of Rome, standing very high, and said to be a strong place. The town that succeeded it, stands low in a valley, and is called _Palestrina_.
PROPONTIS, near the h.e.l.lespont and the Euxine; now the Sea of _Marmora_.
PUTEOLI, a town of Campania, so called from its number of wells; now _Pozzuolo_, nine miles to the west of Naples.