HI´PPARIS
HI´PPARIS (
Ἵππαρις), a small river of Sicily, flowing by the city of Camarina, whence it is now called the
Fiume di Camarana. It is mentioned by Pindar in connection with that city (
Pind. O. 5.27), from its proximity to which it derives its celebrity. [
CAMARINA] Though but a small stream, and having a course of only 12 miles, it has a copious and perennial supply of clear water, a rare circumstance in Sicily: hence the expression of Silius Italicus, “pauperis alvei Hipparis,” is singularly inapplicable. (
Sil. Ital. 14.230; Vib. Sequest. p. 12; Schol.
ad Pind. l.c.; Nonnus.
Dionys. 13.317.)
It is evidently the same river of which the name is erroneously written in Ptolemy, Hippōrus. (
Ἵππωρος, Ptol. 3.4.7.)
The tutelary divinity of the stream is represented on some of the, coins of Camarina, accompanied by his name,
ΙΠΠΑΡΙΣ (Eckhel, vol. i. p. 199.)
[
E.H.B]
