LIBYSSA
LIBYSSA (
Λιβυσσα or
Λίβισσα,
Ptol. 5.1.13: Eth.
Λιβυσσαῖος), a town on the north coast of the Sinus Atacenus in Bithynia, on the road from Nicaea to Chalcedon.
It was celebrated in antiquity as the place containing the tomb of the great Hannibal. (
Plut. Flam. 20;
Steph. B. sub voce Plin.
H.N. 5.43;
Amm. Marc. 22.9 ;
Eutrop. 4.11 Itin. Ant. p. 139;
Itin. Hier. p. 572.) In Pliny's time the town no longer existed, but the spot was noticed only because of the tumulus of Hannibal.
According to Appian (
App. Syr. 11), who evidently did not know the town of Libyssa, a river of Phrygia was called Libyssus, and he states that from it the surrounding country received the name of Libyssa.
The slight resemblance between the name Libyssa and the modern
Ghebse has led some geographers to regard the latter as the site of the ancient town; but Leake (
Asia Minor, p. 9),. from an accurate: computation of distances, has shown that the modern
Maldysem is much more likely to be the site of Libyssa.
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L.S]
