ME´LITA
ME´LITA (
Μελίτη, Scyl. p.8; Steph.B.: Agathem. 1.5;
Plin. Nat. 3.30; Itin. Anton.; Peut. Tab.;
Μελιτηνή,
Ptol. 2.16.14;
Μέλετα, Const. Porph.
de Adm. Imp. 36; Malata; Geogr. Rav.), one of the Liburnian group of islands.
It was so called like its namesake Melita or
Malta, from the excellence of its honey; and some erroneously have claimed for it the honour of being the island on which St. Paul was wrecked. (See preceding article.)
It is the same as the long narrow and hilly island of
Meleda, lying about half-way between
Curzola and
Ragusa, remarkable in modern times for the singular phenomenon of subterranean noises called “Detonazioni di Meleda,” the cause of which has been attributed to the region of volcanic activity which is supposed to underlie the whole of this coast. (Comp. Daubeny,
On Volcanoes, p. 333.)
The site of a palace which was built by Agesilaus of Cilicia, the father of Oppianus, the author of the “Halieutica,” when banished to the island in the time of Septimius Severus, is still shown. (Wilkinson,
Dalmatia and Monte-Negro, vol. i. p. 265.)
[
E.B.J]
