LEONTES
LEONTES (
Λέοντος ποτάμου ἐκβολαί), a river of Phoenicia, placed by Ptolemy between Berytus and Sidon (5.15, p. 137) ; consistently with, which notice Strabo places Leontopolis between the same two towns, the distance between which he states at 400 stadia.
He mentions no river of this name, but the Tamyras (
ὁ Ταμύρας ποταμός), the grove of Aesculapius, and Leontopolis, which would doubtless correspond with the Lion river of Ptolemy; for it is obviously an error of Pliny to place “Leontos oppidum” between “Berytus” and “Flumen Lycos” (5.20). Now, as the Tamyras of Strabo is clearly
[p. 2.158]identical with
Nalr-ed-Dâmur, half way between
Beyrút and
Saida, Lion's town and river should be looked for south of this, and north of Sidon.
The only stream in this interval is
Nahr-el-Auly, called also in its upper part
Nahr Barûk, which Dr. Robinson has shown to be the Bostrenus Fluvius. [
BOSTRENUS] This, therefore, Mannert seemed to have sufficient authority for identifying with the Leontes.
But the existence of the
Lîtâny--a name supposed to be similar to the
Leontes--between Sidon and Tyre, is thought to countenance the conjecture that Ptolemy has misplaced the Leontes, which is in fact identical with the anonymous river which Strabo mentions near Tyre (p. 758), which can be no other than the
Lîtâny (Robinson,
Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 408--410, and notes). No great reliance, however, can be placed on the similarity of names, as the form
Leontos is merely the inflexion of
Λέων, which was not likely to be adopted in Arabic.
It is far more probable that the classical geographer in this, as in other cases, translated the Semitic name. [See CANIS and LYOUS.] Besides which the
Lîtâny does not retain this name to the coast, but is here called
Nahr-el-Kâsimîyeh, the
Casimeer of Maundrell (March 20, p. 48; Reland,
Palaestina, pp. 290, 291.)
[
G.W]
