Byblia, a name of Venus.
Byblii, a people of Syria. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1.
Byblis, a daughter of Miletus and Cyanea. She fell in love with her brother Caunus, and when he refused to gratify her passion, she destroyed herself. Some say that Caunus became enamoured of her, and fled from his country to avoid incest; and others report that he fled from his sister’s importunities, who sought him all over Lycia and Caria, and at last sat down all bathed in tears, and was changed into a fountain of the same name. Ovid, de Ars Amatoria, bk. 1, li. 284; Metamorphoses, bk. 9, li. 451.—Hyginus, fable 243.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 5.——A small island in the Mediterranean.
Byblus, a town of Syria, not far from the sea, where Adonis had a temple. Strabo, bk. 16.
Bylliones, a people of Illyricum.
Byrrhus, a robber, famous for his dissipation. Horace, bk. 1, satire 4, li. 69.
Byrsa, a citadel in the middle of Carthage, on which was the temple of Æsculapius. Asdrubal’s wife burnt it when the city was taken. When Dido came to Africa, she bought of the inhabitants as much land as could be encompassed by a bull’s hide. After the agreement, she cut the hide in small thongs, and inclosed a large piece of territory, on which she built a citadel which she called Byrsa (Βυρσα, a hide). Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 371.—Strabo, bk. 17.—Justin, bk. 18, ch. 5.—Florus, bk. 2, ch. 15.—Livy, bk. 34, ch. 62.
Byzacium, a country of Africa.
Byzantium, a town situate on the Thracian Bosphorus, founded by a colony of Megara, under the conduct of Byzas, 658 years before the christian era. Paterculus says it was founded by the Milesians, and by the Lacedæmonians according to Justin, and according to Ammianus by the Athenians. The pleasantness and convenience of its situation were observed by Constantine the Great, who made it the capital of the eastern Roman empire, A.D. 328, and called it Constantinopolis. A number of Greek writers, who have deserved or usurped the name of Byzantine historians, flourished at Byzantium, after the seat of the empire had been translated thither from Rome. Their works, which more particularly relate to the time in which they flourished, and are seldom read but by those who wish to form an acquaintance with the revolutions of the lower empire, were published in one large collection, in 36 vols., folio, 1648, &c., at Paris, and recommended themselves by the notes and supplements of du Fresne and du Cange. They were likewise printed at Venice, 1729, in 28 vols., though perhaps this edition is not so valuable as that of the French. Strabo, bk. 1.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 15.—Cornelius Nepos, Pausanias, Alcibiades, & Timotheus.—Justin, bk. 9, ch. 1.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, chs. 62 & 63.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Marcellinus, bk. 22, ch. 8.
Byzas, a son of Neptune king of Thrace, from whom it is said Byzantium receives its name. Diodorus, bk. 4.