TO THE COUNTRY OF THE CICONES. 67 
Traj anopolis '^ : this explains the appearance of chap. 
ecclesiastical buildings among the ruins of the ' 
antient citadel. The Lake Bistonis is mentioned f"'"' . 
by Sirabo" ; and it is called [y^zyaXr] "kiy^vri) the 
great lake of that name*. It is also mentioned 
by Pliny \ and by Scymnus Chius^: yet such 
appears to have been always the forlorn con- 
dition of Thrace, that we find hardly a single 
allusion to it in any other writer ; and a feature in 
geography, which if found in Greece would have 
been the subject of constant allusion, is almost 
as little known as one of the lakes of America. 
Yet the Bistonians were of sufficient importance 
to render their name applicable, in the language 
of poetry, to the whole of Thrace : and in this 
sense they are mentioned by Lucan\ The 
(2) Vid. Annot. Gronov. in St.ph. lib. de IJrbibus, &c. p. 169. 
Not. 54. Amsl. 1678. 
(S) ''H vB-'iax.lirai Xi'fivf) fiiyaKri ii BiiTTati;. Excerpt. ex Lib. VII. fine 
Stialon. Geog. p. 485. ed. Oxon. 
(4) " QuiaGrffic^ Lacus dicitur Xif^vri, memoratur Ptolemao, lib. iii. 
c. II." Annot. Gronov. in Stephan. Lib. de Urbib. &c. p. 169. Not. 57. 
(5) " Ahdera libera civitas, Stagnum Rislonum et gens." Hist. Nat. 
lib. iv. c. 11. tom.L p. 215. L. Bat. 1635, 
(6) \x, OS rut 9^ct a.ya,reXn* 
Msaa», Xitjiovtfx rovtojA uxo tu> Biirrenusi 
®oS.*aii, T^DftriXr,! Itt) AIMNH BISTOMS. 
Sci/mnua Cuius, ver. 6? 7. 
(7) " Sanguineum veluti quatiens Bellona flagellum 
Bistonas, aut .Mavors agitans." Lucan. Pharsal. lib.vii. 
F '2 
