whole we may safely place them in the group of the Alps, of which the Mont St. Gothmxl is the centre, and from which the Rhone and the Rhine, as well as the Reints and the Ticino, take their rise. The name of Val Levantina, still given to the upper valley of the Ticino, near the foot of the St. Gothard, is very probably derived from the name of the Le- pontii. Their chief town, according to Ptolemy, was Oscela or Oscdla, which is generally supposed to be Dome (T Ossola ; but, as the Lepontii are erroneously placed by liim in the Cottian Alps, it is perhaps more probable that the town meant by him is the Ocelum of Caesar (now Uxemi), which was really situated in that district. [Ocelum.]
The name of Alpes Lepontiae, or Lepontian Alps, is generally given by modern geographers to the part of this chain extending from Monte I{o-<a to the St. Gothard ; but there is no ancient autho- rity for this use of the term. [E. H. B.]
LE'PREUM {rh Aiwpeov, ScyL, Strab., Polyb.; AeTrpeos, Paus., Aristoph. yly. 149; A4npwv, Ptol. iii. 16. § 18: £■</;. AeTrpearTjy), the chief town of Triphylia in Elis, was situated in the southern part of the district, at the distance of 100 stadia from Samicum, and 40 stadia from the sea. (Strab. viii. p. 344.) Scylax and Ptolemy, less correctly, describe it as lying upon the coast. Triphylia is said to have been originally inhabited by the Cauconians, whence Lepreum is called by Callimachns {IJyvin. in Jov. 39) KavKwvoiv nToAtiOpov. The Caucones were afterwards expelled by the Jlinyae, who took posses- sion of Lepreum. (Herod, iv. 148.) Subsequently, and probably soon after the Messenian w;u's, Le- preum and the other cities of Triphylia were sub- dued by the Eleians, who governed them as subject pl'bces. [See Vol. L p. 818, b.] The Triphylian cities, however, always bore this yoke with impa- tience ; and Lepreum took the lead in their frequent attempts to shake off the Eleian supremacy. The greater importance of Lepreum is shown by the i;ict that it was the only one of the Triphylian towns which took part in the Persian wars. (Herod, ix. 28.) In B.C. 421 Lepreum, supported by Sparta, revolted from Elis (Thuc. v. 31); and at last, in 400, the Eleians, by their treaty with Sparta, were obliged to relinquish their authority over Lepreum and the other Tripliylian towns. (Xen. Hell. iii. 2. §25.) When the Spartan power had been broken by the battle of Leuctra (b. c. 371), the Spartans endeavoured to recover their supremacy over Le- preum and the other Triphylian towns ; but the latter protected themselves by becoming members of the Arcadian confederacy, which had been recently founded by Epaminondas. (Xen. Bell. vi. 5. § 2, seq.) Hence Lepreum is called an Arcadian town by Scylax and Pliny, the latter of whom erroneously speaks both of a Leprion in Elis (iv. 5. s. 6), and of a Lepreon in Arcadia (iv. 5. s. 10). Pausanias also states that the Lepreatae in his time claimed to be Arcadians; but he observes that they had been sub- jects of the Eleians from ancient times, — that as many of them as had been victors in the public games were proclaimed as Eleians from Lepreus, — and that Aristophanes describes Lepreus as a city of the Eleians. (Paus. v. 5. § 3.) After the time of Alexander the Eleians again reduced the Triphylian cities, which therefore were obliged to join the Ae- tolian league along with the Eleians. But when Philip, in his war with the Aetolians, marched into Triphylia, the inhabitants of Lepreum rose against the Eleian garrison in their town, and declared in favour of Philip, who thus obtained possession of the place. (Polyb. iv. 77, 79, 80.) In the time of Pau- sanias the only monument in Lepreum was a temple of Demeter, built of brick. In the vicinity of the town was a fountain n.amed Arenc. (Paus. v. 5. § 6.) The territory of Lepreum was rich and fertile. {Xwpa evSaifiQiv, Strab. viii. p. 345.)
The rains of Lepreiuu are situated upon a hill, near the modern village of Strovitzi. These ruins show that Lepreum was a town of some size. A plan of them is given by the French Commission ^ which is copied in the work of Curtius. They were first described by Dodwell. It takes half an hour to ascend from the first traces of the walls to the acro- polis, which is entered by an ancient gateway. " The towers are square; one of them is ahnost entire, and contains a small window or arrow hole. A trans- verse wall is carried eompletely across the acropolis, by which means it was anciently divided into two parts. The foundation of this wall, and part of the elevation, still remain. Three different periods of architecture are evident in this fortress. The walls are composed of polygons: some of the towers con- sist of irregular, and others of rectangular quadri- laterals. The ruins extend far below the acropoli.s, on the side of the hill, and are seen on a flat de- tached knoll." (Dodwell, Totir through Greece, vol. ii. p. 347 ; Leake, Morea, vol. i. p. 56 ; Bob- laye, Jiecherches, cfc. p. 135 ; Curtius, Pelopon- nesos, vol. ii. p. 84.)
LE'PSIA {Lipso a small island of the Icarian
sea, in the north of Leros, and opposite to the coast of
Caria. It is not mentioned by any ancient author
except Pliny (//. N. v. 34). [L. S.]
LEPTE (AeTTTi/cr; &.Kpa, Ptol.iv. 5 ; Plin. vi. 29
s. 34), the modern Ras-el-Aitf, in lat. 23° N., was
a headland of Upper Egypt, upon the confines of
Aethiopia, which projected into the Red Sea at Sinus
Immundus (^Fonl Bay). It formed the extremity
of a volcanic range of rocks abounding in mines of
gold, copper and topaz. [V. B. D.]
LEPTIS, a town of Hispania Baetica, mentioned
only in the Bell. Alex, bl , where the word is perhaps
only a false reading for Laepa, near the mouth of
the Anas. [P. S.]
LEPTIS[1] (Liv. xxxiv. 62 ; Caes. B. C. ii. 38 ;
Hirt. Bell. Afr. 6, 7, 9, 62 ; Mela, i. 7. § 2 : Plin.
v. 4. s. 3), also called by later writers, LEPTIS
MINOR or PARVA (AeTrris r] /xiKpa, Ptol. iv. 3.
§ 10; Leptiminus or Lepte Minus, Itin. Ant. p. 58;
Tab. Pent.; Geogr. Eav. iii. 5 v. 5 : Bth Leptitani:
Ltmta, Eu.), a city on the coast of Byzacium, just
within the SE. headland of the Sinus Neapolitanus,
18 M.P. SE. of H.adrumetum, and 33 M.P. NE. of
Thysdnis, and one of the most flourishing of the
Phoenician colonies on that coast, notwithstanding
the epithet Parva, which is merely used by late
writers to distinguish it from the still more important
city of Leptis Magna. It was a colony of Tyre
(Sail. Jug. 19 ; Plin. I. c), and, under the Car-
thaginians, it was the most important place in the
wealthy district of Emporiae, and its wealth was
such that it paid to Carthage the dailg tribute of
a Euboic talent. (Liv. I. c.) Under the Romans
it was a libei-a civitas, at least in Pliny's time :
whether it became a colony afterwards depends on
the question, whether the coins bearing the name of
Leptis belong to this city or to Leptis Magna.
- ↑ Derived from a Phoenician word signifying a naval station.
