Thessaly (Strab. ix. p. 434), which Stephanus B. writes Proarna (Προάρνα), and calls by mistake a town of the Malians. In B.C. 191 Proerna, which had been taken by Antiochus, was recovered by the consul Acilius. (Liv. xxxvi. 14.) We learn from this passage of Livy that Proerna stood between Pharsalus and Thaumaci, and it is accordingly placed by Leake at Ghynekókastro. (Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 459.)
PROLA'QUEUM (Pioraco), a village or station on the branch of the Via Flaminia which crossed the Apennines from Nuceria (Nocera) to Septempeda (S. Severino). It was situated at the foot of the pass on the E. side of the mountains, and evidently
derived its name from its being at the outflow of a small lake which discharges its waters into the Potenza. Cluverius speaks of the lake as still existing in his time: it is not marked on modern maps, but the village of Pioraco still preserves the traces of the ancient name. The Itinerary reckons 16 M. P. from Nuceria to Prolaqueum, and 15 from thence to Septempeda. (Itin. Ant. p. 312; Cluver. Ital. p. 614.) [ E. H. B. ]
PRO'MONA (Πρώμονα, Appian, Ilyr. 12, 2—5—28; Peut. Tab.; Geogr. Rav. iv. 16), a town of the Liburni, situated on a hill, and, in addition to its natural defences strongly fortified. Octavianus, in the campaign of B. C. 34, surrounded it and the adjacent rocky heights with a wall for the space of 40
stadia, and defeating Teutimus, who had come to its relief, forced an entrance into the town, and obliged the enemy to evacuate the citadel. There is every reason to believe that Promona stood on the skirts of the craggy hills, which, with the neighbouring district, now bear the name of Promina. As the Peutinger Table places it on the road from Burnum to Salona, it must be looked for on the SW. side of
the mountain of Promina, in the direction of Dernis. (Wilkinson, Dalmatia, vol. i. p. 206.) [ E. B. J. ]
PRONI, PRONNI, or PRONE'SUS (Πρόννοι, Pol.; Προναῖοι,, Thuc.; Πρωνῆσος, Strab.), one of
the four towns of Cephallenia, situated upon the south-eastern coast. Together with the other towns of Cephallenia it joined the Athenian alliance in B.C. 431. (Thuc. ii. 30.) It is described by Polybius as a small fortress; but it was so difficult to besiege that Philip did not venture to attack it, but sailed against Pale. (Pol. v. 3.) Pale. Livy, in his account of the surrender of Cephallenia
to the Romans in B.C. 189, speaks of the Nesiotae, Cranii, Palenses, and Samaei. Now as we know that Proni was one of the four towns of Cephallenia, it is probable that Nesiotae is a false reading for Pronesiotae, which would be the ethnic form of
Pronesus, the name of the town in Strabo (x. p. 455). Proni or Pronesus was one of the three towns which continued to exist in the island after the destruction of Same. (Comp. Plin. iv. 12. s. 19.) The remains of Proni are found not far above the
shore of Liménia, a harbour about 3 miles to the northward of C. Kapri. (Leake, Northern Greece, Vol. iii. p. 66.)
PROPONTIS (Πρωπονίς: Sea of Marmora), the sea between Thrace and Asia Minor, forming an intermediate sea between the Aegean and the
Euxine, with the latter of which it communicates through the narrow strait of the Thracian Bosporus, and with the former through the Hellespont. Its ancient name Propontis describes it as " the sea be-
PROTA.
671
fore the entrance of the Pontus" or Euxine; while its modern name is derived from the island of Marmora, the ancient Proconnesus, near the western entranceof the sea. (Appul. de Mund. p. 6 ; Steph. B. s. v. (Πρωπονίς) The first authors who mention the Propontis under this name are Aeschylus (Pers. 876), Herodotus (iv. 85), and Scylax (pp. 28, 35); and Herodotus seems even to have made an accurate measurement of this sea, of which he states the length, to be 1400 stadia, and the breadth 500. Later writers such as Strabo (ii. p. 125) and Agathemerus (ii. 14), abandoning the correct view of their predecessor, state that the breadth of the Propontis is almost equal to its length, although, assuming the
Propontis to extend as far as Byzantium, they include in its length a portion of the Thracian Bosporus. Modern geographers reckon about 120 miles from one strait to the other, while the greatest breadth of the Propontis from the European to the Asiatic coast does not exceed 40 miles. The form of the Propontis would be nearly oval, were it not that in its south-eastern part Mt. Arganthonius with the promontory of oseidion forms two deep bays, that of Astacus [Sinus Astacenus] and that of Cius [Cianus Sinus]. The most important cities on the coasts of the Propontis are: Perinthius, Selymbria, Byzantium, Chalcedon, Astacus, Cius, and Cyzicus. In the south-west there are several islands, as Proconnesus, Ophiusa and Alone; at the eastern extremity, south of Chalcedon, there is a group of small islands called Demonnesi, while one small island, Besbicus, is situated in front of the bay of Cius. (Comp. Polyb. iv. 39, 42; Strab. xii. p. 574, xiii. pp. 563, 583; Ptol. v. 2. § 1, vii. 5. § 3, viii. 11. § 2, 17. § 2; Agath. i. 13; Dionys. Per. 137; Pomp. Mela, i. 1, 3, 19, ii.
2, 7 ; Plin. iv. 24, v. 40 ; Kruse, Ueber Herodots Ausmessung des Pontus Euxinus, &c, Breslau, 1820.) [ L. S. ]
PRO'SCHIUM (Πρόσχιον: Eth. Προσχειύς), a town of Aetolia, between the Achelous and the Evenus, is said to have been founded by the Aeolians when they removed from the Homeric Pylene higher up into the country. [Pylene.] Proschium also laid claim to high antiquity, since it possessed a shrine said to have been dedicated by Hercules to his cup-bearer Cyathus, whom he had unintentionally slain. It is clear, from a narrative of Thucydides, that Proschium lay west of Calydon and Pleuron, and at no great distance from the Achelous. Leake places it on the western part of Mt. Zygos (the ancient Aracynthus), near the monastery of St. George between Anatoliko and Anghelokastro (Strab. x. p. 451; Athen. x. p. 411, a.; Thuc. iii. 102, 106; Steph. B. s.v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 119.)
PROSYMNA (Πρόσυμνα: Eth.Προσυμναῶς, Steph. B. s. v.), an ancient town in the Argeia, in whose territory the celebrated Heraeum, or temple of Hera, stood. (Strab. viii. p. 373). Statius gives it the epithet "celsa" {Theb. iv. 44). Pausanias (ii. 17. § 2) mentions only a district of this name. (Leake, Peloponnesiaca, pp. 264, 269.) [See Vol. I. pp. 206, 207.]
PROTA (Πρῶτα), one of a group of small islands in the east of the Propontis, not far from Chalcedon. (Steph. B. s.v.Χαλκῖτις.) Its distance from Chalchitis was 40 stadia, and it is said still to bear the name of Prote. [ L. S. ]
