Commentary Page 81



	THEOPHRASTUS ON STONES

	subjected to moderate heat; and this would happen if they were exposed to the sun. This interpretation seems likely, since Theophrastus goes on immediately to discuss various brittle "stones" which were obviously natural bituminous substances. 12. Some of those that can be bro\en are li\e hot coals when they burn, and remain li\e this for some time, such as those found in the mine at Binai which are brought down by the river. Bina was a town in Thrace, but its exact location is unknown. Theophrastus uses the plural form Binai. The account given by the writers of the Etymologicum Magnum, namely, that the place received its name because of the immorality of its inhabitants (βινεΐν), is obviously false. Procopius⁵⁵ mentions a castle βίνεος in a list of forts, and this may have been at the place in question. Stephanus of Byzantium⁵⁸ lists Benna as a city of Thrace and states that the spelling was sometimes Bena or Beina, though the former was better. At the time when Stephanus lived, Beina and Bina would have had the same pronunciation, so that it seems likely that this was the place which Theophrastus mentions here. Unfortunately, Stephanus, too, fails to locate the city. That it was probably on a Thracian river named Pontus is indicated by a passage in the pseudo-Aristotelian work De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus." The allusion here is undoubtedly to some sort of natural solid bituminous substance, though the description is not adequate for an exact identification. The fact that the stones are described as brittle would suggest a bitumen associated with shale or soft limestone. The most likely identification is rock asphalt; for the combustible stone of Erineas mentioned in section 15 was probably rock asphalt too, and this is said to be like the kind found at Bina. The material called spinos, mentioned in the next section, was probably a solid bitumen, and this also suggests that the stones found at Bina were asphaltic in nature. The only objection to such an identification is that bitumens are not of frequent occurrence within the boundaries of ancient Thrace. There is a possibility ⁵⁵ De Aedificiis,TV, 4. ^se S.v. Έέννα. ^5Τ Sec. 115.

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