of the four Pan-Hellenic festivals; they were
periodically celebrated in honour of Poseidon or Neptune at the isthmus
of Corinth, in Greece, whence the name.

ISTRIA (299), a mountainous territory of Austria, in the NE. corner
of the Adriatic; yields olive-oil, figs, and vines, though often swept by
sirocco and bora winds.

ISUMBRAS, ST., a hero of mediaeval romance, a proud man subdued by
God's justice into a penitent and a humble.

ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE. The style of architecture called Italian was
first developed by Filippo Bruneschelli, and flourished during the 15th,
16th, and 17th centuries; it was an adaptation of classical circular-arch
form to modern requirements. In Rome it conformed most to ancient types;
in Venice it assumed its most graceful form. It was more suitable to
domestic than to ecclesiastical work; but the dome is an impressive
feature, and St. Peter's a noble church.

ITALIC SCHOOL, the name given to the school of PYTHAGORAS
(q. v.) who taught philosophy in Italy.

ITALIC VERSION, THE, a version of the Scriptures into Latin on the
basis of the Septuagint, executed in N. Italy under episcopal authority
from other versions in circulation; being of mixed quality and far from
satisfactory, JEROME (q. v.) undertook its revision with the
view of a new translation into Latin known as the Vulgate direct from the
Hebrew and Greek originals.

ITALY (30,536), the central one of three peninsulas stretching into
the Mediterranean Sea, in the S. of Europe, has the Adriatic and
Tyrrhenian Seas respectively on the E. and W., and is separated from
France, Switzerland, and Austria in the N. by the various ranges of the
Alps. Between the Alps and the Apennines lies the extensive, fertile
plain of Lombardy, watered by the river Po, and containing several large
lakes, such as Garda, Como, and Maggiore. The Apennines form a very
picturesque chain of mountains 5000 ft. high down the centre of the
country. The climate varies in different districts, but is mostly warm.
Malaria curses many parts in autumn. Agriculture is extensive, but
primitive in manner, and the peasantry are very poor. The most important
crops are cereals, including rice and maize, grapes, olives, and
chestnuts, and in the S. oranges and lemons. Italian wines are of
indifferent quality. Coal and iron are scarce; sulphur is produced in
large quantities in Sicily. There are large quarries of marble and
alabaster. The most important ind