NICÆA, (anc. gr. Νικαια), the metropolis of Bithynia; situate on the lake Alcanius, in a large and fertile plain; in compass 16 stadia: first built by Antigonus, the son of Philip, and thence called Antigonea; afterwards completed by Lysimachus, who called it Nicaea, after his consort the daughter of Antipater. According to Stephanus, it was originally a colony of the Bottiæi, a people of Thrace, and called Ancora; and afterwards called Nicaea. Now Nice in Asia the Less. Famous for the first general council.—A second Nicaea, (Diodorus Siculus,) of Carthage.—A third, of the Hither India, (Arrian;) situate on the west side of the Hydaspes, opposite to Buciphale, on the east side.—A fourth Nicaea, a town of Liguria, at the Maritime Alps, on the east side of the river Paulon near its mouth, which runs between the Varus and Nicaea, (Mela). A colony of the Massilians, (Stephanus;) the last town of Italy to the west. Now Nizza or Nice, capital of the county of that name, on the Mediterranean.—A fifth, of Locres, (Strabo;) a town near Thermopylae; one of the keys of that pass. It stood on the Sinus Malicus.