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| The inhabitants
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|  ANAGNI (Town) LAZIO |
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Hernici
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| | ARDEA (Ancient city) ITALY |
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Rutuli
Rutuli (Rhoutouloi), a people of ancient Italy, who, according to
a tradition generally received in later times, were settled at a very early period
in a part of Latium, adjoining the sea-coast, their capital city being Ardea.
The prominent part that they and their king Turnus bear in the legendary history
of Aeneas and the Trojan settlement, especially in the form in which this has
been worked up by Virgil, has given great celebrity to their name, but they appear
to have been, in fact, even according to these very traditions, a small and unimportant
people. Their king Turnus himself is represented as dependent on Latinus; and
it is certain that in the historical period Ardea was one of the cities of the
Latin League (Dionys. v. 61), while the name of the Rutuli had become merged in
that of the Latin people. Not long before this indeed Livy represents the Rutuli
as a still existing people, and the arms of Tarquinius Superbus as directed against
them when he proceeded to attack Ardea, just before his expulsion. (Liv. i. 56,
57.) According to this narrative Ardea was not taken, but we learn from much better
authority (the treaty between Rome and Carthage preserved by Polybius, iii. 22)
that it had fallen under the power of the Romans before the close of the monarchy,
and it is possible that the extinction of the Rutuli as an independent people
may date from this period. The only other mention of the Rutuli which can be called
historical is that their name is found in the list given by Cato (ap. Priscian.
iv. 4. p. 629) of the cities that took part in the foundation of the celebrated
temple of Diana at Aricia, a list in all probability founded upon some ancient
record; and it is remarkable that they here figure as distinct from the Ardeates.
There were some obscure traditions in antiquity that represented Ardea as founded
by a colony from Argos [ARDEA], and these are regarded by Niebuhr as tending to
prove that the Rutuli were a Pelasgic race. (Nieb. vol. i. p. 44, vol. ii. p.
21.) Schwegler, on the other hand considers them as connected with the Etruscans,
and probably a relic of the period when that people had extended their dominion
throughout Latium and Campania. This theory finds some support in the name of
Turnus, which may probably be connected with Tyrrhenus, as well as in the union
which the legend represents as subsisting between Turnus and the Etruscan king
Mezentius. (Schwegler, Rom. Gesch. vol. i. pp. 330, 331.) But the whole subject
is so mixed up with fable and poetical invention, that it is impossible to feel
confidence in any such conjectures.
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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| | AUSONIA (Ancient country) CAMPANIA |
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Sidicini
An Ausonian people in the northwest of Campania and on the borders
of Samnium, who, being hard pressed by the Samnites, united themselves to the
Campanians. Their chief town was Teanum.
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Ausones, Ausonians
The Ausonians, a very ancient, perhaps Greek, name of the primitive inhabitants of Middle and Lower Italy
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Ausones
Ausones is the name given by Greek writers to one of the ancient nations
or races that inhabited Central Italy. The usage of ancient writers in regard
to all these national appellations is very vague and fluctuating, and perhaps
in no instance more so than in the case of the Ausones or Ausonians. But notwithstanding
this uncertainty, some points appear to be pretty clearly made out concerning
them.
1. The Ausonians were either identical with the Opicans or Oscans, or were at
least a part of the same race and family. Aristotle expressly tells us (Pol. vii.
10), that the part of Italy towards Tyrrhenia was inhabited by the Opicans, who
were called, both formerly and in his time, by the additional name of Ausones.
Antiochus of Syracuse also said, that Campania was at first occupied by the Opicans,
who were also called Ausonians. (Ant. ap. Strab. v. p. 242.) Polybius, on the
contrary, appears to have regarded the two nations as different, and spoke of
Campania as inhabited by the Ausonians and Opicans; but this does not necessarily
prove that they were really distinct, for we find in the same manner the Opicans
and Oscans mentioned by some writers as if they were two different nations (Strab.
l. c.), though there can be no doubt that these are merely forms of the same name.
Hecataeus also appears to have held the same view with Antiochus, as he called
Nola in Campania a city of the Ausones (ap. Steph. B. s. v. Nola).
2. The Ausones of the Greeks were the same people who were termed Aurunci by the
Romans: the proofs of the original identity of the two have been already given
under Aurunci But at a later period the two appellations were distinguished and
applied to two separate tribes or nations.
3. The name of Ausones, in this restricted and later sense of the term, is confined
to a petty nation on the borders of Latium and Campania. In one passage Livy speaks
of Cales as their chief city; but a little later he tells us that they had three
cities, Ausona, Minturnae, and Vescia, all of which appear to have been situated
in the plains bordering on the Liris, not far from its mouth. (Liv. viii. 16,
ix. 25.) At this period they were certainly an inconsiderable tribe, and were
able to offer but little resistance to the Roman arms. Their city of Cales was
captured, and soon after occupied by a Roman colony, B.C. 333; and though a few
years afterwards the success of the Samnites at Lautulae induced them to take
up arms again, their three remaining towns were easily reduced by the Roman consuls,
and their inhabitants put to the sword. On this occasion Livy tells us (ix. 25)
that the Ausonian nation was destroyed; it is certain that its name does not again
appear in history, and is only noticed by Pliny (iii. 5. s. 9) among the extinct
races which had formerly inhabited Latium.
But however inconsiderable the Ausonians appear at this time, it is
clear that at a much earlier period they were a powerful and widely extended nation.
For although it is probable that the Greeks frequently applied the name with little
regard to accuracy, and may have included races widely different under the common
appellation of Ausonians, it is impossible to account for this vague and general
use of the name, unless the people to whom it really belonged had formed an important
part of the population of Central Italy. The precise relation in which they were
considered as standing to the Opicans or Oscans it is impossible to determine,
nor perhaps were the ideas of the Greeks themselves upon this point very clear
and definite. The passages already cited prove that they were considered as occupying
Campania and the western coast of Italy, on which account the Lower Sea (Mare
Inferum, as it was termed by the Romans), subsequently known as the Tyrrhenian,
was in early ages commonly called by the Greeks the Ausonian Sea.1
(Strab. v. 233; Dionys. i. 11; Lycophr. Alex. 44; Apoll. Rhod. iv. 590.) Other
accounts, however, represent them as originally an inland people, dwelling in
the mountains about Beneventum. (Festus, s. v. Ausonia.) Scymnus Chius also speaks
of them as occupying an inland region (Perieg. 228); and Strabo (p. 233) tells
us that they had occupied the mountain tract above the Pontine marshes, where
in Roman history we meet only with Volscians. On the whole, it is probable that
the name was applied with little discrimination to all the native races who, prior
to the invasion of the Samnites, occupied Campania and the inland mountainous
region afterwards known as Samnium, and from thence came to be gradually applied
to all the inhabitants of Central Italy. But they seem to have been regarded by
the best authorities as distinct from the Oenotrians, or Pelasgic races, which
inhabited the southern parts of the peninsula (see Aristot. l. c.); though other
authors certainly confounded them. Hellanicus according to Dionysius (i. 22) spoke
of the Ausonians as crossing over into Sicily under their king Siculus, where
the people meant are clearly the Siculi. Again, Strabo speaks (vi. p. 255) of
Temesa as founded by the Ausones, where he must probably mean the Oenotrians,
the only people whom we know of as inhabiting these regions before the arrival
of the Greeks. The use of the name of Aitsonia for the whole Italian peninsula
was merely poetical, at least it is not found in any extant prose writer; and
Dionysius, who assures us it was used by the Greeks in very early times, associates
it with Hesperia and Saturnia, both of them obviously poetical appellations (i.
35). Lycophron, though he does not use the name of Ausonia, repeatedly applies
the adjective Ausonian both to the country and people, apparently as equivalent
to Italian; for he includes under the appellation, Arpi in Apulia, Agylla in Etruria,
the neighbourhood of Cumae in Campania, and the banks of the Crathis in Lucania.
(Alex. 593, 615, 702, 922, 1355.) Apollonius Rhodius, a little later, seems to
use the name of Ausonia (Ausonie) precisely in the sense in which it is employed
by Dionysius Periegetes and other Greek poets of later times - for the whole Italian
peninsula. It was probably only adopted by the Alexandrian writers as a poetical
equivalent for Italia, a name which is not found in any poets of that period.
(Apoll. Rhod. iv. 553, 660, &c.; Dion. Per. 366, 383, &c.) From them the name
of Ausonia was adopted by the Roman poets in the same sense (Virg. Aen. vii. 55,
x. 54, &c.), and at a later period became not uncommon even in prose writers.
The etymology of the name of Ausones is uncertain; but it seems not improbable
that it is originally connected with the same root as Oscus or Opicus. (Buttmann.
Lexil. vol. i. p. 68; Donaldson, Varronianus, pp. 3, 4.)
1 Pliny,on the contrary (iii. 5 s. 10, 10. s. 15), and, if we may trust
his authority, Polybius also, applied the name of Ausonium Mare, to the sea on
the SE. of Italy, from Sicily to the Iapygian Promontory, but this is certainly
at variance with the customary usage of the term.
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited October 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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Aurunci
Aurunci (Aurounkoi), is the name given by Roman writers to an ancient
race or nation of Italy. It appears certain that it was originally the appellation
given by them to the people called Ausones by the Greeks: indeed, the two names
are merely different forms of the same, with the change so common in Latin of
the s into the r. (Aurunci=Aurunici=Auruni=Ausuni.) The identity of the two is
distinctly asserted by Servius (ad Aen. vii. 727), and clearly implied by Dion
Cassius (Fr. 2), where he says, that the name of Ausonia was properly applied
only to the land of the Auruncans, between the Volscians and the Campanians. In
like manner Festus (s. v. Ausonia) makes the mythical hero Auson the founder of
the city of Aurunca., Servius terms the Aurunci one of the most ancient nations
of Italy (ad Aen. vii. 206); and they certainly appear to have been at an early
period much more powerful and widely spread than we subsequently find them. But
it does not appear that the name was ever employed by the Romans in the vague
and extensive sense in which that of Ausones was used by the Greeks.
At a later period, in the fourth century B.C., the two names of Aurunci
and Ausones had assumed a distinct signification, and came to be applied to two
petty nations, evidently mere subdivisions of the same great race, both dwelling
on the frontiers of Latium and Campania; the Ausones on the W. of the Liris, extending
from thence to the mountains of the Volscians; the Auruncans, on the other hand,
being confined to the detached group of volcanic mountains now called Monte di
Sta Croce, or Rocca Monjina, on the left bank of the Liris, together with the
hills that slope from thence towards the sea. Their ancient stronghold or metropolis,
Aurunca was situated near the summit of the mountain, while Suessa which they
subsequently made their capital, was on its south-western slope, commanding the
fertile plains from thence to the sea. On the E. and S. they bordered closely
on the Sidicini of Teanum and the people of Cales, who, according to Livy (viii.
16), were also of Ausonian race, but were politically distinct from the Auruncans.
Virgil evidently regards these hills as the original abode of the Auruncan race
(Aen. vii. 727), and speaks of them as merely a petty people. But the first occasion
on which they appear in Roman history exhibits them in a very different light,
as a warlike and powerful nation, who had extended their conquests to the very
borders of Latium.
Thus, in B.C. 503, we find the Latin cities of Cora and Pometia revolting
to the Aurunci, and these powerful neighbours supporting them with a large army
against the infant republic. (Liv. ii. 16, 17.) And a few years later the Auruncans
took up arms as allies of the Volscians, and advanced with their army as far as
Aricia, where they fought a great battle with the Roman consul Servilius. (Id.
ii. 26; Dionys, vi. 32.) On this occasion they are termed by Dionysius a warlike
people of great strength and fierceness, who occupied the fairest plains of Campania;
so that it seems certain the name is here used as including the people to whom
the name of Ausones (in its more limited sense) is afterwards applied. From this
time the name of the Auruncans does not again occur till B.C. 344, when it is
evident that Livy is speaking only of the petty people who inhabited the mountain
of Rocca Monfjna, who were defeated and reduced to submission without difficulty.
(Liv. vii. 28.) A few years later (B.C. 337) they were compelled by the attacks
of their neighbours the Sidicini, to apply for aid to Rome, and meanwhile abandoned
their stronghold on the mountain and established themselves in their new city
of Suessa. (Id. viii. 15.) No mention of their name is found in the subsequent
wars of the Romans in this part of Italy; and as in B.C. 313 a Roman colony was
established at Suessa (Liv. ix. 28), their national existence must have been thenceforth
at an end. Their territory was subsequently included in Campania.
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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| | LARINO (Town) MOLISE |
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Frentani
Frentani, a Samnite people dwelling on the coast of the Adriatic, from the river Sagrus on the north (and subsequently almost as far north as from the Aternus) to the river Frento on the south, from which they derived their name. They submitted to the Romans in B.C. 304.
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| | LAZIO (Region) ITALY |
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Aequi
Aequi, Aequiculi or Aequiculani (Aikoi and Aikouoi, Strab.; Aikanhoi
Dion. Hal.; Aikouiklhoi, Ptol.; Aikikloi, Diod.), one of the most ancient and
warlike nations of Italy, who play a conspicuous part in the early history of
Rome. They inhabited the mountainous district around the upper valley of the Anio,
and extending from thence to the Lake Fucinus, between the Latins and the Marsi,
and adjoining the Hernici on the east, and the Sabines on the west. Their territory
was subsequently included in Latium, in the more extended sense given to that
name under the Roman empire (Strab. v. p. 228, 231). There appears no doubt that
the Aequiculi or Aequicoli are the same people with the Aequi, though in the usage
of later times the former name was restricted to the inhabitants of the more central
and lofty vallies of the Apennines, while those who approached the borders of
the Latin plain, and whose constant wars with the Romans have made them so familiarly
known to us, uniformly appear under the name of Aequi. It is probable that their
original abode was in the highland districts, to which we find them again limited
at a later period of their history. The Aequiculi are forcibly described by Virgil
as a nation of rude mountaineers, addicted to the chase and to predatory habits,
by which they sought to supply the deficiencies of their rugged and barren soil
(Virg. Aen. vii. 747; Sil. Ital. viii. 371; Ovid. Fast. iii. 93). As the only
town he assigns to them is Nersae, the site of which is unknown, there is some
uncertainty as to the geographical position of the people of whom he is speaking,
but he appears to place them next to the Marsians. Strabo speaks of them in one
passage as adjoining the Sabines near Cures, in another as bordering on the Latin
Way (v. pp. 231, 237): both of which statements are correct, if the name be taken
in its widest signification. The form Aequiculani first appears in Pliny (iii.
12. § 17), who however uses Aequiculi also as equivalent to it: he appears to
restrict the term to the inhabitants of the vallies bordering on the Marsi, and
the only towns he assigns to them are Carseoli and Cliternia At a later period
the name appears to have been almost confined to the population of the upper valley
of the Salto, between Reate and the Lake Fucinus, a district which still retains
the name of Cicolano, evidently a corruption from Aequiculanum.
No indication is found in any ancient author of their origin or descent:
but their constant association with the Volscians would lead us to refer them
to a common stock with that nation, and this circumstance, as well as their position
in the rugged upland districts of the Apennines, renders it probable that they
belonged to the great Oscan or Ausonian race, which, so far as our researches
can extend, may be regarded as the primeval population of a large part of central
Italy. They appear to have received at a later period a considerable amount of
Sabine influence, and probably some admixture with that race, especially where
the two nations bordered on one another: but there is no ground for assuming any
community of origin (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 72; Abeken, Mittel Italien, pp. 46, 47,
84).
The Aequians first appear in Roman history as occupying the rugged
mountain district at the back of Tibur and Praeneste (both of which always continued
to be Latin towns), and extending from thence to the confines of the Hernicans,
and the valley of the Trerus or Sacco. But they gradually encroached upon their
Latin neighbours, and extended their power to the mountain front immediately above
the plains of Latium. Thus Bola, which was originally a Latin town, was occupied
by them for a considerable period (Liv. iv. 49): and though they were never able
to reduce the strong fortress of Praeneste, they continually crossed the valley
which separated them from the Alban hills and occupied the heights of Mt. Algidus.
The great development of their power was coincident with that of the Volscians,
with whom they were so constantly associated, that it is probable that the names
and operations of the two nations have frequently been confounded. Thus Niebuhr
has pointed out that the conquests assigned by the legendary history to Coriolanus,
doubtless represent not only those of the Volscians, but of the Aequians also:
and the castellum ad lacum Fucinum, which Livy describes (iv. 57) as taken from
the Volscians in B.C. 405, must in all probability have been an Aequian fortress
(Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 72, vol. ii. pp. 244, 259). It is impossible here to recapitulate
the endless petty wars between the Aequians and Romans: the following brief summary
will supply a general outline of their principal features.
The first mention of the Aequi in Roman history is during the reign
of Tarquinius Priscus1 , who waged war with them with great success,
and reduced them to at least a nominal submission (Strab. v. p. 231; Cic. de Rep.
ii. 2. 0). The second Tarquin is also mentioned as having concluded a peace with
them, which may perhaps refer to the same transaction (Liv. i. 55; Niebuhr, vol.
i. p. 359). But it was not till after the fall of the Roman monarchy that they
appear in their more formidable aspect. In B.C. 494 they are first mentioned as
invading the territory of the Latins, which led that people to apply for assistance
to Rome: and from this time forth the wars between the Aequians and Volscians
on the one side, and the Romans assisted by the Latins and Hernicans on the other,
were events of almost regular and annual recurrence ( statum jam ac prope solenne
in singulos annos bellum, Liv. iii. 15). Notwithstanding the exaggerations and
poetical embellishments with which the history of these wars has been disguised,
we may discern pretty clearly three different periods or phases into which they
may be divided. 1. From B.C. 494 to about the time of the Decemvirate B.C. 450
was the epoch of the greatest power and successes of the Aequians. In B.C. 463
they are first mentioned as encamping on Mount Algidus, which from thenceforth
became the constant scene of the conflicts between them and the Romans: and it
seems certain that during this period the Latin towns of Bola, Vitellia, Corbio,
Labicum, and Pedum fell into their hands. The alleged victory of Cincinnatus in
B.C. 458, on which so much stress has been laid by some later writers (Florus
i. 11), appears to have in reality done little to check their progress. 2. From
B.C. 450 to the invasion of the Gauls their arms were comparatively unsuccessful:
and though we find them still contending on equal terms with the Romans and with
many vicissitudes of fortune, it is clear that on the whole they had lost ground.
The great victory gained over them by the dictator A. Postumius Tubertus in B.C.
428 may probably be regarded as the turning-point of their fortunes (Liv. iv.
26-29; Diod. xii. 64; Ovid. Fast. vi. 721; Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 454): and the
year B.C. 415 is the last in which we find them occupying their customary position
on Mount Algidus (Liv. iv. 45). It is not improbable, as suggested by Niebuhr,
that the growing power of the Samnites, who were pressing on the Volscians upon
the opposite side, may have drawn off the forces of the Aequians also to the support
of their allies, and thus rendered them less able to cope with the power of Rome.
But it is certain that before the end of this period most of the towns which they
had conquered from the Latins had been again wrested from their hands. 3. After
the invasion of the Gauls the Aequians appear again in the field, but with greatly
diminished resources: probably they suffered severely from the successive swarms
of barbarian invaders which swept over this part of Italy: and after two unsuccessful
campaigns in B.C. 386 and 385 they appear to have abandoned the contest as hopeless:
nor does their name again appear in Roman history for the space of above 80 years.
But in B.C. 304 the fate of their neighbours the Hernicans aroused them to a last
struggle, which terminated in their total defeat and subjection. Their towns fell
one after another into the hands of the victorious Romans, and the Aequian nation
(says Livy) was almost utterly exterminated (Liv. ix. 45). This expression is
however certainly exaggerated, for we find them again having recourse to arms
twice within the next few years, though on both occasions without success (Liv.
x. 1, 9). It was probably after the last of these attempts that they were admitted
to the rights of Roman citizens: and became included in the two new tribes, the
Aniensis and Terentina, which were created at this period (Cic. de Off. i. 1.
1; Liv. x. 9; Niebuhr, vol. iii. p. 267).
From this time the name of the Aequi altogether disappears from history,
and would seem to have fallen into disuse, being probably merged in that of the
Latins: but those of Aequiculi and Aequiculani still occur for the inhabitants
of the upland and more secluded vallies which were not included within the limits
of Latium, but belonged to the fourth region of Augustus: and afterwards to the
province called Valeria. In Imperial times we even find the Aequiculani in the
valley of the Salto constituting a regular municipal body, so that Res Publica
Aequiculanorum and a Municipium Aequicolanorum are found in inscriptions of that
period (Orell. no. 3931; Ann. dell. Inst. vol. vi. p. 111, not.). Probably this
was a mere aggregation of scattered villages and hamlets such as are still found
in the district of the Cicolano. In the Liber Coloniarum (p. 255) we find mention
of the Ecicylanus ager, evidently a corruption of Aequiculanus, as is shown by
the recurrence of the same form in charters and documents of the middle ages (Holsten.
not. ad Cluver. p. 156).
It is not a little remarkable that the names of scarcely any cities
belonging to the Aequians have been transmitted to us. Livy tells us that in the
decisive campaign of B.C. 304, forty-one Aequian towns were taken by the Roman
consuls (ix. 45): but he mentions none of them by name, and from the ease and
rapidity with which they were reduced, it is probable that they were places of
little importance. Many of the smaller towns and villages now scattered in the
hill country between the vallies of the Sacco and the Anio probably occupy ancient
sites: two of these, Civitella and Olevano, present remains of ancient walls and
substructions of rude polygonal masonry, which may probably be referred to a very
early period (Abeken, Mittel Italien, pp. 140,147; Bullett. dell. Inst. 1841,
p. 49). The numerous vestiges of ancient cities found in the valley of the Salto,
may also belong in many instances to the Aequians, rather than the Aborigines,
to whom they have been generally referred. The only towns expressly assigned to
the Aequiculi by Pliny and Ptolemy are Carseoli in the upper valley of the Turano,
and Cliternia in that of the Salto. To these may be added Alba Fucensis which
we are expressly told by Livy was founded in the territory of the Aequians, though
on account of its superior importance, Pliny ranks the Albenses as a separate
people (Pliny iii. 12. 17; Ptol. iii. 1. § 56; Liv. x. 1). Varia, which is assigned
to the Aequians by several modern writers, appears to have been properly a Sabine
town. Nersae, mentioned by Virgil (Aen. vii. 744) as the chief place of the Aequiculi,
is not noticed by any other writer, and its site is wholly uncertain. Besides
these, Pliny (l. c.) mentions the Comini, Tadiates, Caedici, and Alfaterni as
towns or communities of the Aequiculi, which had ceased to exist in his time:
all four names are otherwise wholly unknown.
1 A tradition, strangely at variance with the other accounts of their habits
and character, represents them as the people from whom the Romans derived the
Jus Fetiale (Liv. i. 32; Dion. Hal. ii. 72). Others with more plausibility referred
this to the Aequi Falisci (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 695).
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited October 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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Aborigines
Aborigines, a name given by all the Roman and Greek writers to the earliest
inhabitants of Latium, before they assumed the appellation of Latini. There can
be no doubt that the obvious derivation of this name (ab origine) is the true
one, and that it could never have been a national title really borne by any people,
but was a mere abstract appellation invented in later times, and intended, like
the Autochthones of the Greeks, to designate the primitive and original inhabitants
of the country. The other derivations suggested by later writers,--such as Aberrigines,
from their wandering habits, or the absurd one which Dionysius seems inclined
to adopt, ab oresi, from their dwelling in the mountains,--are mere etymological
fancies, suggested probably with a view of escaping from the difficulty, that,
according to later researches, they were not really autochthones, but foreigners
coming from a distance (Dionys. i. 10; Aur. Vict. Orig. Gent. Rom. 4). Their real
name appears to have been Casci (Saufeius, ap. Serv. ad Aen. i. 6), an appellation
afterwards used among the Romans to signify anything primitive or old-fashioned.
The epithet of Sacrani, supposed by Niebuhr to have been also a national appellation,
would appear to have had. a more restricted sense, and to have been confined to
a particular tribe or subdivision of the race. But it is certainly remarkable
that the name of Aborigines must have been established in general use at a period
as early as the fifth century of Rome; for (if we may trust the accuracy of Dionysius)
it was already used by Callias, the historian of Agathocles, who termed Latinus
king of the Aborigines (Dionys. i. 72): and we find that Lycophron (writing under
Ptolemy .Philadelphus) speaks of Aeneas as founding thirty cities in the land
of the Boreigonoi, a name which is evidently a mere corruption of Aborigines.
(Lycophr. Alex. 1253; Tzetz. ad loc.; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 80.)
A tradition recorded both by Cato and Varro, and which Niebuhr justly
regards as one of the most credible of those transmitted to us from antiquity,
related that these Aborigines first dwelt in the high mountain districts around
Reate and in the vallies which extend from thence towards the Mt. Velino and the
Lake Fucinus. From. hence they were expelled by the Sabines, who descended upon
them from the still more elevated regions around Amiternum, and drove them forwards
towards the W. coast: yielding to this pressure, they descended into the valley
of the Anio, and from thence gradually extended themselves into the plains of
Latium. Here they came in contact with the Siculi, who were at that time in possession
of the country; and it was not till after a long contest that the Aborigines made
themselves masters of the land, expelled or reduced to slavery its Siculian population,
and extended their dominion not only over Latium itself, but the whole plain between
the Volscian mountains and the sea, and even as far as the river Liris. (Dionys.
i. 9, 10, 13, 14, ii. 49; Cato, ap. Priscian. v. 12. § 65.) In this war we are
told that the Aborigines were assisted by a Pelasgian tribe, with whom they became
in some degree intermingled, and from whom they first learned the art of fortifying
their towns. In conjunction with these allies they continued to occupy the plains
of Latium until about the period of the Trojan war, when they assumed the appellation
of Latini, from their king Latinus. (Dionys. i. 9, 60; Liv. i. 1, 2.)
Whatever degree of historical authority we may attach to this tradition,
there can be no doubt that it correctly represents the fact that the Latin race,
such as we find it in historical times, was composed of two distinct elements:
the one of Pelasgic origin, and closely allied with other Pelasgic races in Italy;
the other essentially different in language and origin. Both these elements are
distinctly to be traced in the Latin language, in which one class of words is
closely related to the Greek, another wholly distinct from it, and evidently connected
with the languages of the Oscan race. The Aborigines may be considered as representing
the non-Pelasgic part of the Latin people; and to them we may refer that portion
of the Latin language which is strikingly dissimilar to the Greek. The obvious
relation of this to the Oscan dialects would at once lead us to the same conclusion
with the historical traditions above related: namely, that the Aborigines or Casci,
a mountain race from the central Apennines, were nearly akin to the Aequi, Volsci,
and other ancient nations of Italy, who are generally included under the term
of Oscans or Ausonians; and as clearly distinct from the tribes of Pelasgic origin,
on the one hand, and from the great Sabellian family on the other. (Niebuhr, vol.
i. p. 78-84; Donaldson, Varronianus, p. 3; Abeken, Mittelitalien, pp. 46, 47.)
Dionysius tells us that the greater part of the cities originally inhabited by
the Aborigines in their mountain homes had ceased to exist in his time; but he
has preserved to us (i. 14) a catalogue of them, as given by Varro in his Antiquities,
which is of [p. 6] much interest. Unfortunately most of. the names contained in
it are otherwise wholly unknown, and the geographical data are not sufficiently
precise to enable us to fix their position with any certainty. The researches
of recent travellers have, however, of late years given increased interest to
the passage in question, by establishing the fact that the neighbourhood of Reate,
and especially the valley of the Salto, a district commonly called the Cicolano,
abound with vestiges of ancient cities, which, from the polygonal, or so-called
Cyclopean style of their construction, have been referred to a very early period
of antiquity. Many attempts have been consequently made to identify these sites
with the cities mentioned by Varro; but hitherto with little success. The most
recent investigations of this subject are those by Martelli (an Italian antiquarian
whose local knowledge gives weight to his opinions) in his Storia dei Siculi (Aquila,
1830, 8vo.), and by Bunsen (Antichi Stabilimenti Italici, in the Annali dell'
Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica, vol. vi. p. 100, seq.). But the complete
diversity of their results proves how little certainty is to be attained. In the
following enumeration of them, we can only attempt to give the description of
the localities according to Varro, and to notice briefly their supposed identifications.
1. Palatium from which the city on the Palatine hill at Rome was supposed to have
derived its name (Varr. de L. L. v. § 53; Solin. 1. § 14), is placed by Varro
at 25 stadia from Reate; and would appear to have been still inhabited in his
time. (See Bunsen, p. 129, whose suggestion of polis oikoumene for poleos oikoumenes
is certainly very plausible.) Ruins of it are said to exist at a place still called
Pallanti, near Torricella, to the right of the Via Salaria, at about the given
distance from Reate. (Martelli, p. 195.) Gell, on the other hand, places it near
the convent of La Foresta, to the N. of Rieti, where remains of a polygonal character
are also found. Bunsen concurs in placing it in this direction, but without fixing
the site.
2. Tribula (Tribola), about 60 stadia from Reate; placed by Bunsen at Santa Felice,
below the modern town of Cantalice, whose polygonal walls were discovered by Dodwell.
Martelli appears to confound it with Tribula Mutusca, from which it is probably
distinct.
3. Suesbula, or Vesbula (the MSS. of Dionysius vary between Suesbola and Ouesbola),
at the same distance (60 stadia) from Tribula, near the Ceraunian Mountains. These
are otherwise unknown, but supposed by Bunsen to be the Monti di Leonessa, and
that Suesbula was near the site of the little city of Leonessa, from which they
derive their name.
4. Suna (Soune), distant 40 stadia from Suesbola, with a very ancient temple of
Mars:
5. Mephyla (Mephula), about 30 stadia from Suna, of which some ruins and traces
of walls were still visible in the time of Varro: and
6. Orvinium (Orouinion), 40 stadia from Mephyla, the ruins of which, as well as
its ancient sepulchres, attested its former magnitude; - are all wholly unknown,
but are probably to be sought between the Monti di Leonessa and the valley of
the Velino. Martelli, however, transfers this whole group of cities (including
Tribula and Suesbula), which are placed by Bunsen to the N. of Rieti, to the vallies
of the Turano and Salto S. of that city. 7. Corsula (Korsoula), a city destroyed
shortly before the time of Varro, is placed by him at 80 stadia from Reate, along
the Via Curia, at the foot of Mt. Coretum. This road is otherwise unknown1
, but was probably that which led from Reate towards Terni (Interamna), and if
so, Corsula must have been on the left bank of the Velinus, but its site is unknown.
In the same direction were:
8. Issa a town situated on an island in a lake, probably the same now called the
Lago del Pie di Lugo : and
9. Marruvium (Marouion), situated at the extremity of the same lake. Near this
were the Septem Aquae the position of which in this fertile valley between Reate
and Interamna is confirmed by their mention in Cicero (ad Att. iv. 15).
10. Returning again to Reate, and proceeding along the valley of the Salto towards
the Lake Fucinus (Dionysius has ten epi Aatinen hodon eisiousin, for which Bunsen
would read ten epi limnen: but in any case it seems probable that this is the
direction meant), Varro mentions first Batia or Vatia (Batia), of which no trace
is to be found: then comes
11. Tiora, surnamed Matiene (Tiora, he kaloumene Matiene), where there was a very
ancient oracle of Mars, the responses of which were delivered by a woodpecker.
This is placed, according to Varro, at 300 stadia from Reate, a distance which
so much exceeds all the others, that it has been supposed to be corrupt; but it
coincides well with the actual distance (36 miles) from Rieti to a spot named
Castore, near Sta. Anatolia, in the upper valley of the Salto, which was undoubtedly
the site of an ancient city, and presents extensive remains of walls of polygonal
construction. (Bunsen, p. 115; Abeken, Mittelitalien, p. 87.) We learn also from
early Martyrologies, that Sta. Anatolia, who has given name to the modem village,
was put to death in civitate Thora, apud lacum Velinum. (Cluver. Ital. p. 684.)
Hence it seems probable that the name of Castore is a corruption of Cas-Tora (Castellum
Torae), and that the ruins visible there are really those of Tiora.2
12. Lista (Aista), called by Varro the metropolis of the Aborigines, is placed
by him, according to our present text of Dionysius, at 24 stadia from Tiora; but
there seem strong reasons for supposing that this is a mistake, and that Lista
was really situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Reate.
13. The last city assigned by Varro to the Aborigines is Cotylia, or Cutilia (Kotulia),
celebrated for its lake, concerning the site of which (between Civita Ducale and
Antrodoco) there exists no doubt.
Among the cities of Latium itself, Dionysius (i. 44, ii. 35) expressly
assigns to the Aborigines the foundation of Antemnae, Caenina, Ficulnea, Tellenae,
and Tibur: some of which were wrested by them from the Siculians, others apparently
new settlements. Little historical dependence can of course be placed on these
statements, but they were probably meant to distinguish the cities in question
from those which were designated by tradition as of Pelasgian origin, or colonies
of Alba.
Sallust (Cat. 6) speaks of the Aborigines as a rude people, without
fixed laws or dwellings, but this is probably a mere rhetorical exaggeration:
it is clear that Varro at least regarded them as possessed of fortified towns,
temples, oracles, &c.; and the native traditions of the Latins concerning Janus
and Saturn indicate that they had acquired all the primitive arts of civilisation
before the period of the supposed Trojan colony.
1 The MSS. of Dionysius have dia tes Iourias hodou, a name which is certainly
corrupt. Some editors would read Iounias, but the emendation of Kourias suggested
by Bunsen is far more probable. For the further investigation of this point, see
Reate
2 Holstenius, however (Not. ad Cluver. p. 114), places Tiora in the valley of
the Turano, at a place called Colle Piccolo, where there is also a celebrated
church of Sta. Anatolia.
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited October 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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| | PETELIA (Ancient city) CALABRIA |
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Chaones
A Pelasgian people, one of the three peoples which
inhabited Epirus, were at an earlier period in possession of the whole of the
country, but subsequently dwelt along the coast from the river Thyamis to the
Acroceraunian promontory, which district was therefore called Chaonia. By the
poets, Chaonius is used as equivalent to Epiroticus (Epeirotikos).
| This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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Chaones
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Samnitae
(Patelia) has so strong a position by nature that the Samnitae once fortified it against the Thurii.
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| | SAMNIUM (Province) ITALY |
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Hirpinoi, Hirpini
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Samnites
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Caudini
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Pentri
Pentri, one of the most important of the tribes in Samnium. Their chief town was Bovianum. They were the only Samnites who remained loyal to the Romans in the Second Punic War (Livy, ix. 31; xxii. 61).
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Pentri
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| | SARDINIA (Island) ITALY |
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Balari
Balari (Balaroi), one of the tribes or nations who inhabited the interior
of Sardinia. They are mentioned both by Pliny and Strabo as one of the most considerable
of the native races; the latter tells us that they inhabited a mountainous district,
dwelling principally in caves, and in common with the other tribes of the interior
raised but little produce of their own, and subsisted in great measure by plundering
the more fertile districts on the coast. (Plin. iii. 7. s. 13; Strab. v. p. 225.)
According to Pausanias they derived their origin from a body of African or Iberian
mercenaries in the service of the Carthaginians, who took refuge in the mountains
and there maintained their independence: he adds, that the name of Balari signified
fugitives, in the Corsican language. (Paus. x. 17. § 9.) Their geographical position
cannot be determined with any certainty.
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited October 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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Corsi
Corsi (Korsior or Korsoi, Ptol.), a people of Sardinia, enumerated
both by Pliny and Ptolemy among the tribes of the interior of that island. Their
name indicates that they must have emigrated from the neighbouring island of Corsica,
which is expressly stated by Pausanias, who adds that the strength of their mountain
abodes enabled them to maintain their independence against the Carthaginians.
In accordance with this, Ptolemy places them in the northern part of Sardinia,
adjoining the Tibulatii, who inhabited its NE. extremity, near to the strait that
separates it from Corsica. (Plin. iii. 7. s. 13; Ptol. iii. 3. § 6; Pans. x. 17.
§ 8.)
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Iolai
Iolai or Iolaenses (Iolaoi, Paus.; Iolaeioi, Diod.; Iolaeis, Strab.
v. p. 225), a people of Sardinia, who appear to have been one of the indigenous
or native tribes of the island. According to Strabo, they were the same people
who were called in his day Diagesbians or Diagebrians (Diaphebreis or Diaphesbeis,
a name otherwise unknown: and he adds that they were a Tyrrhenian people, a statement
in itself not improbable. The commonly received tradition, however, represented
them as a Greek race, composed of emigrants from Attica and Thespiae, who had
settled in the island under the command of lolaus, the nephew of Hercules. (Paus.
x. 17. § 5; Diod. iv. 30, v. 15.) It is evident that this legend was derived from
the resemblance of the name (in the form which it assumed according to the Greek
pronunciation) to that of Iolaus: what the native form of the name was, we know
not; and it is not mentioned by any Latin author, though both Pausanias and Diodorus
affirm that it was still retained by the part of the island which had been inhabited
by the Iolai. Hence, modern writers have assumed that the name is in reality the
same with that of the Ilienses, which would seem probable enough; but Pausanias,
the only writer who mentions them both, expressly distinguishes the two. That
author speaks of Olbia, in the NE. part of the island, as one of their chief towns.
Diodorus represents them, on the contrary, as occupying the plains and most fertile
portions of the island, while the district adjoining Olbia is one of the most
rugged and mountainous in Sardinia.
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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| | TEANO (Town) CAMPANIA |
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Sidicini
An Ausonian people in the northwest of Campania and on the borders
of Samnium, who, being hard pressed by the Samnites, united themselves to the
Campanians. Their chief town was Teanum.
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| | CAMPANIA (Region) ITALY |
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The Mamertines
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| | AKRAGAS (Ancient city) SICILY |
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Akragantines, Acragantini, Akragan, Acragantinus
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| | ROME (Ancient city) ITALY |
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Romans
Dwell in west of Europe, at war with Tarentum, make war on Pyrrhus, at war with Carthaginians, aided by Athenians, protect Athenians and Aetolians against Philip, king of Macedonia, make war on Philip, make peace with Philip, at war with Antiochus, king of Syria, conquer Perseus, king of Macedonia, allies of Achaeans and of Attalus, end commissioners to arbitrate between Lacedaemonians and Achaeans, retain Achaean exiles in Italy, make war on Achaeans, sack Corinth, conquer and disarm Greece, dissolve Greek national confederacies but afterwards restore them, make war on Mithridates, capture Athens, grant freedom to Elatea, leave Abae free, rule all Thrace and most of Celtic territory, Roman colonies, Roman governors of Achaia or Greece, Roman personal names, Roman Senate, Roman senator Antoninus builds bath of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, Roman senator wins Olympic victory, Mummius the first Roman to dedicate an offering in a Greek sanctuary, the Roman tongue.
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| | SYVARIS (Ancient city) PUGLIA |
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Sybarites
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| | KROTON (Ancient city) CALABRIA |
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Crotoniates first among all other Greeks
The city is reputed to have cultivated warfare and athletics; at any rate, in one Olympian festival the seven men who took the lead over all others in the stadium-race were all Crotoniates, and therefore the saying "The last of the Crotoniates was the first among all other Greeks" seems reasonable. And this, it is said, is what gave rise to the other proverb, "more healthful than Croton," the belief being that the place contains something that tends to health and bodily vigor, to judge by the multitude of its athletes. Accordingly, it had a very large number of Olympic victors
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| Worships of the inhabitants |
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| | ERYX (Ancient city) SICILY |
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Erycinian goddess, Aphrodite
The chief seats of her worship were Paphos, Amathus, and Idalion (all in Cyprus), Cnidus in Dorian Asia Minor, Corinth, the island of Cythera, and Eryx in Sicily.
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Erycina, (Erukine), a surname of Aphrodite, derived from mount Eryx, in Sicily,
where she had a famous temple, which was said to have been built by Eryx, a son
of Aphrodite and the Sicilian king Butes. (Diod. iv. 83.) Virgil (Aen. v. 760)
makes Aeneias build the temple. Psophis, a daughter of Eryx, was believed to have
founded a temple of Aphrodite Erycina, at Psophis, in Arcadia. (Paus. viii. 24.3.)
From Sicily the worship of Aphrodite (Venus) Erycina was introduced at Rome about
the beginning of the second Punic war (Liv. xxii. 9, 10, xxiii. 30, &c.), and
in B. C. 181 a temple was built to her outside the Porta Collatina. (Liv. xl.
34; Ov. Fast. iv. 871, Rem. Amor. 549 ; Strab. vi.; comp. Cic. in Verr. iv. 8;
Horat. Carm. i. 2. 33; Ov. Heroid. xv. 57.)
| This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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