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Destinations Guide

VENICE (VCE), Town, NORTHERN ITALY


Information on the area


Location characteristics (1)

UNESCO - World Heritage List

Information about the place (5)

Commercial WebSites

Columbus Publishing

Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Venetia

   A district in the north of Italy, originally included under the general name of Gallia Cisalpina, but made by Augustus the tenth regio of Italy. It was bounded on the west by the river Athesis, which separated it from Gallia Cisalpina; on the north by the Carnic Alps; on the east by the river Timavus, which separated it from Istria; and on the south by the Adriatic Gulf. Its inhabitants, the Veneti, frequently called Heneti (Henetoi) by the Greeks, were not an Italian race, but their real origin is doubtful, as their language was certainly not Keltic. Herodotus speaks of them as an Illyrian race, and this is probably a correct view. In consequence of their hostility to the Keltic tribes in their neighbourhood, they formed at an early period an alliance with Rome; and their country was defended by the Romans against their dangerous enemies. On the conquest of the Cisalpine Gauls, the Veneti likewise became included under the Roman dominions. The Veneti continued to enjoy great prosperity down to the time of the Marcomannic wars, in the reign of the emperor Aurelius; but from this time their country was frequently devastated by the barbarians who invaded Italy; and at length, in the fifth century, many of its inhabitants, to escape the ravages of the Huns under Attila, took refuge in the islands off their coast, on which now stands the city of Venice. The chief towns of Venetia in ancient times were Patavium, Altinum, and Aquileia.

This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


The Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Encyclopedia

Commercial WebPages

Festivals and fairs (1)

Carnivals

Culture & Arts subjects (1)

Links

The Venice in Peril Fund

The British Committee for the Preservation of Venice

Hellenism (22)

Greek colonies

The Period of The Fall of Constantinopole

It was created one of the most important Greek colonies.

Intellectual institutions of Hellenism

Hellenic Institute of Byzantine Stydies.

Greek schools

School of Greeks

1593
Established in 1593, in which taught Theofilos Korydallefs, Gerassimos Vlachos, Ilias miniatis, Nathanail Chychas etc.

Glangiano Crammer

1662 - 1797
Established with endowment from Thoma Falngiti from Corfu.

School of the Polite Greek Monks

Established in early of 17th century, for the girls of Greek refugees.

Greek institutions

Hospital

Established in the 17th(?) century.

Poorhouse

Established in 17th(?) century.

Greek churches

Agios Vlassios

1500
A chapel that has been alloted to Greeks.

San Giorgio dei Greci

1575

Philhellenes

Manoutios Aldos

1490
He was etsablished a printery of Hellenic editions.

Biography of Hellenism

Moussouros Markos

Apostolis Arsenios

Kallistos Andronikos

Laskaris Ianos

Kalaergis Zacharias

1499
He came from Rethymno of Creta and established a printery that operating for 10 years

Sofianos Nikolaos

He came from Kerkyra and established a printery the first half of 16th century.

Kounadis Andreas

He came from Patra and established a printery the A' half of the 16th century.

Glykos Nikolaos

1670
He came from Ioannina, established an important printery and Venice became a publishing house of Hellenism.

Sougdouris George

1670
Literary man and the editor of the editions at the printery of Glykos.

Gradenigos Amvrossios

1670
Lterary man, librarian of Markian Library andtook care of editions at the printery of Glykos.

Saros Nikolaos

1686

Theodossios Dimitrios

1755
He came from Epirus, established a printery. The editos for the editions were Loverdos agapios, Gazis Anthimos e.t.c.

Various locations (5)

Ancient place-names

Liquentia

  Liquentia (Livenza), a considerable river of Venetia, which rises in the Julian Alps to the N. of Opitergium (Oderzo), and flows into the Adriatic near Caorle, about midway between the Piave (Plavis) and the Tagliamento (Tilaventum). (Plin. iii. 18. s. 22.) It had a port of the same name at its mouth. Servius (ad Aen. ix. 679) correctly places it between Altinum and Concordia. The name is not found in the Itineraries, but Paulus Diaconus mentions the pons Liquentiae fluminis on the road from Forum Julii towards Patavium. (P. Diac. Hist. Lang. v. 39; Anon. Ravenn. iv. 36)

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Medoacus river

  Medoacus or Meduacus (Medoakos: Brenta), a river of Northern Italy, in the province of Venetia, falling into the extensive lagunes which border the coast of the Adriatic, in the neighbourhood of the modern Venice. According to Pliny (iii. 16. s. 20), there were two rivers of the name, but no other author mentions more than one, and Livy, a native of the region, mentions the Meduacus amnis without any distinctive epithet. (Liv. x. 2.) There can be no doubt that this is the river now known as the Brenta, which is a very considerable stream, rising in the mountains of the Val Sugana, and flowing near Padua (Patavium). A short distance from that city it receives the waters of the Bacchiglione, which may probably be the other branch of the Medoacus meant by Pliny. Strabo speaks of a port of the same name at its mouth (Medoakos limen, v. p. 213), which served as the port of Patavium. This must evidently be the same to which Pliny gives the name of Portus Edro, and which was formed by the Medoaci duo ac Fossa Clodia : it is in all probability the one now called Porto di Lido, close to Venice. The changes which have taken place in the configuration of the lagunes and the channels of the rivers, which are now wholly artificial, render the identification of the ports along this coast very obscure, but Strabo's statement that the Medoacus was navigated for a distance of 250 stadia, from the port at its mouth to Patavium, seems conclusive in favour of the Porto di Lido, rather than the more distant one of Chiozza. At the present day the Brenta flows, as it were, round the lagunes, and enters the sea at Brondolo, evidently the Portus Brundulus of Pliny (l. c.) ; while a canal called the Canale di Brenta, quitting the river of that name at Dolo, holds a more direct course to the lagunes at Fusina. This canal may perhaps be the Fossa Clodia of Pliny.
  Livy tells us that, in B.C. 301, Cleonymus the Lacedaemonian arrived at the mouth of the Medoacus, and having ascended the river with some of his lighter vessels, began to ravage the territory of the Patavini, but that people repulsed his attacks, and destroyed a considerable part of his fleet. (Liv. x. 2.)

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Tartarus river

  Tartarus (Tartaro), a river of Venetia, near the borders of Gallia Transpadana. It is intermediate mediate between the Athesis (Adige) and the Padus (Po); and its waters are now led aside by artificial canals partly into the one river and partly into the other, so that it may be called indifferently a tributary butary of either. In ancient times it seems to have had a recognised mouth of its own, though this was even then wholly artificial, so that Pliny calls it the fossiones Philistinae, quod alii Tartarum vocant. (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20.) In the upper part of its course it formed, as it still does, extensive marshes, of which Caecina, the general of Vitellius, skilfully availed himself to cover his position near Hostilia. (Tac. Hist. iii. 9.) The river is here still called the Tartaro: lower down it assumes the name of Canal Bianco, and after passing the town of Adria, and sending off part of its waters right and left into the Po and Adige, discharges the rest by the channel now known as the Po di Levante. The river Atrianus (Atrianos potamos), mentioned by Ptolemy (iii. 16. § 20), could be no other than the mouth of the Tartarus, so called from its flowing by the city of Adria; but the channels of these waters have in all ages been changing.

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


Timavus river

  Timavus (Timauos: Timao), a river of Venetia, flowing into the Adriatic sea between Aquileia and Tergeste, about 12 miles E. of the former city. Notwithstanding its classical celebrity, it is one of the shortest of rivers, being formed by copious sources which burst out from the rock at the foot of a lofty cliff, and immediately constitute a broad and deep river, which has a course of little more than a mile before it discharges itself into the sea. There can be no doubt that these sources are the outlets of some subterranean stream, and that the account of Posidonius (ap. Strab. v. p. 215), who says that the river after a course of some length falls into a chasm, and is carried under ground about 130 stadia before it issues out again and falls into the sea, is substantially correct. Such subterranean passages are indeed not uncommon in Carniola, and it is impossible to determine from what particular river or lake the waters of the Timavus derive their origin; but the popular notion still regards them as the outflow of a stream which sinks into the earth near S. Canzian, about 13 miles from the place of their reappearance. (Cluver. Ital. p. 193.) The number of the sources is variously stated: Virgil, in the well-known passage in which he describes them (Aen. i. 245), reckons them nine in number, and this agrees with the statement of Mela; while Strabo speaks of seven; and this would appear from Servius to have been the common belief (Serv. ad Aen. l. c.; Mel. ii. 4. § 3), which is supported also by Martial, while Claudian follows Virgil (Mart. iv. 25. 6; Claudian, de VI. Cons. Hon. 198). Cluverius, on the other hand, could find but six, and some modern travellers make them only four. Strabo adds that, according to Polybius, all but one of them were salt, a circumstance which would imply some connection with the sea, and, according to Cluverius, who described them from personal observation, this was distinctly the case in his time; for though at low water the stream issued tranquilly from its rocky sources, and flowed with a still and placid current to the sea, yet at high tides the waters were swollen, so as to rush forth with much greater force and volume, and inundate the neighbouring meadows: and at such times, he adds, the waters of all the sources but one become perceptibly brackish, doubtless from some subterranean communication with the sea. (Cluver. Ital. p. 194.) It appears from this account that Virgil's remarkable expressions
Unde per ora novem, vasto cum murmure montis
It mare proruptum, et pelago premit arva sonanti

  are not mere rhetorical exaggerations, but have a foundation in fact. It was doubtless from a reference to the same circumstance that, according to Polybius (ap. Strab. l. c.), the stream was called by the natives the source and mother of the sea (metera tes thalattes.) It is probable that the communication with the sea has been choked up, as no modern traveller alludes to the phenomenon described by Cluverius. The Timao is at present a very still and tranquil stream, but not less than 50 yards broad close to its source, and deep enough to be navigable for vessels of considerable size. Hence it is justly called by Virgil magnus Timavus (Ecl. viii. 6); and Ausonius speaks of the aequoreus amnis Timavi (Clar. Urb. xiv. 34).
  Livy speaks of the lacum Timavi, by which he evidently means nothing more than the basin formed by the waters near their source (Liv. xli. 1): it was close to this that the Roman consul A. Manlius established his camp, while C. Furius with 10 ships appears to have ascended the river to the same point, where their combined camp was attacked and plundered by the Istrians. According to Strabo there was a temple in honour of Diomed erected near the sources of the Timavus, with a sacred grove attached to it. (Strab. v. p. 214). There were also warm springs in the same neighbourhood, which are now known as the Bagni di S. Giovanni.

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


Medoacus

  Medoacus or Meduacus (Medoakos: Brenta), a river of Northern Italy, in the province of Venetia, falling into the extensive lagunes which border the coast of the Adriatic, in the neighbourhood of the modern Venice. According to Pliny (iii. 16. s. 20), there were two rivers of the name, but no other author mentions more than one, and Livy, a native of the region, mentions the Meduacus amnis without any distinctive epithet. (Liv. x. 2.) There can be no doubt that this is the river now known as the Brenta, which is a very considerable stream, rising in the mountains of the Val Sugana, and flowing near Padua (Patavium). A short distance from that city it receives the waters of the Bacchiglione, which may probably be the other branch of the Medoacus meant by Pliny. Strabo speaks of a port of the same name at its mouth (Medoakos limen, v. p. 213), which served as the port of Patavium. This must evidently be the same to which Pliny gives the name of Portus Edro, and which was formed by the Medoaci duo ac Fossa Clodia : it is in all probability the one now called Porto di Lido, close to Venice. The changes which have taken place in the configuration of the lagunes and the channels of the rivers, which are now wholly artificial, render the identification of the ports along this coast very obscure, but Strabo's statement that the Medoacus was navigated for a distance of 250 stadia, from the port at its mouth to Patavium, seems conclusive in favour of the Porto di Lido, rather than the more distant one of Chiozza. At the present day the Brenta flows, as it were, round the lagunes, and enters the sea at Brondolo, evidently the Portus Brundulus of Pliny (l. c.) ; while a canal called the Canale di Brenta, quitting the river of that name at Dolo, holds a more direct course to the lagunes at Fusina. This canal may perhaps be the Fossa Clodia of Pliny.
  Livy tells us that, in B.C. 301, Cleonymus the Lacedaemonian arrived at the mouth of the Medoacus, and having ascended the river with some of his lighter vessels, began to ravage the territory of the Patavini, but that people repulsed his attacks, and destroyed a considerable part of his fleet. (Liv. x. 2.)

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


Diplomatic Corps (1)

Consulates

Consulate of Greece in Venice

Tel: +390 041 5237260
Fax: +390 041 5238837

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