Εμφανίζονται 11 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Τοπωνύμια στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΒΟΡΕΙΟΣ ΙΤΑΛΙΑ Περιοχή ΙΤΑΛΙΑ" .
ΒΕΝΕΤΙΑ (Πόλη) ΒΟΡΕΙΟΣ ΙΤΑΛΙΑ
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 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 (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 (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 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
ΚΟΜΟ (Πόλη) ΛΟΜΒΑΡΔΙΑ
Larius Lacus (he Larios limne: Lago di Como), one of the largest of
the great lakes of Northern Italy, situated at the foot of the Alps, and formed
by the river Addua. (Strab. iv. p. 192; Plin. iii. 19. s. 23.) It is of a peculiar
form, long and narrow, but divided in its southern portion into two great arms
or branches, forming a kind of fork. The SW. of these, at the extremity of which
is situated the city of Como, has no natural outlet; the Addua, which carries
off the superfluous waters of the lake, flowing from its SE. extremity, where
stands the modern town of Lecco. Virgil, where he is speaking of the great lakes
of Northern Italy, gives to the Larius the epithet of maximus (Georg. ii. 159);
and Servius, in his note on the passage, tells us that, according to Cato, it
was 60 miles long. This estimate, though greatly overrated, seems to have acquired
a sort of traditionary authority: it is repeated by Cassiodorus (Var. Ep. xi.
14), and even in the Itinerary of Antoninus, and is at the present day still a
prevalent notion among the boatmen on the lake. The real distance from Como to
the head of the lake does not exceed 27 Italian, or 34 Roman miles, to which five
or six more may be added for the distance by water to Riva, the Lago di Riva being
often regarded as only a portion of the larger lake. Strabo, therefore, is not
far from the truth in estimating the Larius as 300 stadia (37 1/2 Roman miles)
in length, and 30 in breadth. (Strab. iv. p. 209.) But it is only in a few places
that it attains this width; and, owing to its inferior breadth, it is really much
smaller than the Benacus (Lago di Garda) or Verbanus (Lago Maggiore). Its waters
are of great depth, and surrounded on all sides by high mountains, rising in many
places very abruptly from the shore: notwithstanding which their lower slopes
were clothed in ancient times, as they still are at the present day, with rich
groves of olives, and afforded space for numerous villas. Among these the most
celebrated are those of the younger Pliny, who was himself a native of Comum,
and whose paternal estate was situated on the banks of the lake, of which last
he always speaks with affection as Larius noster. (Ep. ii. 8, vi. 24, vii. 11.)
But, besides this, he had two villas of a more ornamental character, of which
he gives some account in his letters (Ep. ix. 7): the one situated on a lofty
promontory projecting out into the waters of the lake, over which it commanded
a very extensive prospect, the other close to the water's edge. The description
of the former would suit well with the site of the modern Villa Serbelloni near
Bellaggio; but there are not sufficient grounds upon which to identify it. The
name of Villa Pliniana is given at the present day to a villa about a mile beyond
the village of Torno (on the right side of the lake going from Como), where there
is a remarkable intermitting spring, which is also described by Pliny (Ep. iv.
30) ; but there is no reason to suppose that this was the site of either of his
villas. Claudian briefly characterises the scenery of the Larius Lacus in a few
lines (B. Get. 319--322); and Cassiodorus gives an elaborate, but very accurate,
description of its beauties. The immediate banks of the lake were adorned with
villas or palaces (praetoria), above which spread, as it were, a girdle of olive
woods ; over these again were vineyards, climbing up the sides of the mountains,
the bare and rocky summits of which rose above the thick chesnut-woods that encircled
them. Streams of water fell into the lake on all sides, in cascades of snowy whiteness.
(Cassiod. Var. xi. 14.) It would be difficult to describe more correctly the present
aspect of the Lake of Como, the beautiful scenery of which is the theme of admiration
of all modern travellers.
Cassiodorus repeats the tale told by the elder Pliny, that the course
of the Addua could be traced throughout the length of the lake, with which it
did not mix its waters. (Plin. ii. 10b. s. 106; Cassiod. l. c.) The same fable
is told of the Lacus Lemannus, or Lake of Geneva, and of many other lakes formed
in a similar manner by the stagnation of a large river, which enters them at one
end and flows out at the other. It is remarkable that we have no trace of an ancient
town as existing on the site of the modern Lecco, where the Addua issues from
the lake. We learn, from the Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 278), that the usual course
in proceeding from Curia over the Rhaetian Alps to Mediolanum, was to take boat
at the head of the lake and proceed by water to Comum. This was the route by which
Stilicho is represented by Claudian as proceeding across the Alps (B. Get. l.
c.) ; and Cassiodorus speaks of Comum as a place of great traffic of travellers
(l. c.) In the latter ages of the Roman empire, a fleet was maintained upon the
lake, the head-quarters of which were at Comum. (Not. Dign. ii. p. 118.)
The name of Lacus Larius seems to have been early superseded in common
usage by that of Lacus Comacinus, which is already found in the Itinerary, as
well as in Paulus Diaconus, although the latter author uses also the more classical
appellation. (Itin. Ant. L. c.; P. Diac. Hist. v. 38, 39.)
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
ΟΥΜΒΡΙΑ (Περιφέρεια) ΙΤΑΛΙΑ
Metaurus (Metauros). A river of Umbria, flowing into the Adriatic
sea, near Fano, and one of the most considerable of the numerous streams which
in this part of Italy descend from the eastern declivity of the Apennines into
the Adriatic. It is still called the Metauro or Metro; and has its sources in
the high group of Apennines called the Monte Nerone, from whence it has a course
of between 40 and 50 miles to the sea. It flows by Fossombrone (Forum Sempronii),
and throughout the latter part of its course was followed by the great highroad
of the Flaminian Way, which descended the valley of the Cantiano, one of the principal
tributaries of the Metaurus, and emerged into the main valley of the latter river
a few miles below the pass of Intereisa or Il Furlo. Its mouth is about 2 miles
S. of Fano (Fanum Fortunae), but has no port; and the river itself is justly described
by Silius Italicus as a violent and torrent-like stream. (Strab. v. p. 227; Plin.
iii. 14. s. 19; Mel. ii. 4. § 5; Sil. Ital. viii. 449; Lucan ii.405.)
The Metaurus is celebrated in history for the great battle which was
fought on its banks in B.C. 207, between Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, and
the Roman consuls C. Claudius Nero and M. Livius, in which the former was totally
defeated and slain, - a battle that may be considered as the real turning-point
of the Second Punic War, and therefore one of the most important in history. (Liv.
xxvii. 46-51; Ores, iv. 18; Eutrop. iii. 18; Vict. de Vir. Ill. 48; Hor. Carm.
iv. 4. 38; Sil. Ital. vii. 486.) Unfortunately our knowledge of the topography
and details of the battle is extremely imperfect. But we learn from Livy, the
only author who has left us a connected narrative of the operations, that M. Livius
was encamped with his army under the walls of Sena (i. e. Sena Gallica, now Sinigaglia),
and Hasdrubal at a short distance from him. But as soon as the Carthaginian general
discovered the arrival of Claudius, with an auxiliary force of 6000 foot and 1000
horse, he broke up his camp and retreated in the night to the Metaurus, which
was about 14 miles from Sena. He had intended to cross the river, but missed the
ford, and ascended the right bank of the stream for some distance in search of
one, till, finding the banks steeper and higher the further he receded from the
sea, he was compelled to halt and encamp on a hill. With the break of day the
Roman armies overtook him, and compelled him to a general engagement, without
leaving him time to cross the river. From this account it is clear that the battle
was fought on the right bank of the Metaurus, and at no great distance from its
mouth, as the troops of Hasdrubal could not, after their night march from Sena,
have proceeded many miles up the course of the river. The ground, which is well
described by Arnold from personal inspection, agrees in general character with
the description of Livy; but the exact scene of the battle cannot be determined.
It is, however, certainly an error to place it as high up the river as Fossombrone
(Forum Sempronii), 16 miles from the sea, or even, as Cramer has done, between
that town and the pass of the Furlo. Both he and Vaudoncourt place the battle
on the left bank of the Metaurus, which is distinctly opposed to the narrative
of Livy. Appian and Zonaras, though they do not mention the name of the Metaurus,
both fix the site of the Roman camp at Sena; but the former has confounded this
with Sena in Etruria, and has thence transferred the whole theatre of operations
to that country. (Appian, Annib. 52; Zonar. ix. 9; Arnold's Rome, vol. iii. pp.
364-374; Vaudoncourt, Campagnes d'Annibal, vol. iii. pp. 59-64; Cramer's Italy,
vol. i. p. 260.)
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
ΠΟΝΤΙΡΟΛΟ (Πόλη) ΛΟΜΒΑΡΔΙΑ
Pons Aureoli (Pontirolo), a place on the highroad from Mediolanum to Bergomum, where that road crossed the river Addua (Adda) by a bridge. It is mentioned as a station by the Jerusalem Itinerary, which places it 20 M. P. from Mediolanum and 13 from Bergomum. (Itin. Hier.) It derived its name from the circumstance that it was here that the usurper Aureolus was defeated in a pitched battle by the emperor Gallienus, and compelled to take refuge within the walls of Milan, A.D. 268. (Vict. Caes. 33. Epit. 33.) After the death of Aureolus, who was put to death by the soldiers of Claudius, he was buried by order of that emperor close to the bridge, which ever after retained the name of Aureolus. (Treb. Poll. Trig. Tyr. 10)
Aureolus. After the defeat and captivity of Valerian, the legions in the different
provinces, while they agreed in scorning the feeble rule of Gallienus, could by
no means unite their suffrages in favour of any one aspirant to the purple; but
each army hastened to bestow the title of Augustus upon its favourite general.
Hence arose within the short space of eight years (A. D. 260--267) no less than
nineteen usurpers in the various dependencies of Rome, whose contests threatened
speedily to produce the complete dissolution of the empire. The biographies of
these adventurers, most of whom were of very humble origin, have been compiled
by Trebellius Pollio, who has collected the whole under the fanciful designation
of the Thirty Tyrants. But the analogy thus indicated will not bear examination.
No parallel can be established between those pretenders who sprung up suddenly
in diverse quarters of the world, without concert or sympathy, each struggling
to obtain supreme dominion for himself, and that cabal which united under Critias
and Theramenes with the common purpose of crushing the liberties of Athens. Nor
does even the number correspond, for the Augustan historian is obliged to press
in women and children and many doubtful names, in order to complete his tale.
Of the whole nineteen, one only, Odenathus the Palmyrene, in gratitude for his
successful valour against Sapor, was recognised by Gallienus as a colleague. It
has been remarked, that not one lived in peace or died a natural death.
Among the last of the number was Aureolus, a Dacian by birth, by occupation
originally a shepherd. His merits as a soldier were discovered by Valerian, who
gave him high military rank; and he subsequently did good service in the wars
waged against Ingenuus, Macrianus, and Postumus. He was at length induced to revolt,
was proclaimed emperor by the legions of Illyria in the year 267, and made himself
master of Northern Italy. Gallienus, having been recalled by this alarm from a
campaign against the Goths, encountered and defeated his rebellious general, and
shut him up in Milan; but, while prosecuting the siege with vigour, was assassinated.
This catastrophe, however, did not long delay the fate of the usurper, who was
the nearest enemy and consequently the first object of attack to his rival, the
new emperor Claudius. Their pretensions were decided by a battle fought between
Milan and Bergamo, in which Aureolus was slain; and the modern town of Pontirolo
is said to represent under a corrupt form the name of the bridge (Pons Aureoli)
thrown over the Adda at the spot where the victory was won. The records preserved
of this period are full of confusion and contradiction. In what has been said
above we have followed the accounts of Aurelius Victor and Zonaras in preference
to that of Pollio, who places the usurpation of Aureolus early in 261; but on
this supposition the relations which are known to have subsisted afterwards between
Gallienus and Aureolus become quite unintelligible.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΛΙΓΥΡΙΑ (Αρχαία χώρα) ΙΤΑΛΙΑ
Ligusticum-mare (to Ligustikon pelagos, Strab. ii. p. 122), was the
name given in ancient times to that part of the Mediterranean sea which adjoined
the coast of Liguria, and lay to the N. of the Tyrrhenian sea. The name was applied
(like all similar appellations) with considerable vagueness, sometimes as limited
to what is now called the Gulf of Genoa, in which sense it is termed the Ligusticus
sinus by Florus (iii. 6. § 9), - at others in a much wider sense, so that Pliny
speaks of Corsica as an island in Ligustico mart. Some of the Greek geographers
included under the name the whole extent from the frontiers of Spain to those
of Etruria, comprising the MARE Gallicum of the Romans, or the modern Gulf of
Lyons. The more limited use of the name seems, however, to have been the more
usual, at all events in later times, and is elsewhere adopted by Pliny himself.
(Plin. iii. 5. s. 10, 6. s. 12; Strab. l. c. ; Ptol. iii. 1. § 3; Agathem. i.
3; Dionys. Per. 76 ; Priscian, Per. 80.)
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
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