Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1053

 SPOLETIUM. In B. c. 217, just after the buttle at the Luke Trasimenus, Hannibal advanced to the gates of Spoletium, and made an assault upon the city, but was repulsed with so much vigour by the colonists, that he drew off his forces and crossed the Apen- nines into Picenum. (Liv. xxii. 9.) A few years later (B.C. 209) Spoletium was one of the colonies which distinguislied themselves by their fidelity and zeal in the service of Rome, at the most trying moment of the war. ( Id. xxvii. 10.) For some time after this we hear but little of Spoletium, though it seems to have been a flourishing muni- cijiul town. In n. c. 167 it was selected by the senate as the place of confinement of Gentius, king of Illyria, and his sons; but the citizens declined to take charge of them, and they were transferred to Iiruvium (Liv. xlv. 43). But in the civil war between JIurius and Sulla it suffered severely. A battle was fought beneath its walls in b. c. 82, between Pompeius and Crassus, the generals of Sulla, and Carrinas, the lieutenant of Carbo, in which the latter was defeated, and compelled to take refuge in the city. (Appiun, B. C. i. 89.) After the victory of Suiia, Spoletium was one of the places severely punished, all its territory being confiscated, appa- rently for the settlement of a military colony. (Flor. iii. 21; Zumpt, de Colon. ^. 254.) Floras calls Spoletium at this time one of the "municipia Italiae splendidissima;" but this is probably a rhetorical cxufTjreration. Cicero, however, terms it, in reference to a somewhat earlier period, " colonia Latma in primis firma et illustris." {G'lc. pro Balh.2.') It became a municipium (in common with the other Latin colonies) by virtue of the Lex Julia; and does not appear to have subsequently obtained the title of a colony, though it received a fresh accession of set- tlers. {Lib. Col. p. 225; Zumpt, I. c.) It is again mentioned during the Perusian War (b. c. 41), as affording a retreat to JIunatius Plancus when he was defeated by Octavian (Appian, i?. C. v. 33); and seems to have continued under the Empire to be a flourishing municipal town, though rarely men- tioned in history. (Strab. v. p. 227; Plin. iii. 14. s. 19; Ptol. iii. 1. § 54; Orell. /rascr. 1100, 1103, 39C6.) It was at or near Spoletium that the em- peror Aemilianus was encamped, when the death of his rivals Gallus and Volusianus gave him temporary possession of the empire; and it was there also that he was himself put to death by his soldiers, after a reign of only three months. (Vict. Epit. 31.) Sjjoletium is again mentioned duiing the Gothic Wars, after the fall of the Western Empire, when it was taken by the Gotliic king Totila (Procop. B. (1. iii. 12), who partially destroyed its fortifica- tions; but these were restored by Narses (/i. iv. 33). It was at this time regarded as a strong fortress, and was a place of importance on that ac- count. Under the Lombards it became the capital of a duchy (about a. i>. 570), the dukes of which eoon rendered themselves altogether independent of llie Lombard kings, and established their authority over a considerable part of Central Italy. The duchy of Spoleto did not cease to exist till the 12th century. Spoletium was not situated on the Via Flaminia, properly so called. That line of highroad proceeded from Narnia to Mevania (^Bevagna) by a more direct course through Carsulae, thus leaving on the right liand the two important towns of Interamna and Spoletium. (Strab. v. p. 227.) We learn from Tacitus that this continued to be the line of the STABIAE. 103.T Fluminiun Way as late as the time of Vespasian (Tac. Hist. iii. 60); but at a later period the road through Interamna and Spoletium came into general use, and is the one given in the Itineraries. (///«. Ant. p. 125; Iti7i. liter, p. 613.) This must have followed very nearly the same line with the modern road from Rome to Pervgia, which crosses a steep mountain pass, called Monte Somma, between Spo- leto and Terni; and this was probably the reason that this line was avoided in the first instance by the Via Flaminia. But there must always have been a branch road to Spoletium. and from thence, as we learn from Suetonius (^Vesp. 1), another branch led to Nursia in the upper valley of the Nar. Spoleto is still a tolerably flourishing place, with the rank of a city. It has several Roman remains, among which the most interesting is an arch com- monly called the Porta d'Annibale, as being sup- posed to be the gate of the city from whence that general was repulsed. There is, however, no foun- dation for this: and it is doubtful whether the arch was a gateway at all. Some remains of an ancient theatre are still visible, and portions of two or three ancient temples are built into the walls of modern churches. A noble aqueduct, by which the city is still supplied with water, though often ascribed to the Romans, is not re.ally earlier than the time of the Lombard dukes. Some remains of the palace inhahited by the latter, but first built by Theodoiic, are also visible in the citadel which crowns the hill above the town. [E. H. B.] SPO'RADES (SiropaSes), or the " Scattered," a group of islands in the Aegaean, Cretan, and Carpathian seas, so called because they were scattered thruughout these seas, in opposition to the Cyclades, which lay round Delos in a circle. But the dis- tinction between these groups was not accurately observed, and we find sevei'al islands sometimes ascribed to the Cyclades, and sometimes to the Sporades. The islands usually included among the Cyclades are given under that article. [Vol. I. p. 723.] Scylax makes two groups of Cyclades; but his southern group, which he places oft" the coast of Laconia and near Crete, are the Sporades of other writers ; in this southern group Scylax specifies. Melos, Cimolos, Oliaros, Sicinos,Thera, Anaphe, Asty- palaea (p. 18, ed. Hudson). Strabo first mentions among the Sporades the islands lying off Crete, — Thera, Anaphe, Therasia, los, Sicinos, Lagusa, Plio- legandros (s. pp. 484, 485). Then, after de- scribing the Cyclades, he resumes his enumeration of the Sporades, — Amorgos, Lebinthos, Leria, Pat- mos, the Corassiae, Icaria, Astypalaea, Telos,Chalcia, Nisyros, Casos, the Calyduae (x. pp. 487 — 489). Pliny (iv. 12. s. 23) gives a still longer list. An account of each island is given under its own name. STABA'TIO, in Gallia, a name which occurs in the Table on a road from Vieima ( Vienne) past Cularo (^G7-enoble} to the Alpis Cottia (Munt Genivre). Stabatio is placed between Durotincum and Alpis Cottia. D'Anville fixed Stabatio at Moneislier or Monetier near Brinnqon. [(!. L.] STA'BIAE (SraSiai: Fjh. Stabianus; L'u. near CastcU'a ^farc), a city of Campania, situated at the foot of the IIons Lactarius, about 4 miles S. of Pom- peii, and a mile from the sea. The first mention of it in history occurs during the Social War (b. v. 90), when it was taken by the Samnite general C. Pajiius (Ajjiiian, B. C. i. 42). But it was retaken by Sulla the following year (u. c. 89), and entirely destroyed