Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1128

 1104 TARRACINA. the most important of the maritime towns subject to Rome. Its position on the Appian Way, which here first touched on the sea (Strab. v. p. 233 ; Hor. Sat. i. 5. 26), doubtless contributed to its prosperity; and an artificial port seems to have in some decree supplied the want of a natural harbour. (Liv. xxvii. 4.) In a military point of view also its posi- tion was important, as commanding the passage of the Appian Way, and the narrow defile of Lautulae, which was situated a short distance from the city oil the side of Fundi. (Liv. xsii. 15.) [Lau- tulae.] Under the Roman Republic Tarracina seems to have continued to be a considerable and flourishing town. Cicero repeatedly notices it as one of the customary halting-places on the Appian Way, and for the same reason it is mentioned by Horace on his journey to Brundusium. (Cic. de Orat. ii. 59, ad Fam. vii. 23, ad Att. vii. 5; Hor. Sat. i. 5. 26; Appian, B. C. iii. 12; Val. Max. viii. 1. § 13.) At the outbreak of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Tarracina was occupied by the latter with three cohorts under the praetor Rutilius Lupus, but they abandoned their post, when Pompey withdrew to Brundusium. (Caes. B. C. i. 24; Cic. ad Ait. viii. 11, B.) Again, during the civil war between Vespasian and Vitellius, Tarracina was evidently regarded as a place of importance in a military point of view, and was occupied by the partisans of Vespasian, but was wrested from them by L. Vitellius just before the death of his brother. (Tac. Ilist. iii. 57, 76, 77.) It was at Tarracina also that the funeral convoy of Germanicus was met by his cousin Drusus and the cliief personages of Rome. (Id. Ann. iii. 2.) The neighbourhood seems to have been a favourite site for villas under the Roman Empire; among others the Emperor Domitian had a villa there (Martial, v. 1.6); and it was at another villa near the town, on the road to Fundi, that the emperor Galba was born. (Suet. Galb. 4.) In addition to the other natural advan- tages of the situation, there existed mineral springs in the neighbourhood, which seem to have been much frequented. (Martial, v. 1. 6, x. 51.8.) The important position of Tarracina doubtless prevented its falling into decay as long as the Western Empire subsisted. Its name is found in the Itineraries as a " civitas " (Itin. Ant. p. 187; Itin.IIier. p. 611), and even after the fall of the Roman dominion it appears as a fortress of importance during the Gothic wars. (Procop. B. G. ii. 2, 4, &c.) The position of Tarracina at the extremity of the Pomptine Marshes, just where a projecting ridge of the Volscian mountains runs down to the sea, and separates the marshy tract on the W. from a similar but much smaller tract on the E., which extends from thence towards Fundi, must in all ages have rendered it a place of importance. The ancient city stood on the hill above the marshes. Horace distinctly describes it as standing on lofty rocks, which were conspicuous afar, from their white colour: — " Impositum saxis late candentibus Anxur " (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 26); and the same circumstance is alluded to by other Latin poets. (Lucan, iii. 84; Sil. Ital. viii. 392.) Livy also describes the original Volscian town as '" loco alto situm " (v. 12), though it extended also down the slope of the hill towards the marshes (" urbs prona in paludes," iv. 59). At a later period it not only spread itself down the hill, but occupied a considerable level at the foot of it TARRACO. (as the modern city still does), in the neighbour- hood of the port. This last must always have been in great part artificial, but the existence of a regular port at Tarracina is noticed by Livy as early as B.C. 210. (Liv. xxvii. 4.) It was subsequently enlarged and reconstructed under the Roman Em- pire, probably by Trajan, and again restored by Antoninus Pius. (Capit. A7it. P. 8.) Its remains are still distinctly visible, and the whole circuit of the ancient basin, surrounded by a massive mole, may be clearly traced, though the greater part ot it is now filled with sand. Considerable portions of the ancient walls also still remain, constructed partly in the polygonal style, partly in the more recent style known to the Romans as " opus incer- tum." Several ancient tombs and ruins of various buildings of Roman date are still extant in the modern city and along the line of the Via Appia. The modern cathedral stands on the site of an ancient temple, of which only the substructions and two columns remain. This is generally called, though on very uncertain authority, a temple of Apollo. The most celebrated of the temples at Tarracina was, however, that of Jupiter, which is noticed by Livy (xxviii. 11, xL 45), and the especial worship of this deity in the Volscian city under the title of Jupiter Anxurus is alluded to by Virgil (^Aen. vii. 799). He was represented (as we are told by Servius) as a beautiful youth, and the figure of the deity corresponding to this description is found on a Roman coin of the Vibian family. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 340.) It is probable that this temple was situated in the highest part of the city, very probably in the ancient citadel, which oc- cupied the summit of a hill above the town, where remains of its walls and substructions are still ex- tant. Tarracina was distant by the Via Appia 62 miles from Rome, and 18 from the Forum Appii. (^Itin. Ant. p. 107; Itin. Eier. p. 611; Westphal, Rom. Kamp. p. 68.) Three miles from the city, at the side of the Via Appia, as well as of the canal which was frequently used by travellers, was the fountain of Feronia, celebrated by Horace, together with the sacred grove attached to it. [Feronia.] [E.H.B.] TA'RRACO (Tappa/ccir, Ptol. ii. 6. § 17), an ancient city of Spain, probably founded by the Phoe- nicians, who called it Tarchon, which, according to Bochart, means " a citadel.'' This name was pro bably derived from its situation on a high rock, between 700 and 800 feet above the sea; whence we find it characterised as " arce potens Tarraco." (Auson. CJar. Urb. 9; cf. ]Iart, x. 104.) It was seated on the river Sulcis, on a bay of the Mare Internum, between the Pyrenees and the river Iberus. (Mela, ii. 6 ; Plin. iii. 3. s. 4.) Livy xxii. 22) mentions a " portus Tarraconis;" and ac- cording to Eratosthenes {ap. Strab. iii. p. 159) it had a naval station or roads (^uav(TTad/j.oi>) ■ but Artemidorus {ap. Strab. I. c.:, Polyb. iii. 76) says with more probability that it had none, and scarcely even an anchoring place; and Strabo himself calls it aXifj-evos. This answers better to its present condition; for though a mole was constructed in the 15th century with the materials of the ancient am- phitheatre, and another subsequently by an English- man named John Smith, it still affords but little protection for shipping. (Ford's Handbook of Spain, p. 222.) Tarraco lay on the main road along the S. coast of Spain. (^Itin. Ant. pp. 391, 396, 399, 448, 452.) It was fortified and much en-