Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1309

 VESUVIUS MONS. bably the one alluded to by Galen (f/e Meth. v. 12), and it seems certain from the description given by Dion Cassius of the state of the mountain when he wrote (under Alexander Severus) that it was then in a state of occasional, but irregular, activity, much resembling that which exists at the present day. (Dion Cass. Isri. 21.) The only other eruption that we find mentioned under the Roman Empire oc- curred in A. D. 472 under the reign of Anthemins. (Marcellin. Chron. ad ann.) A fourth, which took place in the reign of Theodoric king of the Goths (a. D. 512), is noticed by both Cassiodorus and Procopius, who describe in considerable detail the phenomena of the mountain. It appears certain that these later eruptions were accompanied by the discharge of streams of lava, w^hich caused great mis- chief to the surrounding country. (Cassiod. Ep. iv. 50; Procop. B. G. ii. 4, iv. 35.) It would be foreign to our subject to trace the history of the mountain through the middle ages, but it may be mentioned that its eruptions seem to have been far more rare and separated by longer intervals than they have been for more than two centuries past; and in some instances at least these intervals were periods of perfect quiescence, during which the moun- tain was rapidly losing its peculiar aspect. Even as late as 1611, after an interval of little more than a century, the sides of the mountain were covered with forests, and the crater itself was overgrown with shrubs and rich herbage. (Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 225.) At the present day Vesuvius consists of two dis- tinct portions: the central cone, which is now the most elevated part of the mountain; and a ridge which encircles this on three sides at some distance, and is separated from it by a level valley or hollow called the At7no del Cavallo. This outer ridge, of which the highest point, nearitsX. extremity, iscalled Monte Somma, was probably at one time continuous on all sides of the circle, but is now broken down on the S. and W. faces: hence the appearance of Vesu- vius as viewed from Naples or from the W. is that of a mountain having two peaks separated by a deep depression. This character is wholly at variance with the description given by Strabo, who tells us that the summit was nearly level, but with clefts and fissures in it, from which fire appeared to have for- merly issued (v. p. 247). Hence it is probable that the mountain was then a single truncated cone, and that the vast crater-like hollow of which the Atrio del Cavallo forms part, was first created by the great eruption of A. D. 79, vrhich blew into the air the whole mass of the then existing summit of the mountain, leaving the present ridge of Monte Somma standing, enclosing a vast crater, within which the present cone has gradually formed. (Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 215; Lyell's Principles of Geologij, p. 365, 8th edit.) It has indeed been frequently assumed from the accounts of the operations of Spar- tacus already mentioned (Flor. iii. 20; Plut. Crass. 9) that the mountain had even then a crater, within which that leader and his band were enclosed by the Roman general: but it is very doubtful whether the passages in question bear out thisinterpretation, which seems at variance with the account given by Strabo, whose description has every appearance of being de- rived from personal observation. (Concerning the history of the different eruptions of Vesuvius see Delia Torre, 6'to?'ia del Vesuvio, 4to., Napoli, 1755; and the geolngical work of Dr. Dau- beny, ch. xii.) [E. H. B.] VETULONIA. 1285 VETERA. [Castra Vetera.] VETTONA (/;<A. Vettonensis: Bettona), a. mu- nicipal town of Umbria, situated about 5 miles E. of the Tiber, between Perusia and Mevania. It is mentioned by Pliny among the municipalities of Umbria, and its name is found also in an inscription among the " xv Populi Umbriae;" while another mentions it in connection with Perusia, from which it was only about 10 miles distant, as measured on the map, though the Tabula calls it 14 miles from that city and 20 from Tuder. (Plin. iii. 14. s. 19; Orell. Inscr. 95, 98: Tab. Pent.) Vettona con- tinued in the middle ages to be a city of con- siderable importance, but it was destroyed by the Perugians in 1352. The ancient site is, however, still marked by the village of Bettona, about a mile fiom the left bank of the Tinia. [E. II. B.] VETTONES (Ov4ttoov€s, Strab. iii. p. 152; Ovirrovis, Ptol. ii. 5. § 9), one of the principal peoples of Lusitania. (Caes. B. C. i. 38; Plin. iv. 21. s. 38 ; Grat. Inscr. p. 383. 7.) Strabo alone {I. c.) assigns them to Hither Iberia, or the Provincia Tarraconensis. We find their country called Vet- tonia by Prudentius {Hymn, in Eulal. v. 186) and in an inscription. (Orelli, no. 3664.) It was watered by the Tagus, and separated by the Durius from Asturia on the N. On the W., where their boundary corresponded very nearly with that of modern Porturjal, they adjoined the proper Lusi- tani. On the E. they neighboured on the Carpetani in Hispania Tarraconensis, and their boundary would be described by a line drawn from the modern Simancas in a SW. direction over Puente del Arzo- hispo to Truxillo. On the S. they were bounded by the province of Baetica, so that their country comprehended a part of Estremadura and Leon. Their principal towns were Salmantica (Salamanca), Cacilionicum (Banos?), Capara (las Ventas de Ca- jxtra), Sentice(in the neighbourhood of Z,os5o?«toA"), Cottaeobriga (Almeida), Augustobriga (Ciudad Rodrigo?), &c. In their country grew the herba Vettonica (Plin. xxv. 7. s. 46), still known under the name of hetony; an account of which is given in the treatise De Iltrha Betonica, ascribed toAntonius Musa. [T. H. D.] VETULO'NIA or VETULO'NIUJI (OUtovXJo- viov, Ptol. iii 1. § 49: Eth. Vetulonienses), one of the twelve principal cities of the Etruscan confedera- tion (Dionys. iii. 51; Plin. iii. 5. .s. 8). Yet we hear nothing of its political history; and all we know respecting it is, that it was reputed to be the town in which the Etruscan insignia of magistracy, afterwards adopted by the Romans, such as the lictors, fasces, sella curulis, toga practexta, &c., as well as tlie trumpet, were first used. (Sil. It. viii. 483, sqq. ; cf. Dionys. iii. 61; Strab. v. p. 220; Macr. S. i. 6; Fl:)r. i. 5; &c.) The destruction of Vetulonia, and the silence of history respecting it, have caused even its site to be a matter of doulit. Thus it has been sought at or near Viterho (Annio, Antiqq. Vui: Voliivi.), at Massa Muritiima, the ancient Massa Vcternensis (Amm. Marc. xiv. 11. § 25), or in a dense wood 5 miles to the W. of that town (Ximenes, ap. Inf/liii-ami, Ricercliedi Vetulonia, p. 02; cf. Targioni-Tozzetti, Viat/gi in Tvscana, iv. p. 116); on the site of Vuici (Luc. Buonaparte, Ann. Inst. 1829, p. 188, .sqq.; and Valeriani, Mus. C/iius.i. p. 68); on tlie hill of Castiglione Beriiai-di, near Monte Uotondo (I)ig- hirami, Ricerche di Vetulonia, Ambrosch), and at Orbetello (Ermolao Barbaro, ap. Dempster, Etrur. 4 N 3