Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1319

 VIA APPIA. usual to cross the Sicilian straits. The total dis- tance from Capua to Rliegium, according to the above description, is 321 miles. The Antonine Itinerary makes it 337 miles. It is difficult to judge how far this discrepancy is owing to errors in the distances as given in our MSS., or to alterations in the line of road; for though it is evident that the road given in the Itinerary followed generally the same line as that originally constructed by Popi- lius, it is probable that many alterations had taken place in particular parts ; and in the wild and moun- tainous tracts through which the greater part of it ■was carried, such alterations must frequently have been rendered necessary. The determination of the particular distances is, for the same reason, almost impossible, without being able to trace the precise course of the ancient road, which has not yet been accomplished. The stations and distances, as given in the Antonine Itinerary, are as follow : — M. p. From Capua to Nola - _ - - xxi. (xis.)* Nuceria {Nocerd) - xvi.* (xiv.) Ad Tanaram - - xxv. Ad Calorem - - - xsiv. In Warcelliana - - xxv. Caesariana - - - xxi. Nerulum(Zai2o<o«fZrt) sxiii. Sub Murano (near Murano) - - . xiv. Caprasiae (Tor-Sirt) - xxi. Consentia (^Cosenzci) xsviii. Ad Sabatum fJuvium xviii. Ad Turres - - - xviii. Yihoua. (^iUonte Leone') xxi. Nicotera {Nicoterci) - xviii. Ad Mallias. - - xxiv. Ad Columnam - - xiv. The stations between Nuceria and Nerulum can- not be determined. Indeed the only points that can be looked upon as certain, in the whole line from Nuceria to Khegium, are Sub Murano, at the foot of the hill on which stands the town of JIh/rano, Con- sentia (Cosewsft), Vibo Valentia (^Monte Leune"), and Nicotera, which retains its ancient name. Nerulum and Caprasiae may be fixed with tolerable certainty liy reference to these known stations, and the dis- tances in this part of the route appear to be correct. The others must remain uncertain, until the course of the road has been accurately traced. At Nerulum the above line of road was joined by one which struck across from Venusia through Po- tentia (Potenza) to that place. It was a continu- ation of the cross-road already noticed from Equus Tuticus to Venusia; this line, which is given in the Antonine Itinerary (p. 104), was called, as we learn from the inscriptions on milestones still extant, the Via Herculia, and was therefore in all probability the work of the Emperor Maximianus. (Mommsen, /. R. N. p. 348.) The stations mentioned in the Iti- nerary (^. c.) are : — From Venusia to Opinum - - - xv. m. p. Ad fluv. Bradanum xxix. VIA AURELIA. 1295 probably be corrected as suggested by the numbers in parentheses. The same distances are given in the Tub. Pent, thus: — Capua to Suessula - - - is. m. p. Nola --- is. Ad Teglanum - « - -. - v. Nuceria .-._-- ix. From Venusia to Potentia (Potema) xxiv. Aeidii (?) - - - xxiv. Grumentum {Siipo- nara) . . . xxviii. Seniunchi (?) - - xxvii. Nerulum - - - xvi. None of the above stations can be identified, except Potentia and Grumentum, and the distances are in some cases certainly erroneous. The same line of route is given in the Tabula, but in a very confused and corrupt manner. The stations there set down are wholly different from those in the Itinerary, but equally uncertain. Anxia (Ami), between Potentia and Grumentum, is the only one that can be identified. The principal work on the Via Appia is that of Pratilli {Delia Via Appia, fol. Napoli, 1745); but, unfortunately, little dependence can be placed upon it. Parts of the route have been carefully and accu- rately examined by Westphal, Chaupy, and other writers already cited, but many portions still remain to be explored; and accurate measurements are generally wanting. Nor does there exist any map of the kingdom of Naples on which dependence can be placed in this respect. [E. H. B.] VIA AQUILIA. [Via Appia, No. 5.] VIA APDEATIXA. [Ardea.] VIA AUKELIA, one of the principal highways of Italy, which led from Rome to Pisae in Etruria, and thence along the coast of Liguria to the Maritime Alps. It was throughout almost its whole extent a maritime road, proceeding, in the first in- stance, from Rome to Alsium en the Tyrrhenian sea, whence it followed the coast-line of Etruria, with only a few trifling deviations, the whole way to Pisae. The period of its construction is quite un- certain. Its name sufficiently indicates that it was the work of some magistrate of the name of AureUus; but which of the many illustrious men who bore tiiis name in the latter ages of the Republic was the au- thor of it, we are entirely uninformed. We know with certainty that it was in use as a well-known and fre- quented highway in the time of Cicero, who mentions it as one of the three roads by which he might proceed to Cisalpine Gaul (" ah infero mari Aurelia," Phil. xii. 9). It may also be probably inferred that it was in existence as far as Pisae, when the road was carried from that city to Vada Sabata and Dertona, the construction of which is ascribed by Strabo to Aeniilius Scaurus, in B.C. 109 (Strab. v. p. 217). [Via Aejiillv Scauri.] This continuation of the Aurelian Way seems to have been commonly included under the same general name as the original road ; though, according to Strabo, it was pro])erly called the Aemilian Way, like its more celebrated namesake in Cisalpine Gaul. It was apparently not till the reign of Augustus that the line of rojid was carried along the foot of the Jlaritinie Alps, from Vada Sa- bata to Cemenclium, and thence into Gaul. It is certain, at least, that the ancient road, of which the traces are still visible, was the work of that emperor; and we know also that the Ligurian tribes who in- habited the jIaritime Alps were not completely re- duced to subjection till that period. [Ligiiria.] The Itineraries, however, give the name of Via Au- relia to the whole line of road from Rome to Arelate in Gaul ; and though little value can be attached to their authority on this point, it is not improbable that the name was frequently used in this more ex- tended sense ; just as that of the Via Appia was applied to the whole line from Rome to Brundusiuni, though originally carried only as far as Capua.
 * Both these distances are overstated, and should