Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1337

 VITELLIA. wars in Germany they often advanced as far as its banks, and at one time even crossed it ; but they seem to Lave been unacquainted with its southern course, and with its real origin ; for it is formed by the confluence of tlie Werra and the Fulda, while Ptolemy (ii. 11. § 1) imagined that it had its sources in Mons Melibocus. Marcianus (j). 51) states that its length amounted to from 1600 to 1780 stadia. The Visurgis flowed into the Gevman Ocean in the country of the Chauci. (Comp. Pomp. Mela, iii. 4 ; Plin. iv. 27 ; Tac. Ann. i. 70, ii. 9 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 105 ; Sidon. Apoll. Cca'7n. xxiii. 243 ; Strab. vii. p. 291; Dion Cass. xliv. 33, Iv. 1, 2, 8, Ivi. 18.) [L. S.] VITE'LLIA (BneWla, Steph. B. : Eth. BireA- ATvos, Vitelliensis), an ancient town of Latium, which was, however, apparently situated in the territory of the Aequi, or at least on their imme- diate frontiers, so that it is hard to determine whether it was properly a Latin or an Aequian town. But the circumstance that its name is not found in the list of the cities of the Latin League given by Dionysius (v. 61) is strongly in favour of the latter supposition. Its name is first mentioned by Livy (ii. 39) in the account of the celebrated campaign of Coriolanus, whom he represents as taking Vitellia at the same time as Corbio, La- bicum, and Pedum : but in the more detailed nar- ratives of the same campaign by Dionysius and Plutarch, no notice is found of Vitellia. The name is again mentioned by Livy in B.C. 393, when the city fell into the hands of the Aequi, who surprised it by a night attack (Liv. v. 29.) He there calls it " Coloniam Romanam," and says it had been settled by them in the territory of the Aequi; but •we have no previous account of this circumstance; nor is there any statement of its recovery by the Komans. A tradition preserved to us by Suetonius recorded that the P.oman colony was at one time entrusted to the sole charge of the family of the Vitellii for its defence (Suet. Vitell. 1); but there can be little doubt that this is a mere family legend. All trace of Vitellia, as well as Tolerium and other towns in the same neighbourhood, dis- appears after the Gaulish invasion, and the only subsequent mention of the name occurs in the list given by Pliny (iii. 5. s. 9) of the cities of Latium which were in his time utterly extinct. The site is wholly uncertain, though it seems probable that it may be placed in the same part of Latium as Tolerium, Bola, Labicum, and other towns on the frontiers of the Aequian territory. It has been placed by Gell at Vahnontone, a place which in all probability occupies an ancient site, and this would do very well for Vitellia, but that it is equally suitable for Tolerium, which must be placed some- where in the same neighbourhood, and is accord- ingly fixed by Nibby at Valmontone [Tolerium.] The latter writer would transfer Vitellia to Civitella (called also Civitella cT Olevcmo), situated in the mountains between Olevano and Suhiaco: but this seems decidedly too far distant from the other cities with which Vitellia is connected. It would be much more plausible to place Vitellia at Valmontone and Tolerium at Lugnano, about 3 miles NW. of it, but that Liignano again would suit very well for the site of Bola, which we are at a loss to fix elsewhere [Bola]. The fact is that the deter- mination of the position of these cities, which dis- appeared in such early times, and of which no re- cord is preserved by inscriptions or other ancient monu- VOL. II. ULIA. 1313 ments, must remain in great measure conjectural. (Gell. Toj). of Rome, p. 436; Nibby, Dintorni, vol. i, p. 467, vol. iii. p. 370.) [E. H. B.] VITIA {Ovnia, Strab. xi. pp. 508, 514, 531: Eth. Ov'tTioi), a small district in Media Atro- patene, noticed by Strabo in his account of that province. It appears to have been in the north- ern part near the tribes of the Dribyces and Amardi. [V ] VITIS [Utis]. VITODURUai or VITUDURUM, in Gallia, is mentioned in an inscription, in which it is said that the emperors Diocletian and ]Iaximianus " murum Vitodurensem a solo instauraverunt." The Antonine Itin. places it between Vindonissa (Windisch) and Fines (Pfin) [Fines, No. 13.] At Winterthur in the Swiss canton of Zurich there is in the town library a collection of Roman coins and cut stones, most of which have been found in the neiglibour- hocd of the town and in the adjacent village of Ober winterthur, which is the site of Vitodurum. (D'Anville. Notice, cfc.) [G. L.] VITRICIUM (^Verrez), a town or village of the Salassi, on the high road leading from Eporedia {Ivrea), to Augusta Praetoria (Aosta). It is known only from the Itineraries, which place it 25 miles from Augusta, and 21 from Eporedia (^Itin. Ant. pp.345, 347, 351), but is undoubtedly iden- tical with Verrez,a, large village in the ValcTAosta, at the entrance of the Val Challunt. [E. H. B.] Vn^ANTAVARlUM {pxJ§avrav6.piov, Ptol. iii. 5. § 30), a place in European Sarmatia, between the rivers Axiaces and Tyras. [T. H. D.] VIVISCI, VIBISCI. [BiTURiGES Vivisci.] VIVISCUS, in Gallia. In the Antonine Itin. the name is Bibiscus. The place is Vevay, or near it, in the Swiss canton of Waadt or Vaud. See the article Pennelocus. [G. L.] ULCAEI LACUS (OuXKoia eAr)), a succession of lakes and swamps in Pannonia, between the mouths of the Dravus and Savus. (Dion Cass. Iv. 32.) They seem to be the same as the Palus Hiulca mentioned by Aurelius Victor (Epit. 41) as being near Cibalae in Pannonia. (Comp. Zosim. ii. 18.) Those lakes now bear the name of Laxincze. [L. S.] ULCrSIA CASTRA, a fort in Pannonia, on the road running along the right bank of the Danubius from Aquineum to Bregetio (/^ Ant. p. 269), is novp called Szent Endre. [L. S.] ULIA (OvAi'a, Strab. iii. p. 141), a town in His- pania Baetica, on a hill, on the road from Gades to Corduba. (//m. Ant. p. 412.) It was a Roman municipium, with the surname of Fidentia, and be- longed to the jurisdiction of Corduba (I'lin.iii. 3. s. 4; Hirt. B. U. 3, 4, B. Alex. 61 ; Dion Cass, xliii. 31.) From inscriptions it appears to be the present Monte Mai/07-, where there are ruins. (Cf. l^lorales, Ant. p. 5 ; Florez, Esj). Sogr. x. p. 150, xii. p. 5; coins in Florez, Med. ii. p. 620, iii. p. 130; IIion- uet, i. p. 27, Suppl. i. p. 47.) [T. II. D.J COIN OF ULIA. 4 V