Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1341

 UMBRIA. saurum (Pesaro); the Crustumius, now called the Conca; and the Apam:NUS (^MareccJiia), which gave its name to the celebrated city of Ariniinum, and seems to have been regarded by Pliny as the northern boundary of Umbria, though that limit was certainly marked at an earlier period by the far- famed though trifling stream of the Rubicon. Tiie river Sapis also flowed through the Umbrian terri- tory in the upper part of its course, and gave name to the Sapinia Tribus, mentioned by Livy as one of the divisions of the Umbrian nation. All the waters which descend on the W. of the Umbrian Apennines discharge themselves into the Tiber. None of them are considerable streams, and the TiNiA and Clitumnus are the only two the an- cient names of which have been preserved to us. The Nar, a much more important river, the sources of which are in the Sabine territory, seems to have formed the boundary between Umbria and the land of the Sabines, through a considerable part of its course ; but it entered the Umbrian territory near Interainna (Terni), and traversed it thence to its junction with the Tiber. Two principal passes crossed the main chain of the Apennines within the limits of Umbria, and served to maintain the communication between the two portions of that country. The one of these was followed by the main line of the Flaminian Way, which proceeded almost due N. from Forum Flaminii, where it quitted the valley of the Clitumnus, and passed by Nuceria, Tadinum, and Helvillum, to the crest of the mountain chain, which it crossed between the last place and Gales {Car/U), and descended by the narrow ravine of the Furlo (Intercisa) into the valley of the Metauras, which it then followed to the Adriatic at Fano (Fanum Fortunae). This celebrated road continued throughout the period of the Roman Empire to be the main line of communication, not only from the plains of Umbria to the Adriatic, but from Rome itself to Aiiminum and Cisalpine Gaul. Its military importance is suSiciently apparent in the civil war between Vitellius and Vespasian. (Tac. Eist. i. 86, iii. 50, 52, &c.) Another line of road given in the Antonine Itinerary, quitted this main line at Nuceria, and, turning abruptly to the E., crossed a mountain pass to Prolaqueum (^Pioraco), in the valley of the Potenza, and descended that valley to Septempeda in Ficenum (5. Severind), and thence to Ancona. This pass has been in modern times wholly abandoned. The present road from Rome to Ancona turns to the E. from Foligno (Ful- ginium) and crosses the mountain ridge between that place and Camerino, descending to Tohntino in the valley of the Chienli (Flusor). The towns of Umbria were numerous, though few of them were of any great importance. 1. On the W. of the Apennines, and beginning with those nearest to Rome, were: Ocriculum, near the left bank of the Tiber; Narxlv and Intekajina, on the banks of the Nar; Ameria and Caksulae, a few miles to the N. of Narnia; Tuder, on a hill on the left bank of the Tiber; Spoletium, in the hills which separate the valley of the Marogtjia from that of the Nar; Treba, SIevanlv, Hispellum, Fulginiuji, and Assisium, all situated in or bordering on the broad valley above mentioned ; Arna and Tifernum Ti- iJERiNuai in the upper valley of the Tiber, and lou- VIUM in the mountains at a short distance from it. Vesionica was probably situated at Civitella di Benezzone, also in the valley of the Tiber. On the Flauunian Way, exactly at the entrance of the UJIBKO 1317 mountains, stood Forum Fi^vminii, and higher up, on the same line of road, Nuceria, Tadinum, and Helvillum. 2. OntheE. of the central ridge of the Apennines, but still high up among the mountains, were situated Camerinuji, near the sources of the Flusor; Piio- LAQUEU3I (Pioraco), near those of the Potentia ; PiTULUM (Piolo), in the same valley ; Matilica and Attidium, both in the upper valley of the Aesis ; Sentinum, in a lateral branch of the same valley; Tuficum and Suasa, both of them in the valley of the Cesano; Calles {Cagli), on the Fla- minian Way ; Tifernum Metaurense and Ur- BiNUM Metaurense, both of them in the upper valley of the Metauras ; FoRUM Sebipronii {Fos- sonibrone), lower down in the same valley ; Ukbi- NUM HoRTENSE {UrUno), between the valleys of the Metaurus and the Pisaurus ; Sestinum {Ses'tiuo), near the sources of the latter river; Pitinum Pi- sa urense, probably at Piaynino in the same valley ; Sarsina, in the upper valley of the Sapis ; and Me- vaniola, which is fixed by Cluverius, on the faith of inscriptions discovered there, at Galeata, in the upper valley of the Bedesis or Eo7ico (Cluver. liul. p. 623), and is therefore the most northerly town that was included in Umbria. 3. Along the coast of the Adriatic were the im- portant towns of Sena Gallica, Fanum Fortunae, PisAURUM, and Ariminum. To the above must be added Aesis or Aesium {Jesi), on the left bank of the river of the same name, and Ostra, the ruins of which are said to exist between the rivei-s Cesano and Nigolo. (Abeken, Mittel-ltcdkn. p. 41.) In addition to the above long list of towns, the position of which can be assigned with tolerable cer- tainty, the following obscure names are enumerated by Pliny among the towns or communities of Umbria still existing in his time : the Casuentillani, Dola- tes surnamed Salentini, Forojulienses surnamed Con- cubienses, Forobrentani, Pelestini, Vindinates, and Viventani. The above towns being totally un- known, the correct form and orthography of the names is for the most part uncertain. The same is the case with several others which the same writer enumerates as having in his day ceased to exist. (Plin. iii. 14. s. 19.) Strabo also mentions a place called Larulum as being situated on the Fla- minian Way, in the neighbourhood of Narnia and Ocriculum (v. p. 227), which is otherwise wholly unknown, and the name is probably corrupt. Of the natural productions of Umbria the most celebrated were its cattle, especially those of the val- ley of the Clitunnms [Clitumnus] ; but its moun- tain tracts afforded also pasturage to ilocks of sheep, which were driven southwards as faras Jletapontum and lleraclea. (V'arr. R. li. ii. 9. § 6.) The lower portions of the country abounded in fruit-trees, vines, and olives ; but when Propertius terms his native Umbria " terris fertilis uberibus," this can be under- stood only of the tracts on the W. of the Apennines, of which he is there speaking (Propert. i. 22. 9), not of tiie more extensive mountain regions. The name of Umbria is still given to one of the provinces of the Papal States, of which Spulclo is the capital ; but this is merely an official designation, the name having been wholly lost in the middle ages, and being no longer iu use as a popular ap- pellation. [E. H. B.] UMBRO (Ombi'one), a river of Etruria, and next to the Arnus the most considerable in that country. It rises in the hiUs between Sie7in and Arezzo, and 4 F 3