Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/150

 134 LATIUM. nuessa was already regarded as included in Latium ; and the farmer author nowhere alludes to the Liris as the boundary. III. Physical Geogkapht. The land of the Latins, or Latium in its original sense, formed the southern part of the great basin through which the Tiber flows tothe sea, and which is bounded by the Ciminian Hills, and other ranges of vol- canic hills connected with them, towards the N.,by the Apennines on the E., and by the Alban Hills on the S. The latter, however, do not form a continuous barrier, being in fact an isolated group of volcanic origin, separated by a considerable gap from the Apennines on the one side, while on the other they leave a broad strip of low plain between their lowest slopes and the sea, which is continued on in the broad expanse of level and marshy ground, com- monly known as the Pontine Marshes, extending in a broad band between the Volscian mountains and the sea, until it is suddenly and abruptly terminated by the isolated mass of the Circeian promontory. The great basin-like tract thus bounded is divided into two portions by the Tiber, of which the one on the N. of that river belongs to Southern Etruria, and is not comprised in our present subject. [Etruria.] The southern part, now known as the Campagna di Roma, may be regarded as a broad ex- panse of undulatory plain, extending from the sea- coast to the foot of the Apennines, which rise from it abruptly like a gigantic wall to a height of from 3000 to 4000 feet, their highest summits even ex- ceetiing the latter elevation. The Monte Gennaro, (4285 English feet in height) is one of the loftiest .summits of this range, and, from the boldness with which it rises from the subjacent plain, and its advanced position, appears, when viewed from the Campagna, the most elevated of all ; but, according to Sir W. Gell, it is exceeded in actual height both by the Monte PenneccMo, a little to the NE. of it, and by the Monte di Guadagnolo, the central peak of the group of mountains which rise immediately above Praeneste or Pulestriiia. The citadel of Prae- iieste itself occupies a very elevated position, forming a kind of outwork or advanced post of the chain of Apennines, which here trends away suddenly to the eastward, sweeping round by Genazzano, Olevano, and Rojate, till it resumes its general SE. direction, and is continued on by the lofty ranges of the Her- nican mountains, which bound the valley of the Sacco on the E. and continue unbroken to the valley of the Liris. Opposite to Praeneste, and separated from it by a breadth of nearly 5 miles of intervening plain, rises the isolated group of the Alban mountains, the form of M-hich at once proves its volcanic origin. [Albanus IMoNS.] It is a nearly circular mass, of about 40 miles in circumference ; and may be conceived as forming a great crater, the outer ridge of which has been broken up into numerous more or less detached summits, several of which were crowned in ancient times by towns or fortresses, such as Tnsculum, Corbio, &c. ; while at a lower level it throws out detached offshoots, or outlying ridges, affording ad- vantageous sites for towns, and which were accord- ingly occupied by those of Velitrae, Lanuvium, Alba Longa, &c. The group of the Alban mountains is wholly detached on all sides : on the S. a strip of plain, of much the same breadth as that which sepa- rated it from the Apennines of Praeneste, divides it from the subordinate, but very lofty mass of moun- LATIUM. tains, commonly known as the Monti Lepini, or Volscian mountains. This group, which forms an outlying mass of the Apennines, separated from the main cliain of those mountains by the broad valley of the Trerus or Sacco, rises in a bold and imposing mass from the level of the Pontine Marshes, which it borders throughout their whole extent, until it reaches the sea at Tarracina, and from that jdace to the mouth of the Liris sends down a succession of mountain headlands to the sea, constituting a great natural barrier between the plains of Latium and those of Campania. The highest summits of this group, which consists, like the more central Apennines, wholly of limestone, attain an elevation of nearly 5000 feet above the sea : the whole mass fills up almost the entire space between the valley of the Trerus and the Pontine Marshes, a breadth of from 12 to 16 miles; with a length of near 40 miles from Monte Fortino at its N. extremity to the sea at Terracina ; but the whole distance, from 3fonte Fortino to the end of the mountain chain near the mouth of the Liris, exceeds 60 miles. The greater part of this rugged mountain tract belonged from a very early period to the Vulscians, but the Latins, as already mentioned, possessed several tovims, as Signia, Cora, Norba, &c., which were built on projectmg points or underfalls of the main chain. But though the plains of Latium are thus strongly characterised, when compared with the groups of mountains just described, it must not be supposed that they constitute an unbroken plain, still less a level alluvial tract like those of Northern Italy. The Campagnaoi Rome, as it is called at the present day, is a country of wholly ditl'erent character from the ancient Campania. It is a broad undulaling tract, never rising into considerable elevations, but presenting much more variety of ground than would be suspected from the general uniformity of its ap- pearance, and irregularly intersected in all directions by numerous streams, which have cut for themselves deep channels or ravines through the soft volcanic tufo of which the soil is composed, leaving on each side steep and often precipitous banks. The height of these, and the depth of the valleys or ravines which are bounded by them, vary greatly in different parts of the Campagna ; but besides these local and irregular fluctuations, there is a general rise (though so gradual as to be imperceptible to the eye) in the level of the plain towards the E. and SE. ; so that, as it approaches Praeneste, it really attains to a considerable elevation, and the river courses which intersect the plain in nearly parallel lines between that city and the Anio become deep and narrow ravines of the most formidable description. Even in the lower and more level parts of the Campagna the sites of ancient cities will be generally found to occupy spaces bounded to a considerable extent — • frequently on three sides out of four — by steep banks of tufo rock, affording natural means of defence, which could be easily strengthened by the simple expedient of cutting away the face of the rocky bank, so as to render it altogether inaccessible. The pe- culiar configuration of the Campagna resulting from these causes is well represented on Sir W. GelFs map, the only one which gives at all a faithful idea of the physical geography of Latium. The volcanic origin of the greater part of Latium has a material influence upon its physical character and condition. The Alban mountains, as already mentioned, are unquestionably a great volcanic mass