Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/158

 142 latiu:m. •where its waters add to the stagnation. But tho principal agents in the formation of those extensive marslies are tha Ufens and the Amasexus, botli of them flowing from the Volscian mountains and uniting their waters before they reacli the sea. They still retain their ancient names. Of the lesser streams of Latium, which flow into the Tiber, we need only mention the celebrated Allia, which falls into that river about 1 1 miles above Eome ; the Al:mo, a still smaller stream, which joins it just below the city, having previously received the waters of the Aqua Ferentina (now called the Man-ana degli 0)-ti), which have their source at the foot of the Alban Hills, near Marino; and the Rivus Alba- N[js (still called the Rivo Albano), which carries off the supei-fluous waters of the Alban lake to the Tiber, about four miles below Rome. The mountains of Latium, as already mentioned, may be classed into three principal groups : — (1) the Apennines, properly so called, including the ranges at the back of Tibur and Praeneste, as well as the mountains of the Aequians and Hernicans; (2) the group of the Alban Hills, of which the central and loftiest summit (the Monte Cava) was the proper Jlons Albanus of the ancients, while the part which faced Praeneste and the Volscian Mountains was known as the Mons Algidus; (3) the lofty group or mass of the Volscian Mountains, frequently called by modern geographers the Monti Lepini, though we have no ancient authority for this use of the word. The name of Mons Lepinus occurs only in Co- lumella (x. 131), as that of a mountain in the neigh- bourhood of Signia. The Montes Cokniculani (^ra K6pviKa 6p€a, Dionys. i. 16) must evidently have been the detached group of outlying peaks, wholly separate from the main range of the Apen- nines, now known as the Jifotiticelli, situated between the Tiber and the Monte Gennaro. The JIoxs Sacer, so celebrated in Roman history, was a mere hill of trifling elevation above the adjoining plain, situated on the right bank of the Anio, close to the Via Nomentana. It only remains to enumerate the towns or cities which existed within the limits of Latium ; but as many of these had disappeared at a very early period, and all trace of their geographical position is lost, it will be necessary in the iirst instance to confine this list to places of which the site is known, approxi- mately at least, reserving the more obscure names for subsequent consideration. Beginning from the moutJx of the Tiber, the first place is Ostia, situated on the left bank of the river, and, as its name imports, originally close to its mouth, though it is now three miles distant from it. A short distance from the coast, and about 8 miles from Ostia, was Laurentum, the reputed capital of the Aborigines, situated probably at Torre di Paterno, or at least in that immediate neighbour- hood. A few miles further S., but considerably more inland, being near 4 miles from the sea, was Lavixium, the site of which may be clearly re- cognised at Pratica. S. of this again, and about the same distance from the sea, was Ardea, which retains its ancient name: and 15 miles further, on a projecting point of the coast, was Axtium, still called Porto d' Anso. Between 9 and 10 miles further on along the coast, was the town or village of AsTDRA, with the islet of the same name; and from thence a long tract of barren sandy coast, without a village and almost without inhabitants, extended to the Ciixeian promontory and the town of Circeii, LATIUM. which was generally reckoned the last place in Latium Proper. Returning to Rome as a centre, we find N. of the city, and between it and the Sabine frontier, the cities of Axtejexae, Fidenae, Cuus- tumerium, and Nomextum. On or around the group of the Montes Corniculani, were situated CoRNicuLUM, Medullia, and Ameriola: Ca- meria, also, may probably be placed in the same neighbourhood; and a little nearer Rome, on the road leading to Nomentum, was Ficulea. At the foot, or rather on the lower slopes and underfalls of the main range of the Apennines, were Tibdk, Aesula, and Praeneste, the latter occupying a lofty spur or projecting point of the Apennines, standing out towards the Alban Hills. This latter group was surrounded as it were with a crown or circle of ancient towns, beginning with Corbio (Rocca Priore), nearly opposite to Praeneste, and continued on by Tosclluji, Alba, and Aricia, to L^VNUviUM and Velitrae, the last two situated on projecting offshoots from the central group, standing out towards the Pontine Plains. On the skirts of the Volscian mountains or 3fonti Lepini, were situated Sigxia, Cora, Norba, and Setia, the last three all standing on commanding heights, looking down upon the plain of the Pontine Marshes. In that plain, and immediately adjoining the marshes themselves, was Ulubrae, and in all probability SuESSA PojiETi.A. also, the city which gave name both to the marshes and plain, but the precise site of which is unknown. The other places within the marshy tract, such as Foruji Appii, Tres Taber- XAE, and Tkipoxtium, owed their existence to the construction of the Via Appia, and did not represent or replace ancient Latin towns. In the level tract bordering on the Pontine Plains on the N., and ex- tending from the foot of the Alban Hills towards Antium and Ardea, were situated Satricuji, LoxGULA, PoLLuscA and CoRioLi; all of them places of which the exact site is still a matter of doubt, but which must certainly be sought in this neighbourhood. Between the Laurentine region (Laurens tractus), as the forest district near the sea was often called, and the Via Appia, was an open level tract, to which (or to a part of which) the name of Ca3Ipl's Soloxius was given; and within the limits of this district were situated Tellexae and PoLiTORiUM, as well as probably Apioi.ae. BoviLLAE, at the foot of the Alban hills, and just on the S. of the Appian Way, was at one ex- tremity of the same tract, while Ficana stood at the other, immediately adjoining the Tiber. In the portion of the plain of the Campagna extending from the line of the Via Appia to the foot of the Apennines, between the Anio and the Alban Hills, the only city of which the site is known was Gabii, 12 miles distant from Rome, and the same distance from Praeneste. Nearer the Apennines were Scap- TiA and Pedum, as well as probably Querque- TULA; while Labicum occupied the hill of La Co- lonna, nearly at the fool of the Alban group. In the tract which extends southwards between tho Apennines at Praeneste and the Alban Hills, so as to connect the plain of the Campagna with the land of tlie Hernicans in the valley of the Trerus or Sacco, were situated Vitellia, Tolerium, and pro- bably also BoLA and Ortoxa; though the exact site of all four is a matter of doubt. Ecetra, which ap- pears in history as a Volscian city, and is never men- tioned as a Latin one, must nevertheless have been situated within the limits of the Latin territory, ap-