Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/225

 LUCANIA. the Samnites, preseiTed a hostile attituJe when all the other nations of Italy had already submitted and received the Roman franchise. (Appian, B. C. i. 39, 51. 53.) In the civil war between llarius and Sidla, which immediately followed, the Lucanian.s, as well as the Sa.Tinites, actively espoused the cause of the Marian party, and a Lucanian legion fought in the great battle at the Colline Gate. They in consequence were exposed to the full vengeance of the conqueror; and Lucania, as well as Samnium, was laid waste by Sulla in a manner that it never recovered. The remaining inhabitants were admitted to the Roman citizenship, and from this time the Lucanians ceased to be a people, and soon lost all traces of distinct nationality. (Appian, B. C. i. 90 —93, 96; Strab. vi. pp. 253, 254.) Of Lucania under the Roman government we hear but little ; but it is certain that it had fallen into a state of complete decay. The Greek cities on its coasts, once so powerful and flourishing, had sunk into utter in.significance, and the smaller towns of the interior were poor and obscure places. (Strab. I. c.) Nor is there any appearance that it ever re- covered from this state of depression under the Roman Empire. The Liber Coloniarum mentions only eight towns in the whole province, and all of these were in the subordinate condition of " prae- fecturae." {Lib. Colon, p. 209.) The malaria which now desolates its coasts, mu&t have begun to act as soon as the population had disappeared ; and the mountain region of the interior was apparently then, as at the present day, one of the wildest regions of Italy. Large tracts were given up to pasture, while extensive forests afforded subsistence to vast herds of swine, the tlesh of which formed an import- ant part of the supplies of the Imperial City. The mountain forests were also favourite resorts of wild boars, and contained abundance of beai's, which were sent from thence to the amphitheatres at Rome. (Hot. Sat. ii. 3. 234, 8. 6; Martial, de Sped. 8; Varr. L. L. v. § 100.) Lucania was comprised together with Bruttium in the third region of Augustus, and the two provinces continued to be united for administrative purposes throughout the period of the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of the Western Empire, we meet with mention of the '' Corrector Lucaniae et Bruttiorom." Lu- cania long continued to acknowledge the supre- macy of the liastern Emperors; and the modern province of the Basilicata is supposed to have derived its name from the emperor Basilius II. in the 10th century. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Not. Dign. ii. p. 64; Orell. Inscr. 1074; Treb. Poll. Tetr. 24; P. Diac. ii. 17; Cassiod. Var. iii. 8, 46.) The physical characters of Lucania are almost wholly determined by the chain of the Apennines, which enters at its northern frontier, and from thence traverses the province in its whole extent. These mountains form a lofty group or knot immediately on the frontiers of Samnium, and from thence the main chain is continued nearly due S. to the confines of Bruttium; a little before reaching which, it rises again into the very lofty group of Monte Follino, the highest summit of which attains an elevation of above 7000 feet. Throughout its course this chain approaches considerably nearer to the western than the e;istern coast; but it is not till after passing the frontier of Bruttium that it becomes a complete littoral chain, as it continues for a con- siderable distance. In the more northern part of Lucania the space between the central chain and VOL. II. LUCANIA. 209 the TyiThenian sea is almost filled up with ranges of lofty and rugged mountains, leaving only here and there a small strip of plain on the sea-coast : but towards the eastward, the mountains sink much more gradually as they approach the gulf of Taren- tum, constituting long ranges of hills, which gradualiv subside into the broad strip of plain that borders the gulf the whole way from the mouth of the Siris (Sinno) to that of the Bradanus. It is this tract of plain, in many places marshy, and now desolate and unhealthy, that was celebrated in ancient times for its almost matchless fertility. (Archiloch. ap. A then. sii. 25.) South of the river Siris, the offl-houts of the Apennines, descending from the lofty group of Monte PolUno as a centre, again approach close to the shore, filling up the greater part of the space between the mouth of the Siiis and that of the Crathis; hut once more receding as they approach the latter river, so as to leave a considerable tract of fertile plain bordering its banks on both sides. The lofty group of mountains just noticed as situ- ated on the frontiers of Lucania and Samnium, sends down its waters towards both seas, and is the source of the most considerable rivers of Lucania. Of these the SiLARUS {Sele) flows to the gulf of Paestum, receiving in its course the waters of the Tanager (Tanagro') and Cai.or {Calore), both consideiable .streams, which join it from the S. On the other side, the Bradanus (Bi'adano), which rises to the N. of Potentia, and the Casuentl'S {Basiento), which has its source in the Monti della MadJalena, a httle to the S. of the same town, flow to the SE., and pursue a nearly parallel course the whole way to the gulf of Tarentum. The AciRis (Agri) and the Siris (Sinno), which rise in the central chain further to the S., liave also a general SE. direction, and flow to the gulf of Tarentum. The Crathis, fiu'ther down the same coast, which forms near its mouth the limit between Lucania and Bruttium, belongs in the greater part of its course exclusively to the latter country. But the Sybarls, now the Coscile, a much less considerable stream, immediately to the N. of the Crathis, belongs wholly to Lucania. The AcALAKDRUs {Ccdandro), which falls into the sea between the Sybaris and tlie Siris, is a very trifling stream. On the W. coast of Lucania, the only river, besides the Silarus and its tributaries, worthy of notice, is the Laiis, or Lao, which forms the southern boundary of Lucania on this side. Th.; Pyxus {Bmento), flowing by the town of the same name (Bnxentum), is but a trifling stream ; and the Melphes {Molpa), which enters the sea by the pro- montory of Palinurus, though noticed by Pliny (iii. 5. s. 10), Ls not more considerable. The Heles or Elees, which gave name to Elea or Velia, is some- what more important, hut by no means a large stream. [Yelia.] The western coast of Lucania is marked by several bold and prominent headlands, formed by the ridges of the Apennines, which, as already stated, here de- scend quite to the sea, and end abruptly on the coast. The most northern of these, forming the southern limit of the extensive gulf of Paestum, is called by Lycophron Enipeus, but was more commonly known as the Posidium or Posidonium Promontorium. S. of this was the more celebrated promontory of Palinurus, still called Capo di raUnuro, with a port of the same name ; and beyond this, again, the promontory of Pyxus (now Capo degli Infreschi), which bounds the Gnlf of J'olicastro on the W. Viewed on a larger scale, these three headlands may