Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/226

 210 LUCANIA. be reo:arded as only the salient points of one laro;e projecting mass ■which separates the gulf of Paestum from that of Policastro. The latter seems to have been known in ancient times as the gulf of Lalis. 0])posite to the headland called Posidium was the small islet named by the Greeks Leucosia, from ■which the promontory now derives the name of Punta di Licosa ; and a little further S., off the coast of Velia, were the two islands (also mere rocks) called by the Greeks the Oenoteides. (Strab. vi. p. 252; Plin. iiL7. s. 13.) The towns of Lucania may be conveniently enu- merated in two classes : — the first comprismg those along the coasts, which were almost without escep- tion of Greek origin ; the other containing the towns of the interior, which were for the most part either native Lucanian settlements, or Roman colonies of a later date. On the W. coast, proceeding along the shore of the Tyrrhenian sea, from N. to S., were : — PosiDONiA, afterwards called Paestum, a very little way from the mouth of the Silarus ; Elba or Velia, at the mouth of the Heles {Alento) ; Pyxus, called by the Romans Buxentum, now Policastro ; Sci- nPtUS, supposed to have occupied the site of Sapri ; Blanda, now Marafea ; and Laus, which was at the mouth of the river of that name, on its right bank. On the E. coast, bordering on the gulf of Tarentum, and beginning from the Crathis, stood Thurii, re- placing the ancient city of Sybahis, but not occupy- ing precisely the same site; Heraclea, which had in like manner succeeded to the more ancient settle- ment of SiRis, a few miles further N. ; and, lastly, Metapontum, on the southern bank of the river Bradanus. The principal towns in the interior were : — Po- TENTIA, still called Potenza, and the capital of the province known as the Basillcata ; Atixa, still called A tina, in the upper valley of the Tanager ; Volceium or Volcentum, now Buccino; Nu- MiSTRo, of uncertain site, but apparently in the same neighbourhood ; Ebuui (Eboli), which is ex- pressly called by Pliny a Lucanian town, though situated to the N. of the Silarus ; Baxtia, Banzi, a few miles from Venusia, on the very frontiers of Apulia, so that it was sometimes refen-ed to that country ; Grumextum (near Saponara), one of the most considerable towns in Lucania; Nerulum, probably at La Rotonda, and IMuranuji, still called Morano, almost adjoining the frontier of Bruttium. CoNsiLixuM or CosiLixuM may probably be placed at Padula, in the upper valley of the Tanager, and Tegiaxum at Diano, in the same neighbourhood ; •while La Polla, in the same valley, occupies the site of Forum Povillii; Soxtia, noticed only by Pliny, is probably the place now called Sariza; while the Tergilani and Ursentini of the same author are wholly unknown, unless the former name be cor- rupted from that of Tegianum, already noticed. (Phn. iii. 11. s. 15; Lib. Colon, p. 209.) Of the few names mentioned by Strabo (vi. p. 254), those of Vertinae and Calasarna are wholly unknown. The existence of a Lucanian Petei-ia and Pax- i>osiA, in addition to the Brutdan cities of those names, is a subject of great doubt. The principal line of highroad through Lucania was the Via Popillia (regarded by the Itineraries as a branch of the Via Appia), which, in its course from Capua to Ilhegium, traversed the whole pro- vince fi-om N. to S. The stations on it given in the Antonine Itinerary, p. 109, are (proceeding from Nuceria) : — LUCERIA. Ad Tanagrum - -. xxv. Ad Calorem ... xxiv. JIarcihana - - _ xxv. Caesariana ... xxi. Nerulum .... xxiii. Sub Murano ... xiv. The Tabula gives a place which it calls Vicus Mendicolus (?) as the intermediate station between Marciliana and Nerulum. All these stations are very doubtful, the exact line of the ancient road through this mountain countiy having never been traced with accuracy. Another road, given in the Tabula, led from Potentia by Anxia (Ami) and Grumentum to Nerulum, ■where it joined the Via PopiUia. The other roads in the interior, given in the Itinerary and the Tabula, are very corrupt ; we may, however, ascertain that there was a line of road proceeding from Venusia through Potentia to He- raclea and Thurii, and another from Potentia to join the Via Popillia at JLarciliana, being probably the direct line of communication between Potentia and Rome. Lastly, there was always a line of road along the coast, following its level shores from Tarentum by Metapontum and Heraclea to Thurii. [E. H. B.] COIX OF LUCAXIA. LUCE'RIA (Aou/cepi'a, Pol., Strab. : Eth. AovKe- pivos, Steph. B.; Lucerinus : Lucerd), an ancient and important city of Apulia situated in the interior of that country, about 12 miles W. of Arpi, and 9 N. of Aecae ( Troja). It is called by ancient wri- ters a city of the Daunians, and the tradition current among the Greeks ascribed its foundation, in common with that of Arpi and Canusium, to Diomed ; in proof of which an ancient statue of Jlinerva, in the temple of that goddess, was alleged to be the true Palladium brought by Diomed himself from Troy. (Strab. vi. pp. 264, 284 ; Plin. iii. 11. s. 16.) Yet all the accounts of the city from the time that its name appears in history would seem to point to its being an Oscan town, and connected rather with the Oscan branch of the Apulians than with the Dau- nians. Nothing is known of the history of Luceria till the Second Samnite War, when the Lucerians, who had apparently joined with the other Apulians, in their alliance with Rome in b. c. 326, but had refused to partake in their subsequent defection to the Samnites, were besieged by the latter people ; and the Roman legions were on their way to relieve and succour them, when they sustained the great disaster at the Caudine Forks. (Liv. is. 2 ; Dra- kenborch, ad he. ; Aur. Vict, de Vir. Illiist. 30.) It is clear that in consequence of that blow to the Roman po^wer, Luceria fell into the hands of the Samnites, as we are told shortly after that the hos- tages given up by the Romans by the treaty at Cau- dium were deposited for safety in that city. (Id. ix. 12.) For this reason its recovery w^as a great object with the Romans ; and in b. c. 320, Papirhis Cursor laid siege to Luceria with a large army, and,