Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/432

 416 NEMAUSUS. duct the waters of the springs of the Eure and Aizan near Uzes, were brought toNemausus. The liver Gar- don, the ancient Vardo, is deep just above the aque- duct. The channel is sunk between rugged i-ocks, on which scattered shrubs grow. The river rises in the Cevennes, and is subject to floods, which would have destroyed a less solid structure than this Roman bridge. The bridge is built where the valley is contracted by the rocks, and in its ordinary state all the water passes under one arch. The best view of the bridge is from the side above it. The other side is disfigured by a modern structure of the same dimensions as the luwer range of arches; it is a bridge attached to the lower arches of the Eoman bridge, and is used for the passage of carts and horses over the Gardun. There are three tiers of arches. The lowest tier consists of six arches; that under which the water flows is the largest. The width of this arch is said to be about 50 English feet, and the height from the surface of the water is about 65 feet. The second tier contains eleven arches, sis of which cor- respond to those below, but they appear to be wider, and the piers are not so thick as those of the lowest tier. The height of the second tier is said to be about 64 feet; "but some of these dimensions may not be very accurate. The third tier has thirty-five NEMEA. arches, or thereabouts, making a length, as it is said, of about 870 English feet. It is about 26 feet high to the top of the great slabs of stone which cover it. These slabs lie across the channel in which the water was conveyed over the river, and they project a little so as to form a cornice. The whole height of the three tiers, if the several dimensions are correctly given, is about 155 feet. It is generally said that the bridge is entirely built of stones, without mortar or cement. The stones of the two lower tiers are without cement; but the arches of the highest tier, which are built of much smaller stones, are cemented. At the north end of the aqueduct the highest tier of arches and the water channel are higher than the ground on which the aqueduct abuts, and there must have been a continuation of small arches along the top of this hill; but there are no traces of them, at least near the bridge. On the opposite or south side the aqueduct abuts against the hill, which is higher than the level of the channel. There is no trace of the hill having been pierced ; and an intelligent man, who lives near the bridge, says that the aqueduct was carried round the hill, and that it pierced another hill further on, where the tunnel still exists. ROMAN AQUEDUCT NEAR NEM.VUSUS, 11010 Called THE PONT DU GARD. The stone of this bridge is a yellowish colour. Seen under the sun from the west side, the bridge has a biightish yellow tint, with patches of dark colour, owing to the weather. The stone in the highest tier is a concretion of shells and sand, and tliat in the lower tiers appears to be the same. In the stones in the highest tier there are halves of a bivalve shell completely preserved. The stone also contains bits of rough quartzose rock, and many small rounded pebbles. In the floods the Gardon rises 30 feet above its ordinary level, and the water will then pass under all the arches of the lowest tier. The piers of this tier show some marks of being worn by the water. But the bridge is still solid and strong, a magnificent monument of the grandeur of Roman conceptions, and of the boldness of their execution. There are many works which treat of the an- tiquities of Nimes. Some are quoted and extracts from them are printed in the Guide dii Voijageur, par Ricliai-d and E. Hocquart. [G. L.] NE'MEA (Ji N6;ue'a, Ion. N€|Ut'ij: Adj. Ne/xeioy, Ne,u6a?os, Neineaeus), the name of a valley in the territory of Cleonae, where Hercules slew the Ne- mean lion, and where the Nemean games were celebrated every other year. It is described by Strabo as situated between Cleonae and Phlius (viii. p. 377). The valley lies in a direction nearly north and south, and is about two or three miles long, and from half to three quarters of a mile m breadth. It is shut in on every side by moun- tains, and is hence called by Pindar a deep vale (8a6i;7re5os, Kem. iii. 18.) There is a remarkable mountain on the NE., called in ancient times ApESAS ('A-TreVos), now Fuka, nearly 3000 feet high, with a flat summit, which is visible from Argos and Corinth. On this mountain Perseus is said to have first sacrificed to Zeus Apesantius. (Pans. ii. 15. § 3; Steph. B. s. v. 'A-n-firas; Stat. T/ieb. iii. 460, seq.) Theocritus gives Nemea the epithet of '• well-watered " (^evvSpov Ne/xe'rjs x'^P°^> Theocr. XXV. 182). Several rivulets descend from the sur- rounding mountains, which collect in the plain, and form a river, which flows northward through the ridges of Apesas, and falls into the Corinthian gulf, forming in the lower part of its source the boundaiy between the territories of Sicyon and Corinth. This river also bore the name of Nemea (Strab. viii. p. 382; Diod. xiv. 83; Liv. xxxiii. 15); but as it was dependent for its supply of water upon the season of the year, it was sometimes called the Ne- mean Charadra. (Aesch. de Fals. Leg. § 168, ed. Bekker; ^ XapiZpa, Xen. Hell. iv. 2. § 15.) The mountains, which enclose the valley, have several natural caverns, one of which, at the distance of 15 stadia from the sacred grove of Nemea, and on the road named Tretus, from the latter place to Mycenae, was pointed out as the cave of the Nemean lion. (Paus. ii. 15. § 2.) The name of Nemea was strictly applied to the sacred grove in which the games were celebrated. Like Olympia and the sanctuary at the Corinthian