Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/478

 462 OCRIGULUM. and the counti-ies on the Danube. (Strab. iv. p. 207, vii. p. 314.) The mountahi meant is evidently that between Adelsberg and Laybach, which must in all ages have been the principal line of communication from the Danube and the valley of the Save with Italy. [E. H. B.] OCRIGULUM (oi "O/fptKAoi, Strab.; 'OKpUoXa, Steph. B. ; 'OKp'iKuXov, Ptol. : Eth. Ocriculanus and Ocricolanus: OtricoU), a considerable town of Umbria, situated on the Via Flaminia, near the left bank of the Tiber. It was the southernmost town of Umbria, and distant only 44 miles from Eome. (/Cm. Bier. p. 613 ; Westphal, Jiom. Kamp. p. 145.) We learn from Livy that Ocriculum was a native Umbrian city, and in b. c. 308 it appears to have separated from the other cities of the confede- racy, and concluded an alliance with Rome. (Liv. ix. 41.) This is the only notice that we find of it prior to the conquest of Umbria by the Romans; but after that period it figures repeatedly in history as a mu- nicipal town of some importance. It was here that in B.C. 217 Fabius Jlaximus took the command of the army of Scrvilius, after the battle of the lake Trasinienus. (Id. xxii. 11.) In the Social War Ocriculum suffered severely ; and, accordinfj to Florus, was laid waste with fire and sword (Flor. iii. 18. § 11); but it seems to have quickly re- covered, and in Strabo's time was a considerable and flourishini; town. It is mentioned in Tacitus as the place where the army of Vespasian halted after the surrender of the Vitellian legions at Narnia (Tac. Hist. iii. 78). From its position on the Flaminian Way it is repeatedly mentioned incidentally under the Roman Empire (Plin. Ep. vi. 25; Amm. Marc, xvi. 10. § 4, xxviii. 1. § 22); and it is evident that it was indebted to tlie same circumstance for its continued prosperity. The name is found in Pliny and Ptolemy, as well as in the Itineraiies; and its municipal importance down to a late period is attested also by inscriptions, in some of which it bears the title of " splendidissima civitas Ocrico- lana." From these combined, with the still extant remains, it is evident that it w.as a more considerable town than we could have inferred from the accounts of ancient writers (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9, 14. s. 19; Ptol. iii. 1. § 54; liin. Ant. pp. 125, 311 ; Gruter, Inscr. p. 422. 8, 9; Orell. Inscr. 3852, 3857; Mariui, Atti dei Fratelli Arvali, vol. ii. p. 582). The site of the ancient city is distant about 2 miles from the modern village of OtricoU, in the plain nearer the Tiber. The ruins of ancient edifices are, in their present state, of but little interest; but ex- cavations which were carried on upon the spot in 1780 brought to light the remains of several public buildings on a splendid scale, the plan and arrangement of which could be traced with little difficulty ; among these were a Basilica, a theatre, an amphitlieatre, Thermae, and several temples, be- sides other buildings, of which the purpose could not be determined. The beauty of many of the architectural decorations and works of art discovered on this occasion (especially the celebrated mosaic floor now in the Vatican, and the colossal head of Jupiter in the same museum) prove that Ocriculum must have been a municipal town of no ordinary splendour. (Vest. 144; Guattani, Monumenti Jnediti, 1784, where the results (if the excavation are described in detail and accompanied with a plan of the ancient remains.) Its proximity to Rome probably caused it to be re- . sorted to by wealthy nobles from the city; and as OCTODURUS. early as the time of Cicero we learn that Milo had a villa there. (Cic. 2»'o Mil. 24.) The periud of the destruction of the ancient city is uncertain. In a. d. 413 it witnessed a great defeat of Heraclianus, Count of Africa, by the armies of Honorius (Idat. Chron. adann.), and it is mentioned as an episcopal see after the fall of the Western Empire. But the circumstances that led the inhabitants to migrate to the modern village of OtricoU, on a hill overlooking the Tiber, arc not recorded. The corruption of the name appears to have commenced at an early date, as it is written Utriculum in the Itineraries and in many MSS. of the classical authors. [E. H. B.] OCRINUM. [Damnonium.] OCTAPITARUM {'OKTa-nirapov &Kpov, Ptol. ii. 3. § 3), a very prominent headland above the estuary of the Sabrina, or Severn, on the W. coast of Britain, now St. David's Head. [T. H. D.] OCTODU'RUS {Martinach, or Martigny, as the French call it), is in the Swiss canton of WaUli or Valais, on the left bank of the Rhone, near the bend where the river takes a northern course to the lake of Geneva. The Drance, one branch of which rises at the foot of the Great St. Bernard, joins the left bank of the Rhone at 3Iartigny. The rOad over the Alps from Martigny ascends the valley of th-e Drance, and the summit of the road is the Alpis Pennina, or Great St. Bernard. This pass has been used from a time older than any historical records. When Caesar was in Gallia (b. c. 57 — 56) he sent Servius Galba with the twelfth legion and some cavalry into the country of the Nantuates, Veragri, and Seduni. His purpose in sending this force was to open the pass over the Alps, the pass of the Great St. Bernard, " by which road the mer- catores had been used to travel at great ri»k, and with the payment of great tolls." (5. G. iii. 1.) The people of the Alps allowed the Italian mer- chants to pass, because if they plundered them the merchants would not come; but they got as much out of them as they could. Galba, after taking many strong places, and receiving the submission of the people, sent oft' two cohorts into the country of the Nantuates, and with the remaining cohorts de- termined to winter " in a town of the Veragri named Octodurus, which town being situated in a valley with no great extent of level ground near it, is con- fined on all sides by very lofty mountains." There is some level ground at Martigny, and the valley of the Rhone at this part is not very narrow. Caesar says that the town of Octodurus was divided into parts by a river, but he dues not mention the river's name. It is the Drance. Galba gave one part of the town to the Galli to winter in, and assigned the other to his troops. He fortified himself with a ditch and rampart, and thought he was safe. He was, however, suddenly attacked by the Galli before his defences were complete or all his supplies were brought into the cainp. The Romans obstin:itely defended themselves in a six hours' fight ; when, seeing that they could no longer keep the enemy out, they made a sortie, which was sticcessful. The Rom.ans estimated the Galli at more than 30,000, and Caesar says that more than a third part were destroyed. The slaughter of the enemy was pro- digious, which has been made an objection to Cae- sar's veracity, or to Galba's, who made his report to the commander. It has also been objected that the valley is not wide enough, at Martigny to hold the 30,000 men. There may be error in the number that attacked, and,also in the number who perished.