Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/584

 56« PELIGXI. of the growth of olives. (Ovid, Anioi ii. 16. 6, 7; Martial,!. 27. 5, siii. 121.) Of the character of the PeHgni, we know only that they were esteemed as rivalling in bravery their neigiibour.s the JIarsi (Plin. iii. 12. s. 17; Cic. in Vatin. 15; Sil. Ital. viii. 510), and that from their .secluded position they always retained the primitive simplicity of their habits. From an expression of Horace it would ajipear alM> that tiiey shared witii the JIarsi the reputation of skill in magical incantations. (Hor. Epud. 17. 60) The Peligni had only three principal towns, CoR- FINIL'M, SULMO, aud SuPEKAEQUUM, of which the two first only are known historically, and were doubtless much the most important places. But Pliny notices all three in his list of towns; and the .<ame names are found also in the Liber Coloniarum. (Plin. I.e.: Lib. Colrni. pp. 228, 229.) Hence tiiese are obviously the three alluded to by Ovid, when he calls his native" town of Suhno " Peligni pars terlia ruris" (^Amor. ii. 16); and it thus ap- pears there were no other places in the district which enjoyed municipal rank and had a territory of their own. CucuLUJi, mentioned only by Strabo (v. p. 241) as situated to the right of the Via V.aleria, is evidently the modern Cocullo, and must h.ive l>een in the territory of the Peligni, but was prb:ibly an insigniticant place. Statulae, known only fiom the 'I'abula as a station on the Via Valeria, 7 miles from Corfinium, on the E. of the Mons Imeus, must liave been situated at or near the vil- Irtge of Goriano. The territory of the Peligni must always have been an imimrlant point in regard to the communi- cations of the different nations of Central Italy. On the one side a natural piss, now known as the Forca Caruso, called in the Tabula the Mons Ijieus, connected the basin of the Gizio and lower valley of the Ateruus with the land of the Marsi and ba.sin of the lake Fucinus; on the other the remarkable pass or gorge through which the Aternus forces its way just below Pupuli, afforded a natural outlet, through which these upland valleys had a direct coimmmication with the sea. These two passes, in conjunction with that which led from the basin of the Fucinus to Carseoli, formed a natural line of way from Rome and the Tyrrhenian sea to the Adriatic, which was undoubtedly frequented long before the Romans subdued the several nations through which it passed, and ages before the Via Valeria was laid down as an artificial road. That highway, indeed, was not continued through the land of the Peligni, and thence to the sea, until the reign of the emperor Claudius [Cerfknnia"]. In the other direction also the valley of the Gizio, opening into that of the Ateruus, afforded direct means of communication with Reate, Interamna, and the valley of the Tiber, while at its southern ex- tiemity a practicable pass led through the heart of the Apennines into the valley of the Sagrus, and thus opened a direct line of coumumication with the interior of Saumium. The importance of this line of rouie, as well as the early period at which it was frequented, is shown by the circumstance that it was followed by the Rnman armies in b. c. 340, when the Samnites, as well as the Jlarsi and Peligni, were friendly, and the revolt of the Latins cut off their natural line of march into Campania. (Liv. viii. 6.) This line of road, as given in the Tabula, led from Corfinium by Suhno to Aufidena, and thence PELIUM. i to Aesemia and Venafrum. At the distance of 7 ! miles from Sulmo that itinerary places a station called " Jovis Larene," evidently the site of a temple, on the highest part of the pass. The spot is still called Campo di Giuve, and it is probable that the true reading is " Jovis Paleni," the adjoining moun- tain being still called Monte di Palena, and a village or .small town at the foot of it bearing the same name. (Cluver, Ital. p. 759; Holsten. Not. ad C/ai-er. p. 145; Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 165.) It thus appears that the ancient road followed a more cir- cuitous but easier line than the modern highroad, and thus avoided the passage of the Piano di Cinque Mifflia, an upland valley at the highest part of the pass, much dreaded in winter and spring on ac- count of the terrific storms of wind and snow to which it is subject. (Craven's Abruzzi, vol. ii. pp. 45—50.) [E. H.B.I PELINAEUS. [Chios.] PELINNA, more commonly PELINNAEUM (rie'Aii'j'o, Steph. B. s. y. ; Plin. iv. 8. s. 15; Ile- AifvaTor, Scylax, p. 25; Pind. Py?/j. x. 4 ; Strab. ix. p. 437; Arrian, Aiiah. i. 7 ; Liv. xxxvi. 10; n(}i^aiou on coins, Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 146 : £th. UiAii/vaios), a town of Thessaly, in the district Histiaeotis, a little above the left bank of the Peneius. (Strab. /. c.) It seems to have been a place of some importance even in the time of Pindar (/. c). Alexander the Great passed through the town in his rapid march from Illyria to Boeotia. (Arrian, I. c.) It did not revolt from the Mace- donians together with the other Thessalians after the death of Alexander the Great. (Diod. xviii. 11.) In the war between Antiochus and the Romans, B. c. 191, Pelinnaeum was occupied by the Atha- manians, but was soon afterwards recovered by the Romans. (Liv. xxxvi. 10, 14.) There are con- siderable remains of Pelinnaeum at Old Kardhiki or Gardhiki. " The city occupied the face of a rocky height, together with a large quadrangular space at the foot of it on the south. The southern wall is more than half a mile in length, and the whole circumference near three miles." (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 288.) PE'LIUM (neAAiov, Arrian, Anab. i. 5; nrjAiov, Quadratas, ap. Steph. B. s.v. Liv. x.'sxi. 40), a town of the Dassaretii, on the Macedonian frontier, and commanding the pass which led into that country. From its situation it was a place of con- siderable importance, and was attacked by Alex- ander on his return from the expedition against the Getae, in the war against the two lUyrian kings Cleitus and Glancias. On the defeat of the Illyrians Cleitus set the town on fire. According to Arrian (J,, c), Pelium was situated at the foot of a woody mountain, and close to a narrow defile through which the Eordaicus flowed, leaving in one part space only for four shields abreast, a description which corresponds so exactly with the pass of Tzan- !)6n, or Klisiira of Devol, both as to the river, and breadth of one part of the pass, that the identity can hardly be questioned. Pelium will then he either Plidssn or Porjatii, but the former lias the preference by its name, which seems to be a vulgar sounding of Tlr)ia(r(ra. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 323.) The consul Sulpicius, in bis first campaign against Philip (Liv. I. c), crossed from Eordaea, or Sarighioli, which he had ravaged over part of the plain of Grevend, and through Anaselitza to Kastoria, whence he diverged to Pelium, which he occupied, leaving a strong garrison in it, as it