Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/709

 RATOJIAGUS. portune de Retz, ■which are near Machecoid and on the Tenii, a small river in the department of La Vendee. The Tenu enters the sea near Bourgneuf, opposite to the Isle Noinnoutiei' (D'Anville, Notice, cj'c; Ukert, Gallien, p. 393). [G. L.] RATOMAGUS. [Rotomagus.] EAUDA ('Pa.';5a, Ptol. ii. 6. § 50), a town of the Vaccaei in Hispania Tarraeonensis, on the road from Asturica to Caesar Augusta (/</«. Ant. p. 440), now Roa, on the Douro. (Comp. Florez. Esp. Sagr. vii. p. 274.) [T. H.D.] KAU'DII CAMPI. [CAJin Raudii.] RAVENNA ('PaoiJew a, Strab. ; 'Pagecm, Ptol. et al. : Eth. Ravennas -atis : Ravenna), one of the moi!t important cities of Gallia Cispadana, situated a short distance from the sea-coast, at the southern extremity of the extensive range of marshes and lagunes, which occupied the whole coast of Venetia from thence to Altinum. (Strab. v. p. 213; Itin. Ant. p. 126.) It was 33 miles N. of Ariminum. Though included within the limits of Ci.salpine Gaul, according to the divisions established in the days of Strabo and Pliny, it does not appear to have ever been a Gaulish city. Strabo tells us that it was a Thessalian colony, which probably meant that it was a Pelasgic settlement, and was connected with the traditions that ascribed to the Pelasgi the foundation of the neighbouring city of Spina. [Spina.] But they subsequently, according to the same writer, received a body of Umbrian colonists, in order to maintain themselves against the growing power of the Etruscans, and thus became an Um- brian city, to which people they continued to belong till they passed under the Roman government. (Strab. v. pp. 214, 217.) Pliny, on the other iiand, calls it a Sabine city, — a strange statement, which we are wholly unable to explain. (Plin. iii. 15. s. 20.) It seems probable that it was really an Umbrian settlement, and retained its national cha- racter, though surrounded by the Lingonian Gauls, until it received a Roman colony. No mention of the name is found in hiistory till a late period of the Roman Republic, but it appears to have been then already a place of some consequence. In b. c. 82, during the civil wars of JIaiius and Sulla, it was occupied by Metellus, the lieutenant of the latter, wlio made it the point of departure from whence he carried on his operations. (Appian, B. C. i. 89.) Again it was one of the places which was frequently visited by Caesar during his command in Gaul, for the purpose of raising levies, and communicating with his friends at Rome (Cie. ad Att. vii. 1, ad Fam. i. 9, viii. 1) ; and just before the outbreak of the Civil War it was there that he established liis head-quarters; from whence he carried on nego- tiations with the senate, and from whence he ulti- mately set out on his march to Ariminum. (Id. ib. ii. 32; Caes. B. C. i. 5; Suet. Caes. 30; Appian, B. C. ii. 32.) Its name again figures repeatedly in tlie civil wars between Antony and Octavian, espe- cially during the war of Perusia (Appian, B. C. iii. 42, 97, V. 3.3, 50, &c.); and it is evident that it was already become one of the most important towns in this part of Cisalpine Gaul. It is uncertain at what period Ravenna received a Roman colony. Strabo speaks of it as having in his time, as well as Ariminum, received a body of Roman colonists (v. p. 217); but the date is not mentioned, and it certainly did not, like Ariminum, pass into the condition of a regular Colonia, nume- rous iDscriptions being extant which give it the title RAVENNA. C93 of a Municipiuiti. It is probable that the settlement alluded to by Strabo took place under Augustu.s, and it is certain that it was to that emperor that Ra- venna was indebted for the importance which it sub- sequently enjoyed during the whole period of the Roman Empire. The situation of the city was very peculiar. It was surrounded on all sides by marshes, or rather lagunes, analogous to those which now surround the city of Venice, and was built, like that city, actually in the water, so that its houses and edifices were wholly constructed on piles, and it was intersected in all directions by canals, which were crossed either by bridges or ferries. Tiie la- gunes had a direct communication with the sea, so that the canals were scoured every day by the flux and reflux of the tides, — a circumstance to which Strabo attributes, no doubt with justice, the healthi- ness of the city, which must otherwise have been uninhabitable from malaria. (Strab. v. p. 213; Jornand. Get. 29; Sidon. Apoll. Ejnst. i. 5; Procop. B. G.i.l; Claudian, de VI. Cons. Bon. 495.) The old city had a small port at the mouth of the river Bedesis, mentioned by Pliny as flowing under its walls (Plin. iii. 15. s. 20) ; but Augustus, having determined to make it the permanent station of his fleet in the Adriatic, constructed a new and spacious port, which is said to have been capable of contain- ing 250 ships of war (Jornand. I. c), and wa.s fur- nished with a celebrated Pharos or lighthouse to mark its entrance. (Plin. xxxvL 12. s. 18.) This port was near 3 miles distant from the old city, with which it was connected by a long causeway: a con- siderable town rapidly grew up around it, which came to be known by the name of Poktus Classis or simply Classis; while between the two, but nearer to the city, there arose another suburb, scarcely less extensive, which bore the name of Caesarea. (Jornand. I. c. ; Sidon. Apoll. I. c. ; Prorcp. B. G. ii. 29 ; Geogr. Rav. iv. 31.) In addition to these works Augustus constructed a canal, called from him the Fossa Augusta, by which a part of the waters of the Padus were carried in a deep artificial channel under the very walls of Ravenna and had their outlet at the port of Classis. (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20 ; Jornand. I. c.) From this time Ravenna continued to be the permanent station of the Roman fleet which was destined to guard the Adriatic or Upper Sea, as Misenum was of that on the Lower (Tac. Ann. iv. 5, Ilist. ii. 100, iii. 6,40; Suet. Avg. 49: Veget. de R. Mil. v. 1 ; Not. Dign. ii. p. 118); and it rose rapidly into one of the most considerable cities of Italy. For the same reason it became an important military post, and was often selected by the em- perors as their head-quarters, from which to watch or oppose the advance of their enemies into Italy. In a. d. 193 it was occupied by Severus in his march upon Rome against Didius Julian (Spartiaii, Lid. Jul. 6 ; Dion Cass. Ixxiii. 17) : and in 238 it was there that Pupienus was engaged in assembling an army to oppose the advance of JMaximin when he received the news of the death of that emperor before Aquileia. (Herodian, viii. 6, 7 ; Caj.it. Maxi- min. 24, 25, Max. ct Balb. 11,12.) Its strong and secluded position also caused it to be selected as a frequent place of confinement for prisoners of dis- tinction, such as the son of the German chieftain Arminius, and Maroboduus, chief of tiic Suevi. (Tac. Ann. i. 58, ii. 63; Suet. Tib. 20.) The same cir- cumstances at a later period led to its selection by the feeble and timid Honorius as the place of bis XT 3