Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/879

 i;USELLAE. Jlela (ii. 5) names the place a Colonia, and so the title appears on coins, col. bus. leg. vi. Pliny calls it " Oppidum Latinorum." It seems to have been a Colonia Latina. The name is incorrectly written Ruscione in the Antonine Itin. and in the Table. It is placed be- tween Combusta [Combusta] and llliberis, and it is represented by Castel-Romsillon or the Tour de Rousslllon on the Tet, the ancient Euscino, a short distance from Perpignan, the capital of the French department of the Pyrenees Orientales. Perpifjium lies on the high-road from France into Spain, and there is no other great road in this part of the Py- renees. Euscino is named Rosciliona in middle age docu- ments, and from this name the modern name Rous- sillon is derived. Roussillon was a province of the ante-revolutionary history of France, and it corre- sponds to the modern department of Pyrenees Orientales. The river Euscino or Euscinus is the Telis of Mela (ii. 5), the Tet ; and we may probably con- clude that the true reading in Mela is Tetis. The Tet rises in the Pyrenees, and flows past Perpignan into the Mediterranean, after a course of about 70 miles. Sometimes it brings down a great quantity of water from the mountains. [G. L.] EUSELLAE ('Poua-e'Aai : Eth. Eusellanus : Ro- selle), an ancient and important city of Etruria, situated about 14 miles from the sea, and 3 from the right bank of the river Ombrone (Umbro). In common with several of the ancient Etruscan cities, we have very little information concerning its early history, though there is no doubt of its great anti- quity and of its having been at a very early period a powerful and important city. There is every probability that it was one of the twelve which formed the Etruscan League (Miiller, Etrusker, vol. i. p. 346). The lirst mention of it in histoiy is during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, when it united with Clusium, Arretium, Volaterrae, and Vetulonia, in declaring war against the Eoman king, apart from the rest of the confederacy, — a suiBeient proof that it was at that time an independent and sovereign state. (Dionys. iii. 51.) From this time we hear no more of it until the Eomans had carried their arms beyond the Ciminian forest, when, in b. c. 301, the dictator BI. Valerius Maximus carried his arms, apparently for the first time, into the territory of the Eusellae, and defeated the combined forces of the Etruscans who were opposed to him. (Liv. s. 4, 5.) A few years later, in e. c. 294, the consul L. Postumius Megellus not only laid waste the territory of Eusellae, but took the city itself by storm, taking more than 2000 of the inhabitants captives (Id. s. 37). No other mention of it occurs during the period of I']truscan independence ; but during the Second Punic War the Eusellani are mentioned among the "populi Etruriae" v.ho came forward with voluntary supplies to equip the fleet of Scipio (b. c. 205), and furnished him with timber and corn (Id. xxviii. 45). It is evident that at this time RuselLae was still one of the principal cities of Etruria. We find no subsequent notice of it under the Roman Republic, but it was one of the places selected by Augustus to receive a colony (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8 ; Zumpt, de Colon, p. 347); notwithstanding which it seems to have fallen into decay; and though the name is mentioned by I'tolemy (iii. 1. § 48) we meet with no later notice of it in ancient times. It did not, however, altogether cease to exist till a much RUSPIXUM. 859 later period, as it retained its episcopal see down to the twelfth century, when it was transferred to the neighbouring town of Grosseto. (Repetti, Diz. Top. vol. ii. pp. 526, 822.) The site of Rusellae is now wholly desolate and overgrown with thickets, which render it very diffi- cult of access. But the plan may be distinctly traced, and the line of the ancient walls may be followed in detached fragments throughout their entire circuit. It stood on the flat top of a hill of considerable elevation, about 6 miles from the mo- dern city of Grosseto, overlooking the broad valley of the Ombrone and the level plain of the Maremma, which extends from thence to the sea. The walls follow the outline of the hill, and enclose a space of about 2 miles in circuit. They are constructed of very rude and massive stones, in some places with an approach to horizontal structure, similar to that at Volterra and Populonia ; but in other parts they lose all traces of regularity, and present (according to Mr. Dennis) a strong resemblance to the rudest and most irregular style of Cyclopian construction, as exemplified in the walls of Tiryns in Argolis. (Dennis's Eti-uria, vol. ii. pp. 248, 249.) The sites of six gates may be traced ; but there are no indications of the manner in which the gateway itself was formed. Within the walls are some frag- ments of rectangular masonry and some vaults of Roman construction. It is remarkable that no traces of the necropolis — so often the most interesting remnant of an Etruscan city — have yet been dis- covered at Rusellae. But the site is so wild and so little visited, that no excavations have been carried on there. (Dennis, I. c. p. 254.) About 2 miles from the ruins, and 4 from Gros- seto, are some hot-springs, now called / Bagni di Rosdle. On a hill immediately above them are the mediaeval ruins of a town or castle called Moscona, which have been often mistaken for those of Rusellae. (Dennis, I. c.) [E. H. B] BUSGH'tilA (Itin. Ant.; 'PovaTSvtuv, Ptol. iv. 2. § 6), a town of Mauretania, and a colonia, which lay 1 5 M. P. to the E. of Icosium. Its ruins have been found near (7«;;e Matafu or Temendfuz (Barth, Wanderimgen, p. 55). For an account of those, see Ausland, 1837, No. 144. [E. B. J.] RUSIC ADE (Plin. v. 2 ; Mela, i. 7. § 1 ; 'Vovai- icaSa, Ptol. iv. 3. § 3; Rusiccade, Itin. Ant., Pent. Tab.), the harbour of Cirta in Numidia, and a Roman colonia, at the mouth of the small river TiiArsus (Vib. Seq, de Fhm. p. 19 : U. Sofia), and probably therefore identical with the TiiArsA (0ai|/a), a harbour-town, of Scylax (p. 50). Its site is near Stora ; and the modern town of Pkilippeville, the Ras-SMkda of the Arabs, is made in part of the materials of the old Rusicade (Barth, Wanderungen, p. Cfi). [E. B. J.J RUSIDA'VA. [Dacia, p. 744, b.J RUSPE {Peiit. Tab. ; 'Vodairai ol. 'Podane, Ptol. iv. 3. § 10), a town of Numidia between Acholla and Usilla, near the Cai'UT Vadouuji (Corippus, Jo- hann. i. 366: C. K'ubud'tali), and the see of Fulgcn- tius, well-known in the Pelagian controversy ; he was expelled from it by the Vandal Thrasimund. Barth (^Wanderungen, p. 177) found remains at Schebba. [E. B. J.] RUSPI'NUJM (^Povair'ivov, Strab. xvii. p. 831; Ruspina, Auct. B. Afr. 6; J'lin. v. 3; Pent. Tab.), a town of Africa Projier, where Caesar defeated Scipio, and which he afterwards made his position wliilo waiting for reinforcements. It is probably the