Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/89

 ISTRIA. Adriatic, but should assert that its waters entered that sea with a turbulence and force similar to those ofthePadus. (Mel. ii. 3. § 13, 4. § 4.) In point of fact, there is no river of any magnitude flowing into the upper part of the Adriatic on its eastern shore which could afford even the slightest coun- tenance to such a notion ; the rivers in the peninsula of Ibtria itself are very trifling streams, and tlie dry, calcareous ridges which hem in the E. shore of the Adriatic, all the way from Trieste to the southern extremity of Dalmatia, do not admit either of the formation or the outlet of any considerable body of water. It is scarcely possible to account for the origin of such a fable; but if the inhabitants of Istria were really called Isxiii (^larpoi), as their native name, which is at least highly probable, this circumstance may have first led the Greeks to assume their connection with the great river Ister, and the existence of a considerable amount of traffic up the valley of the Savus, and from thence by land across the Julian Alps, or Jloiint Ocra, to the head of the Adriatic (Strab. vii. p. 314), would tend to perpe- tuate such a notion. The Istrians are generally considered as a tribe of Illyrian race (Appian, Illyr. 8; Strab. vii. p. 314; Zeuss, Die Deulschen, p. 253), and the fact that they were immediately surrounded by other Illyrian tribes is in itself a strong argument in favour of this view. Scymnus Cbius alone calls them a Thracian tribe, but on what authority we know not. (Scymn. Cli. 398.) They first appear in history as taking part with the other Illyrians in their piratical expeditions, and Livy ascribes to them this character as early as 15. C. 301 (Liv. X. 2); but the first occasion on which they are distinctly mentioned as joining in these enterprises is just before the Second Punic War. They were, however, severely punished; the Roman consuls M. Jlinutius Rufus and P. Cornelius were sent against them, and they were reduced to complete submission. (Eutrop. iii. 7; Oros. iv. 13; Zonar. viii. 20; Appian, lUyr. 8.) The next men- tion of them occurs in u. c. 183, when the consul M. Claudius Marccllus, after a successful campaign against the Gauls, asked and obtained permission to lead his legions into Istria. (Liv. xxxix. 55.) It does not, however, appear that this invasion pro- duced any considerable result ; but their piratical expeditions, together with the opposition offered by them to the foundation of the Roman colony of Aquileia, soon became the pretext of a fresh attack. (Id. xl. 18, 26, xli. 1.) In b. c. 178 the consul A. llanlius invaded Istria with two legions ; and though he at first sustained a disaster, and naiTowly escaped the capture of his camp, he recovered his position before the arrival of his colleague, M. Junius, who had been sent to his support. The two consuls now attacked and defeated the Istrians; and their successor, C. Claudius, following up this advantage, took in succession the towns of Nesactium, Mutila, and Faveria, and reduced the whole people to sub- mission. For this success he was rewarded with a triumph, b. c. 177. (Liv. xh. 1 — 5, 8—13; Flor. ii. 10.) The subjection of the Istrians on this occasion seems to have been real and complete; for, though a few years after we find them joining the Cami and lapydes in complaining of the exactions of C. Cassius (Liv. sliii. 5), we hear of no subsequent revolts, and the district appears to have continued tranquil under the Roman yoke, until it was incor- porated by Augustus, together with Venetia and the land of the Carni, as a portion of Italy. (Strab. v. ISTRIA. 73 p. 215; Plin. iii. 19. s. 23.) It continued thence- forth to be always included under that name, though geographically connected much more closely with Dalmatia and Illyricum. Hence we find, in the Notitia Dignitatum, the " Consularis Venetiae et Histriae " placed under the jurisdiction of the Vi- carius Italiae, {Not. Dign. ii. pp. 5, 65.) The natural limits of Istria are clearly marked by those of the peninsula of which it consists, or by a line drawn across from the Gulf of Trieste to that of Quarnero, near Fiume ; but the political boundary was fixed by Augustus, when he included Istria in Italy, at the river Arsia or Arsa, which fails into the Gulf of Quarnero about 15 miles from the southern extremity of the peninsula. This river has its sources in the group of mountains of which the Monte Maggiore forms the highest point, and which constitutes the heart or nucleus of the peninsula, from which there radiate ranges of great calcareous hills, gradually declining as they approach the western coast, so that the shore of Istria along the Adriatic, though hilly and rocky, is not of any con- siderable elevation, or picturesque in character. But the calcareous rocks of which it is composed are indented by deep inlets, forming excellent harliours ; of these, the beautiful land-locked basin of Pola is particularly remarkable, and was noted in ancient as well as modem times. The northern point of Lstria was fixed by Augustus at the river Formio, a small stream falling into the Gulf of Trieste between that; city and Capo d'Istria. Pliny expressly excludes Tergeste from Istria ; but Ptolemy extends the limits of that province so as to include both the river Formio and Tergeste (Ptol. iii. 1. §27); and Stmbo also appears to consider the Timavus as constituting the boundaiy of Istria (Strab. v. p. 215), though he elsewhere calls Tergeste " a village of the Carni " (vii. p. 314). Pliny, however, repeatedly alludes to the Formio as having constituted the boundary of Italy before that name was officially extended so as to include Istria also, and there can be no doubt of the correctness of his statement. Istria is not a country of any great natural fertility ; but its cal- careous rocky soil was well adapted for the growth of olives, and its oil was reckoned by Pliny inferior only to that of Venafrum. (Plin. xv. 2. s. 3.) In the later ages of the Roman empire, when the scat of government was fixed at Ravenna, Istria became of increased importance, from its facility of com- munication by sea with that capital, and furnished considerable quantities of corn, as well as wine and oil. (Cassiod. Fa7-r. xii. 23, 24.) This was pro- bably the most flourishing period of its history. It was subsequently ravaged in succession by the Lom- bards, Avars, and Sclavi (P. Diac. iv. 25, 42), but appears to have contmued permanently subject to the Lombard kingdom of Italy, until its destruction in A. D. 774. The towns in Istria mentioned by ancient writers are not numerous. Much the most important was Pola, near the extreme southern promontory of the peninsula, which became a Roman colony under Augustus. Proceeding along the coast from Ter- geste to Pola, were Aegida (Capo d'Istria'), subsequently called Justinopolis, and Parentium {Parenzo'); while on the E. coast, near the mouth of the river Arsia, was situated Nesactium, already noticed by Livy among the towns of the independent Istrians. The two other towns, Mutila and Faveria, mentioned by him in the same passage (xli. 11), are otherwise unknown, and cannot be identified. Pto-