Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/102

 86 ALAUNA. attain at Hie SE. angle an elevation of not less than 50 feet It has two gates, one of which, on the N. side, appears to have been merely a postern or sallj-port, oommnnicating bj a steep and narrow subterranean passage with the platform above: the principal entrance being on the south side, near the SE. angle. The gateways in both instances are aqnare-headed, the architrave being formed of one enormoos block of stone, which in the principal gate is more than 15 feet in length by 5^ in height, fcj ^estiges of m de bas- relicfe may be st ill observj ^ 'a bove tJiesmaTIcr gate' All these walls, as well as lose ot the city itselT^ are built of the hard limestone of the Apennines, in the style called Polygonal or Pelasgic, as opposed to the ruder Cyclopean, and are among the best specimens extant of that mode of construction, both from their enormous solidity, and the accuracy with which the stones are fitted to- gether. In the centre of the platform or terrace stands tiie modem cathedral, in all probability occupying the site of an andent temple. The remains at Alatri have been described uid figured by Madame Dionigi (Viaggio in alctme Citta del LcaiOy Roma, 1809), and views of them are given in DodweU's Pelasgic Bemaiiu, pi. 92—96. [E.H.B.] ALAUNA, a town of the Unelli, as Caesar (j5. G. ii. 34) calls the people, or Veneti, as Ptolemy calls them. It is probably the origin of the modem town of Aleaumej near Valognes, in the department of La Manche, where there are said to be Roman remains. [6. L.] ALAUNI. [Alani.] ALA'ZON (Plin. vL 10. s. 1 1), or ALAZCXNIUS QAXa(t&vtoft Stnb. p. 500 : A kucm, A lacki)^ a river of the Caucasus, flowing SE. into the Cambyses a little above its junction with the Cyrus, and forming the boundary of Albania and Iberia. Its position seems to correspond with the Abas of Plutarch and Dion Cassitts. [Abas.] [P. S.] ALAZO'NES {'AXdiMfts), a Scytliian people on the Borysthenes (/Mteper), N. of the Callipidae, and S. of the agricultural Scythians: they grew com for their own use. (Hecat. ap, Strab. p. 550; Herod, iv. 17, 62; Steph. B. «. v.; Val. l-Taoc. vi. 101; Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 418.) [P. S.] ALBA DOCILIA, a town on the coast of Liguria, known only from the Tabula Peutingeriana, which places it on the coast road from CSenua to Vada Sabbata. The distances are so corrapt as to afford us no assistance in determining its position : but it is probable that Cluver is right in identifying it with the modem Albistola, a village about 3 miles from SavorMj on the road to Genoa. The origin and meaning of the name are unknown. (Tab. Pent. ; Cluver. ItaL p. 70.) [E. H. B.] ALBA FUCENSIS or FUCENTIS (^AAga, Strab.; "AA^a ^oviccrrts, Ptol. ; (he ethnic Albenses, not Albani; see Varr. de L. L, viii. § 35), an im- portant city and fortress of Central Italy, situated on the Via Valeria, on a hill of considerable eleva^ tion, about 3 miles from, the northern shores of the Lake Fudnus, and immediately at the foot of Monie Velino. There is considerable discrepancy among ancient writers, as to the nation to which it belonged: but Livy expressly tells us that it was in the territory of the Aequians (^Albam in Aequo»y X. 1), and in another passage (xxvi. 11) he speaks of the **Albensis ager" as clearly distinct from that of the Marsians. His testimony is confirmed by Appian {Annib. 39) and by Strabo (v. pp. 238, 240), who calls it the most inland Latin city, ALBA. adjoining the territoiy of the Marsians. Ptolemy on the contrary reckons it as a Marsic city, as do Silius Italicus and Festus (Ptol. iii. 1. § 57; Sil. Ital. viii. 506; Festus v. AUfesta, p. 4, ed. Mttller): and this view has been followed by most modem writers. The fact probafily is, that it was originally an Aequian town, but bdng situated on the frontiers of the two nations, and the M*r»iMte» having in lata* times become far more celebrated and powerful than their neighbonre. Alba came to be commonly assigned to them. Pliny (fT. N. iii. 12 — 17) redcons the Albenses as distinct both from the Marsi and Aequiculi: and it appears from in- scriptions that thf7 belonged to the Fabian tribe, while the Marsi, as well as the Sabines and Peligni, were included in the Serglan. No historical men- tion of Alba is found previous to the foundation of the Roman colony: but it has been generally as- sumed to be a very andent dty. Kiebuhr even supposes that the name of Alba I.ionga was derived from thence: though Appian tells us on the con- traiy that the Romans gave this name to their colony firtim their own mother-city (L c). It is more probable that the name was, in both cases, ariginal, and was derived from their lofty situation, being connected with the same root as Alp. The remains of its andent fortifications may however be regarded as a testimony to its antiquity, though we find no special mention of it as a place of strength previooa to the Roman conquest. But immediately after the subjugation of the Aequi, in b. c. 302, the Romans hastened to occupy it with a body of not less than 6000 colonists (Liv. x. 1 ; Veil. Pat i. 14), and it became from this time a fortress of the firat class. In B.O. 211, on occasion of the sudden advance of Hannibal upon Rome, the dtizens of Alba sent a body of 2000 men to assist the Romans in the defence of the dty. But notwithstanding their zeal and promptitude on this occasion we fii»l them only two years after (in B.C. 209) among the twelve colonies which declared themselves unable to ftimish any further contingents, nor did their pn- vious services exempt them from the same punishment with the rest for tlUs default. (Appian, Annib. 39; Liv. xxvii. 9, xxix. 15.) We afterwards find Alba repeatedly selected on account of its great strength and inland position as a place o( ccnfinement for state prisoners; among whom Syphax, king of Nn- midia, Perseus, king of Macedonia, and Bitnitos, king of the Arvemi, are particularly mentioned. (Strab. V. p. 240; Liv. xxx. 17, 45; xlv. 42; Val. Max. ix. 6. § 3.) On the outbreak of the Social War, Alba with- stood a siege from the confederate forces, but it was ultimately compelled to surrender (Liv. Epit bucii.). During the Civil Wars also it b repeatedly men- tioned in a manner that suifidently attests its importance in a military pdnt of view. (Caes. B. C. i. 15, 24; Appian, Civ. iii. 45, 47, v. 30; Cic. ad AU. viii. 12, A, ix. 6; PkUipp. iii. 3, 15, iv. 2, xiii. 9). But under the Empire it attracted little attention, and we find no historical mention of it during that period : though its continued existence as a provincial town of some note is attested by inscriptions and other extant remains, as well as by the notices of it in Ptolemy and the Itmeraries. (Ptol. Z.C.; Itin. Ant p. 309; Tab. Peut; Lib. Colon, p. 253; Muratori, Jn»cr. 1021. 5, 1038. 1; Orell. no. 4166.) Its territory, mi account of its elevated situation, was more fertile in fruit than com, and was particularly celebrated for the ex-