Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/105

 territory of Alba, which still retained the name of "ager Albanus", was fertile and well cultivated, and celebrated in particular for the excellence of its wine, which was considered inferior only to the Falernian. (D>«. Hal. i. 66; Plin. H. N. xxiii. 1. 8.20; Hor. Carn. iv. 11. 2, Sat. ii. 8. 16.) It produced also a kind of volcanic stone, now called Peperino, which greatly excelled the common tufo of Rome as a building material, and was extensively used as such under the name of "lapis Albanus." The ancient quarries may be still seen in the valley between Alba and Marino. (Vitruv. ii. 7; Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 22. s. 48; Sm. Aug. 72; Nibby, Roma Antica, vol. i. p. 240.)

Previous to the time of Sir W. Gell, the site of Alba Longa was generally supposed to be occupied by the convent of Palazzolo, a situation which does not at all correspond with the description of the site found in ancient authors, and is too confined a space to hxn ever afRvded room for an ancient city. Niebahr b certainly in error where he speaks of the village of 12ocea(/i PqMi as baring been the of Alba Longa (vol. i. p. 200), that spot being hr too (fistant to have ever had any immediate con- aeeliao with the ancient city.

 ALBA POMPEIA (AX€aTlofnrrita, Ptd.: Al- be&aes Pempdani), a considerable town cf the iatcrior of Ligoria, aitoated on the river Tauarus, near the nortlieni foot of the Apennines, still called AAa, We have no acooont in any ancioit writer of its fbandation, or the origin of its name, bnt there is every pn)faability that it derived its distinctive ^pdaticn firom Cn. Pompeios Strabo (the father •f Pompey the Great) who conferred many privileges fltt tibe Cisalpine Ganls. An inscription cited by Spaa (MitedL pc 163), according to which it was a Boman colony, fooiMied by Sdpio Afncanus and bj Pompeins Magnus, is undoubtedly spu- (See Mannert. vol. i. p. 295.) It did not fotonial rank, bnt appears as a municipal tmm both in Pliny and on inscriptions: though the fotaner anther reckons it among the " uobilia oppida" <€ L^nria. (Plin. ul 5. s. 7; Ptol. iii. 1. § 45; OreO. /mct. 2179) It was the buth-phu» of the gupu o i Pertinaz, whose fiither had a villa in the •ei^ibomhood named the Villa Martis. (Dion Cass. 3; Jnl. CapitoL Pert, 1, 3.) Its territory partkalaily fevourable to tiie growth of vines. (PGn. xvu. 4. a. 3.) Alba'iB still a considerable town with a popalation of 7000 souls; it is an episcopal aee and the oqpital of a district.

 ALBA'NA. [.]

 ALBA'NIA (4 'AAfoyfa: Eth, and Adj, 'AACo^, *AA<^Mf, Albanus, Albanios), a country of Asia, lying abont the E. part of the chain of Cau The first distinct information concerning it obtaiiMd by the Bomans and Greeks through P«Bipey*s expedition into the Caucasian countries in pnrrait of M^hri^^*** (b. c. 65); and the knowledge obtained from then to the time of Augustus is ■Mwpdtfd in Strabo's full description of the country ■id people (ppL 501, foU). Aooordmg to him, A&ana was boonded on the £. by the Caspian, here caBed the Albanian Sea (Mare Albanum, Plin.); •ad on the N. by the Caucasus, here called Ceraunins Mobs, which divided it from Sarmatia Asiatica. On the W. it joined Iberia: Strabo gives no exact boundary, but he mentions as a part of Albania the ^iCiict of Cambyseoe, that is, the valley of the Caoibywii, where he says the Armenians touch both the Iberians and the Albanians. On the S. it was ^rnied fimn the Great Armenia by the ri>-er Cyrus(Kour). Later writers give the N. and W. boundaries differently. It was found that the Albanians dwelt (m both sides of the Caucasus, and accordingly Pliny carries the country further K. as far as the river Casius (vi. 13. a. 15); and he also makes the river AukZON (Ahuan) the W. boundary towards Iberia (vi. 10. s. 11). Ptolemy (v. 12) names the river Soana (Sodva) as the N. boundwy; and for the W. he assigns a line which he does not exactly describe, but which, from what fbllows, seems to lie either between tHe Alazon and the Uambyses, or even W. of the Cambyses. The Soana of Ptolemy is probably the Sulak or S. branch of the great river Terek (mth. in 43° 46' N. hit.), S. of which Ptolemy mentions the Gerrhus (Alksayf); then the Caesins, no doubt the Casius of Pliny (^Koisou).; S. of which again both Pliny and Ptolemy phtce the Albonuq (prob. Samovr)j near the city of Albana (Dfirbent). To these rivers, which fall into the Caspian N. of the Caucasus, Pliny adds the Cyrus and its tributary, the Cambyses. Three other tributaries of the Cyrus, rising in the Caucasus, are named by Strabo as navigable rivers, the Sandobanm, Bhoetaces, and Canes. The countiy corresponds to the parts of Georgia called Sckirvan or (rtn'rvan, with the addition (in its wider extent) of Leghistan and DagheS' tan. Strabo*s descripticm of the country must, of course, be understood as applying to the part of it known in his time, namely, the plain between the Caucasus and the Cyrus. Part of it, namely, in Cambysene (on the W.), was mountainous; the rest was an extensive plain. The mud brought down by the Cyrus made the land along the shore of the Caspian mai-shy, but in general it was extremely fsTtile, producing com, the vine, and vegetables of various kinds almost spontaneously; in some parts three harvests were gathered in the year from one sowing, the first of them yielding fifty-fold. The wild and domesticated animals were the finest of their kind; the dogs were able to cope with lions: but there were also scorpions and venomous spiders (the tarantula). Many of these particulars are confirmed by modern travellers.

The inhabitants were a fine race of men, tall and handsome, and more civilised than thrir neighbours the Iberians. They had eridenUy been originally a nomade people, and they continued so in a great degree. Paying only slight attention to agriculture, they lived chiefly by himting, fishing, and the produce of their flocks and herds. They were a warlike race, their force being chiefly in their cavalry, but not exclusively. When Pompey marched into their country, they met him with an army of 60,000 infantry, and 22,000 cavalry. (Plut. Pomp. 35.) They were armed with javelins and bows and arrows, and leathem helmets and shields, and many of their cavalry were clothed in complete armour. (Plut. l. c.; Strab. p. 530.) They made frequent predatory attacks on their more civilised agricultural neighbours of Armenia. Of peaceful industry they, were almost ignorant; their traffic was by barter, money being scarcely known to them, nor any regular system of weights and measures. Their power of arithmetical computation is said to have only reached to the number 100. (Eustath. ad Dion. Perieg. 729.) They buried tHe moveable property of the dead with them, and sons received no inheritance from their fothers; so that they never accumulated wealth. We find among them the same diversity of race and language that still exists in the r^ons of the Caucasus; they spoke 26 different dialects, and