Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/127

 - zzm. . zzziii. ALPHEIUS. LanctniD m the Tilkjr of the Gait, and by Uutt valley and the fiuter TkaL to join the preceding road at MpitenoiB, near the foot of the Bretmer, The sta- tioia (kw of which can be detennined with any ccrtaiotr) an thus given (Itin. Ant. p. 379): — W.P. From Aqoileia Ad Tricesimnm - zzz. Jolinm Carnicnm xxx. Loncio - • xxii. Agtuito • - zviii. Littamo - - xsiii. Sebato Vlpiteno - S. Another high road led fitnn Aqoileia eastward tp dn valley of the Wippaek^ and from thence Mfw the banen mountainooa txact of compaiutively ■mO eieratioa (the Moos Ocia), which sepazmtes it frm the Talley of the Savna, to Aemona in Pan- UMUL There can be no doabt that this pass, which pcants DO ocnsidenible natural difficulties, was from tbft fliriiest agea the highway of natl«His fhnn the bab of the Danabe into Italy, as it again became aSta the M of the Roman empire. (P. Diac ii. 10.) The dtatftoce from Aqoileia to Aemona is given by tke Itin. AnL at 76 Roman miles, which cannot be bt from the troth ; bat the intermediate stations are T«7 UKertun. [K H. fi.] ALPHETCS CAA^i^s: Su/ea, Mt^ or Bqfidj aad &per of KariiBmm)j the chief river of Pelo- fmoans^ rises in the S£. of Arcadia on the fron- liefB of Laeooia, flowa in a westerly directiQCi throngh Arcadia and EJis, and after passing Olympia falls iito the lomaa Sea. The Alpheios, like several 4iCker liven and lakes in Arcadia, disappears more tktt Qoce in the limestone mountains of the country, mi tkn em eige a again, after flowing some distance lodaigroand. Faosanias (viii 54. § 1, eeq., 44. { 4) lebtes that the anorce of the Alpheius is at /vS. IV^ft M the frantiers of Arcadia and Laconia; nd Alt, after receiving a stream rising from many aidl Ibastains, at a place called Symboh^ it floiK's isto the temtotj of Tegea, where it sinks under- imnd. It rises again at the distance of 5 stadia frao Ases, doee to the fountain of the Eurotas. The two rivers then mix their waterB, and after flowing in a commoa channel for the distance of Bovfy 20 stadia, they again sink undeiground, and VKpfmr, — the Eoiotaa in Laoonia, the Alpheius it F^egae, the Fountains, in the territoiy of Mega- bpofis m Arcadia. Stiabo (p. 343) also states that IIm Alpheius and Eorotas rise from two fountains Bear Asea, and that, after flowing several stadia •KfeTnond, the Eurotas reappears in the Blemi- aais ia Laconia, and the Alpheius in Arcadia. In tadther psseage (p. 275) Strabo relates, that it was a CBDUBon heUef that if two cfaaplets dedicated to tbr Alpheina and the Enrotas were thrown into the itiesm near Asea, each would reappear at the sources tf the river to which it was destined. This story aceanb with tha statement of Paasanias as to the saoB of the vraten from the two fountains, and tfcar eouae in a common channeL The account of ftesanias ia oonfirmed in many particulars by the Awintkaii of Colooel Leake and others. The linr, in the first part of its course, is now called ^Sar^MdOj which rises at Ktya Vrysiy the ancient HTboe, and which receives, a little below Krya rrpR, a stream formed of several small mountain toncots, by which the ancient Symbols is recog- ■iial On entering tha Tegeatic plain, the Sardnda tarn flo«s to the KE.; bat there are strong reasons ALSA. Ill for believing that it anciently flowed to the NW., and disappeared in the Katav6thra of the marsh of Taki.* (Leake, Peioponnesiaca, p. 112, seq.) The two reputed sources of the AJpheins and Eu- rotas are fbnmd near the remains of Asea, at the copious source of vrater called Frangovryti; but whether the aource of the Alpheius be really the vent of the lake of Takif cannot be decided with certainty. These two fountains unite their waters, as Pausanias describes, and again sink into the earth. After passing under a mountain called Tzim^ bona, the Alpheius reappears at Marmara, probably P^ae. (Leake, Morea, vuL ilL p. 37, seq.) Below Pegae, the Alpheius receives the Heusson ('EAiO'O'e&y : Jiiver ofDctvid), on which Megalopolis was situated, 30 stadia from the confluence. Below this, and near the town of Brenthe (^Karitend), the Alf^eius flows through a defile in the mountains, called the pass of Lavdhet, This pass is the only opening in the mountains, by which the waters of central Arcadia And their way to the western sea. It divides the upper phiin of the Alpheius, of which Megalopolis was the chief place, from the lower plahi, in which Heraea was situated. (Leake, MortOy voL ii. p. 19, seq.) Below Heraea, the Alpheius receives the Ladok (A(i3«i'), which rises near Cleitor, and is celebrated in mythology as the fifither (^ Daphne. The Ladon is now called Rufeay RufcL or Rofid, by which name the Alpheius is called below its junction wiUi the Ladon. In the upper part of its course the Alpheius is usually called the River of Karitena. Bdow the Ladon, at the distance of 20 stadia, the Alpheius receives the Ertmanthus (lEpi^/uovOos), rising in the mountain of the same name, and forming the boun- dary between Ells and the tenitories of Heraea in Arcadia. After entering Elis, it flows past Olym- pia, forming the boundary between Pisatis and Triphylia, and fiUls into the Cyparissian gulf in the Ionian sea. At the mouth of Uie river was a tomple and grot% of Artemis Alpheionia. From the pass of Lavdha to the sea, the Alpheius is wide and shal- low : in summer it is divided into several torrents, flowing between islands or sandbanks over a wide gravelly bed, while in winter it is full, rapid, and turbid. Its banks produce a great number of large plane-trees. (Leake, J/brea, vol. ii. p. 67, Pelo- potmesiacaf p. 8.) Alphdus appears as a celebrated river-god in mythology; and it was apparently the subterranean passage of the river in the upper part of its course which gave rise to the fable that the Alpheius flowed beneath the sea, and attempted to mingle its waters with the fountain of Arethusa in the island of Or- tygia in Syracuse. {Diet. ofBiogr. art. Alphfiiu.) Hence Ovid calls the nymph Arethusa, AlphHas. (Met. V. 487.) lrgil {Aen. x. 179) gives the epi- thet oiAlpheae to the Etruscan city of Pisae, because the latter was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius flowed. ALSA, a small river of Venetia (Plin. iii. 18. s. 22) still called the^ttsa, which flows into the lagunes of MaranOy a few miles W. of Aquileia. A battle was fought on its banks in a. d. 340, between the younger Constantino and the generals of his brother Constaiis, in which Constantine himself was slain, and his body thrown into the river Alsa. (Victor, Epit. 41. § 21; Hieron. Chron. ad aim. 2356.) I referring to the map under MAirmfEiA.
 * The preceding account will be made clearer by