Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/247

 marked lby the rock-hewn monument called Takht-i-Souleiman (i. e. Solomon's Throne), near Och, in a lateral valley of the upper Jaxartes (Sihoun), — which is still an important commercial station, from its position at the N. foot of the pass of Terek over the great Moussour range, Ptolemy's N. branch of the Imaüs. The Ascatancas might then answer to the Alatau M. or the Khouhakhai M.; and the more northerly Anaret M. of Ptolemy might be the Khaltai or Tachingis; both NW. branches of the Moussour range: but it is, of course, impossible to make the identification with any certainty. Ammianus Marcellinus (xxiii. 6) appears to refer to the same mountains by the name of Ascanimia. (Ritter, Erdkundt, vol. i. p. 513; Heeren, Ideen, i. 2. p. 487; Forbiger, vol. ii. p. 469.)

 ASCIBU'RGIUM, or ASCIBURGIA, a town near the left bank of the lower Rhine, the foundation of which was attributed to Ulysses, according to an absurd story reported by Tacitus (German. 3). It was a Roman station in A.D. 70. (Tac. Hist. iv. 33.) In the Peutinger Table it is placed between Novesium or Neuss, opposite to Düsseldorf on the Rhine, and Vetera, probably Xanten. Asciburgium then will correspond to Asburg, which is on the high road between Neuss and Xanten. The Anton. Itin. places Gelduba and Calo between Novesium and Vetera and omits Asciburgium.

 ASCORDUS [.]

 ASCRA (: Eth, ), a town of Boeotia on Mount Helicon, and in the territory of Thespiae, from which it was 40 stadia distant (Strab. ix. p. 409.) It is celebrated as the residence of Hesiod, whose father settled here after leaving Cyme in Aeolis. Hesiod complains of it as a disagreeable residence both in summer and winter. (Hes. Op. 638, seq.); and Eudoxus found still more fault with it. (Strab. ix. p. 413.) But other writers speak of it as abounding in corn (, Paus. ix. 38. § 4), and in wine. (Zenod. ap. Strab. p. 413.) According to the poet Hegesinus, who is quoted by Pausanias, Aacra was founded by Ephialtes and Otus, the sons of Aloeus. In the time of Pausanias a single tower was all that remained of the town. (Paus. ix. 29. §§ 1, 2.) The remains of Ascra are found "on the summit of a high conical hill, or rather rock, which is connected to the NW. with Mount Zagará, and more to the westward with the proper Helicon. The distance of these ruins from Lefka corresponds exactly to the 40 stades which Strabo places between Thespiae and Ascra; and it is further remarkable, that a single tower is the only portion of the ruins conspicuously preserved, just as Pausanias describes Ascra in his time, though there are also some vestiges of the walls surrounding the summit of the hill, and inclosing a space of no great extent The place is now called Pyrgáki from the tower, which is formed of equal and regular layers of masonry, and is uncommonly large." (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 491.) The Roman poets frequently use the adjective Ascraeus in the sense of Hesiodic. Hence we find "Ascraeum carmen" (Virg. Georg. ii. 176), and similar phrases.

 ASCRI'VIUM, a town of Dalmatia in Illyricum of uncertain site. (Ptol. ii. 17. § 5; Plin. iii. 22.)

 A'SCUA, a city of the Carpetani, in Hispania Tarraconensis. (Liv. xxiii. 27: Gronovius proposes to read Asena; Epist. iii. in Drakenborch's Livy,vol. vii. p. 129.) The coins with the epigraph. are supposed to belong to this place. (Sestini, p. 27; Ukert, i. 2. p. 370.)

 A'SCULUM 1. (, Pint. Dionys.: Eth. Appian., Asculanus: Ascoli), a city of Apulia, situated in the interior of the province, about 10 miles S. of Herdonia, and 27 SW. of Canusium. It was celebrated for the great battle between Pyrrhus and the Romans, which was fought in its immediate neighbourhood, B.C. 269. (Flor. i. 18. § 9; Plut. Pyrrh. 21; Zonar. viii. 5; Dionys. xx. Fr. nov. ed. Didot.) No mention of it is found in history previous to this occasion, but it must have been a place of consequence, as we learn from its having struck coins as an independent city. From these it appears that the proper form of the name was or  (written in Oscan ), whence we find  and "Osculana pugna" cited by Festus from Titinius. (Friedländer, Oskische Mümzen, p. 55; Festus, p. 197, v. Osculana pugna.) It is again mentioned during the Social War in conjunction with Larinum and Venusia (Appian. B. C. i. 52), and we learn from the Liber Coloniarum (p. 260) that its territory was portioned out to colonists, first by C. Gracchus, and again by Julius Caesar. An inscription preserved by Lupoli (Iter Venusin. p. 174) proves that it enjoyed the rank of a colony under Antoninus Pius, and other inscriptions attest its continued existence as a considerable provincial town as late as the time of Valentinian. It is therefore not a little singular that no mention of it is found either in Strabo, Pliny, or Ptolemy. We might, indeed, suspect that the of Pliny (iii. 11. s. 16) were the people of Asculum, but that he seems (so far as his very confused list enables us to judge) to place them among the Hirpini. The modern city of Ascoli retains nearly the ancient site, on the summit of a gentle hill, forming one of the last declivities of the Apennines towards the plain of Apulia. Considerable remains of the ancient city are still visible among the vineyards without the modern walls; and many inscriptions, fragments of statues, columns, &c. have been found there. The battle with Pyrrhus was fought in the plain beneath, but in the immediate vicinity of the hills, to which part of the Roman forces withdrew for protection against the cavalry and elephants of the king. (See the newly-discovered fragment of Dionysius, published by C. Müller at the end of Didot's edition of Josephus, Paris, 1847.) The name of Asculum is not found in the Itineraries, but we learn from an ancient milestone discovered on the spot that it was situated on a branch of the Appian Way, which led direct from Beneventum to Canusium. (Romanelli, vol. ii. pp. 248 — 251; Lupuli, Iter Venusin. pp. 157—175; Pratilli, Via Appia, p. 509.)

2. ( Ptol.;, Strab.), a city of Picenum, situated on the river Truentus or Tronto, about 20 miles from its mouth, and still called Ascoli. It was frequently termed Asculum Picenum, to distinguish it from the city of the same name in Apulia. (Caes. B. C. i. 15.) Strabo speaks of it as a place of great strength, from its inaccessible position, and the ragged and difficult character of the surrounding country (v. p. 241); and we learn from Floras that it was, prior to the Roman conquest, the capital city of the Piceni. Hence its capture by the consul P. Sempronius Sophus in B.C. 268 appears to have led to the submission of the whole nation. (Flor. i. 19.) It bore an important