Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/265

 ASTRAEUM. IISS.). 1. AsnoiTAVA CoLONiA ArousTA Fir- aiA (£cya)f was, under the Romans, one of the chief cities of Uispania Baetica, and the scat of a eomeemiwB Jmridiau, It stood in the plun of the Baetisy some distance S. of the river, on its tributary the Sopalis (Geatl), which began here to.be navi- gable. It was at the junction of the roads from Conhiba {Cordova) and Emerita {Merida) to His- pafis (Senile)^ at the respective distances of 36 M. P., 105 H. P., and 58 M. P. (/ttfi. Ani. pp. 413, 414; Ikk, iL 6. § 4; Plin. iii. 1. s. S; Florez, E$p.S. x. 2. AvriGi VETrs (^Alameda)^ a free city of His- paaia Baetica, N. of Antiqoaria (^Antequera)f be- kiDpxi^ to the Conrentus Astigitanas [see No. 1]. (Plin. iii. 1. s. 3; Florez, Etp. S. x. p. 74.) 3. JcxiENSES. [Artigi.] [P. S.] ASTRAEUM (Uv. xl. 24; *A(irpaiu, Steph. B. jir.; Atvrpcuor, Ptol. iii. 13. § 27), a town of Paeooia in Macedonia, which Leake identifies with Strimiba, Adian (^ff. An. xv. 1) speaks of a river Astiaeos, flowing between Thessalonica and Berrhoea, which Leake supposes to be the same as the Vis- tritza. Tafel, however, conjectures that Ajitraens in AeCan is a fidse reading for Axius. (Leake, yorikern (7fieece, vol. iii. pp. 293, 466, seq.; Tafel, ThemJonicOj p. 312, seq.) ASTRUM {"Aarpop : Attr^. I . A townin Cjnuiia en the coast, and the first town in Argolis towards the frmtierB of Laconia. It is mentioned by Pto- kflij akjce (ni. 16. § 11), but is conjectured by Lnke to hare been the maritime fortress in the bulding of which the Aeginetae were interrupted by the Athenians in the eighth year of the Pdoponne- man war. (Thuc iv. 57.) The place was situated en a pnxnontory, whidi retains its ancient name. Here there are still c(H)siderab]e renuuns of an andent walL (Leake, Morta, vd. ii. p. 484, seq.; Roes, Fdopomnesy p. 162.) A'STURA(^A0-rv^). 1. A small idet on the coast c<f Latium, )etw e en Antitmi and Girceii, at the mouth of a river of the same name, which rises at the •ootheni foot of the Alban hills, and has a course of about 20 miles to the sea. It is called Storas {Xr^- fas,) by Strabo, who teUs us that it had a place of aacfaonge at its mouth (v. p. 232). It was on the banks of this obscure stream that was fought, in B. c 338, the last great battle between the Romans ami the Latins, in which the consul G. Maenins to- taOj dff^^ the combined forces of Antixma, Lanu- riam, Arida and VeUtrae. (Liv. viii. 13.) At a mocfa later period the little island at its mouth, and the wfade adjacent coast, became occupied with Ro- man villaa ; among which the moet celebrated is that ef Ciccio, to which he repeatedly dludes in his lettrrs, and which he describes as *' locus amoenus ct in man ipso,** commanding a view both of Antium nd Cineti {ad AU. xii 19, 40, ad Fam. vi. 19). It was from thence that, on learniiig his proscription by tbe triumvirs, he embarked, with the intention of oeapin^ to join Brutus in Macedonia; a resolution which be afterwards unfortunately abandoned. (Plut. Cac A7,y ' We learn finom Suetomus also that Astura was the occasional resort both of Augustus and Ti- Ve.nu (Suet. A^g. 97, Tib, 72), and existing remains had vflba there. (See Nibby, Diniomi di Roma, voL L pp. 267 — ^277.) But it does not appear that there ever was a toum of the name, as asserted by SnTius(a(/ Jess. vii. 801). The island was at some time or other joined to the mainhmd by a bridge or ASTURES. 249 causeway, and it thus became, as it now renuuns, a peninsula projecting into the sea. It is surmounted by a fortified tower, called the Torre di Astura, a picturesque object, conspicuous both from Antium and the Girceian headland, and the only one which breaks the monotony of the low and sandy coast be- tween them. The Tab. PeuL reckons Astura 7 miles from Antitmi, which is rather less than the true distance. There is no doubt that the Storas of Strabo is the same with the Astura, which Festus also tells us was often called Stura (p. 317, ed. Mtill.); bnt there is no ground for supposing the " Saturae pains'* of Virgil Aen.yu. 801) to refer to the same lo- cality. tE.H.B.] 2. (Ezla or E»tola a river of Hispania Tarra- conensis, in the NW., which, rising in the mountains of the Gantabri, the prolongaticm of the Pyrenees, flows S. through the country of the Asturbs; and, after receiving several other rivers that drain the great plain of Leon, it falls into the Durios {Douro) on its N. side. (Flams, iv. 12; Oroe. vi. 21; Isi- dor. Eiym. ix. 2.) [P. S.] A'STURES (sing. Astur, in poets; ''AnrvptSf Strob. iiL pp. 153, 155, 167 ; Dion Gass. liii. 25; Plin. iii. 3. s. 4 ; Flor. iv. 12 ; Gruter, Inscript. p. 193, No. 3, p. 426, No. 5, &c: Adj. Abtnr and Asturicus; Astiuica gens, Sfl. Ital. xri. 584; 'Air- roipioi, Strab. p. 162; 'korovpol, PtoLii. 6. §28; i. e. Highlanders, see Asta), a people in the NW. of Hispania Tarraconensis, extending from the N. coast to the river Durius {Douro), between the Gallaeci on the W. and the Gantabri and Gdtiberi on the £., in the mountains N. and W. of the great plain of Leon and partly in the plain itself. They were dirided into two parts by the Gantabrian mountains (M. Vinnius); those between the mountains and the coast (in the Asturias) being called Transmon- TANi, and those S. of the mountains (in Leon and VaUadolid) Augustani, names, which clearly indicate the difference between the Roman subjects of the plain and the unsubdued tribes of the moun- tains and the coast. They comprised a population of 240,000 free persons, divided into 22 tribes (Plin. /. c), of which Ptolemy mentions the following names : Landati (Landoises, Plin.), Brigaecini (Trigaedni, Flor.), Bedunenses, Omiad, Lungones, Soelini, Superatii, Amad, Tibures, Egurri or Gi- gurri (Gigurri, Plin.), and the Paend, on the pe- ninsula of C. de Penas (Plin. iv. 20. s. 34), to which Pliny adds the Zoelae, near the coast, cele- brated for thdr flax. (Plin. iii. 4, xix. 2.) The country of the Astures ( Asturia, Plin. : 'A<r- rovpla, Ptol.), was fur the moet part mountainous and abounded in mines More gold was found in Asturia than in any other part of Spain, and the supply was regarded as more lasting than in any other part of the world. (Plin. xxxiii. 4. s. 21.) To this the poets make frequent allusions: e.g. Sil. Ital. L 231 : Astur avarusy Gomp. vii. 755. CalUUcis qwdqmdfodU Astur m arvis, Mart. X. 16. Merserit Asturii scrutator paUidus auri, Lucan. iv. 298. (according to Gudendorp's emendation: comp. Stat. SUv, iv. 7. 13, Pallidus fossor concolor auro, and Glaudian. Cons. Prob. et Olybr. 50.) Asturia was also famous for its breed of horBes,
 * rOT« that many of the Roman nobility must have