Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/370

 352 AXUCES. terbo. The ancient town appears to have occupied the angle formed by two small streams named the Rio Secco and Arciane^ flowing through deep yallies or ravines with preci|ntoaa escarpments on each side. Some slight fragments of the ancient walls are all that remain on the site of the town ; but the opposite or N. baiik of the valley of the Arcione was evi- dently in ancient times the Necropolis of the town, and presents a remarkable assemblage of sepulchres. These are not merely subterranean chambers cut out of the rock, but present r^ular architectural fa9ades, with bold cornices and mouldings in relief, all hewn out of the soft tnfo rock of whidh the escarpments of the cliffs are composed. They vary in height from 12 to 30 feet, but have all a remarkable resemblance in their architectural character, and occupy a con- siderable extent of cliff in a regular range like a street, extending also some distance up a lateral ravine which opens into the principal valley. Many of these tombs have inscriptions over them in Etrus- can characters, most of which consist of, or at least contain, the customary formula ECA2T6INE2A. Since the first discovery of these monxmients in 1808 by Professor Orioli of Bologna, they have attracted much attention, more perhaps than they really de- serve. Their aix^tecture is thought to have a strong resemblance to the Egyptian, but it is still more closely connected with the Doric Greek, of which in- deed the whole Tuscan architecture was merely a modification. Nor is there any reason to assign them a very remote antiquity ; OtioH is probably correct in referring them to the fourth or fifth century of Rome. They certainly however seem to prove that Axia must have been a place of more consideration in the flourishing times of Etruria, than it was in the days of Cicero; though it could never have been more than a small town, and was probably always a de- pendency of Tarquinii, as its name never occurs in history. The remains at Castel dAuo have been ilcscribed in detail by Orioli (^Dei Sepolcrali Edifid delV Etrwia Mediae 1826, inserted in Inghirami, Mofk Etrtuchif voL iv.; and a second time in the AnaaH deW ItutUuto di Corr. ArcheoL 1833, p. 18 — 56), and again by Dennis {Cities, ^. of Etruria, vol I p. 229—242.) [E. H. B.] AXI'ACES ('A^idieiis : Teligul), a river of Sar- matia Europaea, £. of the Tyras (^Dniester), flowing, according to Ptolemy, right through Sarmatia, a little above Dacia, as &r as the Carpathi Id, On its banks were the peq)le called Axiacae. (Mela, iL 1. I 7; PUn. iv. 12. s. 26; Ptol. iii. 5. § 18, 10. § 14; comp. Pasiaces.) [P. S.] AXIMA (^Aisme), a town of the Centrones, ac- cording to Ptolemy, who are an Alpine people. In the T&le it is placed, but under the name Axuna, between Bergintrum (St. Maurice) and Darantasia {AfouHo'S en Tarentaite), on the road over the pass of the Alpis Graia or Petit St Bernard. The po- sition is thus determined to be that of Aisme. The Antonine Itin. omits Axima, but makes the distance xnii. between Bergintrum and Darantasia, the same distance that is given in the Table. It is said that inbcriptiuns have been found at Aitme with the name Forum Claudii; yet Forum Glaudii is a different place, though in the country of the Centrones. [G. L.] AXrNIUM. [UxAMA.] AXIO'POLIS or AXIUPOLIS ('A^w^oAw: Rataovd), a town of Lower Moesia, situated on the river Axius, which flowed into the Danube near its southernmost mouth, which is now stopped up, and the Limes Tnyani. (PtoL iiL 10. § 11.) [L. S.] AXUS. A'XniS CA|iof, 'A^uJs), the principal river of Macedonia, and the eastern boundaiy of the king- dom before the rdgn of Philip, rises in Mt. Scar- dus between Dardania and Dalmatia, a Httle NW. of Scupl. It flows in a south-easterly direction through Macedonia, and, after receiving the Erigon and Astycus and passing by Pella, fiaJls into the Thermaic gulf. The Lydias also now flows into the Axiua, but in the time of Herodotus (vii. 127) the former river joined the Haliacmon. The Axius has frequently changed its course. In earlier times it flowed into the sea between Chalastra and Thess»- lonica. (Strab. vii. p. 330.) In the middle ages it was called Bardarinm (Baf>8fli^ioy, Anna Comn. i. p. 18, Pans.), whence its modem name of VardhdrL The principal bridge across the Axiua was near Pella (Liv. xliv. 43); this bridge is probably iden- tical with the MuTATio Gephyra in the Itin, Eierotol. (p.605,Wess.). The Axius is a deep and rapid river in winter, and is nearly two miles in bieadth before reaching the sea; but it can b» crossed by several fords both in the lower and upper parts of its course. (Clark, TraveU, vol. iii. p. 334; Leake, Northern Greece^ vol. iii. pp. 258, 289, 437, 469; Tafel, ThessaUmiea, pp. 69, seq. 287, seq.) AXON, a river of Caria, mentioned by Pliny (v. 28)| with Calynda: " flnmen Axon, oppdum Ca- lynda." We may, perhaps, infer that Calynda was on or near the Axon. Leake places the Axon im- mediately west of the gulf of Glaucus. [G. L.] A'XONA (Aisne), a branch of the Isani (Oice). The Oite joins the iSeine below Paris. Caesar en- camped on the Axona in the second year (b. c. 57) of hiB Gallic campaign (B. G. ii. 5). Dion Caasius (xxxix. 2) writes the name M^owvos. Ausonius {MoteL V. 461) names it " Axona praeceps," an epthet which is not appropriate. The Axona, according to Caesar, was in " extremis Bemorum finibus," and the direction of his move- ments shows that this river was at or near their northern boundary. [G. L.] AXUENNA. A place of this name appears in the Antonine Itin. <hi the road from Dnrocorturum (Reimi) through Verdun, to Divodurum {Metz). It may have been a place on the Axona (Aitne), but the site cannot be fixed. Another Axnenua is mentioned in the Table, and it seems to be the same place that occurs in the An- tonine Itin. under the corrupt name Muenna. It is on the road from Reims to Bagacum (Bavay) ; and the distance from Reims is marked x. in both these routes. This determination is supposed to fix the site of this Axuenna at the passage of the Aitne, between Neufckdicl and Avaux, (D'Anville, No^ tice, &c.) [G. L.] AXUME. [AuxuME.] AXUS CA{<iy: Axus), a city of Crete (Herod, iv. 154), which is identified with'Oo^os (Steph. B. s, v.), situated on a river (" rapidum Cretae ve- nierous Oaxen," Virg. Eel 166), which, according to Vibitts Sequester (Flum, p. 15), gave its name to Axus. According to the Cyrenaean traditions, the Theraean Battus, their founder, was the son of a damsel named Phnmime, the daughter of Etear- chus, king of thb city (Herod. I. c). Mr. Pashley {TrateU, vol. i. p. 143, foil.) discovered the ancient city in the modem village of Axu», near Mt. Ida. The river of Axut flows past the village. Remains belonging to the so-called Cyclopean or Pelasgic walls were found, and in the church a piece of white marble with a sepulchral inscription in the ancient