Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/510

 492 CAMPANIA. and open only to the mild and tempemte breezes from the SW., were early sooght by the Komans, as a place of retirement and Inxury; and in addition to the numerons towns that had grown up around it, the houses, villas, and gardens, that filled the inter- vab between them were so nurowous, that, according to Strabo, they presented the aspect of one continuous city. (Strab. I. c.) Tacitus also calls it ** pulcher- rimus sinus," though in his time it had not yet re- covered from the frightful devastation caused by the great eruption of Vesuvius in A. d. 79. On the K. shore of this extensive bay, immediately within tho headland of Misenum, was another smaller bay, known as the Sinus BAiAHUs,or Gulf of Baaae; and here were situated two excellent harbours, — that of Misenum itself, close to the promontory of the same name; and, on the opposite side of the bay, that of Pnteoli, which, under the Roman empire, became one of the most frequented ports of Italy. Strabo speaks of the coast of Campania from Si- nnessa to Cape Misenum, as forming a gulf (p. 242) ; but this is incorrect, that portion of the coast {»%- senting but a slight curvature, though it may be considered (if viewed on a wider scale) as forming a part of the great bay that extends from the Circeian Promontory on the N., to Cape Misenum, or rather to the island of Aenaria (i<cAtia), on the S. On the southern side of the Surrentine Promontory opens out another extensive bay, wider than that of NapUa, but less deep: this was known in ancient times as the Gulf of Posidonia or Paestum (Sinus Posido- niates, or Paestanus, Strab. v. p. 25 1 ; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10); but only 'its nortliern shores, as far as the mouth of the Silarus, belonged to Campania. The climateof O&mpania was celebmted in antiquity for its soft and genial clianicter, an advantage which it doubtless owed to its exposure to the SW., and to the deep bays with which its coast was indented. It was, indeed, thought that the climate had an ener- vating influence, and it was to the effect of this, as well as the luxurious habits engendered by the rich- ness of the country, that ancient writers ascribed the nnwarlike character of the inhabitants and the fre- quent changes of population that had taken place there. Besides the beauty of its landscape and the mildness of its climate, the shores of Campania had a particular attraction for the Bomans in the nume- rous thermal waters with which they abounded, espe- cially in the neighbourhood of Baiae, PuteoU, and Keapolis. For these it was doubtless indebted to tlie remains of volcanic agency in these r^ons; and the same causes furnished the sulphur, which was found in such abundance in the Forum Vulcani (or Solfatard)f near Puteoli, as to become a considerable article of commerce. (LuciL Aetn. 433.) A pe- culiar kind of white clay (jcreta) used in the prepa- mtion of aUctiy was procured fcom the hills near the same pUce, which bore the name of Colles Leu- cogaei ; while the volcanic sand of other hills in the immediate neighbourhood of Puteoli formed a cement of extraordinary hardness, and which was known in consequence by the name of Puteolcmum. (Plin. xviii. 1 1. s. 29, xxxv. 6. s. 26.) All ancient writers are agreed that the Campanians were not the original inhabitants of the country to which they eventually gave their name. Indeed, Campania appears, as might have been expei-ted from its great fertility, to have been subject to re- peated changes of population, and to have been con- quered by successive swarms of foreign invaders. (Pol. iil. 91.) The earliest of these revolutions are CAMPANU. involved in great obscurity: but it seems, on the whole, pretty clear that the original population of this fertile country (the first at least of which we have any record) was an Oscan or Ausonian race. An- tiochus of Syracuse spdce of it as inhabited by the OpicanSy '* who were also called Ausoniaafli.* Poly- bius, on the contraxy,. attempted to estabttsh a dis- tinction between tiie two, and described the- shores of the Crater as occupied by Opicans cmd Aosonians: while othera carried the distinction still fiirther, and represented the Opicans, Ausonians, audi Oscans, as separate races wluch successively mads themselves masters of the country. (Stcab. v. p. 242 ) The fallacy of this statement i& obvious: Opieam* and Omxau are merely two forms ef the same name, and there is every reason to believe that the Ausonians were a branch of the same race, i£ not absolutely identical with them. [Ausonbs.] It appears cer- tain that the first Greek settlers in these regions found them occupied by the people whom they called Opicans, whence this part of Italy was tenned by them Opida ('Oiriicia); and thus Thucydides dis- tinguishes Cumae as Kvfiri ^ ^j' 'Oiruc'uf (vi. 4). At the same time we find numerous indications (^ Tyrrhenian (L e. Pelasgic) settlements, especially on the const, which appear to belong to a very early period, and cannot be referred to the later Etruscan domination. (Niebnhr, vol. L p. 45 ; Abeken, MiUel Italie», p. 102.) Whether these were prior to the establishment of the Oscans, or were spread along the ceabts, while that people oecujaed principally the interioi^ is a point on which it is impossible for us to pronoimce an opinion. The earliest fact that can be pronoanced hiatorical in r^;ard to Campania, is the settlement of the Greek col(my of Cumae; and though we certainly cannot re- ceive as authentic the date assigned to this by late chronologers (b. c. 1050), there seems good reason to believe that it was really, as asserted by Strabo, the most ancient of all the Greek settlements in Italy. [CuMAS.] The Cumaeass soon extended their power, by founding the colonic of Dicaearchia, Pa- laepolis, and Ncapolis; and, according to some ac- counts, it would seem that they had even fonned settlements in the interior at Nola and Abella. (Jus- tin. XX. 1.) But iA is- probable that their progress was checked by the establishment of a new and mors formidable power in their immediate neighbourhood. The conquest of Campania by the Etruscans is a fact which we cannot refuse to receive as historical, imperfect as is the information we hav& ccnceming it Polybius tells us that at the same time that tha Etruscans held possession of the plams of Northern Italy, subsequently occupied by the Gauls, they pos* sessed also those of Campania about Capua and Nok; and Strabo says that they founded in this part of Italy twelve cities, the diief of which was Capua- (Pol. ii. 17 ; Strab. v. p. 242.) The Tuscan origin of Capua and NoJa is confii-med by the testimony of Cato; and Livy teUs us that the original name of the former city was Vultumum, an obviously Etrus- can form. (Liv. iv. 37 ; Mela, ii. 4 ; Cato, ajp. VelL Pat. i. 7.) The period at which this Etruscan do* minion was established is, however, a very doubtful question. If we adopt the date assigned by Cato for the foimdation of Capua (Veil. Pat. i. 7), which he places as late as b. c. 471, we cannot suppose that the period of Etruscan rule Issted much abova fifty years, — a space apparent^ much too short : on the other hand, those who placed the origin of Capua more than three centuries earlier (Veil. Pat L c,