Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/603

CENTOBRIGA. CENTURIPA. 585 proxmately correct The Alpine tribes of the Ca- muni and the Triumpilini, which bordered on them on the N., are expressly described by Pliny as of Euganean race, and were not therefore nationally connected with the Cenonianif though in his time at least united with them fur adminbtrative purposes. The topographical description of the country of the Cenomani, as it ezbted under the Roman Empire, is more conveniently given under he general head of [E. H. B.]

CENTOBRI'GA (or -brica), a city of the Celti- berians, in Hispania Tarraconensis, the siege of whichf in the Celtibeiian War^ gave an oocanon for a striJdng display of generosity on the part of Me- t^llus (Val. Max. v. 1. § 5). Floras (il 17) relates the same incident as occurring at Nbrtobuioa.. It is not clear whether the cities were identical [P. S.]

CENTRI'TES (KevrpiTTjj: Buhtdn Chat), a river dividing the mountains of the Carduchians £ram the slopes and pliuns of Armenia, crossed by the Ten Thousand in their retreat. It is described by Xe- nophon (Anab. iv. 3. § 1) as 200 feet in breadth, above their breasts in depth, and extremely rapid, with a bottom full of slippery stones. The Centrites has been identified with the Buhtan ChdSf an E. affluent of the Tigris, which falls into that river at the Armenian village of TV/, and constitutes at the present day a natural barrier between Kttrdistdn and Armenia. (Ainsworth, Trav. in the Traak of the Ten Thoutmd, p. 166; Koch, Zttg der Zehn Tau- eendf p. 78; Chesney, Exped, EuphraJU vol. i. p. 18.) [E.B.J.]

CENTRO'NES (K4vrpv>v9s, Strab. p. 204). The Centrooes were an Alpine people, who with the Graioceli and the Caturiges attempted to stop Caesar on his passage over the Alpcs Cottiae in b. c. 58 (^B. 6=. L 10) from Gallia Cisalpina into the territory of the AUobroges. Caesar gives no exact determina- tion of the position of the Centrones. Pliny (iii. 20) places the Centrones next to the Octodurenses, that is the people of Octodums or Martigny, The Oc- todurenses are the Veragri. Ptolemy (iii. 1) assigns to the Centrones two towns, Forum Claudii and Axima. Axima )&AUme in the Tareniain [Axima] ; and a little place called Ceniron in the same valley retains the name of the people. The Centrones oc- cupied the Alpes Graiae (Ptol. iii. 1) which Pliny (xi. 42) calls the Alpes Centronicae. In another passage (xxxlv. 2) he speaks of copper mines "^ in Centronum Alpino tractu." The pass through the Centrones is mentioned by Strabo (p. 205). Those who cross the Alps into Gallia from the country of the Salassi, pass up the great valley of the Salassi, the valley ofAosta, which has a bifurcation : one road passes over the Pennine Alps, and the other, which is more westerly, through the Centrones. Both roads lead to Lugdunum, Lyon (p. 208). The road through the Centrones is the pass of the PetU St. Bernard, These and other Alpine tribes belong neither to Gallia nor Italy. Strabo gives them a sepai^ate description. But Pto- lemy includes the Centrcmes with other Alpine peoples in Italy. [G. L.] CENTUMCELLAE (KtyrovfucdWat, Procop.: CivUa Vecchia)j a town on the sea-coast of Etruria, between Pyrgi and Graviscae, and distant 47 miles from Rome. It appears to have owed its origin entirely to the construction of its magnificent port by Trajan, and there is no trace of the previous existence of a town upon the spot The younger Fliny has left us on account of the construction of this port : and at a later period Rutilius gives a poetical but accurate description of it, which entirely coincides with its present appearance. It appears to have been almost wholly of artificial construction, and was formed by a breakwater or artificial island, with a mole running out towards each extremity of this, and leaving only a narrow entrance on each side of it : the basin within being of nearly circular form, so as. to constitute what Rntilius calls a marine amphitheatre. At each end of the breakwater was a tower, serving for a lighthouse as well as for defence. (Plm. Ep. vL 31 ; Rutil. lUn, L 237— 248.) It appears from Pliny that Tnjan had a villa here, the existence of which is again mentioned in the time of M. Aurelius (Lamprid. Commod, 1) : and by degrees a town grew up aix)und the port, the importance of which continually increased, as that constructed by Trajan at the mouth of the Tiber became so choked vdth sand as to be rendered useless. In the tune of Procopina Centumcellae was a largo and populous city, and a place of strength as a fortress (Procop. B, G. ii. 7) : on which account its possession was warmly contested between the Goths and Byzantine generals : it was captured by Belisarius, afterwards besieged and taken by Totila, but soon after recovered by Narses. (Id. lb. iii. 36, 37, 39, iv. 34.) It continued to flourish till the year 812, when it was utterly destroyed by the Saracens : the remaining inhabitants withdrew into the interior where they founded a new settlement, and the ancient city obtained on this occasion the name of Civita Vecchia, which it has retained ever since. It soon became again inhabited, and is now <me of the principal ports of the Roman States, with a population of about 8,000 inhabitants. The walls that surround the port are based throughout on those erected by Trajan: there exist, besides, the remains of an aqueduct, and nxmnerous fragments of other Roman buildings. (Dennis's Etruria, vol. ii. p. 1—4.) The Itineraries vaiy considerably in regard to the distance from Rome to Centumcellae, as well as the intermediate stations : the true distance by the line of the Via Aurelia was 47 miles : it was 5 miles from Castrum Novum, erroneously marked as viii. in the Itin. Ant (D*Anville, AjmL Geogr. de TItalie, p. 123 ; Dennis, I c. p. 6.) [E. H. B.] CENTURIONES, AD, a station in Gallia, men- tioned in the Antonine Itin. It appears to be the Ad Centenarium of the Table. It lies on a road from Narbo {Narborme), through Ruscino (^Ccutel or Tour de RoutiUon) and Illiberis (^Ebui) to Sum- mus Pyrenaeus {BeU^arde). Ad Centuriones is between Illiberris and Summus Pyrenaeus, and 5 M. P. from Summus Pyrenaeus. Its position, therefore, is fixed within certain limits, and it is the chapel of St. Martin sous le BouUm, according to Walckenaer, a place on the Illiberris {fech where there are said to be remains ; and this is exactly the point, where we must leave the banks of this river to ascend the valley which leads to Bellegarde. [G. L.] CENTU'RIPA or CENTUUIPI (ri K€KT«Jptiro, Thnc., IKod., Strab., &c ; Kevro^ptvai, Ptol. : Eth. KcPTopmyos, Centuripinus: Centorbi), a city in the interior of Sicily, situated on a lofty hiU, to the SW. of Mount Aetaa, from which it was sepa^ rated by the valley of the Symaethus (/Stm^to), and 24 miles KW. of Catana (Strab. vi. p. 272; Ptol. iii. 4. § 13 ; Itin. Ant p. 93.) ^ It is first men- ^ tioned by Thucydides, from whom we learn that it was a city of the Siculi, and appears to have been from a very early period 