Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/644

 626 XXBCEIUS. (Liv. ii. 39 ; Dionys, viii. 14) : it probably really fell into the hands of the Volaciaiu about this period, bat was reconquered by the Bomana, who sent a fresh colony there three yean before the Gaolish War. (Diod. ziv. 102.) Not long affcer that event, however, the Girodans, as well as tilie dtizens of Velitne, also a Roman odony, revolted, and joined thear anns with those of the Volsdana. (Liv. vi 12, 13, 21 .) They mnst at this time have succeeded in establishing ^eir independence, as at the out- break of the great Latin Waf in b. c 340, Ciroeii appears as one of the cities of the Latin League, and L. ^umicins, a Circeian citizen, was one of the two praetors at the head of the whole nation. (Liv. viiL 3; Niebuhr, vol. iii. p. 92.) The &te of Ciroeii after the war is not mentioned, but it seems certain that it must have been recolorazed, because we find it appear again in the Second Punic War among the thirty Latin colonies ; it was one of the twelve which professed their inability to famish their quota of sup- plies to the anny. (Liv.zzviL9, xxijE.15.) It is again mentioned in b. g. 198, on oocasian of the attempt of the Carthaginian hostages to excite a levolt of the slaves in this part of ludy (Id. xxxiL 26), but this is the last time its name is noticed in histoiy. It appears to have declined, and sunk gradually into an insignificant pUu» : Strabo terms it a small town (volxviOP)j and the disadvantages of its position, cut off to a great extent from all oommunicatioa with the interior, must have prevented it fiKim rising to any consideration. It appears, however, to have been in some degree resorted to as an agreeable place of retirement by wealthy Romans nnder the kter Republic and the Empire, and we leam that the emperors Tiberius and Domitian had villas there. (Cic ad AtL xv. 10 ; Suet Tib, 72 ; Mart. xi. 7. 4; Stat. SUv, i. 3. 85.) It possessed a peculiar source of attraction in the abundance and exoellenoe of its oysters, which were among the moet celebrated of any known to the Romans. (Hor. Sat. ii. 4. 33 ; Juv. iv. 140 ; PUn. xxxii. 6. s. 21.) Its insuhtted position also caused it to be oocasiooally selected as a place of exile, — and the triumvir Lepidus was banished hither by Octavian after his deposition. (Suet Aug. 16.) The town of Circeii is mentioned for the last time in the Tabula, which places it 19 M. P. from Astura along the coast, and 15 from Tarracina. (Tab. Peut.) The fbnner distance fidls short of the truth, while the latter considerably exceeds the direct distance. Considerable ruins of the ancient dty of Ciroeii are still extant on a hill called the Monte della Cittaddlaf on the N. side of the mountain, and about two niiles from the sea. llie remains of the ancient walls and gateway are Qonstructed of polygcoial blocks, in a very massive style of architecture, closely resembling that of Signia, which is sud to have been fortified and erected into a colony at the same period. Some remains of a later Roman style are also visible on the hill now occupied by the village of S. Felice^ nearer the sea on the S. side, but the port of Circeii is considered to have been on the W., where there is still a place of anchorege called Porto di Paola. (Holsten. NoL m Clwo. p. 208; Abeken, MiUeL ItaUen, pp. 141,148, 160 ; Brocchi, Viaggio al Capo Circeo, p. 269, in the BibL ItaL vol. vii.) f E.H.B.] CIRCEIUS, or CIRCAEUS MONS, or CIR- CAEUM PBOMONTORIUM (rh Kiptcaioy 6pos, Strab.; Ki^cuov tacpov^ Ptol.: Monte Circeo or Ctr- cello)j a remarkable mountain promontoiy of Latium on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is fanned by CIBCflUS. a boAd and abrupt mountain mass, whieb i^es fnA» pitously from the sea, and is wholly isolated on the land side, being separated from the Vdsdan mooa- tains by the bnoad level tract of the Pontine marshes? while en the NW. a Icmg strip of unbn^en aaadj shore extends £com thence for 80 miles to the pr»- mootofy of Antium (iVrfo d'Anto). Hence when viewed from any distance it appears altogether de- tached finom the mainland, and has the appeannoa of a lofty island, rather than a promontoiy. (Stiahu V. p. 232; Dionys. iv. 63; Prooop. B, G. L 11.) It was hence supposed by many ancient writers tba& it had originally been an iaUnd. But though the alluvial deposits by which alone it is connected with the continent are in a geoli^cal sense of veiy recent formation, it is certain that these cannot have been formed within the period of historical memony. Pliny has strangely miaoonceived a passage of Theo- phrastus to which he refers as asserting thai the Circeian pnxmontory was still an island in the days of that author: it is quite clear that Thcopbrastos describes it as a prumontoty, and only refens to the local tradition for the fact of its having once been an ishnd. (Theophr. ff. Piamt, v. 8. § 3; Plin. iii. S. s. 9.) We have no explanation cf the circnmataoeeB that led the Greeks in veiy early times to identify this remarkable insukted promontory with the island of Circe, mentioned in the Odyssey. The htLer ia called by Homer Aeaea (Aloiq), and he describes it as a low island in the midst of a boundless sea, N^or, tV *^pt TinfTos iattipiTos ^otc^c&xomvi. AMi M x^ofiaXJ^ Kwrat, Od. xL 135. The fable of Circe appears indeed to have been nected with the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea as eariy as the time of Hesiod, who describes Ciroe as the mother of Agnus and Latmut^ "■ who ruled over the illustrious Tyrrhenians in the fiur recesses of the sacred islands" {Theog. 1011^1015). But tiiia does not explain why a mountain should have beeik selected, which was not an island at all, in preference to any of the numerous small islands in the same sea. Other accounts connected the name of Ciroe with the voyage of the Argonauts, but ApoUoniua, who adopts this version, does not describe the abode of Ciroe as an ishmd: but expressly tenns it **«( promontoiy of the Tyrrhenian mainland" (AmV nvtipov TvpoiiyiZos, iiL 312) eridenUy referring te the Circeian Promontory. Viigil, as mjght be ex- pected, has also followed the received traidition, and phu»s the abode of Ciroe between Cnmae and the moutli of the Tiber. {Am. viL 10—24.) It ia possible that the legend of Ciroe was really of Italian origin, or that some local divinity (resembling the Angitia of the Mansi) was worshipped here, who was identified by the Cumaean Greeks with the Circe of th^ own mythology. The mountain was said to abound in herbs of a poisonous character (Pseud. Arist ds if«ra6.78 ; Theophr. ir. P. V. 8. § 3 ; Strab. I. c); but this statement, as Strsbo jusUy suggests, may very probably have been invented to coofirm its claim to be the dwelling of the enchantress. Ciroe was certainly worship^ there in later times (Cic de N. D. iii. 19), but this of course proves noifaiug^ any more than Uie alleged tomb of Elpenor, one of the companions of Ulyssee, or the cup of the heio himself, which was still shown by the inhabitants in the days of Strabo. (Strab. t c. ; Theophr. JL e. ; ScyUx. § 8J f "^ Tbeophrastus (JL c.) describes the Circaeaa iDoa]i>>