Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/687

 COBBIO en. the Lotrs. It was & floariahinf^ place in the time of Pytheas. (Strab. p. 190.) No extant writer except Strabo mentions the place. De Valois and lyAnville woold fix it at Coeron, about two leagnes below NcuUeif and on the same side of the river. Walekenaer snpposee that it may be Cor$^, because Oorsep is nearer the month of the Loite ; but Strabo simply says that Corfailo was on the river. [G.L.] CO'RBiO (K9p€i^: Roooa Pnore% an ancient city of Latimn, situated on the KE. side of the Alban Hills, which plays a considerable part in the wan between the Romans and the Aeqnians in the early ages of the Republic. It appears probable that it was at one period one of the cities of the Latin League, as the name of the Ko^lrrt f, which is found in the best MSS. of Dionysins in the catalogue of the thirty cities, must certainly mean the citizens of Corbio. (Dionys. v. 61; Niebuhr, vol. ii. p 17., note 81.) Yet Dionysius represents it as a fortress in t^ hands of the Romans, and wrested from them by the Latins at the outbreak of the war (yi. 3). There can at least be no doubt that it was originally a Latin city, but fell into the power of the Aeqnians, as they gradually extended their conquests over the neighboaiing towns of Latium; and in accordance with this view we find it included among the oon- quests attributed to Coriolanns. (Liv. il. 89 ; Dionys. viiL 19.) At a somewhat later period it appears as an Aequian city, which, according to the received history, fell into the hands of tiie dictator Ginoin- natns in consequence of his great victny on Mount Algidtts, B. c 458. It was again taken by the Ae- qnians tlie fidlowing year, but recovered by the Roman consul Horatius Pulvillns, who is said to have utterly destroyed it (liv. iiL 28, 30; Dionys. x. S4, 26, 30.) The name, indeed, appears again some years later b. c. 446, when a fresh victory was obtained over the Voibcians and Aequians by Qnintius Capitolinns not prove that the city itself was re-established; and from thu time it altogether disappears; nor is the name found in any of the geographers. All the ac- counts of the mUitaiy operations in which Corbio appears point to it as being in close proximity to Mount Algidus, and a place (^ great natural strength. Hence tlMre is little doubt that Holstenius was correct in fixing it on the site of Roooa Priore, a mediaeval fortress, occupjring the summit of a lofty hill, about 3 miles firom Tuscultmi, and one of the range which sweeps round from tlience to join the heights of Mt. Algidus, and constitutes the NE. side of the great encircling barrier of the Alban Moun- tains. Some slight remains of antiquity are still visible at Rocca Priore, and the position was one well adapted for an ancient fortress, and must always have been of importance in connection with military operations on Mt Algidus. The site appears to have been occupied in imperial times by a Roman villa. (Holsten. Not ad Cluv, p. 162; Nibby, i)ifitorfM di Rama, vol. iiL pp. 21—24; Abeken, Mittel-ltatteH, p. 68.) [E. H.B.] CORBULamS MUNIMENTUM, a fort built by Corbulo in the country of the Frisians, which pirobably was the foundation of the modem town of Orommgem, In the year 1818 a bridge was dis- covered in the neighbourhood, leading through a marsh, about 3 miles kmg, and 12 foot broad: this bridge was probably connected with the fort of Gor- bal& (Tac^mi. xi. 19; comp. Wilhelm, German. ^ 154.) [L. S.] COfiCTltA (K^Kvpo, Herod., Thnc; Kdpuvpa, CORCYRA. 669 Strab. and later writers, and always on coins: Eth, Kdptcvp, -vpoj, Alcman. ap. Etym. M.; usually Kc^ Kupcuof, KopKvpaSoSf Corc^rraeus: Corfu), an island in the Ionian sea, opposite the coast of Ghaonia in Epeurus. The channel, by which it is separated from the mainland, is narrowest at its northern entrance, being only about 2 miles in width; it then expands into an open gulf between the two coasts, being in some places 14 miles across; but & of the promon- tory Leudmme it agun contracts into a bivadth of 4 or 5 mUes. The length of the island from N. to S. is about 88 miles. Its breadth b very irregular; in the northern part of the island it is 80 dUIbs; it then becomes only 6 miles; widens again near the city of Gorcyra to about 1 1 miles; south of which it contracts again to about 8 or 4 miles, terminating in a high narrow cape. The isknd coDtaJns 287 square miles. Four promontories are mentioned by the aneient writers: — 1. Gassiofb {Kannri^, PtoL iii. 14. §11; a 5<.CVi(AeT*Me), the NE. point of the island. 2. Phalacrum (fakoKpSr, Strab. vii. p. 324; Ptd. I c; Plin. iv. 12. s. 19; C. ZhatU), the NW. point 3. LJEUcoofB or LjBVCiiarA (Acvir(/iffl|, Thnc L 30, 47; Ae^n/ufio, Stiab. viL pi 324; PtoL, Plin. U, c&: C, Ltfkimo)f a low sandy point on the £. coast, about 6 or 7 miles ftom. the southern extremity of the bland. 4. Amphifaqus CAft^^wiryof, PtoL le. : C. Biancoy, the southern extremity of the island. Gorcyra b generally mountainous. The loftiest mountains are in the northern part of the bUnd, extending across the island from £. to W.: the highest summit, which b now called PandoiHitora by the Greeks, and Sa» Sahfatore by the Italians, is between 3000 and 4000 feet above the sea, and is covered with luxuriant groves of olive, cypress, and ilex. From these mountains there runs a lower ridge from N. to S., extending as far as the southern extremity of the bland. The position of Mt Istokk ('loTflin}), where the nobles entrenched themselves during the dvil dissensions of Gorcyra, b uncertain. (Thuc. iiL 85, iv. 46; Polyaen. Alrat vL 80; Steph. B. «. o.) It was evidently at no great distance fitxn the dty; but it could hardly have been the summit of San Sahatore as some writers suppose, since the nobles, after their fortress on Mt Istone had been cap- tured, took refuge on higher ground. (Thuc. iv. 46.) Istone has been identified by Gramer and others with the hill mentioned by Xenophon (Rett. vi. 2. § 7) as distant only 5 stadb from the dty; but this b purely conjectural. The only other ancient name of any of the mountains of Gorcyra, which has been preserved, b MKUTEnTM (McAirclbr, ApoIL Rhod. iv. 1150, with SchoL); but as to its podtion we have no due whatsoever. Gorcyra was celebrated for its fertility in antiquity, and was diligently cultivated by its inhabitants. Xenophon {RelL vi. 2. § 6) describes it as i^ttffyua^ Ikiniv fih^ wayKdXtts mU ir«^irrfv^^n|ir; and one of the later Roman poets celebrates it as " Gorcj^ compta solum, loeupleti Gorcjhra sulco." (Avion. Deter . Orh. 663.) These praises are not undeserved; for modem writers celebrate the luxuriance and fer- tility of its numerous vallies. The chbf production of the bland now b dl, of which lai^ge quantities are exported. It also produces wine, which, though not so celebrated as in antiquity (Athen. L pi 33, b.; Xen. I e.), b still used in the town of Corfu and in the adjacent islands. The most andent name of the bland b said to have been Diepane (Afftwdni)^ apparently from its
 * 'ad Coibionem" (Liv. iiL 66, 69); but this does