Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/709

 COBSICA. heigbboDrliood of BaHiatothe Gulf of Porto Veeckio ; bat new its soathem eztremitj this also is indented hj two deep inlets, one of which, called in ancient times the Portns Syracnsanas (now Porto Veeckio)^ ooDstitates a harbour of first-rste excellenoe. (Diod. ▼. 3.) The central mass of the mountain chain, now called the Monie RoUmdo^ is apparently that which is called by Ptolemy the Moos Aureas (rh Xfwvmhf ipos). It is in tlus gronp that the tvro principal rivers of the island have their rise: the Rhotanus of Ptolemy, now known as the Tavigiumo; and the Tuola or Tavola (Tov6at or Tav^Aos), now called the Goto. Both of these flow from W. to £., and enter the sea, the first near the colony of Aleria, the second close to that of Mariana. The other rivers of the island are of inferior magnitude ; of those which flow to the W. coast, Ptolemy mentions the Circidius (Ki^fSios), which b probably the mo- dem £«MNOfie; and the Locras,Ticarius, andPitanus, which cannot be identified wiUi any certainty. The Hiems or Sacer flavins ('Icp^t w^oftos), which he places on the E. eoMt, S. of Aloria, may probably be the Fmme Orio ; and the Valerius (OiiaKtpus or O&oXcptor), described by Um as entering the sea in the ndiddle of the N. coast, can be no other than the small stream now called the Cigao, which flows by AFiorauo, The same author, to whom we are indebted for what little information we possess conceniing the ancient geography of Corsica, gives us the names of a number of headhmds, and bays or harbours; but very few of these can be identified with any approach to certainty. A glsnoe at a good map will show how irregular and brdcen is the whole W. coast of the island, so that it is idle to choose a few out of the number of bold headlands and deep inlets that it presents, and assume them to be those intended by Ptolemy.* The northernmost point of the island, now called Capo CoraOj appears to be that called by him the Sacred Promontory ('Icp^y tucpov); and the southern eztronity, near Bonifaeioy mag be that which he calls Mariannm, adjoining which was a city of the same name (Vka^tufhv tatpw koI voAir). Between these (proceeding from N. to S. along the W. oosst of the isknd) he enumerates : TUoz Pr., the CSsestan shore (YLaurlas otlyMtA^s), the Attian Pr., the Gulf of Cssalns, the Prom, of Vlriballum, the Bboetian mountain, the Prom, of Bhium, the Sandy Shore (*Afyufe9i|r olymX^t), the Portus Titi- anus. The Portus Syrscussnus in the SE. part of the island is probably, as already observed, the Gulf of Porto Veoekio. (Ptol. iii. 2. §§ 3—^.) Our knowledge of the internal geography of the island is eztrsmely vague and uncertain. Neither Strabo nor Pliny give us the names of any of the tribes into which the native population was doubt* less divided. The former says merely that some parts of the isUmd were habitable, and contained the towns of the Blesini,Charaz, Enicooiae, and Vapanes. (Strab. V. p. 224.) Pliny tells us that Corsica con- tained thirty-three <* dviutai," besidss the two Bo- man colonies, but without giving the names of any. aign the posttion of all these points mentioned by Ptolemy, as well as the obscure towns enumerated by him; but the entire diveigenoe of their results suffi- ciently shows how little dependence is to be placed npoo theoL It has not been thought worth while to repeat a list of mars ooqjectarai; they are both given by Foriagv. OOBSICA. 691 Ptolemy, on the oontraiy, gives us the following list : " The Cervini occupy the W. side beneath the Golden Mountain; then follow the Tarrabenii, the Titiani, the Balatonii. The most northerlypromontoryis occupied by the Vanaceni; next to whom come the Cileboisii, then the Licnini, Macrini, Opini, Simbri, and Coma- oeni, and furthest to the & the Subanni ** (iii. 2. § 6). Nothing mors is known of any of these ob- scure tribes, who, as Ptdemy expressly tells us, dwelt only in scattered villages; besides these, he enumerates 14 Ummt in the interior, all of which are utterly unknown. Even those towns which he places on the W. coast of the island cannot be de- termined with any apmoach to certainty, their po. sition depending on those of the promontories and bays, the geography of which (as already observed) b extremely vague. The names of these places are as follows: Urcinium (Odpic/yioy), Pauca (IlaCtra), Ficaria (^iicapia), and Marianum, near the proincn- toiy of the same name. On the E. coast our data are rather more precise; the site of the two Roman odoDies of Aleria and Mabiaha being known with certainty. The Itinerary of Antoninus also gives us a line of road (the only one in the iskmd) along this coast from Mariana to Pallae, a dty mentioned also by Ptolemy, which was probably situated at tlie head <^ the gulf called the Portus Syracusanus. The inteimed^te stations between this and Aleria are the Portus Favonii (still called Porfo Fttvone^ and pro- bably identical with the ^tXwyiov Kttiiiif of Pttilemy), and Praesidium, half way between Portus Favonii and Aleria, probably, from its name, a mere military post {Itin. Ant p. 85; Ptol. iii. 2. § 5.) Besides these, Ptolemy menticms Rubra and Ahsta, which be fdaoes between the Portus Syracusanus and Aleria; and the towns of Mantinum, Clunium, Centuria, and CaneUte, all of which are to be sought in the north- em part of the island, N. of Mariana. Nicaea, which from its name would appear to have been a Greek colony, but is called by Diodorus (v. 13) a Tyrrhe- nian one, is not mentioned by any of the geographers, and its position is quite unknown. It is a pUiusible conjecture of Cluverius that it was the same jdace afterwards called Mariana. Of the natural productions of Corsica, the chief, as already observed, is timber, of which it furnished an almost unlimited supply. Theophrastus speaks with especial admiration of the pine and fir trees that grew on the ishmd, and of which the Romans made great use for their fleets. (Tbeophr. H. P. v. 8. § 1.) The same Corests produced resin and pitch, and abounded in wild bees, so that wax and honey were in all ages among the chief exports of the island, and we find the Cocsicans on one occasi<»i compelled to pay 200,000 pounds of wax as a punishment for theur revolt (Uv. zlii. 7; Diod. v. 13; Plin. xzi. 14. s. 49.) The longevity of the inhabitants was supposed by some writers to arise from their abund- ant use of honey as an article of food. (Steph. B. «. 9. lUpms.) Yet the Corsican honey had a bitter taste, owing to the bees feeding on the box trees, which rendered it unpahtable to strangers. (Theophr. H,P, ui. 16. § 5; Diod Ic; Vlrg. EeL ix. 30; Ovid, Amor, i. 12. 10.) Sheep, goats, and cattle were also sbundant, though the former were allowed to run almost wild about the mountains. (Pd. xii. 4.) But the bhmd produced little com, and even under the Boman empire the cultivation of fruit trees, vines, and olives was ahnost wholly neglected. (Senec. Com, adHeh. 9. § 2; AnthoL Lat 130.) Of wild animals, according to Polyhlua, there were YY 2
 * liannert and Beichart have endeavoured to as-