Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/71

 AEQUINOCTIUM. find d» Aeqmciilam in the ruHlej of the Salto con- tdtotiv * Rgolar mmiidpal body, so tiiat " Res pBUtt Aeqaicobnoamni " and a ^ Mnnicipiani Ae- ^[oeckaanm* are found in inscriptiQiis of that jeiad (QreD. m. 3931; Ami, ddL IntL vol. vi. ]a.lll.n0LX ProbaUjr this was a mere aggregation of natte red viUageB and hamlets such as are still feaad in the district of the CiooUmo. In the Liber CokBismin (pw 255) we find mention of the ** £cicy- heas i^eer * endenUj a cormption of Aeqmculanns, a» it tbm bj the iccoirence of the same fonn in dttiten aid dociunents of the middle ages (Holsten. sat wd Chteer. pc 156). It b not a little remarkable that the names (£ wtamij any cities bdonging to the Aeqnians have bflCB transmitted to na. Livj tells us that in the dedave campaign of B.a 304, foriaf-one Aeqoian toarns wem tekcn bj tiie Bonan consuls (ix. 45) : bn be meirtions none of them byname, and from the mat sod npiditj with which they were lednced, it » ]nhable that they were places of little importance. Jhay of the amaUer towns and villages now scat- tered ia the hm conntrr between the valHes of the &K» and the Anio probably occupy ancient sites: tvo cf these, Civitdla and OUteanto, present remains of sadent walls and substmctions of rude polygonal nssoBiy. whidi may probably be referred to a very <«iT period (Abeken,Af»»e//tali€is pp. 140,147; BJktL deU. Inst. 1841, p. 49). The nnmeroos TBd|^ «f ancient cities found in the TaDey of the Siito, may also bdoog in many instances to the Aeqi^ans, rather than the Aborigines, to whom they bave been generally referred. The only towns ex- pRsstj assigned to the Aeqnicnli by Pliny and Pto- Imy are C arsbou in the upper valley of the Turano, ad CuTERNiA in that of the SaUo. To these may be added Alba Fucemsis, which we are expressly tiM by Livy was founded in the territory of the Aefoians, though on account of its superior im- poftsDce, Pliny ranks the Albenses as a sepsrate Iia^(PImy ill. 12. 17; Ptol.iii. l.§ 56; Liv. x. 1). Yaria, wl^h is asBigned to the Aequians by several Buden writers, appears to have been properly a Sdioe town., Nersae, mentioned by Virgil (Aen, TIL 744) as the chief place of the Aequiculi, is not noticed l^ any other writer, and its site is wholly VKcrtain. Besides these, Pfiny {L e.) mentions the C«inni, Tadiates, Caedici, and Alfatemi as towns <r oononunities of the Aequiculi, which had ceased tsfldst in hb time: all four names are otherwise iboDv unknown. [E. H. B.] AEQUNOCTTUM or AEQUINOCTIAE {Fit- eUaieaf), a Boman fort in Upper Pannonia, situ« ited upon the Danube, and according to the Notitia hnprra, the quarters of a squadron of Dalmatian csTahy. (Tab. Pent.; Itin. Antonin.) [|W.B.D.] ^AEROPUS, a mountain in Qreek Illyna, on the liver Aoos, and opposite to Mount Asnaus. Aeropus pnbaUy eotresponds to TWMtftrt, and Asnaus to Kemirtsiha. (Liv. xxxii. 5 ; Leake, Northern Crtfce, vol. L p. 389.) AESETUS (6 AtvTprof), a river of Northern Vyna, mentioned by Homer (/t ii. 825, &c.) as flying past Zekia, at the foot of Ida; and in another pMMfe (/Z. xii. 21) as one of the streams that flow fom Ma. Acoofding to Strabo^s interpretation of Bcmer, the Aesepus was the eastern boundary of Unia. The Aesepns is the largest river of Mysia. Acrordhig to Stnbo, it rises in Mount Cotylns, one of the summits of Ida (p. 602), and the distance between its source and its outlet is near 500 stadia. AESEKNIA. 55 It is joined on tlie left bank by the Caresus, another stream which flows from Cotylus ; and then taking a N£. and N. course, it enters the Propontis, be- tween the mouth of the Granicus and the city of Cyzicus. The modem name appears not to be clearly ascertained. Leake calls it Boklu. [G. L.] AESEKNIA (A2(rcpyfa: £th, Aeseminus; bat Plinyand laterwriters have £semintts),a cityof Sam- nium, included within the tenitoiy of the Pentrian tribe, situated in the valley of the Vultumus, on a small stream flowing into that river, and distant 14 miles from Veoafrum. The Itinerary (in which the name is corruptly written Sernt) places it on the road from Aufidena to Bovianum, at the distance of 28 M.P. from the former, and 18 from the latter ; but the fonner number is ccnmpt, as are the distances in the Tabula. (Itin. Ant. p. 102; Tab. Pent; Plin. iii. 12. 17; PtoL iii. 1. § 67; Sa. ItaL viii. 568.) The modem dty of ItertUa retuns the ancient site as well as name. The first mention of it in history occurs in b. c. 295, at which time it had already foUm into the hands of the Bomans, together with the whole valley of the Vultumus. (Liv x. 31.) After the complete subjugation of the Samnitcs, a ookmy, with Latin rights (oolonia Latina) was settled there by the Bomans in b. c 264; and this is again mentioned in b. g. 209 as one of the eighteen which remained foithful to Borne at the most trying period of the Second Punic War. (Liv. Epit. xvi. xxvii. 10; Yell. Pat. L 14.) During the Social War it adhered to the Boman cause, and was gallantly de* fended against the Samnite general Vettius Gato, by Marcellns, nor was it till after a long protracted siege tiiat it was compelled by fiunine to surrender, b. c. 90. Henceforth it continued in the hands of the confederates ; and at a later period of the contest afforded a shelter to the Samnite leader, Papius Mu- tilus, after his defe^it by Sulla. It even became for a thne, after the successive fall of Gorfinium and Bovianum, the head quarters of the Italian allies. (Liv. Epit. Ixxii, Ixxiii.; Appian. £. C. i. 41, 51; Diod. xxxvii. Exc Phot. p. 539 ; Sisenna ap. NoniuMy p. 70.) At this time it was evidently a place of unportance and a strong fortress, but it was so se- verely punished for its defection by Sulla after the final defeat of the Samnites, that Strabo speaks of it as in his time utterly deserted. (Strab. v. p. 238, 250.) We learn, however, that a colony was sent there by Gaesar, and again by Augustus ; but appa- rently with little success, on which account it was re- colonized under Nero. It never, however, enjoyed the rank of a colony, but appears from inscriptions to have been a municipal town of some importance in the time of Trajan and the Antoninoe. To this period belong the remains of an aqueduct and a fine Boman bridge, still visible; while the lower parts of the modem walls present considerable portions of polygonal construction, which may be assigned either to the ancient Samnite city, or to the first Boman colony. The modem city is still the see of a bishop, and contains about TOQ/0 inhabitants. (Lib. Golon. pp. 233, 260 ; Zumpt, de CohnUs^ pp. 307, 360, COIN OP AESERNIA. E 4