Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/174

 FRENTANL jited ccnfskierftblj to the N. of the SagniB, were Frentanian cities. The latter is indeed asaiiipaed by Ptolemy himself to that people (iii. 1. § 65), while Strabo also terms Ortomi the port or naval station of the Freotani {Mytiov ^ptrrarA^yY, p 242), bat erroDeoosly places it to the S. of the river Sagms. Hence, their confines most have approached within a fi9w miles of the Atenins, though without actuall j abntting apon that river. On the W. they were probablj not separated from the Samnitea by any well-marked natural boondaiy, bat oocapied tlM lower slopes of the Apennines as well as the hilly Qoantry extending from thence to the sea, while the man lofty and central ridges of the monntains were incloded in Samniam. The Frentani are expressly termed by Strabo a Samnite people, and he appears to distingnish them as snch from the nsighbooring tribes of the Mar- rndni, Peligni, and Vesdni, with whom they had otherwise mnoh in oommon. (Strab. v. p. 841). They, however, appear in histoty as a separate people, having thor own national ofganisation ; and though they may a^ one time (as so^gj^ted by Niebohr) have constituted one of the four na- tions of the Samnite confederacy, this seems to have been no longer the case when that power came into collision with Rome. Their conduct dnring the long straggle between the Sanmitcs and Bomana refers this almost certain. In b. c. 319, indeed, when their name occurs for the first time in hi8toiy*,they appear in arms against Rome, but were quickly defeated and reduced to submis- aion (Liv. ix. 16) ; and a few years afterwards (b. o. 304), at the dose of the Second Samnite War, the Freotani are mentioned, t<^ther with the Marsi, Marrucini, and Peligni, as coming forward volun- tarily to sue for a treaty of aliianoe with Rome (Id. ■X. 45), which they seem to have subsequently ad- hered to with steadfastness. Hence we find more than once express mentioa of the Frentanian auxi- liaries in the war with Pynhus; and one of their officers, of the name of Oblacus, distinguished himself at the battle of Heradeia. (Dxmys. Fr. DidoL XX. 2 ; Pint. Pyrrh, 16; Flor. L 18. § 7). They gave a still mote striking proof of fidelity during Sie Second Punic War, by adhering to the Roman cause after the battle of Cannae, when so many of the Italian allies, including the greater part of the Samnttes, went over to Hannibal. (Liv. xxiL 61 ; SiL Ital. vui. 521, xv. 567). Throughout this pe- nod they appear to have been much more doeely coonected in their political relations with their neigh- boors the Marruemi, Peligni, and Vestini, than with their kinsmen the Samnites : benoe, probably, it is that Polybius, in enumerating the forces of the Italian allies, dasses the Frentani with the Marsi, Marrucini, and Vestini, while ho reckons the Samnites sepa- rately. (Pol.iL24.) Notwithstanding their vaunted fidelity, the Frentani joined in the general outbreak of the Italian allies in the gnat Social War, B.a 90 (Ap(nan, B. (7. i. 39 ; Strab. v. p. 241) : they do not, however, appear to have taken any prominent part, and we can only infer that they recdved the Bonoan franchise at the same time with the neigh- bouring tribes. Hence we find them mentioned by bat the conjecture of Sigonius that we should read and may be reguded as certainly correct (See Alfldwfeki, od loc^i Kiebuhr, yd. iil p 826.) FRENTANI. 015 Cicero, a few yeare later, as sending some of thdr chief men ("Frentani, homines nobilissimi," pro ChienL 69) to support the cause of Gluentins, a native of Larinum. Their territory was travened without resistance by Caesar at the outbreak of the Civil War, b.c. 49 (Caes. B, C. L 23) : and this is the last occasion on which their name appean in history. Thdr territory was comprised in the fourth region of Augustas, together with the Marrudnif Pdigni, Marsi, &c. (Plin. iiL 12. s. 17) ; but at a later period it appeara to have been reunited to Sanmium, and was placed under the authority of the governor of that province (Mommsen, ad JAb. CoL p. 206). It is now induded in the kingdom of Naples, and divided between the provinces of Abnazo Citeriore and Sanmo. The territory of the Frentani is for the most part hilly, but fertile. It is traversed by numerous riven which have their sources in the more lofty mountains of Samnium, and flow through the land of the Frentani to the Adriatic: the principal of these, beddes the Tifbbnus, which (as already mentioned) constituted the southern limit of their country, are the Trinius or Trtgnoy which, according to Pliny, had a good port at its mouth Q* Flumen Trinium por- tuosum," Plin. iii. 12. s. 17) ; and the Saorus or Sauffro, a very important stream, which enters the Adriatic about half way between Histonium and Ortona. The Tabula also gives the name of a river which it places between Ortona and Anxanum, and calls '* Clotoria" (?) The name is probably corrupt ; but the stream meant (if its podtion can be de- pended upon) can be no other than the iforo, which fells into the Adriatic a few miles S. of Ortona. The ooast^Iine of this part of the Adriatic presents few remarkable features, and no good natural har- bours. The mouths of the riven, and the two pro- jecting pdnts of Termoli (Buca) and the PmUa della PatnOf afibrd the only pbu»s of anchorage. The towns of the Frentani mentioned by andent writere are few in number ; but the topography of the district has been thrown into great confudon by the perverted seal of certain local antiquarians, and by*the reliance placed on inscriptions published by some early writere, which there is great reason to regard as forgeries. The AntichiUi Frentans (2 vols. 8va, Naples, 1809) of the Abbate Romanelli, who was a native of this part of Italy, is a veiy uncritical performance ; but the author was led astray prind- pally by the inscriptions and other documents put forth by Polidoro, an Italian antiquary of the last oentuiy, who appears to have had no hedtation in forging, or at lesst corrupting and altering them in such a manner as to suit his purpose. (Mommsen, Ifucr. Regn, Neap,f Appendix^ p. 30.) Romanelli, in his later and more extendve work (Antiea Topogram fa I$iorica del Regno di NapoHy 3 vols. 4to., Naples, 1818), dmply abridged the results of his fonner book ; and Cramer, as usual, blindly follows RomanellL Along the sea-coast (proceeding from N. to S.) were dtuated Ortoka, Histonktm, and Buca. The two fonner may be clearly fixed, Ortona retaining its andent name, and the ruins of Histonium being still extant at // Vaeto d^Ammone : but there is consider- able difiiculty in determining the dte of Buca, which may however be fixed with much probability at 7*er- mo& [Buca] ; the arguments that have led many writers to {daoe it at Sta. Maria deUa Penna bdng based prindpaDy upon the spurioas inscriptions just alluded to. The exutenoe of a town called Inter- amna, suppoeed by Romanelli and Crsmer to have 8v a
 * The dd editiona of Livy have '^Ferentani;**
 * Frentani,** is supported by some of the best MSS.,