Daunus. A king of Apulia. He had been obliged to flee from Illyria, his native land, into Apulia, and gave his name to a portion of his new country. (Daunia.) He is said to have hospitably received Diomedes, and to have given him his daughter Euippe in marriage. (Fest. s.v.; Plin. H. N. iii. 11)
Daunus (Daunos or Daunios), a son of Lycaon in Arcadia, and brother of Iapyx and Peucetius. These three brothers, in conjunction with Illyrians and Messapians, landed on the eastern coast of Italy, expelled the Ausonians, took possession of the country, and divided it into three parts, Daunia, Peucetia, and Messapia. The three tribes together bore the common name Iapygians. (Anton. Lib. 31.)
Apulia, a district which included, in its widest signification, the whole of the southeast of Italy from the river Frento to the promontory Iapygium. In its narrower sense it was the country east of Samnium, on both sides of the Aufidus, the Daunia and Peucetia of the Greeks; the southeast part was called Calabria by the Romans. The Greeks gave the name of Daunia to the north part of the country from the Frento to the Aufidus, of Peucetia to the country from the Aufidus to Tarentum and Brundusium, and of Iapygia or Messapia to the whole of the remaining southern part; though they sometimes included under Iapygia all Apulia in its widest meaning. The country was very fertile, especially in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, and the mountains afforded excellent pasturage. The population was of a mixed nature: they were for the most part of Illyrian origin, and are said to have settled in the country under the guidance of Iapyx, Daunius, and Peucetius, three sons of an Illyrian king, Lycaon. Subsequently many towns were founded by Greek colonists. The Apulians joined the Samnites against the Romans, and became subject to the latter on the conquest of the Samnites.
This text is cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A mountain in Apulia, mentioned only by Polybius, in his description of Hannibal's
march into that country, B.C. 217 (Pol. iii. 100), from which it appears to have
been the name of a part of the Apennines on the frontiers of Samnium and Apulia,
not far from Luceria; but it cannot be more precisely identified.
Vultur Mons (Monte Voltore), one of the most celebrated mountains
of Southern Italy, situated on the confines of Apulia, Lucania, and the country
of the Hirpini. It commences about 5 miles to the S. of the modern city of Melfi,
and nearly due W. of Venosa (Venusia), and attains an elevation of 4433 feet above
the level of the sea. Its regular conical form and isolated position, as well
as the crater-like basin near its summit, at once mark it as of volcanic origin;
and this is confirmed by the nature of the rocks of which it is composed. Hence
it cannot be considered as properly belonging to the range of the Apennines, from
which it is separated by a tract of hilly country, forming as it were the base
from which the detached cone of Monte Voltore rises. No ancient author alludes
to the volcanic character of Mount Vultur; but the mountain itself is noticed,
in a well known passage, by Horace, who must have been very familiar with its
aspect, as it is a prominent object in the view from his native city of Venusia.
(Carm. iii. 4. 9-16.) He there terms it Vultur Apulus, though he adds, singularly
enough, that he was without the limits of Apulia ( altricis extra limen Apuliae
) when he was wandering in its woods. This can only be explained by the circumstance
that the mountain stood (as above stated) on the confines of three provinces.
Lucan also incidentally notices Mt. Vultur as one of the mountains that directly
fronted the plains of Apulia. (Lucan ix.185.)
The physical and geological characters of Mount Vultur are noticed
by Romanelli (vol. ii. p. 233), and more fully by Daubeny (Description of Volcanoes,
chap. 11).
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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