Listed 10 sub titles with search on: Various locations for wider area of: "ETROURIA Ancient country ITALY" .
ETROURIA (Ancient country) ITALY
Aharna a town of Etruria, mentioned only by Livy (x. 25) during the campaign of
Fabius in that country, B.C. 295. He affords no clue to its position, which is
utterly unknown. Cluverius and other writers have supposed it to be the same with
Arna but this seems scarcely reconcilable with the circumstances of the campaign.
(Cluver. Ital p. 626.)
Albinia, a considerable river of Etruria, still called the Albegna, rising in
the mountains at the back of Saturnia, and flowing into the sea between the Portus
Telamonis and the remarkable promontory called Mons Argentarius. The name is found
only in the Tabula; but the Alminia or Almina of the Maritime Itinerary (p. 500)
is evidently the same river.
Caecina or Cecina, a river of Etruria, mentioned both by Pliny and
Mela, and still called Cecina. It flowed through the territory of Volaterrae,
and after passing within 5 miles to the S. of that city, entered the Tyrrhenian
sea, near the port known as the Vada Volaterrana. There probably was a port or
emporium at its mouth, and Mela appears to speak of a town of the same name. The
family name of Caecina, which also belonged to Volaterrae, was probably connected
with that of the river, and hence the correct form of the name in Latin would
be Caecina, though the MSS. both of Pliny and Mela have Cecina or Cecinna. (Plin.
iii. 5. s. 8; Mela, ii. 4; Muller, Etrusker, vol. i. p, 405.)
Argentarius mons, a remarkable mountain-promontory on the coast of Etruria, still called Monte Argentaro. It is formed by an isolated mass of mountains about 7 miles in length and 4 in breadth, which is connected with the mainland only by two narrow strips of sand, the space between which forms an extensive lagune. Its striking form and appearance are well described by Rutilius (Itin. i. 315-324); but it is remarkable that no mention of its name is found in any earlier writer, though i; is certainly one of the most remarkable physical features on the coast of Etruria. Strabo, however, notices the adjoining lagune (limnothalatta), and the existence of a station for the tunny fishery by the promontory (v. p. 225), but without giving the name of the latter. At its south-eastern extremity was the small but well-sheltered port mentioned by ancient writers under the name of Portus Hercults (Herakleous limen, Strab. l. c.; Rutil. i. 293), and still known as Porto d'Ercole. Besides this, the Maritime Itinerary mentions another port to which it gives the name of Incitaiia, which must probably be.the one now known as Porto S. Stefano, formed by the northern extremity of the headland; but the distances given are corrupt. (Itin. Marit. p. 499.) The name of Mons Argentarius points to the existence here of silver mines, of which it is said that some remains may be still discovered.
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
Lauretanus Portus a seaport on the coast of Etruria, mentioned only by Livy (xxx.
39). From this passage it appears to have been situated between Cosa and Populonium;
but its precise position is unknown.
A river of Etruria, still called the Marta, which has its source in
the Lake of Bolsena (Lacus Vulsiniensis), of which it carries off the superfluous
waters to the sea. It flowed under the N. side of the hill on which stood Tarquinii;
but its name is known only from the Itineraries, from which we learn that it was
crossed by the Via Aurelia, 10 miles from Centumcellae (Civita Vecchia). (Itin.
Ant. p. 291; Tab. Peut.)
Clanis or Glanis (Klanis, Strab.; Glanis, App.: Chiana), a river of
Etruria, flowing through the territory of Clusium, and falling into the Tiber
about 14 miles below Tuder. It is mentioned by several ancient writers as one
of the principal tributaries of the Tiber (Strab. v. p. 235; Plin. iii. 5. s.
9; Tac. Ann. i. 79; Sil. Ital. viii. 455): but we learn from Tacitus that as early
as A.D. 15, the project was formed of turning aside its waters into the Arnus.
The Clanis is in fact the natural outlet that drains the remarkable valley now
called the Val di Chiana, which extends for above 30 miles in length from N. to
S., from the neighbourhood of Arezzo to beyond Chiusi, and is almost perfectly
level, so that the waters which descend into it from the hills on both sides would
flow indifferently in either direction. In ancient times they appear to have held
their course entirely towards the S., so that Pliny considers the river as proceeding
from Arretium, and calls it Glanis Arretinus: it formed, as it still does, a considerable
lake near Clusium (Strab. v. p. 226), now called the Lago di Chiusi, and had from
thence a course of about 30 miles to the Tiber. But repeated inundations having
rendered the Val di Chiana marshy and unhealthy, its waters are now carried off
by artificial channels; some, as before, into the lake of Chiusi, others to the
N. towards the Arno, which they join a few miles from Arezzo. The two arms thus
formed are called the Chiana Toscana and Chiana Romana. The latter falls into
a stream called the Paglia, about 5 miles above its confluence with the Tiber.
So slight is the difference of level, that it is even supposed that at one time
a part of the waters of the Arnus itself quitted the main stream near Arretium,
and flowed through the Val di Chiana to join the Tiber. It is, however, improbable
that this was the case in historical times. (Fossombroni, Mem. sopra la Val di
Chiana, 8vo. 1835; Rampoldi, Corogr. dell' Italia, vol. i. p. 656.)
Appian mentions that in B.C. 82, a battle was fought between Sulla
and Carbo, on the banks of the Clanis, near Clusium, in which the former was victorious
(B.C. i. 89).
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Sabatinus lacus (Sabata limne, Strab.: Lago di Bracciano), one of
the most considerable of the lakes of Etruria, which, as Strabo observes, was
the most southerly of them, and consequently the nearest to Rome and to the sea.
(Strab. v. p. 226.) It is, like most of the other lakes in the same region, formed
in the crater of an extinct volcano, and has consequently a very regular basin-like
form, with a circuit of about 20 miles, and is surrounded on all sides by a ridge
of hills of no great elevation. It is probable that it derived its name from a
town of the name of Sabate, which stood on its shores, but the rame is not found
in the geographers, and the only positive evidence of its existence is its mention
in the Tabula as a station on the Via Claudia. (Tab. Peut.) The lake itself is
called Sabata by Strabo, and Sabate by Festus, from whom we learn that it gave
name to the Sabatine tribe of the Roman citizens, one of those which was formed
out of the new citizens added to the state in B.C. 387. (Liv. vi. 4, 5; Fest.
s. v. Sabatina, pp. 342, 343.) Silius Italicus speaks of the Sabatia stagna in
the plural (viii. 492), probably including under the name the much smaller lake
in the same neighbourhood called the Lacus Alsietinus or Lago di Martignano. The
same tradition was reported of this lake as of the Ciminian, and of many others,
that there was a city swallowed up by it, the remains of which could still occasionally
be seen at the bottom of its clear waters. (Sotion, de Mir. Font. 41, where we
should certainly read Sabatos for Sakatos.) It abounded in fish and wild-fowl,
and was even stocked artificially with fish of various kinds by the luxurious
Romans of late times. (Columell. viii. 16.)
The Tabula places Sabate at the distance of 36 miles from Rome, but
this number is much beyond the truth. The true distance is probably 27 miles,
which would coincide with a site near the W. extremity of the lake about a mile
beyond the modern town of Bracciano, where there are some ruins of Roman date,
probably belonging to a villa. (Tab. Peut.; Holsten. Not. ad Cluver. p. 44; Westphal,
Rom. Kampagne, pp. 156, 158.) The town of Bracciano, which now gives name to the
lake, dates only from the middle ages and probably does not occupy an ancient
site.
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
A forest of Etruria, in the territory of the Veientines, which was conquered from
them by Ancus Marcius. (Liv. i. 33.) Its site cannot be determined with certainty,
but it was probably situated on the right bank of the Tiber, between Rome and
the sea-coast. Pliny also notices it as abounding in dormice. (Plin. viii. 58.
s. 83.)
Soracte (Monte S. Oreste), a mountain of Etruria, situated between
Falerii and the Tiber, about 26 miles N. of Rome, from which it forms a conspicuous
object. It is detached from the chain of the Apennines, from which it is separated
by the intervening valley of the Tiber; yet in a geological sense it belongs to
the Apennine range, of which it is an outlying offset, being composed of the hard
Apennine limestone, which at once distinguishes it from the Mons Ciminus and the
other volcanic hills by which it is surrounded. Though of no great elevation,
being only 2420 feet in height, it rises in a bold and abrupt mass above the surrounding
plain (or rather table-land), which renders it a striking and picturesque object,
and a conspicuous feature in all views of the Campagna. Hence the selection of
its name by Horace in a well-known ode (Carm. i. 9) is peculiarly appropriate.
It was consecrated to Apollo, who had a temple on its summit, probably on the
same spot now occupied by the monastery of S. Silvestro, and was worshipped there
with peculiar religious rites. His priests were supposed to possess the power
of passing unharmed through fire, and treading on the hot cinders with their bare
feet. (Virg. Aen. vii. 696, xi. 785-790; Sil. Ital. v. 175-181, vii. 662; Plin.
vii. 2.) Its rugged and craggy peaks were in the days of Cato still the resort
of wild goats. (Varr. R. R. ii. 3. § 3.)
Soracte stands about 6 miles from Civita Castellana, the site of
the ancient Falerii, and 2 from the Tiber. It derives its modern appellation from
the village of Sant‘ Oreste, which stands at its S. extremity on a steep and rocky
hill, forming a kind of step or ledge at the foot of the more elevated peaks of
Soracte itself. This site, which bears evident signs of ancient habitation, is
supposed to be that of the ancient Feronia or Lucus Feroniae (Dennis's Etruria,
vol. i. p. 179.)
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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