Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Various locations for destination: "CAMPANIA Region ITALY".
Lactarius Mons (Galaktos oros: Monte S. Angelo), was the name given by the Romans to a mountain in the neighbourhood of Stabiae in Campania. It was derived from the circumstance that the mountain abounded in excellent pastures, which were famous for the quality of the milk they produced; on which account the mountain was resorted to by invalids, especially in cases of consumption, for which a milk diet was considered particularly beneficial. (Cassiod. Ep. xi. 10.; Galen, de Meth. Med. v. 12.) It was at the foot of this mountain that Narses obtained a great victory over the Goths under Teias in A.D. 553, in which the Gothic king was slain. (Procop. B. G. iv. 35, 36.) The description of the Mons Lactarius, and its position with regard to Stabiae, leave no doubt that it was a part of the mountain range which branches off from the Apennines near Nocera (Nuceria), and separates the Bay of Naples from that of Paestum. The nighest point of this range, the Monte S. Angelo, attains a height of above 5000 feet; the whole range is calcareous, and presents beautiful forests, as well as abundant pastures. The name of Lettere, still borne by a town on the slope of the mountain side, a little above Stabiae, is evidently a relic of the ancient name.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Massicus Mons (Monte Massico), a mountain, or rather range of hills, in Campania, which formed the limit between Campania properly so called and the portion of Latium, south of the Liris, to which the name of Latium Novum or Adjectum was sometimes given. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.) The Massican Hills form a range of inconsiderable elevation, which extends from the foot of the mountain group near Suessa (the Mte. di Sta. Croce), in a SW. direction, to within 2 miles of the sea, where it ends in the hill of Mondragone, just above the ancient Sinuessa. The Massican range is not, like the more lofty group of the Mte. di Sta. Croce or Rocca Monfina, of volcanic origin, but is composed of the ordinary limestone of the Apennines (Daubeny On Volcanoes, p. 175). But, from its immediate proximity to the volcanic formations of Campania, the soil which covers it is in great part composed of such products, and hence probably the excellence of its wine, which was one of the most celebrated in Italy, and vied with the still more noted Falernian. (Virg. Georg. ii. 143, Aen. vii. 724; Hor. Carm. i. 1. 19, iii. 21. 5; Sil. Ital. vii. 20; Martial, i. 27. 8, xiii. 111; Plin. xiv. 6. s. 8; Columell. iii. 8.) Yet the whole of this celebrated range of hills does not exceed 9 miles in length by about 2 in breadth.
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
Nesis (Nisida), a small island on the coast of Campania, between Puteoli and Neapolis, and directly opposite to the extremity of the ridge called Mons Pausilypus (Seneca, Ep. 53). It may be considered as forming the eastern headland of the bay of Baiae or Puteoli, of which Cape Misenum is the western limit. The island is of small extent, but considerable elevation, and undoubtedly constituted at a remote period one side of the crater of a volcano, This must, however, have been extinct before the period of historical memory; but it appears that even in the days of Statius and Lucan it emitted sulphureous and noxious vapours, which has long ceased to be the case (Stat. Silv. ii. 2. 78; Lucan vi.90). It was nevertheless, like the adjoining hill of Pausilypus, a pleasant place of residence. Brutus had a villa there, where he was visited by Cicero shortly after the death of Caesar, and where they conferred, together with Cassius and Libo, upon their future plans (Cic. ad Att. xvi. 1-4). Pliny tells us that it was famous for its asparagus, a celebrity which it still retains (Plin. xix. 8. s. 42); but the wood which crowned it in the days of Statius (Silv. iii. 1. 148), has long since disappeared.
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
Vulturnus (Ououltournos: Volturno), the most considerable river of
Campania, which has its sources in the Apennines of Samnium, about 5 miles S.
of Aufidena, flows within a few miles of Aesernia on its left bank. and of Venafrum
on its right, thence pursues a SE. course for about 35 miles, till it receives
the waters of the Calor (Calore), after which it turns abruptly to the WSW., passes
under the walls of Casilinum (Capoua), and finally discharges itself into the
Tyrrhenian sea about 20 miles below that city. Its mouth was marked in ancient
times by the town of the same name (Vulturnum), the site of which is still occupied
by the modern fortress of Castel Volturno. (Strab. v. pp. 238, 249; Plin. iii.
5. s. 9; Mel. ii. 4. § 9.) The Vulturnus is a deep and rapid, but turbid stream,
to which character we find many allusions in the Roman poets. (Virg. Aen. vii.
729; Ovid. Met. xv. 714; Lucan ii.423; Claudian. Paneg. Prob. et Ol. 256; Sil.
Ital. viii. 530.) A bridge was thrown over it close to its mouth by Domitian,
when he constructed the Via Domitia that led from Sinuessa direct to Cumae. (Stat.
Silv. iv. 3. 67, &c.) From the important position that the Vulturnus occupies
in Campania, the fertile plains of which it traverses in their whole extent from
the foot of the Apennines to the sea, its name is frequently mentioned in history,
especially during the wars of the Romans with the Campanians and Samnites, and
again during the Second Punic War. (Liv. viii. 11, x. 20, 31, xxii. 14, &c.; Polyb.
iii. 92.) Previous to the construction of the bridge above mentioned (the remains
of which are still visible near the modern Castel Volturno), there was no bridge
over it below Casilinum, where it was crossed by the Via Appia. It appears to
have been in ancient times navigable for small vessels at least as far as that
city. (Liv. xxvi. 9; Stat. Silv. iv. 3. 77.)
Its only considerable tributary is the Calor which brings with it
the waters of several other streams, of which the most important are the Tamarus
and Sabatus. These combined streams bring down to the Vulturnus almost the whole
waters of the land of the Hirpini; and hence the Calor is at the point of junction
nearly equal in magnitude to the Vulturnus itself.
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
Minervae Promontorium (to Athenaion akroterion, Strab.: Punta della
Campanella), a promontory on the coast of Campania, opposite to the island of
Capreae, forming the southern boundary of the celebrated Crater or Bay of Naples.
It is a bold and rocky headland, constituting the extremity of a mountain ridge,
which branches off from the main mass of the Apennines near Nuceria, and forms
a great mountain promontory, about 25 miles in length, which separates the Bay
of Naples from that of Paestum or Salerno. The actual headland derived its name
from a temple of Minerva, situated on its summit, which was said to have been
founded by Ulysses (Strab. v. p. 247): it was separated by a channel of only 3
miles in width from the island of Capreae (Capri). On the S. side of the promontory,
but about 5 miles from the extreme headland, are some small rocky islets now called
Li Galli, very bold and picturesque in appearance, which were selected by tradition
as the abode of the Sirens, and hence named the Sirenusae Insulae (Seirenoussai
nesoi, Ptol. iii. 1. § 79; Strab. v. p. 247; Pseud. Arist. Mirab. 110). From the
proximity of these, according to Strabo, the headland itself was sometimes called
the Promontory of the Sirens (Seirenousson akroterion), but all other writers
give it the more usual appellation of Promontory of Minerva, though Pliny adds
that it had once been the abode of the Sirens; and there was an ancient temple
on the side towards Surrentum in honour of those mythical beings, which had at
one time been an object of great veneration to the surrounding population. (Strab.
v. pp. 242, 247; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Pseud. Arist. l. c.; Ovid. Met. xv. 709;
Mel. ii. 4. § 9; Liv. xlii. 20.) Tacitus in one passage calls the headland Surrentinum
Promontorium, from its proximity to the town of Surrentum, from which it was only
5 miles distant; and Statius also speaks of the temple of Minerva as situated
in vertice Surrentino. (Tac. Ann. iv. 67; Stat. Silv. v. 3. 165.)
The Promontory of Minerva is a point of considerable importance in
the coast-line of Italy: hence we find it selected in B.C. 181 as the point of
demarcation for the two squadrons which were appointed to clear the sea of pirates;
the one protecting the coasts from thence to Massilia, the other those on the
S. as far as the entrance of the Adriatic. (Liv. xl. 18.) In B.C. 36 a part of
the fleet of Augustus, under Appius Claudius, on its voyage from Misenum to Sicily,
encountered a tempest in passing this cape, from which it suffered heavy loss.
(Appian, B.C. v. 98.) It is mentioned also by Lucilius as a point of importance
in his voyage along the coast of Italy. (Lucil. Sat. iii. Fr. 10.)
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
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