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first drew general attention to the mountains in question, and Polybius, who had himself visited the portion of the Alpine chain between Italy and Gaul, was the first to give an accurate description of them. Still his geographical knowledge of their course and extent was very imperfect: he justly describes them as extending from the neighbourhood of Massilia to the head of the Adriatic gulf, but places the sources of the Rhone in the neighbourhood of the latter, and considers the Alps and that river as running parallel with each other from NE. to SW. (Polyb. ii. 14, 15, iii. 47.) Strabo more correctly describes the Alps as forming a great curve like a bow, the concave side of which was turned towards the plains of Italy; the apex of the curve being the territory of the Salassi, while both extremities make a bend round, the one to the Ligurian shore near Genoa, the other to the head of the Adriatic. (Strab. pp. 128, 210.) He justly adds that throughout this whole extent they formed a continuous chain or ridge, so that they might be almost regarded as one mountain: but that to the east and north they sent out various offshoots and minor ranges in different directions. (Id. iv. p. 207.) Already previous to the time of Strabo the complete subjugation of the Alpine tribes by Augustus, and the construction of several high roads across the principal passes of the chain, as well as the increased commercial intercourse with the nations on the other side, had begun to render the Alps comparatively familiar to the Romans. But Strabo himself remarks (p. 71) that their geographical position was still imperfectly known, and the errors of detail of which he is guilty in describing them fully confirm the statement. Ptolemy, though writing at a later period, seems to have been still more imperfectly acquainted with them, as he represents the Mons Adula (the St. Gothard or Splügen) as the point where the chain takes its great bend from a northern to an easterly direction, while Strabo correctly assigns the territory of the Salassi as the point where this change takes place.

As the Romans became better acquainted with the Alps, they began to distinguish the different portions of the chain by various appellations, which continued in use under the empire, and are still generally adopted by geographers. These distinctive epithets are as follows:

names have been preserved to us are the MONS CEMA, in which the Varus had its source (Plin. iii. 4. s. 5), now called la Caillole; and the MONS VESULUS, now Monte Viso, from which the Padus takes its rise. (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20; Mela, ii. 4; Serv.ad Aen. x.708.) Pliny calls this the most lofty summit of the Alps, which is far from being correct, but its isolated character, and proximity to the plains of Italy, combined with its really great elevation of 11,200 feet above the sea, would readily convey this impression to an unscientific observer.

At a later period of the empire we find the Alpes Maritimae constituting a separate province, with its own Procurator (Orell. Inscr. 2214, 3331, 5040), but the district thus designated was much more extensive than the limits just stated, as the capital of the province was Ebrodunum (Embrun) in Gaul. (Böcking, ad Notit. Dign. pp. 473, 488.)

2. ALPES COTTIAE, or COTTIANAE, the Cottian Alps, included the next portion of the chain, from the Mons Vesulus northward, extending apparently to the neighbourhood of the Mont Cenis, though their limit is not clearly defined. They derived their name from Cottius, an Alpine chieftain, who having conciliated the favour and friendship of Augustus, was left by him in possession of this portion of the Alps, with the title of Praefect. His territory, which comprised twelve petty tribes, appears to have extended from Ebrodunum or Embrun in Gaul, as far as Segusio or Susa in Italy, and included the pass of the Mont Genêvre, one of the most frequented and important lines of communication between the two countries. (Strab. pp. 179, 204; Plin. iii. 20. s. 24; Tac. Hist. i. 61, iv. 68; Amm. Marc. xv. 10.) The territory of Cottius was united by Nero to the Roman empire, and constituted a separate province under the name of Alpes Cottiae. But after the time of Constantine this appellation was extended so as to comprise the whole of the province or region of Italy previously known as Liguria. [LIGURIA.] (Orell. Inscr. 2156, 3601; Notit. Dign. ii. p. 66, and Böcking, ad loc.; P. Diac. ii. 17.) The principal rivers which have their sources in this part of the Alps are the DRUENTIA (Durance) on the W. and the DURIA (Dora Riparia) on the E., which is confounded by Strabo (p. 203) with the river of the same name (now called Dora Baltea) that flows through the country of the Salassi.

1. ALPES MARITIMAE ("AλTeis #apáλioι, or wαpabaráσowi), the Maritime Alps, was the name given, 3. ALPES GRAIAE ( Aλπeis гpaîai, Ptol.) called probably from an early period, to that portion of the also MONS GRAIUS (Tac. Hist. iv. 68), was the name range which abuts immediately upon the Tyrrhenian given to the Alps through which lay the pass now Sea, between Marseilles and Genoa. Their limit was known as the Little St. Bernard. The precise exfixed by some writers at the Portus Monoeci or Mo- tent in which the term was employed cannot be fixed, saco, immediately above which rises a lofty headland and probably was never defined by the ancients on which stood the trophy erected by Augustus to themselves; but modern geographers generally regard commemorate the subjugation of the Alpine tribes. it as comprising the portion of the chain which ex[TROPAEUM AUGUSTI.] Strabo however more tends from the Mont Cenis to Mont Blanc. The judiciously regards the whole range along the coast real origin of the appellation is unknown; it is proof Liguria as far as Vada Sabbata (Vado), as be- bably derived from some Celtic word, but the Romans longing to the Maritime Alps: and this appears to in later times interpreted it as meaning Grecian, and have been in accordance with the common usage of connected it with the fabulous passage of the Alps later times, as we find both the Intemelii and In- by Hercules on his return from Spain. In confirm. gauni generally reckoned among the Alpine tribes. ation of this it appears that some ancient altars (Strab. pp. 201, 202; Liv. xxviii. 46; Tac. Hist. (probably Celtic monuments) were regarded as ii. 12; Vopisc. Procul. 12.) From this point as far having been erected by him upon this occasion, and as the river Varus (Var) the mountains descend the mountains themselves are called by some writers quite to the sea-shore: but from the mouth of the ALPES GRAECAE. (Plin.iii. 20. s. 24; Amm. Marc. Varus they trend to the north, and this continues to xv. 10. § 9; Petron. de B. C. 144-151; Nep. Hann. be the direction of the main chain as far as the com- 3.) Livy appears to apply the name of "Cremonis jumencement of the Pennine Alps. The only moun-gum" to this part of the Alps (xxi.38), a name which tains in this part of the range of which the ancient | has been supposed to be retained by the Cramont, a

mountain near St. Didier. Pliny (xi. 42. s. 97) terms
them ALPES CENTRONICAE from the Gaulish tribe
of the Centrones, who occupied their western slopes.
4. ALPES PENNINAE, or POENINAE, the Pennine
Alps, was the appellation by which the Romans de-
signated the loftiest and most central part of the
chain, extending from the Mont Blanc on the W., to
the Monte Rosa on the E. The first form of the
name is evidently the most correct, and was derived
from the Celtic "Pen" or " Ben," a height or sum-
mit; but the opinion having gained ground that the
pass of the Great St. Bernard over these mountains
was the route pursued by Hannibal, the name was
considered to be connected with that of the Cartha-
ginians (Poeni), and hence the form Poeninae is
frequently adopted by later writers. Livy himself
points out the error, and adds that the name was
really derived, according to the testimony of the in-
habitants, from a deity to whom an altar was conse-
crated on the summit of the pass, probably the same
who was afterwards worshipped by the Romans
themselves as Jupiter Penninus. (Liv. xxi. 38; Plin.
iii. 17. s. 21; Strab. p. 205; Tac. Hist. i. 61, 87;
Amm. Marc. xv. 10; Serv. ad Virg. Aen. x. 13;
Orell. Inscr. vol. i. p. 104.) The limits of the
Pennine Alps are nowhere very clearly designated;
but it seems that the whole upper valley of the
Rhone, the modern Valais, was called Vallis Poenina
(see Orell. Inscr. 211), and Ammianus expressly
places the sources of the Rhone in the Pennine Alps
(xv. 11. § 16), so that the term must have been
frequently applied to the whole extent of the moun-
tain chain from the Mont Blanc eastward as far as
the St. Gothard. The name of ALPES LEPONTIAE
from the Gaulish tribe of the Lepontii, is frequently
applied by modern geographers to the part of the
range inhabited by them between the Monte Rosa
and the Mont St. Gothard, but there is no ancient
authority for the name.
The "
Alpes Graiae et
Poeninae," during the later periods of the Roman
empire, constituted a separate province, which was
united with Transalpine Gaul. Its chief towns were
Darantasia and Octodurus. (Amm. Marc. xv. 11.
§ 12; Orell. Inscr. 3888; Not. Dign. ii. p. 72;
Böcking, ad loc. p. 472.) Connected with these
we find mentioned the Alpes Atractianae or Atrecti-
anae, a name otherwise wholly unknown.

5. The ALPES RHAETICAE, or Rhaetian Alps, may be considered as adjoining the Pennine Alps on the east, and including the greater part of the countries now called the Grisons and the Tyrol. Under this more general appellation appears to have been comprised the mountain mass called Mons Adula, in which both Strabo and Ptolemy place the sources of the Rhine [ADULA MONS], while Tacitus expressly tells us that that river rises in one of the most inaccessible and lofty mountains of the Rhaetian Alps. (Germ. 1.) The more eastern portion of the Rhaetian Alps, in which the Athesis and Atagis have their sources, is called by Pliny and by various other writers the ALPES TRIDENTINAE, from the important city of Tridentum in the Southern Tyrol. (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20; Dion Cass. liv. 22; Flor. iii. 4.)

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iii. 4; Plin. iii. 25. s. 28), while the more southern range, which bounds the plains of Venetia, and curves round the modern Frioul to the neighbourhood of Trieste, was variously known as the ALPES CARNICAE and JULIAE. The former designation, employed by Pliny (l. c.), they derived from the Carni who inhabited their mountain fastnesses: the latter, which appears to have become customary in later times (Tac. Hist. iii. 8; Amm. Marc. xxi. 9, xxxi. 16; Itin. Hier. p. 560; Sex. Ruf. Breviar. 7), from Julius Caesar, who first reduced the Carni to subjection, and founded in their territory the towns of Julium Carnicum and Forum Julii, of which the latter has given to the province its modern name of the Frioul. We find also this part of the Alps sometimes termed ALPES VENETAE (Amm. Marc. xxxi. 16. § 7) from their bordering on the province of Venetia. The mountain ridge immediately above Trieste, which separates the waters of the Adriatic from the valley of the Save, and connects the Alps, properly so called, with the mountains of Dalmatia and Illyricum, was known to the Romans as MONS ОCRA (Oкра, Strab. p. 207; Ptol. iii. 1. § 1), from whence one of the petty tribes in the neighbourhood of Tergeste was called the Subocrini. (Plin. iii. 20. s. 24.) Strabo justly observes that this is the lowest part of the whole Alpine range: in consequence of which it was from a very early period traversed by a much frequented pass, that became the medium of active commercial intercourse from the Roman colony of Aquileia with the valleys of the Save and Drave, and by means of those rivers with the plains on the banks of the Danube.

7. We also find, as already mentioned, the name of the Alps sometimes extended to the mountain ranges of Illyricum and Dalmatia: thus Pliny (xi. 42. s. 97) speaks of the ALPES DALMATICAE, and Tacitus of the ALPES PANNONICAE (Hist. ii. 98, iii. 1), by which however he perhaps means little more than the Julian Alps. But this extensive use of the term does not seem to have ever been generally adopted.

The physical characters of the Alps, and those natural phenomena which, though not peculiar to them, they yet exhibit on a greater scale than any other mountains of Europe, must have early attracted the attention of travellers and geographers: and the difficulties and dangers of the passes over them were, as was natural, greatly exaggerated. Polybius was the first to give a rational account of them, and has described their characteristic features on occasion of the passage of Hannibal in a manner of which the accuracy has been attested by all modern writers. Strabo also gives a very good account of them, noticing particularly the danger arising from the avalanches or sudden falls of snow and ice, which detached themselves from the vast frozen masses above, and hurried the traveller over the side of the precipice (p. 204). Few attempts appear to have been made to estimate their actual height; but Polybius remarks that it greatly exceeds that of the highest mountains of Greece and Thrace, Olympus, Ossa, Athos &c.: for that almost any of these mountains might 6. The eastern portion of the Alps from the valley be ascended by an active walker in a single day, of the Athesis and the pass of the Brenner to the while he would scarcely ascend the Alps in five: a plains of Pannonia and the sources of the Save appear statement greatly exaggerated. (Polyb. ap. Strab. to have been known by various appellations, of which p. 209.) Strabo on the contrary tells us, that the it is not easy to determine the precise extent or ap-direct ascent of the highest summits of the mountains plication. The northern arm of the chain, which in the territory of the Medulli, did not exceed extends through Noricum to the neighbourhood of 100 stadia, and the same distance for the descent on Vienna, was known as the ALPES NORICAE (Flor. the other side into Italy (p. 203), while Pliny

(ii. 65) appears to estimate the perpendicular height | of some of the loftiest summits at not less than fifty miles! The length of the whole range is estimated by Polybius at only 2200 stadia, while Caelius Antipater (quoted by Pliny iii. 18. s. 22) stated it as not less than 1000 miles, reckoning along the foot of the mountains from sea to sea. Pliny himself estimates the same distance calculated from the river Varus to the Arsia at 745 miles, a fair approximation to the truth. He also justly remarks that the very different estimates of the breadth of the Alps given by different authors were founded on the fact of its great inequality: the eastern portion of the range between Germany and Italy being not less than 100 miles across, while the other portions did not exceed 70. (Plin. iii. 19. s. 23.) Strabo tells us that while the more lofty summits of the Alps were either covered with perpetual snow, or so bare and rugged as to be altogether uninhabitable, the sides were clothed with extensive forests, and the lower slopes and vallies were cultivated and well peopled. There was however always a scarcity of corn, which the inhabitants procured from those of the plains in exchange for the productions of their mountains, the chief of which were resin, pitch, pine wood for torches, wax, honey, and cheese. Previous to the time of Augustus, the Alpine tribes had been given to predatory habits, and were continually plundering their more wealthy neighbours, but after they had been completely subdued and roads made through their territories they devoted themselves more to the arts of peace and husbandry. (Strab. pp. 206, 207.) Nor were the Alps wanting in more valuable productions. Gold mines or rather washings were worked in them in various places, especially in the territory of the Salassi (the Val d'Aosta), where the Romans derived a considerable revenue from them; and in the Noric Alps, near Aquileia, where gold was found in lumps as big as a bean after digging only a few feet below the surface (Strab. pp. 205, 208). The iron mines of the Noric Alps were also well known to the Romans, and highly esteemed for the excellent quality of the metal furnished by them, which was peculiarly well adapted for swords. (Plin. xxxiv. 14. s. 41; Hor. Carm. 1. 16. 9, Epod. xvii. 71.) The rock crystal so abundant in the Alps was much valued by the Romans, and diligently sought for in consequence by the natives. (Plin. xxxvii. 2. s. 9, 10.) Several kinds of animals are also noticed by ancient writers as peculiar to the Alps; among these are the Chamois (the rupicapra of Pliny), the Ibex, and the Marmot. Pliny also mentions white hares and white grouse or Ptarmigan. (Plin. viii. 79. s. 81, x. 68. 85; Varr. de R. R. iii. 12.) Polybius described a large animal of the deer kind, but with a neck like a wild boar, evidently the Elk (Cervus Alces) now found only in the north of Europe. (Polyb.ap.Strab. p.208.) It would be impossible here to enumerate in detail all the petty tribes which inhabited the vallies and slopes of the Alps. The inscription on the trophy of Augustus already mentioned, gives the names of not less than forty-four "Gentes Alpinae devictae," many of which are otherwise wholly unknown (Plin. iii. 20. s. 24). The inscription on the arch at Susa mentions fourteen tribes that were subject to Cottius, of which the greater part are equally obscure. (Orell. Inscr. 626; Millin, Voy. en Piemont, vol. i. p. 106.) Those tribes, whose locality can be determined with tolerable certainty, or whose names appear in history, will be found under their respective articles: for an examination of the whole list the

reader may consult Walckenaer, Geographie des Gaules vol. ii. pp. 43-66.

The eternal snows and glaciers of the Alps are the sources from which flow several of the largest rivers of Europe: the Rhone, the Rhine, and the Po, as well as the great tributaries of the Danube, the Inn, the Drave and the Save. It would be useless here to enter into a geographical or detailed enumeration of the countless minor streams which derive their sources from the Alps, and which will be found under the countries to which they severally belong.

Passes of the Alps.

Many of the passes across the great central chain of the Alps are so clearly indicated by the course of the rivers which rise in them, and the vallies through which these flow, that they must probably have been known to the neighbouring tribes from a very early period. Long before the passage of the western Alps by Hannibal, we know that these mountains were crossed by successive swarms of Gaulish invaders (Polyb. iii. 48; Liv. v. 33), and there is every reason to suppose that the more easily accessible passes of the Rhaetian and Julian Alps had afforded a way for the migrations of nations in still earlier ages. The particular route taken by Hannibal is still a subject of controversy.* But it is clear from the whole narrative of Polybius, that it was one already previously known and frequented by the mountaineers that guided him: and a few years later his brother Hasdrubal appears to have crossed the same pass with comparatively little difficulty. Polybius, according to Strabo, was acquainted with only four passes, viz.: 1. that through Liguria by the Maritime Alps; 2. that through the Taurini, which was the one traversed by Hannibal; 3. that through the Salassi; and 4. that through the Rhaetians. (Polyb. ap. Strab. p. 209.) At a later period Pompey, on his march into Spain (B. c. 77), opened out a passage for his army, which he describes as "different from that of Hannibal, but more convenient for the Romans." (Pompeii Epist. ap. Sallust. Hist. iii. p. 230, ed. Gerlach.) Shortly after this time Varro (in a passage in which there appears to be much confusion) speaks of five passes across the Alps (without including the more easterly ones), which he enumerates as follows: “Una, quae est juxta mare per Liguras; altera qua Hannibal transiit; tertia qua Pompeius ad Hispaniense bellum profectus est: quarta qua Hasdrubal de Gallia in Italiam venit: quinta, quae quondam a Graecis possessa est, quae exinde Alpes Graeciae appellantur." (Varr. ap. Serv. ad Aen. x. 13.) From the time of the reduction of the Transalpine Gauls by J. Caesar, and that of the Alpine tribes by Augustus, the passes over the Alps came to be well known, and were traversed by high roads, several of which, however, on account of the natural difficulties of the mountains, were not practicable for carriages. These passes were the following:

1. "PER ALPES MARITIMAS," along the coast of Liguria, at the foot of the Maritime Alps from Genua to the mouth of the Varus. Though the line of sea-coast must always have offered a natural means of communication, it could hardly have been frequented by the Romans until the wild tribes of the Ligurians had been effectually subdued; and it appears certain that no regular road was constructed

* See the article HANNIBAL, in the Dict. of Biogr vol. ii. p. 333, and the works there referred to.

along it till the time of Augustus. The monument which that emperor erected over the highest part of the pass (just above the Portus Monoeci), to commemorate the reduction of the Alpine tribes, is still extant, and the Roman road may be distinctly traced for several miles on each side of it. [TROPAEA AUGUSTI.] It did not follow the same line as the modern road, but, after ascending from near Mentone to the summit of the pass at Turbia, descended a side valley to Cemenelion (Cimiez), and proceeded from thence direct to the mouth of the Varus, leaving Nicaea on the left. The stations along this road from Vada Sabbata (Vado) to Antipolis are thus given in the Itin. Ant. p. 296: —

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M.P.

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xvi.

xii. Lumone
Alpe Summa (Turbia)
viii. Cemenelo (Cimiez)
XV. Varum flumen
Antipolis (Antibes)

M.P.
X.

viii.

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xvi.

vi.

- X.

Costa Balenae
Albintimilio (Vin-
timiglia)
This line of road is given in the Itinerary as a part
of the Via Aurelia, of which it was undoubtedly a
continuation; but we learn from the inscriptions of
the mile-stones discovered near Turbia that it was
properly called the Via Julia.

2. "PER ALPES COTTIAS," by the pass now called the Mont Genèvre, from Augusta Taurinorum to Brigantio (Briançon) and Ebrodunum (Embrun) in Gaul. This was the most direct line of communication from the north of Italy to Transalpine Gaul: it is evidently that followed by Caesar when he hastened to oppose the Helvetii, " qua proximum iter in ulteriorem Galliam per Alpes erat" (B. G. i. 10), and is probably the same already mentioned as having been first explored by Pompey. It was afterwards one of the passes most frequented by the Romans, and is termed by Ammianus (xv. 10) "via media et compendiaria." That writer has given a detailed account of the pass, the highest ridge of which was known by the name of MATRONAE MONS, a name retained in the middle ages, and found in the Itin. Hierosol. p. 556. Just at its foot, on the Italian side, was the station AD MARTIS, probably near the modern village of Oulx. The distances given in the Itin. Ant. (p. 341) are, from Taurini (Augusta Taurinorum) to Segusio (Susa) 51 M. P. (a great overstatement: the correct distance would be 36); thence

Ad Martis
Brigantio

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From thence there branched off two lines of road, the one by Lemincum (Chambery) and Augusta Allobrogum to Vienna, the other northwards to Geneva and the Lacus Lemannus.

4. PER ALPES PENNINAS," by the Great St. Bernard. This route, which branched off from the former at Augusta Praetoria, and led direct across the mountain, from thence to Octodurus (Martigny) in the valley of the Rhone, and the head of the Lake Lemannus, appears to have been known and frequented from very early times, though it was never rendered practicable for carriages. Caesar speaks of it as being used to a considerable extent by merchants and traders, notwithstanding the exactions to which they were subjected by the wild tribes that then occupied this part of the Alps. (B. G. iii. 1.) The numerous inscriptions and votive tablets that have been discovered sufficiently attest how much this pass was frequented in later times: and it was repeatedly traversed by Roman armies. (Orell. Inser. vol. i. p. 104; Tac. Hist. i. 61, iv. 68.) The distances by this road are thus given in the Itinerary. From Augusta Praetoria to the summit of the pass, Summo Pennino, where stood a temple of Jupiter M. P. xxv.; thence to Octodorus (Martigny) xxv.; and from thence to Viviscum (Vevay) 34 miles, passing two obscure stations, the names of which are probably corrupt.

5. The next pass, for which we find no appropriate name, led from the head of the Lacus Larius to Brigantia (Bregenz), on the Lake of Constance. We find no mention of this route in early times; but it must have been that taken by Stilicho, in the depth of winter, when he proceeded from Mediolanum through the Rhaetian Alps to summon the Vindelicians and Noricans to the relief of Honorius. (Claudian. B. Get. v. 320-360.) The Itineraries give two routes across this part of the Alps; the one apparently following the line of the modern pass of the Splügen, by Clavenna (Chiavenna) and Tarvessedo (?) to Curia (Coire): the other crossing the

xvi. Ramae - xviii. xviii. Eburodono xviii. Though now little frequented, this pass is one of the lowest and easiest of those over the main chain. 3. "PER ALPES GRAIAS," by the Little St. Ber-pass of the Septimer, by Murus and Tinnetio (Tinnard. This route, which led from Milan and the plains of the Po by the valley of the Salassi to Augusta Praetoria (Aosta), and from thence across the mountain pass into the valley of the Isara (Isère), and through the Tarentaise to Vienna and Lugdunum, is supposed by many writers to have been that followed by Hannibal. It was certainly crossed by D. Brutus with his army after the battle of Mutina, B. c. 43. But though it presents much less natural difficulties than its neighbour the Great St. Bernard, it appears to have been little frequented, on account of the predatory habits of the Salassians, until Augustus, after having completely subdued that people, constructed a carriage road over the Graian Alps, which thenceforward became one of the most important and frequented lines of communi

|

zen) to Curia, where it rejoined the preceding route. 6. "PER ALPES RHAETICAS or TRIDENTINAS," through the modern Tyrol, which, from the natural facilities it presents, must always have been one of the most obvious means of communication between Italy and the countries on the S. of the Danube. The high road led from Verona to Tridentum (where it was joined by a cross road from Opitergium through the Val Sugana), and thence up the valley of the Athesis as far as Botzen, from which point it followed the Atagis or Eisach to its source, and crossed the pass of the Brenner to Veldidana (Wilden, near Insbruck), and from thence across another mountain pass to Augusta Vindelicorum. [RHAETIA.]

7. A road led from Aquileia to Julium Carnicum (Zuglio), and from thence across the Julian Alps to

Loncium in the valley of the Gail, and by that valley | for believing that it anciently flowed to the NW., and the Puster Thal to join the preceding road at Vipitenum, near the foot of the Brenner. The stations (few of which can be determined with any certainty) are thus given (Itin. Ant. p. 279):

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M. P.
XXX.

XXX.

xxii.

xviii.

xxiii.

xxiii. xxxiii.

8. Another high road led from Aquileia eastward up the valley of the Wippach, and from thence across the barren mountainous tract of comparatively small elevation (the Mons Ocra), which separates it from the valley of the Savus, to Aemona in Pannonia. There can be no doubt that this pass, which presents no considerable natural difficulties, was from the earliest ages the highway of nations from the banks of the Danube into Italy, as it again became after the fall of the Roman empire. (P. Diac. ii. 10.) The distance from Aquileia to Aemona is given by the Itin. Ant. at 76 Roman miles, which cannot be far from the truth; but the intermediate stations are very uncertain.

[E. H. B.]

ALPHEIUS ('Aλpeïós: Ruféa, Rufiá or Rofiá, and River of Karitena), the chief river of Peloponnesus, rises in the SE. of Arcadia on the frontiers of Laconia, flows in a westerly direction through Arcadia and Elis, and after passing Olympia falls into the Ionian Sea. The Alpheius, like several other rivers and lakes in Arcadia, disappears more than once in the limestone mountains of the country, and then emerges again, after flowing some distance underground. Pausanias (viii. 54. § 1, seq., 44. §4) relates that the source of the Alpheius is at Phylace, on the frontiers of Arcadia and Laconia; and that, after receiving a stream rising from many small fountains, at a place called Symbola, it flows into the territory of Tegea, where it sinks underground. It rises again at the distance of 5 stadia from Asea, close to the fountain of the Eurotas. The two rivers then mix their waters, and after flowing in a common channel for the distance of nearly 20 stadia, they again sink underground, and reappear,- the Eurotas in Laconia, the Alpheius at Pegae, the Fountains, in the territory of Megalopolis in Arcadia. Strabo (p. 343) also states that the Alpheius and Eurotas rise from two fountains near Asea, and that, after flowing several stadia underground, the Eurotas reappears in the Bleminatis in Laconia, and the Alpheius in Arcadia. In another passage (p. 275) Strabo relates, that it was a common belief that if two chaplets dedicated to the Alpheius and the Eurotas were thrown into the stream near Asea, each would reappear at the sources of the river to which it was destined. This story accords with the statement of Pausanias as to the union of the waters from the two fountains, and their course in a common channel. The account of Pausanias is confirmed in many particulars by the observations of Colonel Leake and others. The river, in the first part of its course, is now called the Saranda, which rises at Krya Vrysi, the ancient Phylace, and which receives, a little below Krya Vrysi, a stream formed of several small mountain torrents, by which the ancient Symbola is recognised.

On entering the Tegeatic plain, the Saránda now flows to the NE.; but there are strong reasons

and disappeared in the Katavóthra of the marsh of Taki.* (Leake, Peloponnesiaca, p. 112, seq.) The two reputed sources of the Alpheius and Eurotas are found near the remains of Asea, at the copious source of water called Frangórrysi; but whether the source of the Alpheius be really the vent of the lake of Taki, cannot be decided with certainty. These two fountains unite their waters, as Pausanias describes, and again sink into the earth. After passing under a mountain called Tzimbanú, the Alpheius reappears at Múrmara, probably Pegae. (Leake, Morea, vol. iii. p. 37, seq.)

Below Pegae, the Alpheius receives the HELISSON ('EXwowv: River of Daviá), on which Megalopolis was situated, 30 stadia from the confluence. Below this, and near the town of Brenthe (Karitena), the Alpheius flows through a defile in the mountains, called the pass of Lavdha. This pass is the only opening in the mountains, by which the waters of central Arcadia find their way to the western sea. It divides the upper plain of the Alpheius, of which Megalopolis was the chief place, from the lower plain, in which Heraea was situated. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 19, seq.) Below Heraea, the Alpheius receives the LADON (Aádwv), which rises near Cleitor, and is celebrated in mythology as the father of Daphne. The Ladon is now called Ruféa, Rufiá or Rofiá, by which name the Alpheius is called below its junction with the Ladon. In the upper part of its course the Alpheius is usually called the River of Karitena. Below the Ladon, at the distance of 20 stadia, the Alpheius receives the ERYMANTHUS ('Epúμavbos), rising in the mountain of the same name, and forming the boundary between Elis and the territories of Heraea in Arcadia. After entering Elis, it flows past Olympia, forming the boundary between Pisatis and Triphylia, and falls into the Cyparissian gulf in the Ionian sea. At the mouth of the river was a temple and grove of Artemis Alpheionia. From the pass of Lavdha to the sea, the Alpheius is wide and shallow: in summer it is divided into several torrents, flowing between islands or sandbanks over a wide gravelly bed, while in winter it is full, rapid, and turbid. Its banks produce a great number of large plane-trees. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 67, lelo. ponnesiaca, p. 8.)

Alpheius appears as a celebrated river-god in mythology; and it was apparently the subterranean passage of the river in the upper part of its course which gave rise to the fable that the Alpheius flowed beneath the sea, and attempted to mingle its waters with the fountain of Arethusa in the island of Ortygia in Syracuse. (Dict. of Biogr. art. Alpheius.) Hence Ovid calls the nymph Arethusa, Alphetas. (Met. v. 487.) Virgil (Aen. x. 179) gives the epithet of Alpheae to the Etruscan city of Pisae, because the latter was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius flowed.

ALSA, a small river of Venetia (Plin. iii. 18. s. 22) still called the Ausa, which flows into the lagunes of Marano, a few miles W. of Aquileia. A battle was fought on its banks in A. D. 340, between the younger Constantine and the generals of his brother Constans, in which Constantine himself was slain, and his body thrown into the river Alsa. (Victor, Epit. 41. § 21; Hieron. Chron. ad ann. 2356.)

* The preceding account will be made clearer by referring to the map under MANTINEIA.

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