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to the hammers and forges of the god and his workmen the Cyclopes. (Thuc. iii. 88; Scymn. Ch. 257 -261; Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. iii. 41; Virg. Aen. viii. 418). According to Strabo there were three craters on this island, the largest of which was in a state of the most violent eruption. Polybius (ap. Strab. vi. p. 276), who appears to have visited it himself, described the principal crater as five stadia in circumference, but diminishing gradually to a width of only fifty feet, and estimated its depth at a stadium. From this crater were vomited forth sometimes flames, at others red hot stones, cinders and ashes, which were carried to a great distance. No ancient writer mentions streams of lava (púakes) similar to those of Aetna. The intensity and character of these eruptions was said to vary very much according to the direction of the wind, and from these indications, as well as the gathering of mists and clouds around the summit, the inhabitants of the neighbouring island of Lipara professed to foretell the winds and weather, a circumstance which was believed to have given rise to the fable of Aeolus ruling the winds. The modern Lipariots still maintain the same pretension. (Strab. I. c.; Smyth's Sicily, p. 270.) At a later period Hiera seems to have abated much of its activity, and the younger Lucilius (a contemporary of Seneca) speaks of its fires as in a great measure cooled. (Lucil. Aetn. 437.)

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We hear much less from ancient authors of the volcanic phenomena of Strongyle than those of Hiera: but Diodorus describes them as of similar character, while Strabo tells us that the eruptions were less violent, but produced a more brilliant light. Pliny says nearly the same thing: and Mela speaks of both Hiera and Strongyle as burning with perpetual fire." Lucilius on the contrary (Aetna, 434) describes the latter as merely smoking, and occasionally kindled into a blaze, but for a short time. Diodorus tells us that the eruptions both of Hiera and Strongyle were observed for the most part to alternate with those of Aetna, on which account it was supposed by many that there was a subterranean communication between them.

Besides these ordinary volcanic phenomena, which appear to have been in ancient times (as they still are in the case of Stromboli) in almost constant operation, we find mention of several more remarkable and unusual outbursts. The earliest of these is the one recorded by Aristotle (Meteorol. ii. 8), where he tells us that "in the island of Hiera the earth swelled up with a loud noise, and rose into the form of a considerable hillock, which at length burst and sent forth not only vapour, but hot cinders and ashes in such quantities that they covered the whole city of Lipara, and some of them were carried even to the coast of Italy." The vent from which they issued (he adds) remained still visible: and this was probably one of the craters seen by Polybius. At a later period Posidonius described an eruption that took place in the sea between Hiera and Euonymus, which after producing a violent agitation of the waters, and destroying all the fish, continued to pour forth mud, fire and smoke for several days, and ended with giving rise to a small island of a rock like millstone (lava), on which the praetor T. Flamininus landed and offered sacrifices. Posidon. ap. Strab. vi. p. 277.) This event is mentioned by Posidonius as occurring within his own memory; and from the mention of Flamininus as practor it is almost certain that it is the same circumstance

| recorded by Pliny (ii. 87) as occurring in O1. 163. 3, or B. c. 126. The same phenomenon is less accurately described by Julius Obsequens (89) and Orosius (v. 10), both of whom confirm the above date: but the last author narrates (iv. 20) at a much earlier period (B. C. 186) the sudden emergence from the sea of an island which he erroneously supposes to have been the Vulcani Insula itself: but which was probably no other than the rock now called Vulcanello, situated at the NE. extremity of Vulcano, and united to that island only by a narrow isthmus formed of volcanic sand and ashes. It still emits smoke and vapour and contains two small craters.*

None of the Aeolian islands, except Lipara, appear to have been inhabited in ancient times to any extent. Thucydides expressly tells us (iii. 88) that in his day Lipara alone was inhabited, and the other islands, Strongyle, Didyme, and Hiera, were cultivated by the Liparaeans; and this statement is confirmed by Diodorus (v. 9). Strabo however speaks of Euonymus as uninhabited in a manner that seems to imply that the larger islands were not so: and the remains of ancient buildings which have been found not only on Salina and Stromboli, but even on the little rock of Basiluzzo, prove that they were resorted to by the Romans, probably for the sake of medical baths, for which the volcanic vapours afforded every facility. Hiera on the contrary apparently remained always uninhabited, as it does at the present day. But the excellence of its port (Lucil. Aetn. 442) rendered it of importance as a naval station, and we find both Hiera and Strongyle occupied by the fleet of Augustus during the war with Sex. Pompeius in B. c. 36. (Appian. B. C. v. 105.) All the islands suffered great disadvantage, as they still do, from the want of water, consequent on the light and porous nature of the volcanic soil. (Thuc. iii. 88; Smyth's Sicily, p. 249.) But though little adapted for agriculture they possessed great resources in their stores of alum, sulphur, and pumice, which were derived both from Hiera and Strongyle, and exported in large quantities. The sea also abounded in fish; and produced coral of the finest quality. (Plin. xxxii. 2. § 11, xxxv. 15. §§ 50, 52, xxxvi. 21. § 42; Lucil. Aetn. 432.)

It is scarcely necessary to inquire which of the Aeolian islands has the most claim to be considered as the residence of Aeolus himself. Homer certainly speaks only of one island, and is followed in this respect by Virgil. But the "floating island" of the elder poet, "girt all around with a wall of brass," is scarcely susceptible of any precise geographical determination. The common tradition among the later Greeks seems to have chosen the island of Lipara itself as the dwelling of Aeolus, and the explanation of the fable above alluded to is evidently adapted to this assumption. But Strabo and Pliny both place the abode of the ruler of the winds in Strongyle, and the latter transfers to that island what others related of Hiera. Ptolemy on the contrary, by a strange confusion, mentions the island of Aeolus (Alóλov vñσos, iii. 4. § 17) as something altogether distinct from the Aeolian islands, which he had previously enumerated separately: while Eustathius (ad Hom. Odyss. x. 1) reckons it as one of the seven, omitting Euonymus to make room for it, though in another

*The same event appears to be more obscurely alluded to by Livy (xxxix. 56).

passage (ad Dionys. Per. 461) he follows Strabo's | as Thuria, and by Pausanias the same as Corone. authority, and identifies it with Strongyle.

(Hom. I. ix. 152; Strab. p. 360; Paus. iv. 34. § 5.)

2. A town in Cyprus, situated on a mountain, the ruler of which is said to have removed to the plain, upon the advice of Solon, and to have named the new town Soli in honour of the Athenian. There is still a place, called Epe, upon the mountain above the ruins of Soli. (Plut. Sol. 26; Steph. B. s. v., Engel, Kypros, vol. i. p. 75.)

AEPY (Almu: Eth. Aimúrns), a town in Elis, so called from its lofty situation, is mentioned by Homer, and is probably the same as the Triphylian town Epeium (Ήπειον, Επιον, Αἰπίον), which stood between Macistus and Heraea. Leake places it on the high peaked mountain which lies between the villages of Vrind and Smerna, about 6 miles in direct distance from Olympia. Boblaye supposes it to occupy the site of Hellenista, the name of some ruins on a hill between Platiana and Barakou. (Hom. Il. ii. 592; Xen. Hell. iii. 2. § 30; Pol. iv. 77. § 9, iv. 80. § 13; Strab. p. 349; Steph. B. s. v.; Stat. Theb. iv. 180; Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 206; Boblaye, Recherches, &c., p. 136.)

For an account of the present state of the Lipari Islands and their volcanic phenomena the reader may consult Smyth's Sicily, chap. vii. p. 274-278; Ferrara, Campi Flegrei della Sicilia, p. 199-252; Daubeny, On Volcanoes, ch. 14, pp. 245-263, 2nd elit. The history of the islands is almost wholly dependent on that of LIPARA, and will be found in that article. [E. H. B.] AEOLIS (Aloxís, Aeolia), a district on the west cast of Asia Minor, which is included by Strabo in the larger division of Mysia. The limits of Aeolis are variously defined by the ancient geographers. Strabo (p. 582) makes the river Hermus and Phocaea the southern limits of Aeolis and the northern of Ionia. He observes (p. 586), that "as Homer makes one of Aeolis and Troja, and the Aeolians occupied the whole country from the Hermus to the coast in the neighbourhood of Cyzicus and founded cities, neither shall I imperfectly make my description by putting together that which is now properly called Acolis, which extends from the Herinus to Lectum, and the AEQUI, AEQUI'CULI or AEQUICULA'NI country which extends from Lectum to the Ae- (Alkoι and Aikovo, Strab.; Aikavol, Dion. Hal.; sepus." Aeolis, therefore, properly so called, ex- Aikovikλoí, Ptol.; AKIKAOL, Diod.), one of the most tended as far north as the promontory of Lectum, ancient and warlike nations of Italy, who play a at the northern entrance of the bay of Adramyttium. conspicuous part in the early history of Rome. The bay of Adramyttium is formed by the S. They inhabited the mountainous district around the coast of the mountainous tract in which Ilium upper valley of the Anio, and extending from thence stood, by the island of Lesbos, and by the coast of to the Lake Fucinus, between the Latins and the Aeolis S. of Adramyttium, which runs from that Marsi, and adjoining the Hernici on the east, and the town in a SW. direction. The coast is irregular. Sabines on the west. Their territory was subseSouth of the bay of Adrainyttium is a recess, at the quently included in Latium, in the more extended northern point of which are the Hecatonnesi, a sense given to that name under the Roman empire numerous group of small islands, and the southern (Strab. v. p. 228, 231). There appears no doubt boundary of which is the projecting point of the that the AEQUICULI or AEQUICOLI are the same mainland, which lies nearest opposite to the southern people with the AEQUI, though in the usage of later extremity of Lesbos. The peninsula on which the times the former name was restricted to the inhabittown of Phocaea stood, separates the gulf of Cume ants of the more central and lofty vallies of the on the N. from the bay of Smyrna on the S. The Apennines, while those who approached the borders gulf of Cume receives the rivers Evenus and Caïcus. of the Latin plain, and whose constant wars with The territory of the old Aeolian cities extended the Romans have made them so familiarly known to northward from the Hermus to the Caïcus, com- us, uniformly appear under the name of Aequi. It prising the coast and a tract reaching 10 or 12 is probable that their original abode was in the highmiles inland. Between the bay of Adramyttium land districts, to which we find them again limited and the Caicus were the following towns:-Cisthene at a later period of their history. The Aequiculi (Kiothon, Chirin-koi), on a promontory, a deserted are forcibly described by Virgil as a nation of rude place in Strabo's time. There was a port, and a mountaineers, addicted to the chase and to predatory copper mine in the interior, above Cisthene. Fur- habits, by which they sought to supply the defither south were Coryphantis (Kopupavrís), Hera-ciencies of their rugged and barren soil (Virg. Aen. cleia ('Hpakλeía), and Attea (ˇATTea, Ajasmat-koi). Coryphantis and Heracleia once belonged to the Mytilenaeans. Herodotus (i. 149) describes the tract of country which these Aeolians possessed, as superior in fertility to the country occupied by the cities of the Ionian confederation, but inferior in climate. He enumerates the following 11 cities: Cume, called Phriconis; Lerissae, Neon Teichos, Temnus, Cilla, Notium, Aegiroessa, Pitane, Aegaeae, Myrina, and Grynexa. Smyrna, which was originally one of them, and made the number 12, fell into the hands of the Ionians. Herodotus says, that these 11 were all the Aeolian cities on the mainland, except those in the Ida; "for these are separated" (i. 151); and in another place (v. 122) Herodotus calls those people Aeolians who inhabited the Ilias, or district of Ilium. [G. L.] AEPEIA (Almeia: Eth. Aireάrns). 1. One of the seven Messenian towns, offered by Agamemnon to Achilles, is supposed by Strabo to be the same

vii. 747; Sil. Ital. viii. 371; Ovid. Fast. iii. 93). As the only town he assigns to them is Nersae, the site of which is unknown, there is some uncertainty as to the geographical position of the people of whom he is speaking, but he appears to place them next to the Marsians. Strabo speaks of them in one passage as adjoining the Sabines near Cures, in another as bordering on the Latin Way (v. pp. 231, 237): both of which statements are correct, if the name be taken in its widest signification. The form AEQUICULANI first appears in Pliny (iii. 12. § 17), who however uses Aequiculi also as equivalent to it: he appears to restrict the term to the inhabitants of the vallies bordering on the Marsi, and the only towns he assigns to them are Carseoli and Cliternia At a later period the name appears to have been almost confined to the population of the upper valley of the Salto, between Reate and the Lake Fucinus, a district which still retains the name of Cicolano, evidently a corruption from Aequiculanum.

No indication is found in any ancient author of their origin or descent: but their constant association with the Volscians would lead us to refer them to a common stock with that nation, and this circumstance, as well as their position in the rugged upland districts of the Apennines, renders it probable that they belonged to the great Oscan or Ausonian race, which, so far as our researches can extend, may be regarded as the primeval population of a large part of central Italy. They appear to have received at a later period a considerable amount of Sabine influence, and probably some admixture with that race, especially where the two nations bordered on one another: but there is no ground for assuming any community of origin (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 72; Abeken, Mittel Italien, pp. 46, 47, 84).

ac prope solenne in singulos annos bellum," Liv. iii. 15). Notwithstanding the exaggerations and poetical embellishments with which the history of these wars has been disguised, we may discern pretty clearly three different periods or phases into which they may be divided. 1. From B. c. 494 to about the time of the Decemvirate B. C. 450 was the epoch of the greatest power and successes of the Aequians. In B. C. 463 they are first mentioned as encamping on Mount Algidus, which from thenceforth became the constant scene of the conflicts between them and the Romans: and it seems certain that during this period the Latin towns of Bola, Vitellia, Corbio, Labicum, and Pedum fell into their hands. The alleged victory of Cincinnatus in B. c. 458, on which so much stress has been laid by some later writers The Aequians first appear in Roman history as (Florus i. 11), appears to have in reality done little occupying the rugged mountain district at the back to check their progress. 2. From B. C. 450 to the of Tibur and Praeneste (both of which always con-invasion of the Gauls their arms were comparatively tinued to be Latin towns), and extending from unsuccessful: and though we find them still conthence to the confines of the Hernicans, and the tending on equal terms with the Romans and with valley of the Trerus or Sacco. But they gradually many vicissitudes of fortune, it is clear that on the encroached upon their Latin neighbours, and ex- whole they had lost ground. The great victory tended their power to the mountain front immediately gained over them by the dictator A. Postumius Tuabove the plains of Latium. Thus Bola, which was bertus in B. C. 428 may probably be regarded as the originally a Latin town, was occupied by them for a turning-point of their fortunes (Liv. iv. 26-29; considerable period (Liv. iv. 49): and though they Diod. xii. 64; Ovid. Fast. vi. 721; Niebuhr, vol. ii. were never able to reduce the strong fortress of p. 454): and the year B. C. 415 is the last in which Praeneste, they continually crossed the valley which we find them occupying their customary position on separated them from the Alban hills and occupied Mount Algidus (Liv. iv. 45). It is not improbable, the heights of Mt. Algidus. The great development as suggested by Niebuhr, that the growing power of of their power was coincident with that of the Vol- the Samnites, who were pressing on the Volscians scians, with whom they were so constantly asso- upon the opposite side, may have drawn off the ciated, that it is probable that the names and forces of the Aequians also to the support of their operations of the two nations have frequently been allies, and thus rendered them less able to cope with confounded. Thus Niebuhr has pointed out that the power of Rome. But it is certain that before the conquests assigned by the legendary history to the end of this period most of the towns which they Coriolanus, doubtless represent not only those of the had conquered from the Latins had been again Volscians, but of the Aequians also: and the "cas- wrested from their hands. 3. After the invasion of tellum ad lacum Fucinum," which Livy describes the Gauls the Aequians appear again in the field, (iv. 57) as taken from the Volscians in B. C. 405, but with greatly diminished resources: probably must in all probability have been an Aequian fortress they suffered severely from the successive swarms of (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 72, vol. ii. pp. 244, 259). It barbarian invaders which swept over this part of is impossible here to recapitulate the endless petty Italy: and after two unsuccessful campaigns in B. C. wars between the Aequians and Romans: the fol- 386 and 385 they appear to have abandoned the lowing brief summary will supply a general outline contest as hopeless: nor does their name again apof their principal features. pear in Roman history for the space of above 80 years. But in B. C. 304 the fate of their neighbours the Hernicans aroused them to a last struggle, which terminated in their total defeat and subjection. Their towns fell one after another into the hands of the victorious Romans, and the Aequian nation (says Livy) was almost utterly exterminated (Liv. ix. 45). This expression is however certainly exaggerated, for we find them again having recourse to arms twice within the next few years, though on both occasions without success (Liv. x. 1, 9). It was probably after the last of these attempts that they were admitted to the rights of Roman citizens: and became included in the two new tribes, the Aniensis and Terentina, which were created at this period (Cic. de Off. i. 11; Liv. x. 9; Niebuhr, vol. iii. p. 267).

The first mention of the Aequi in Roman history is during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus*, who waged war with them with great success, and reduced them to at least a nominal submission (Strab. v. p. 231; Cic. de Rep. ii. 20). The second Tarquin is also mentioned as having concluded a peace with them, which may perhaps refer to the same transaction (Liv. i. 55; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 359). But it was not till after the fall of the Roman monarchy that they appear in their more formidable aspect. In B. C. 494 they are first mentioned as invading the territory of the Latins, which led that people to apply for assistance to Rome: and from this time forth the wars between the Aequians and Volscians on the one side, and the Romans assisted by the Latins and Hernicans on the other, were events of almost regular and annual recurrence (" statum jam

A tradition, strangely at variance with the other accounts of their habits and character, represents them as the people from whom the Romans derived the Jus Fetiale (Liv. i. 32; Dion. Hal. ii. 72). Others with more plausibility referred this to the Aequi Falisci (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 695).

From this time the name of the Aequi altogether disappears from history, and would seem to have fallen into disuse, being probably merged in that of the Latins: but those of Aequiculi and Aequiculani still occur for the inhabitants of the upland and more secluded vallies which were not included within the limits of Latium, but belonged to the fourth region of Augustus: and afterwards to the province called Valeria. In Imperial times we even

find the Aequiculani in the valley of the Salto constituting a regular municipal body, so that "Res Publica Aequiculanorum" and a "Municipium Aequicolanorum are found in inscriptions of that period (Orell. no. 3931; Ann. dell. Inst. vol. vi. p. 111, not.). Probably this was a mere aggregation of scattered villages and hamlets such as are still found in the district of the Cicolano. In the Liber Coloniarum (p. 255) we find mention of the "Ecicylanus ager, evidently a corruption of Aequiculanus, as is shown by the recurrence of the same form in charters and documents of the middle ages (Holsten. not. ad Cluver. p. 156).

It is not a little remarkable that the names of scarcely any cities belonging to the Aequians have been transmitted to us. Livy tells us that in the decisive campaign of B. C. 304, forty-one Aequian towns were taken by the Roman consuls (ix. 45): but he mentions none of them by name, and from the ease and rapidity with which they were reduced, it is probable that they were places of little importance. Many of the smaller towns and villages now scattered in the hill country between the vallies of the Sacco and the Anio probably occupy ancient sites: two of these, Civitella and Olevano, present remains of ancient walls and substructions of rude polygonal masonry, which may probably be referred to a very early period (Abeken, Mittel Italien, pp. 140, 147; Bullett. dell. Inst. 1841, p. 49). The numerous vestiges of ancient cities found in the valley of the Salto, may also belong in many instances to the Aequians, rather than the Aborigines, to whom they have been generally referred. The only towns expressly assigned to the Aequiculi by Pliny and Ptolemy are CARSEOLI in the upper valley of the Turano, and CLITERNIA in that of the Salto. To these may be added ALBA FUCENSIS, which we are expressly told by Livy was founded in the territory of the Aequians, though on account of its superior importance, Pliny ranks the Albenses as a separate people (Pliny iii. 12. 17; Ptol.iii. 1. § 56; Liv. x. 1). VARIA, which is assigned to the Aequians by several modern writers, appears to have been properly a Sabine town. NERSAE, mentioned by Virgil (Aen. vii. 744) as the chief place of the Aequiculi, is not noticed by any other writer, and its site is wholly uncertain. Besides these, Pliny (7. c.) mentions the Comini, Tadiates, Caelici, and Alfaterni as towns or communities of the Aequiculi, which had ceased to exist in his time: all four names are otherwise wholly unknown.

[E. H. B.] AÉQUINOC'TIUM or AEQUINOC'TIAE (Fischament), a Roman fort in Upper Pannonia, situated upon the Danube, and according to the Notitia Imperii, the quarters of a squadron of Dalmatian cavalry. (Tab. Peut.; Itin. Antonin.) [W.B.D.] AEROPUS, a mountain in Greek Illyria, on the river Aous, and opposite to Mount Asnaus. Aeropus probably corresponds to Trebusin, and Asnans to Nemértzika. (Liv. xxxii. 5; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 389.)

AESEPUS (& Atonnos), a river of Northern Mysia, mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 825, &c.) as flowing past Zeleia, at the foot of Ida; and in another passage (Il. xii. 21) as one of the streams that flow from Ida. According to Strabo's interpretation of Homer, the Aesepus was the eastern boundary of Mysia. The Aesepus is the largest river of Mysia. According to Strabo, it rises in Mount Cotylus, one of the summits of Ida (p. 602), and the distance between its source and its outlet is near 500 stadia.

It is joined on the left bank by the Caresus, another stream which flows from Cotylus; and then taking a NE. and N. course, it enters the Propontis, between the mouth of the Granicus and the city of Cyzicus. The modern name appears not to be clearly ascertained Leake calls it Boklu. [G. L.] AESE'RNIA (Aloepvía: Eth. Aeserninus; but Pliny and later writers have Eserninus), a city of Samnium, included within the territory of the Pentrian tribe, situated in the valley of the Vulturnus, on a small stream flowing into that river, and distant 14 miles from Venafrum. The Itinerary (in which the name is corruptly written Serni) places it on the road from Aufidena to Bovianum, at the distance of 28 M. P. from the former, and 18 from the latter; but the former number is corrupt, as are the distances in the Tabula. (Itin. Ant. p. 102; Tab. Peut.; Plin. iii. 12. 17; Ptol. iii. 1. § 67; Sil. Ital. viii. 568.) The modern city of Isernia retains the ancient site as well as name. The first mention of it in history occurs in B. c. 295, at which time it had already fallen into the hands of the Romans, together with the whole valley of the Vulturnus. (Liv x. 31.) After the complete subjugation of the Samnites, a colony, with Latin rights (colonia Latina) was settled there by the Romans in B. C. 264; and this is again mentioned in B. C. 209 as one of the eighteen which remained faithful to Rome at the most trying period of the Second Punic War. (Liv. Epit. xvi. xxvii. 10; Vell. Pat. i. 14.) During the Social War it adhered to the Roman cause, and was gallantly defended against the Samnite general Vettius Cato, by Marcellus, nor was it till after a long protracted siege that it was compelled by famine to surrender, B. C. 90. Henceforth it continued in the hands of the confederates; and at a later period of the contest afforded a shelter to the Samnite leader, Papius Mutilus, after his defeat by Sulla. It even became for a time, after the successive fall of Corfinium and Bovianum, the head quarters of the Italian allies. (Liv. Epit. lxxii, lxxiii.; Appian. B. C. i. 41, 51; Diod. xxxvii. Exc. Phot. p. 539; Sisenna ap. Nonium, p. 70.) At this time it was evidently a place of importance and a strong fortress, but it was so severely punished for its defection by Sulla after the final defeat of the Samnites, that Strabo speaks of it as in his time utterly deserted. (Strab. v. p. 238, 250.) We learn, however, that a colony was sent there by Caesar, and again by Augustus; but apparently with little success, on which account it was recolonized under Nero. It never, however, enjoyed the rank of a colony, but appears from inscriptions to have been a municipal town of some importance in the time of Trajan and the Antonines. To this period belong the remains of an aqueduct and a fine Roman bridge, still visible; while the lower parts of the modern walls present considerable portions of polygonal construction, which may be assigned either to the ancient Samnite city, or to the first Roman colony. The modern city is still the see of a bishop, and contains about 7000 inhabitants. (Lib. Colon. pp. 233, 260; Zumpt, de Coloniis, pp. 307, 360,

AISERNING

COIN OF AESERNIA.

392; Inscrr. ap. Romanelli, vol. ii. pp. 470, 471; | Jason. (Apoll. Rhod. i. 411, and Schol.; Steph. Craven's Abruzzi, vol. ii. p. 83; Hoare's Classical || B. s. v.) Tour, vol. i. p. 227.)

AE'STUI (this is the correct reading), a people The coins of Aesernia, which are found only in of Germany, consisting of several tribes (Acstuocopper, and have the legend AISERNINO, belong to rum gentes), whose manners are minutely described the period of the first Roman colony; the style of by Tacitus (Germ. 45). They dwelt in the NE. of their execution attests the influence of the neigh- Germany, on the SE. or E. of the Baltic, bordering bouring Campania. (Millingen, Numismatique de on the Venedi of Sarmatia. In their general apItalie, p. 218.) [E. H. B.] pearance and manners they resembled the Suevi: AE'SICA, was a Roman frontier castle in the their language was nearer to that of Britain. They line of Hadrian's rampart, and probably corresponds worshipped the mother of the gods, in whose honour to the site of Greatchester. It is, however, placed they wore images of boars, which served them as by some antiquaries at the Danish village of Ne-amulets in war. They had little iron, and used therby, on the river Esk. It is mentioned by clubs instead of it. They worked more patiently at George of Ravenna, and in the Notitia Imperii, and tilling the land than the rest of the Germans. They was the quarters of Cohors I. Astorum. [W. B. D.] gathered amber on their coasts, selling it for the AESIS (Alois, Strab.; Alvivos, App.), a river on Roman market, with astonishment at its price. the east coast of Italy, which rises in the Apennines They called it Glessum, perhaps Glas, i. e. glass. near Matilica, and flows into the Adriatic, between They are also mentioned by Cassiodorus (Var. v. Ancona and Sena Gallica; it is still called the Esino. Ep. 2.) They were the occupants of the present It constituted in early times the boundary between coast of Prussia and Courland, as is evident by the territory of the Senonian Gauls and Picenum; what Tacitus says about their gathering amber. and was, therefore, regarded as the northern limit of Their name is probably collective, and signifies the Italy on the side of the Adriatic. But after the de- East men. It appears to have reached Tacitus in struction of the Senones, when the confines of Italy the form Easte, and is still preserved in the modern were extended to the Rubicon, the Aesis became the Esthen, the German name of the Esthonians. The boundary between the two provinces of Umbria and statement of Tacitus, that the language of the Aestui Picenum. (Strab. v. pp. 217, 227, 241; Plin. iii. was nearer to that of Britain, is explained by Dr. 14. 19; Mela, ii. 4; Ptol. iii. 1. § 22, where the Latham by the supposition that the language of the name is corruptly written "Aotos; Liv. v. 35.) Ac-Aestui was then called Prussian, and that the simicording to Silius Italicus (viii. 446) it derived its appellation from a Pelasgian chief of that name, who had ruled over this part of Italy. There can be no doubt that the Aesinus of Appian (B. C. i. 87), on the banks of which a great battle was fought between Metellus and Carinas, the lieutenant of Carbo, in B. C. 82, is the same with the Aesis of other writers. In the Itinerary we find a station (AD AESIM) at the mouth of the river, which was distant 12 M. P. from Sena Gallica, and 8 from Ancona. (Itin. Ant. p. 316.) [E. H. B.]

AESIS or AE'SIUM (Alois, Ptol.; Alotov, Strab.; Eth. Aesinas, -atis), a town of Umbria situated on the N. bank of the river of the same name, about 10 miles from its mouth. It is still called Iesi, and is an episcopal town of some consideration. Pliny mentions it only as an ordinary municipal town: but we learn from several inscriptions that it was a Roman colony, though the period when it attained this rank is unknown. (Inserr. ap. Gruter. p. 446. 1, 2; Orelli, no. 3899, 3900; Zumpt, de Colon. p. 359.) According to Pliny (H. N. xi. 42, 97) it was noted for the excellence of its cheeses.

The form Aesium, which is found only in Strabo, is probably erroneous, Aloor being, according to Kramer, a corrupt reading for 'Avioiov. (Strab. v. p. 227; Ptol. iii. 1. § 53; Plin. iii. 14. 19.) [E.H.B.] AESITAE (Aloirai or Avoîrai, Ptol. v. 19. § 2; comp. Bochart. Phaleg. i. 8), were probably the inhabitants of the region upon the borders of Chaldaea, which the Hebrews designated as the land of Uz (Job,i. 1, xv. 17; Jerem. xxv. 20), and which the 70 translators render by the word Avcîris (comp. Winer, Bibl. Realwörterb. vol. ii. p. 755). Strabo (p. 767) calls the Regio Aesitarum Macina (Maxiv). They were a nomade race, but from their possessing houses and villages, had apparently settled pastures on the Chaldaean border. [W. B. D.]

AESON or AESO'NIS (Atʊwv, Aiowris: Eth. Alovios), a town of Magnesia in Thessaly, the name of which is derived from Aeson, the father of

larity of this word to British caused it to be mis-
taken for the latter. On the various questions
respecting the Aestui, see Ukert, vol. iii. pt. i. pp.
420-422, and Latham, The Germania of Tacitus,
p. 166, seq.
[P. S.]

AE'SULA (Eth. Aesulanus), a city of Latium,
mentioned by Pliny among those which in his time
had entirely ceased to exist (iii. 5. § 9). It appears
from his statement to have been one of the colonies
or dependencies of Alba, but its name does not occur
in the early history of Rome. In the Second Punic
War, however, the Arx Aesulania is mentioned by
Livy as one of the strongholds which it was deemed
necessary to occupy with a garrison on the approach
of Hannibal. (Liv. xxvi. 9.) The well-known allu-
sion of Horace (Carm. iii. 29. 6) to the "declive
arvum Aesulae," shows that its name at least was
still familiarly known in his day, whether the city
still existed or not, and points to its situation in full
view of Rome, probably on the hills near Tibur.
Gell has with much probability placed it on the
slope of the mountain called Monte Affliano, about
2 miles SE. of Tivoli, which is a conspicuous ob-
ject in the view from Rome, and the summit of
which commands an extensive prospect, so as to
render it well adapted for a look-out station.
Arx mentioned by Livy was probably on the summit
of the mountain, and the town lower down, where
Gell observed vestiges of ancient roads, and “ many
foundations of the ancient walls in irregular blocks.”
Nibby supposes it to have occupied a hill, called in
the middle ages Colle Faustiniano, which is a lower
offshoot of the same mountain, further towards the
S.; but this position does not seem to correspond so
well with the expressions either of Livy or Horace.
(Gell, Topography of Rome, p. 9; Nibby, Dintorni
di Roma, vol. i. p. 32.) Velleius Paterculus (i. 14)
speaks of a colony being sent in the year 246 B. C.
to AESULUM; but it seems impossible that a place
so close to Rome itself should have been colonized at
so late a period, and that no subsequent mention

The

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