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ABASCI, ABASGI ('Αβασκοί, ̓Αβασγοί), 2 Scythian people in the N. of Colchis, on the confines of Sarmatia Asiatica (within which they are sometimes included), on the Abascus or Abasgus, one of the small rivers flowing from the Caucasus into the NE. part of the Euxine. They carried on a considerable slave-trade, especially in beautiful boys, whom they sold to Constantinople for eunuchs. These practices were suspended for a time, on their nominal conversion to Christianity, during the reign of Justinian; but the slave-trade in these regions was at least as old as the time of Herodotus (iii. 97), and has continued to the present time. (Arrian. Peripl. Pont. Eux. p. 12; Procop. B. Goth. iv. 3, B. Pers. ii. 29; Steph. B. s. v. Závviyai.) [P.S.]

ABASCUS, ABASGUS. [ABASCI.]

A'BATOS, a rocky island in the Nile, near Philae, which the priests alone were permitted to enter. (Senec. Q. N. iv. 2; Lucan, x. 323.)

ABBASSUS or AMBASUM (Abbassus, Liv.; Αμβασον, Steph. B. s. v.: Eth. ̓Αμβασίτης), 2 town of Phrygia, on the frontiers of the Tolistoboii, in Galatia. (Liv. xxxviii. 15.) It is, perhaps, the same as the ALAMASSUS of Hierocles, and the AMADASSE of the Councils. (Hierocles, p. 678, with Wesseling's note.)

the Odrysae when at its height at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. In B. C. 408 Abdera was reduced under the power of Athens by Thrasybulus, then one of the Athenian generals in that quarter. (Diod. xii. 72.) Diodorus speaks of it as being then in a very flourishing state. The first blow to its prosperity was given in a war in which it was engaged B. c. 376 with the Triballi, who had at this time become one of the most powerful tribes of Thrace. After a partial success, the Abderitae were nearly cut to pieces in a second engagement, but were rescued by Chabrias with an Athenian force. (Diod. xv. 36.) But little mention of Abdera occurs after this. Pliny speaks of it as being in his time a free city (iv. 18). In later times it seems to have sunk into a place of small repute. It is said in the middle ages to have had the name of Polystylus. Dr. Clarke (Travels, vol. iii. p. 422) mentions his having searched in vain on the east bank of the Nestus for any traces of Abdera, probably from imagining it to have stood close to the river.

ABDE'RA. 1. (τὰ "Αβδηρα, also "Αβδηρον οι -ος; Abdera, -orum, Liv. xlv. 29; Abdera, -ae, Plin. XXV. 53: Eth. 'A6onpirns, Abderites or -ita: Adj. 'AbonρITIKós, Abderiticus, Abderitanus), a town upon the southern coast of Thrace, at some distance to the E. of the river Nestus. Herodotus, indeed, in one passage (vii. 126), speaks of the river as flowing through Abdera ( d'Abdhpwv péwv NéσTos, but cf. c. 109, Kaтà A6пpa). According to mythology, it was founded by Heracles in honour of his favourite Abderus. (Strab. p. 331.) History, however, mentions Timesius or Timesias of Clazomerae as its first founder. (Herod. i. 168.) His colony was unsuccessful, and he was driven out by the Thracians. Its date is fixed by Eusebius, B. C. 656. In B. C. 541, the inhabitants of Teos, unable to resist Harpagus, who had been left by Cyrus, after his capture of Sardis, to complete the subjugation of Ionia, and unwilling to submit to him, took ship and sailed to Thrace, and there recolonised Abdera. (Herod. 1. c.; Scymnus Chius, 665; Strah p. 644.) Fifty years afterwards, when Xerxes invaded Greece, Abdera seems to have become a place of considerable importance, and is mentioned as one of the cities which had the expensive honour of entertaining the great king on his march into Greece. (Herod. vii. 120.) On his flight after the battle of Salamis, Xerxes stopped at Abdera, and acknowledged the hospitality of its inhabitants by presenting them with a tiara and scymitar of gold. Thucydides (ii. 97) mentions Abdera as the westernmost limit of the kingdom of

Abdera was the birthplace of several famous persons: among others, of the philosophers Protagoras, Democritus, and Anaxarchus. In spite of this, its inhabitants passed into a proverb for dullness and stupidity. (Juv. x. 50; Martial, x. 25. 4; Cic. ad Att. iv. 16, vii. 7.)

Mullets from Abdera were considered especial dainties (Athen. p. 118). It was also famous for producing the cuttle-fish (Id. p. 324). [H. W.]

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2. (τὰ ̓Αβδηρα, Αὔδηρα, Strab. ; "Αβδαρα, Ptol. ; To Aconpov, Ephor. ap. Steph. B.: Eth. 'A6onpirns: Adra or, according to some, Almeria), a city of Hispania Baetica, on the S. coast, between Malaca and Carthago Nova, founded by the Carthaginians. (Strab. pp. 157, 8; Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. iii. 1. s. 3.) There are coins of the city, some of a very ancient period, with Phoenician characters, and others of the reign of Tiberius, from which the place appears to have been either a colony or a municipium. (Rasche, s. v.; Eckhel, vol. i. p. 13.) [P.S.]

ABELLA ('A6éλλa, Strab., Ptol.: Eth. Abellanus, Inscr. ap. Orell. 3316, Avellanus, Plin.: Avella Vecchia), a city in the interior of Campania, about 5 miles NE. of Nola. According to Justin (xx. 1), it was a Greek city of Chalcidic origin, which would lead us to suppose that it was a colony of Cumae: but at a later period it had certainly become an Oscan town, as well as the neighbouring city of Nola. No mention of it is found in history, though it must have been at one time a place of importance. Strabo and Pliny both notice it among the inland towns of Campania; and though we learn from the Liber de Coloniis, that Vespasian settled a number of his freedmen and dependants there, yet it appears, both from that treatise and from Pliny, that it had not then attained the rank of a colony, a dignity which we find it enjoying in the time of Trajan. It pro

bably became such in the reign of that emperor. (Strab. p. 249; Plin. iii. 5. § 9; Ptol. iii. 1. § 68; Lib. Colon. p. 230; Gruter. Inscr. p. 1096, 1; Zumpt, de Coloniis, p. 400.) We learn from Virgil and Silius Italicus that its territory was not fertile in corn, but rich in fruit-trees (maliferae Abellae): the neighbourhood also abounded in filberts or hazelnuts of a very choice quality, which were called from thence nuces Avellanae (Virg. Aen. vii. 740; Sil. Ital. viii. 545; Plin. xv. 22; Serv. ad Georg. ii. 65). The modern town of Avella is situated in the plain near the foot of the Apennines; but the remains of the ancient city, still called Avella Vecchia, occupy a hill of considerable height, forming one of the underfalls of the mountains, and command an extensive view of the plain beneath; hence Virgil's expression "despectant moenia Abellae." The ruins are described as extensive, including the vestiges of an amphitheatre, a temple, and other edifices, as well as a portion of the ancient walls. (Pratilli, Via Appia, p. 445; Lupuli, Iter Venusin. p. 19; Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 597; Swinburne, Travels, vol. i. p. 105.) Of the numerous relics of antiquity discovered here, the most interesting is a long inscription in the Oscan language, which records a treaty of alliance between the citizens of Abella and those of Nola. It dates (according to Mommsen) from a period shortly after the Second Punic War, and is not only curious on account of details concerning the municipal magistrates, but is one of the most important auxiliaries we possess for a study of the Oscan language. This curious monument still remains in the museum of the Seminary at Nola: it has been repeatedly published, among others by Passeri (Linguae Oscae Specimen Singulare, fol. Romae, 1774), but in the most complete and satisfactory manner by Lepsius (Inscr. Umbr. et Osc. tab. xxi.) and Mommsen (Die Unter-Italischen Dialekte, p. 119). [E. H. B.]

ABELLI'NUM ('Abéλλwov, Eth. Abellinas-atis). 1. A considerable city of the Hirpini, situated in the upper valley of the Sabatus, near the frontier of Campania. Pliny, indeed, appears to have regarded it as included in that country, as he enumerates it among the cities of the first region of Augustus, but Ptolemy is probably correct in reckoning it among those of the Hirpini. It is placed by the Tabula Peutingeriana on the road from Beneventum to Salernum, at a distance of 16 Roman miles from the former city. No mention of it is found in history prior to the Roman conquest; and it appears to have first risen to be a place of importance under the Roman Empire. The period at which it became a colony is uncertain: Pliny calls it only an "oppidum," but it appears from the Liber de Coloniis that it must have received a colony previous to his time, probably as early as the second Triumvirate; and we learn from various inscriptions of imperial times that it continued to enjoy this rank down to a late period. These mention numerous local magistrates, and prove that it must have been a place of considerable wealth and importance, at least as late as the time of Valentinian. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Ptol. iii. 1. § 68; Lib. de Colon. p. 229; Inser. ap. Orell. Nos. 1180, 1181; Lupuli, Iter Vemasin. pp. 34, 55, 56.)

The ancient city was destroyed during the wars between the Greeks and the Lombards, and the inhabitants established themselves on the site of the modern Avellino, which has thus retained the name, but not the situation, of the ancient Abellinum. The

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ruins of the latter are still visible about two miles from the modern city, near the village of Atripaldi, and immediately above the river Sabbato. Some vestiges of an amphitheatre may be traced, as well as portions of the city walls, and other fragments of reticulated masonry. Great numbers of inscriptions, bas-reliefs, altars, and minor relics of antiquity, have also been discovered on the site. (Lupuli, l.c. pp. 33, 34; Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 310; Swinburne, Travels, vol. i. p. 118; Craven, Abruzzi, vol. ii. p. 201.) The neighbourhood still abounds with filbert-trees, which are extensively cultivated, as they were in ancient times; on which account the name of the nuces Avellanae was frequently derived from Abellinum rather than Abella. (Harduin. ad Plin. xv. 22.) 2. Besides the Abellinum mentioned by Pliny in the first region of Italy, he enumerates also in the second, which included the Hirpini and Apulians, "Abellinates cognomine Protropi," and "Abellinates cognominati Marsi." The first have been generally supposed to be the inhabitants of the city already mentioned, but it would certainly appear that Pliny meant to distinguish them. No clue exists to the position of either of these two towns: the conjecture of the Italian topographers who have placed the Abellinates Marsi at Marsico Vetere, in Lucania, having nothing, except the slight similarity of name, to recommend it, as that site would have been in the third region. [E. H. B.]

A'BIA ('Asía: nr. Zarnata), a town of Messenia, on the Messenian gulf, and a little above the woody dell, named Choerius, which formed the boundary between Messenia and Laconia in the time of Pausanias. It is said to have been the same town as the Ira of the Iliad (ix. 292), one of the seven towns which Agamemnon offered to Achilles, and to have derived its later name from Abia, the nurse of Hyllus, the son of Hercules. Subsequently it belonged, with Thuria and Pharae, to the Achaean League. It continued to be a place of some importance down to the reign of Hadrian, as we learn from an extant inscription of that period. (Paus. iv. 30; Polyb. xxv. 1; Paciandi, Monum. Pelopon. ii. pp. 77, 145, cited by Hoffmann, Griechenland, p. 1020; Leake, Morea, vol. i. p. 325.)

ABIA'NUS ('A6tavós), a river of Scythia (Sarmatia) falling into the Euxine, mentioned only in the work of Alexander on the Euxine, as giving name to the ABII, who dwelt on its banks. (Steph. Byz. 8. v. "A6io.) Stephanus elsewhere quotes Alexander as saying that the district of Hylea on the Euxine was called 'A6un, which he interprets by 'Tλala, woody (Steph. Byz. s. v. 'Tλéa). [P.S.]

A'BII (A610), a Scythian people, placed by Ptolemy in the extreme N. of Scythia extra Imaum, near the Hippophagi; but there were very different opinions about them. Homer (Il. xiii. 5, 6) represents Zeus, on the summit of M. Ida, as turning away his eyes from the battle before the Greek camp, and "looking down upon the land of the Thracians familiar with horses," Muo@v t' àyxeμάχων, καὶ ἀγαυῶν ἱππημολγών, γλακτοφάγων, ἀβίων τε, δικαιοτάτων ἀνθρώπων. Ancient and modern commentators have doubted greatly which of these words to take as proper names, except the first two, which nearly all agree to refer to the Mysians of Thrace. The fact would seem to be that the poet had heard accounts of the great nomade peoples who inhabited the steppes NW. and N. of the Euxine, whose whole wealth lay in their herds, especially of horses, on the milk of which

they lived, and who were supposed to preserve the innocence of a state of nature; and of them, therefore, he speaks collectively by epithets suited to such descriptions, and, among the rest, as bio, poor, with scanty means of life (from a and Bíos). The people thus described answer to the later notions respecting the Hyperboreans, whose name does not occur in Homer. Afterwards, the epithets applied by Homer to this supposed primitive people were taken as proper names, and were assigned to different tribes of the Scythians, so that we have mention of the Scythae Agavi, Hippemolgi, Galactophagi (and Galactopotae) and Abii. The last are mentioned as a distinct people by Aeschylus, who prefixes a guttural to the name, and describes the Gabii as the most just and hospitable of men, living on the self-sown fruits of the untilled earth; but we have no indication of where he placed them (Prom. Solut. Fr. 184). Of those commentators, who take the word in Homer for a proper name, some place them in Thrace, some in Scythia, and some near the Amazons, who in vain urged them to take part in an expedition against Asia (Eustath. ad ll. l. c. p. 916; Stepn. Byz. 1. c.); in fact, like the correspondent fabulous people, the Hyperborei, they seem to have been moved back, as knowledge advanced, further and further into the unknown regions of the north. In the histories of Alexander's expedition we are told that ambassadors came to him at Maracanda (Samarkand) from the Abii Scythae, a tribe who had been independent since the time of Cyrus, and were renowned for their just and peaceful character (Arrian. Anab. iv. 1; Q. Curt. vii. 6); but the specific name of the tribe of Scythians who sent this embassy is probably only an instance of the attempts made to illustrate the old mythical geography by Alexander's conquests. In these accounts their precise locality is not indicated: Ammianus Marcellinus places them N. of Hyrcania (xxiii. 6). An extended discussion will be found in Strabo of the various opinions respecting the Abii up to his time (pp. 296, 303, 311, 553; Droysen, in the Rhein. Mus. vol. ii. p. 92, 1834). [P. S.]

A'BILA (Abiλa: Eth. 'Abiλŋvós). It would appear that there were several towns bearing this appellation in the districts which border upon Palestine. The most important of these was a place of strength in Coele-Syria, now Nebi Abel, situated between Heliopolis and Damascus, in lat. 33° 38′ N., long. 36° 18′ E. It was the chief town of the tetrarchy of ABILENE, and is frequently termed, by way of distinction, Abila Lysaniae ("A6λa mikaλουμένη Λυσανίου). [ABILENE.]

Belleye has written a dissertation in the Transactions of the Academy of Belles Lettres to prove that this Abila is the same with Leucas on the river Chrysorrhoas, which at one period assumed the name of Claudiopolis, as we learn from some coins described by Eckhel. The question is much complicated by the circumstance that medals have been preserved of a town in Coele-Syria called Abila Leucas, which, as can be demonstrated from the pieces themselves, must have been different from Abila Lysaniae. (Eckhel, vol. iii. pp. 337, 345; Ptol. v. 15. § 22; Plin. v. 18; Antonin. Itiner. pp. 198, 199, ed. Wessel.) [W. R.]

ABILENE, or simply A'BILA CA6n, Asia), a district in Coele-Syria, of which the chief town was ABILA. The limits of this region are nowhere exactly defined, but it seems to have included the eastern slopes of Antilibanus, and to

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have extended S. and SE. of Damascus as far as the borders of Galilaea, Batanaea, and Trachonitis. Abilene, when first mentioned in history, was governed by a certain Ptolemaeus, son of Mennaeus, who was succeeded, about B. c. 40, by a son named Lysanias. Lysanias was put to death in B. C. 33, at the instigation of Cleopatra, and the principality passed, by a sort of purchase apparently, into the hands of one Zenodorus, from whom it was transferred (B. c. 31) to Herod the Great. At the death of the latter (A. D. 3) one portion of it was annexed to the tetrarchy of his son Philip, and the remainder bestowed upon that Lysanias who is named by St. Luke (iii. 1). Immediately after the death of Tiberius (A. D. 37), Caligula made over to Herod Agrippa, at that time a prisoner in Rome, the tetrarchy of Philip and the tetrarchy of Lysanias, while Claudius, upon his accession (A. D. 41), not only confirmed the liberality of his predecessor towards Agrippa, but added all that portion of Judaea and Samaria which had belonged to the kingdom of his grandfather Herod the Great, together (says Josephus) with Abila, which had appertained to Lysanias CAB.λav dè Thy Avravíov), and the adjoining region of Libanus. Lastly, in A. D. 53, Claudius granted to the younger Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip with Batanaea and Trachonitis and Abila-Avoavía dè aűrn éyeyóvel teтpapxía. (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 4. § 4, 7. § 4, xviii. 7. § 10, xix. 5. § 1, xx. 6. § 1, B. J. i. 13. § 1, xx. 4.) Josephus, at first sight, seems to contradict himself, in so far that in one passage (Ant. xviii. 7. § 10) he represents Caligula as bestowing upon Herod Agrippa the tetrarchy of Lysanias, while in another (Ant. xix. 5. § 1) he states that Abila of Lysanias was added by Clandius to the former dominions of Agrippa, but, in reality, these expressions must be explained as referring to the division of Abilene which took place on the death of Herod the Great. We find Abila mentioned among the places captured by Placidus, one of Vespasian's generals, in A. D. 69 or 70 (Joseph. B. J. iv. 7. § 5), and from that time forward it was permanently annexed to the province of Syria. [W. R.]

A'BNOBA (Auvosa: Schwarzwald, Black Forest), a range of hills in Germany, extending from the Oberland of Baden northward as far as the modern town of Pforzheim. In later times it was sometimes called Silva Marciana. On its eastern side are the sources of the Danube. Its name is sometimes spelt Arnoba or Arbona, but the correct orthography is established by inscriptions. (Orelli, Inscr. Lat. no. 1986.) Ptolemy (ii. 11. § 7) incorrectly places the range of the Abnoba to far N. between the Maine and the source of the Ems. (Tacit. Germ. 1; Fest. Avien. Descript. Orb. 437; Plin. iv. 12. s. 24; Martian. Capell. vi. § 662; comp. Creuzer, Zur Gesch. der Alt-Röm. Cultur, pp. 65, 108.) [L. S.]

ABOCCIS or ABUNCIS ('Abovykis, Ptol. iv. 7. § 16; Plin. vi. 29. s. 35. § 181, Aboccis in old editions, Abuncis in Sillig's: Aboosimbel or Ipsumbul), a town in Aethiopia, between the Second Cataract and Syene, situated on the left bank of the Nile, celebrated on account of the two magnificent grotto temples, which were discovered at this place by Belzoni. The walls of the larger of the two temples are covered with paintings, which record the victories of Ramses III. over various nations of Africa and Asia. (Kenrick, Ancient Egypt, vol. i. p. 24, seq.) ABODI ACUM,

AUODI'ACUM ('Aboudiakov

Tab. Peut.; Ptol. ii. 13. § 5 ABUZACUM, Vit. S. Magn. 28), a town of Vindelicia, probably coinciding with the modern Epfach on the river Lech, where remains of Roman buildings are still extant. The stations, however, in the Itineraries and the Peutingerian Table are not easily identified with the site of Epfach; and Abodiacum is placed by some topographers at the hamlet of Peisenberg, on the slope of a hill with the same name, or in the neighbourhood of Rosenheim in Bavaria. (Itin. Anton.; Muchar, Noricum, p. 283.) [W. B. D.] ABOLLA (“Aboλλα), a city of Sicily, mentioned only by Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v.), who affords no clue to its position, but it has been supposed, on account of the resemblance of the name, to have occupied the site of Avola, between Syracuse and Noto. A coin of this city has been published by D'Orville (Sicula, pt. ii. tab. 20), but is of very uncertain authority. (Eckhel, vol. i. p. 189; Castell. Sicil. Vet. Num. p. 4.)

[E. H. B.]

ABONI-TEICHOS ('Abúvov Teîxos: Eth. 'A6wvoTEIXEITns: Ineboli), a town on the coast of Paphlagonia with a harbour, memorable as the birthplace of the impostor Alexander, of whom Lucian has left us an amusing account in the treatise bearing his name. (Dict. of Biogr. vol. i. p. 123.) According to Lucian (Alex. § 58), Alexander petitioned the emperor (probably Antoninus Pius) that the naine of his native place should be changed from Aboni-Teichos into Ionopolis; and whether the emperor granted the request or not, we know that the town was called Ionopolis in later times. Not only does this name occur in Marcianus and Hierocles; but on coins of the time of Antoninus and L. Verus we find the legend INNOПOAITON, as well as AΒΩΝΟΤΕΙΧΙΤΩΝ. The modern Ineboli is evidently only a corruption of Ionopolis. (Strab. p. 545; Arrian, Peripl. p. 15; Lucian, Alez., passim; Marcian. Periple p. 72; Ptol. v. 4. $2; Hierocl. p. 696; Steph. B. s. v. 'A6wvov τείχος.)

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for (if we may trust the accuracy of Dionysius) it was already used by Callias, the historian of Aga. thocles, who termed Latinus "king of the Aborigines" (Dionys. i. 72): and we find that Lycophron (writing under Ptolemy Philadelphus) speaks of Aeneas as founding thirty cities "in the land of the Boreigonoi," a name which is evidently a mere corruption of Aborigines. (Lycophr. Alex. 1253; Tzetz. ad loc.; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 80.)

A tradition recorded both by Cato and Varro, and which Niebuhr justly regards as one of the most credible of those transmitted to us from antiquity, related that these Aborigines first dwelt in the high mountain districts around Reate and in the vallies which extend from thence towards the Mt. Velino and the Lake Fucinus. From hence they were expelled by the Sabines, who descended upon them from the still more elevated regions around Amiternum, and drove them forwards towards the W. coast: yielding to this pressure, they descended into the valley of the Anio, and from thence gradually extended themselves into the plains of Latium. Here they came in contact with the Siculi, who were at that time in possession of the country; and it was not till after a long contest that the Aborigines made themselves masters of the land, expelled or reduced to slavery its Siculian population, and extended their dominion not only over Latium itself, but the whole plain between the Volscian mountains and the sea, and even as far as the river Liris. (Dionys. i. 9, 10, 13, 14, ii. 49; Cato, ap. Priscian. v. 12. § 65.) In this war we are told that the Aborigines were assisted by a Pelasgian tribe, with whom they became in some degree intermingled, and from whom they first learned the art of fortifying their towns. In conjunction with these allies they continued to occupy the plains of Latium until about the period of the Trojan war, when they assumed the appellation of Latini, from their king Latinus. (Dionys. i. 9, 60; Liv. i. 1, 2.)

Whatever degree of historical authority we may attach to this tradition, there can be no doubt that it correctly represents the fact that the Latin race, such as we find it in historical times, was composed of two distinct elements: the one of Pelasgic origin, and closely allied with other Pelasgic races in Italy; the other essentially different in language and origin. Both these elements are distinctly to be traced in the Latin language, in which one class of words is closely

ABORIGINES ('Abopiyîves), a name given by all the Roman and Greek writers to the earliest inhabitants of Latium, before they assumed the appellation of LATINI. There can be no doubt that the obvious derivation of this name (ab origine) is the true one, and that it could never have been a national title really borne by any people, but was a mere abstract appellation invented in later times, and in-related to the Greek, another wholly distinct from it, tended, like the Autochthones of the Greeks, to designate the primitive and original inhabitants of the country. The other derivations suggested by later writers, - such as Aberrigines, from their wandering habits, or the absurd one which Dionysius seems inclined to adopt, " ab opeσ," from their dwelling in the mountains, -are mere etymological fancies, suggested probably with a view of escaping from the difficulty, that, according to later researches, they were not really autochthones, but foreigners coming from a distance (Dionys. i. 10; Aur. Vict. Orig. Gent. Kom. 4). Their real name appears to have been CASCI (Saufeius, ap. Serv. ad Aen. i. 6), an appellation afterwards used among the Romans to signify anything primitive or old-fashioned. The epithet of Sacrani, supposed by Niebuhr to have been also a national appellation, would appear to have had a more restricted sense, and to have been confined to a particular tribe or subdivision of the race. But it is certainly remarkable that the name of Aborigines must have been established in general use at a period as early as the fifth century of Rome;

and evidently connected with the languages of the Oscan race. The Aborigines may be considered as representing the non-Pelasgic part of the Latin people; and to them we may refer that portion of the Latin language which is strikingly dissimilar to the Greek. The obvious relation of this to the Oscan dialects would at once lead us to the same conclusion with the historical traditions above related: namely, that the Aborigines or Casci, a mountain race from the central Apennines, were nearly akin to the Aequi, Volsci, and other ancient nations of Italy, who are generally included under the term of Oscans or Ausonians; and as clearly distinct from the tribes of Pelasgic origin, on the one hand, and from the great Sabellian family on the other. (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 78-84; Donaldson, Varronianus, p. 3; Abeken, Mittelitalien, pp. 46, 47.)

Dionysius tells us that the greater part of the cities originally inhabited by the Aborigines in their mountain homes had ceased to exist in his time; but he has preserved to us (i. 14) a catalogue of them, as given by Varro in his Antiquities, which is of

much interest. Unfortunately most of the names contained in it are otherwise wholly unknown, and the geographical data are not sufficiently precise to enable us to fix their position with any certainty. The researches of recent travellers have, however, of late years given increased interest to the passage in question, by establishing the fact that the neighbourhood of Reate, and especially the valley of the Salto, a district commonly called the Cicolano, abound with vestiges of ancient cities, which, from the polygonal, or so-called Cyclopean style of their construction, have been referred to a very early period of antiquity. Many attempts have been consequently made to identify these sites with the cities mentioned by Varro; but hitherto with little success. The most recent investigations of this subject are those by Martelli (an Italian antiquarian whose local knowledge gives weight to his opinions) in his Storia dei Siculi (Aquila, 1830, 8vo.), and by Bunsen (Antichi Stabilimenti Italici, in the Annali dell' Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica, vol. vi. p. 100, seq.). But the complete diversity of their results proves how little certainty is to be attained. In the following enumeration of them, we can only attempt to give the description of the localities according to Varro, and to notice briefly their supposed identifications.

1. PALATIUM, from which the city on the Palatine hill at Rome was supposed to have derived its name (Varr. de L. L. v. § 53; Solin. 1. § 14), is placed by Varro at 25 stadia from Reate; and would appear to have been still inhabited in his time. (See Bunsen, p. 129, whose suggestion of πόλις οἰκουμένη for πόλεως οἰκουμένης is certainly very plausible.) Ruins of it are said to exist at a place still called Pallanti, near Torricella, to the right of the Via Salaria, at about the given distance from Reate. (Martelli, p. 195.) Gell, on the other hand, places it near the convent of La Foresta, to the N. of Rieti, where remains of a polygonal character are also found. Bunsen concurs in placing it in this direction, but without fixing the site.

2. TRIBULA (Tpísoλa), about 60 stadia from Reate; placed by Bunsen at Santa Felice, below the modern town of Cantalice, whose polygonal walls were discovered by Dodwell. Martelli appears to confound it with TRIBULA MUTUSCA, from which it is probably distinct.

3. SUESBULA, or VESBULA (the MSS. of Dionysius vary between Συεσβόλα and Οὐεσβόλα), at the same distance (60 stadia) from Tribula, near the Ceraunian Mountains. These are otherwise unknown, but supposed by Bunsen to be the Monti di Leonessa, and that Suesbula was near the site of the little city of Leonessa, from which they derive their name.

4. SUNA (Zouvn), distant 40 stadia from Suesbola, with a very ancient temple of Mars: 5. MEPHYLA (Mŋúλα), about 30 stadia from Suna, of which some ruins and traces of walls were still visible in the time of Varro: and 6. ORVINIUM (Opoviviov), 40 stadia from Mephyla, the ruins of which, as well as its ancient sepulchres, attested its former magnitude;- are all wholly unknown, but are probably to be sought between the Monti di Leonessa and the valley of the Velino. Martelli, however, transfers this whole group of cities (including Tribula and Suesbula), which are placed by Bunsen to the N. of Rieti, to the vallies of the Turano and Salto S. of that city.

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7. CORSULA (Kopooîλa), a city destroyed shortly before the time of Varro, is placed by him at 80 stadia from Reate, along the VIA CURIA, at the foot of MT. CORETUM. This road is otherwise unknown*, but was probably that which led from Reate towards Terni (Interamna), and if so, Corsula must have been on the left bank of the Velinus, but its site is unknown.

In the same direction were: 8. ISSA, a town situated on an island in a lake, probably the same now called the Lago del Piè di Lugo: and 9. MARRUVIUM (Mapovïov), situated at the extremity of the same lake. Near this were the SEPTEM AQUAE, the position of which in this fertile valley between Reate and Interamna is confirmed by their mention in Cicero (ad Att. iv. 15).

10. Returning again to Reate, and proceeding along the valley of the Salto towards the Lake Fucinus (Dionysius has thν ènì Aatívny dðòv eio1oûow, for which Bunsen would read tǹv ènì Xíμvnv: but in any case it seems probable that this is the direction meant), Varro mentions first BATIA or VATIA (Baría), of which no trace is to be found: then comes

11. TIORA, surnamed MATIENE (Τιώρα, ἡ καλουμévn Marihun), where there was a very ancient oracle of Mars, the responses of which were delivered by a woodpecker. This is placed, according to Varro, at 300 stadia from Reate, a distance which so much exceeds all the others, that it has been supposed to be corrupt; but it coincides well with the actual distance (36 miles) from Rieti to a spot named Castore, near Sta. Anatolia, in the upper valley of the Salto, which was undoubtedly the site of an ancient city, and presents extensive remains of walls of polygonal construction. (Bunsen, p. 115; Abeken, Mittelitalien, p. 87.) We learn also from early Martyrologies, that Sta. Anatolia, who has given name to the modern village, was put to death "in civitate Thora, apud lacum Velinum." (Cluver. Ital. p. 684.) Hence it seems probable that the name of Castore is a corruption of Cas-Tora (Castellum Torae), and that the ruins visible there are really those of Tiora.†

12. LISTA (Alora), called by Varro the metropolis of the Aborigines, is placed by him, according to our present text of Dionysius, at 24 stadia from Tiora; but there seem strong reasons for supposing that this is a mistake, and that Lista was really situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Reate. [LISTA.]

13. The last city assigned by Varro to the Aborigines is CoTYLIA, or CUTILIA (KOTÚλia), celebrated for its lake, concerning the site of which (between Civita Ducale and Antrodoco) there exists no doubt. [CUTILIA.]

Among the cities of Latiam itself, Dionysius (i. 44, ii. 35) expressly assigns to the Aborigines the foundation of Antemnae, Caenina, Ficulnea, Tellenae, and Tibur: some of which were wrested

* The MSS. of Dionysius have διὰ τῆς Ἰουρίας doû, a name which is certainly corrupt. Some editors would read 'Iovvías, but the emendation of Koupías suggested by Bunsen is far more probable. For the further investigation of this point, see REATE.

Holstenius, however (Not. ad Cluver. p. 114), places Tiora in the valley of the Turano, at a place called Colle Piccolo, where there is also a celebrated church of Sta. Anatolia.

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