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cellence of its nuts. (Sil. Ital. viii. 506; Plin. H. N. XV. 24.) During the later ages of the Roman empire Alba seems to have declined and sunk into insignificance, as it did not become the see of a bishop, nor is its name mentioned by Paulus Diaconus among the cities of the province of Valeria.

At the present day the name of Alba is still retained by a poor village of about 150 inhabitants, which occupies the northern and most elevated summit of the hill on which stood the ancient city. The remains of the latter are extensive and interesting, especially those of the walls, which present one of the most perfect specimens of ancient fortification to be found in Italy. Their circuit is about three miles, and they enclose three separate heights or summits of the hill, each of which appears to have had its particular defences as an arx or citadel, besides the external walls which surrounded the whole. They are of different construction, and probably belong to different periods: the greater part of them being composed of massive, but irregular, polygonal blocks, in the same manner as is found in so many other cities of Central Italy: while other portions, especially a kind of advanced outwork, present much more regular polygonal masonry, but serving only as a facing to the wall or rampart, the substance of which is composed of rubble-work. The former class of construction is generally referred to the ancient or Aequian city: the latter to the Roman colony. (See however on this subject a paper in the Classical Museum, vol. ii. p. 172.) Besides these remains there exist also the traces of an amphitheatre, a theatre, basilica, and other public buildings, and several temples, one of which has been converted into a church, and preserves its ancient foundations, plan, and columns. It stands on a hill now called after it the Colle di S. Pietro, which forms one of the summits already described; the two others are now called the Colle di Pettorino and Colle di Albe, the latter being the site of the modern village. (See the annexed plan). Numerous inscriptions belonging to Alba have been transported to the neighbouring

PLAN OF ALBA FUCENSIS.

A. Colle di Albe (site of the modern village). B. Colle di S. Pietro.

C. Colle di Pettorino.

aa. Ancient Gates.

b. Theatre.

c. Amphitheatre.

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town of Avezzano, on the banks of the lake Fucinus: while many marbles and other architectural ornaments were carried off by Charles of Anjou to adorn the convent and church founded by him in commemoration of his victory at Tagliacozzo, A. D. 1268. (Promis, Antichità di Alba Fucense. 8vo. Roma, 1836; Kramer, Der Fuciner See. p. 55-57; Hoare's Classical Tour, vol. i. p. 371). [E. H. B.]

ALBA HELVORUM or HELVIORUM (Plin. iii. 4. s. 5. xiv. 3. s. 4.), a city of the Helvii, a tribe mentioned by Caesar (B. G. vii. 7, 8) as separated from the Arverni by the Mons Cevenna. The modern Alps or Aps, which is probably on the site of this Alba, contains Roman remains. An Alba Augusta, mentioned by Ptolemy, is supposed by D'Anville (Notice de la Gaule Ancienne) and others to be the same as Alba Helviorum; but some suppose Alba Augusta to be represented by Aups. [G. L.] ALBA JULIA. [APULUM.]

ALBA LONGA (Aλ6a: Albani), a very ancient city of Latium, situated on the eastern side of the lake, to which it gave the name of Lacus Albanus, and on the northern declivity of the mountain, also known as Mons Albanus. All ancient writers agree in representing it as at one time the most powerful city in Latium, and the head of a league or confederacy of the Latin cities, over which it exercised a kind of supremacy or Hegemony; of many of these it was itself the parent, among others of Rome itself. But it was destroyed at such an early period, and its history is mixed up with so much that is fabulous and poetical, that it is almost impossible to separate from thence the really historical elements.

According to the legendary history universally adopted by Greek and Roman writers, Alba was founded by Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, who removed thither the seat of government from Lavinium thirty years after the building of the latter city (Liv. i. 3; Dion. Hal. i. 66; Strab. p. 229); and the earliest form of the same tradition appears to have assigned a period of 300 years from its foundation to that of Rome, or 400 years for its total duration till its destruction by Tullus Hostilius. (Liv. i. 29; Justin. xliii. 1; Virg. Aen. i. 272; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 205.) The former interval was afterwards extended to 360 years in order to square with the date assigned by Greek chronologers to the Trojan war, and the space of time thus assumed was portioned out among the pretended kings of Alba. There can be no doubt that the series of these kings is a clumsy forgery of a late period; but it may probably be admitted as historical that a Silvian house or gens was the reigning family at Alba. (Niebuhr, l. c.) From this house the Romans derived the origin of their own founder Romulus; but Rome itself was not a colony of Alba in the strict sense of the term; nor do we find any evidence of those mutual relations which might be expected to subsist between a metropolis or parent city and its offspring. In fact, no mention of Alba occurs in Roman history from the foundation of Rome till the reign of Tullus Hostilius, when the war broke out which terminated in the de. feat and submission of Alba, and its total destruction a few years afterwards as a punishment for the treachery of its general Metius Fufetius. The details of this war are obviously poetical, but the destruction of Alba may probably be received as an historical event, though there is much reason to suppose that it was the work of the combined forces of the Latins, and that Rome had comparatively little share in its acomplishment. (Liv. i. 29; Dion. Hal. iii. 31;

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can be no doubt that the common sacrifices on the Alban Mount were typical of such a bond of union among the states that partook of them; and the fact that the sanctuary on the Mons Albanus was the scene of these sacred rites affords strong confirmation of the fact that Alba was really the chief cy of the whole Latin confederacy. Perhaps a still stronger proof is found in the circumstance that the Lucus Ferentinae, immediately without the walls of Alba itself, was the scene of their political assemblies.

Strab. v. p. 231; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 350, 351.) The | a larger one including all the Latin cities; for there city was never rebuilt; its temples alone had been spared, and these appear to have been still existing in the time of Augustus. The name, however, was retained not only by the mountain and lake, but the valley immediately subjacent was called the Vallis Albana, and as late as B. C. 339 we find a body of Roman troops described as encamping "sub jugo Albae Longae" (Liv. vii. 39), by which we must certainly understand the ridge on which the city stood, not the mountain above it. The whole surrounding territory was termed the "ager Albanus," whence the name of Albanum was given to the town which in later ages grew up on the opposite side of the lake. [ALBANUM.] Roman tradition derived from Alba the origin of several of the most illustrious patrician families-the Julii, Tullii, Servilii, Quintii, &c. these were represented as migrating thither after the fall of their native city. (Liv. i. 30; Tac. Ann. xi. 24.) Another tradition appears to have described the expelled inhabitants as settling at Bovillae, whence we find the people of that town assuming in inscriptions the title of " Albani Longani Bovillenses." (Orell. no. 119, 2252.)

If any historical meaning or value could be attached to the Trojan legend, we should be led to connect the origin of Alba with that of Lavinium, and to ascribe them both to a Pelasgian source. But there are certainly strong reasons for the contrary view adopted by Niebuhr, according to which Alba and Lavinium were essentially distinct, and even opposed to one another; the latter being the head of the Pelasgian branch of the Latin race, while the former was founded by the Sacrani or Casci, and became the centre and representative of the Oscan element in the population of Latium. [LATINI.] Its name

which was connected, according to the Trojan legend, with the white sow discovered by Aeneas on his landing (Virg. Aen. iii. 390, viii. 45; Serv. ad loc.; Varr. de L. L. v. 144; Propert. iv. 1. 35)—was probably, in reality, derived from its lofty or Alpine situation.

The site of Alba Longa, though described with much accuracy by ancient writers, had been in modern times lost sight of, until it was rediscovered by Sir W. Gell. Both Livy and Dionysius distinctly describe it as occupying a long and narrow ridge between the mountain and the lake; from which circumstance it derived its distinctive epithet of Longa. (Liv. i. 3; Dion. Hal. i. 66; Varr. 1. c.) Precisely such a ridge runs out from the foot of the central mountain- the Mons Albanus, now Monte Cavo— parting from it by the convent of Palazzolo, and extending along the eastern shore of the lake to its north-eastern extremity, nearly opposite the village of Marino. The side of this ridge towards the lake is completely precipitous, and has the appearance of having been artificially scarped or hewn away in its upper part; at its northern extremity remain many blocks and fragments of massive masonry, which must have formed part of the ancient walls: at the opposite end, nearest to Palazzolo, is a commanding knoll forming the termination of the ridge in that direction, which probably was the site of the Arx, or citadel. The declivity towards the E. and NE. is less abrupt than towards the lake, but still very steep, so that the city must have been confined, as described by ancient authors, to the narrow summit of the ridge, and have extended more than a mile in length. No other ruins than the fragments of the walls now remain; but an ancient road may be distinctly traced from the knoll, now called Mte. Cuccú,

But, few as are the historical events related of Alba, all authorities concur in representing it as having been at one time the centre of the league composed of the thirty Latin cities, and as exercising over these the same kind of supremacy to which Rome afterwards succeeded. It was even generally admitted that all these cities were, in fact, colonies from Alba (Liv. i. 52; Dion. Hal. iii. 34), though many of them, as Ardea, Laurentum, Lavinium, Praeneste, Tusculum, &c., were, according to other received traditions, more ancient than Alba itself. There can be no doubt that this view was altogether erroneous; nor can any dependence be placed upon the lists of the supposed Alban colonies preserved by Diodorus (Lib. vii. ap. Euseb. Arm. p. 185), and by the author of the Origo Gentis Romanae (c. 17), but it is possible that Virgil may have had some better authority for ascribing to Alba the foundation of the eight cities enumerated by him, viz. Nomentum, Gabii, Fidenae, Collatia, Pometia, Castrum Inui, Bola, and Cora. (Aen. vi. 773.) A statement of a very different character has been preserved to us by Pliny, where he enumerates the "populi Albenses" who were accustomed to share with the other Latins in the sacrifices on the Alban Mount (iii. 5, 9). His list, after excluding the Albani themselves, contains just thirty names; but of these only six or seven are found among the cities that composed the Latin league in B. C. 493: six or seven others are known to us from other sources, as among the smaller towns of Latium*, while all the others are wholly unknown. It is evident that we have here a catalogue derived from a much earlier state of things, when Alba was the head of a minor league, composed principally of places of secondary rank, which were probably either colonies or dependencies of her own, a relation which was after-along the margin of the lake to the northern exwards erroneously transferred to that subsisting between Alba and the Latin league. (Niebuhr, vol. i. pp. 202, 203, vol. ii. pp. 18—22; who, however, probably goes too far in regarding these "populi Albenses" as mere demes or townships in the territory of Alba.) From the expressions of Pliny it would seem clear that this minor confederacy co-existed with

The discussion of this list of Pliny is given under the article LATINI.

tremity of the city, where one of its gates must have been situated. In the deep valley or ravine between the site of Alba and Marino, is a fountain with a copious supply of water, which was undoubtedly the Aqua Ferentina, where the confederate Latins used to hold their national assemblies; a custom which evidently originated while Alba was the head of the league, but continued long after its destruction. (Gell, Topogr. of Rome, p. 90; Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol. i. p. 61-65; Niebuhr. vol in 199.) The

territory of Alba, which still retained the name of (Kour). Later writers give the N. and W. bounager Albanus," was fertile and well cultivated, and daries differently. It was found that the Albanians celebrated in particular for the excellence of its wine, dwelt on both sides of the Caucasus, and accordingly which was considered inferior only to the Falernian. Pliny carries the country further N. as far as the (Dion. Hal. i. 66; Plin. H. N. xxiii. 1. s. 20; Hor. river Casius (vi. 13. s. 15); and he also makes the Carm. iv. 11. 2, Sat. ii. 8. 16.) It produced also river ALAZON (Alasan) the W. boundary towards a kind of volcanic stone, now called Peperino, which Iberia (vi. 10. s. 11). Ptolemy (v. 12) names the greatly excelled the common tufo of Rome as a build-river Soana (Zoáva) as the N. boundary; and for ing material, and was extensively used as such under the name of "lapis Albanus." The ancient quarries may be still seen in the valley between Alba and Marino. (Vitruv. ii. 7; Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 22. s. 48; Saet. Aug. 72; Nibby, Roma Antica, vol. i. p. 240.) Previous to the time of Sir W. Gell, the site of Alba Longa was generally supposed to be occupied by the convent of Palazzolo, a situation which does not at all correspond with the description of the site found in ancient authors, and is too confined a space | to have ever afforded room for an ancient city. Niebuhr is certainly in error where he speaks of the modern village of Rocca di Papa as having been the arz of Alba Longa (vol. i. p. 200), that spot being far too distant to have ever had any immediate connection with the ancient city.

[E. H. B.]

ALBA POMPEIA (“Aλbа Пoμяnta, Ptol.: Albenses Pompeiani), a considerable town of the interior of Liguria, situated on the river Tanarus, near the northern foot of the Apennines, still called Alba. We have no account in any ancient writer of its foundation, or the origin of its name, but there is every probability that it derived its distinctive appellation from Cn. Pompeius Strabo (the father of Pompey the Great) who conferred many privileges on the Cisalpine Gauls. An inscription cited by Spon (Miscell. p. 163), according to which it was a Roman colony, founded by Scipio Africanus and restored by Pompeius Magnus, is undoubtedly spurious. (See Mannert. vol. i. p. 295.) It did not possess colonial rank, but appears as a municipal town both in Pliny and on inscriptions: though the former author reckons it among the "nobilia oppida" of Liguria. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 7; Ptol. iii. 1. § 45; Orell. Inser. 2179) It was the birth-place of the emperor Pertinax, whose father had a villa in the neighbourhood named the Villa Martis. (Dion Cass. Ixxiii. 3; Jul. Capitol. Pert. 1, 3.) Its territory was particularly favourable to the growth of vines. (Plin. xvii. 4. s. 3.) Alba is still a considerable town with a population of 7000 souls; it is an episcopal see and the capital of a district. [E. H. B.]

the W. he assigns a line which he does not exactly
describe, but which, from what follows, seems to lie
either between the Alazon and the Cambyses, or
even W. of the Cambyses. The Soana of Ptolemy
is probably the Sulak or S. branch of the great river
Terek (mth. in 43° 45′ N. lat.), S. of which Ptolemy
mentions the Gerrhus (Alksay?); then the Caesius,
no doubt the Casius of Pliny (Koisou); S. of which
again both Pliny and Ptolemy place the Albanus
(prob. Samour), near the city of Albana (Derbent).
To these rivers, which fall into the Caspian N. of
the Caucasus, Pliny adds the Cyrus and its tribu-
tary, the Cambyses. Three other tributaries of the
Cyrus, rising in the Caucasus, are named by Strabo
as navigable rivers, the Sandobanes, Rhoetaces, and
Canes. The country corresponds to the parts of
Georgia called Schirvan or Guirvan, with the ad-
dition (in its wider extent) of Leghistan and Daghes-
tan. Strabo's description of the country must, of
course, be understood as applying to the part of it
known in his time, namely, the plain between the
Caucasus and the Cyrus. Part of it, namely, in
Cambysene (on the W.), was mountainous; the rest
was an extensive plain. The mud brought down
by the Cyrus made the land along the shore of the
Caspian marshy, but in general it was extremely
fertile, producing corn, the vine, and vegetables of
various kinds almost spontaneously; in some parts
three harvests were gathered in the year from one
sowing, the first of them yielding fifty-fold. The
wild and domesticated animals were the finest of
their kind; the dogs were able to cope with lions:
but there were also scorpions and venomous spiders
(the tarantula). Many of these particulars are con-
firmned by modern travellers.

The inhabitants were a fine race of men, tall and handsome, and more civilised than their neighbours the Iberians. They had evidently been originally a nomade people, and they continued so in a great degree. Paying only slight attention to agriculture, they lived chiefly by hunting, fishing, and the produce of their flocks and herds. They were a warALBA'NA. [ALBANIA.] like race, their force being chiefly in their cavalry, ALBA'NIA († 'Aλbavía: Eth. and Adj. 'Aλ- but not exclusively. When Pompey marched into Bavós, 'AλBários, Albanus, Albanius), a country of their country, they met him with an army of 60,000 Asia, lying about the E. part of the chain of Cau- infantry, and 22,000 cavalry. (Plut. Pomp. 35.) casus. The first distinct information concerning it They were armed with javelins and bows and arrows, was obtained by the Romans and Greeks through and leathern helmets and shields, and many of their Pompey's expedition into the Caucasian countries in cavalry were clothed in complete armour. (Plut. parsuit of Mithridates (B. c. 65); and the know-I. c.; Strab. p. 530.) They made frequent predaledge obtained from then to the time of Augustus is embodied in Strabo's full description of the country and people (pp. 501, foll.). According to him, Albania was bounded on the E. by the Caspian, here called the Albanian Sea (Mare Albanum, Plin.); and on the N. by the Caucasus, here called Ceraunius Mons, which divided it from Sarmatia Asiatica. On the W. it joined Iberia: Strabo gives no exact boundary, but he mentions as a part of Albania the district of Cambysene, that is, the valley of the Cambyses, where he says the Armenians touch both the Iberians and the Albanians. On the S. it was divided from the Great Armenia by the river Cyrus

tory attacks on their more civilised agricultural neighbours of Armenia. Of peaceful industry they were almost ignorant; their traffic was by barter, money being scarcely known to them, nor any regular system of weights and measures. Their power of arithmetical computation is said to have only reached to the number 100. (Eustath. ad Dion. Perieg. 729.) They buried the moveable property of the dead with them, and sons received no inheritance from their fathers; so that they never accumulated wealth. We find among them the same diversity of race and language that still exists in the regions of the Caucasus; they spoke 26 different dialects, and

were divided into 12 hordes, each governed by its own | chief, but all, in Strabo's time, subject to one king. Among their tribes were the Legae (Anya), whose name is still preserved in Leghistan, and Gelae (гAa) in the mountains on the N. and NW. (Strab. p. 503), and the Gerrhi (réppo) on the river Gerrhus (Ptol.).

The Albanians worshipped a deity whom Strabo identifies with Zeus, and the Sun, but above all the Moon, whose temple was near the frontier of Iberia. Her priest ranked next to the king: and had under his command a rich and extensive sacred domain, and a body of temple-slaves (iepódovλo), many of whom prophesied in fits of frenzy. The subject of such a paroxysm was seized as he wandered alone through the forests, and kept a year in the hands of the priests, and then offered as a sacrifice to Selene; and auguries were drawn from the manner of his death: the rite is fully described by Strabo.

The origin of the Albanians is a much disputed point. It was by Pompey's expedition into the Caucasian regions in pursuit of Mithridates (B. C. 65) that they first became known to the Romans and Greeks, who were prepared to find in that whole region traces of the Argonautic voyage. Accordingly the people were said to have descended from Jason and his comrades (Strab. pp. 45, 503, 526; Plin. vi. 13. s. 15; Solin. 15); and Tacitus relates (Ann. vi. 34) that the Iberi and Albani claimed descent from the Thessalians who accompanied Jason, of whom and of the oracle of Phrixus they preserved many legends, and that they abstained from offering rams in sacrifice. Another legend derived them from the companions of Hercules, who followed him out of Italy when he drove away the oxen of Geryon; and hence the Albanians greeted the soldiers of Pompey as their brethren. (Justin. xlii. 3.) Several of the later writers regard them as a Scythian people, akin to the Massagetae, and identical with the Alani; and it is still disputed whether they were, or not, original inhabitants of the Caucasus. [ALANI.]

Of the history of Albania there is almost nothing to be said. The people nominally submitted to Pompey, but remained really independent.

Ptolemy mentions several cities of Albania, but none of any consequence except Albana (Derbend), which commanded the great pass on the shore of the Caspian called the Albaniae or Caspiae Pylae (Pass of Derbend). It is formed by a NE. spur of Caucasus, to which some geographers give the name of Ceraunius M., which Strabo applied to the E. part of Caucasus itself. It is sometimes confounded with the inland pass, called CAUCASIAE PYLAE. The Gangara or Gaetara of Ptolemy is supposed to be Bakou, famous for its naphtha springs. Pliny mentions Cabalaca, in the interior, as the capital. Respecting the districts of Caspiene and Cambysene, which some of the ancient geographers mention as belonging to Albania, see the separate articles. (Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2, pp. 561, &c.; Georgii, vol. i. pp. 151, &c.)

[P. S.]

ALBA'NIAE PORTAE. [ALBANIA, CASPIAE PORTAE.]

ALBA NUM (Aλ6avóv), a town of Latium, situated on the western border of the Lacus Albanus, and on the Via Appia, at the distance of 14 miles from Rome. It is still called Albano. There is no trace of the existence of a town upon this spot in early times, but its site formed part of the territory of Alba Longa, which continued long after the fall of that city to retain the name of " Albanus

Ager." (Cic. de Leg. Agr. ii. 25.) During the latter period of the republic, it became a favourite resort of the wealthy Roman nobles, who constructed villas here on a magnificent scale. We read of such as belonging to Pompey, to Clodius-who was killed by Milo close to his own villa-to Brutus and to Curio. (Cic. Or. in Pison. 31, pro Mil. 10, 19, 20, Ep. ad Att. vii. 5, ix. 15, de Orat. ii. 55; Plut. Pomp. 53.) Of these the villa of Pompey, called according to the Latin idiom "Albanum Pompeii," appears to have been the most conspicuous, and is repeatedly alluded to by Cicero. It fell after the death of Pompey into the hands of Dolabella (Cic. Philipp. xiii. 5), but appears to have ultimately passed into those of Augustus, and became a favourite place of resort both with him and his successors. (Suet. Ner. 25; Dion Cass. liii. 32, lviii. 24.) It was, however, to Domitian that it owed its chief aggrandisement; that emperor made it not merely a place of retirement, but his habitual residence, where he transacted public business, exhibited gladiatorial shows, and even summoned assemblies of the senate. (Suet. Domit. 4, 19; Dion Cass. Ixvi. 9, lxvii. 1; Juv. Sat. iv.; Orell. Inscr. No. 3318.) Existing remains sufficiently attest the extent and magnificence of the gardens and edifices of all descriptions with which he adorned it; and it is probably from his time that we may date the permanent establishment there of a detachment of Praetorian guards, who had a regular fortified camp, as at Rome. The proximity of this camp to the city naturally gave it much importance, and we find it repeatedly mentioned by succeeding writers down to the time of Constantine. (Ael. Spart. Caracall. 2; Jul. Capit. Maximin. 23; Herodian. viii. 5.) It is doubtless on account of this fortified camp that we find the title of "Arx Albana" applied to the imperial residence of Domitian. (Tac. Agric. 45; Juv. Sat. iv. 145.)

We have no distinct evidence as to the period when the town of Albanum first arose, but there can be little doubt that it must have begun to grow up as soon as the place became an imperial residence and permanent military station. We first find it mentioned in ecclesiastical records during the reign of Constantine, and in the fifth century it became the see of a bishop, which it has continued ever since. (Nibby, vol. i. p. 79.) Procopius, in the sixth century, mentions it as a city (róλioμa), and one of the places occupied by Belisarius for the defence of Rome. (B. G. ii. 4.) It is now but a small town, though retaining the rank of a city, with about 5000 inhabitants, but is a favourite place of resort in summer with the modern Roman nobles, as it was with their predecessors, on account of the salubrity and freshness of the air, arising from its elevated situation, and the abundance of shade furnished by the neighbouring woods.

There still remain extensive ruins of Roman times; the greater part of which unquestionably belong to the villa of Domitian, and its appurtenances, including magnificent Thermae, an Amphitheatre, and various other remains. Some fragments of reticulated masonry are supposed, by Nibby, to have belonged to the villa of Pompey, and the extensive terraces now included in the gardens of the Villa Barberini, between Albano and Castel Gandolfo, though in their present state belonging undoubtedly to the imperial villa, may probably be based upon the "insanae substructiones " of Clodius alluded to by Cicero. (Pro Mil. 20.) Besides

it was originally designed, is carried under the ridge that forms the western boundary of the lake near Castel Gandolfo, and which rises in this part to a height of 430 feet above the level of the water; its actual length is about 6000 feet; it is 4 feet 6 inches wide, and 6 feet high at its entrance, but the height rapidly diminishes so as in some places not to exceed 2 feet, and it is, in consequence, impossible to penetrate further than about 130 yards from the opening. The entrance from the lake is through a flat archway, constructed of large blocks of peperino, with a kind of court or quadrilateral space enclosed by massive masonry, and a second archway over the actual opening of the tunnel. But, notwithstanding the simple and solid style of their construction, it may be doubted whether these works are coeval with the emissary itself. The opposite extremity of it is at a spot called le Mole, near Castel Savelli, about a mile from Albano, where the waters that issue from it form a considerable stream, now known as the Rivo Albano, which, after a course of about 15 miles, joins the Tiber near a spot called La Valca. Numerous openings or shafts from above (“spiramina") were necessarily sunk during the process of construction, some of which remain open to this day. The whole work is cut with the chisel, and is computed to have required a period of not less than ten years for its completion: it is not however, as asserted by Niebuhr, cut through "lava hard as iron," but through the soft volcanic tufo of which all these hills are composed. (Gell, Topogr. of Rome, p. 22

these ruins, great part of the walls and one of the gates of the Praetorian camp may be observed in the town of Albano: it was as usual of quadrilateral | form, and the walls which surround it are built of massive blocks of peperino, some of them not less than 12 feet in length, and presenting much resemblance to the more ancient fortifications of numerous Italian cities, from which they differ, however, in their comparatively small thickness. Among the most interesting remains of antiquity still visible at Albano may be noticed three remarkable sepulchral monuments. One of these, about half a mile from Albano on the road to Rome, exceeding 30 feet in elevation, is commonly, but erroneously, deemed the sepulchre of Clodius: another, on the same road close to the gate of Albano, has a far better claim to be regarded as that of Pompey, who was really buried, as we learn from Plutarch, in the immediate neighbourhood of his Alban villa. (Plut. Pomp. 80.) The third, situated near the opposite gate of the town on the road to Aricia, and vulgarly known as the Sepulchre of the Horatii and Curiatii, has been supposed by some modern antiquarians to be the tomb of Aruns, son of Porsena, who was killed in battle near Aricia. It is, however, probable that it is of much later date, and was constructed in imitation of the Etruscan style towards the close of the Roman republic. (Nibby, l. c. p. 93; Canina in Ann. dell' Inst. Arch. vol. ix. p. 57.) For full details concerning the Roman remains at Albano, see Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, p. 88-97; Riccy, Storia di Alba Longa, 4to. Rome, 1787; Piranesi,-29; Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol. i. p. 98Antichità di Albano, Roma, 1762. [E. H. B.]

ALBA'NUS. [ALBANIA.]

ALBA'NUS LACUS, now called the Lago di Albano, is a remarkable lake of Latium, situated immediately beneath the mountain of the same name (now Monte Caro), about 14 miles S. E. of Rome. It is of an oval form, about six miles in circumference, and has no natural outlet, being surrounded on all sides by steep or precipitous banks of volcanic tufo, which rise in many parts to a height of three or four hundred feet above the level of the lake. It undoubtedly formed, at a very early period, the crater of a volcano, but this must have ceased to exist long before the historical era. Though situated apparently at the foot of the Mons Albanus, it is at a considerable elevation above the plain of Latium, the level of its waters being 918 feet above the sea: their depth is said to be very great. The most interesting circumstance condected with this lake is the construction of the celebrated emissary or tunnel to carry off its superfluous waters, the formation of which is narrated both by Livy and Dionysius, while the work itself remains at the present day, to confirm the accuracy of their accounts. According to the statement thus transmitted to us, this tunnel was a work of the Romans, undertaken in the year 397 B. C., and was occasioned by an extraordinary swelling of the lake, the waters of which rose far above their accustomed height, so as even to overflow their lofty banks. The legend, which connected this prodigy and the work itself with the siege of Veii, may be safely dismissed as unhistorical, but there seems no reason for rejecting the date thus assigned to it. (Liv. v. 15-19; Dion. Hal. xii. 11-16, Fr. Mai; Cic. de Divin. i. 44.) This remarkable work, which, at the present day, after the lapse of more than 2000 years, continues to serve the purpose for which

105; Westphal, Römische Kampagne, p. 25; Abeken,
Mittel-Italien, p. 178; Niebuhr, vol. ii. pp. 475,
507.) Cicero justly remarks (de Divin. ii. 32)
that such a work must have been intended not only
to carry off the superfluous waters of the lake, but
to irrigate the subjacent plain: a purpose which is
still in great measure served by the Rivo Albano.
The banks of the lake seem to have been in ancient
times, as they are now, in great part covered with
wood, whence it is called by Livy (v. 15) "lacus
in nemore Albano." At a later period, when its
western bank became covered with the villas of
wealthy Romans, numerous edifices were erected on
its immediate shores, among which the remains of
two grottoes or "Nymphaea" are conspicuous.
One of these, immediately adjoining the entrance of
the emissary, was probably connected with the villa
of Domitian. Other vestiges of ancient buildings
are visible below the surface of the water, and this
circumstance has probably given rise to the tradition
common both in ancient and modern times of the
submersion of a previously existing city. (Dion.
Hal. i. 71; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 200, with note by
the translators.)
[E. H. B.]

ALBA'NUS MONS (тd 'Aλbavdv opos, Strab.; Monte Cavo) was the name given to the highest and central summit of a remarkable group of mountains in Latium, which forms one of the most important physical features of that country. The name of Alban Hills, or Monti Albani, is commonly applied in modern usage to the whole of this group, which rises from the surrounding plain in an isolated mass, nearly 40 miles in circumference, and is wholly detached from the mountains that rise above Praeneste on the east, as well as from the Volscian mountains or Monti Lepini on the south. But this more extended use of the name appears to have been unknown to the ancients, who speak only of

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