parently at the foot of the Mons Lepinus, or northern extremity of the Volscian mountains. [ECETRA.]

Besides these cities, which in the early ages of Latium formed members of the Latin League, or are otherwise conspicuous in Roman history, we find mention in Pliny of some smaller towns still existing in his time; of which the "Fabienses in Monte Albano" may certainly be placed at Rocca di Papa, the highest village on the Alban Mount, and the Castrimonienses at Marino, near the site of Alba Longa. The list of the thirty cities of the League given by Dionysius (v. 61) has been already cited (p. 139). Of the names included in it, BUBENTUM is wholly unknown, and must have disappeared at an early period. CARVENTUM is known only from the mention of the Arx Carventana in Livy during the wars with the Aequians (iv. 53, 55), and was probably situated somewhere on the frontier of that people; while two of the names, the Fortineii (PopTiveio) and Tricrini (Tpikpivo), are utterly unknown, and in all probability corrupt. The former may probably be the same with the Foretii of Pliny, or perhaps with the Forentani of the same author, but both these are equally unknown to us.

agreement with Dionysius in regard to the otherwise unknown Bubentani, and the notice of Aesula and Querquetula, towns which do not figure in history) that the list is derived from an authentic source; and was probably copied as a whole by Pliny from some more ancient authority. The conjecture of Niebuhr, therefore, that we have here a list of the subject or dependent cities of Alba, derived from a period when they formed a separate and closer league with Alba itself, at least highly plausible. The notice in the list of the Velienses is a strong confirmation of this view, if we can suppose them to be the inhabitants of the hill at Rome called the Velia, which is known to us as bearing an important part in the ancient sacrifices of the Septimontium. [ROMA.]

The works on the topography of Latium, as might be expected from the peculiar interest of the subject, are sufficiently numerous: but the older ones are of little value. Cluverius, as usual, laid a safe and solid foundation, which, with the criticisms and corrections of Holstenius, must be considered as the basis of all subsequent researches. The special works of Kircher (Vetus Latium, fol. Ainst. 1671) and Volpi (Vetus Latium Profanum et Sacrum, Besides these Pliny has given a long list of towns Romae, 1704-1748, 10 vols. 4to.) contain very little or cities (clara oppida, iii. 5. s. 9. § 68) which once of real value. After the ancient authorities had been existed in Latium, but had wholly disappeared in his carefully brought together and revised by Cluverius, time. Among these we find many that are well the great requisite was a careful and systematic known in history and have been already noticed, viz. examination of the localities and existing remains, Satricum, Pometia, Scaptia, Politorium, Tellenae, and the geographical survey of the country. These Caenina, Ficana, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medul- objects were to a great extent carried out by Sir W. lia, Corniculum, Antemnae, Cameria, Collatia. With Gell (whose excellent map of the country around these he joins two cities which are certainly of my- Rome is an invaluable guide to the historical thical character: Saturnia, which was alleged to have inquirer) and by Professor Nibby. (Sir W. Gell, previously existed on the site of Rome, and Antipolis, Topography of Rome and its Vicinity; with a on the hill of the Janiculum; and adds three other large map to accompany it, 2 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1834; names, Sulmo, a place not mentioned by any other 2d edit. I vol. Lond. 1846. Nibby, Analisi Storicowriter, but the name of which may probably be recog- Topografico-Antiquaria della Carta dei Dintorni di nised in the modern Sermoneta; Norbe, which seems Roma, 3 vols. 8vo. Rome, 1837; 2d edit. Ib. 1849. to be an erroneous repetition of the well-known The former work by the same author, Viaggio Norba, already mentioned by him among the existing Antiquario nei Contorni di Roma, 2 vols. 8vo. cities of Latium (Ib. § 64); and Amitinum or Ami- Rome, 1819, is a very inferior performance.) It is ternum, of which no trace is found elsewhere, except unfortunate that both their works are deficient in the well-known city of the name in the Vestini, which accurate scholarship, and still more in the spirit of cannot possibly be meant. But, after mentioning historical criticism, so absolutely necessary in all these cities as extinct, Pliny adds another list of inquiries into the early history of Rome. Westphal, "populi" or communities, which had been accustomed in his work (Die Römische Kampagne in Topoto share with them in the sacrifices on the Alban graphischer u. Antiquarischer Hinsicht dargestellt, Mount, and which were all equally decayed. Ac- 4to. Berlin, 1829) published before the survey of cording to the punctuation proposed by Niebuhr and Sir W. Gell, and consequently with imperfect geoadopted by the latest editors of Pliny, he classes graphical resources, attached himself especially to these collectively as "populi Albenses," and enu- tracing out the ancient roads, and his work is in this merates them as follows: Albani, Aesulani, Ac-respect of the greatest importance. The recent work of cienses, Abolani, Bubetani, Bolani, Cusuetani, Coriolani, Fidenates, Foretii, Hortenses, Latinienses, Longulani, Manates, Macrales, Mutucumenses, Munienses, Numinienses, Olliculani, Octulani, Pedani, Polluscini, Querquetulani, Sicani, Sisolenses, Tolerienses, Tutienses, Vimitellarii, Velienses, Venetulani, Vitellenses. Of the names here given, eleven relate to well-known towns (Alba, Aesula, Bola, Corioli, Fidenae, Longula, Pedum, Pollusca, Querquetula, Tolerium and Vitellia): the Bubetani are evidently the same with the Bubentani of Dionysius already noticed; the Foretii may perhaps be the same with the Fortineii of that author; the Hortenses may probably be the inhabitants of the town called by Livy Ortona; the Munienses are very possibly the people of the town afterwards called Castrimoenium: but there still remain sixteen wholly unknown. At the same time there are several indications (such as the

Bormann (Alt-Latinische Chorographie und Städte-
Geschichte, 8vo. Halle, 1852) contains a careful
review of the historical statements of ancient authors,
as well as of the researches of modern inquirers, but
is not based upon any new topographical researches.
Notwithstanding the labours of Gell and Nibby,
much still remains to be done in this respect, and a
work that should combine the results of such in-
quiries with sound scholarship and a judicious spirit
of criticism would be a valuable contribution to
ancient geography.
[E. H. B.]

LATMICUS SINUS (ὁ Λατμικός κόλπος), bay on the western coast of Caria, deriving its name from Mount Latmus, which rises at the head of the gulf. It was formed by the mouth of the river Maeander which flowed into it from the north-east. Its breadth, between Miletus, on the southern headland, and Pyrrha in the north, amounted to 30

Yet,

On

stadia, and its whole length, from Miletus to He | the exception of the jamb of a gateway-now conracleia, 100 stadia. (Strab. xiv. p. 635.) The bay verted into a door-sill-of the reign of Thothmes IId. now exists only as an inland lake, its mouth having (xviiith dynasty), the remains of Latopolis belong been closed up by the deposits brought down by the to the Macedonian or Roman eras. Ptolemy EverMaeander, a circumstance which has misled some getes, the restorer of so many temples in Upper modern travellers in those parts to confound the Egypt, was a benefactor to Latopolis, and he is lake of Baffi, the ancient Latmic gulf, with the lake painted upon the walls of its temple followed by a of Myus. (Leake, Asia Minor, p. 239; Chandler, tame lion, and in the act of striking down the chiefs c. 53.) [L. S.] of his enemies. The name of Ptolemy Epiphanes LATMUS (AάTμos), a mountain of Caria, rising is found also inscribed upon a doorway. at the head of the Latmic bay, and stretching along although from their scale these ruins are imposing, in a north-western direction. (Strab. xiv. p. 635; their sculptures and hieroglyphics attest the decline Apollon. Rhod. iv. 57; Plin. v. 31; Pomp. Mel. i. of Aegyptian art. The pronaos, which alone exists, 17.) It is properly the western offshoot of Mount resembles in style that of Apollinopolis Magna Albanus or Albacus. This mountain is probably (Edfoo), and was begun not earlier than the reign alluded to by Homer (Il. ii. 868), when he speaks of Claudius (A. D. 41-54), and completed in that of the mountain of the Phthirians, in the neighbour-of Vespasian, whose name and titles are carved on hood of Miletus. In Greek mythology, Mount the dedicatory inscription over the ent ance. Latmus is a place of some celebrity, being described the ceiling of the pronaos is the larger Latopolitan as the place where Artemis (Luna) kissed the Zodiac. The name of the emperor Geta, the last sleeping Endymion. In later times there existed on that is read in hieroglyphics, although partially the mountain a sanctuary of Endymion, and his tomb erased by his brother and murderer Caracalla (A. D. was shown in a cave. (Apollod. i. 7. § 5; Hygin. Fab. 212), is still legible on the walls of Latopolis. 271; Ov. Trist. ii. 299; Val. Flacc. iii. 28; Paus. Before raising their own edifice, the Romans seem v. 1. § 4; Stat. Silv. iii. 4. § 40.) [L. S.] to have destroyed even the basements of the earlier Aegyptian temple. There was a smaller temple, dedicated to the same deities, about two miles and a half N. of Latopolis, at a village now called E'Dayr. Here, too, is a small Zodiac of the age of Ptolemy Evergetes (B. C. 246-221). This latter building has been destroyed within a few years, as it stood in the way of a new canal. The temple of Esneh has been cleared of the soil and rubbish which filled its area when Denon visited it, and now serves for a cotton warehouse. (Lepsius, Einleitung, p. 63.)

LATO. [CAMARA.] LATOBRIGI When the Helvetii determined to leave their country (B. C. 58), they persuaded "the Rauraci, and Tulingi and Latobrigi, who were their neighbours, to adopt the same resolution, and after burning their towns and villages to join their expedition." (Caes. B. G. i. 5.) The number of the Tulingi was 36,000; and of the Latobrigi 14,000. (B. G. i. 29.) As there is no place for the Tulingi and Latobrigi within the limits of Gallia, we must look east of the Rhine for their country. Walckenaer (Géog. &c., vol. i. p. 559) supposes, or rather considers it certain, that the Tulingi were in the district of Thiengen and Stühlingen in Baden, and the Latobrigi about Donaueschingen, where the Briggach and the Bregge join the Danube. This opinion is founded on resemblance of names, and on the fact that these two tribes must have been east of the Rhine. If the Latobrigi were Celtae, the name of the people may denote a position on a river, for the Celtic word "brig" is a ford or the passage of a river. If the Latobrigi were a Germanic people, then the word "brig" ought to have some modern name corresponding to it, and Walckenaer finds this correspondence in the name Brugge, a small place on the Bregge. [G. L.]

LATO'POLIS or LATO (Λατόπολις, Strab. xvii. pp. 812, 817; wóλis Aáтwv, Ptol. iv. 5. § 71; AάTTWV, Hierocl. p. 732; Itin. Antonin. p. 160), the modern Esneh, was a city of Upper Egypt, seated upon the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 25° 30′ N. It derived its name from the fish Lato, the largest of the fifty-two species which inhabit the Nile (Russegger, Reisen, vol. i. p. 300), and which appears in sculptures, among the symbols of the goddess Neith, Pallas-Athene, surrounded by the oval shield or ring indicative of royalty or divinity (Wilkinson, M. and C. vol. v. p. 253). The tutelary deities of Latopolis seem to have been the triad, -Kneph or Chnuphis, Neith or Satè, and Hak, their offspring. The temple was remarkable for the beauty of its site and the magnificence of its architecture. It was built of red sandstone; and its portico consisted of six rows of four columns each, with lotusleaf capitals, all of which however differ from each other. (Denon, Voyage, vol. i. p. 148.) But with

The modern town of Esneh is the emporium of the Abyssinian trade. Its camel-market is much resorted to, and it contains manufactories of cottons, shawls, and pottery. Its population is about 4000. [W. B. D.]

LATOVICI (Aaтóbikoι, Ptol. ii. 15. § 2), a tribe in the south-western part of Pannonia, on the river Savus. (Plin. iii. 28.) They appear to have been a Celtic tribe, and a place Praetorium Latovicorum is mentioned in their country by the Antonine Itinerary, on the road from Aemona to Sirmium, perhaps on the site of the modern Neustädtl, in Illyria. (Comp. Zeuss, die Deutschen, p. 256.) [L.S.] LATURUS SINUS. [MAURETANIA.] LA'VARA. [LUSITANIA.]

LAVATRAE, a station in Britain, on the road from Londinium to Luguvallum, near the wall of Hadrian, distant, according to one passage in the Antonine Itin., 54 miles, according to another, 59 miles, from Eboracum, and 55 miles from Longavallum. (Anton. Itin. pp. 468, 476.) Perhaps the same as Bowes, on the river Greta, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The church of Bowes contained in the time of Camden a hewn slab, bearing an inscription dedicatory to the Roman emperor Hadrian, and there used for the communion table. In the neighbourhood of Bowes, there are the remains of a Roman camp and of an aqueduct.

LAU'GONA, the modern Lahn, a river of Germany, on the east of the Rhine, into which it empties itself at Lahnstein, a few miles above Coblenz. The ancients praise it for its clear water (Venant. Fort. viii. 7; Geogr. Rav. iv. 24, where it is called Logna. [L. S.] LAVIANESINE or LAVINIANESINE (Aα

oviavonn, Strab. xii. p. 534; Aaoviviavh, Ptol.
v. 7. § 9), the name of one of the four districts
into which Cappadocia was divided under the
Romans. It was the part extending from the
northern slope of Mount Amanus to the Euphrates,
on the north of Aravene, and on the east of
Muriane.

[L. S.]

LAVINIUM (Λαουΐνιον; Λαβίνιον, Steph. Β.: Eth. Aabiviárns, Laviniensis: Pratica), an ancient city of Latium, situated about 3 miles from the seacoast, between Laurentum and Ardea, and distant 17 miles from Rome. the tradition universally adopted by Roman writers, It was founded, according to by Aeneas, shortly after his landing in Italy, and called by him after the name of his wife Lavinia, the daughter of the king Latinus. (Liv. i. 1; Dionys. i. 45, 59; Strab. v. p. 229; Varr. L. L. v. § 144; Solin. 2. § 14.) The same legendary history represented Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, as transferring the seat of government and rank of the capital city of the Latins from Lavinium to Alba, 30 years after the foundation of the former city. But the attempt to remove at the same time the Penates, or household gods of Lavinium, proved unsuccessful: the tutelary deities returned to their old abode; hence Lavinium continued not only to exist by the side of the new capital, but was always regarded with reverence as a kind of sacred metropolis, a character which it retained even down to a late period of the Roman history. (Liv. i. 8; Dionys. 229; Vict. Orig. Gent. Rom. 17.) It is impossible 66, 67; Strab. v. p. here to enter into a discussion of the legend of the Trojan settlement in Latium, a question which is briefly examined under the article LATIUM; but it may be observed that there are many reasons for admitting the correctness of the tradition that Lavinium was at one time the metropolis or centre of the Latin state; a conclusion, indeed, to which we are led by the name alone, for there can be little doubt that Latinus and Lavinus are only two forms of the same name, so that Lavinium would be merely the capital or city of the Latins. (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 201; Donaldson, Varronianus, p. 6.) The circumstance that the Penates or tutelary gods of Lavinium continued down to a late period to be regarded as those not only of Rome, but of all Latium, affords a strong corroboration of this view. (Varr. L. L. v. § 144.) Whether Lavinium was from the first only the sacred metropolis of the Latin cities, -a kind of common sanctuary or centre of religious worship (as supposed by Schwegler, Kömische Geschichte, vol. i. p. 319), --or, as represented in the common tradition, was the political capital also, until supplanted by Alba, is a point on which it is difficult to pronounce with certainty; but the circumstance that Lavinium appears in history as a separate political community, and one of the cities composing the Latin League, would seem opposed to the former view. however, that it had lost all political supremacy, It is certain, and that this had passed into the hands of Alba, at a very early period; nor did Lavinium recover any political importance after the fall of Alba: throughout the historical period it plays a very subordinate part. The first notice we find of it in the Roman history is in the legends concerning Tatius, who is represented as being murdered at Lavinium on occasion of a solemn sacrifice, in revenge for some depredations committed by his followers on the Lavinian territory. (Liv. i. 14; Dionys. ii. 51, 52; Plut. Rom. 23; Strab. v. p. 230.) It is remarkable that Livy in this passage represents the people

VOL II.

LAVINIUM.

145

injured as the Laurentes, though the injury was avenged at Lavinium,—a strong proof of the intimate relations which were conceived as existing between the two cities. The treaty between Rome and Lavinium was said to have been renewed at the same time (Liv. I. c.), and there is no doubt that both the Roman annals and traditions represented Lavinium, friendly terms with Rome. It was, however, an as well as Laurentum, as almost uniformly on independent city, as is proved by the statement that Collatinus and his family, when banished from Rome, only interruption of these friendly relations took retired into exile at Lavinium. (Liv. ii. 2.) The place, according to Dionysius, a few years after this, when he reckons the Lavinians among the Latin cities which entered into a league against Rome before the battle of Regillus. (Dionys. v. 61.) There is, however, good reason to believe that the names there enumerated are in reality only those of the cities that formed the permanent Latin League, and who concluded the celebrated treaty with Sp. Cassius in B. c. 493. (Niebuhr, vol. ii. pp. 23, 24.)

Coriolanus, who is said to have besieged and, ac-
Lavinium is next mentioned during the wars of
cording to Livy, reduced the city (Liv. ii. 39;
Dionys. viii. 21); but, from this time, we hear no
On that occasion, according to our present text of
more of it till the great Latin War in B. C. 340.
sented as sending auxiliaries to the forces of the
Livy (viii. 11), the citizens of Lavinium are repre-
League, who, however, arrived too late to be of ser-
vice. But no mention occurs of Lavinium in the
following campaigns, or in the general settlement of
the Latin state at the end of the war; hence it ap.
pears highly probable that in the former passage
Lanuvium, and not Lavinium, is the city really
MSS. being of perpetual occurrence. [LANUVIUM.]
meant; the confusion between these names in the
It is much more probable that the Lavinians were
who, as we are expressly told, took no part in the
on this occasion also comprised with the Laurentes,
war, and in consequence continued to maintain their
former friendly relations with Rome without interrup-
tion. (L. vi. l. c.) From this time no historical
mention occurs of Lavinium till after the fall of the
Roman Republic; but it appears to have fallen into
decay in common with most of the places near the coast
mere vestiges of a city, but still retaining its sacred
of Latium; and Strabo speaks of it as presenting the
rites, which were believed to have been transmitted
from the days of Aeneas. (Strab. v. p. 232.) Dio-
nysius also tells us that the memory of the three
animals-the eagle, the wolf, and the fox - which
foundation of Lavinium, was preserved by the figures
were connected by a well-known legend with the
of them still extant in his time in the forum of that
a similar bronze figure of the celebrated sow with
town; while, according to Varro, not only was there
her thirty young ones, but part of the flesh of the
by the priests. (Dionys. i. 57, 59; Varr. R. R. ii.
sow herself was still preserved in pickle, and shown
4.) The name of Lavinium is omitted by Pliny,
where we should have expected to find it, between
Laurentum and Ardea, but he enumerates among
Lavini,"-
the existing communities of Latium the "Ilionenses
citizens in commemoration of their supposed Trojan
'-an appellation evidently assumed by the
descent. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.)

the reign of Trajan, Lavinium seems to have re.
Shortly after the time of Pliny, and probably in

Ꮮ

banks of tufo rock. These banks have probably
been on all sides more or less scarped or cut away
artificially, and some slight remains of the ancient
walls may be still traced in one or two places. Be-
sides the inscriptions already noticed, some frag-
ments of marble columns remain from the Imperial
period, while broken pottery and terra cottas of a
rude workmanship found scattered in the soil are
the only relics of an earlier age. (Nibby, Dintorni,
vol. ii. pp. 206-237.)
[E. H. B.]

LAVISCO or LABISCO, in Gallia Narbonensis,
appears on a route from Mediolanum (Milan) through
Darantasia (Moutiers en Tarentaise) to Vienna (Vi-
enne) on the Rhone. Lavisco is between Lemincum
(Lemens, or Chambéry au Mont Leminc) and Au-
gustum (Aoste or Aouste), and 14 M. P. from each.
D'Anville supposes that Lavisco was at the ford of
the little river Laisse, near its source; but the dis-
tance between Lemincum and Augustum, 28 M. P.
is too much, and accordingly he would alter the
figures in the two parts of this distance on each side
of Lavisco, from xiiii. to viiii.
[G. L.]

ceived a fresh colony, which for a short time raised | great extent, bounded by wooded ravines, with steep it again to a degree of prosperity. On this occasion it would appear that the Laurentines and Lavinians were united into one community, which assumed the name of LAURO-LAVINIUM, and the citizens that of LAURENTES LAVINATES, names which from henceforth occur frequently in inscriptions. As a tribute to its ancient sacred character, though a fresh apportionment of lands necessarily attended the establishment of this colony, the territory still retained its old limits and regulations (lege et consecratione veteri manet, Lib. Colon. p. 234.) This union of the two communities into one has given rise to much confusion and misconception. Nor can we trace exactly the mode in which it was effected; but it would appear that Lavinium became the chief town, while the "populus " continued to be often called that of the Laurentes, though more correctly designated as that of the Laurentes Lavinates. The effect of this confusion is apparent in the commentary of Servius on the Aeneid, who evidently confounded the Laurentum of Virgil with the Lauro-Lavinium of his own day, and thence, strangely enough, identifies it with the Lavinium founded as the same city. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 2.) But, even at a much earlier period, it would seem as if the "ager Laurens," or Laurentine territory, was regarded as comprising Lavinium; and it is certainly described as extending to the river Numicius, which was situated between Lavinium and Ardea. [NUMICIUS.] Inscriptions discovered at Pratica enable us to trace the existence of this new colony, or revived Lavinium, down to the end of the 4th century; and its name is found also in the Itineraries and the Tabula. (Itin. Ant. p. 301; Tab. Peut.; Orell. Inscr. 1063, 2179, 3218, 3921.) We learn also from a letter of Symmachus that it was still subsisting as a municipal town as late as A. D. 391, and still retained its ancient religious tharacter. Macrobius also informs us that in his time it was still customary for the Roman consuls and praetors, when entering on their office, to repair to Lavinium to offer certain sacrifices there to Vesta and the Penates,—a custom which appears to have been transmitted withont interruption from a very early period. (Macrob. Sat. ii. 4. § 11; Val. Max. i. 6. §7; Symmach. Ep. i. 65.) The final decay of Lavinium was probably produced by the fall of paganism, and the consequent extinction of that religious reverence which had apparently been the principal means of its preservation for a long while before.

The position of Lavinium at Pratica may be considered as clearly established, by the discovery there of the numerous inscriptions already referred to relating to Lauro-Lavinium in other respects also the site of Pratica agrees well with the data for that of Lavinium, which is placed by Dionysius 24 stadia, or 3 miles, from the coast. (Dionys. i. 56.) The Itineraries call it 16 miles from Rome; but this statement is below the truth, the real distance being little, if at all, less than 18 miles. The most direct approach to it from Rome is by the Via Ardeatina, from whence a side branch diverges soon after passing the Solfatara -a spot supposed to be the site of the celebrated grove and oracle of Faunus, referred to by Virgil [ARDEA], which is about 4 miles from Pratica. The site of this latter village, which still possesses a baronial castle of the middle ages, resembles those of most of the early Latin towns: it is a nearly isolated hill, with a level summit of no

LAUMELLUM (Aaúμeλλor, Ptol. iii. 1. § 36: Lomello), a town of Gallia Transpadana, not mentioned by Pliny, but placed by Ptolemy, together with Vercellae, in the territory of the Libici. The Itin. Ant. (pp. 282, 347) places it on the road from Ticinum to Vercellae, at 22 M. P. from the former and 26 from the latter city: these distances agree well with the position of Lomello, a small town on the right bank of the Agogna, about 10 miles from its confluence with the Po. According to the same Itinerary (p. 340) another road led from thence by Rigomagus and Quadratae to Augustae Taurinorum, and in accordance with this Ammianus Marcellinus (xv. 8. § 18) mentions Laumellum as on the direct road from Ticinum to Taurini. It seems not to have enjoyed municipal rank in the time of Pliny, but apparently became a place of more consideration in later days, and under the Lombard rule was a town of importance, as it continued during the middle ages; so that, though now but a poor decayed place, it still gives to the surrounding district the name of Lumellina. [E. H. B.]

LAUREATA, a place on the coast of Dalmatia, which was taken by the traitor Ilaufus, for Totila and the Goths, in A. D. 548. (Procop. B. G. iii. 35; Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. ix. p. 182.) [E. B. J.]

LAURENTUM (Aaúpevrov, Strab. et al.; Awpevróv, Dion. Hal.: Eth. AauperTivos, Laurentinus: Torre di Paternò), an ancient city of Latium, situated near the sea-coast between Ostia and Lavinium, about 16 miles from Rome. It was represented by the legendary history universally adopted by Roman writers as the ancient capital of Latium, and the residence of king Latinus, at the time when Aeneas and the Trojan colony landed in that country. All writers also concur in representing the latter as first landing on the shores of the Laurentine territory. (Liv. i. 1; Dionys. i. 45, 53; Strab. v. p. 229; Appian. Rom. i. 1; Vict. Orig. Gent. Rom. 13; Virg. Aen. vii. 45, &c.) But the same legendary history related that after the death of Latinus, the seat of government was transferred first to Lavinium, and subsequently to Alba; hence we cannot wonder that, when Laurentum appears in historical times, it holds but a very subordinate place, and appears to have fallen at a very early period into a state of comparative insignificance. The historical notices of the city are indeed extremely few and scanty; the