mountain near St. Didier. Pliny (xi. 42. s. 97) terms iii. 4; Plin. iii. 25. s. 28), while the more southern them ALPES CENTRONICAE from the Gaulish tribe range, which bounds the plains of Venetia, and curves of the Centrones, who occupied their western slopes. round the modern Frioul to the neighbourhood of 4. ALPES PENNINAE, or POENINAE, the Pennine Trieste, was variously known as the ALPES CARAlps, was the appellation by which the Romans de- NICAE and JULiae. The former designation, ensignated the loftiest and most central part of the ployed by Pliny (I. c.), they derived from the Carni chain, extending from the Mont Blanc on the W., to who inhabited their mountain fastnesses: the latter, the Monte Rosa on the E. The first form of the which appears to have become customary in later name is evidently the most correct, and was derived times (Tac. Hist. iii. 8; Amm. Marc. xxi. 9, xxxi. from the Celtic "Pen" or " Ben," a height or sum- 16; Itin. Hier. p. 560; Sex. Ruf. Breviar. 7), mit; but the opinion having gained ground that the from Julius Caesar, who first reduced the Carni to pass of the Great St. Bernard over these mountains subjection, and founded in their territory the towns was the route pursued by Hannibal, the name was of Julium Carnicum and Forum Julii, of which the considered to be connected with that of the Cartha- latter has given to the province its modern name of ginians (Poeni), and hence the form Poeninae is the Frioul. We find also this part of the Alps somefrequently adopted by later writers. Livy himself times termed Alpes Venetae (Amm. Marc. xxxi. points out the error, and adds that the name was 16. §7) from their bordering on the province of really derived, according to the testimony of the in- Venetia. The mountain ridge immediately above habitants, from a deity to whom an altar was conse- Trieste, which separates the waters of the Adriatic crated on the summit of the pass, probably the same from the valley of the Save, and connects the Alps, who was afterwards worshipped by the Romans properly so called, with the mountains of Dalmatia themselves as Jupiter Penninus. (Liv. xxi. 38; Plin. and Illyricum, was known to the Romans as MONS iii. 17. s. 21; Strab. p. 205; Tac. Hist. i. 61, 87; ОCRA (Oкра, Strab. p. 207; Ptol. iii. 1. §1), Amm. Marc. xv. 10; Serv. ad Virg. Aen. x. 13; from whence one of the petty tribes in the neighOrell. Inser. vol. i. p. 104.) The limits of the bourhood of Tergeste was called the Subocrini. (Plin. Pennine Alps are nowhere very clearly designated; iii. 20. s. 24.) Strabo justly observes that this is the but it seems that the whole upper valley of the lowest part of the whole Alpine range: in consequence Rhone, the modern Valais, was called Vallis Poenina of which it was from a very early period traversed (see Orell. Inscr. 211), and Ammianus expressly by a much frequented pass, that became the medium places the sources of the Rhone in the Pennine Alps of active commercial intercourse from the Roman (xv. 11. § 16), so that the term must have been colony of Aquileia with the valleys of the Save and frequently applied to the whole extent of the moun-Drave, and by means of those rivers with the plains tain chain from the Mont Blanc eastward as far as the St. Gothard. The name of ALPES LEPONTIAE from the Gaulish tribe of the Lepontii, is frequently applied by modern geographers to the part of the range inhabited by them between the Monte Rosa and the Mont St. Gothard, but there is no ancient authority for the name. The "Alpes Graiae et Poeninae," during the later periods of the Roman empire, constituted a separate province, which was united with Transalpine Gaul. Its chief towns were Darantasia and Octodurus. (Amm. Marc. xv. 11. § 12; Orell. Inser. 3888; Not. Dign. ii. p. 72; Böcking, ad loc. p. 472.) Connected with these we find mentioned the Alpes Atractianae or Atrectianae, a name otherwise wholly unknown. on the banks of the Danube. 7. We also find, as already mentioned, the name of the Alps sometimes extended to the mountain ranges of Illyricum and Dalmatia: thus Pliny (xi. 42. s. 97) speaks of the ALPES DALMATICAE, and Tacitus of the ALPES PANNONICAE (Hist. ii. 98, iii. 1), by which however he perhaps means little more than the Julian Alps. But this extensive use of the term does not seem to have ever been generally adopted. The physical characters of the Alps, and those natural phenomena which, though not peculiar to them, they yet exhibit on a greater scale than any other mountains of Europe, must have early attracted the attention of travellers and geographers: and the 5. The ALPES RHAETICAE, or Rhaetian Alps, may difficulties and dangers of the passes over them were, be considered as adjoining the Pennine Alps on the as was natural, greatly exaggerated. Polybius was east, and including the greater part of the countries the first to give a rational account of them, and has now called the Grisons and the Tyrol. Under this described their characteristic features on occasion more general appellation appears to have been com- of the passage of Hannibal in a manner of which the prised the mountain mass called Mons Adula, in accuracy has been attested by all modern writers. which both Strabo and Ptolemy place the sources of Strabo also gives a very good account of them, noticing the Rhine [ADULA MONS], while Tacitus expressly particularly the danger arising from the avalanches tells us that that river rises in one of the most inac- or sudden falls of snow and ice, which detached cessible and lofty mountains of the Rhaetian Alps. themselves from the vast frozen masses above, and (Germ. 1.) The more eastern portion of the Rhae-hurried the traveller over the side of the precipice tian Alps, in which the Athesis and Atagis have their sources, is called by Pliny and by various other writers the ALPES TRIDENTINAE, from the important city of Tridentum in the Southern Tyrol. (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20; Dion Cass. liv. 22; Flor. iii. 4.) 6. The eastern portion of the Alps from the valley of the Athesis and the pass of the Brenner to the plains of Pannonia and the sources of the Save appear to have been known by various appellations, of which it is not easy to determine the precise extent or application. The northern arm of the chain, which extends through Noricum to the neighbourhood of Vienna, was known as the ALPES NORICAE (Flor. (p. 204). Few attempts appear to have been made to estimate their actual height; but Polybius remarks that it greatly exceeds that of the highest mountains of Greece and Thrace, Olympus, Ossa, Athos &c. for that almost any of these mountains might be ascended by an active walker in a single day. while he would scarcely ascend the Alps in five: a statement greatly exaggerated. (Polyb. ap. Strab. p. 209.) Strabo on the contrary tells us, that the direct ascent of the highest summits of the mountains in the territory of the Medulli, did not exceed 100 stadia, and the same distance for the descent on the other side into Italy (p. 203), while Pliny (ü. 65) appears to estimate the perpendicular height of some of the loftiest summits at not less than fifty miles! The length of the whole range is estimated by Polybius at only 2200 stadia, while Caelius Antipater (quoted by Pliny iii. 18. s. 22) stated it as not less than 1000 miles, reckoning along the foot of the mountains from sea to sea. Pliny himself estimates the same distance calculated from the river Varus to the Arsia at 745 miles, a fair approximation to the truth. He also justly remarks that the very different estimates of the breadth of the Alps given by different authors were founded on the fact of its great inequality: the eastern portion of the range between Germany and Italy being not less than 100 miles across, while the other portions did not exceed 70. (Plin. iii. 19. s. 23.) Strabo tells us that while the more lofty summits of the Alps were either covered with perpetual snow, or so bare and rugged as to be altogether uninhabitable, the sides were clothed with extensive forests, and the lower slopes and vallies were cultivated and well peopled. There was however always a scarcity of corn, which the inhabitants procured from those of the plains in exchange for the productions of their mountains, the chief of which were resin, pitch, pine wood for torches, wax, honey, and cheese. Previous to the time of Angustus, the Alpine tribes had been given to predatory habits, and were continually plundering their more wealthy neighbours, but after they had been completely subdued and roads made through their territories they devoted themselves more to the arts of peace and husbandry. (Strab. pp. 206, 207.) Nor were the Alps wanting in more valuable productions. Gold mines or rather washings were worked in them in various places, especially in the territory of the Salassi (the Val d'Aosta), where the Romans derived a considerable revenue from them; and in the Noric Alps, near Aquileia, where gold was found in lumps as big as a bean after digging only a few feet below the surface (Strab. pp. 205, 208). The iron mines of the Noric Alps were also well known to the Romans, and highly esteemed for the excellent quality of the metal furnished by them, which was peculiarly well adapted for swords. (Plin. xxxiv. 14. 8. 41; Hor. Carm. 1. 16. 9, Epod. xvii. 71.) The rock crystal so abundant in the Alps was much valued by the Romans, and diligently sought for in consequence by the natives. (Plin. xxxvii. 2. s. 9, 10.) Several kinds of animals are also noticed by ancient writers as peculiar to the Alps; among these are the Chamois (the rupicapra of Pliny), the Ibex, and the Marmot. Pliny also mentions white hares and white grouse or Ptarmigan. (Plin. viii. 79. s. 81, x. 68. 8.85; Varr. de R. R. iii. 12.) Polybius described a large animal of the deer kind, but with a neck like a wild boar, evidently the Elk (Cervus Alces) now found only in the north of Europe. (Polyb.ap.Strab. p.208.) It would be impossible here to enumerate in detail all the petty tribes which inhabited the vallies and slopes of the Alps. The inscription on the trophy of Augustus already mentioned, gives the names of not less than forty-four "Gentes Alpinae devictae," many of which are otherwise wholly unknown (Plin. iii. 20. s. 24). The inscription on the arch at Susa mentions fourteen tribes that were subject to Cottius, of which the greater part are equally obscure. (Orell. Inser. 626; Millin, Voy. en Piemont, vol. i. p. 106.) Those tribes, whose locality can be determined with tolerable certainty, or whose names appear in history, will be found under their respective reader may consult Walckenaer, Geographie des Gaules vol. ii. pp. 43—66. The eternal snows and glaciers of the Alps are the sources from which flow several of the largest rivers of Europe: the Rhone, the Rhine, and the Po, as well as the great tributaries of the Danube, the Inn, the Drave and the Save. It would be useless here to enter into a geographical or detailed enumeration of the countless minor streams which derive their sources from the Alps, and which will be found under the countries to which they severally belong. Passes of the Alps. Many of the passes across the great central chain of the Alps are so clearly indicated by the course of the rivers which rise in them, and the vallies through which these flow, that they must probably have been known to the neighbouring tribes from a very early period. Long before the passage of the western Alps by Hannibal, we know that these mountains were crossed by successive swarms of Gaulish invaders (Polyb. iii. 48; Liv. v. 33), and there is every reason to suppose that the more easily accessible passes of the Rhaetian and Julian Alps had afforded a way for the migrations of nations in still earlier ages. The particular route taken by Hannibal is still a subject of controversy.* But it is clear from the whole narrative of Polybius, that it was one already previously known and frequented by the mountaineers that guided him: and a few years later his brother Hasdrubal appears to have crossed the same pass with comparatively little difficulty. Polybius, according to Strabo, was acquainted with only four passes, viz.: 1. that through Liguria by the Maritime Alps; 2. that through the Taurini, which was the one traversed by Hannibal; 3. that through the Salassi; and 4. that through the Rhaetians. (Polyb. ap. Strab. p. 209.) At a later period Pompey, on his march into Spain (B. c. 77), opened out a passage for his army, which he describes as "different from that of Hannibal, but more convenient for the Romans." (Pompeii Epist. ap. Sallust. Hist. iii. 230, ed. Gerlach.) Shortly after this time Varro (in a passage in which there appears to be much confusion) speaks of five passes across the Alps (without including the more easterly ones), which he enumerates as follows: "Una, quae est juxta mare per Liguras; altera qua Hannibal transiit; tertia qua Pompeius ad Hispaniense bellum profectus est: quarta qua Hasdrubal de Gallia in Italiam venit: quinta, quae quondam a Graecis possessa est, quae exinde Alpes Graeciae appellantur." (Varr. ap. Serv. ad Aen. x. 13.) Fron the time of the reduction of the Transalpine Gauls by J. Caesar, and that of the Alpine tribes by Augustus, the passes over the Alps came to be well known, and were traversed by high roads, several of which, however, on account of the natural difficulties of the mountains, were not practicable for carriages. These passes were the following: 1. "PER ALPES MARITIMAS," along the coast of Liguria, at the foot of the Maritime Alps from Genua to the mouth of the Varus. Though the line of sea-coast must always have offered a natural means of communication, it could hardly have been frequented by the Romans until the wild tribes of the Ligurians had been effectually subdued; and it appears certain that no regular road was constructed * See the article HANNIBAL, in the Dict. of Biogr along it till the time of Augustus. The monument which that emperor erected over the highest part of the pass (just above the Portus Monoeci), to commemorate the reduction of the Alpine tribes, is still extant, and the Roman road may be distinctly traced for several miles on each side of it. [TROPAEA AUGUSTI.] It did not follow the same line as the modern road, but, after ascending from near Mentone to the summit of the pass at Turbia, descended a side valley to Cemenelion (Cimiez), and proceeded from thence direct to the mouth of the Varus, leaving Nicaea on the left. The stations along this road from Vada Sabbata (Vado) to Antipolis are thus given in the Itin. Ant. p. 296: Pullopice (Albenga) Luco Bormani Albintimilio (Vin- M.P. M.P. vi. viii. XV. Varum flumen xvi. vi. Χ. This line of road is given in the Itinerary as a part of the Via Aurelia, of which it was undoubtedly a continuation; but we learn from the inscriptions of the mile-stones discovered near Turbia that it was properly called the Via Julia. From thence there branched off two lines of road, the one by Lemincum (Chambery) and Augusta Allobrogum to Vienna, the other northwards to Geneva and the Lacus Lemannus. 4. "PER ALPES PENNINAS," by the Great St. Bernard. This route, which branched off from the former at Augusta Praetoria, and led direct across the mountain, from thence to Octodurus (Martigny) in the valley of the Rhone, and the head of the Lake Lemannus, appears to have been known and frequented from very early times, though it was never rendered practicable for carriages. Caesar speaks of it as being used to a considerable extent by merchants and traders, notwithstanding the exactions to which they were subjected by the wild tribes that then occupied this part of the Alps. (B. G. iii. 1.) The numerous inscriptions and votive tablets that have been discovered sufficiently attest how much this pass was frequented in later times: and it was repeatedly traversed by Roman armies. (Orell. Inser. vol. i. p. 104; Tac. Hist. i. 61, iv. 68.) The distances by this road are thus given in the Itinerary. From Augusta Praetoria to the summit of the pass, Summo Pennino, where stood a temple of JupiterM. P. xxv.; thence to Octodorus (Martigny) xxv.; and from thence to Viviscum (Vevay) 34 miles, passing two obscure stations, the names of which are probably corrupt. 5. The next pass, for which we find no appro priate name, led from the head of the Lacus Larius to Brigantia (Bregenz), on the Lake of Constance. We find no mention of this route in early times; but it must have been that taken by Stilicho, in the depth of winter, when he proceeded from Mediolanum through the Rhaetian Alps to summon the Vindelicians and Noricans to the relief of Honorius. (Clandian. B. Get. v. 320-360.) The Itineraries give two routes across this part of the Alps; the one apparently following the line of the modern pass of the Splügen, by Clavenna (Chiavenna) and Tarvessedo (?) to Curia (Coire): the other crossing the 2. "PER ALPES COTTIAS," by the pass now called the Mont Genèvre, from Augusta Taurinorum to Brigantio (Briançon) and Ebrodunum (Embrun) in Gaul. This was the most direct line of communication from the north of Italy to Transalpine Gaul: it is evidently that followed by Caesar when he hastened to oppose the Helvetii, "qua proximum iter in ulteriorem Galliam per Alpes erat" (B. G. i. 10), and is probably the same already mentioned as having been first explored by Pompey. It was afterwards one of the passes most frequented by the Romans, and is termed by Ammianus (xv. 10) " via media et compendiaria." That writer has given a detailed account of the pass, the highest ridge of which was known by the name of MATRONAE MONS, a name retained in the middle ages, and found in the Itin. Hierosol. p. 556. Just at its foot, on the Italian side, was the station AD MARTIS, probably near the modern village of Oulx. The distances given in the Itin. Ant. (p. 341) are, from Taurini (Augusta Taurinorum) to Segusio (Susa) 51 M. P. (a great overstatement: the correct distance would be 36); thenceAd Martis xvi. Ramae Brigantio xviii. Eburodono xviii. Though now little frequented, this pass is one of the lowest and easiest of those over the main chain. 3. "PER ALPES GRAIAS," by the Little St. Ber-pass of the Septimer, by Murus and Tinnetio (Tinnard. This route, which led from Milan and the plains of the Po by the valley of the Salassi to Augusta Praetoria (Aosta), and from thence across the mountain pass into the valley of the Isara (Isère), and through the Tarentaise to Vienna and Lugdunum, is supposed by many writers to have been that followed by Hannibal. It was certainly crossed by D. Brutus with his army after the battle of Mutina, B. C. 43. But though it presents much less natural difficulties than its neighbour the Great St. Bernard, it appears to have been little frequented, on account of the predatory habits of the Salassians, until Augustus, after having completely subdued that people, constructed a carriage road over the Graian Alps, which thenceforward became one of the most important and frequented lines of communi zen) to Curia, where it rejoined the preceding route. 6. PER ALPES RHAETICAS or TRIDENTINAS," through the modern Tyrol, which, from the natural facilities it presents, must always have been one of the most obvious means of communication between Italy and the countries on the S. of the Danube. The high road led from Verona to Tridentum (where it was joined by a cross road from Opitergium through the Val Sugana), and thence up the valley of the Athesis as far as Botzen, from which point it followed the Atagis or Eisach to its source, and crossed the pass of the Brenner to Veldidana (Wilden, near Insbruck), and from thence across another mountain pass to Augusta Vindelicorum. [RHAETIA.] 7. A road led from Aquileia to Julium Carnicum (Zuglio), and from thence across the Julian Alps to Loncium in the valley of the Gail, and by that valley | for believing that it anciently flowed to the NW., and the Puster Thal to join the preceding road at Vipitenum, near the foot of the Brenner. The stations (few of which can be determined with any certainty) are thus given (Itin. Ant. p. 279): 8. Another high road led from Aquileia eastward up the valley of the Wippach, and from thence across the barren mountainous tract of comparatively small elevation (the Mons Ocra), which separates it from the valley of the Savus, to Aemona in Pannonia. There can be no doubt that this pass, which presents no considerable natural difficulties, was from the earliest ages the highway of nations from the banks of the Danube into Italy, as it again became after the fall of the Roman empire. (P. Diac. ii. 10.) The distance from Aquileia to Aemona is given by the Itin. Ant. at 76 Roman miles, which cannot be far from the truth; but the intermediate stations are very uncertain. - [E. H. B.] ALPHEIUS (Apeiós: Ruféa, Rufiá or Rofiá, and River of Karitena), the chief river of Peloponnesus, rises in the SE. of Arcadia on the frontiers of Laconia, flows in a westerly direction through Arcadia and Elis, and after passing Olympia falls into the Ionian Sea. The Alpheius, like several other rivers and lakes in Arcadia, disappears more than once in the limestone mountains of the country, and then emerges again, after flowing some distance underground. Pausanias (viii. 54. § 1, seq., 44. §4) relates that the source of the Alpheius is at Phylace, on the frontiers of Arcadia and Laconia; and that, after receiving a stream rising from many small fountains, at a place called Symbola, it flows into the territory of Tegea, where it sinks underground. It rises again at the distance of 5 stadia from Asea, close to the fountain of the Eurotas. The two rivers then mix their waters, and after flowing in a common channel for the distance of nearly 20 stadia, they again sink underground, and reappear, the Eurotas in Laconia, the Alpheius at Pegae, the Fountains, in the territory of Megalopolis in Arcadia. Strabo (p. 343) also states that the Alpheius and Eurotas rise from two fountains near Asea, and that, after flowing several stadia underground, the Eurotas reappears in the Bleminatis in Laconia, and the Alpheius in Arcadia. In another passage (p. 275) Strabo relates, that it was a common belief that if two chaplets dedicated to the Alpheius and the Eurotas were thrown into the stream near Asea, each would reappear at the sources of the river to which it was destined. This story accords with the statement of Pausanias as to the union of the waters from the two fountains, and their course in a common channel. The account of Pausanias is confirmed in many particulars by the observations of Colonel Leake and others. The river, in the first part of its course, is now called the Saranda, which rises at Krya Vrysi, the ancient Phylace, and which receives, a little below Krya Vrysi, a stream formed of several small mountain torrents, by which the ancient Symbola is recognised. On entering the Tegeatic plain, the Saránda and disappeared in the Katavóthra of the marsh of Taki.* (Leake, Peloponnesiaca, p. 112, seq.) The two reputed sources of the Alpheius and Eurotas are found near the remains of Asea, at the copious source of water called Frangóvrysi; but whether the source of the Alpheius be really the vent of the lake of Taki, cannot be decided with certainty. These two fountains unite their waters, as Pausanias describes, and again sink into the earth. After passing under a mountain called Tzimbanú, the Alpheius reappears at Mármara, probably Pegae. (Leake, Morea, vol. iii. p. 37, seq.) Below Pegae, the Alpheius receives the HELISSON ('EXwowv: River of Daviá), on which Megalopolis was situated, 30 stadia from the confluence. Below this, and near the town of Brenthe (Karitena), the Alpheius flows through a defile in the mountains, called the pass of Lavdha. This pass is the only opening in the mountains, by which the waters of central Arcadia find their way to the western sea. It divides the upper plain of the Alpheius, of which Megalopolis was the chief place, from the lower plain, in which Heraea was situated. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 19, seq.) Below Heraea, the Alpheius receives the LADON (Aádwv), which rises near Cleitor, and is celebrated in mythology as the father of Daphne. The Ladon is now cailed Ruféa, Rufiá or Rofia, by which name the Alpheius is called below its junction with the Ladon. In the upper part of its course the Alpheius is usually called the River of Karitena. Below the Ladon, at the distance of 20 stadia, the Alpheius receives the ERYMANTHUS ('Epúμaveos), rising in the mountain of the same name, and forming the boundary between Elis and the territories of Heraea in Arcadia. After entering Elis, it flows past Olympia, forming the boundary between Pisatis and Triphylia, and falls into the Cyparissian gulf in the Ionian sea. At the mouth of the river was a temple and grove of Artemis Alpheionia. From the pass of Lavdha to the sea, the Alpheius is wide and shallow: in summer it is divided into several torrents, flowing between islands or sandbanks over a wide gravelly bed, while in winter it is full, rapid, and turbid. Its banks produce a great number of large plane-trees. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 67, Pelo ponnesiaca, p. 8.) Alpheius appears as a celebrated river-god in mythology; and it was apparently the subterranean passage of the river in the upper part of its course which gave rise to the fable that the Alpheius flowed beneath the sea, and attempted to mingle its waters with the fountain of Arethusa in the island of Ortygia in Syracuse. (Dict. of Biogr. art. Alpheius.) Hence Ovid calls the nymph Arethusa, Alphetas. (Met. v. 487.) Virgil (Aen. x. 179) gives the epithet of Alpheae to the Etruscan city of Pisae, because the latter was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius flowed. ALSA, a small river of Venetia (Plin. iii. 18. s. 22) still called the Ausa, which flows into the lagunes of Marano, a few miles W. of Aquileia. A battle was fought on its banks in A. D. 340, between the younger Constantine and the generals of his brother Constans, in which Constantine himself was slain, and his body thrown into the river Alsa. (Victor, Epit. 41. § 21; Hieron. Chron, ad ann. 2356.) *The preceding account will be made clearer by city of the OLCADES in Spain, not far from Carthago Nova. Its capture was Hannibal's first exploit in Spain. (Polyb. iii. 13; Steph. Byz. s. v.) Its position is unknown. Livy calls it Carteia (xxi. 5). [P.S.] ALTI'NUM ("AXTIVOV: Altino), a city of Venetia situated on the border of the lagunes, and on the right bank of the little river Silis (Sele) near its mouth. We learn from the Itineraries that it was distant 32 Roman miles from Patavium, and 31 from Concordia. (Itin. Ant. pp. 128, 281.) Strabo describes it as situated in a marsh or lagune, like Ravenna, and we learn that travellers were in the habit of proceeding by water along the lagunes from Ravenna to Altinum. Tacitus also speaks of it as open to attack by sea; but at the present day it is distant about 2 miles from the lagunes. (Strab. p. 214; Vitruv. i. 4. § 11; Itin. Ant. p. 126; Tac. Hist. iii. 6.) The first historical mention of Altinum is found in Velleius Paterculus (ii. 76) during the wars of the Second Triumvirate, and it appears to have been then, as it continued under the Roman Empire, one of the most considerable places in this part of Italy. Pliny assigns it only the rank of a municipium; but we learn from inscriptions that it subsequently became a colony, probably in the time of Trajan. (Plin. iii. 18. s. 22; Orell. Inscr. 4082; Zumpt de Colon. p. 402.) Besides its municipal importance, the shores of the adjoining lagunes became a favourite residence of the wealthy Romans, and were gradually lined with villas which are described by Martial (iv. 25) as rivalling those of Baiae. The adjoining ALSIETI'NUS LACUS, a small lake in Etruria, about 2 miles distant from the Lacus Sabatinus, between it and the basin or crater of Baccano, now called the Lago di Martignano. Its ancient name is preserved to us only by Frontinus, from whom we learn that Augustus conveyed the water from thence to Rome by an aqueduct, named the Aqua Alsietina, more than 22 miles in length. The water was, however, of inferior quality, and served only to supply a Naumachia, and for purposes of irrigation. It was joined at CAREIAE, a station on the Via Claudia, 15 miles from Rome, by another branch bringing water from the Lacus Sabatinus. (Frontin. de Aquaed. §§ 11, 71.) The channel of the aqueduct is still in good preservation, where it issues from the lake, and may be traced for many miles of its course. (Nibby, Dintorni, vol. i. pp. 133 -137.) [E. H. B.] A'LSIUM (AXσiov: Eth. Alsiensis: Palo), a city on the coast of Etruria, between Pyrgi and Fregenae, at the distance of 18 miles from the Portus Augusti (Porto) at the mouth of the Tiber. (Itin. Ant. p.301.) Its name is mentioned by Dionysius (i. 20) among the cities which were founded by the Pelasgians in connection with the aborigines, and afterwards wrested from them by the Tyrrhenians (Etruscans). But no mention of it occurs in history as an Etruscan city, or during the wars of that people with Rome. In B. C. 245 a Roman colony was established there, which was placed on the same footing with the other "coloniae maritimae;" and in common with these claimed exemption from all military service, a claim which was, however, over-plains were celebrated for the excellence of their ruled during the exigencies of the Second Punic wool, while the lagunes abounded in fish of all War. (Vell. Pat. i. 14; Liv. xxvii. 38.) No sub- kinds, especially shell-fish. (Mart. xiv. 155; Plin. sequent notice of it occurs in history, but its name xxxii. 11. s. 53; Cassiod. Ep. Varr. xii. 22.) It is mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy, and we was here that the emperor L. Verus died of apolearn from an inscription of the time of Caracalla plexy in A. D. 169. (Eutrop. viii. 10; Jul. Capit. that it still retained its colonial rank, and correspond- Ver. 9; Vict. de Caes. 15.) The modern village ing municipal organisation. (Strab. pp. 225, 226; of Altino is a very poor place; the period of the Plin. iii. 5. s. 8; Ptol. iii. 1. § 4; Gruter, Inscr. decay or destruction of the ancient city is unknown, p. 271. 3.) It appears to have early become a but its inhabitants are supposed to have fled for favourite resort with the wealthy Romans as a place refuge from the invasions of the barbarians to Torof retirement and pleasure ("maritimus et volup- cello, an island in the lagunes about 4 miles distant, tarius locus:" Fronto, Ep. p. 207, ed. Rom.); thus to which the episcopal see was transferred in a. D. we find that Pompey the Great had a villa there, 635. [E. H. B.] and Caesar also, where he landed on his return from Africa, and at which all the nobles of Rome hastened to greet him. (Cic. pro Milon. 20, ad Fam. ix. 6, ad Att. xiii. 50.) Another is mentioned as belonging to Verginius Rufus, the guardian of Pliny, and we learn from Fronto that the emperor M. Aurelius had a villa there, to which several of his epistles are addressed. (Plin. Ep. vi. 10; Fronto, Ep. p. 205-leader named Patron (Dionys. i. 51); but it pro215.) At a later period the town itself had fallen into utter decay, but the site was still occupied by villas, as well as that of the neighbouring Pyrgi. (Rutil. Itin. i. 223.) The site of Alsium is clearly fixed by the distance from Porto, at the modern village of Palo, a poor place with a fort and mole of the 17th century, in the construction of which many ancient materials have been used. Besides these, the whole shore to the E. of the village, for the space of more than a mile, is occupied by the remains of buildings which appear to have belonged to a Roman villa of imperial date, and of the most magnificent scale and style of construction. These ruins are described in detail by Nibby (Dintorni di Roma, vol. iii. pp. 527, 528). [E. H. B.] ALTHAEA (Aлbala: Eth. 'AN@aîos), the chief ALTIS. [OLYMPIA.] ALU'NTIUM or HALU'NTIUM (AXÓTION, Ptol.; 'Aλoúvτiov, Dion. Hal.: Eth. 'Aλortivos, Haluntinus), a city on the N. coast of Sicily, between Tyndaris and Calacta. Its foundation was ascribed by some authors to a portion of the companions of Aeneas, who remained behind in Sicily under a bably was, in reality, a Sicelian town. No mention of it is found in Diodorus, nor is it noticed in history prior to the Roman conquest of Sicily. But in the time of Cicero it appears to have been a place of some importance. He mentions it as having suffered severely from the exactions of Verres, who, not content with ruinous extortions of corn, compelled the inhabitants to give up all their ornamental plate. (Cic. Verr. iii. 43, iv. 23.) We learn from inscriptions that it retained the rank of a municipium, and was a flourishing town at least as late as the reign of Augustus. Its site has been a matter of much dispute, but there are very strong arguments to prove that it occupied the same situation as the modern town of San Marco, which rises on a lofty hill of steep and difficult ascent, about 3 miles from the Tyrrhenian |