partitioned Spain, the Suevi obtaining Gallaecia, the Alani Lusitania and the province of New Carthage, and the Vandals Baetica. (Clinton, s. a.) Most of them accompanied Geiseric in his invasion of Africa in the following year (429: AFRICA, VANDALI), and among other indications of their continued consequence in Africa, we find an edict of Huneric addressed, in 483, to the bishops of the Vandals and Alans (Clinton, s. a.); while in Spain we hear no more of them or of the Vandals, but the place of both is occupied by the Suevi. Meanwhile, returning to Europe, at the time of Attila's invasion of the Roman empire, we find in his camp the descendants of those Alans who had at first joined the Huns; and the personal influence of Actius with Attila obtained the services of a body of Alani, who were settled in Gaul, about Valence and Orleans. (Gibbon, c. 35.) When Attila invaded Gaul, 451, he seems to have depended partly on the sympathy of these Alani (Gibbon speaks of a promise from their king Saniban to betray Orleans); and the great victory of Chalons, where they served under Theodoric against the Huns, was nearly lost by their defection (451). Among the acts recorded of To- | rismond, in the single year of his reign (451-452), is the conquest of the Alani, who may be supposed to have rebelled. (Clinton, s. a.) In the last years of the W. empire the Alans are mentioned with other barbarians as overrunning Gaul and advancing even into Liguria, and as resisted by the prowess of Majorian (Clinton, s. a. 461; Gibbon, c. 36); but thenceforth their name disappears, swallowed up in the great kingdom of the Visigoths. So much for the Alani of the West.

All this time, and later, they are still found in their ancient settlements in the E., between the Don and Volga, and in the Caucasus. They are mentioned under Justinian; and, at the breaking out of the war between Justin II. and Chosroës, king of Persia, they are found among the allies of the Armenians, under their king Saroes, 572-3. (Theo phylact. ap. Phot. Cod. lxv. p. 26, b. 37, ed. Bekker.) The Alani of the Caucasus are constantly mentioned, both by Byzantine and Arabian writers, in the middle ages, and many geographers suppose the Ossetes of Daghestan to be their descendants. The medieval writers, both Greek and Arab, call the country about the E. end of Caucasus Alania.

the Scythians of the latter, that is, the people of European Sarmatia. Of their language, one solitary relic has been preserved. In the Periplus of the Euxine p. 5, Hudson, p. 213, Gail) we are told that the city of Theodosia was called in the Alan or Taurie dialect 'Αρδάβδα or 'Αρδαύδα, that is, the city of the Seven gods. (Klaproth, Tableaux de Asie; Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. ii. pp. 845-850; Stritter, Mem. Pop. vol. iv. pp. 232, 395; De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, vol. ii. p. 279; Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2. pp. 550-555; Georgii, vol. i. p. 152, vol. ii. p. 312.) [P. S.]

ALA'NI and ALAUNI MONTES. [ALANI.] ALA'NIA. [ALANI.]

ALATA CASTRA (πτερωτὸν στρατόπεδον, Ptol. ii. 3. § 13), in the territory of the Vacomagi (Murray and Inverness-shire) was the northernmost station of the Romans in Britain, and near Inverness. This fort was probably raised by Lollius Urbicus after his victories in Britannia Barbara A. D. 139, to repress the incursions of the Caledonian clans: but it was soon abandoned, and all vestige of it obliterated. (Capitolin. Antonin. P. 5; Pausan. viii. 43. § 3.) [W. B. D.]

ALATRIUM or ALETRIUM ('Aλéτpiov, Strab.; ALATRINATES, Liv.; ALETRINATES, Plin. et Inscr.), a city of the Hernicans, situated to the E. of the Via Latina, about 7 miles from Ferentinum, and still called Alatri. In early times it appears to have been one of the principal cities of the Hernican league, and in B. c. 306, when the general council of the nation was assembled to deliberate concerning war with Rome, the Alatrians, in conjunction with the citizens of Ferentinum and Veruli, pronounced against it. For this they were rewarded, after the defeat of the other Hernicans, by being allowed to retain their own laws, which they preferred to the Roman citizenship, with the mutual right of connubium among the three cities. (Liv. ix. 42, 43.) Its name is found in Plautus (Captivi, iv. 2, 104), and Cicero speaks of it as in his time a municipal town of consideration (Or. pro Cluent. 16, 17). It subsequently became a colony, but at what period we know not: Pliny mentions it only among the "oppida" of the first region: and its municipal rank is confirmed by inscriptions of imperial times (Lib. Colon. p. 230; Plin. iii. 5. 9; Inser. ap. Gruter. pp. 422. 3, 424. 7; Orelli, Inscr. 3785; Zumpt, de Colon. p. 359). Being removed from the high road, it is not mentioned in the Itineraries, but Strabo notices it among the cities of Latium, though he erroneously places it on the right or south side of the Via Latina. (v. p. 237.)

The modern town of Alatri, which contains a

episcopal see, retains the site of the ancient city, or. a steep hill of considerable elevation, at the foot of which flows the little river Cosa. It has few monuments of Roman times, but the remains of its massive ancient fortifications are among the most striking in Italy. Of the walls which surrounded the city itself great portions still remain, built of large polygonal blocks of stone, without cement, in the same style as those of Signia, Norba, and Ferentinum. much more remarkable than these are the remains of the ancient citadel, which crowned the summit of the hill: its form is an irregular oblong, of about 660 yards in circuit, constituting a nearly level terrace supported on all sides by walls of the most massive polygonal construction, varying in height according to the declivity of the ground, but which

But

attain at the SE. angle an elevation of not less | than 50 feet. It has two gates, one of which, on the N. side, appears to have been merely a postern or sally-port, communicating by a steep and narrow subterranean passage with the platform above: the principal entrance being on the south side, near the SE. angle. The gateways in both instances are square-headed, the architrave being formed of one enormous block of stone, which in the principal gate is more than 15 feet in length by 5 in height. Vestiges of rude bas-reliefs may be still observed above the smaller gate. All these walls, as well as those of the city itself, are built of the hard limestone of the Apennines, in the style called Polygonal or Pelasgic, as opposed to the ruder Cyclopean, and are among the best specimens extant of that mode of construction, both from their enormous solidity, and the accuracy with which the stones are fitted together. In the centre of the platform or terrace stands the modern cathedral, in all probability occupying the site of an ancient temple. The remains at Alatri have been described and figured by Madame Dionigi (Viaggio in alcune Città del Lazio, Roma, 1809), and views of them are given in Dodwell's Pelasgic Remains, pl. 92-96. [E.H.B.] ALAUNA, a town of the Unelli, as Caesar (B. G. ii. 34) calls the people, or Veneti, as Ptolemy calls them. It is probably the origin of the modern town of Aleaume, near Valognes, in the department of La Manche, where there are said to be Roman remains. [G. L.]

ALAUNI. [ALANI.] ALA'ZON (Plin. vi. 10. s. 11), or ALAZO'NIUS ('AλaCuvios, Strab. p. 500: Alasan, Alacks), a river of the Caucasus, flowing SE. into the Cambyses a little above its junction with the Cyrus, and forming the boundary of Albania and Iberia. Its position seems to correspond with the Abas of Plutarch and Dion Cassius. [ABAS.] [P.S.]

ALAZO'NES ('Aλágwves), a Scythian people on the Borysthenes (Dnieper), N. of the Callipidae, and S. of the agricultural Scythians: they grew corn for their own use. (Hecat. ap. Strab. p. 550; Herod. iv. 17, 52; Steph. B. s. v.; Val. Flacc. vi. 101; Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 418.)

[P. S.]

ALBA DOCILIA, a town on the coast of Liguria, known only from the Tabula Peutingeriana, which places it on the coast road from Genua to Vada Sabbata. The distances are so corrupt as to afford us no assistance in determining its position: but it is probable that Cluver is right in identifying it with the modern Albissola, a village about 3 miles from Savona, on the road to Genoa. The origin and meaning of the name are unknown. (Tab. Peut.; Cluver. Ital. p. 70.) [E. H. B.]

ALBA FUCENSIS or FUCENTIS (AX6a, Strab.; "AX6α ÞoÚKEVTIS, Ptol.; the ethnic Albenses, not Albani; see Varr. de L. L. viii. § 35), an important city and fortress of Central Italy, situated on the Via Valeria, on a hill of considerable elevation, about 3 miles from the northern shores of the Lake Fucinus, and immediately at the foot of Monte Velino. There is considerable discrepancy anong ancient writers, as to the nation to which it belonged: but Livy expressly tells us that it was in the territory of the Aequians (Albam in Aequos, x. 1), and in another passage (xxvi. 11, ne speaks of the "Albensis ager" as clearly distinct from that of the Marsians. His testimony is confirmed by Appian (Annib. 39) and by Strabo (v. pp. 238, 240), who calls it the most inland Latin city,

adjoining the territory of the Marsians. Ptolemy on the contrary reckons it as a Marsic city, as do Silius Italicus and Festus (Ptol. iii. 1. § 57; Sil. Ital. viii. 506; Festus v. Albesia, p. 4, ed. Müller): and this view has been followed by most modern writers. The fact probably is, that it was originally an Aequian town, but being situated on the frontiers of the two nations, and the Marsians having in later times become far more celebrated and powerful than their neighbours, Alba came to be commonly assigned to them. Pliny (H. N. iii. 12-17) reckons the Albenses as distinct both from the Marsi and Aequiculi: and it appears from inscriptions that they belonged to the Fabian tribe, while the Marsi, as well as the Sabines and Peligni, were included in the Sergian. No historical mention of Alba is found previous to the foundation of the Roman colony: but it has been generally assumed to be a very ancient city. Niebuhr even supposes that the name of Alba Longa was derived from thence: though Appian tells us on the contrary that the Romans gave this name to their colony from their own mother-city (l. c.). It is more probable that the name was, in both cases, original, and was derived from their lofty situation, being connected with the same root as Alp. The remains of its ancient fortifications may however be regarded as a testimony to its antiquity, though we find no special mention of it as a place of strength previous to the Roman conquest. But immediately after the subjugation of the Aequi, in B. c. 302, the Romans hastened to occupy it with a body of not less than 6000 colonists (Liv. x. 1; Vell. Pat. i. 14), and it became from this time a fortress of the first class. In B. C. 211, on occasion of the sudden advance of Hannibal upon Rome, the citizens of Alba sent a body of 2000 men to assist the Romans in the defence of the city. But notwithstanding their zeal and promptitude on this occasion we find them only two years after (in B. C. 209) among the twelve colonies which declared themselves unable to furnish any further contingents, nor did their previous services exempt them from the same punishment with the rest for this default. (Appian, Annib. 39; Liv. xxvii. 9, xxix. 15.) We afterwards find Alba repeatedly selected on account of its great strength and inland position as a place of confinement for state prisoners; among whom Syphax, king of Numidia, Perseus, king of Macedonia, and Bituitus, king of the Arverni, are particularly mentioned. (Strab. v. p. 240; Liv. xxx. 17, 45; xlv. 42; Val. Max. ix. 6. § 3.)

was

On the outbreak of the Social War, Alba withstood a siege from the confederate forces, but ultimately compelled to surrender (Liv. Epit. lxxii.). During the Civil Wars also it is repeatedly mentioned in a manner that sufficiently attests its importance in a military point of view. (Caes. B. C. i. 15, 24; Appian, Civ. iii. 45, 47, v. 30; Cic. ad Att. viii. 12, A, ix. 6; Philipp. iii. 3, 15, iv. 2, xiii. 9). But under the Empire it attracted little attention, and we find no historical mention of it during that period: though its continued existence as a provincial town of some note is attested by inscriptions and other extant remains, as well as by the notices of it in Ptolemy and the Itineraries. (Ptol. 1. c.; Itin. Ant. p. 309; Tab. Peut.; Lib. Colon. p. 253; Muratori, Inscr. 1021. 5, 1038. 1; Orell. no. 4166.) Its territory, on account of its elevated situation, was more fertile in fruit than corn, and was particularly celebrated for the ex

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 tonverted 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.

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 (AA6a: 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, 1. c.) Fron 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;

Strab. v. p. 231; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 350, 351.) The 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.)

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 afterwards 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,

a larger one including all the Latin cities; for there 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 city 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.

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 Caroparting 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, along the margin of the lake to the northern extremity 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 i ▲ 199.) The