of Aeolians in Aetolia and Locris, at Corinth, in Elis, in Pylus and in Messenia. Thus a great part of northern Greece, and the western side of Peloponnesus were inhabited at an early period by the Aeolian race. In most of these Aeolian settlements we find a predilection for maritime situations; and Poseidon appears to have been the deity chiefly worshipped by them. The Aeolians also migrated to Asia Minor where they settled in the district called after them Aeolis [AEOLIS], and also in the island of Lesbos. The Aeolian migration is generally represented as the first of the series of movements produced by the irruption of the Aeolians into Boeotia, and of the Dorians into Peloponnesus. The Achaeans, who had been driven from their homes in the Peloponnesus by the Dorians, were believed to have been joined in Boeotia by a part of the ancient inhabitants of Boeotia and of their Aeolian conquerors. The latter seem to have been predominant in influence, for from them the migration was called the Aeolian, and sometimes the Boeotian. An account of the early settlements and migrations of the Aeolians is given at length by Thirlwall, to which we must refer our readers for details and authorities. (Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p. 88, seq. vol. ii. p. 82, seq.; comp. Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p. 145, seq., vol. ii. p. 26, seq.) The Aeolian dialect of the Greek language comprised several subordinate modifications; but the variety established by the colonists in Lesbos and on the opposite coasts of Asia, became eventually its popular standard, having been carried to perfection by the Lesbian school of lyric poetry. (Mure, History of the Language, fc. of Greece, vol. i. p. 108, seq.) Thus we find the Roman poets calling Sappho Aeolia puella (Hor. Carm. iv. 9. 12), and the lyric poetry of Alcaeus and Sappho Aeolium carmen, Aeolia fides and Aeolia lyra. (Hor. Carm. iii. 30. 13, ii. 13. 24; Ov. Her. xv. 200.) AEO'LIAE INSULAE (Aioλídes vñool, Diod. Aióλov vñσo, Thuc. Strab.), a group of volcanic islands, lying in the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north of Sicily, between that island and the coast of Lucania. They derived the name of Aeolian from some fancied connection with the fabulous island of Aeolus mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey (x. 1, &c.), but they were also frequently termed VULCANIAE or HEPHAESTIAE, from their volcanic character, which was ascribed to the subterranean operations of Vulcan, as well as LIPARAEAN (ai Aimapaiwv vñσoi, Strab. ii. p. 123), from LIPARA, the largest and most important among them, from which they still derive the name of the Lipari Islands. Ancient authors generally agree in reckoning them as seven in number (Strab. vi. p. 275; Plin. iii. 8. 14; Scymn. Ch. 255; Diod. v. 7; Mela, ii. 7; Dionys. Perieget. 465; Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. iii. 41), which is correct, if the smaller islets be omitted. But there is considerable diversity with regard to their names, and the confusion has been greatly augmented by some modern geographers. They are enumerated as follows by Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny: 1. LIPARA, still called Lipari; the most considerable of the seven, and the only one which contained a town of any importance. [LIPARA.] 2. HIERA, situated between Lipara and the coast of Sicily. Its original name according to Strabo was Thermessa (épμeσoa), or, as Pliny writes it, Therasia, but it was commonly known to the Greeks as 'lepá or 'Iepà 'Hpaíorov, being considered sacred to Vulcan on account of the volcanic phenomena which it exhibited. For the same reason it was called by the Romans VULCANI INSULA, from whence its mo.. dern appellation of Vulcano. It is the southernmost of the whole group, and is distant only 12 G. miles from Capo Calavà, the nearest point on the coast of Sicily. 3. STRONGYLE (Σтpоyyúλn, now Stromboli), so called from its general roundness of form (Strab. 1. c.; Lucil. Aetna, 431): the northernmost of the islands, and like Hiera an active volcano. 4. DIDYME (Aidúμn), now called Salina, or Isola delle Saline, is next to Lipara the largest of the whole group. Its ancient name was derived (as Strabo expressly tells us, vi. p. 276), from its form, which circumstance leaves no doubt of its being the same with the modern Salina, that island being conspicuous for two high conical mountains which rise to a height of 3,500 feet (Smyth's Sicily, p. 272; Ferrara, Campi Flegrei della Sicilia, p. 243; Daubeny, On Volcanoes, p. 262). Groskurd (ad Strab. I. c.), Mannert, and Forbiger, have erroneously identified Didyme with Panaria, and thus thrown the whole subject into confusion. It is distant only three miles NW. from Lipara. 5. PHOENICUSA (Φοινικούσσα, Strab. Φοινικώδης, Diod.), so called from the palms (powikes) in which it abounded, is evidently Felicudi about 12 miles W. of Salina. 6. ERICUSA ('Epikovσσa or 'Epikons), probably named from its abundance of heath (épeiкn), is the little island of Alicudi, the westernmost of the whole group. These two were both very small islands and were occupied only for pasturage. 7. EUONYMUS (Evúvvuos), which we are expressly told was the smallest of the seven and uninhabited. The other six being clearly identified, there can be no doubt that this is the island now called Panaria, which is situated between Lipara and Strongyle, though it does not accord with Strabo's description that it lies the farthest out to sea (πeλayía μáλora). But it agrees, better at least than any other, with his statement that it lay on the left hand as one sailed from Lipara towards Sicily, from whence he supposes it to have derived its name. Several small islets adjacent to Panaria, are now called the Dattole, the largest of which Basiluzzo, is probably the HICESIA of Ptolemy ('Ineola, Ptol. iii. 4. § 16; 'Ixéolov, Eustath. ad Hom. Odyss. x. 1), whose list, with the exception of this addition, corresponds with that of Strabo. That of Mela (ii. 7) is very confused and erroneous: he is cer tainly in error in including OSTEODES in the Aeolian group. The volcanic character of these islands was early noticed by the Greeks: and Diodorus justly remarks (v. 7) that they had all been evidently at one time vents of eruptive action, as appeared from their still extant craters, though in his time two only, Hiera and Strongyle, were active volcanoes. Strabo indeed (l. c. p. 275) appears to speak of volcanic eruptions in the island of Lipara itself, but his expressions, which are not very precise, may probably refer only to outbreaks of volcanic vapours and hot springs, such as are still found there. Earlier writers, as Thucydides and Scymnus Chius, allude to the eruptions of Hiera only, and these were probably in ancient times the most frequent and violent, as they appear to have attracted much more attention than those of Strongyle, which is now by far the most active of the two. Hence arose the idea that this was the abode of Vulcan, and the peculiar sounds that accompanied its internal agitations were attributed 3, or B. c. 126. The same phenomenon is less accurately described by Julius Obsequens (89) and Orosius (v. 10), both of whom confirm the above date: but the last author narrates (iv. 20) at a much earlier period (B. C. 186) the sudden emergence from the sea of an island, which he erroneously supposes to have been the Vulcani Insula itself: but which was probably no other than the rock now called Vulcanello, situated at the NE. extremity of Vulcano, and united to that island only by a narrow isthmus formed of volcanic sand and ashes. It still emits smoke and vapour and contains two small craters.* to the hammers and forges of the god and his work- | recorded by Pliny (ii. 87) as occurring in Ol. 163. men the Cyclopes. (Thuc. iii. 88; Scymn. Ch. 257 -261; Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. iii. 41; Virg. Aen. viii. 418). According to Strabo there were three craters on this island, the largest of which was in a state of the most violent eruption. Polybius (ap. Strab. vi. p. 276), who appears to have visited it himself, described the principal crater as five stadia in circumference, but diminishing gradually to a width of only fifty feet, and estimated its depth at a stadium. From this crater were vomited forth sometimes flames, at others red hot stones, cinders and ashes, which were carried to a great distance. No ancient writer mentions streams of lava (þúakes) similar to those of Aetna. The intensity and chaNone of the Aeolian islands, except Lipara, appear racter of these eruptions was said to vary very much to have been inhabited in ancient times to any exaccording to the direction of the wind, and from tent. Thucydides expressly tells us (iii. 88) that in these indications, as well as the gathering of mists his day Lipara alone was inhabited, and the other and clouds around the summit, the inhabitants of islands, Strongyle, Didyme, and Hiera, were culthe neighbouring island of Lipara professed to fore- tivated by the Liparacans; and this statement is tell the winds and weather, a circumstance which confirmed by Diodorus (v. 9). Strabo however was believed to have given rise to the fable of speaks of Euonymus as uninhabited in a manner Aeolus ruling the winds. The modern Lipariots still that seems to imply that the larger islands were not maintain the same pretension. (Strab. I. c.; Smyth's so: and the remains of ancient buildings which have Sicily, p. 270.) At a later period Hiera seems to been found not only on Salina and Stromboli, but have abated much of its activity, and the younger even on the little rock of Basiluzzo, prove that they Lucilius (a contemporary of Seneca) speaks of its were resorted to by the Romans, probably for the fires as in a great measure cooled. (Lucil. Aetn. sake of medical baths, for which the volcanic vapours 437.) afforded every facility. Hiera on the contrary apparently remained always uninhabited, as it does at the present day. But the excellence of its port (Lucil. Aetn. 442) rendered it of importance as a naval station, and we find both Hiera and Strongyle occupied by the fleet of Augustus during the war with Sex. Pompeius in B. c. 36. (Appian. B. C. v. 105.) All the islands suffered great disadvantage, as they still do, from the want of water, consequent on the light and porous nature of the volcanic soil. (Thuc. iii. 88; Smyth's Sicily, p. 249.) But though little adapted for agriculture they possessed great resources in their stores of alum, sulphur, and pumice, which were derived both from Hiera and Strongyle, and exported in large quantities. The sea also abounded in fish; and produced coral of the finest quality. (Plin. xxxii. 2. § 11, xxxv. 15. §§ 50, 52, xxxvi. 21. § 42; Lucil. Aetn. 432.) We hear much less from ancient authors of the volcanic phenomena of Strongyle than those of Hiera: but Diodorus describes them as of similar character, while Strabo tells us that the eruptions were less violent, but produced a more brilliant light. Pliny says nearly the same thing: and Mela speaks of both Hiera and Strongyle as "burning with perpetual fire." Lucilius on the contrary (Aetna, 434) describes the latter as merely smoking, and occasionally kindled into a blaze, but for a short time. Diodorus tells us that the eruptions both of Hiera and Strongyle were observed for the most part to alternate with those of Aetna, on which account it was supposed by many that there was a subterranean communication between them. Besides these ordinary volcanic phenomena, which appear to have been in ancient times (as they still are in the case of Stromboli) in almost constant operation, we find mention of several more remarkable and unusual outbursts. The earliest of these is the one recorded by Aristotle (Meteorol. ii. 8), where he tells us that "in the island of Hiera the earth swelled up with a loud noise, and rose into the form of a considerable hillock, which at length burst and sent forth not only vapour, but hot cinders and ashes in such quantities that they covered the whole city of Lipara, and some of them were carried even to the coast of Italy." The vent from which they issued (he adds) remained still visible: and this was probably one of the craters seen by Polybius. later period Posidonius described an eruption that took place in the sea between Hiera and Euonymus, which after producing a violent agitation of the waters, and destroying all the fish, continued to pour forth mud, fire and smoke for several days, and ended with giving rise to a small island of a rock like millstone (lava), on which the praetor T. Flamininus landed and offered sacrifices. Posidon. ap. Strab. vi. p. 277.) This event is mentioned by Posidonius as occurring within his own memory; and from the mention of Flamininus as praetor it is almost certain that it is the same circumstance | alluded to by Livy (xxxix. 56). It is scarcely necessary to inquire which of the Aeolian islands has the most claim to be considered as the residence of Aeolus himself. Homer certainly speaks only of one island, and is followed in this respect by Virgil. But the "floating island" of the elder poet, "girt all around with a wall of brass," is scarcely susceptible of any precise geographical determination. The common tradition among the later Greeks seems to have chosen the island of Lipara itself as the dwelling of Aeolus, and the explanation of the fable above alluded to is evidently adapted to this assumption. But Strabo and Pliny both place At a the abode of the ruler of the winds in Strongyle, and the latter transfers to that island what others related of Hiera. Ptolemy on the contrary, by a strange confusion, mentions the island of Aeolus (Aióλov vñoos, iii. 4. § 17) as something altogether distinct from the Aeolian islands, which he had previously enumerated separately: while Eustathius (ad Hom. Odyss. x. 1) reckons it as one of the seven, omitting Euonymus to make room for it, though in another *The same event appears to be more obscurely passage (ad Dionys. Per. 461) he follows Strabo's authority, and identifies it with Strongyle. For an account of the present state of the Lipari Islands and their volcanic phenomena the reader may consult Smyth's Sicily, chap. vii. p. 274-278; Ferrara, Campi Flegrei della Sicilia, p. 199-252; Daubeny, On Volcanoes, ch. 14, pp. 245-263, 2nd edit. The history of the islands is almost wholly dependent on that of LIPARA, and will be found in that article. [E. H. B.] AE'OLIS (Aloxís, Aeolia), a district on the west coast of Asia Minor, which is included by Strabo in the larger division of Mysia. The limits of Aeolis are variously defined by the ancient geographers. Strabo (p. 582) makes the river Hermus and Phocaea the southern limits of Aeolis and the northern of Ionia. He observes (p. 586), that "as Homer makes one of Aeolis and Troja, and the Aeolians occupied the whole country from the Hermus to the coast in the neighbourhood of Cyzicus and founded cities, neither shall I imperfectly make my description by putting together that which is now properly called Aeolis, which extends from the Hermus to Lectum, and the country which extends from Lectum to the Aesepus.' Aeolis, therefore, properly so called, extended as far north as the promontory of Lectum, at the northern entrance of the bay of Adramyttium. The bay of Adramyttium is formed by the S. coast of the mountainous tract in which Ilium stood, by the island of Lesbos, and by the coast of Aeolis S. of Adramyttium, which runs from that town in a SW. direction. The coast is irregular. South of the bay of Adramyttium is a recess, at the northern point of which are the Hecatonnesi, a numerous group of small islands, and the southern boundary of which is the projecting point of the mainland, which lies nearest opposite to the southern extremity of Lesbos. The peninsula on which the town of Phocaea stood, separates the gulf of Cume on the N. from the bay of Smyrna on the S. The gulf of Cume receives the rivers Evenus and Caïcus. The territory of the old Aeolian cities extended northward from the Hermus to the Caïcus, comprising the coast and a tract reaching 10 or 12 miles inland. Between the bay of Adramyttium and the Caïcus were the following towns:-Cisthene (Kioon, Chirin-koi), on a promontory, a deserted place in Strabo's time. There was a port, and a copper mine in the interior, above Cisthene. Further south were Coryphantis (Kopupavтís), Heracleia ('Hρakλeía), and Attea ("ATTea, Ajasmat-koi). Coryphantis and Heracleia once belonged to the Mytilenaeans. Herodotus (i. 149) describes the tract of country which these Aeolians possessed, as superior in fertility to the country occupied by the cities of the Ionian confederation, but inferior in climate. He enumerates the following 11 cities: Cume, called Phriconis; Lerissae, Neon Teichos, Temnus, Cilla, Notium, Aegiroessa, Pitane, Aegaeae, Myrina, and Grynexa. Smyrna, which was originally one of them, and made the number 12, fell into the hands of the Ionians. Herodotus says, that these 11 were all the Aeolian cities on the mainland, except those in the Ida; for these are separated" (i. 151); and in another place (v. 122) Herodotus calls those people Aeolians who inhabited the Ilias, or district of Ilium. [G. L.] AEPELA (Alπela: Eth. Aineárns). 1. One of the seven Messenian towns, offered by Agamemnon to Achilles, is supposed by Strabo to be the same as Thuria, and by Pausanias the same as Corone. (Hom. Il. ix. 152; Strab. p. 360; Paus. iv. 34. § 5.) 2. A town in Cyprus, situated on a mountain, the ruler of which is said to have removed to the plain, upon the advice of Solon, and to have named the new town Soli in honour of the Athenian. There is still a place, called Epe, upon the mountain above the ruins of Soli. (Plut. Sol. 26; Steph. B. s. v. ; Engel, Kypros, vol. i. p. 75.) AEPY (Almu: Eth. Airúrns), a town in Elis, so called from its lofty situation, is mentioned by Homer, and is probably the same as the Triphylian town Epeium (Ήπειον, Επιον, Αἰπίον), which stood between Macistus and Heraca. Leake places it on the high peaked mountain which lies between the villages of Vrind and Smerna, about 6 miles in direct distance from Olympia. Boblaye supposes it to occupy the site of Hellenista, the name of some ruins on a hill between Platiana and Barakou. (Hom. Il. ii. 592; Xen. Hell. iii. 2. § 30; Pol. iv. 77. § 9, iv. 80. § 13; Strab. p. 349; Steph. B. s. v.; Stat. Theb. iv. 180; Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 206; Boblaye, Recherches, &c., p. 136.) AEQUI, AEQUI'CULI or AEQUICULA'NI (Alkoι and Aikovo, Strab.; Alkavol, Dion. Hal.; Àlkovikλoí, Ptol.; Alkikλo, Diod.), one of the most ancient and warlike nations of Italy, who play a conspicuous part in the early history of Rome. They inhabited the mountainous district around the upper valley of the Anio, and extending from thence to the Lake Fucinus, between the Latins and the Marsi, and adjoining the Hernici on the east, and the Sabines on the west. Their territory was subsequently included in Latium, in the more extended sense given to that name under the Roman empire (Strab. v. p. 228, 231). There appears no doubt that the AEQUICULI or AEQUICOLI are the same people with the AEQUI, though in the usage of later times the former name was restricted to the inhabitants of the more central and lofty vallies of the Apennines, while those who approached the borders of the Latin plain, and whose constant wars with the Romans have made them so familiarly known to us, uniformly appear under the name of Aequi. It is probable that their original abode was in the highland districts, to which we find them again limited at a later period of their history. The Aequiculi are forcibly described by Virgil as a nation of rude mountaineers, addicted to the chase and to predatory habits, by which they sought to supply the deficiencies of their rugged and barren soil (Virg. Aen. vii. 747; Sil. Ital. viii. 371; Ovid. Fast. iii. 93). As the only town he assigns to them is Nersae, the site of which is unknown, there is some uncertainty as to the geographical position of the people of whom he is speaking, but he appears to place them next to the Marsians. Strabo speaks of them in one passage as adjoining the Sabines near Cures, in another as bordering on the Latin Way (v. pp. 231, 237): both of which statements are correct, if the name be taken in its widest signification. The form AEQUICULANI first appears in Pliny (iii. 12. § 17), who however uses Aequiculi also as equivalent to it: he appears to restrict the term to the inhabitants of the vallies bordering on the Marsi, and the only towns he assigns to them are Carseoli and Cliternia At a later period the name appears to have been almost confined to the population of the upper valley of the Salto, between Reate and the Lake Fucinus, a district which still retains the name of Cicolano, evidently a corruption from Aequiculanum. No indication is found in any ancient author of their origin or descent: but their constant association with the Volscians would lead us to refer them to a common stock with that nation, and this circumstance, as well as their position in the rugged upland districts of the Apennines, renders it probable that they belonged to the great Oscan or Ausonian race, which, so far as our researches can extend, may be regarded as the primeval population of a large part of central Italy. They appear to have received at a later period a considerable amount of Sabine influence, and probably some admixture with that race, especially where the two nations bordered on one another: but there is no ground for assuming any community of origin (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 72; Abeken, Mittel Italien, pp. 46, 47, 84). ac prope solenne in singulos annos bellum," Liv. iii. 15). Notwithstanding the exaggerations and poetical embellishments with which the history of these wars has been disguised, we may discern pretty clearly three different periods or phases into which they may be divided. 1. From B. c. 494 to about the time of the Decemvirate B. C. 450 was the epoch of the greatest power and successes of the Aequians. In B. C. 463 they are first mentioned as encamping on Mount Algidus, which from thenceforth became the constant scene of the conflicts between them and the Romans: and it seems certain that during this period the Latin towns of Bola, Vitellia, Corbio, Labicum, and Pedum fell into their hands. The alleged victory of Cincinnatus in B. C. 458, on which so much stress has been laid by some later writers The Aequians first appear in Roman history as (Florus i. 11), appears to have in reality done little occupying the rugged mountain district at the back to check their progress. 2. From B. c. 450 to the of Tibur and Praeneste (both of which always con- invasion of the Gauls their arms were comparatively tinued to be Latin towns), and extending from unsuccessful: and though we find them still conthence to the confines of the Hernicans, and the tending on equal terms with the Romans and with valley of the Trerus or Sacco. But they gradually many vicissitudes of fortune, it is clear that on the encroached upon their Latin neighbours, and ex- whole they had lost ground. The great victory tended their power to the mountain front immediately gained over them by the dictator A. Postumius Tuabove the plains of Latium. Thus Bola, which was bertus in B. C. 428 may probably be regarded as the originally a Latin town, was occupied by them for a turning-point of their fortunes (Liv. iv. 26-29; considerable period (Liv. iv. 49): and though they Diod. xii. 64; Ovid. Fast. vi. 721; Niebuhr, vol. ii. were never able to reduce the strong fortress of p. 454): and the year B. C. 415 is the last in which Praeneste, they continually crossed the valley which we find them occupying their customary position on separated them from the Alban hills and occupied Mount Algidus (Liv. iv. 45). It is not improbable, the heights of Mt. Algidus. The great development as suggested by Niebuhr, that the growing power of of their power was coincident with that of the Vol- the Samnites, who were pressing on the Volscians scians, with whom they were so constantly asso- upon the opposite side, may have drawn off the ciated, that it is probable that the names and forces of the Aequians also to the support of their operations of the two nations have frequently been allies, and thus rendered them less able to cope with confounded. Thus Niebuhr has pointed out that the power of Rome. But it is certain that before the conquests assigned by the legendary history to the end of this period most of the towns which they Coriolanus, doubtless represent not only those of the had conquered from the Latins had been again Volscians, but of the Aequians also: and the "cas- wrested from their hands. 3. After the invasion of tellum ad lacum Fucinum," which Livy describes the Gauls the Aequians appear again in the field, (iv. 57) as taken from the Volscians in B. C. 405, but with greatly diminished resources: probably must in all probability have been an Aequian fortress they suffered severely from the successive swarms of (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 72, vol. ii. pp. 244, 259). It barbarian invaders which swept over this part of is impossible here to recapitulate the endless petty Italy: and after two unsuccessful campaigns in B. C. wars between the Aequians and Romans: the fol- 386 and 385 they appear to have abandoned the lowing brief summary will supply a general outline contest as hopeless: nor does their name again apof their principal features. pear in Roman history for the space of above 80 years. But in B. C. 304 the fate of their neighbours the Hernicans aroused them to a last struggle, which terminated in their total defeat and subjection. Their towns fell one after another into the hands of the victorious Romans, and the Aequian nation (says Livy) was almost utterly exterminated (Liv. ix. 45). This expression is however certainly exaggerated, for we find them again having recourse to arms twice within the next few years, though on both occasions without success (Liv. x. 1, 9). It was probably after the last of these attempts that they were admitted to the rights of Roman citizens: and became included in the two new tribes, the Aniensis and Terentina, which were created at this period (Cic. de Off. i. 11; Liv. x. 9; Niebuhr, vol. iii. p. 267). The first mention of the Aequi in Roman history is during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, who waged war with them with great success, and reduced them to at least a nominal submission (Strab. v. p. 231; Cic. de Rep.ii. 20). The second Tarquin is also mentioned as having concluded a peace with them, which may perhaps refer to the same transaction (Liv. i. 55; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 359). But it was not till after the fall of the Roman monarchy that they appear in their more formidable aspect. In B. C. 494 they are first mentioned as invading the territory of the Latins, which led that people to apply for assistance to Rome: and from this time forth the wars between the Acquians and Volscians on the one side, and the Romans assisted by the Latins and Hernicans on the other, were events of almost regular and annual recurrence ("statum jam * A tradition, strangely at variance with the other accounts of their habits and character, represents them as the people from whom the Romans derived the Jus Fetiale (Liv. i. 32; Dion. Hal. ii. 72). Others with more plausibility referred this to the Aequi Falisci (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 695). From this time the name of the Aequi altogether disappears from history, and would seem to have fallen into disuse, being probably merged in that of the Latins: but those of Aequiculi and Aequiculani still occur for the inhabitants of the upland and more secluded vallies which were not included within the limits of Latium, but belonged to the fourth region of Augustus: and afterwards to the province called Valeria. In Imperial times we even find the Aequiculani in the valley of the Salto con- | stituting a regular municipal body, so that "Res Publica Aequiculanorum" and a " Municipium Aequicolanorum" are found in inscriptions of that period (Orell. no. 3931; Ann. dell. Inst. vol. vi. p. 111, not.). Probably this was a mere aggregation of scattered villages and hamlets such as are still found in the district of the Cicolano. In the Liber Coloniarum (p. 255) we find mention of the "Ecicylanus ager," evidently a corruption of Aequiculanus, as is shown by the recurrence of the same form in charters and documents of the middle ages (Holsten. not. ad Cluver. p. 156). It is not a little remarkable that the names of scarcely any cities belonging to the Aequians have been transmitted to us. Livy tells us that in the decisive campaign of B. C. 304, forty-one Aequian towns were taken by the Roman consuls (ix. 45): but he mentions none of them by name, and from the ease and rapidity with which they were reduced, it is probable that they were places of little importance. Many of the smaller towns and villages now scattered in the hill country between the vallies of the Sacco and the Anio probably occupy ancient sites: two of these, Civitella and Olevano, present remains of ancient walls and substructions of rude polygonal masonry, which may probably be referred to a very early period (Abeken, Mittel Italien, pp. 140, 147; Bullett. dell. Inst. 1841, p. 49). The numerous vestiges of ancient cities found in the valley of the Salto, may also belong in many instances to the Aequians, rather than the Aborigines, to whom they have been generally referred. The only towns expressly assigned to the Aequiculi by Pliny and Ptolemy are CARSEOLI in the upper valley of the Turano, and CLITERNIA in that of the Salto. To these may be added ALBA FUCENSIS, which we are expressly told by Livy was founded in the territory of the Aequians, though on account of its superior importance, Pliny ranks the Albenses as a separate people (Pliny iii. 12. 17; Ptol.iii. 1. § 56; Liv. x. 1). VARIA, which is assigned to the Aequians by several modern writers, appears to have been properly a Sabine town. NERSAE, mentioned by Virgil (Aen. vii. 744) as the chief place of the Aequiculi, is not noticed by any other writer, and its site is wholly uncertain. Besides these, Pliny (l. c.) mentions the Comini, Tadiates, Caedici, and Alfaterni as towns or communities of the Aequiculi, which had ceased to exist in his time: all four names are otherwise wholly unknown. [E. H. B.] AEQUINOC'TIUM or AEQUINOC'TIAE (Fischament), a Roman fort in Upper Pannonia, situated upon the Danube, and according to the Notitia Imperii, the quarters of a squadron of Dalmatian cavalry. (Tab. Peut.; Itin. Antonin.) [W.B.D.] AEROPUS, a mountain in Greek Illyria, on the river Aous, and opposite to Mount Asnaus. Aeropus probably corresponds to Trebusin, and Asnaus to Nemértzika. (Liv. xxxii. 5; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 389.) AESE PUS (8 Alontos), a river of Northern Mysia, mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 825, &c.) as flowing past Zeleia, at the foot of Ida; and in another passage (Il. xii. 21) as one of the streams that flow from Ida. According to Strabo's interpretation of Homer, the Aesepus was the eastern boundary of Mysia. The Aesepus is the largest river of Mysia. According to Strabo, it rises in Mount Cotylus, one of the summits of Ida (p. 602), and the distance between its source and its outlet is near 500 stadia. It is joined on the left bank by the Caresus, another stream which flows from Cotylus; and then taking a NE. and N. course, it enters the Propontis, between the mouth of the Granicus and the city of Cyzicus. The modern name appears not to be clearly ascertained. Leake calls it Boklu. [G. L.] AESE'RNIA (Aloepvía: Eth. Aeserninus; but Pliny and later writers have Eserninus), a city of Samnium, included within the territory of the Pentrian tribe, situated in the valley of the Vulturnus, on a small stream flowing into that river, and distant 14 miles from Venafrum. The Itinerary (in which the name is corruptly written Serni) places it on the road from Aufidena to Bovianum, at the distance of 28 M. P. from the former, and 18 from the latter; but the former number is corrupt, as are the distances in the Tabula. (Itin. Ant. p. 102; Tab. Peut.; Plin. iii. 12. 17; Ptol. iii. 1. § 67; Sil. Ital. viii. 568.) The modern city of Isernia retains the ancient site as well as name. The first mention of it in history occurs in B. c. 295, at which time it had already fallen into the hands of the Romans, together with the whole valley of the Vulturnus. (Liv. x. 31.) After the complete subjugation of the Samnites, a colony, with Latin rights (colonia Latina) was settled there by the Romans in B. C. 264; and this is again mentioned in B. C. 209 as one of the eighteen which remained faithful to Rome at the most trying period of the Second Punic War. (Liv. Epit. xvi. xxvii. 10; Vell. Pat. i. 14.) During the Social War it adhered to the Roman cause, and was gallantly defended against the Samnite general Vettius Cato, by Marcellus, nor was it till after a long protracted siege that it was compelled by famine to surrender, B. C. 90. Henceforth it continued in the hands of the confederates; and at a later period of the contest afforded a shelter to the Samnite leader, Papius Mutilus, after his defeat by Sulla. It even became for a time, after the successive fall of Corfinium and Bovianum, the head quarters of the Italian allies. (Liv. Epit. lxxii, lxxiii.; Appian. B. C. i. 41, 51; Diod. xxxvii. Exc. Phot. p. 539; Sisenna ap. Nonium, p. 70.) At this time it was evidently a place of importance and a strong fortress, but it was so severely punished for its defection by Sulla after the final defeat of the Samnites, that Strabo speaks of it as in his time utterly deserted. (Strab. v. p. 238, 250.) We learn, however, that a colony was sent there by Caesar, and again by Augustus; but apparently with little success, on which account it was recolonized under Nero. It never, however, enjoyed the rank of a colony, but appears from inscriptions to have been a municipal town of some importance in the time of Trajan and the Antonines. To this period belong the remains of an aqueduct and a fine Roman bridge, still visible; while the lower parts of the modern walls present considerable portions of polygonal construction, which may be assigned either to the ancient Samnite city, or to the first Roman colony. The modern city is still the see of a bishop, and contains about 7000 inhabitants. (Lib. Colon. pp. 233, 260; Zumpt, de Coloniis, pp. 307, 360, AISERNING COIN OF AESERNIA. |