name is still preserved in LeghUtanj and Gelae (r^- au) in the mountains on ^e N. and NW. (Strab. p. 503), and the Gerrhi (Tip^oi) on the river Gerrhos (Ptd.). The Albanians worshipped a deitj whom Strabo identifies with Zens, and Uie Sun, but above all the Moon, whose temple was near the irootier of Iberia. Her priest ranked next to the king : and had onder his command a ridi and extensive sacred domain, and a body of temple-slaves (Up66ovkoi)y many of whom prophesied in fits of frenzy. The subject of such a paroxysm was seized as he wandered alone through the forests, and kept a year in the hands of the priests, and then offered as a sacrifice to Seleue; and auguries vrere drawn from the manner of his death : the rite is fiilly described by Strabo. The origin of the Albanians is a much disputed point. It was by Pompey's expedition into the Cau- casian r^oos in pursuit of Mithridates (b. c. 65) that they first became known to the Bomans and Greeks, who were prepared to find in that whole region traces of the Argonautic voyage. Accord- ingly the people were said to have descended from Jasou and his comrades (Strab. pp. 45, 503, 526; Plin. vi 13. s. 15; Solin. 15); and Tacitus relates (^fiii.vi. 34) that the Iberi and Albani claimed de- scent from the Thessalians who accompanied Jason, of whom and of the oracle of Phrixus they preserved many legends, and that ihey abstained frx>m coring rams in sacrifice. Another l^nd derived them from the companions of Hercules, who followed him out of Italy when he drove away the oxen of Creryon; and hence the Albanians greeted the soldiers of Pompey as their brethren. (Justin, xlii. 3.) Several of the later writers r^ard them as a Scytiiian people, akin to the Massagetae, and identical with the Alani; and it is still disputed whether they were, or not, original inhabitaats of the Caucasus. [Alani.] Of the history of Albauia there is almost nothing to be said. The people nominally submitted to Pompey, but remained r»Uly independent. Ptolemy mentions several cities of Albania, but none of any consequence except Albana (^Derbend)^ which commanded the great pass on tho shore of the Cas|nan called the Albaniae or Caspiae Pylae {Pass cf Derbend), It is formed by a NE. spur of Caucasus, to which some geographers give the name of Ceraonius M., which Strabo applied to the £. part of Caucasus itself. It is sometimes con- founded with the inland pass, called Caucasiae PiTLAK. The Gangara or Gaetara of Ptolemy is supposed to be BahoUj famous for its naphtha springs. Pliny mentions Cabalaca, in the interior, as the captaL Bespecting the districts of Caspiene and Cambysene, which some of the ancient geographers menticQ as belonging to Albania, see the separate articles. (Ukert, vol. iii. pt 2, pp. 561, &c; Georgii, vol. i. pp. 151, &c.) [ P. S. ]
|
latter period of the republic, it became a favourite resort of the wealthy Boman nobles, who constructed villas here on a magnificent scale. We read of such as belonging to Pompey, to Clodins — who was killed l^ Milo dose to his own villa — to Bratoa and to Curio. (Cic Or, m Pison, 31, pro Mil 10, 19, 20, Ep. ad AtL vii. 5, ix. 15, de OraL iL 55; Pint. iMnp. 53.) Of these the villa of Pompej, called according to the Latin idiom "Albannm Pompeii," appears to have been the most oonspacuoos, and is repei^edly alluded to by Cicero. It fell after the death of Pompey into the hands of DolabeUa (Cic. PhUipp, xiii. 5), but appears to have ultimately passed into those of Augustas, and became a fiivourite place of resort both with him and his successors. (SneL Ner. 25; Dion Cass. liii. 32, Iviii. 24.) It was, however, to Domitian that it owed its chief aggrandisement; that emperor made it not m^ely a place of retirement, but his habitual residence, where he transacted public business, exhibited gladiatorial shows, and e'en summoned assemblies of the senate. (Suet DomU. 4, 19; Dion Cass. Ixvi. 9, Ixvii. 1; Juv. Sat iv.; OreU. Inscr. No. 3318.) Existing remains sufficiently attest the extent and magnificence of the gardens and edifices of all descriptions with which he adorned it; and it is probably from his time that we may date the permanent establishment there of a detachment of Praetorian guards, who had a regular fortified camp, as at Bome. The proximity of this camp to the dty naturally gave it mu<^ importance, and we find it repeatedly mentioioed by succeeding writers down to the time of Constantine. (Ael. Spart CaraatU. 2 ; Jul. Capit. Mtaamm. 23 ; Herodian. viii. 5.) It is doubtless on aooount of this fortified camp that we find the title of " Arx Albana" applied to the imperiid residence qf Domitian. (Tac Agric. 45; Juv. Sat, iv. 145.) We have no distinct evidence as to the period when the town of Albanum first arose, but there can be little doubt that it must have begun to grow up as soon as the place became an imperial residence and permanent military station. We first find it mentioned in ecclesiastical records during the reign of Constantine, and in the fifth centniy it became the see of a bishop, which it has continued ever since. (Nibby, vol. i. p^ 79.) Procopins, in the sixth centniy, mentions it as a city (ir^Ai^/ia), and one of the places occupied by Belisarius for the defence of B(xne. (j5. G, ii. 4.) It is now but a small town, though retaining the rank of a dty, with about 5000 inhabitants, but is a fsvourite place of resort in sununer with the modern Boman nobles, as it was with their predecessors, on account of the salubrity and freshness of the ur, arising from its elevated situation, and the abundance of shade furnished by the neighbouring woods. There still remain extensive ruins of Boman tiroes; the greater part of which unquestionably belong to the villa of Domitian, and its appur- tenances, including magnificent Thermae, an Am- phitheatre, and various other remains. Some fragments of reticulated masonry are supposed, by Nibby, to have belonged to the villa of Pompey, and the extensive terraces now induded in the gardens of the Villa Barberiniy between Albano and Castel Gandolfo^ though in their present state belonging undoubtedly to the imperial villa, may probably he based upon the " insanae substructiones " of Clodiua alluded to by Cicera (^Pro Mil, 20.) Besides |
Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/106
This page needs to be proofread.
