To this period may also be ascribed the great canals and works which facilitated its communications with the adjoining rivers, and through them with the interior of Cisalpine Gaul, at the same time that they drained the marshes which would otherwise have rendered it uninhabitable. (Liv. v. 33; Plin. iii. 16. s. 20; Strab. v. p. 214; Varro de L, L. v. 161; Festus, p. 13, ed. MiUler; Plut. ComtS. 16.) Notwithstanding its early celebrity, we have scarcely any information concerning its history; but the decline of its power and prosperity may reasonably be ascribed to the conquest of the neighbouring countries by the Gauls, and to the consequent neglect of the canals and streams in its neighbourhood. The increasing commerce of the Greeks with the Adriatic probably contributed to the same result. It has been supposed by some writers that it received, at different periods, Greek colonies, one from Epadamnus and the other from Syracuse; but both statements appear to rest upon misconceptions of the passages of Diodoros, from which they are derived. (Died. ix. Exc Vat. p. 17, XV. 13; in both of which passages the words rhv 'AHplav certainly refer to the Adriatic sea or gulf, not to the city, the name of which is always feminine.) The abundance of vases of Greek manufacture found here, of precisely similar character with those of Nola and Vnlci^ sufficiently attests a great amount of Greek intercourse and influence, but cannot be admitted as any proof of a Greek colony, any more than in the parallel case of Vulci, (B. Rochette in the Annali delF Irut, Arch. vol. vi. p. 292; Welcker, Vcui cU Adria in the BuOeUino deW Inst. 1834, p. 134.) Under the Romans Adria appears never to have been a place of much consequence. Strabo (/.c.) speaks of it as a small town, communicating by a short navigation with the sea; and we learn from Tacitus (Hist iii. 12) that it was still accessible for the light Liburnian ships of war as late as the time ^ Vitellius. After the fidl of the Western Empire it was included in the exarchate of Ravenna, but fell rapidly into decay during the middle ages, though it never ceased to exist, and always continued an episcopal see. Since the opening of new canals it has considerably revived, and has now a population of 10,000 souls. Considerable remains of the ancient city have been discovered a little to the south of the modern town towards Ravegncmo; they are all of Roman date, and comprise the ruins of a theatre, baths, mosaic pavements, and part of the ancient walls, all whidi have been buried to a considerable depth under the accu- |
A river of the same name (6 *A5pla$) is mentioned by Hecataeus (ap. Steph. Byz. 9. v.), and by Theopompus (ap. Strab. vu. p. 317); It is called by Ptolemy 'Arptta^s iroroiUsj and must probably be the same called by the Romans Tartans (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20), and still known in the upper part of its oouBse as the Tartaro, It rises in the hiDs to the SE. of the Logo di GordOy and flowi by the modern Adria, but is known fj the name d Canal Bianco in the lower part of its course; 11 communicates, by canals, witii the Po and the Adage. 2. A city of Picenum, still called Atri, situated about 5 miles from the Adriatic Sea, between the rivers Vomanus and Matrinus. Accovding to tht Itinerary it was distant 15 Roman miles from Castmm Novum, and 14 fitnn Teate. (Itin. Ant pp. 308, 310, 313; comp. Tab. Pent.) It has been supposed, with much probability, to be of Etruscan origin, and a colony from the more celebrated city d the name (Mastoochi, Tab. Berad. p. 532; MuJler, EtrvskeTf vol. i. p. 145), though we have no historical evidence of the fact. It has also been generally admitted that a Greek colony was founded there by Dionysius the Elder, at the time that he was seeking to establish his power in the Adriatic about B. C. 385 ; but this statement rests on vei^ doubtful authority (Etym. Magn. v. 'AipUis), and no subsequent trace of the settlement is found in history. The first certain historical notice we find of Adria is the establishment of a Roman colony there about 282 B.C. (Liv. Epit. xi. ; Madvig, de CoUmiis p. 298.) In the early part of the Second Punic War (B.C. 217) its territory was ravaged by Hannibal; but notwithstanding this calamity, it was one of the 18 Latin colonies which, in B. C. 209, wen faithful to the cause of Rome, and willing to continue their contributions both of men and money (Liv. xxii. 9, xxvii. 10; Polyb. iii. 88.) At a later period, as we learn from the Liber de Coloniis, il must have received a fresh colony, probably under Augustus: hence it is termed a Colonia, both by Pliny and in inscriptions. One of these gives it tfa< tides of " Colonia Aelia Hadria," whence it would appear that it had been re-established by the emperor Hadrian, whose family was originally deritec from hence, though he was himself a native d Spain. (lib. Colon, p. 227 ; PHn. H. N. iii. 13 s. 18; Orell. In»cr. no. 148, 3018; Grater, p. 1022 Zumpt de Colon, p. 349; Spartian. Hadrian. . Victor, Epit^ 14.) The territory of Adria (ag« Adrianus), though subsequently included in Picenum appears to have originally formed a separate and in* dependent district, bounded on the N. by the river Vomanns ( Vonyino and on the S. by the Matrinui (la Piomba); at the mouth of this latter river was a town betuing the name of AL^trinum, which served as the port of Adria; the city itself stood on a hill a few miles inland, on the same site still occupied by the modern Atri, a place of some consideration, with the title of a city, and the see of a bishop. Great part of the circuit of the ancient walls may be still traced, and mosaic pavement and other remains of buildings are also preserved (Strab. V. p. 241 ; Sil. Ital. viii. 439 ; Ptol. iii- 1 § 52} Mela, u. 4; RoroanelU, vol. iii. p 307.) Ac |
