392 ; Inscrr. »p. Bomanelli, vol. ii. pp. 470, 471 ;
Craven's Abmzziy voL ii. p. 83; Uoares Classical
Tour, Tol. L p. 227.)
The coins of Aesernia, irhich are found only in
copper, and have the legend aibernino, belong to
the period of the first Roman colony; the style of
their ezecnticm attests the infiaence of the neigh-
bouring Campania. (Millingen, NumiavfuUique de
f/to/Mt, p. 218.) [ E. H. B. ]
AE'SICAf was a Boman frontier castle in the
line of Hadrian's rampart, and probably corresponds
to the site of Greatcheater, It is, however, placed
by some antaqnories at the Danish village oif Ne-
tkerby, on the river Esk. It is mentioned by
George of Ravenna, and in the Notitia Imperii^ and
was the quarters of Cohors I. Astorum.^ [ W. B. D. ]
AESIS (A7(rtr, Strab. ; AlffiyoSy App), a river on
the east coast of Italy, which rises in the Apennines
near Matilica, and flows into the Adriatic, between
Ancona and Sena Gallica; it is still called the Esino.
It constituted in early times the boundary between
the territory of the Senonian Gauls and Picenum ;
and was, tlierefore, regarded &s the northern limit of
Italy on the side of the Adriatic. But after the de-
struction of the Senones, when the confines of Italy
were extended to the Rubicon, the Aesis became the
boundary between the two provinces of Umbria and
Picenum. (Strab. v. pp. 217, 227, 241 ; Plin. iii.
14. 19; MeU, ii. 4; Ptol. iii. 1. § 22, where the
name is corruptly written "Affios; Liv. v. 35.) Ac-
cording to Silius Italicns (viii. 446) it derived its
appelhttiou from a Pelasgian chief of that name, who
had ruled over this part of Italy. There can be no
doubt that the Aesinns of Appian {B. C. i. 87), on
the bonks of which a great battle was fought bet('een
Metellus and Carinas, the lieutenant d Carbo, in
B. c. 82, is the same with the Acsis of other writers.
In the Itinerary we find a station (ad Aesim) at
the mouth of the river, which was distant 12 M. P.
from Sena Gallica, and 8 from Ancona. (Itin. Ant
p. 316.)
AESIS or AE'SIUM (Afo* j, Ptol. ; At<rioVy Strab. ;
JEth. Aesinas, -atis), a town of Umbria situated on
the N. bank of the river of the same name, about 10
miles from its mouth. It is still called lesi, and is
an episcopal town of some consideration. Pliny men-
tions it only as an ordinary municipal town: but we
learn from several inscriptions that it was a Roman
colony, though the period when it attained this rank
is unknown. (Inscrr. ap. Gruter. p. 446. 1, 2;
Orelli, no. 3899, 3900; Zumpt, de Colon, p. 359.)
According to Pliny {H. N, xi. 42, 97) it was noted
for the excellence of its cheeses.
The form Acsium, which is found only in Strabo,
is probably erroneous, Atffiov being, according to
Kramer, a corrupt reading for *A(rlfftoy. (Strab. v. p.
227; PtoLiu. l.§ 53; Plm. iii. 14. 19.)
AESI'TAE (Aurh-cu or Awrtrai, Ptol. v. 19. § 2;
comp. Bochart. Phaleg. ii. 8), were probably the
inhabitants of the region upon the borders of Chal-
daea, which the Hebrews designated as the land of
Uz ( Jo6,i. 1, XV. 17 ; Jerem. xxv. 20), and which the
70 translators render by the word Ainrlris (comp.
Winer, Bibl. Realw&rterb. vol. ii. p. 755). Strabo
(p. 767) calls the Regio Aesitarum Madna (Maicii^).
They were a nomade race, but from their possessing
houses and villages, had apparently settled pastures
on the Chaldaean border. [ W. B. D. ]
AESON or AESO'NIS (ATcrwi', Aurawis: Eth,
Altrdvios), A town of Magnesia in Thessaly, the
name of which is derived from Aeson, the father of
AESULA.
Jason. (Apoll. Bhod. L 411, and Schol.; Steph.
B. s. V.)
AE'STUI (this is the correct reading), a people
of Germany, consisting of several tribes (Acstuo-
rum gentcs), whose manners are minutely described
by Tacitus {Germ. 45). They dwelt in the NE. of
Germany, on the S£. or £. of the Baltic, bordering
on the Venedi of Sarmatia. In their general ap-
pearance and manners they resembled the SneW:
their langnage was nearer to that of Britain. They
worshipped the mother of the gods, in whose hoogur
they wore images of boars, which served them as
amulets in war. They had little iron, and used
clubs instead of it. They worked more patiently at
tilling the land than the rest of the Germans. They
gathered amber on their coasts, selling it for the
Roman market, with astoiushment at its price.
They called it Glesswn^ perhaps Glas, i. c. glass.
They are also mentioned by Cassiodoms ( Var. v.
£p. 2.) They were the occupants of the present
coast of Pnusia and Courland, as is evident by
what Tacitus says about their gathering amber.
Their name is probably ooUective, and signifies the
East men. It appears to have reached Tacitus in
the form £(ute, and is still preserved in the modern
Esthen, the German name of the Esthonians. The
statement of Tacitus, that the langnage of. the Aestoi
was nearer to that of Britain, is explained by Dr.
Latham by the supposition that the language of the
Aestui was then called Prussian, and that the simi-
larity of this word to British caused it to be mis-
taken for the latter. On the various questions
respecting the Aestui, see Ukert, vol. iii. pt. i. pp.
420 — 422, and Latham, The Germania of Tacittts,
p. 166, seq. [ P. S. ]
AE'SULA (Eth. Aesulanus), a dty of Latium,
mentioned by Pliny among those which in his time
had entirely ceased to exist (iii. 5. § 9). It appeam
from his statement to have been one of the colonies
or dependencies of Alba, but its name does not occur
in the early history of Rome. In the Second Punic
War, however, the Arx Aesulania is mentioned by
Livy as one of the strongholds which it was deemed
necessary to occupy with a garrison oi the approach
of Hannibal. (Liv. xxvi. 9.) . The wdl-known allu-
sion of Horace {Carm. iiL 29. 6) to the *' declive
arvum Aesulae," shows that its name at least was
still fiuniliarly known in his day, whether the dty
still existed or not, and points to its situation in full
view of Rome, probably on the hills near Tibur.
Gell has with much probability placed it on the
slope of the mountain called Monte AjffUano, about
2 miles SE. of Tivoli, which is a conspicuous ob-
ject in the view from Rome, and the summit of
which commands an extensive prospect, so as to
render it well adapted for a look-out statiorL The
Arx mentioned by Livy was probably on the summit
of the mountain, and the town lower down, where
GeU observed vestiges of andcnt roads, and *' many
foundations of the ancient walls in irreguliu* blocks."
Nibby supposes it to have occupied a hill, called in
the middle ages CoUe Faustiniano, which is a lower
offshoot of the same mountain, further towards the
S.; but this position docs not seem to correspond so
well with the expressions cither of Livy or Horace.
(Gell, Topography of Rome, p. 9; Kihhy, UirUomi
di Roma,L i. p. 32.) Vcllcius Paterculus (i. 14)
speaks of a colony being sent in the year 246 d. c.
to Aesulum ; but it seems impossible that a place
so close to Rome itself should have been colonized at
