GRADUM
GRADUM,
AD, or GRADUS, AD. The Maritime Itin. of the south coast of Gallia makes it a distance of 16 M. P., “a fossis ad gradum Massilitanorum fluvius Rhodanus;” and then 30 M. P. “a gradu per fluvium Rhodanum Arelatum.” The Fossae are the Fossae Marianae (
Foz-les-Martigues), and “ad gradum” must be one of the old mouths of the Rhone.
The site of “ad gradum” is supposed by some French writers to be
Galejon. Ammianus Marcellinus (
15.11) describes the Rhone as entering the sea “per patulum sinum quem vocant Ad Gradus.” There may have been several Gradus at the mouths of the Rhone, for “gradus” is a landing-place, or steps for getting in and out of ships (Valer. Max. 3.6); and D'Anville observes that the name Gradus is not limited to the mouths of the Rhone, but occurs on the coasts of Spain and Italy, where it is pronounced
Grao and
Grado. Ammianus places this “sinus” 18 miles from
Aries, which is a great deal too little.
The word “scala,” a Latin word of the same meaning, adopted by the Greeks, is also used to signify a landing-place or maritime town in the eastern part of the Mediterranean.
[
G.L]
