TANARUS
TANARUS (
Tanaro), a river of Liguria, the most important of all the southern tributaries of the Padus.
It rises in the Maritime Alps above
Ceva (Ceba), flows at first due N., receives near
Cherasco the waters of the
Stura, a stream as considerable as itself, then turns to the NE., passes within a few miles of Pollentia (
Pollenza), flows under the walls of Alba Pompeia and Asta (
Asti), and discharges its waters into the
Po about 15 miles below
Valenza (Forum Fulvii).
It receives many considerable tributaries besides the
Stura already mentioned, of which the most important is the
Bormida, the ancient name of which has not been preserved to us; but the
Orba, a minor stream which falls into it a few miles above its junction with the
Tanaro, is evidently the river Urbs, mentioned by Claudian (
B. Get. 555), the name of which had given rise to an ambiguous prophecy, that had misled the Gothic king Alaric. The
Belbo, which falls into the
Tanaro a few miles above the
Bormida, has been identified with the Fevus of the Tabula; but the names of rivers given in that document in this part of Italy are so corrupt, and their positions so strangely misplaced, that it is idle to attempt their determination. Though the Tanarus is one of the most important rivers of Northern Italy, its name is not mentioned by any of the geographers except Pliny; nor does it occur in history until long after the fall of the Western Empire. (
Plin. Nat. 3.16. s. 20; P. Diac.
Hist. Lang. 6.58.)
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