A´DDUA
A´DDUA (
ὁ Ἀδούας:
Adda), a river of Gallia Cisalpina, one of the largest of the tributaries which bring down the waters of the Alps to the Po.
It rises in the Rhaetian Alps near
Bormio, and flows through the
Valtelline, into the Lacus Larius or
Lago di Como, from which it again issues at its south.eastern extremity near
Lecco, and from thence has a course of above 50 miles to the Po, which it joins between Placentia and Cremona. During this latter part of its course it seems to have formed the limit between the Insubres and the Cenomani.
It is a broad and rapid stream: the clearness of its blue waters, resulting from their passage through a deep lake, is alluded to by Claudian (
De VI. Cons. Hon. 196). Strabo erroneously places its sources in MT. ADULA, where, according to him, the Rhine also rises: it is probable that he was imperfectly acquainted with this part of the Alps, and supposed the stream which descends from the
Splügen to the head of the lake of
Como to be the original Addua, instead of the much larger river which enters it from the
Valtelline. (Strab. iv. pp. 192,204; v. p. 213;
Plin. Nat. 3.16. s. 20; Pol. 2.32, 34.10;
Tac. Hist. 2.40.)
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E.H.B]
