MOSA
MOSA (
Maas), a river of Gallia, which Caesar supposed to rise in the Vosegus (
Vosges) within the limits of the Lingones. (
B. G. 4.10.)
This passage of Caesar, in which he speaks of the Mosa in the lower part of its course receiving a part of the Rhine, called Vahalis (
Waal), is very obscure.
This matter is discussed in the article
BATAVI Dio Cassius writes the word in the form
Μόσας (44.42); and Ptolemy (
2.9.3) has the form
Μώσα in the genitive.
Caesar (
Caes. Gal. 6.33) says that the Scaldis (
Schelde) flows into the Mosa; a mistake that might easily be made with such knowledge of the coast of Belgium and Holland as he possessed.
The only branch of the Mosa which Caesar mentions is the Sabis (
Sambre), which joins the
Maas on the left bank at
Charleroi in Belgium.
The
Maas, called
Meuse by the French, rises about 48° N. lat. in the
Faucilles, which unite the
Côte d'Or and the
Vosges. The general course of the
Maas is north, but it makes several great bends before it reaches
Liège in Belgium, from which its course is north as far as Grave, where it turns to the west, and for 80 miles flows nearly parallel to the
Waal. The
Maas joins the
Waal at
Gorcum, and, retaining its name, flows past
Rotterdam into the North Sea.
The whole length of the
Maas is above 500 miles.
[
G.L]
