LEDUS
LEDUS or
LEDUM, as Mela (2.5) names it, a small river of Gallia Narbonensis. Festus Avienus (
Ov. Marit. 590) names it Ledus. Mela speaks of the “Stagna Volcarum, Ledum flumen, castellum Latera.” The Ledus is the
Lez, which passes by Sextantio, to the east of
Montpellier, and flows into the
Etang de Maguelone or
Perols below Latera, now
Lates or
Latte. Pliny (
9.8) gives the name of Stagnum Latera to this
Etang, and he speaks of it as abounding in mullets, and describes the way of taking them.
The mullet is still abundant there. Pliny places the Stagnum Latera in the territory of Nemausus (
Nîmes), which is at some distance.
But the
Etang and the Castellum Latera may be among the many small places (
Plin. Nat. 3.4) which were made dependant on Nemausus (Nemausiensibus attributa). [
G.L]
LEËTA´NI. [LAEËTANI.]