previous next

CHAP. 25. (21.)—LIBURNIA AND ILLYRICUM.

The nation of the Liburni adjoins the river Arsia1, and extends as far as the river Titus. The Mentores, the Hymani2, the Encheleæ, the Buni, and the people whom Callimachus calls the Peucetiæ, formerly formed part of it; but now the whole in general are comprised under the one name of Illyricum. But few of the names of these nations are worthy of mention, or indeed very easy of pronunciation. To the jurisdiction of Scardona3 resort the Iapydes and fourteen cities of the Liburni, of which it may not prove tedious if I mention the Lacinienses, the Stlupini, the Burnistæ, and the Olbonenses. Belonging to the same jurisdiction there are, in the enjoyment of Italian rights, the Alutæ4, the Flanates5, from whom the Gulf takes its name, the Lopsi, and the Varvarini; the Assesiates, who are exempt from tribute; and upon the islands, the Fertinates and the Curicttæ6.

Besides these, there are on the coast, after leaving Nesactium, Alvona7, Flanona, Tarsatica, Senia, Lopsica, Ortopula, Vegium, Argyruntum, Corinium8, Ænona, the city of Pasinum, and the river Tedanius, at which Iapydia terminates. The islands of this Gulf, with their towns, besides those above mentioned, are Absyrtium9, Arba10, Crexa, Gissa, and Portunata. Again, on the mainland there is the colony of Iadera11, distant from Pola 160 miles; then, at a distance of thirty miles, the island of Colentum12, and of eighteen, the mouth of the river Titus.

1 From the river now called the Arsa to that called the Kerka.

2 Hardouin thinks that "Ismeni" is the proper reading here; but all the MSS. seem to be against him.

3 Mentioned in the next Chapter.

4 Their town was Aluus or Aloiis.

5 Their town was Flanona, which gave name to the Sinus Flanaticus or Golfo di Quarnero. The chief town of the Lopsi was Lopsica, and of the Varvarini, Varvaria.

6 The island of Fertina is supposed to have been the modern Berwitch or Parvich. Curicta is now called Karek or Veglia. The Illyrian snails mentioned by our author, B. ix. c. 56, are very numerous here. Caius Antonius, the brother of Marcus, acting under Julius Cæsar, was besieged here by Libo. See the interesting account in Lucan's Pharsalia, B. iv. 1. 402–464.

7 The places on their sites are now called Albona, Fianona, Tersact or Tersat near Fiume, Segna, Lopsico, Ortopia, and Veza.

8 Now Carin. Ænona is now called Nona, and the Tedanius is the modern Zermagna.

9 The whole of this group of islands were sometimes called the Absyrtides, from Absyrtus, the brother of Medea, who according to tradition was slain there. See the last Chapter, p. 266.. Ovid, however, in his "Tristia," states that this took place at Tomi, on the Pontus Euxinus or Black Sea, the place of his banishment.

10 Said by D'Anville to be now called Arbe, and Crexa to be the modern Cherso. Gissa is thought to have been the modern Pago.

11 It was the capital of Liburnia. The city of Zara or Zara Vecchia stands on its site. There are but little remains of the ancient city.

12 Supposed to be the present Mortero.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Latin (Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff, 1906)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide References (21 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: