ANAS
ANAS (
ὁ Ἄνας:
Guadiana, i.e.
Wadi-Ana,
river Anas, Arab.), an important river of Hispania, described by Strabo (iii. pp. 139, foll.) as rising in the eastern part of the peninsula, like the Tagus and the Baetis (
Guadalquivir), between which it flows, all three having the same
general direction, from E. to W., inclining to the S.; the Anas is the smallest of the three (comp. p. 162).
It divided the country inhabited by the Celts and Lusitanians, who had been removed by the Romans to the S. side of the Tagus, and higher up by the Carpetani, Oretani, and Vettones, from the rich lands of Baetica or Turdetania.
It fell into the Atlantic by two mouths, both navigable, between Gades (
Cadiz), and the Sacred Promontory (
C. St. Vincent).
It was only navigable a short way up, and that for small vessels (p. 142). Strabo further quotes Polybius as placing the sources of the Anas and the Baetis in Celtiberia (p. 148). Pliny (iii. l. s. 2) gives a more exact description of the origin and peculiar character of the Anas.
It rises in the territory of Laminium; and, at one time diffused into marshes, at another retiring into a narrow channel, or entirely hid in a subterraneous course, and exulting in being born again and again, it falls into the Atlantic Ocean, after forming, in its lower course, the boundary between Lusitania and Baetica. (Comp. 4.21. s. 35; Mela, 2.1.3, 3.1.3). The Antonine Itinerary (p. 446) places the source of the Anas (caput fluminis Anae) 7 M. P. from Laminium, on the road to Caesaraugusta.
The source is close to the village of
Osa la Montiel, in
La Mancha, at the foot of one of the northern spurs of the
Sierra Morena, in about 39° N. lat. and 2° 45′ W. long.
The river originates in a marsh, from a series of small lakes called
Lagunas de Ruydera. After a course of about 7 miles, it disappears and runs underground for 12 miles, bursting
[p. 1.131]forth again, near
Daymiel, in the small lakes called
Los Ojos de Guadiana (
the eyes of the Guadiana).
After receiving the considerable river
Giguela from the N., it runs westward through
La Mancha and
Estremadura, as far as
Badajoz, where it turns to the S., and falls at last into the Atlantic by
Ayamonte, the other mouth mentioned by Strabo, and which appears to have been at
Lepe, being long since closed.
The valley of the
Guadiana forms the S. part of the great central table-land of Spain, and is bounded on the N. by the
Mountains of Toledo, and the rest of that chain, and on the S. by the
Sierra Morena. Its whole course is above 450 miles, of which not much above 30 are navigable, and that only by small flat-bottomed barges. Its scarcity of water is easily accounted for by the little rain that falls on the table-land. Its numerous tributaries (flowing chiefly from the
Sierra Morena) are inconsiderable streams; the only one of them mentioned by ancient authors is the Adrus (
Albaragena), which falls into it opposite
Badajoz. Some derive the name Anas from the Semitic verb (
Hanas, Punic;
Hanasa, Arab.) signifying
to appear and disappear, referring to its subterraneous course; which may or may not be right. (Ford,
Handbook of Spain, p. 83.)
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P.S]
