Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1265

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 TURRIS LIBYSSONIS.
TURRIS LIBYSSONIS (Πύργος Λιβύσσωνος, Ptol.: Porto Torres), a town of Sardinia, and apparently one of the most considerable in the island. It is situated on the N. coast about 15 miles E. of the Gorditanian promontory (the Capo del Falcone), and on the spacious bay now called Golfo dell' Asinara. Pliny tells us it was a Roman colony, and we may probably infer from its name that there was previously no town on the spot, but merely a fort or castellum. (Plin. iii. 12. s. 17.) It is noticed also by Ptolemy and in the Itineraries, but without any indication that it was a place of any importance. (Ptol. iii. 3. §5; Itin. Ant. p. 83.) But the ancient remains still existing prove that it must have been a considerable town under the Roman Empire; and we learn from the inscriptions on ancient milestones that the principal road through the island ran directly from Caralis to Turris, a sufficient proof that the latter was a place much frequented. It was also an episcopal see during the early part of the middle ages. The existing port at Porto Torres, which is almost wholly artificial, is based in great part on Roman foundations; and there exist also the remains of a temple (which, as we learn from an inscription, was dedicated to Fortune, and restored in the reign of Philip), of thermae, of a basilica and an aqueduct, as well as a bridge over the adjoining small river, still called the Fiume Turritano. The ancient city continued to be inhabited till the 11th century, when the greater part of the population migrated to Sassari, about 10 miles inland, and situated on a hill. This is still the second city of the island. (De la Marmora, Voy. en Sardaigne, vol. ii. pp. 363, 468-472; Smyth's Sardinia, pp. 263-266.)


TURRIS STRATO′NIS. [Caesareia, p. 470, a.]


TURRUS FLUVIUS. [Aquileia.]


TURU′LIS (Τούρουλις, Ptol. ii. 6. § 15), a river in the territory of the Edetani in Hispania Tarraconensis, between the Iberus and the Fretum Herculis. Ukert (ii. pt. i. p. 293) thinks that it is probably identical with the Saetabis of Mela (ii. 6) and the Uduba of Pliny (iii. 3. s. 4), the present Mijares or Myares.


TURUM (Eth. Turinus: Turi), a town of Apulia, mentioned only by Pliny, who enumerates the Turini among the towns of that province. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16.) The name is written Tutini in our present text of Pliny; but it is probable that we should read Turini, and that the site is marked by the present village of Turi, near Conversano, about 6 miles W. of Polignano. (Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 180.)


TURUNTUS (Τουροῦντος, Ptol. iii. 5. § 2), a river of European Sarmatia which fell into the Northern Ocean, and which, according to Marcian (p. 55), had its source in the Rhipaean mountains, but Ptolemy seems to place it in Mount Alaunus or Alanus. Mannert (iv. p. 258) takes it to be the Windaw.


TURUPTIA′NA (Τουρουπτίανα, Ptol. ii. 6. §23), a town of the Callaici Lucenses in Hispania Tarraconensis.


TUSCA, a river forming the W. boundary of the Roman province of Africa, which, after a short course to the N., fell into the sea near Tabraca. (Plin. v. ss. 2, 3.)


TUSCA′NIA (Eth. Tuscaniensis: Toscanella), a city of Southern Etruria, situated about 12 miles NE. of Tarquinii. It is mentioned only by Pliny, who enumerates the Tuscanienses among the municipal communities of Etruria, and in the Tabula,
TUSCULUM.1241
which places it on the Via Clodia, between Blera and Saturnia, but in a manner that would afford little clue to its true position were it not identified by the resemblance of name with the modern Toscanella. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8; Tab. Peut.) The name is found in an inscription, which confirms its municipal rank. (Murat. Inscr. p. 328.) But it appears to have been in Roman times an obscure town, and we find no allusion to it as of ancient Etruscan origin. Yet that it was so is rendered probable by the tombs that have been discovered on the site, and some of which contain sarcophagi and other relics of considerable interest; though none of these appear to be of very early date. The tombs have been carefully examined, and the antiquities preserved by a resident antiquary, Sig. Campanari, a circumstance which has given some celebrity to the name of Toscanella, and led to a very exaggerated estimate of the importance of Tuscania, which was apparently in ancient times never a place of any consideration. It was probably during the period of Etruscan independence a dependency of Tarquinii. The only remains of ancient buildings are some fragments of reticulated masonry, undoubtedly of the Roman period. (Dennis's Etruria, vol. i. pp. 440-460.) [ E. H. B. ]


TUSCI (Τοῦσκοι, Ptol. v. 9. § 22), a people of Asiatic Sarmatia between the Caucasus and the Montes Ceraunii.


TU′SCIA. [Etruria.]


TUSCULA′NUM. [Tusculum, p. 1243, b.]


TU′SCULUM (Τούσκουλον, Ptol. iii. 1. § 61; Τούσκλον, Strab. v. p. 237; Τούσκλος, Steph. B. p. 673: Eth. Tusculanus, Cic. Balb. 20; Liv. iii. 7, &c.: Adj. Tusculus, Tib. i. 7. 57; Stat. Silv. iv. 4. 16; Tusculanensis, Cic. Fam. ix. 6: Frascati and Il Tuscolo), a strong and ancient city of Latium, lying on the hills which form a continuation of Mount Albanus on the W. When Dionysius of Halicarnassus (x. 20) places it at a distance of 100 stadia, or 12½ miles, from Rome, he does not speak with his accustomed accuracy, since it was 120 stadia, or 15 miles, from that city by the Via Latina. Josephus (Ant. xviii. 7. § 6) places the imperial villa of Tiberius at Tusculum at 100 stadia from Rome, which, however, lay at some distance to the W. of the town. Festus (s. v. Tuscos) makes Tusculum a diminutive of Tuscus, but there is but slight authority to connect the town with the Etruscans. According to common tradition, it was founded by Telegonus, the son of Ulysses and Circe; and hence we find its name paraphrased in the Latin poets as "Telegoni moenia" (Ov. Fast. iii. 91, iv. 71; Prop. iii. 30. 4; Sil. It. xii. 535) and "Circaea moenia" (Hor. Epod. i. 30); and the hill on which it stood called "Telegoni juga parricidae" (Id. Od. iii. 29. 8), "Circaeum dorsum" (Sil. It. vii. 691), and Telegoni jugera (Stat. Silv. i. 3. 83). Thus Tusculum did not claim so remote an origin as many other Latin cities; and, as being founded a generation after the Trojan War, Virgil, a learned antiquary, consistently omits all notice of it in his Aeneid. The author of the treatise entitled Origo Gentis Romanae mentions that it was made a dependency or colony of Alba by Latinus Silvius (c. 17. § 6). After the destruction of Alba by Tullus Hostilius it appears to have recovered its independence, and to have become a republic under the government of a dictator.

But to descend from these remote periods to the more historical times. In the reign of Tarquinius