Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/875

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

ROMATINUS. Antoine Dcsgoiletz, sent to Rome by Colbert, pub- lished at Paris in 1682 his work in folio, entitled Les Ji'difices antiques de Rome mesurts et dessiiics. The measurements are very correct, and the work indis- pensable to those who would throroughly study Ituman architecture. Nolli's great plan of Rome, the first that can be called an accurate one, appeared in 1748. In 1784 Piranesi published his splendid work the Antichita liomane (Rome, 4 vols. fob), con- taining the principal ruins. It was continued by liis son, Francesco Piranesi. The work of Mich. d'Overbeke,Z/es restes de I'ancienne Rome (h, la Hare, 1673, 2 vols, large foL), is also of great value. In 1822 ap[)eared the Antichita Romans of Luigi Rossini (Itome, 1822, large fob). To the plans and restorations of Caniua in liis Ediji:d we have already alluded. His large map of Rome represents of course his peculiar views, but will be found useful and valuable. Further information on the literature of Roman topography will be found in an excellent preface to the Beschreihung by the Chevalier Bun- ben, f T. H. D.] ROXOLANI. 855 COIN OF U03IE. RO:IATI'XUS. [Concordia.] ROME'CHIUM, a place on the E. coast of the Bruttian peninsula, mentioned only by Ovid, in his description of the voyage of the Epidaurian serpent to Rome (Ovid. Met. sv.' 705). The geography of the passage is by no means very precise; but according to local topographers the name of Romechi is still retained by a place on the sea-coast near Roccella, about 12 miles N. of the ruins of Locri (Romanelli, vol. i. p. 156; Quattromani, Not. ad Barrii Calabr. iii. 1.3.) [E. H. B.] RO'JIULA, a place in Upper Pannoma, on the road leading from Acmona along the river Savus to Sirmium. {It. Ant. p. 274; Tah. Pent.) It is perhaps the modem Carlstadt, the capital of Cro- atia. [L- S.] RO'MULA. [Dacia, p- 744. b.] ROMU'LEA (^VwtJivXia, Steph. B.: Bisaccia), a city of Samnium, mentioned by Livy (x. 17), as being taken by the Roman consul P. Decius, or ac- cording to others by Fabius, in the Third Samnite War, B. c. 297. It is described as being a large and opulent place; but seems to have afterwards fallen into decay, as the name is not noticed by any other writer, except Steplianus of Byzantium, and is not found in any of the geographers. But the Itineraries mention a station Sub Romula, which they place on the Appian Way, 21 miles beyond Aeculanum, and 22 miles from the Pons Aufidi {Itin. Ant. p. 120). Both these .stations being known, we may fi.xRomulea, which evidently occupied a hill above the road, on the site of the modern town (A' Bisaccia, where various ancient remains have been discovered. (Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 348; Cluver. Ital p. 1204: Pratilli, Via Appia, iv. 5). [E. II. B] RO.SCIA'NUM {Rossano), a town of Bruttium, situated on a hill about 2 miles from the .sea-coast, on the gulf of Tarentum, and 12 miles from the mouth of the Crathis. The name is not found in the geogrnplicrs, or mentioned by any earlier writer- but it is found in the Itinerary of Antoninus, which places it 12 miles from Thurii, and is noticed by Procopius during the Gothic wars as a strong fortress, and one of the most important stronghoMs in this part of Italy. {Itin. Ant. p. 114; Procop. B. G. iii. 30.) It was taken by Totila in a. d. 548, but continued throughout the middle ages to be a jilace of importance, and is still one of the most cunsider- able towns in this part of Calabria. [K.H.B.] ROSTRUM NEilAVIAE, a place in the central part of ^^indelicia, on the river Virdo. {It. Ant. pp. 237, 258.) [L. S.] ROTOMAGUS ('PoTrf^oyoy), in Gallia Lugdu- nensis, is mentioned by Ptolemy (ii. 8. § 8) as the capital of the Veneliocasi, as the name is written in some editions. [Vellocasses.] In the Table the name is written Rattomagus, with the mark which indicates a capital town ; and in the Anto- nine Itin. it occurs in the corrupted form Latoniagus on the road which runs from a place called Caroco- tinum. Ammianus (xv. 11) speaks of it in the plural number Rotomagi. There are said to be coins with the legend Ratumacos. Rotomagus is Rouen on the north side of the Seine., and the capital of the department of Seine Inferieure. The old Gallic name was shortened to Rotomum or Rodomum, and then to Rouen, as Ro- dumna has been .shortened to Roanne. The situa- tion of Rouen probably made it a town of some im- portance under the Roman Empire, but very few Roman remains have been found in Rouen. Some Roman tombs have been mentioned. [G. L.] ROXOLA'XI {'Paj^oAavoi), a people belonging to the Sarmatian stock, v-lio first appear in histoiy about a century before Christ, when they were found occupying the steppes between the Dnieper and the Don. (Strab. ii. p. 214, vii. pp. 294, 306, 307, 309 ; Plin. iv. 12; Ptol. iii. 5. §§ 19, 24, 25.) After- wards some of them made their footing in Dacia and behind the Carpathians. Strabo (vii. p. 306) has told the story of the defeat of the Roxolani and their leader Tasius by Diophantus, the general of Mithri- dates, and takes the opportunity of describing some of their manners which resembled those of the Sar- matian stock to which they belonged. Tacitus {Hist. i. 79) mentions another defeat of this people, when making an inroad into Moesia during Otho's short lease of power. From the inscription (Urelli, Inscr. 750) which records the honours jiaid to Plautius Silvanus, it appears that they were also defeated by him. Hadrian, who kept his frontier quiet by subsidising the needy tribes, when they complained about the payment came to terms with their king (Spartian, Iladr. 6) — probably the Ras- parasanus of the inscription (Orelli, Inscr. 833). When the general rising broke out among the Sar- matian, German, and Scythian triiws from the Rhine to the Tanais in the reign of M. Aurelius, the Roxolani were included in the number. (Jul. Capit. M. Anton. 22.) With the inroads of the Goths the name of the Roxolani almost disappears. They probably were partly exterminated, and partly united with the kindred tribes of the Alani, and shared the general fate when the Huns poured down from the interior of Asia, crossed the Jhm, and <)])pressed the Alani, and, later, with the help of these, the Ostro-Gotlis. It has been assumed that the name of the RiiA- calani {^VaKaKdvoi, Ptol. iii. 5. § 24) is not dif- ferent from that of the Roxolani, who, according to 3 I 4