ITALIA
 

ITHOME
 

 Silarrs an 1  Frento.  It comprehended,  1. Apu¬

 lia, including Calabria.   2. Luoania.  3. Brut-

 rruir.  Augustus divided Italy into the follow¬

 ing eleven Regiones.  1. Latium and Campania.

 2. The land of the Hirpini, Apulia and Calabria,

 %. Lueania and  Bruttium.  4.  The  land of the

 Frentani, Marrueini  P^igni, Marsi, Vestini, and

 Sabini,  together w th Samnium.   5.  Picenum.

 G. Umbria and the district of Ariminum, in what

 was formerly called Gallia  Cisalpina.  7. Etru¬

 ria.  8. Gallia Oispadana.  9. Liguria.   10. The

 eastern  part  of  Gallia  Transpadana, Venetia,

 Carnia,  and  Istria.   11. The  western part of

 Gallia Transpadana.  The leading features of

 the physical geography of Italy are so well de¬

 scribed by a modern writer, that we can not do

 better than quote Ms words.   " The mere plan-

 geography of Italy gives us its shape and the po¬

 sition of its towns; to these it may add a semi¬

 circle of mountains round the northern boundary,

 to represent  the Alps; and another long line

 stretching down  the  middle  of the country, to

 represent the Apennines.  But let us carry this

 on a little further, and give life  and harmony to

 what is at present at  once lifeless and  confused.

 Observe, in  the  first place,  how the Apennine

 line, beginning from the  southern  extremity of

 the Alps, runs  across Italy  to the very edge

 of the Adriatic,   and thus  separates naturally

 the Italy  proper of  the  Romana  from  Cisal¬

 pine Gaul.  Observe, again, how the Alps, after

running north and south where they divide Italy

from France, turn then away to the eastward,

running parallel  to the  Apennines, till they too

touch  the head of the Adriatic,  on the confines

of Istria.   Thus between these  two lines of

mountains there  is  inclosed  one great basin or

plain ; inclosed  on three sides by  mountains,

 open only on the east to  the sea.  Observe how

 widely it spreads itself  out, and then see how

 well it is watered.  One great river (the Po)

 flows  through it  in its  whole  extent; and this

 is fed by streams almost unnumbered,  descend¬

 ing toward it on  either  side, from the Alps on

 one side, and  from the Apennines on the  other.

 Then, descending into Italy proper, we find the

 complexity of its geography quite in accordance

 with its manifold political divisions.  It is not

 one simple central ridge  of mountains, having

 a broad belt of level  country on either side be¬

 tween it and the sea, nor yet is it a chain rising

 immediately from the sea on  one side, like the

 Andes in  South America,  and leaving room

 therefore on  the other  side for wide  plains of

 table-land, and for rivers with a  sufficient length

 of course to become at last great and navigable.

 It is a back-bone, thickly set with spines  of un¬

 equal length,  some of them running out at reg¬

 ular distances parallel to each other, but others

 twisted so stranp-ely  that they often  run for a

 long  way parallel to the back bone, or main

 ridge, and interlace with one another in a maze

 almost inertricable.   And, as if to complete the

 disorder, in those spots where the spines of the

 Apennines, being twisted round, run parallel to

 the sea and to their own central chain, and thus

 leave an interval of plain between  their bases

 and the  Mediterranean, volcanic agency  has

 broken up the  space thus left  with other  and

 distinct groups  of hills of its  own  creation, as

 in the case of Vesuvius and of the  Alban hills |

             404
 

 near Rome.  Speaking generally, then,  Italy a

 made up of aa infinite multitude o  valleys pen)

 in between high and steep Mils, each forming a

 country to itself, and cut off by natural barriers

 from the others.   Its  several parts are isolated

 by nature,  and no  art  of man can thoroughly

 unite them.  Hence arises  the  romantic char

 acter of Italian scenery: the constant combma

 tion  of a mountain outline, and all the wild feat

 ures of a mountain  country, with  the wild vege

 tation of a  southern  climate in the  valleys."

 More minute details  respecting  the  physical.

 features of the different parts of Italy are given

 in the articles on  the  separate provinces into

 which it is divided.

   Italica.   1. (Now Sevilla la  vieja,  near San

 tiponce), a  municipium  in Hispania Baatica, on

 the  western  bank  of the Baatis, northwest  of

 Hispalis, was founded  by  Scipio  Afrieanus in

 the second  Punic war,  who  settled here some

 of Ms veterans.  It  was the  birth-place of the

 emperors  Trajan and   Hadrian.—2. The name

 given to  Corfinium by  the  Italian Socii during

 their war with Rome.   Vid. Corfinium.

   Italicus, Silius.   Vid. Silius.

   Italus (IraXoc), an ancient king of the Pelas¬

 gians, Siculians, or  G5notrians, from whom Italy

 was  believed to have  derived its name.   Some

 call him a son of Telegonus by Penelope.

   Itanus ("lravog),  a town  on the eastern coast

 of Crete, near a promontory  of the same name,

 founded by the Phcenicians.

   Ithaca  IflBuKn;  'IBanijawg:  now Thiaki), a

 small island in the Ionian Sea, celebrated as the

birth-place of Ulysses, lies off the coast of Epi¬

rus, and is separated from Cephalonia by a chan¬

nel about three or four  miles wide.  The island

is about twelve miles long, and four in its great¬

 est breadth.   It is divided into two parts, which

 are connected by  a narrow isthmus,  not more

 than half a mile across.  In each of these parts

there ia a mountain  ridge of consideraWe height;

 the one in  the north  called  Neritum (Nypirov,

 now Anoi),  and  the  one in the south  Neium

 (TStfwv, now  Stefano).   The city  of Ithaca, the

 residence of  Ulysses,  was situated  on a precip¬

 itous conical hill,  now  called Ado, or " eagle's

 cliff," occupying  the whole breadth of the isth¬

 mus mentioned above.   The acropolis, or cas¬

 tle of Ulysses, crowned the  extreme summit of

 the  mountain, and  is   described  by  a modern

 traveller as  " about as  bleak  and dreary a spot

 as can well be  imagined for a  princely  resi¬

 dence."   Hence Cicero (Be Orat,  i, 44) de¬

 scribes it, in asperrimis saxulis tanquam nidulus

 affixa.  It is at the foot of  Mount  Neium, and

 is hence  described  by  Telemachus as " Under-

 Neium" ('IBuK-ng 'Yixovntov,  Horn,  Od, iii, 81).

 The walls of tlie aucient city are in many places

 well preserved.   Ithaca is one of the seven Ioni¬

 an islands under the ptotection of Great Britain

   [Ithacus ("Waiwg), son of Pterelaus,  a tero,

 from whom Ithaea  was said to have derived ite

 name.]

   [Ith-emenes (^Waipevni),  a Trojan or  Lycian

 warrior in the Iliad, father of Sthenelaus.]

   Ithome ('IBaun:  'IBavjJTng, 'Idapalog).   1. A

 strong fortress in Messenia, situated on a mount¬

 ain of the same name,  which afterward formed

 the  citadel  of the  town of  Messene.   On th«

 summit of the mountain stood the ancient ten?