early use road in Arcanania which led from Actium along the coast to Calydon in Aetolia.
The advantages offered by the position of Acre were recognised from an early period by those who dewed te hecp the cnmmand of the Syrian coast, ha it £d not liae to enunooce until after the decay rf1>R and SMon. When Strabo wrote (p. 758), it «« ahaady a great city; and although it has under- pm vmaj Hciaatades, it has always maintained a eotn degree of impoctanoe. It originally be- kaced te the Pboenidans, and, though nominally iadaded within the territory of the tribe of Asher, WM sever eonqpered by the Israelites. It afterwards pMnd into the hands of the Babylonians, and from than te the Peraiana. According to the first dis- df the dominions of Alexander it was to Ptolemy Soter, but subsequently fell under the Seleuddae, and after changing bands repeatedly eventually fell under the dominion of Rome. It is said at present to contain from 15,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. [ W. R. ]
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During the Social War it was besieged by the Samnite general, C. Papius, but offered so vigorous a resistance that he was unable to reduce it. (Appian. B. C. i. 42, 45.) Virgil praises the fertility of its territory, but the town itself had suffered so much from the frequent inundations of the river Clanius, on which it was situated, that it was in his time almost deserted. (Virg. Georg. ii. 225; and Servius ad loc. Sil. Ital. viii. 537; Vib. Seq. p. 21.) It subsequently received a colony under Augustus (Lib. Colon, p. 229), and Strabo speaks of it in conjunction with Nola and Nuceria, apparently as a place of some consequence. It does not seem, however, to have retained its colonial rank, but is mentioned by Pliny as an ordinary municipal town. (Strab. v. pp. 247, 249; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Orell. Inscr. no. 3716.) The modern town of Acerra retains the site as well as the name of the ancient one, but it does not appear that any vestiges of antiquity, except a few inscriptions, remain there. (Lupuli, Inter Venusin. p. 10 — 12.) The coins with an Oscan legend which were referred by Eckhel and earlier numismatists to Acerrae, belong properly to Atella. (Millingen, Nunismatique de l'Ancianne Italie p. 190; Friedlander, Oskischen Munzen, p. 15.) 2. A city of Cisalpine Gaul, in the territory of the Insubres. Polybius describes it merely as situated between the Alps and the Po; and his words are copied by Stephanus of Byzantium: but Strabo tells us that it was near Cremona: and the Tabula places it on the road from that city to Laus Pompeia (Lodi Vecchio), at a distance of 22 Roman miles from the latter place, and 13 from Cremona. These distances coincide with the postion of Gherra or Gera, a village, or rather suburb of Pizzighettone, on the right bank of the river Adda. It appears to have been a place of considerable strength and importance (probably as commanding the passage of the Adda) even before the Roman conquest: and in B. C. 222, held out for a considerable time against the consuls Marcellus and Scipio, but was compelled to surrender alter the battle of Clastidium. (PoLi. ii. 34; Plut. Mare. 6; Zonar. viii. 20; Strab. v. p. 247; Steph. B. s. v.; Tab. Pent.; Cluver. Ital. p. 244.) 3. A third town of the name, distinguished by the epithet of Vatriae, is mentioned by Pliny (iii. 14. s. 19) as having been situated in Umbrio, but it was already destroyed in his time, and all clue to its position is lost.[ E. H. B. ]
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Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/27
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