There are over 1,000 islands in the Adriatic, mostly off the eastern coast. Of the Italian Adriatic Islands, the Tremiti group, off the Gargano Peninsula, is the most significant.
Adryx: An ancient maritime town in Sicily situated between Acis and Catana.
Ad Sabbatum: A town in ancient Bruttium located on the river Sabbatus, on the Via Aquilia between Consentia and Ad Turres.
Ad Samarum: a town of the Pentri, in ancient Samnium, situated near the source of the river Tamarus, between Bovianum and Equus Tuticus.
Ad Silarum: An ancient village in Lucania, situated on the river Silarus, between Ad Tanarum and Ad Calorem.
Ad Tanarum: An ancient maritime town of the Picentini, on the river Tanarus, near its mouth, between Picentia and Paestum.
Ad Templum Veneris: A town in ancient Calabria situated on the Via Egnatia between Norva and Egnatia (mod. Monte San Pietro).
Ad Tropea: An ancient town of the Bruttii situated on the Tyrrhenian coast, near Portus Herculis.
Ad Turres: An ancient town of Bruttii. It was situated on the Via Aquilia, between Ad Sabbatum and Angitula (mod. Maida).
Ad Undecimum (Furfane): A town of ancient Apulia situated on the Via Egnatia, between Herdonia and Canusium.
Ad Vicesimum:A town in ancient Lucania, between Cylistarnus and Thurii.
adytum (adito): From the Greek aduton (= a place not to be entered). It was a term used in ancient times for cave-sanctuaries and for the innermost chambers of Greek temples where oracles were received and mystery rites were performed. Such places were off-limits to all but priests and the initiated.
Aeaea (or Aia): An island mentioned in the Odyssey where the sorceress Circe made her home. It is uncertain exactly which island Homer was referring to although it appears to have been either Aegusa (mod. Favignana) or another isle somewhere off the east or west coasts of the Italian mainland.
Aebalia: An alternate name for ancient Tarentum.
Aecae (Aeca, Aecani, Aecas) (>mod. Troja [FG])>: Ancient name for the Puglian city of Troja (Troia). It lay within the confines of Samnium and originally belonged to the Samnite Hirpini or the Daunian Apulians. The city lay of the Via Traiana between Beneventum and Brundisium (or on the Via Egnatia, between Equus Tuticus and Ad Pirum). Captured by Hannibal in 216 BC during the the 2nd Punic war, it was retaken by the Romans in 214 BC. Under the early Empire, a colony was established there and the city was renamed Colonia Augusta Apula. Its citizens may have been enrolled in the Papiria voting tribe. Pliny the Elder called the place Aecani and Aecas.
Aeclanuii: See Vertumnus.
Aeclanum (sometimes Aeculanum) (It. Eclano; mod. Mirabella Eclano) (AV): An ancient Oscan city of the Hirpini-Samnites, located 24 km E of modern Benevento and 30 km NE of Avellino, in the communal territory of Mirabella Eclano. It was situated on the Via Appia where the Via Aeclanensis split away to later join the Via Traina Nova at Herdoniae. This position on a major road junction made Aeclanum an important market town in Roman times. During the Roman Civil Wars it was attacked and occupied by Sulla (89 BC). Soon recovered from this disaster, it became a municipium. During the 2nd century, it achieved the high status of a colonia. During Christian times a bishopric was established here. Giuliano, a disciple of Pelagius and the opponent of St. Augustine, was born here. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Aeclanum continued to survive until AD 668 the Emperor Constans II destroyed the city during his Italian campaign. After this incident it disappears from history. The city was situated on an irregular promontory overlooking the river Calore to the S. To the N ran the Via Appia along the crest of a ridge. Although excavations have shown that the town was inhabited long before Roman times, most of the surviving remains are Roman constructions. The surviving fortifications consist of circuit walls and towers dating from the 2nd quarter of the 1st century BC. Built of opus quasi-reticulatum, they show signs of significant repair work from a slightly later date. The graffiti left on these walls have proven an important source in the study of ancient Roman epigraphy. One of the most important of the surviving monuments is a bath (thermae) originally built during the time of Augustus and later modified. The excavated building measures about 60 m by 40 m. The surviving walls of the bath rise over 3 meters in height and enclose several bathing rooms, pools, and latrines. A circular area located about 150 meters S of the baths has been identified as the remains of an amphitheater.