Adria (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ') was a former channel of the Po

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

, passing by the town of

Adria Adria is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po River, Po. The remains of the Etruria, Etruscan city of Atria or Hatria are to be found below ...

, that ceased in the 1st century BC. This

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

was mentioned by Hecataeus, by

Theopompus Theopompus ( grc-gre, Θεόπομπος, ''Theópompos''; c. 380 BCc. 315 BC) was an ancient Greek historian and rhetorician. Biography Theopompus was born on the Aegean island of Chios. In early youth, he seems to have spent some time at Athen ...

and by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

. Hecataeus asserts that the Adriatic sea and the town of Adria were named after this river.Bonomi, pp. 241–43.

History

Between the 12th and the 9th century BC the mainstream of the Po followed this channel; its course followed more or less today's system of the Fissero-

Tartaro-Canalbianco Tartaro-Canalbianco-Po di Levante (Latin: Tartarus) is a river of north-east Italy. It is the only river whose course runs between the Adige river and the Po river and flows into the Adriatic Sea. The first part of its course, whose length is fr ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

s and flowed into the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

by the site of Adria town. At that time the coastline was far more upriver than nowadays. The first hamlets of Adria were settled by the Veneti; also the

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

of Frattesina, near modern

Fratta Polesine Fratta Polesine is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rovigo in the Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about southwest of Rovigo. Its main attraction is Andrea Palladio's Villa Badoer. Fratta Polesine is th ...

, was active by this river during these centuries. During the 9th or 8th century BC the main stream of the Po river changed, due to the so-called "breach at

Sermide Sermide was a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about southeast of Mantua. It is now a frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ' ...

", and followed a channel more to the south, the

Spina Spina was an Etruscan port city, established by the end of the 6th century BCE, on the Adriatic at the ancient mouth of the Po. Discovery The site of Spina was lost until modern times, when drainage schemes in the delta of the Po River in 192 ...

river. The

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

dug canals in order to

drain Drain may refer to: Objects and processes * Drain (plumbing), a fixture that provides an exit-point for waste water or for water that is to be re-circulated on the side of a road * Drain (surgery), a tube used to remove pus or other fluids from ...

the "Adrian swamps" (i.e. the swamps that surrounded Adria); the Tartaro river was diverted north-east into the

Philistina ''Philistina'' is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classificatio ...

canal and other canals (the ''fossiones'') were dug parallel to the coastline in order to allow inland

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

.Braccesi, pp. 52–53 The town of Adria and its

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

on the Adria river flourished in the 6th century BC; new settlements were founded on dry land, inland from the sea, up the Adria and lesser streams. The Adria river was still active while the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

settled the area in the 4th century BC, ruled by

Dionysius I of Syracuse Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder ( 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Gre ...

and his son Dionysius II; the Greeks also maintained the drainage canals, though imposing on them Greek river names: for instance ''Philistina'' is from

Philistus Philistus ( grc-gre, Φίλιστος; c. 432 – 356 BC), son of Archomenidas, was a Greek historian from Sicily. Life Philistus was born in Syracuse around the time the Peloponnesian War began. He was a faithful supporter of the elder Di ...

. The Adria channel survived the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...

period and was still there when the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

arrived. In the first century AD,

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

however does not write of this Adria river; the

Adige The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the pro ...

overflowed into the Tartaro-Philistina and caused a

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

in the area that returned to wetlands. The port of Adria was still working thanks to the ''fossiones'' and the other canals, still maintained by the Romans. The sources of Pliny most probably referred to a previous state of the territory, so it is almost certain that the Adria channel ceased to exist before or about the 1st century BC.Uggeri, pp. 45–46.

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adria (River) Province of Rovigo