Adria ( Greek: ') was a former channel of the Po river delta, 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 stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

was mentioned by Hecataeus, by Theopompus and by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

. 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

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 ...

s and flowed into the

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

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 of Frattesina, near modern Fratta Polesine, 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 "breach at Sermide", and followed a channel more to the south, the Spina river. The Etruscans dug canals to drain the "Adrian swamps" (the swamps that surrounded Adria); the Tartaro river was diverted north-east into the Philistina canal. Other canals (the ''fossiones'') were dug parallel to the coastline to allow inland

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

.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 Hamburg, Manch ...

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 Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

settled the area in the 4th century BC, ruled by Dionysius I of Syracuse 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. The Adria channel survived the

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

period, and was still there when the Romans arrived. In the first century AD, Pliny the Elder however does not write of this Adria river; the Adige overflowed into the Tartaro-Philistina and caused a

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, 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 of significant con ...

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.

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References

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