Aulon
- A vine-bearing mountain and adjacent valley in Calabria, Hor. C. 2, 6, 18; Mart. 13, 125; cf. Serv. ad Verg. A. 3, 553.—
- II A town in Elis, Plin. 4, 5, 6, § 14.
AULON (Αὐλών), a hollow between hills or banks, was the name given to many such districts, and to places situated in them.
1.A valley in the north-west of Messenia, upon the confines of Elis and Messenia, and through which there was a route into the Lepreatis. Pausanias speaks of a temple of Asclepius Aulonius in what is called Aulon,w hich he places near the river Neda; but whether there was a town of the name of Aulon is uncertain. The French Commission suppose that there was a town of this name, near the entrance of the defile which conducts from Cyparissia to the mouth of the Neda, and believe that its position is marked by some ruins near the sea on the right bank of the river Cyparissus. (Strab. 8. p. 350; Xen. Hell. 3.2. 25, 3.3.8; Polyaen. 2.14; Paus. 4.36.7; Leake, Morea, vol. 1. p. 484; Boblaye, Recherches, &100. p. 116.)
2.In Mygdonia in Macedonia, situated a day's march from the Chalcidian Arnae. (Thuc. 4.103.) Leake (Northern Greece, vol. 3. p. 170) regards it as simply the name of the pass, through which the waters of the lake Bolbe flow by means of a river into the Strymonic gulf; but it appears to have been also the name of a place in this pass. In later times at all events there was a town called Aulon, since it is mentioned as one of the Macedonian cities restored by Justinian. (De Aedif. 4.4.)
3.A small place in Attica in the mining district of Laurium. [LAURIUM]
4.(Valona), a town on the coast of Illyricum between Apollonia and Oricum, a little south of the Aous, and on a deep bay. (Ptol. 3.13.3; Tab. Peut.; Hierocl)
AULON a hill in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, noticed by Horace for the excellence and abundance of its wine. Martial also speaks of it as producing excellent wine as well as wool, for which the whole neighbourhood of Tarentum was famous. (Hor. Carm. 2.6. 18; Mart. 13.125.) Its site still retains its ancient celebrity in the former respect: it is now called Monte Melone (probably a corruption of Aulone), a sloping ridge on the sea shore about eight miles SE. of Tarentum. (Romanelli, vol. 1. p. 295; Carducci, Delizie Tarantine, p. 269.)
[E.H.B]AULON (Ἀυλών: El-Ghôr)
1.The name given by the ancients to the great valley through which the Jordan flows below the Lake of Tiberias, and to its continuation quite across the whole length of the Dead Sea, and for some distance beyond. It signifies a depressed tract of plain, usually between two mountains, and corresponds with the Ghôr of the Arabian writers. (Edrisi par Jaubert, pp. 337, 338; Abulf. Tab. Syr. pp. 8, 9; Schulten's Index Vit. Salad, s. v. Algaurum. ) According to Eusebius its extreme limits are Mt. Libanus, and the Desert of Paran, in Arabia Petraea. Burkhardt (Trav. p. 344) describes the course of the valley in the upper end, near Lake Tiberias, as running from N. by E. to S. by W., and as about two hours broad. The plain through which the river flows is for the most part barren, without trees or verdure; the cliffs and slopes of the river-uplands present a wild and cheerless aspect. Opposite to Jericho its general course is the same, but the cleft which forms the valley widens, and the river flows through the broad plain which is called on the W. the Plain of Jericho,o n the E. the Plain of Moab.J osephus speaks of the Jordan as flowing through a desert (B. J. 3.10.7, 4.8.2), and it preserves this character to the present day. The low bed of the river, the absence of inundation and of tributary streams, have combined to produce this result. The part of the valley which is S. of the Dead Sea has not yet been sufficiently explored. The whole of the valley of the Jordan may be considered as one of those long fissures which occur frequently among limestone mountains, and has given to Palestine its remarkable configuration. And it has been inferred that the phenomenon is referable to volcanic action, of which the country around exhibits frequent traces. (Robinson, Palestine, vol. ii. pp. 215, 258, 305; Von Raumer's Palestina, p. 56; Reland, Palaest. p. 364; Rosenmüiller, Bibl. Alt. vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 146; Ritter, Erdkunde West Asien, vol. 15. p. 481.)
2.In Syria. [COELE SYRIA.]
3.A town in Crete (Steph. B. s. v.), probably the same as the Episcopal See of Aulopotamos. (Cornelius, Creta Sacra, vol. 1. p. 233.) According to Hoeck (Kreta, vol. 1. p. 431) it is represented by a place called Aulon, S. of Retimo. [E.B.J]
(Αὐλών). (1) A district and town on the borders of Elis and Messenia with a temple of Asclepius.
(2) A town in Chalcidicé in Macedonia.
(3) A fertile, grape-producing valley in Italy near Tarentum.
- son of Tlesimenes, shrine of: Paus. 3.12.9
- Paus. 4.36.7