71
2. Celestial Goddesses 77
3. Terrestrial Gods 82
4. Terrestrial Goddesses 87
5. Gods of the woods 94
6. Goddesses of the woods 101
7. Gods of the sea 106
8. Tartarus and its Deities 111
9. The condemned in Hell 123
10. Monsters of Hell 126
11. Dii Indigites, or heroes who received divine honors after death 128
12. Other fabulous personages 146

CHAPTER I.

_Foundation of Rome and Division of its Inhabitants._

Ancient Italy was separated, on the north, by the Alps, from Germany. It
was bounded, on the east and north-east, by the Adriatic Sea, or _Mare
Superum_; on the south-west, by a part of the Mediterranean, called the
Tuscan Sea, or _Mare Inferum_; and on the south, by the _Fretum
Siculum_, called at present the strait of Messina.

The south of Italy, called _Graecia Magna_, was peopled by a colony from
Greece. The middle of Italy contained several states or confederacies,
under the denominations of Etrurians, Samnites, Latins, Volsci,
Campanians, Sabines, &c. And the north, containing _Gallia Cisalpina_
and _Liguria_, was peopled by a race of Gauls.

The principal town of the Latin confederacy was Rome. It was situated on
the river Tiber, at the distance of sixteen miles from its mouth.

Romulus is commonly reported to have laid its foundations on Mount
Palatine, A. M. 3251, B. C. 753, in the third year of the 6th Olympiad.

Rome was at first only a small fortification; under the kings and the
republic, it greatly increased in size; but it could hardly be called
magnificent before the time of Augustus Caesar. In the reign of the
Emperor Valerian, the city, with its suburbs, covered a space of fifty
miles; at present it is scarcely thirteen miles round.

Rome was built on seven hills, viz. the Palatine, Capitoline, Quirinal,
Esquiline, Viminal, Caelian, and Aventine; hence it was poetically styled
"_Urbs Septicollis_,"--the seven-hilled city.

The greatest number of inhabitants in Rome was four mill