Following is a list of rivers of classical antiquity stating the Latin name, the equivalent English name, and also, in some cases, Greek and local name. The scope is intended to include, at least, rivers named and known widely in the Roman empire. This includes some rivers beyond the bounds of the Roman empire at its peak.
The Volcae were a Gallic tribal confederation constituted before the raid of combined Gauls that invaded Macedonia c. 270 BC and fought the assembled Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 279 BC. Tribes known by the name Volcae were found simultaneously in southern Gaul, Moravia, the Ebro valley of the Iberian Peninsula, and Galatia in Anatolia. The Volcae appear to have been part of the late La Tène material culture, and a Celtic identity has been attributed to the Volcae, based on mentions in Greek and Latin sources as well as onomastic evidence. Driven by highly mobile groups operating outside the tribal system and comprising diverse elements, the Volcae were one of the new ethnic entities formed during the Celtic military expansion at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Collecting in the famous excursion into the Balkans, ostensibly, from the Greek point of view, to raid Delphi, a branch of the Volcae split from the main group on the way into the Balkans and joined two other tribes, the Tolistobogii and the Trocmi, to settle in central Anatolia and establish a new identity as the Galatians.
Paropamisadae or Parapamisadae was a satrapy of the Alexandrian Empire in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, which largely coincided with the Achaemenid province of Parupraesanna. It consisted of the districts of Sattagydia, Gandhara, and Oddiyana. Paruparaesanna is mentioned in the Akkadian language and Elamite language versions of the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great, whereas in the Old Persian version it is called Gandāra. The entire satrapy was subsequently ceded by Seleucus I Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya following a treaty.
The Helveconae, or Helvaeonae, or Helvecones, or Aelvaeones, or Ailouaiones were a Germanic tribe mentioned by Roman authors. They are possibly connected to the Hilleviones of Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder. The Helveconae as such are one of the tribal states of the Lugii mentioned by Tacitus in Germania. The Lugii were located in the Silesia area. Their ethnicity is speculative. Subsequent authors, such as Johann Jacob Hofmann, 1635-1706, identified the people of Tacitus with a people of Ptolemy, the Ailouaiones in Greek, which has been Latinized to Aelvaeones. Perhaps the scholars innovated Helvecones, which is not attested in classical times.
Usellus is a town, comune (municipality) and former bishopric in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region Sardinia.
Scylletium or Scolacium was an ancient seaside city in Calabria, southern Italy. Its ruins can be found at the frazione of Roccelletta, in the comune of Borgia, near Catanzaro, facing the Gulf of Squillace.
Serica was one of the easternmost countries of Asia known to the Ancient Greek and Roman geographers. It is generally taken as referring to North China during its Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, as it was reached via the overland Silk Road in contrast to the Sinae, who were reached via the maritime routes. A similar distinction was later observed during the Middle Ages between "Cathay" (north) and "Mangi" or "China" (south). The people of Serica were the Seres, whose name was also used for their region. Access to Serica was eased following the Han conquest of the Tarim Basin but largely blocked when the Parthian Empire fell to the Sassanids. Henry Yule summarized the classical geographers:
If we fuse into one the ancient notices of the Seres and their country, omitting anomalous statements and manifest fables, the result will be something like the following:—"The region of the Seres is a vast and populous country, touching on the east the Ocean and the limits of the habitable world, and extending west to Imaus and the confines of Bactria. The people are civilized, mild, just, and frugal, eschewing collisions with their neighbours, and even shy of close intercourse, but not averse to dispose of their own products, of which raw silk is the staple, but which include also silk-stuffs, fine furs, and iron of remarkable quality." That is manifestly a definition of the Chinese.
Claudiopolis also called Ninica and Ninica Claudiopolis, was an ancient city of Cilicia. Ammianus mentions Seleucia and Claudiopolis as cities of Cilicia, or of the country drained by the Calycadnus; and Claudiopolis was a colony of Claudius Caesar. It is described by Theophanes of Byzantium as situated in a plain between the two Taurus Mountains, a description which exactly, corresponds to the position of the basin of the Calycadnus. Claudiopolis may therefore be represented by Mut, which is higher up the valley than Seleucia, and near the junction of the northern and western branches of the Calycadnus. It is also the place to which the pass over the northern Taurus leads from Laranda. Pliny mentions a Claudiopolis of Cappadocia, and Ptolemy has a Claudiopolis in Cataonia. Both these passages and those of Ammianus and Theophanes are cited to prove that there is a Claudiopolis in Cataonia, though it is manifest that the passage in Ammianus at least can only apply to a town in the valley of the Calycadnus in Cilicia Trachea. The two Tauri of Theophanes might mean the Taurus and Antitaurus. But Hierocles places Claudiopolis in Isauria, a description which cannot apply to the places so named of Pliny and Ptolemy. The city apparently received the Roman colony name Colonia Iulia Felix Augusta Ninica, and minted coins in antiquity.
The etymology of Aberdeen is that of the name first used for the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, which then bestowed its name to other Aberdeens around the world, as Aberdonians left Scotland to settle in the New World and other colonies.
The Avatici were a Gallic tribe dwelling near the Étang de Berre, between the mouth of the Rhône river and Massilia, during the Roman period.
