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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.
The Cavarī or Cavarēs were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the western part of modern Vaucluse, around the present-day cities of Avignon, Orange and Cavaillon, during the Roman period. They were at the head of a confederation of tribes that included the Tricastini, Segovellauni and Memini, and whose territory stretched further north along the Rhône Valley up to the Isère river.
The Medulli were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper valley of Maurienne, around present-day Modane (Savoie), during the Iron Age and Roman period.
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.
The Parisii were a Gallic tribe that dwelt on the banks of the river Seine during the Iron Age and the Roman era. They lived on lands now occupied by the modern city of Paris, whose name is derived from the ethnonym.
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.
The Avantici were a small Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Gap, in the western part of the modern Hautes-Alpes department, during the Roman period.
References
In order of likely publication:
- PNH: Pliny (Gaius Plinius Secundus), Naturalis Historia ; book "PNH" chapter (that is, "37PNH81" instead of the usual "N.H.xxxvii.81").
- PG: Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus), Geographia ; book "PG" chapter (that is, "2PG3" instead of the usual "II.3"). Ptolemy wrote in Greek, so names are transliterated back into Latin to reveal the original form.
- HLU: Hofmann, Johann Jacob (1635–1706): Lexicon Universale
- GOL: The standard reference to Latin placenames, with their modern equivalents, is Dr. J. G. Th. Grässe, Orbis Latinus: Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit (1861), an exhaustive work of meticulous German scholarship that is available on-line in the second edition of 1909. To use it, one must understand German names of countries, as they were in 1909. The original was re-edited and expanded in a multi-volume edition in 1972.