ARAR
ARAR or
A´RARIS (
Ἄραρ,
Ἄραρις:
Saône), a river of Gallia, which rises in the high land, connected with the
Vosges (Vosegus), which lies between
E´pinal and
Plombiéres, in the modern department of Vosges. The
Saône has a general south course past
Chalons swr Saône, to its junction with the Rhone at Lugdunum (
Lyon). Its length is estimated at about 300 miles.
The current in the middle and lower part is very slow. (
Caes. Gal. 1.12.)
It is joined on the left bank at
Verdun swr Saône, by the Dubis or Alduasdubis (
Doubs). Strabo (p. 186) makes both the Arar and the Dubis rise in the Alps, but he does not mean the High Alps, as appears from his description, for he makes the Seine rise in the same mountains as the Saone. Vibius Sequester (Arar Germaniae) makes the Arar rise in the
Vosges. In Caesar's time, the Arar from
Lyon, at least to the confluence of the
Doubs, was the boundary between the Sequani on the east, and the Aedui on the west; and the right to the river tolls (
διαγωγικὰ τέλη, Strab. p. 192) was disputed between them.
The navigation of the
Saône was connected with that of the
Seine by a portage, and this was one line of commercial communication between Britain and the valley of the Rhone. (Strab. p. 189.)
It was a design of L. Vetus, who commanded in Germania in the time of Nero, to unite the Arar and the Mosella (
Mosel), by a canal (
Tac. Ann. 13.53); and thus to effect a communication between the
Rhone and the
Rhine.
The larger rivers of France retain their Gallic names. The
Saône is an exception, but its true Gallic name appears to be Saucona. (
Amm. Marc. 15.11.)
[
G.L]
