ALISO

ALI‘SO or ALI´SUM (Ἐλίσων, Ἄλεισον : perhaps Elsen, near Paderborn), a strong fortress in Germany, built by Drusus in B.C. 11, for the purpose of securing the advantages which had been. gained, and to have a safe place in which the Romans might maintain themselves against the Cherusci and Sigambri. It was situated at the point where the Eliso empties itself into the Lupia ( Lippe, Dio Cass..) There can be no doubt that the place thus described by Dio Cassius under the name Ἐλίσων, is the same as the Aliso mentioned by Velleius (2.120) and Tacitus (Tac. Ann. 2.7), and which in A.D. 9, after the defeat of Varus, was taken by the Germans. In A.D. 15 it was reconquered by the Romans; but being, the year after, besieged by the Germans, it was relieved by Germanicus. So long as the Romans were involved in wars with the Germans in their own country, Aliso was a place of the highest importance, and a military road with strong fortifications kept up the connection between Aliso and the Rhine. The name of the place was probably taken from the little river Eliso, on whose bank it stood. The Ἄλεισον (in Ptolemy (Ptol. 2.11) is probably only another form of the name of this fortress. Much has been written in modern times upon the site of the ancient Aliso, and different results have been arrived at; but from the accurate description of Dio Cassius, there can be little doubt that the village of Elsen, about two miles from Paderborn, situated at the confluence of the Alme (Eliso) and Lippe(Lupia), is the site of the ancient Aliso. (Ledebur, Das Land u. Volk der Bructerer, p. 209, foll.; W. E. Giefers, De Alisone Castello Commentatio, Crefeld, 1844, 8vo.)
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