Anas

ANAS(ὁ Ἄνας: Guadiana, i.e. Wadi-Ana, river Anas, Arab.), an important river of Hispania, described by Strabo (iii. pp. 139, foll.) as rising in the eastern part of the peninsula, like the Tagus and the Baetis ( Guadalquivir), between which it flows, all three having the same generaldirection, from E. to W., inclining to the S.; the Anas is the smallest of the three (comp. p. 162). It divided the country inhabited by the Celts and Lusitanians, who had been removed by the Romans to the S. side of the Tagus, and higher up by the Carpetani, Oretani, and Vettones, from the rich lands of Baetica or Turdetania. It fell into the Atlantic by two mouths, both navigable, between Gades ( Cadiz), and the Sacred Promontory ( C. St. Vincent). It was only navigable a short way up, and that for small vessels (p. 142). Strabo further quotes Polybius as placing the sources of the Anas and the Baetis in Celtiberia (p. 148). Pliny (iii. l. s. 2) gives a more exact description of the origin and peculiar character of the Anas. It rises in the territory of Laminium; and, at one time diffused into marshes, at another retiring into a narrow channel, or entirely hid in a subterraneous course, and exulting in being born again and again, it falls into the Atlantic Ocean, after forming, in its lower course, the boundary between Lusitania and Baetica. (Comp. 4.21. s. 35; Mela, 2.1.3, 3.1.3). The Antonine Itinerary (p. 446) places the source of the Anas (caput fluminis Anae) 7 M. P. from Laminium, on the road to Caesaraugusta. The source is close to the village of Osa la Montiel, in La Mancha, at the foot of one of the northern spurs of the Sierra Morena, in about 39° N. lat. and 2° 45′ W. long. The river originates in a marsh, from a series of small lakes called Lagunas de Ruydera. After a course of about 7 miles, it disappears and runs underground for 12 miles, bursting forth again, near Daymiel, in the small lakes called Los Ojos de Guadiana( the eyes of the Guadiana). After receiving the considerable river Giguelafrom the N., it runs westward through La Manchaand Estremadura, as far as Badajoz, where it turns to the S., and falls at last into the Atlantic by Ayamonte, the other mouth mentioned by Strabo, and which appears to have been at Lepe, being long since closed. The valley of the Guadianaforms the S. part of the great central table-land of Spain, and is bounded on the N. by the Mountains of Toledo, and the rest of that chain, and on the S. by the Sierra Morena. Its whole course is above 450 miles, of which not much above 30 are navigable, and that only by small flat-bottomed barges. Its scarcity of water is easily accounted for by the little rain that falls on the table-land. Its numerous tributaries (flowing chiefly from the Sierra Morena) are inconsiderable streams; the only one of them mentioned by ancient authors is the Adrus ( Albaragena), which falls into it opposite Badajoz. Some derive the name Anas from the Semitic verb ( Hanas, Punic; Hanasa, Arab.) signifying to appear and disappear,referring to its subterraneous course; which may or may not be right. (Ford, Handbook of Spain, p. 83.)
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