NABALIA in the text of Tacitus (Tac. Hist. 5.26), is a river in or near the Batavorum Insula, over which there was a bridge. During the war between Civilis and the Romans, there was a conference between Civilis and Cerealis on this bridge, which had been cut asunder for safety's sake, each party at the conference keeping on his own side of the river. It is uncertain if the name Nabalia is right and if it is right, it is also uncertain what the river is. It must, however, be some stream about the lower part of the Rhine; and Walckenaer ( Geog. &c. vol. 1. p. 296) conjectures that it is the Ysselor eastern branch of the Rhine which flows into the Zuyder Zee. Ptolemy (Ptol. 2.11.28) has a place Navalia (Ναυάλια) in Great Germania, the position of which, if we can trust the numbers, is on or near Ptolemy's eastern branch of the Rhine, whatever that eastern branch may be.
[G.L]