Map of the Roman Empire - Saonne River

Saonne River
F-3 on the Map

Ancient Saonne River The Saone (Arpitan Sona) is a river of eastern France that runs for 300 miles. It is a tributary of the Rhone River. The name Saone derives comes from the name of the Gallic river goddess Souconna. The ancient name of the river was Arar.

Arar or Arăris. The modern Sa�ne; a river of Gaul, rising in the Vosges and emptying into the Rhodan us (Rhone) at Lugdunum (Lyons). - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

Arar fl. (Araris), postea Saucona, Sangona, a r. of Lugdunensis I., rising in Vogesus m., and falling into the Rhone at Lugdunum. Sdone. - Classical Gazetteer

ARAR
ARAR or A�RARIS (Ἄραρ, Ἄραρις: Sa�ne), a river of Gallia, which rises in the high land, connected with the Vosges (Vosegus), which lies between E�pinal and Plombi�res, in the modern department of Vosges. The Sa�ne has a general south course past Chalons swr Sa�ne, 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 Sa�ne, 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 Sa�ne 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 Sa�ne is an exception, but its true Gallic name appears to be Saucona. (Ammian. 15.11.) - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.