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 Saône; 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: 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. (Ammian. 15.11.)
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.