The Lao (Greek: Λᾶος; Latin: Laus, Laos or Laüs; formerly also Laino) is a river of southern Italy. It is a considerable stream, rising in the Lucanian Apennines in the province of Potenza, Basilicata region and falling into the Gulf of Policastro (Italian: Golfo di Policastro) near Santa Maria del Cedro, province of Cosenza, Calabria region. Near its mouth are the ruins of the ancient Greek colony of Laüs. Pliny and Ptolemy and Strabo all describe the river and note that it was the boundary between Lucania and Bruttium in antiquity. (Strab. vi., p. 253; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Ptol. iii. 1. § 9) Strabo speaks of a gulf of Laüs, by which he can hardly mean any other than the extensive bay now called the Gulf of Policastro, which may be considered as extending from the promontory of Pynus (Capo degli Infreschi) to near Cirella. The river's valley is included in the Pollino National Park.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).
- Rand McNally, The New International Atlas (1983), p. 69
