SORACTE  , a

mountain in the province of Rome, Italy . It is a narrow, isolated limestone ridge, some 5 M . S.E. of Civita Castellana, and 31 M. in length . The highest summit is 2267 ft. above sea-level; just below it is a monastery removed there from the summit in 1835; it was originally founded about 748 by Carloman, son of Charles Martel (the altar has, indeed, fragments of sculptures of this period), and until modern times was occupied by Trinitarian monks . On the actual summit is a church . Owing to the isolated position of the mountain the view is magnificent, and Soracte is a conspicuous object in the landscape, being visible from Rome itself . It is thus mentioned by Horace (" vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte?" Carm. i . 9), and Virgil, who mentions Apollo as its guardian deity, though no traces of his temple exist; and in reality it was sacred to Dis Pater and the gods of the lower world . At the bottom of the mountain on the east is a disused limestone quarry . The village of S . Oreste at the south-east end of the ridge owes its name to a corruption of the ancient name . In the communal palace is a fine processional cross of the rrth century in the Byzantine style (see Romische Quartalschrift, 1905, tog—Archaologie) .