Septem Maria
Ἑπτὰ πελάγη
Septem Maria (Ἑπτὰ πελάγη), was the name commonly given to the extensive lagunes at the mouth of the Padus, and the adjoining rivers, and which extend along a considerable part of the shores of the Adriatic from the mouths of the Padus to Altinum. Pliny indeed seems to use the term in a more restricted sense, as he speaks of Atrianorum paludes, quae Septem Maria appellantur
(3.16. s. 20); but the Itinerary distinctly applies the name to the whole extent of the lagunes from Ravenna to Altinum (Itin. Ant. p. 126); and Herodian, who notices them particularly (8.7), clearly uses the term in the same sense.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.