lymna and Cos."
(E. GR.; M. O. B. C.)

COSA, an ancient city of Etruria, on the S.W. coast of Italy, close to
the Via Aurelia, 4-1/2 m. E.S.E. of the modern town of Orbetello.
Apparently it was not an independent Etruscan town, but was founded as a
colony by the Romans in the territory of the Volceientes, whom they had
recently conquered, in 273 B.C. The town was strongly fortified, and the
walls, about a mile in circuit, with three gates, and seventeen
projecting rectangular towers at intervals, are in places preserved to a
height of over 30 ft. on the outside, and 15 on the inside. The lower
part is built of polygonal, the upper of rectangular, blocks, and the
masonry is of equal fineness all through, so that a difference of date
cannot be assumed; such a change of technique is not without parallel in
Greece (F. Noack in _Romische Mitteilungen_, 1897, 194). Within the city
no remains are visible. The place was of importance as a fortress; it
was approached by a branch road which diverged from the Via Aurelia at
the post station of Succosa, at the foot of the hill on which the town
stood. The harbour, too, was of some importance. In the 5th century we
hear of it as deserted, and in the 9th a town called Ansedonia took its
place for a short time, but itself soon perished, though it has left its
name to the ruins.

See G. Dennis, _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_ (London, 1883), ii.
245. (T. AS.)

COSEL, or KOSEL, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia,
at the junction of the Klodnitz and the Oder, 29 m. S.E. of Oppeln by
rail. Pop. (1905) 7085. It has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic
church, an old chateau and a grammar-school (Progymnasium). Its
industries are of some importance, including a manufactory of cellulose
(employing 1200 hands), steam saw- and flour-mills and a petroleum
refinery. There is a lively trade by river.

The first record of Cosel dates from 1286. From 1306 to 1359 it was the
seat of an independent duchy held by a cadet line of the dukes of
Teschen. In 1532 it fell to the emperor, was several times besieged
during the Thirty Years' War, and came into Prussian possession by the
treaty of Breslau in 1742. Frederick II. converted it into a fortress,
which was besieged in vain by the Austrians in 1758, 1759, 1760 and
1762. In 1807 it withstood another siege, by the Bavarian allies of
Napoleon. The fortifications were razed and their site converted into