Listed 20 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ETROURIA Ancient country ITALY" .
ETROURIA (Ancient country) ITALY
ETROURIA (Ancient country) ITALY
KEREA (Ancient city) ITALY
Caere (Khire, Ptol.; Kairea, Strab.; Kaireta, Dionys. : Eth. Kairetanos,
Caeretanus, but the people are usually called Caerites), called by the Greeks
Agylla (Agtlla: Eth. Agtllaios), an ancient and powerful city of Southern Etruria,
situated a few miles from the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, on a small stream now
called the Vaccina, anciently known as the Caeretanus amnis. (Plin. iii. 5. s.
8; Caeritis amnis, Virg. Aen. viii. 59.) Its territory bordered on that of Veii
on the E. and of Tarquinii on the N.; the city itself was about 27 miles distant
from Rome. Its site is still marked by the village of Cervetri. All ancient writers
agree in ascribing the foundation of this city to the Pelasgians, by whom it was
named Agyllaj the appellation by which it continued to be known to the Greeks
down to a late period. Both Straboh and Dionysius derive these Pelasgians from
Thessaly, according to a view of the migration of the Pelasgic races, very generally
adopted among the Greeks. The same authorities assert distinctly that it was not
till its conquest by the Tyrrhenians (whom Strabo calls Lydians), that it obtained
the name of Caere: which was derived, according to the legend related by Strabo
from the Greek word Chhaire, will which the inhabitants saluted the invaders.
(Strab. v. p. 220; Dionys. i. 20., iii. 58; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 597; Plin. iii.
5. s. 8.) We have here the clearest evidence of the two elements of which the
population of Etruria was composed; and there seems no reason to doubt the historical
foundation of the fact, that Caere. was originally. a Pelasgic or Tyrrhenian city,
and was afterwards conquered by the Etruscans or Tuscans (called as usual by the
Greeks Tyrrhenians) from the north. The existence of its double name is in itself
a strong confirmation of this fact; and the circumstance that Agylla, like Spina
on the Adriatic, had a treasury of its own at Delphi, is an additional proof of
its Pelasgic origin (Strab. l. c.).
The period at which Caere fell into the hands of the Etruscans cannot
be determined with any approach to certainty. Niebuhr has inferred from the narrative
of Herodotus that the Agyllaeans were still an independent Pelasgic people, and
had not yet been conquered by the Etruscans, at the time when they waged war with
the Phocaeans of Alalia, about B.C. 535. But it seems difficult to reconcile this
with other notices of Etruscan history, or refer the conquest to so late a period.
It is probable that Agylla retained much of its Pelasgic habits and connexions
long after that event; and the use of the Pelasgic name Agylla proves nothing,
as it continued to be exclusively employed by Greek authors down to a very late
period. Roman authorities throw no light on the early history of Caere, though
it appears in the legendary history of Aeneas as a wealthy and powerful city,
subject to the rule of a king named Mezentius, a cruel tyrant, who had extended
his power over many neighbouring cities, and rendered himself formidable to all
his neighbours. (Liv. i. 2; Virg. Aen. viii. 480.)
The first historical mention of Agylla is found in Herodotus, who
relates that the Agyllaeans were among the Tyrrhenians who joined the Carthaginians
in an expedition against the Phocaean colonists at Alalia in Corsica; and having
taken many captives upon that occasion, they put them all to death. This crime
was visited on them by divine punishments, until they sent to consult the oracle
at Delphi on the subject, and by its advice paid funeral honours to their victims,
with public games and other ceremonies. (Herod. i. 166, 167.) It is clear, therefore,
that at this time Agylla was a maritime power of some consideration; and Strabo
speaks of it as having enjoyed a great reputation among the Greeks; especially
from the circumstance that the Agyllaeans refrained from the piratical habits
common to most of the other Tyrrhenian cities. (Strab. l. c.) This did not, however,
preserve them at a later period from the attacks of Dionysius of Syracuse, who,
having undertaken an expedition to the coasts of Tyrrhenia under pretence of putting
down piracy, landed at Pyrgi, the seaport of Agylla, and plundered the celebrated
temple of Lucina there, from which he carried off an immense booty, besides laying
waste the adjoining territory. (Strab. v. p. 226; Diod. xv. 14.)
Caere plays a much less important part in the history of Rome than
we should have expected from its proximity to that city, and the concurrent testimonies
to its great wealth and power. From the circumstance of its being selected by
the Romans, when their city was taken by the Gauls, as the place of refuge to
which they sent their most precious sacred relics, Niebuhr has inferred (vol.
i. p. 385) that there must have been an ancient bond of close connexion between
the two cities; and in the first edition of his history he even went so far as
to suggest that Rome was itself a colony of Caere; an idea which he afterwards
justly abandoned as untenable. Indeed, the few notices we find of it prior to
this time, are far from indicating any peculiarly friendly feeling between the
two. According to Dionysius, the Caerites were engaged in war against the Romans
under the elder Tarquin, who defeated them in a battle and laid waste their territory;
and again, after his death, they united their arms with those of the Veientines
and Tarquinians against Servius Tullius. (Dionys. iii. 58, iv. 27.) Caere was
also the first place which afforded a shelter to the exiled Tarquin when expelled
from Rome. (Liv. i. 60.) And Livy himself; after recounting the service rendered
by them to the Romans at the, capture of the city, records that they were received,
in consequence of it, into relations of public hospitality (ut hospitium publice
fieret, v. 50), thus seeming to indicate that no such relations previously existed.
From this time, however, they continued on a friendly footing, till B.C. 353,
when sympathy for the Tarquinians induced the Caerites once more to take up arms
against Rome. They were, however, easily reduced to submission, and obtained a
peace for a hundred years. Livy represents this as freely granted, in consideration
of their past services; but Dion Cassius informs us that it was purchased at the
price of half their territory. (Liv. vii. 20; Dion Cass. fr. 33. Bekk.) It is
probable that it was on this occasion also that they received the Roman franchise,
but without the right of suffrage. This peculiar relation was known in later times
as the Caerite franchise, so that in tabulas Caeritum referre, became a proverbial
expression for disfranchising a Roman citizen (Hor. Ep. i. 6, 62; and Schol. ad
loc.), and we are expressly told that the Caerites were the first who were admitted
on these terms. (Gell. xvi. 13. § 7.) But it is strangely represented as in their
case a privilege granted them for their services at the time of the Gaulish war
(Strab. v. p. 220; Gell. l. c.), though it is evident that the relation could
never have been an advantageous one, and was certainly in many other cases rather
inflicted as a punishment, than bestowed as a reward. Hence it is far more probable,
that instead, of being conferred on the Caerites as a privilege immediately after
the Gallic War, it was one of the conditions of the disadvantageous peace imposed
on them in B.C. 353, as a punishment for their support to the Tarquinians. (See
on this subject, Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 67, vol. iii. p. 185; Madvig. de Colon.
p. 240; Mommsen, Die Romische Tribus, pp. 160, 161; Das Romische Munzwesen, p.
246.) It is uncertain whether the Caerites afterwards obtained the full franchise;
we are expressly told that they were reduced to the condition of a Praefecture
(Fest. s.v. praefecturae); but during the Second Punic War they were one of the
Etruscan cities which were forward to furnish supplies to the armament of Scipio
(Liv. xxviii. 45), and it may hence be inferred that at that period they still
retained their nominal existence as a separate community. Their relations to Rome
had probably been adjusted at the same period with those of the rest of Etruria,
concerning which we are almost wholly without information. During the latter period
of the Republic it appears to have fallen into decay, and Strabo speaks of it
as having, in his time, sunk into complete insignificance, preserving only the
vestiges of its former greatness; so that the adjoining watering place of the
Aquae Caeretanae actually surpassed the ancient city in population. (Strab. v.
p. 220.) It appears, however, to have in some measure revived under the Roman
empire. Inscriptions and other monuments attest its continued existence during
that period as a flourishing municipal town, from the reign of Augustus to that
of Trajan. (Gruter, Inscr. p. 214. 1, 226. 4, 236. 4, 239. 9; Bull. d'Inst. Arch.
1840, pp. 5-8; Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol. i. p. 342-345.) Its territory was
fertile, especially in wine, which Martial praises as not inferior to that of
Setia. (Mart. xiii. 124; Colum. R. R. iii. 3. § 3.) In the fourth century it became
the see of a bishop, and still retained its existence under its ancient name through
the early part of the middle ages; but at the beginning of the thirteenth century,
great part of the inhabitants removed to another site about 3 miles off, to which
they transferred the name of Caere or Ceri, while the old town came to be called
Caere Vetus, or Cervetri, by which appellation it is still known. (Nibby, l. c.
p. 347.)
The modern village of Cervetri (a very poor place) occupies a small
detached eminence just without the line of the ancient walls. The outline of the
ancient city is clearly marked, not so much by the remains of the walls, of which
only a few fragments are visible, as by the natural character of the ground. It
occupied a table-land, rising in steep cliffs above the plain of the coast, except
at the NE. corner, where it was united by a neck to the high land adjoining. On
its south side flowed the Caeretanus amnis (the Vaccina), and on the N. was a
narrow ravine or glen, on the opposite side of which rises a hill called the Banditaccia,
the Necropolis of the ancient city. The latter appears to have been from four
to five miles in circuit, and had not less than eight gates, the situation of
which may be distinctly traced; but only small portions and foundations of the
walls are visible; they were built of rectangular blocks of tufa, not of massive
dimensions, but resembling those of Veii and Tarquinii in their size and arrangement.
The most interesting remains of Caere, however, are to be found in
its sepulchres. These are, in many cases, sunk in the level surface of the ground,
and surmounted with tumuli; in others, they are hollowed out in the sides of the
low cliffs which bound the hill of the Banditaccia, and skirt the ravines on each
side of it. None of them have any architectural facades, as at Bieda and Castel
d'Asso; their decoration is chiefly internal; and their arrangements present a
remarkable analogy to that of the houses of the Etruscans. Many of them had a
large central chamber, with others of smaller size opening upon it, lighted by
windows in the wall of rock, which served as the partition. This central chamber
represented the atrium of Etruscan houses, and the chambers around it the triclinia,
for each had a bench of rock round three of its sides, on which the dead had lain,
reclining in effigy, as at a banquet. The ceilings of all the chambers had the
usual beams and rafters hewn in the rock. (Dennis's Etruria, vol. ii. p. 32.)
One tomb, called from its discoverer the Regulini-Galassi tomb, is entered by
a door in the form of a rudely pointed arch, not unlike the gate-way at Arpinum,
and like that formed by successive courses of stones gradually approaching till
they meet. Some of the tombs also have their interior walls adorned with paintings,
resembling those at Tarquinii, but greatly inferior to them in variety and interest.
Most of these are of comparatively late date, - certainly not prior to the Roman
dominion, - but one tomb is said to contain paintings of a very archaic character,
probably more ancient than any at Tarquinii. This is the more interesting, because
Pliny speaks of very ancient paintings, believed to be of a date prior to the
foundation of Rome, as existing in his time at Caere. (Plin. xxxv. 3. s. 6.) Another
tomb, recently discovered at Cervetri, is curious from its having been the sepulchre
of a family bearing the name of Tarquinius, the Etruscan form of which (Tarchnas)
is repeated many times in different inscriptions, while others present it in the
Roman form and characters. There seems every reason to believe that this family,
if not actually that of the regal Tarquins of Rome, was at least closely connected
with them. (Dennis, l. c. p. 42-44; Bull. d'Inst. Arch. 1847, p. 56-61.)
The minor objects found in the sepulchres at Caere, especially those
discovered in the Regulini Galassi tomb already mentioned, are of much interest,
and remarkable for the very ancient character and style of their workmanship.
The painted vases and other pottery have, for the most part, a similar archaic
stamp, very few of the beautiful vases of the Greek style so abundant at Vulci
and Tarquinii having been found here. Two little vessels of black earthenware,
in themselves utterly: insignificant, have acquired a high interest from the circumstance
of their bearing inscriptions which there, is much reason to believe to be relics
of the Pelasgian language, as distinguished from what is more properly called
Etruscan. (Dennis, l. c. pp. 54, 55; Lepsius, in the Annali d'Inst. Arch. 1836,
pp. 186-203; Id. Tyrrhenische Pelasger, p. 40-42.)
There is no doubt that Caere, in the days of its power, possessed
a territory of considerable extent,. bordering on those of Veil and Tarquinii,
and probably extending at one time nearly to the mouth of the Tiber. Its seaport
was Pyrgi itself a considerable city, the foundation of which, as well as that
of Agylla, is expressly ascribed to the Pelasgians. Alsium also, of which we find
no notice in the early history of Rome, must at this period have been a dependency
of Caere. Another place noticed as one of the subject towns in the territory of
Caere is Artena which others placed in the Veientine territory, but according
to Livy erroneously (Liv. iv. 61). The grove sacred to Sylvanus, noticed by Virgil,
and placed by him on the banks of the Vaccina (the Caeritis amnis), is supposed
to have been part of the wood which clothed the Monte Abbatone, on the S. side
of the river.
Caere was not situated on the line of the Via Aurelia, which passed
nearer to the coast; but was probably joined to it by a side branch. Another ancient
road, of which some remains are still visible, led from thence to join the Via
Clodia at Careiae. (Gell, Top. of Rome, p. 12.)
The antiquities of Caere, and the various works of art discovered
there, are fully described by Dennis (Etruria, vol. ii. p. 17-63). See also Canina
(Descrizione di Cere antica, Roma, 1838), and Grifi (Monumenti di Cera antica,
Roma, 1841).
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SPINA (Ancient city) ETROURIA
Spina (Spina, Strab.; Spina, Steph. B.: Eth. Spinates and Spinites),
an ancient city of Italy, situated near the southernmost mouth of the Padus, within
the limits of Gallia Cisalpina. It was, according to Dionysius, a Pelasgic settlement,
and one of the most flourishing cities founded by that people in Italy, enjoying
for a considerable time the dominion of the Adriatic, and deriving great wealth
from its commercial relations, so that the citizens had a treasury at Delphi,
which they adorned with costly offerings. They were subsequently expelled from
their city by an overwhelming force of barbarians, and compelled to abandon Italy.
(Dionys. i. 18, 28.) Strabo gives a similar account of the naval greatness of
Spina, as well as of its treasury at Delphi; but he calls it a Greek (Hellenic)
city; and Scylax, who notices only Greek, or reputed Greek, cities, mentions Spina
apparently as such. Its Greek origin is confirmed also by Justin, whose authority,
however, is not worth much. (Strab. v. p. 214, ix. p. 421; Scyl. p. 6. § 19; Justin,
xx. 1; Plin. iii. 16. s. 20.) But these authorities, as well as the fact that
it had a treasury at Delphi, which is undoubtedly historical, seem to exclude
the supposition that it was an Etruscan city, like the neighbouring Adria; and
whatever be the foundation of the story of the old Pelasgic settlement, there
seems no reason to doubt that it was really a Greek colony, though we have no
account of the period of its establishment. Scylax alludes to it as still existing
in his time: hence it is clear that the barbarians who are said by Dionysius to
have driven out the inhabitants, can be no other than the neighbouring Gauls;
and that the period of its destruction was not very long before the conquest of
Cisalpine Gaul by the Romans. It does not appear to have ever been rebuilt or
become a Roman town. Strabo speaks of it as in his time a mere village; and Pliny
repeatedly alludes to it as a place no longer in existence. (Plin. iii. 16. s.
20, 17. s. 21; Strab. v.p. 214.) No subsequent trace of it is found and its site
has never been ascertained. We know, however, that it must have been situated
on or near the southernmost arm of the Padus, which derived from it the name of
Spineticum Ostium, and which probably corresponded with the modern Po di Primaro.
But the site of Spina must now be sought far from the sea: Strabo tells us that
even in his time it was 90 stadia (11 miles) from the coast; though it was said
to have been originally situated on the sea. It is probably now 4 or 5 miles further
inland; but the changes which have taken place in the channels of the rivers,
as well as the vast accumulations of alluvial soil, render it almost hopeless
to look for its site.
Pliny tells us that the Spinetic branch of the Padus was the one which
was otherwise called Eridanus; but it is probable that this was merely one of
the attempts to connect the mythical Eridanus with the actual Padus, by applying
its name to one particular branch of the existing river. It is, however, probable
that the Spinetic channel was, in very early times, one of the principal mouths
of the river, and much more considerable than it afterwards became.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ELVA (Island) ETROURIA
or Ilva. An island in the Tuscan Sea, the modern Elba.
or Ilva. The modern Elba. An island of the Tyrrhenian Sea, off
the coast of Etruria, and about ten miles from the promontory of Populonium. It
was early celebrated for its rich iron mines; but by whom they were first discovered
and worked is uncertain, as they are said to exhibit the marks of labour carried
on for an incalculable time.
ETROURIA (Ancient country) ITALY
or Tuscia (Turrenia, Turseia). A country of Italy once inhabited
by the people known as the Etruscans (Tusci). It lay west of the river Tiber and
the Apennines, extending to the sea, and including the valley of the Arno. When
authentic history begins, the Etruscans, in addition to this territory, held also
the valley of the Padus (Etruria Circumpadana) and a further strip south of the
Tiber (Etruria Campaniana). From the former territory they were crowded southward
by the Gauls (see Celtae), and from the latter the Romans subsequently drove them.
Etruria Proper was a confederation of twelve States or cities (duodecim populi
Etruriae), of which no complete list has reached us, though it is fairly certain
that the following towns were eleven of the twelve: Veii, Caere, Tarquinii, Clusium,
Cortona, Perusia, Volsinii, Vulci, Vetulonia, Volaterrae, and Arretium. The twelfth
was in all probability either Falerii, Populonia, or Rusellae. Of the northern
league, the following were important towns: Felsina (Bononia), Mantua, Ravenna,
Chiavenna, and Hatria or Hadria, which gives its name to the Hadriaticum Mare.
In the south, Capua and Nola were rich and powerful cities. Like Etruria Proper,
the northern league was one of twelve States.
Ethnology.--The earliest traditions to which we now have access
make the Etrurians a Lydian people. But this theory, which was carefully considered
by Dionysius of Halicarnassus in his work on the origins of Rome, appears to rest
upon no convincing evidence. Dionysius notes that it is not mentioned by Xanthus,
the historian of Lydia, and sums up the results of his own investigations by saying
that "the Etruscans do not resemble any other people either in language or
in manners." This conclusion is interesting, for Dionysius had given much
thought and time to the consideration of the question, and is said to have written
a work on the Etruscans in twenty books, during the reign of Augustus, when there
was a sort of Etrurian revival, in which everything Etruscan was the fashion.
The identification of the Etruscans with the Lydians was very likely due to a
confusion of the Lydian Torreboi with the name Tursenoi or Turrenoi, applied to
the Etruscans by the Greeks. The confusion was easier because of the maritime
prowess of both peoples and their piratical practices.
Modern investigators have not been deterred by the ill success
of Dionysius from attempting to solve the problem of the ethnological affinities
of the Etruscans; but no definite and generally accepted conclusions have yet
been reached. For purposes of investigation there have been collected some 6000
or more Etruscan inscriptions, the characters resembling Pelasgian or early Greek.
There are also vast collections of their pottery, bronzes, jewels, and other works
of Tuscan art. Fifteen bilingual inscriptions give some further aid on the side
of the language, but less than one might suppose, for they consist only of proper
names. The longest inscription yet discovered is that found at Perugia in 1822,
consisting of fortysix lines, in red, upon two sides of a block of stone (the
"Cippus Perusinus"). These records are in the main mortuary records
taken from tombs, walls, or the labels and seals of mortuary niches, or still
oftener painted upon urns or cut into sarcophagi. They usually give the name,
parentage, age, and rank of the deceased, with a list of the offices that he held.
The most noted investigations of the origins and affinities of the Etruscans have
been those of K. O. Muller, whose dissertation on the subject in two volumes received
a prize from the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and Wilhelm Corssen (q.v.), who
also published two elaborate volumes. Later works are those of Deecke and Pauli.
By these scholars some progress has been made towards a knowledge
of the peculiarities of the Etruscan language. Besides proper names, some 200
other words have been deciphered, among them a number of numerals, including the
first six digits, the common words denoting relationships, and several verbal
forms. As a matter of general interest, the following list of Etruscan words may
be given from Pauli :
|
clan...........son
|
thu.............five. |
| puia...........wife. | huth............six. |
| sekh...........daughter. | suthinese........urn-niches. |
| lautni..........a freedman. | tular............pillar (cippus). |
| cvil (cver)......gift, | dedication. amce...........fuit. |
| mach..........one. | ma.............est. |
| ci..............two. | ture.............dat. |
| zal............three. | turce............dedit. |
| sa.............four. | arce.............habuit. |
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ETROURIA (Ancient country) ITALY
ARTEMISION (Island) ITALY
Originally called Artemision, the island, cited by Pliny (HN 3.81),
was inhabited from the Stone Age but particularly during the Roman era. There
are notable remains of a Roman villa, with rich living quarters, a bath complex,
stores, cisterns, and harbor equipment at Cala Maestra and at Cala Scirocco. (See
also Shipwrecks.)
G. Monaco, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ELVA (Island) ETROURIA
Named Aithalia by the Greeks, the island is cited by Greek writers
(from Polybius to Strabo, Ptolemy, and Diodorus Siculus) and by Latin writers
(from Vergil to Pliny and Rutilius Namatianus) primarily for the mining of iron,
first by the Greeks, then by the Etruscans and the Romans. A large number of discoveries
have been made on land and in the sea (an abandoned ancient ship at Procchio).
Inhabited from the Stone Age into the Roman era, the island offers even now the
sight of two large Roman villas, one at Grotte di Portoferraio and the other at
Cavo di Rio Marina. Archaeological finds are in the museums of Florence, Livorno,
Rome, Reggio Emilia, and in depositories on Elba (Portoferraio, Marciana, and
Porto Azzurro).
G. Monaco, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
KEREA (Ancient city) ITALY
A major Etruscan town on a long tufa plateau 8 km from the sea and
isolated from the surrounding plain by two small rivers, the Fosso del Manganello
and the Fosso della Mola. Legend attributes its foundation to Thessalian invaders
(Herod. 1.167; Diod. 15.14; Dion. Hal. 1.20; 3.58), its name deriving from invasion
by Tyrrhenians. The town was allied with the Carthaginians in a successful battle
against Phokaians in the Sardinian Sea (ca. 535 B.C.). In spite of a sudden change
of alliance with the Tarquinii in 353 B.C., the town received civitas sine suffragio
from Rome for help in battling the Gauls. But in 293 B.C. (Livy 7.19.6) or 273
B.C. (Dion. Hal. fr. 33 Boissevain), a revolt of the Etruscans deprived Caere
of its independence (Fest. 155L, 262L) and of half of its territory, the coastal
strip where the Romans founded four colonies, Fregenae, Alsium, Pyrgi, and Castrum
Novum. Caere's decline dates from this period, and by early Imperial times the
once great metropolis was no more than a village (Strab. 5.2.3).
At least six temples are known, of which only two have been officially
excavated: one on the N ridge (the so-called Manganello temple) and another nearby
dedicated to Hera and frequented by Greek merchants as painted inscriptions indicate.
Some 18th c. excavations revealed extensive Roman buildings, including a theater,
a portico, and an Augusteum (now covered over). Some stretches of city walls of
the 4th c. B.C. can be seen along the ridge.
Three cemeteries are known: the largest on a hilltop NW of the town
(Banditaccia), another on a similar height on the other side of the town (Monte
Abatone), and the third on the S slopes of the hill (Sorbo) on which the town
stands.
Two Iron Age necropoleis of Villanovan type, one on Sorbo and one
at Cava della Pozzalana on the Banditaccia side, contained large and rich chamber
tombs, normally two rooms on the same axis, dug in the tufa rock. Of the richest
graves, which show conspicuous mounds, one was partially built of huge tufa blocks
and displays a corbeled vault. It contained furnishings of gold, silver, and bronze.
By the mid 7th c. B.C. tomb architecture became more elaborate and in the 6th
c. mounds were bordered by tufa moldings and preceded by funerary altars. Later
in the same century the tufa was carved to simulate ceilings, funerary beds, thrones,
and architectural moldings. During the same period an attempt was made to impose
a plan on the cities of the dead with a grid of streets and long rows of facades
for middle class burials. By the beginning of the 4th c. large chambers underground
served for dozens of burials. Some are similar to Greek heroa, some contain niche
burials. From the 3d to the 1st c. B.C. only poor graves are evident, mostly reusing
older tombs.
M. Torelli, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 159 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SPINA (Ancient city) ETROURIA
An important pre-Roman city, which excavations of the last 50 years
have brought to light in the ancient delta of the Po, and in the lagoon basins
ca. 6 km W of Comacchio (province of Ferrara).
Founded by the Pelasgians, or by the Thessalians, or by Diomedes at
the mouth of a branch of the Po (Hellanicus fr. 1 apud Dion. Hal. 1.28.3, 1.18.3-4;
Ps.-Scyl. 17; Just. Epit. 20.1.1; Plin. HN 3.120), the city attained the thalassocracy
of the Adriatic and maintained at Delphi a famous thesaurus (Dion. Hal. 1.18.4;
Strab. 5.1.7, 9.3.8). It was within a road journey of three days from Pisa and
was linked to Adria by a navigable canal built by the Etruscans. The invasion
of the Gauls provoked the decline and desertion of the city (Dion. Hal. 1.18.5),
and on the site in the Roman period there was no more than a small village (Strab.
5.1.7).
The city's period of greatest prosperity coincided with the expansion
of the Etruscans N of the Apennines beginning in the middle of the 6th c. B.C.
Although the sources speak of Greek Spina in Etruscan territory, it was actually
an Etruscan city in which Greeks, including an active group of Athenian merchants,
exerted a strong cultural influence. In this light, the large amount of archaeological
evidence, fundamental in understanding the civilization of Spina, may be understood.
Land reclamation in the Trebba valley and in the Pega valley has opened
up for investigation two adjacent necropoleis situated on the sandy dunes of an
ancient shoreline (today ca. 10 km from the sea). From these have come 4061 earthen
graves dating from the end of the 6th c. to the beginning of the 3d c. B.C. The
prevailing custom is inhumation with the corpse oriented NW to SE. The burial
finds reflect large commercial enterprises and the economic prosperity of the
market of Spina. Attic red-figure ware abounds, particularly from the early Classical
and Classical periods. The Spina collection has a documentary unity and an array
of the work of vase painters (of Berlin, of Penthesilea, of the Niobid Painter,
of Boreas, of Peleus, Polygnotos, Polion, Shuvalov) without comparison either
in Greece or elsewhere. Other pottery is Etruscan, Faliscan (from Magna Graecia),
Sicilian, and Boiotian, in addition to notable local production of the so-called
early Adriatic group. There are Etruscan bronzes and gold jewelry and some early
Venetic bronzes, as well as numerous examples of glazed ware and amber.
Land reclamation in the Mezzano valley (1960) led to the identification
of the site of Spina W of the necropoleis and exactly along a middle branch of
the ancient Po delta, called the Padus Vetus in mediaeval documents. It is a characteristic
settlement on a marshy site: an irregular perimeter, protected by multiple palisades
and earthen ramparts, streets on a square grid plan oriented NW to SE, and wooden
dwellings. Two km SE, near Motta della Girata, a canal, 15 m wide, leaves the
river and cuts across the dunes of the Etruscan shoreline. This is evidently the
work of the Etruscans intent upon maintaining close connection between the city
and the sea, which kept moving farther away as a result of the extension of the
coastal land. The presence there of the Early Christian parish church of Santa
Maria in Padovetere shows the extreme demographic tenacity of the city which had
then disappeared.
Because they demonstrate a knowledge of the N Etruscan alphabet, the
many graffiti on pottery from Spina are notable. All articles can be found in
the National Archaeological Museum in Ferrara.
N. Alfieri & G. V. Gentili, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
