DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0246
144 FALLERI. [chap. vii.
city situated on a steep and lofty height was destroyed,
and another built in a place of easy access."7 The descrip-
tion of the latter, which will not apply at all to the site
of Civita Castellana, agrees precisely with that of Palleri,
which, as already shown, stands on two sides on the
actual level of the plain, and on the third, on cliffs but
slightly raised from the valley—such a situation, as, by
analogy, we know would never have been chosen by the
Etruscans, but is not at all inconsistent with a Roman
site.8 Regarding Falleri, then, to be the city rebuilt at
this period, all difficulty with regard to its name is re-
moved. It is not necessary to suppose it the Etruscan
Palerii; for the name of the original city was transferred
with the inhabitants to this site which has retained it,
while the ancient site lay desolate, it is probable, for many
ages,9 till long after the fall of the Empire, in the eighth
or ninth century, the strength of its position attracted a
fresh settlement, and it was fortified under the name of
Civitas Castellana.
That Civita was the site of the original, and Falleri of
the second city of Falerii, is corroborated by the much su-
perior size of the former, and by the fact that no Roman
7 Zonar. loc. cit. "tatepov 8e ri jikv venerable grove, too, around the temple,
apxaia w6Xis, els opos ipvp,vbi> iSpvfievn, may perhaps mark the desolation of
KaT«ricd(prr eripa if wKoSo/iiiOri eieipoSos. the site, though a grove generally sur-
8 See Note III. in the Appendix to rounded every temple. It is possible,
this Chapter. however, that there was still some
9 The " apple-bearing Falisei" men- small population on this spot, as usual
tionedby Ovid (Amor. III., FJeg. 13), as in the immediate neighbourhood of
the birthplace of his wife may have been celebrated shrines, and to that Ovid
Falleri; but the temple of Juno con- may have referred under the name of
tinued in his day to occupy the original Falisei. The Colonia Junonia, referred
site, as is proved by his mention of the to by Frontinus (de colon.) — quae
walls conquered by Camillus, and the appellate Faliscos, quse a III viris est
steep ascent to the town, — difficilis assignata—and by an inscription found
clivis via—there being nothing like at Falleri, must apply to the second
a steep to Falleri. The dense and city.
city situated on a steep and lofty height was destroyed,
and another built in a place of easy access."7 The descrip-
tion of the latter, which will not apply at all to the site
of Civita Castellana, agrees precisely with that of Palleri,
which, as already shown, stands on two sides on the
actual level of the plain, and on the third, on cliffs but
slightly raised from the valley—such a situation, as, by
analogy, we know would never have been chosen by the
Etruscans, but is not at all inconsistent with a Roman
site.8 Regarding Falleri, then, to be the city rebuilt at
this period, all difficulty with regard to its name is re-
moved. It is not necessary to suppose it the Etruscan
Palerii; for the name of the original city was transferred
with the inhabitants to this site which has retained it,
while the ancient site lay desolate, it is probable, for many
ages,9 till long after the fall of the Empire, in the eighth
or ninth century, the strength of its position attracted a
fresh settlement, and it was fortified under the name of
Civitas Castellana.
That Civita was the site of the original, and Falleri of
the second city of Falerii, is corroborated by the much su-
perior size of the former, and by the fact that no Roman
7 Zonar. loc. cit. "tatepov 8e ri jikv venerable grove, too, around the temple,
apxaia w6Xis, els opos ipvp,vbi> iSpvfievn, may perhaps mark the desolation of
KaT«ricd(prr eripa if wKoSo/iiiOri eieipoSos. the site, though a grove generally sur-
8 See Note III. in the Appendix to rounded every temple. It is possible,
this Chapter. however, that there was still some
9 The " apple-bearing Falisei" men- small population on this spot, as usual
tionedby Ovid (Amor. III., FJeg. 13), as in the immediate neighbourhood of
the birthplace of his wife may have been celebrated shrines, and to that Ovid
Falleri; but the temple of Juno con- may have referred under the name of
tinued in his day to occupy the original Falisei. The Colonia Junonia, referred
site, as is proved by his mention of the to by Frontinus (de colon.) — quae
walls conquered by Camillus, and the appellate Faliscos, quse a III viris est
steep ascent to the town, — difficilis assignata—and by an inscription found
clivis via—there being nothing like at Falleri, must apply to the second
a steep to Falleri. The dense and city.