DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0247
I
CHAP. VII.
chap, til] CIVITA AN ETRUSCAN, FALLEBJ A ROMAN SITE. 145
remains have been discovered there, while they abound at
the latter place.1
This is the opinion regarding Palerii held by most anti-
quaries of note, and it seems clear and consistent.2 Some
few, as Nardini, Miiller, and Gell, led astray by the resem-
blance of the name, view Falleri as the original Falerii,3
and without just grounds regard Civita Castellana as the
site of Pescennium.4
Regarding, then, the remains of Falleri as belonging to
Roman times, the resemblance of its walls and gates to
Etruscan masonry and architecture is explained by the
date of their construction, as they belong to a period
when the Romans were imitators of the Etruscans in
all their arts; besides, the inhabitants were still of the
latter nation, though they had received a Roman colony.
This may also, to some extent, explain its tombs, which,
with a few exceptions, are purely Etruscan. Nevertheless,
as already shown, there is ground for believing that such
tombs existed here long prior to the erection of the walls
of Falleri, and therefore that a genuine Etruscan town
Qccupied a neighbouring site — but where this town
may have stood, or what its name may have been,
I pretend not to determine. It was probably some small
town dependent on Falerii, the name of which has not
come down to us.
1 Nibby, II. v. Falerii. towns of Falerii and Fescennium having
2 See Note IV. in the Appendix to been intimately connected, " if it bo
this Chapter. not even clear that one of them having
3 Mannert (Geog. p. 422) joins them been destroyed, the ruined town was
in this opinion. transferred to the site of the other."
4 Gell acknowledges that the descrip- That they were inhabited by the same
tion left us of Falerii would apply with race, and intimately connected, there is
more truth to the site of Civita Cas- little doubt, but for the latter con-
tellana, and sees that the affair of the jecture that Gell hazards, there is no
schoolmaster is not applicable to Falleri; foundation.
but goes on to state the certainty of the
VOL. I. 1
CHAP. VII.
chap, til] CIVITA AN ETRUSCAN, FALLEBJ A ROMAN SITE. 145
remains have been discovered there, while they abound at
the latter place.1
This is the opinion regarding Palerii held by most anti-
quaries of note, and it seems clear and consistent.2 Some
few, as Nardini, Miiller, and Gell, led astray by the resem-
blance of the name, view Falleri as the original Falerii,3
and without just grounds regard Civita Castellana as the
site of Pescennium.4
Regarding, then, the remains of Falleri as belonging to
Roman times, the resemblance of its walls and gates to
Etruscan masonry and architecture is explained by the
date of their construction, as they belong to a period
when the Romans were imitators of the Etruscans in
all their arts; besides, the inhabitants were still of the
latter nation, though they had received a Roman colony.
This may also, to some extent, explain its tombs, which,
with a few exceptions, are purely Etruscan. Nevertheless,
as already shown, there is ground for believing that such
tombs existed here long prior to the erection of the walls
of Falleri, and therefore that a genuine Etruscan town
Qccupied a neighbouring site — but where this town
may have stood, or what its name may have been,
I pretend not to determine. It was probably some small
town dependent on Falerii, the name of which has not
come down to us.
1 Nibby, II. v. Falerii. towns of Falerii and Fescennium having
2 See Note IV. in the Appendix to been intimately connected, " if it bo
this Chapter. not even clear that one of them having
3 Mannert (Geog. p. 422) joins them been destroyed, the ruined town was
in this opinion. transferred to the site of the other."
4 Gell acknowledges that the descrip- That they were inhabited by the same
tion left us of Falerii would apply with race, and intimately connected, there is
more truth to the site of Civita Cas- little doubt, but for the latter con-
tellana, and sees that the affair of the jecture that Gell hazards, there is no
schoolmaster is not applicable to Falleri; foundation.
but goes on to state the certainty of the
VOL. I. 1