DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0477
372
TARQUINIL—The City.
[chap. XIX.
The origin of Tarquinii is wrapt in the mists of fable.
The story, as told by the ancients, is this :—Soon after the
Trojan War, Tyrrhenus, son of Atys king of Lydia, being
compelled by famine to quit his native land, brought a
colony to this part of Italy, and built the Twelve cities of
Etruria, appointing to that work his relative Tarchon, from
whom the city of Tarquinii, one of the Twelve, received its
name.1 From this tradition there is one dissentient voice,
that of Justin, who says that Tarquinii was built by the
Thessali and Spinambri,2 or, in other words, by the Pelasgi.3
This Tarchon was a man of such wonderful wisdom, which
he had displayed even from his childhood, that he was
traditionally said to have been born with a hoary head.4
He it is who is introduced by Virgil as leading his forces
to the assistance of iEneas, against Turnus and Mezentius.5
1 Strab. V. p. 219; Herod. I. 94 ;
Veil. Paterc. I. 1. Strabo calls the city
Taptcvi/ia, Stephanus Tapx&viov, from its
eponymus, Tarchon; but Dionysius
(III. p. 184) gives it the plural appella-
tion, TapKvvioi. So also Strabo, else-
where (p. 220). MiiHer thinks its Etrus-
can name must have been Tarchufln,
as Tanaquil becomes Tanehufil (Etrusk.
einl. 2, 1), but from the Tomb of the
Tarquins we may conclude it was
Tarchna. Whether Tarchon was the
son or brother of Tyrrhenus ancient
writers are not agreed (Serv. ad Ma.
X. 198 ; Cato, ap. Serv. Ma. X. 179 ;
Lycoph. 1246 ; see also Miiller, einl. 2,
7, n. 41) ; but Miiller (einl. 2, 8; IV. 4,
2) regards them as identical—as respec-
tively the Etruscan and Greek names of
the same individual. Miiller's theory is
this:—"A Tyrrhene is a man of Tyrrha,
the Lydian Torrha ; the vowel was pro-
nounced short, and therefore obscurely;
the Etruscans aspirated strongly ; what
was more natural, then, than that a
Tyrrhene should be called by them
Tarchun, and the city of the Tyrrhenes
Tarchufin, i. e. Tarquinii V That the
Tyrrheni were Pelasgi from Tyrrha in
the interior of Lydia, says Mr. Grote
(History of Greece, III. p. 239), " is a
point on which we have not sufficient
evidence to advance beyond conjecture;"
and the evidence on which Miiller built
" seems unusually slender."
2 Justin. XX. 1.
* Niebuhr, I. pp. 36, 116. Miiller
(Etrusk. einl. 2, 7) also regards Tar-
quinii as of Pelasgie origin, but thinks
that this Pelasgie colony came from the
Lydian coast, thus reconciling the two
traditions. He fixes the date of this
emigration about, the year 290 before
the foundation of Rome, or 1044 B. C,
which he considers the commencement
of the Etruscan Era (einl. 2, 2). Ger-
hard (Ann. Inst. 1831, p. 203) also
thinks Tarquinii was Pelasgie.
4 'Strab. loc. cit.
5 Joannes Lydus (de Ostent. III.)
speaks of two Tarehons — one, the
founder of the Etruscan state ; the
TARQUINIL—The City.
[chap. XIX.
The origin of Tarquinii is wrapt in the mists of fable.
The story, as told by the ancients, is this :—Soon after the
Trojan War, Tyrrhenus, son of Atys king of Lydia, being
compelled by famine to quit his native land, brought a
colony to this part of Italy, and built the Twelve cities of
Etruria, appointing to that work his relative Tarchon, from
whom the city of Tarquinii, one of the Twelve, received its
name.1 From this tradition there is one dissentient voice,
that of Justin, who says that Tarquinii was built by the
Thessali and Spinambri,2 or, in other words, by the Pelasgi.3
This Tarchon was a man of such wonderful wisdom, which
he had displayed even from his childhood, that he was
traditionally said to have been born with a hoary head.4
He it is who is introduced by Virgil as leading his forces
to the assistance of iEneas, against Turnus and Mezentius.5
1 Strab. V. p. 219; Herod. I. 94 ;
Veil. Paterc. I. 1. Strabo calls the city
Taptcvi/ia, Stephanus Tapx&viov, from its
eponymus, Tarchon; but Dionysius
(III. p. 184) gives it the plural appella-
tion, TapKvvioi. So also Strabo, else-
where (p. 220). MiiHer thinks its Etrus-
can name must have been Tarchufln,
as Tanaquil becomes Tanehufil (Etrusk.
einl. 2, 1), but from the Tomb of the
Tarquins we may conclude it was
Tarchna. Whether Tarchon was the
son or brother of Tyrrhenus ancient
writers are not agreed (Serv. ad Ma.
X. 198 ; Cato, ap. Serv. Ma. X. 179 ;
Lycoph. 1246 ; see also Miiller, einl. 2,
7, n. 41) ; but Miiller (einl. 2, 8; IV. 4,
2) regards them as identical—as respec-
tively the Etruscan and Greek names of
the same individual. Miiller's theory is
this:—"A Tyrrhene is a man of Tyrrha,
the Lydian Torrha ; the vowel was pro-
nounced short, and therefore obscurely;
the Etruscans aspirated strongly ; what
was more natural, then, than that a
Tyrrhene should be called by them
Tarchun, and the city of the Tyrrhenes
Tarchufin, i. e. Tarquinii V That the
Tyrrheni were Pelasgi from Tyrrha in
the interior of Lydia, says Mr. Grote
(History of Greece, III. p. 239), " is a
point on which we have not sufficient
evidence to advance beyond conjecture;"
and the evidence on which Miiller built
" seems unusually slender."
2 Justin. XX. 1.
* Niebuhr, I. pp. 36, 116. Miiller
(Etrusk. einl. 2, 7) also regards Tar-
quinii as of Pelasgie origin, but thinks
that this Pelasgie colony came from the
Lydian coast, thus reconciling the two
traditions. He fixes the date of this
emigration about, the year 290 before
the foundation of Rome, or 1044 B. C,
which he considers the commencement
of the Etruscan Era (einl. 2, 2). Ger-
hard (Ann. Inst. 1831, p. 203) also
thinks Tarquinii was Pelasgie.
4 'Strab. loc. cit.
5 Joannes Lydus (de Ostent. III.)
speaks of two Tarehons — one, the
founder of the Etruscan state ; the