DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0508
402 VULCI. [chap. xxi.
and, doubtless, they must have been the formation of cen-
turies : yet we need not refer them to too remote a period ;
for, in a parallel case at Tivoli, a vault in the face of a cliff,
lined "with Roman reticulated work, has had its mouth
blocked by an immense sheet of this fantastic formation,
many tons in weight.
About a mile below the bridge, on the right bank of the
Fiora, stood the ancient city of Vulci. It occupied a plat-
form of no great elevation, and, except on the river side,
not defended by inaccessible cliffs; yet it is the only height
in the wide plain at all adapted to the site of a city. Its
surface is now sown with corn; and, besides the usual
traces of habitation in broken pottery, there is the wreck
of a small temple, with cetta and niches still standing, and
the statues of its divinities and the columns which adorned
it lying in shattered fragments around.9 All these are of
Roman, even of late times. Of the Etruscan city there
are no traces, beyond portions of the walls, of tufo blocks,
on the brow of the cliffs to the south and west.
The city was of no great size—not larger than Fsesulse
or Ruselke, or about two miles in circuit.1 Yet, at the
period of its greatest prosperity, it must have been
extremely populous; for its sepulchres disclose this fact.
Its vast wealth, which is learned from the same source,
must have been obtained by foreign commerce; yet the
position of the city, seven or eight miles from the sea, and
9 From the variety in these fragments, of pottery—suggesting, to some extent,
in size, style, and material, it would the native manufacture of the vases,
seem that several public buildings had ' Micali, Ant. Pop. Ital. I. p. 147.
occupied this site—all, however, of the Some have thought it once spread over
low Empire. For notices of the remains the adjacent heights. The Prince of
on the site of the city, see Bull. Inst. Canino imagined it to have occupied
1835, p. 177 ; 1836, p. 36 ; and 1835, both banks of the river,and that its two
p. 122 ; where an account is given of an parts, thus divided, were connected by
ancient furnace, containing fragments bridges. Museum Etrusque, p. 16.
and, doubtless, they must have been the formation of cen-
turies : yet we need not refer them to too remote a period ;
for, in a parallel case at Tivoli, a vault in the face of a cliff,
lined "with Roman reticulated work, has had its mouth
blocked by an immense sheet of this fantastic formation,
many tons in weight.
About a mile below the bridge, on the right bank of the
Fiora, stood the ancient city of Vulci. It occupied a plat-
form of no great elevation, and, except on the river side,
not defended by inaccessible cliffs; yet it is the only height
in the wide plain at all adapted to the site of a city. Its
surface is now sown with corn; and, besides the usual
traces of habitation in broken pottery, there is the wreck
of a small temple, with cetta and niches still standing, and
the statues of its divinities and the columns which adorned
it lying in shattered fragments around.9 All these are of
Roman, even of late times. Of the Etruscan city there
are no traces, beyond portions of the walls, of tufo blocks,
on the brow of the cliffs to the south and west.
The city was of no great size—not larger than Fsesulse
or Ruselke, or about two miles in circuit.1 Yet, at the
period of its greatest prosperity, it must have been
extremely populous; for its sepulchres disclose this fact.
Its vast wealth, which is learned from the same source,
must have been obtained by foreign commerce; yet the
position of the city, seven or eight miles from the sea, and
9 From the variety in these fragments, of pottery—suggesting, to some extent,
in size, style, and material, it would the native manufacture of the vases,
seem that several public buildings had ' Micali, Ant. Pop. Ital. I. p. 147.
occupied this site—all, however, of the Some have thought it once spread over
low Empire. For notices of the remains the adjacent heights. The Prince of
on the site of the city, see Bull. Inst. Canino imagined it to have occupied
1835, p. 177 ; 1836, p. 36 ; and 1835, both banks of the river,and that its two
p. 122 ; where an account is given of an parts, thus divided, were connected by
ancient furnace, containing fragments bridges. Museum Etrusque, p. 16.