DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0509
CHAP. XXI.]
SITE OF THE ANCIENT CITY.
403
on no navigable stream, is such as could have been chosen
only by agriculturists.
It is a remarkable fact, and one which proves how
limited is our acquaintance with antiquity, that though this
city, from its population, wealth, and magnificence, must
at some period have been among the first in Etruria, we
have absolutely no account of its history in Livy, Dionysius,
or any other ancient writer—nothing beyond a bare record
of its existence in the catalogues of geographers.2 The
history of Vulci is chronicled in its sepulchres. Were it
not for these, and the marvellous secrets they disclose,
Vulci might have remained to the end of time in obscurity
—its existence unheeded, its very site forgotten.3
2 Pliny (III. 8) mentions its inhabi-
tants as—Volcentini, cognomine Etrusci,
—and states that Cosa was in their terri-
tory—Cossa Volcientium. Ptolemy
(p. 72, ed. Bert.) calls it Ov6\koi, and
Stephanus says—"OA.kioj', a city of Etru-
ria; according to Polybius, VI., the name
of its people was 'OAiaiJTcu and 'OA/«€?s."
Gerhard (Ann. Inst. 1831, pp. 107,215)
thinks the name of Greek origin, and
from d\Kol (as S\koI vewv—Herod. II.
154); but what it can have to do with
ships it is difficult to perceive. There is
no need of so far-fetched an origin; for
the genuine Etruscan character of the
word is evident at a glance. Its initial
syllable places it in the same category
with Volaterree, Volsinii, Voltumme
Fanum, Felsina, Falerii, and the names
of numerous Etruscan families—some of
which bear a close analogy, as Velcia,
Velscia, Phelces or Phelcia, Velchei,
Velchnas, Velezna, Velzina. Passeri,
ap. Gori. Mus. Etr. III. p. 103—110;
Lanzi, Sagg. II. pp. 311, 383, 384,
445; Vermiglioli, Iscriz. Perug. I. pp.72,
208,245, 275, 298. The M. Fulcinius of
Tarquinii, whom Cicero (pro Caecina,IV.)
ks of as owner of an estate near
Castellum Axia, seems also to have de-
rived his name from Vulci.
There is a curious passage in a Latin
Christian writer, which refers to this city
—"Regnatoris in populi Capitolio quis
est hominum, qui ignoret Toli (Oli ?) esse
sepulcrum Vulcentani," &c. Arnob. adv.
Nat. VI. 7. Arnobius says that the
head found in digging the foundations of
the Capitol, from which that temple and
hill took its name—caput Oli, vel Toli,
—was that of a native of Vulci, to whom
there was a mysterious story attaching.
Cf. Serv. ad Ma. VIII. 345 ; Dion. Hal.
IV. p. 257 ; Plin. XXVIII. 4. See
Orioli's comments on this passage of
Arnobius, Ann. Inst. 1832, p. 31 et seq.
3 Gerhard (Ann. Inst. 1831, p. 101)
is inclined to date the foundation of
Vulci after the battle of Cuma, or about
the year of Rome 278 ; but, I think,
without adequate reason. His arguments
are, the silence.of ancient writers, the
close vicinity of Tarquinii and Regis-
villa, the former of which he imagines
began to decline in power about that
period, leaving Vulci to rise into import,
ance. But if Cosa, as some suppose
from Pliny's mention of it, were a
DD 2
SITE OF THE ANCIENT CITY.
403
on no navigable stream, is such as could have been chosen
only by agriculturists.
It is a remarkable fact, and one which proves how
limited is our acquaintance with antiquity, that though this
city, from its population, wealth, and magnificence, must
at some period have been among the first in Etruria, we
have absolutely no account of its history in Livy, Dionysius,
or any other ancient writer—nothing beyond a bare record
of its existence in the catalogues of geographers.2 The
history of Vulci is chronicled in its sepulchres. Were it
not for these, and the marvellous secrets they disclose,
Vulci might have remained to the end of time in obscurity
—its existence unheeded, its very site forgotten.3
2 Pliny (III. 8) mentions its inhabi-
tants as—Volcentini, cognomine Etrusci,
—and states that Cosa was in their terri-
tory—Cossa Volcientium. Ptolemy
(p. 72, ed. Bert.) calls it Ov6\koi, and
Stephanus says—"OA.kioj', a city of Etru-
ria; according to Polybius, VI., the name
of its people was 'OAiaiJTcu and 'OA/«€?s."
Gerhard (Ann. Inst. 1831, pp. 107,215)
thinks the name of Greek origin, and
from d\Kol (as S\koI vewv—Herod. II.
154); but what it can have to do with
ships it is difficult to perceive. There is
no need of so far-fetched an origin; for
the genuine Etruscan character of the
word is evident at a glance. Its initial
syllable places it in the same category
with Volaterree, Volsinii, Voltumme
Fanum, Felsina, Falerii, and the names
of numerous Etruscan families—some of
which bear a close analogy, as Velcia,
Velscia, Phelces or Phelcia, Velchei,
Velchnas, Velezna, Velzina. Passeri,
ap. Gori. Mus. Etr. III. p. 103—110;
Lanzi, Sagg. II. pp. 311, 383, 384,
445; Vermiglioli, Iscriz. Perug. I. pp.72,
208,245, 275, 298. The M. Fulcinius of
Tarquinii, whom Cicero (pro Caecina,IV.)
ks of as owner of an estate near
Castellum Axia, seems also to have de-
rived his name from Vulci.
There is a curious passage in a Latin
Christian writer, which refers to this city
—"Regnatoris in populi Capitolio quis
est hominum, qui ignoret Toli (Oli ?) esse
sepulcrum Vulcentani," &c. Arnob. adv.
Nat. VI. 7. Arnobius says that the
head found in digging the foundations of
the Capitol, from which that temple and
hill took its name—caput Oli, vel Toli,
—was that of a native of Vulci, to whom
there was a mysterious story attaching.
Cf. Serv. ad Ma. VIII. 345 ; Dion. Hal.
IV. p. 257 ; Plin. XXVIII. 4. See
Orioli's comments on this passage of
Arnobius, Ann. Inst. 1832, p. 31 et seq.
3 Gerhard (Ann. Inst. 1831, p. 101)
is inclined to date the foundation of
Vulci after the battle of Cuma, or about
the year of Rome 278 ; but, I think,
without adequate reason. His arguments
are, the silence.of ancient writers, the
close vicinity of Tarquinii and Regis-
villa, the former of which he imagines
began to decline in power about that
period, leaving Vulci to rise into import,
ance. But if Cosa, as some suppose
from Pliny's mention of it, were a
DD 2