DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0626
518 MONTE FIASCONE. [chap, xxviu.
There are two places spoken of by ancient writers,
either of which is more likely, than any of those yet
mentioned, to have occupied this site. One is (Enarea,
a city of Etruria, which submitted to be governed by its
manumitted slaves, and is described as " extraordinarily
strong, for in the midst of it was a hill rising thirty
furlongs in height, and having at its base a forest of all
sorts of trees, and abundance of water." 5 Though the
usurpation of the slaves evidently refers to the events at
Volsinii, already recorded, it is possible that the writer
erred chiefly in assigning them to another site in the
Volsinian territory, the situation of which, even to the
ascent of the hill, four miles in length, accords closely
with that of Monte Fiascone.6 The name, which given
by a foreigner, may be merely an epithet descriptive of
the place—Winy or Viny—may be cited in corroboration
of this view. Indeed it is nearly equivalent to the actual
appellation—Fiascone. The light volcanic soil of these
slopes must have been in all ages well adapted to the
cultivation of the vine ; which still flourishes on most sites
in Italy, where Bacchus was of old most renowned.
But I think it more probable that this was the site of
the Fanum Voltumnse, the shrine at which "the princes
' De Mirab. Auscult. cap. 96, com- Propertius (IV. eleg. 2, 4) has "Vol-
raonly ascribed to Aristotle, and printed sanns," and that Volci was called by
with his works, but written by an un- the Greeks "0\kiov. Cluver (II. p. 513)
known Greek about the 130 Olympiad, takes this city for Volaterrse.
(260 B. a). He is quoted by Stephanus 6 It is scarcely necessary to observe
of Byzantium, who calls the town Otva that the text must not be taken literally
(mb voce). Niebuhr (I. p. 124. n. 382,) as regards the hill rising in the midst
considers this undoubtedly to mean of the city ; it is either corrupt, or a
Vulsinii, and that OiVape'a was a distor- distortion of the fact, which resolves
tion of the name committed by the itself into this, that the city stood on a
author or transcribers. So also Arnold hill, not of such a height perpendieu-
(History of Rome, II. p. 530) ; and larly, but the ascent to which was of
Muller (Etrusk. II. 2, 10), who amends such a length.
CEnarea into Olsanea, remarking that
There are two places spoken of by ancient writers,
either of which is more likely, than any of those yet
mentioned, to have occupied this site. One is (Enarea,
a city of Etruria, which submitted to be governed by its
manumitted slaves, and is described as " extraordinarily
strong, for in the midst of it was a hill rising thirty
furlongs in height, and having at its base a forest of all
sorts of trees, and abundance of water." 5 Though the
usurpation of the slaves evidently refers to the events at
Volsinii, already recorded, it is possible that the writer
erred chiefly in assigning them to another site in the
Volsinian territory, the situation of which, even to the
ascent of the hill, four miles in length, accords closely
with that of Monte Fiascone.6 The name, which given
by a foreigner, may be merely an epithet descriptive of
the place—Winy or Viny—may be cited in corroboration
of this view. Indeed it is nearly equivalent to the actual
appellation—Fiascone. The light volcanic soil of these
slopes must have been in all ages well adapted to the
cultivation of the vine ; which still flourishes on most sites
in Italy, where Bacchus was of old most renowned.
But I think it more probable that this was the site of
the Fanum Voltumnse, the shrine at which "the princes
' De Mirab. Auscult. cap. 96, com- Propertius (IV. eleg. 2, 4) has "Vol-
raonly ascribed to Aristotle, and printed sanns," and that Volci was called by
with his works, but written by an un- the Greeks "0\kiov. Cluver (II. p. 513)
known Greek about the 130 Olympiad, takes this city for Volaterrse.
(260 B. a). He is quoted by Stephanus 6 It is scarcely necessary to observe
of Byzantium, who calls the town Otva that the text must not be taken literally
(mb voce). Niebuhr (I. p. 124. n. 382,) as regards the hill rising in the midst
considers this undoubtedly to mean of the city ; it is either corrupt, or a
Vulsinii, and that OiVape'a was a distor- distortion of the fact, which resolves
tion of the name committed by the itself into this, that the city stood on a
author or transcribers. So also Arnold hill, not of such a height perpendieu-
(History of Rome, II. p. 530) ; and larly, but the ascent to which was of
Muller (Etrusk. II. 2, 10), who amends such a length.
CEnarea into Olsanea, remarking that