DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0635
chap, xxix.] WHAT WAS ITS ANCIENT NAME ?
527
the new town is too great to favour this opinion.
Mebuhr6 suggests, with more probability that it may
oe the site of Salpinum, which in the year 362 (b.c. 392)
assisted Volsinii in her war with Rome.7
Unlike most Etruscan sites, Orvieto does not retain a
yestige of its ancient walls. It has even been asserted,
on authority, that the city was not originally fortified.8
6 Nieb. Hist. Rome, II. p. 493. This
opinion was also held by some of the
early Italian antiquaries.
* Liv. V. 31, 32. That this city was
more remote than Volsinii seems evi-
dent from the fact that the Romans in
this campaign first encountered the
forces of the latter city. That Salpinum
was of considerable power and import-
ance is shown by its association with
Volsinii, one of the Twelve. Niebuhr
does not think it improbable that
Salpinum itself was one of the sove-
reign states of Etruria (loc. cit.; cf. I.
p. 120). And that it was strongly
fortified by nature or by art would
appear from the security its citizens
felt within their walls—moenibus armati
se tutabantur—and from the fact that
the Romans, though they ravaged its
territory, did not venture to attack the
city. Cramer (Ancient Italy, I. p. 225)
thinks that the name Salpinum may
be traced in an old church, called S.
Giovanni in Selina, a few miles to the
north-east of Viterbo. But, according
to this mode of investigation, a more
probable site may be found in the Torre
Alfina, a fortress on a lofty height, 10
or 12 miles north of Bolsena, and 3 east
of Acquapendente. " Alphia," " Alphnis,"
••< Alphna" and "Altphna" are names of
Etruscan families, corresponding to the
Latin Alfius. Lanzi, II. pp. 368, 450,
455, 527. A bilingual inscription to
this effect is given in the Suppl. Bull.
Inst. 1833. No. IV.
8 It seems never to have been doubted
that it is Orvieto, which is spoken of by
Procopius (de Bell. Goth. II. 20) in the
sixth century after Christ, under the
name of Urbiventus—OiipPifevrbs—-an
apparent corruption of Urbs Vetus—as
being besieged, and captured from the
Goths, by Belisarius. Yet the picture
he draws of the place is so far from
accurate as to render it certain, either
that he wrote from incorrect informa-
tion, or that he did not refer to Orvieto.
He says : -— "A certain height rises
alone from the hollow, smooth and level
above, precipitous below. This height
is surrounded by rocks of equal altitude,
not quite close, but about a stone's
throw distant. On this height the
ancients built the city, not girdling it
with walls or any other defences, for the
place seemed to them to be naturally
impregnable. For there happens to be
but one entrance to it from the (neigh-
bouring) heights, which approach being
guarded, the inhabitants thereof feared
no hostile attack from any other quar-
ter. For save in the spot where nature
formed the approach to the city, as has
been stated, a river ever great and
impassable lies between the height of
the city and the rocks, just mentioned."
Cluver (II. p. 553) pronounces this to be
a most accurate description of Orvieto,
and Mannert (Geog. p. 406) thinks it
answers completely to that city. It is
evident that neither had visited the
spot. It would be impossible to give a
527
the new town is too great to favour this opinion.
Mebuhr6 suggests, with more probability that it may
oe the site of Salpinum, which in the year 362 (b.c. 392)
assisted Volsinii in her war with Rome.7
Unlike most Etruscan sites, Orvieto does not retain a
yestige of its ancient walls. It has even been asserted,
on authority, that the city was not originally fortified.8
6 Nieb. Hist. Rome, II. p. 493. This
opinion was also held by some of the
early Italian antiquaries.
* Liv. V. 31, 32. That this city was
more remote than Volsinii seems evi-
dent from the fact that the Romans in
this campaign first encountered the
forces of the latter city. That Salpinum
was of considerable power and import-
ance is shown by its association with
Volsinii, one of the Twelve. Niebuhr
does not think it improbable that
Salpinum itself was one of the sove-
reign states of Etruria (loc. cit.; cf. I.
p. 120). And that it was strongly
fortified by nature or by art would
appear from the security its citizens
felt within their walls—moenibus armati
se tutabantur—and from the fact that
the Romans, though they ravaged its
territory, did not venture to attack the
city. Cramer (Ancient Italy, I. p. 225)
thinks that the name Salpinum may
be traced in an old church, called S.
Giovanni in Selina, a few miles to the
north-east of Viterbo. But, according
to this mode of investigation, a more
probable site may be found in the Torre
Alfina, a fortress on a lofty height, 10
or 12 miles north of Bolsena, and 3 east
of Acquapendente. " Alphia," " Alphnis,"
••< Alphna" and "Altphna" are names of
Etruscan families, corresponding to the
Latin Alfius. Lanzi, II. pp. 368, 450,
455, 527. A bilingual inscription to
this effect is given in the Suppl. Bull.
Inst. 1833. No. IV.
8 It seems never to have been doubted
that it is Orvieto, which is spoken of by
Procopius (de Bell. Goth. II. 20) in the
sixth century after Christ, under the
name of Urbiventus—OiipPifevrbs—-an
apparent corruption of Urbs Vetus—as
being besieged, and captured from the
Goths, by Belisarius. Yet the picture
he draws of the place is so far from
accurate as to render it certain, either
that he wrote from incorrect informa-
tion, or that he did not refer to Orvieto.
He says : -— "A certain height rises
alone from the hollow, smooth and level
above, precipitous below. This height
is surrounded by rocks of equal altitude,
not quite close, but about a stone's
throw distant. On this height the
ancients built the city, not girdling it
with walls or any other defences, for the
place seemed to them to be naturally
impregnable. For there happens to be
but one entrance to it from the (neigh-
bouring) heights, which approach being
guarded, the inhabitants thereof feared
no hostile attack from any other quar-
ter. For save in the spot where nature
formed the approach to the city, as has
been stated, a river ever great and
impassable lies between the height of
the city and the rocks, just mentioned."
Cluver (II. p. 553) pronounces this to be
a most accurate description of Orvieto,
and Mannert (Geog. p. 406) thinks it
answers completely to that city. It is
evident that neither had visited the
spot. It would be impossible to give a