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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0031
chap, xxxn.] ANCIENT TEMPLE OF ILITHYIA.
15
triremes, and attacked Pyrgi, ostensibly for the sake of
repressing its piracies, but really to replenish his exhausted
treasury. He surprised the place, which was very scantily
garrisoned, spoiled the temple of not less than a thousand
talents, and carried off booty to the amount of five hun-
red more, defeating the men of Caere, who came to its
rescue, and laying waste their territory.4
This is all we know of Pyrgi in the days of Etruscan
idependence. Her history must in great measure be
lentical with that of Caere, on which she was so inti-
mately dependent. We find her mentioned as a Roman
colony in the year 563 (b.c. 191).5 It is evident that
ider the Roman domination she lost much of her former
lportance.6 We find nothing more than mere statements
3r hints of her existence,7 till in the fifth century after
Christ she is said to have dwindled from the condition of
small town to that of a large villa.8 After that we hear
more of her as Pyrgi, but find her mentioned in A.D.
1068, as the Castle of Sta Severa.9
Of the celebrated temple there are no traces existing;
nothing to determine even the site it occupied. Canina
suggests that, from the period in which it was built, it
may have been in the most ancient Doric style.1 If so, it
must have resembled the great temples of Paestum, stand-
ing like them on the shore, and rearing its massive capitals
* Diodorus Sic. XV. p. 337; Serv. ad
Mn. X. 184. See also Aristot. OScon.
II. 20; Strab.V.p.226; Poly«n. Strat.
V. cap. II. 21 ; cf. jElian. Var. Hist.
1.20.
* Lit. XXXVI. 3. When with Fre-
genEe,Castrum Novum, and the maritime
colonies of Latium, she was compelled
to add her quota to the fleet fitting out
against Antiochus, king of Syria.
6 Servius (loc. cit.) speaks of Pyrgi aa
" nobilissimum" in early times, and
implies that she had lost her importance
with her piracies.
1 Liv. XXV. 3; Cic. de Orat. II. 71;
P. Mela, II. 4 ; Plin. III. 8 ; Ptol. p. 68,
ed. Bert.; Mart. XII. epig. 2; Strab.
loc. cit.; Serv. loc. cit.
8 Rutilius (I. 224), speaking of Alsium
and Pyrgi, says—
"Nunc villse grandes, oppida parvaprius."
9 Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, III.
p. 94.
1 Annal. Inst. 1840, p. 42.
15
triremes, and attacked Pyrgi, ostensibly for the sake of
repressing its piracies, but really to replenish his exhausted
treasury. He surprised the place, which was very scantily
garrisoned, spoiled the temple of not less than a thousand
talents, and carried off booty to the amount of five hun-
red more, defeating the men of Caere, who came to its
rescue, and laying waste their territory.4
This is all we know of Pyrgi in the days of Etruscan
idependence. Her history must in great measure be
lentical with that of Caere, on which she was so inti-
mately dependent. We find her mentioned as a Roman
colony in the year 563 (b.c. 191).5 It is evident that
ider the Roman domination she lost much of her former
lportance.6 We find nothing more than mere statements
3r hints of her existence,7 till in the fifth century after
Christ she is said to have dwindled from the condition of
small town to that of a large villa.8 After that we hear
more of her as Pyrgi, but find her mentioned in A.D.
1068, as the Castle of Sta Severa.9
Of the celebrated temple there are no traces existing;
nothing to determine even the site it occupied. Canina
suggests that, from the period in which it was built, it
may have been in the most ancient Doric style.1 If so, it
must have resembled the great temples of Paestum, stand-
ing like them on the shore, and rearing its massive capitals
* Diodorus Sic. XV. p. 337; Serv. ad
Mn. X. 184. See also Aristot. OScon.
II. 20; Strab.V.p.226; Poly«n. Strat.
V. cap. II. 21 ; cf. jElian. Var. Hist.
1.20.
* Lit. XXXVI. 3. When with Fre-
genEe,Castrum Novum, and the maritime
colonies of Latium, she was compelled
to add her quota to the fleet fitting out
against Antiochus, king of Syria.
6 Servius (loc. cit.) speaks of Pyrgi aa
" nobilissimum" in early times, and
implies that she had lost her importance
with her piracies.
1 Liv. XXV. 3; Cic. de Orat. II. 71;
P. Mela, II. 4 ; Plin. III. 8 ; Ptol. p. 68,
ed. Bert.; Mart. XII. epig. 2; Strab.
loc. cit.; Serv. loc. cit.
8 Rutilius (I. 224), speaking of Alsium
and Pyrgi, says—
"Nunc villse grandes, oppida parvaprius."
9 Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, III.
p. 94.
1 Annal. Inst. 1840, p. 42.