DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0043
chap. xxxm.] DESOLATION OF THE SITE. 27
from the map, but continued to exist, and with its ancient
name, till, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, part
of its inhabitants removed to a site about three miles off,
on which they bestowed the same name, and the old town
was distinguished by the title of Vetus, or Caere Vetere,
which has been corrupted into its present appellation of
Cervetri, the new town still retaining the name of Ceri.
This has misled antiquarians, who have sought the Etruscan
city on the site which seemed more clearly to bear its
name,5 but inscriptions recently found at Cervetri have
established its identity with Csere beyond a doubt.6
Of the ancient city there are but few vestiges extant ;
yet the outline of its walls is clearly defined, not so much
by fragments, for there are few remaining, as by the cha-
racter of the ground which the city occupied. This is a
height or table-land, rising in steep cliffs above the plain
of the coast, except on the northern side where it is united
by a neck to the high land adjoining. Within the space
thus marked off by nature, not a ruin of the ancient city
now rises above ground. Temples, towers, halls, palaces,
theatres—have all gone to dust; the very ruins of Caere
have perished, or are overheaped with soil; and the
cities, Tarquinii, Vetulonia, and Vulci, of the letters cut iB marble and inlaid on a
which mention has been made in a former darker stone. These things are perhaps
chapter. Vol. I. p. 404. To the references still to be seen at the Convent
there given, add Bull. Inst. 1843, p. 174. 5 A bull of Gregory IX., in 1236,
—Cavedoni. These monuments are now distinguishes between these two towns,
among the chief ornaments of the new specifying " plebes et ecclesias in Cere
Museum of the Lateran. In the season Nova," and also, ■ in Cere Vetere et
of 1845-6, the Augustine monks of Cer- finibus ejus." Nibby, Dintorni di Roma
vetri discovered many more statues and I. p. 355.
torsi, with altars, bas-reliefs, beautiful ' Bull. Inst., 1840, pp. 5—8 ; 1846,
cornices, and other architectural frag- p. 129. But Gruter (pp. 214 ; 652, 8)
ments of a theatre, coloured tiles and had long ago given some inscriptions
antefixvs, and numerous fragments of referring to Cajre, which were found at
Latin inscriptions, with one in Etruscan, Cervetri. Canina claims to have been the
" Cusiach," which is unique in having first to indicate the true site of this city.
from the map, but continued to exist, and with its ancient
name, till, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, part
of its inhabitants removed to a site about three miles off,
on which they bestowed the same name, and the old town
was distinguished by the title of Vetus, or Caere Vetere,
which has been corrupted into its present appellation of
Cervetri, the new town still retaining the name of Ceri.
This has misled antiquarians, who have sought the Etruscan
city on the site which seemed more clearly to bear its
name,5 but inscriptions recently found at Cervetri have
established its identity with Csere beyond a doubt.6
Of the ancient city there are but few vestiges extant ;
yet the outline of its walls is clearly defined, not so much
by fragments, for there are few remaining, as by the cha-
racter of the ground which the city occupied. This is a
height or table-land, rising in steep cliffs above the plain
of the coast, except on the northern side where it is united
by a neck to the high land adjoining. Within the space
thus marked off by nature, not a ruin of the ancient city
now rises above ground. Temples, towers, halls, palaces,
theatres—have all gone to dust; the very ruins of Caere
have perished, or are overheaped with soil; and the
cities, Tarquinii, Vetulonia, and Vulci, of the letters cut iB marble and inlaid on a
which mention has been made in a former darker stone. These things are perhaps
chapter. Vol. I. p. 404. To the references still to be seen at the Convent
there given, add Bull. Inst. 1843, p. 174. 5 A bull of Gregory IX., in 1236,
—Cavedoni. These monuments are now distinguishes between these two towns,
among the chief ornaments of the new specifying " plebes et ecclesias in Cere
Museum of the Lateran. In the season Nova," and also, ■ in Cere Vetere et
of 1845-6, the Augustine monks of Cer- finibus ejus." Nibby, Dintorni di Roma
vetri discovered many more statues and I. p. 355.
torsi, with altars, bas-reliefs, beautiful ' Bull. Inst., 1840, pp. 5—8 ; 1846,
cornices, and other architectural frag- p. 129. But Gruter (pp. 214 ; 652, 8)
ments of a theatre, coloured tiles and had long ago given some inscriptions
antefixvs, and numerous fragments of referring to Cajre, which were found at
Latin inscriptions, with one in Etruscan, Cervetri. Canina claims to have been the
" Cusiach," which is unique in having first to indicate the true site of this city.