DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0109
chap xxxyii.] FLORENCE NOT AN ETRUSCAN SITE.
93
land, was nought. She cannot claim an origin higher than
the latter years of the Roman Republic.1 Yet she may be
regarded in some sort as the representative of the ancient
Etruscan city of Faesula?, whose inhabitants at an early
period removed from their rocky heights to the banks
of the Arno2—an emigration in which Dante, in his
Grhibelline wrath, finds matter of vituperation—
quello ingrato popolo maligno,
Che discese di Fiesole ab antico,
E tiene ancor del monte e del macigno—
1 Frontinus(deColoniis,p. 13, ed. 1588)
saysFlorentia was a colony of the Trium-
virate, established under the Lex Julia ;
which has led some to conclude that
such was the date of her foundation.
Yet Floras (III. 21) ranks her with
Spoletium, Interamnium, and Prseneste,
those " most splendid m/micipia of
Italy," which, in the civil wars of
Marius and Sylla, suffered from the
vengeance of the latter. Some editions
have "Fluentia," but this can be no
other than Florentia, as the same name
is given by Pliny (III. 8) in his list of
the colonies in Etruria—Fluentini prse-
fluenti Arno oppositi. Repetti, how-
ever, embraces the opinion of Salutati,
and of Borghmi, that it was the Feren-
timim of the Volsci, to which Floras in
the said passage alludes ; and he thinks
the origin of Florence is to be dated
from the colony of the Triumvirate
(Dizionario, II. pp. 108, ISO). Cluver
(II. p. 508) admits the higher antiquity.
Mannert (Geog. p. 393) thinks the city
dates its origin from the Ligurian wars.
In the reign of Tiberius, Florentia was
an important colony or municipium, one
of those which sent deputies to Rome,
to deprecate alterations in the course of
the tributaries of the Tiber ; their plea
being that if the Clanis were diverted
into the Arnus, it would bring destruc-
tion on their territory. Tacit. Anna],
I. 79. She is subsequently mentioned
by Pliny (XIV. 4, 7), by Ptolemy (p.
72), by the Antonine Itinerary and the
Peutingerian Table. Vestiges of her
Roman magnificence remain in the rains
of the amphitheatre near the Piazza di
Santa Croce.
Livy (X. 25) speaks of an Etruscan
town, Aharna, or as some readings have
it, Adharnaha, which Lanzi translates
Ad Arnum, and hints that it may be
Florence, though not giving this as his
opinion (Sagg. I. p. 377 ; II. p. 394).
But Livy refers to the year 459, at which
time the vale of the Arno must have
been a marsh, as it was in the year 537,
when Hannibal invaded Etruria (Liv.
XXII. 2) ; and no town could have
occupied the present site of Florence.
2 The fact is not stated by the an-
cients, but has for ages been traditional.
Inghirami (Guida di Fiesole, p. 24)
refers the emigration to the time of
Sylla ; Repetti (II. p. 108) to that of
Augustus. According to old Faccio
degli Uherti, the city received its name
from the " flower-basket" in which it
is situated.
Al fine gli habitanti per memoria
Che lera posta en un gran cest de fiori,
Gli dono el nome bello unde sen gloria.
93
land, was nought. She cannot claim an origin higher than
the latter years of the Roman Republic.1 Yet she may be
regarded in some sort as the representative of the ancient
Etruscan city of Faesula?, whose inhabitants at an early
period removed from their rocky heights to the banks
of the Arno2—an emigration in which Dante, in his
Grhibelline wrath, finds matter of vituperation—
quello ingrato popolo maligno,
Che discese di Fiesole ab antico,
E tiene ancor del monte e del macigno—
1 Frontinus(deColoniis,p. 13, ed. 1588)
saysFlorentia was a colony of the Trium-
virate, established under the Lex Julia ;
which has led some to conclude that
such was the date of her foundation.
Yet Floras (III. 21) ranks her with
Spoletium, Interamnium, and Prseneste,
those " most splendid m/micipia of
Italy," which, in the civil wars of
Marius and Sylla, suffered from the
vengeance of the latter. Some editions
have "Fluentia," but this can be no
other than Florentia, as the same name
is given by Pliny (III. 8) in his list of
the colonies in Etruria—Fluentini prse-
fluenti Arno oppositi. Repetti, how-
ever, embraces the opinion of Salutati,
and of Borghmi, that it was the Feren-
timim of the Volsci, to which Floras in
the said passage alludes ; and he thinks
the origin of Florence is to be dated
from the colony of the Triumvirate
(Dizionario, II. pp. 108, ISO). Cluver
(II. p. 508) admits the higher antiquity.
Mannert (Geog. p. 393) thinks the city
dates its origin from the Ligurian wars.
In the reign of Tiberius, Florentia was
an important colony or municipium, one
of those which sent deputies to Rome,
to deprecate alterations in the course of
the tributaries of the Tiber ; their plea
being that if the Clanis were diverted
into the Arnus, it would bring destruc-
tion on their territory. Tacit. Anna],
I. 79. She is subsequently mentioned
by Pliny (XIV. 4, 7), by Ptolemy (p.
72), by the Antonine Itinerary and the
Peutingerian Table. Vestiges of her
Roman magnificence remain in the rains
of the amphitheatre near the Piazza di
Santa Croce.
Livy (X. 25) speaks of an Etruscan
town, Aharna, or as some readings have
it, Adharnaha, which Lanzi translates
Ad Arnum, and hints that it may be
Florence, though not giving this as his
opinion (Sagg. I. p. 377 ; II. p. 394).
But Livy refers to the year 459, at which
time the vale of the Arno must have
been a marsh, as it was in the year 537,
when Hannibal invaded Etruria (Liv.
XXII. 2) ; and no town could have
occupied the present site of Florence.
2 The fact is not stated by the an-
cients, but has for ages been traditional.
Inghirami (Guida di Fiesole, p. 24)
refers the emigration to the time of
Sylla ; Repetti (II. p. 108) to that of
Augustus. According to old Faccio
degli Uherti, the city received its name
from the " flower-basket" in which it
is situated.
Al fine gli habitanti per memoria
Che lera posta en un gran cest de fiori,
Gli dono el nome bello unde sen gloria.