DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0147
CHAP. XXXVIII.]
HISTORY OF FJESULJE.
131
Fiesole, though known to have been an Etruscan city,
from its extant remains and the monuments at various times
found on the spot, is not mentioned as such in history.
This must have been owing to its remoteness from Rome,
which preserved it from immediate contact with that
power, probably till the final subjugation of Etruria, when
it is most likely that Fiesole, with the other few towns in
the northern district, finding the great cities of the Con-
federation had yielded to the conqueror, was induced to
submit without a struggle.10
not yet, I believe, found on the spot, are
not unknown. Specimens which were
found at Caere and Vulci are preserved
in the British Museum, in the Kircherian
Museum, and the Campana collection at
Home. They are silver, having on the
obverse the figure of a winged Gorgon,
in a long tunic, with her tongue lolling
out, holding a serpent in each hand, and
in the act of running,—on the reverse,
something, which may be part of a
wheel, and the inscription " phesd," in
Etruscan characters. The Due de
Luynes ascribes these coins to Fsesulae ;
so also Capranesi, Ann. Inst. 1840,
pp. 203-7, tav. d'agg. P. n. 1. But
Cavedoni, of Modena, considers the in-
scription to have reference not to the
place of coinage, but to the Fury or Fate
on the obverse, and explains it as Ai<ra,
or Fate, here written with a digamma
prefixed. Bull. Inst. 1842, p. 156. A?<roi,
we are told by Hesychius, were " gods
among the Etruscans ;" and " jEsar,"
we know to be the Etruscan word for
"god." Dio Cass. LVI. 29 ; Sueton.
Aug. 97. It has been suggested that
jEsar may be but the Greek word
adopted, and with an Etruscan termina-
tion. Lanzi considers the name Fsesulm
—written #a«roC\ai by the Greeks—to
be derived from AT<roi, with the addition
of the digamma (II. p. 444). But why
refer to Hellenic sources for Etruscan
etymologies—a system which, even in
Lanzi's hands, has proved so unsuccess-
ful and unsatisfactory ? It is more
probable that the Etruscan form, with
which we are not acquainted, was a
compound with the initial " Vel," so
often occurring in Etruscan proper
names. The gold coin, with the Etrus-
can legend " Velsu," which Sestini
assigned to Felsina (Bologna), but
Miiller referred to Volsinii (see Vol.
I. p. 503)—may it not be proper to
Feesulse % Millingen, however, consi-
dered it of a barbarous people, or a
counterfeit. Num. Anc. Ital. p. 171.
10 The name is found in Floras (1.11),
but it is manifest from the connexion
that Faesulse is not the true reading; for
the historian is relating in his most terse
and spirited manner, the arduous con-
test Rome maintained in the first years
of the Republic with the Latin cities
around her. "Cora (quis credat?) et
Algidum terrori fuerunt; Satricum
atque Corniculum provinciae. De Veru-
lis et Bovillis pudet; sed triumphavimus.
&c." " Cora (who would believe it 2) and
Algidum were a terror to us ; Satricum
and Corniculum were like remote pro-
vinces. Of VeruUe and Bovillae I am
ashamed to speak—yet did we triumph
Tibur, now a suburban abode, and
K 2
HISTORY OF FJESULJE.
131
Fiesole, though known to have been an Etruscan city,
from its extant remains and the monuments at various times
found on the spot, is not mentioned as such in history.
This must have been owing to its remoteness from Rome,
which preserved it from immediate contact with that
power, probably till the final subjugation of Etruria, when
it is most likely that Fiesole, with the other few towns in
the northern district, finding the great cities of the Con-
federation had yielded to the conqueror, was induced to
submit without a struggle.10
not yet, I believe, found on the spot, are
not unknown. Specimens which were
found at Caere and Vulci are preserved
in the British Museum, in the Kircherian
Museum, and the Campana collection at
Home. They are silver, having on the
obverse the figure of a winged Gorgon,
in a long tunic, with her tongue lolling
out, holding a serpent in each hand, and
in the act of running,—on the reverse,
something, which may be part of a
wheel, and the inscription " phesd," in
Etruscan characters. The Due de
Luynes ascribes these coins to Fsesulae ;
so also Capranesi, Ann. Inst. 1840,
pp. 203-7, tav. d'agg. P. n. 1. But
Cavedoni, of Modena, considers the in-
scription to have reference not to the
place of coinage, but to the Fury or Fate
on the obverse, and explains it as Ai<ra,
or Fate, here written with a digamma
prefixed. Bull. Inst. 1842, p. 156. A?<roi,
we are told by Hesychius, were " gods
among the Etruscans ;" and " jEsar,"
we know to be the Etruscan word for
"god." Dio Cass. LVI. 29 ; Sueton.
Aug. 97. It has been suggested that
jEsar may be but the Greek word
adopted, and with an Etruscan termina-
tion. Lanzi considers the name Fsesulm
—written #a«roC\ai by the Greeks—to
be derived from AT<roi, with the addition
of the digamma (II. p. 444). But why
refer to Hellenic sources for Etruscan
etymologies—a system which, even in
Lanzi's hands, has proved so unsuccess-
ful and unsatisfactory ? It is more
probable that the Etruscan form, with
which we are not acquainted, was a
compound with the initial " Vel," so
often occurring in Etruscan proper
names. The gold coin, with the Etrus-
can legend " Velsu," which Sestini
assigned to Felsina (Bologna), but
Miiller referred to Volsinii (see Vol.
I. p. 503)—may it not be proper to
Feesulse % Millingen, however, consi-
dered it of a barbarous people, or a
counterfeit. Num. Anc. Ital. p. 171.
10 The name is found in Floras (1.11),
but it is manifest from the connexion
that Faesulse is not the true reading; for
the historian is relating in his most terse
and spirited manner, the arduous con-
test Rome maintained in the first years
of the Republic with the Latin cities
around her. "Cora (quis credat?) et
Algidum terrori fuerunt; Satricum
atque Corniculum provinciae. De Veru-
lis et Bovillis pudet; sed triumphavimus.
&c." " Cora (who would believe it 2) and
Algidum were a terror to us ; Satricum
and Corniculum were like remote pro-
vinces. Of VeruUe and Bovillae I am
ashamed to speak—yet did we triumph
Tibur, now a suburban abode, and
K 2