DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0170
154 VOLTEBBA.—The City. [chap. xl.
to be seen also elsewhere in Etruria—at Cosa, for instance,
where there is more than one specimen of it.6
From the Portone, the ancient fortifications may be
traced along the wooded steep to the south, and then,
instead of following its line, suddenly dive into the hollow,
crossing it in an independent wall nearly thirty feet high.
The masonry here is much smaller than in any other part
of the walls, the courses being often scarcely a foot in
height; yet, as in other respects it precisely resembles the
more massive fragments, it may be safely pronounced
Etruscan.7
At the point of high ground to the east, is a fine frag-
ment of wall, six feet thick, rising twelve feet above the
level of the city, and having its inner surface as smooth as
its outer. Beyond this, are two remarkable revetements,
like bastions reverted, or with their concavities towards the
city. The most easterly of these crescent embankments
rises to the height of thirty feet.8 Just beyond it, there
are traces of a postern; and presently the wall, pursuing
the edge of the steep, reaches the extremity of the city to
6 Canina (Archit. Antica, V. p. 96) walls; but a drain-hole hard by seems
suggests, that it is probably from this sort to have been the original passage for it.
of double gateway that the plural term— 8 Here it may be remarked, that the
a! TriAai—applied to the gate of a city, blocks in the lower courses are small
took its rise. See Vol. I. pp. 14, 15. and irregular, in the upper very massive.
It will be observed that this gate, as This I have observed on other Etruscan
well as the Porta all' Arco, opens sites. Orioli (ap. Inghir. Mon. Etrus.
obliquely, so that the approach to it is IV. p. 161) thinks it was not without a
commanded on one side by the city wall, reason—that the largest blocks were
which answers the purpose of towers placed at that height in the walls, where
whence to annoy the foe ; and the ap- they would be most likely to be struck
proach is so planned in both cases, that by battering-engines (cf. Micali, Ant.
an assailing force would have its right Pop. Ital. II. p. 294) ; and he even infers
side, or that unprotected by the shield, hence the existence of such engines in
exposed to the attacks of the besieged. remote times. One block covering a
This is a rule of fortification laid down cavity, once perhaps a sewer, I found to
by Vitruvius, I. 5, 2. be 11 ft. long, 3 in height, and 4 in
7 At the bottom of the hollow, a depth; and another block, below the
streamlet flows out through a gap in the cavity, was of nearly equal dimensions.
to be seen also elsewhere in Etruria—at Cosa, for instance,
where there is more than one specimen of it.6
From the Portone, the ancient fortifications may be
traced along the wooded steep to the south, and then,
instead of following its line, suddenly dive into the hollow,
crossing it in an independent wall nearly thirty feet high.
The masonry here is much smaller than in any other part
of the walls, the courses being often scarcely a foot in
height; yet, as in other respects it precisely resembles the
more massive fragments, it may be safely pronounced
Etruscan.7
At the point of high ground to the east, is a fine frag-
ment of wall, six feet thick, rising twelve feet above the
level of the city, and having its inner surface as smooth as
its outer. Beyond this, are two remarkable revetements,
like bastions reverted, or with their concavities towards the
city. The most easterly of these crescent embankments
rises to the height of thirty feet.8 Just beyond it, there
are traces of a postern; and presently the wall, pursuing
the edge of the steep, reaches the extremity of the city to
6 Canina (Archit. Antica, V. p. 96) walls; but a drain-hole hard by seems
suggests, that it is probably from this sort to have been the original passage for it.
of double gateway that the plural term— 8 Here it may be remarked, that the
a! TriAai—applied to the gate of a city, blocks in the lower courses are small
took its rise. See Vol. I. pp. 14, 15. and irregular, in the upper very massive.
It will be observed that this gate, as This I have observed on other Etruscan
well as the Porta all' Arco, opens sites. Orioli (ap. Inghir. Mon. Etrus.
obliquely, so that the approach to it is IV. p. 161) thinks it was not without a
commanded on one side by the city wall, reason—that the largest blocks were
which answers the purpose of towers placed at that height in the walls, where
whence to annoy the foe ; and the ap- they would be most likely to be struck
proach is so planned in both cases, that by battering-engines (cf. Micali, Ant.
an assailing force would have its right Pop. Ital. II. p. 294) ; and he even infers
side, or that unprotected by the shield, hence the existence of such engines in
exposed to the attacks of the besieged. remote times. One block covering a
This is a rule of fortification laid down cavity, once perhaps a sewer, I found to
by Vitruvius, I. 5, 2. be 11 ft. long, 3 in height, and 4 in
7 At the bottom of the hollow, a depth; and another block, below the
streamlet flows out through a gap in the cavity, was of nearly equal dimensions.