The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)

by the Elder Pliny

[1253] Probably situate in the modern duchy of Castro.

[1254] The people of Tarquinii near Rome, the head of the Etruscan confederation. It was here that Demaratus the Corinthian, the father of Tarquinius Priscus, settled. It was deserted by its inhabitants in the eighth or ninth century, who founded the town of Corneto on a hill opposite to it. The ruins are known as Turchina, a corruption of the ancient name.

[1255] The site of their town is probably marked by the modern Toscanella.

[1256] The ruins of their town still retain somewhat of their ancient name in that of “Vetulia.”

[1257] The people of the powerful city of Veii, subdued by Camillus. Its ruins have been discovered in the vicinity of the village of Isola Farnese.

[1258] Their town stood on the site of the present Bisontia.

[1259] The people of Volaterræ, the present Volterra, one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan Confederation. It was for a time the residence of the kings of Lombardy. The modern town covers only a small portion of the area of the ancient city, of which there are some interesting remains.

[1260] The people of Volci or Vulci, of which the ruins bear the same name. Its sepulchres have produced vast treasures of ancient art.

[1261] The people of Volsinii or Vulsinii, now called Bolsena. This was one of the most ancient and powerful of the twelve cities of the Etruscan confederation. On their subjugation by the Romans the Etruscan city was destroyed, and its inhabitants were compelled to settle on a less defensible site. The new city was the birth-place of Sejanus, the worthless favourite of Tiberius. Of the ancient city there are scarcely any remains.

[1262] Called also Crustumeria, Crustumium, and Crustuminium. It was a city of Latium on the borders of the Sabine country, and was subdued by Romulus, though it afterwards appears as independent in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. The territory was noted for its fertility. The exact site of the city is unknown; a place called Marcigliana Vecchia, about nine miles from Rome, seems the most probable.