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FALERII [mod. Civitd Castellana (q.v.)]

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 147 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FALERII [mod. Civitd Castellana (q.v.)] , one of the twelve See also:chief cities of See also:Etruria, situated about 1 m. W. of the See also:ancient Via See also:Flaminia,' 32 M. N. of See also:Rome. According to the See also:legend, it was of Argive origin; and See also:Strabo's assertion that the See also:population, the See also:Falisci (q.v.), were of a different See also:race from the Etruscans is proved by the See also:language of the earliest See also:inscriptions which have been found here. See also:Wars between Rome and the Falisci appear to have been frequent. To one of the first of them belongs the See also:story of the schoolmaster who wished to betray his boys to See also:Camillus; the latter refused his offer, and the inhabitants thereupon surrendered the See also:city. At the end of the First Punic See also:War, the Falisci See also:rose in See also:rebellion, but were soon conquered (241 B.c.) and lost See also:half their territory. See also:Zonaras (viii. 18) tells us that the ancient city, built upon a precipitous See also:hill, was destroyed and another built on a more accessible site on the See also:plain. The description of the two sites agrees well with the usual theory that the See also:original city occupied the site of the See also:present Civita Castellana, and that the ruins of Fallen (as the See also:place is now called) are those of the See also:Roman See also:town which was thus transferred 3 M. to the See also:north-See also:west. After this See also:time Falerii hardly appears in See also:history.

It became a See also:

colony (Junonia Faliscorum) perhaps under See also:Augustus, though according to the inscriptions apparently not until the time of See also:Gallienus. There were bishops of Falerii up till 1033, when the See also:desertion of the place in favour of the present site began, and the last mention of it See also:dates from A.D. 1064. The site of the original Falerii is a See also:plateau, about 11oo yds. by 400, not higher than the surrounding See also:country (475 ft.) but separated from it by See also:gorges over 200 ft. in See also:depth, and only connected with it on the western See also:side, which was strongly fortified with a See also:mound and ditch; the See also:rest of the city was defended by walls constructed of rectangular blocks of tufa, of which some remains still exist. Remains of a See also:temple were found at Lo Scasato, at the highest point of the ancient town, in 1888, and others have been excavated in the outskirts. The attribution of one of these to See also:Juno Quiritis is uncertain. These buildings were of See also:wood, with See also:fine decorations of coloured terra-See also:cotta (Notizie degli scavi, 1887, p. 92; 1888, p. 414). Numerous tombs hewn in the See also:rock are visible on all sides of the town, and important discoveries have been made in them; many See also:objects, both from the temples and from the tombs, are in the Museo di See also:Villa Giulia at Rome. Similar finds have also been made at Caicata,-6 m. S., and Corchiano, 5 M.

N.W. The site of the Roman Falerii is now entirely abandoned. It See also:

lay upon a road which may have been (see H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, ii. 361) the Via Annia, a by-road of the Via See also:Cassia; this road approached it from the See also:south passing through Nepet, while its prolongation to the north certainly See also:bore the name Via Amerina. The See also:circuit of the city is about 2250 yds., its shape roughly triangular, and the walls are a remarkably fine and well-preserved specimen of Roman military See also:architecture. They are constructed 1 The Roman town lay 3 m. farther N.W. on the Via Annia. The Via Flaminia, which did not See also:traverse the See also:Etruscan city, had two See also:post-stations near it, See also:Aquaviva, some 22 m. S.E., and Aequum Faliscum, 41 M. N.N.E.; the latter is very possibly identical with the Etruscan site which G. See also:Dennis (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, See also:London, 1883, i. 121) identified with Fescennium (q.v.).

See O. Cuntz in Jahreshefte See also:

des Osten'. See also:arch. Inst. ii. (1899), 87.-See also:FALGUIERE 147 of rectangular blocks of tufa two Roman ft. in height; the walls themselves reach in places a height of 56 ft. and are 7 to 9 ft. thick. There were about 8o towers, some 50 of which are still preserved. Two of the See also:gates also, of which there were eight, are noteworthy. Of the buildings within the walls hardly any-thing is preserved above ground, though the See also:forum and See also:theatre (as also the See also:amphitheatre, the See also:arena of which measured 18o by 108 ft. outside the walls) were all excavated in the 19th See also:century. Almost the only edifice now See also:standing is the 12th-century See also:abbey See also:church of S. Maria. See also:Recent excavations have shown that the See also:plan of the whole city could easily be recovered, though the buildings have suffered considerable devastation (Notizie degli scavi, 1903, 14). See G. Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (London, 1883), i.

97; for See also:

philology and See also:ethnology see FALISCI. (T. As.) FALERIO (mod. Falerone), an ancient town of See also:Picenum, See also:Italy, about to m. S.E. of Urbs See also:Salvia. We know almost nothing of the place except from inscriptions, from which, and from the remains of its buildings, it appears to have been of some importance. It was probably founded as a colony by Augustus after his victory at See also:Actium. A question arose in the time of See also:Domitian between the inhabitants of Falerio and Firmum as to See also:land which had been taken out of the territory of the latter (which was recolonized by the triumvirs), and, though not distributed to the new settlers, had not been given back again to the See also:people of Firmum. The See also:emperor, by a rescript, a copy of which in See also:bronze was found at Falerio, decided in favour of the people of Falerio, that the occupiers of this land should remain in See also:possession of it (Th. See also:Mommsen in Corp. Inscr. Latin. ix., See also:Berlin, 1883, No.

5, 420). Considerable remains of a theatre in See also:

concrete faced with See also:brickwork, erected, according to an inscription, in 43 B.C., and 161 ft. in See also:diameter, were excavated in 1838 and are still visible; and an amphitheatre, less well preserved, also exists, the arena of which See also:measures about 18o by 150 ft. Between the two is a See also:water See also:reservoir (called Bagno della See also:Regina) connected with remains of See also:baths. See G. de Minicis in Giornale See also:Arcadia), lv. (1832), 16o seq.; Annali dell' Istituto (1839), 5 seq. (T.

End of Article: FALERII [mod. Civitd Castellana (q.v.)]

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FALGUIERE, JEAN ALEXANDRE JOSEPH (1831-1900)

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