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VEII

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 969 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VEII , an See also:

ancient See also:town of See also:Etruria, See also:Italy, situated about Io m. N. by W. of See also:Rome by road. It is mentioned in the earliest See also:history of Rollie as a See also:constant enemy, being the nearest See also:Etruscan See also:city to Rome. The See also:story of the slaughter of the Fabii, who had encamped in the territory of Veii, and of whom but one boy escaped, is well known. After constant warfare, the last See also:war (the fourteenth, according to the See also:annalists) See also:broke out in 406 B.C. The See also:Romans laid See also:siege to the city, and, after a ten years' siege, M. Furius See also:Camillus took it by See also:storm in 396, by means, so we are told, of a See also:tunnel leading into the citadel. According to the See also:legend, the emissarium of the See also:Alban See also:Lake was constructed in obedience to the Delphic See also:oracle, which declared that, until it was drained, Veii could not be taken. The territory of Veii was three years afterwards divided among the See also:Roman See also:plebs. Veii is "mentioned in connexion with the defeat of the Romans at the See also:Allia in 390 B.C., after which many Roman soldiers fled there, while a project was actually broached for abandoning Rome for Veii, which was successfully opposed by Camillus. From this See also:time onwards we hear little or nothing of Veii up to the end of the See also:Republic. See also:Propertius speaks indeed of the shepherds within its walls.

See also:

Augustus, however, founded a See also:municipality there (See also:municipium ,Augustum Veiens), See also:inscriptions of which have been found down to the time of See also:Constantius, after which, at some date unknown, the See also:place was deserted. The See also:medieval See also:castle of Isola See also:Farnese, on a See also:hill to the See also:south of the city,' is first mentioned in a document of A.D. 1003; but Veii itself had disappeared to such an extent that its very site was uncertain, though some scholars identified it correctly, until the excavations of the 19th See also:century finally decided the question. Veii was not on a high road, but was reached by See also:branch roads from the Via See also:Clodia. The site is characteristic—a See also:plateau, the highest point of which is 407 ft. above See also:sea-level, divided from the surrounding See also:country by deep ravines, and accessible only on the See also:west, where it was defended by a See also:wall and See also:fosse. Remains of the city walls, built of blocks of tufa 2 ft. high, may be traced at various points in the See also:circuit. The See also:area covered See also:measures about 1 sq. m. There are no other remains on the site of the city earlier than the Roman See also:period, and these are now somewhat scanty. The site of the See also:Forum has been discovered on the west See also:side of the plateau; a statue of Tiberius, now in the Vatican, and the twelve Ionic colgmns now decorating the See also:colonnade on the W. side of thei Piazza See also:Colonna at Rome were found there. The See also:acropolis was at the eastern extremity of the site, where the two ravines converge; it is connected with the See also:rest of the plateau by a narrow See also:neck, and here a large number of ex-votos in terra-See also:cotta, indicating the presence of a See also:temple, and dating at earliest from the 3rd century B.C., have been found. The first See also:discovery of them was made in 1655-1667, when remains of the temple (of See also:Juno?) to which they belonged were also found (R. Lanciani, See also:Pagan and See also:Christian Rome, See also:London, 1892, p.

64). In the deep See also:

ravine to the N. of the site of the town, traversed by the See also:Cremera See also:brook, are the ruins of two ancient See also:bridges and of some See also:baths of the Roman period; and here is also the See also:Ponte Sodo, a natural tunnel, artificially enlarged, through which the stream passes. Out-side the city tombs have been discovered at various times. The earliest belonged to the See also:Villanova period (8th and 6th centuries, B.C.), probably before the coming of the Etruscans. Others are cut in the See also:rock and are Etruscan. The most famous is the Grotta Catnpana found in I843, which contains paintings on the walls with representations of animals, among the earliest in Etruria. There are also several tumuli. To a later period belongs a See also:columbarium cut in the rock, with niches for urns. See L. See also:Canina, L'antica ciltd di Veio (Rome, 1847) ; G. See also:Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (London, 1883), i. 1 sqq.

(T.

End of Article: VEII

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